AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
FOR THE 
Farm, GrarcLen, and. Honseliold. 
“AGRICULTURE IS TIIE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.”-W i »nm<, T <,K. 
ORAIVGE JUDD, A.M., 
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
j $1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE 
( SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 
VOLUME XXI —No. 1 . NEW-YORK, JANUARY, 1862. NEW SERIES-No. 180. 
lap Office at 41 Park-Row, (Times Buildings). 
Contents, Terms, &c., on pp. 29-32. 
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1861, 
by Orange Judd, in the Cleric’s Office of the District 
Court of the United States for the Southern District of 
New-York. E5PN. B.— Every Journal is invited freely 
to copy any desirable articles, if each article or illustration 
copied, be duly accredited to the American Agriculturist. 
Slmertcatt Slqricultnrift in ©ermnn. 
The AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST is published in 
both the English and German Languages. Both Editions 
are of the same size, and contain, as nearly as possible, 
the same A rticles and Illustrations. The German Edition 
is furnished at the same rates as the English, singly or in 
clubs. A club may be part English, and part German. 
January. 
“’Tis then the time from hoarding cribs to feed 
The ox laborious, and the noble steed ; 
’Tis then the time to tend the bleating fold, 
To strew with litter, and to fence from cold , 
The cattle fed, the fuel piled within. 
At setting day the blissful hours begin, 
’Tis then, sole owner of his little cot, 
The farmer feels his independent lot; 
Hears with the crackling blaze that lights the wall, 
The voice of gladness and of nature call; 
Beholds his children play, their mother smile, 
And tastes with them the fruit of Summer’s toil.” 
Humphreys. 
The new year will, we trust, open not so 
badly, as some anticipated. There has, indeed, 
been calamity among merchants, some failures, 
and a great taking in of sail all around, some 
distress and short work among manufacturers 
in the early part of the year, but good prospects 
at the close. We shall always be a trading peo¬ 
ple, doubtless, but henceforth, we are to make 
more of our own goods. The debt being incur¬ 
red by the war indicates a high tariff for many 
years to come. Almost every thing raised upon 
the farm, has ruled lower, but the demand has 
been steady, and the pay fair, especially for 
grain. Immense quantities of European gold 
have come into the country—more, probably, 
than ever flowed hither in a single year before, 
and it is now lining the farmer’s pocket. He has 
the metal in his purse, and with many it is en¬ 
tirely a new sensation. The farmer was never 
more encouraged in his work. Manufacturers 
will be brisk supplying the hungry market, 
when the war is over, and that will make a 
brisk demand for all the farmer’s crops near 
home. The world must have breadstufls, fruits, 
beef, pork, cheese, and butter, and while grass 
grows and water runs, farmers can raise them. 
Farmer Hardy is meditating upon these things, 
as he sits by his Winter fire, after the day’s 
work is done. You see the blaze of his hick¬ 
ory wood, the lamp upon his table, the pile of 
agricultural books and papers, the pen and ink- 
stand, and the cat purring and dozing at his feet. 
Like a sensible man, he does not keep dogs— 
does not believe in them—but believes in sheep. 
You see he looks amazingly comfortable, though 
a suow storm is raging without. What does he 
care. He is planning the campaign for next 
season. You see farmer Hardy is a middle aged 
man, and has a good deal of experience in cul¬ 
tivating the soil. He has a great many proverbs 
at his tongue’s end, and you can not talk with 
him five minutes without hearing some of these 
pithy sayings. One of these is, “ take time by the 
forelock." He is doing that now, and making all 
his arrangements for the whole year. He has 
learned that he can raise better crops, and make 
money faster, by laying out his work before¬ 
hand. He finds that his brain work by lamp 
light pays well in connection with the work of 
the muscles in the corn field, or in the meadow. 
He has a map of his farm, with every fence, 
gate-way, pond hole, muck swamp, orchard, 
and woodland laid down. He knows the ene¬ 
mies he has to contend with—rocks, water, brush, 
weeds, vermin, and how to marshal his forces, 
so as to overcome them. He is getting his guns 
and ammunition ready, and drilling his forces 
for the great struggle next Spring, and Summer. 
This planning decides between profit and loss, 
defeat and victory, in the year’s operations. 
He has no fields that are growing poorer, and 
running out. He enlarges his plans a little 
every year, and finds that the soil honors all 
drafts that lie makes upon it. Another of his 
pithy sayings is, “more manure" and you will 
find he has planned to make seven hundred 
loads this year. He wants five hundred for his 
hoed crops, and two hundred to spread upon his 
grass land in the Fall and Winter. He will 
make one hundred in the sty, two hundred in 
compost heaps out where he is to plant corn, 
and four hundred in his ham cellar and yard. 
This involves the carting of a good deal of 
muck and peat, of which he has always on hand 
a large quantity, dug a year before. When the 
ground is frozen, and the wheeling is good, his 
teams are all busy with the carting. When it 
rains or snows he has always work on hand in 
the barn cellar, or under the sheds, spreading 
muck and making compost. He hires his labor¬ 
ers by the year, so that they are never out of a 
job, and have no time to learn bad habits at the 
store or tavern. There is no difficulty with 
him in planning profitable work all the while. 
He has been increasing the quantity of ma¬ 
nure to the acre for several years, and finds he 
has not reached the limit of profit at fifty loads 
to the acre. He began witlr twenty loads, and 
finds that his corn costs less per bushel with 
fifty loads, than with twenty. Having five hun¬ 
dred loads of manure for plowed land, he will 
plant only ten acres to corn, but will get about 
eighty bushels to the acre. 
Farmer Hardy has waked up to the value of 
roots, the last two years, and he has laid out two 
acres for field beets and carrots. Cattle do 
much better upon a variety of food, and a few 
roots every day give a relish to every thing else, 
and help digestion. He will tell you “ the proof 
of the pudding is in the eating ,” and point to his 
cattle as standing arguments in favor of root 
culture. Tell him that roots are “ nothing but 
water,” and he will answer you, “ they are beef, 
veal, milk, butter, and cheese.” 
He not only goes in for manure and roots, 
but for draining land now useless. He has been 
draining swales and wet land, for ten years, and 
has now several miles of tiles and stone drains 
earning money for him under ground. He finds 
nothing like them to rout the enemy, water, and 
to make manure tell. His Winter grain is not 
winter-killed, on drained fields, and the grass is 
much heavier, and lasts longer. He is marking 
another field for drainage this year. 
Another of his proverbs is, “ like produces like," 
and you will find he is making out a list of seeds 
now, for the field and garden. He knows what 
he has saved pure, and what he must buy, to get 
the best results from the season’s campaign. 
He carries this maxim into his stock, and 
by judicious selection, has added twenty per 
cent to the annual yield of his cows, in butter 
and cheese. He has improved breeds of cattle, 
cows, sheep and oxen, pigs and poultry. He 
takes prizes at the fairs, and feels comfortable. 
Farmer Hardy, with his planning and think¬ 
ing these stormy winter nights, is a thriving, 
happy man. He never has a hit of the blues, 
for he knows just how he stands with the world, 
and how much he adds to his capital every 
year. He is not scared by gloomy prospects 
in the future, poor crops, winter-kill, cattle dis¬ 
ease, or heavy taxes for the war. He knows 
that he makes his campaigning pay against 
rocks, weeds, water, brush, and other foes, and 
has no doubt that Uncle Sam is smart enough 
to vanquish all his enemies, and gain money 
and muscle by the exercise. With these com¬ 
fortable convictions for himself and his country, 
he is likely to have the Happy New Year, 
with which we cordially salute all our readers. 
