AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
§esipelr to iinjjrote tlje Jfarmer, tlje ^planter, anft % 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN, Washington. 
OKAMGE JlFBB, A. M., 
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
ifsm mm a m 
$1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. 
SINGLE NUMBERS 10 CENTS. 
NEW-YORK, MAY, 1856. 
VOL. XV.—No. 8.] 
53F*TB&e Office of lino American Agricul¬ 
turist is ojj tlie 2d floor at 191 Water-st. 
(near Fulton). 
SSitsiness and otlter tetters sltould 
bo addressed to ORANGE JUDD, 
No. 191 Water-si., 
NewYorll City. 
WORK FOR THE MONTH. 
*' I feel a newer life in every gale; 
The winds that fan the flowers, 
And with their welcome breathings fill the sail. 
Tell of serener hours,— 
Of hours that glide unfelt away 
Beneath the sky of May. 
The spirit of the gentle South-wind calls 
From his blue throne of air, 
And where his whispering voice in music falls. 
Beauty is budding there, 
The bright ones of the valley break 
Their slumbers, and awake.” 
This is no dream of poetry. Percival saw 
what he wrote of, heard the murmurings of 
the sweet south-wind, and inhaled the fra¬ 
grance of the flowers with which it was laden. 
We have seen it too, and felt new life within 
us, as we have witnessed the renewal of 
vegetation upon the face of the earth. What 
a boon is existence amid a world so full of 
beauty as this when spring returns ! The 
waving verdure rolls along the plain, and 
the forest weaves its gorgeous canopy of 
green to welcome back again its long absent 
warblers. They come from the sunny south, 
robin, black-bird, blue-bird, jay, thrush and 
bobolink, to hail the month of May. Listen 
now, as the morning sun streams through the 
bursting buds of the forest. What varied 
melodies all expressive of delight and yet 
leaving the listener with the feeling that 
the songster has not told half the joy that 
swelled his bursting heart. The hesitation 
of the lingering spring is gone, and the work 
of growth is fairly begun. The leaves are 
out and the new wood is rapidly forming. 
The flowers are forth and the fruit is setting. 
The sere leaves that carpet the forest are 
thrust with many a spike of flowers. Insects 
are beginning to fill the air with their mur¬ 
murings. The domestic animals hail the 
return of spring with gladness. They are 
no more pinched with cold or hunger, but 
go forth to the green pastures to cater for 
themselves. They find that variety of food 
in the numerous grasses, and shrubs, which 
is too often denied them when man is the 
provider. 
Now the farmer sees already the advan¬ 
tage of good keeping during the winter. 
The oxen have strength to labor, and the 
cows have an abundant flow of milk. The 
sheep do not lose their lambs, and give pro¬ 
mise of splendid fleeces when the shearing 
comes. The spring pigs have done well, 
and all the surplus ones are sold to the 
butcher, or to the villagers, who only raise 
pork for family use. He is sorry for the 
penurious man, who stinted his cattle last 
winter. He will be able to fill all his orders 
for milk, butter and cheese, and the season 
with him will be prosperous. 
PLOWING 
is not yet completed. The spring grains are 
in, but the potatoes and corn are yet to be 
planted. Plow no more poor land than you can 
manure well. It does not pay the farmer for 
his labor to raise twenty bushels of corn to 
the acre. Three times that amount is with¬ 
in the reach of almost every farmer, if he 
will deal honestly with his land. Feed the 
land, and it will feed you. Turn up a little 
of the yellow soil every time you take up a 
new piece of green sward for planting.' 
POTATOES. 
Plant a good breadth of these this season. 
They should be put in immediately. We 
do not participate in the fears of those who 
apprehend that this tuber is to run out, or to 
be supplanted by some new esculent, more 
prolific and more valuable. This crop did 
remarkably well last season, and it is owing 
to its general healthfulness, that this article 
of food is now so cheap throughout many, of 
the country markets, say from 25 to 45 
cents a bushel, and they are not dear in our 
largest cities. The rot has led to more care¬ 
ful cultivation and we think in a few years 
this tuber will regain all the ground it has 
lost. Old varieties have been supplanted by 
new seedlings, and these, for the most part 
are little affected by the rot under judicious 
cultivation. Less green manures are used for 
this crop than formerly and with manifest 
advantage. This crop wants a large share 
of carbonaceous matter in the soil and brings 
forth its maximum produce only in fields 
rich in vegetable matter. The largest yields 
we have noticed at our fairs for several years 
past, have been upon reclaimed swamps and 
peat-bogs. Muck used upon gravel loams 
is an excellent manure for potatoes. 
THE CORN CROP 
can not very well be too large. Do not be 
in too great haste to plant. The seed re¬ 
quires a much higher temperature for ger¬ 
mination than the potatoe, and if the sun 
have not sufficiently warmed the soil, it will 
rot and the work will need to be done over 
again. Too early planting often does the 
injury, for which worms have the credit. We 
are confident, that nothing is gained by plant- 
ng this crop before the second or third week 
[NEW SERIES—No. 112. 
in May north of this city. e have often 
seen as good crops as could be desired from 
planting the first of June. Corn is a gross 
feeder and will use on poorer soils 20 to . 25 
cords of stable manure to the acre. If 
short of this staple fertilizer, use four bags" 
of No. 1 Peruvian Guano, or the same quan¬ 
tity of Superphosphate of lime, if you can 
get a reliable article. In using these con¬ 
centrated fertilizers, be careful to keep the 
seed from contact with them. It is often 
destroyed or very much injured by their 
caustic qualities. 
STEEPING SEED CORN. 
The black birds, crows, and cut worms, 
all have a partiality for this crop, and lay a 
heavy tax upon the farmer’s industry. 
Many afield is ruined by these pests, even af¬ 
ter the green blades have made their appear¬ 
ance. The methods to forestall their labors 
are various. Steeping corn in salt-petre or 
copperas water will make it disagreeable to 
the birds, and possibly may prove some safe¬ 
guard against the worms. Soaking the corn 
in water, and then rolling it in tar and plaster 
will also act as a preventive. But care must 
be taken in applying the tar, or the kernel 
will be so closely incased as never to ger¬ 
minate. In our own experience we have 
found insects, worms, &c., to multiply very 
much faster in old neglected fields than in 
soil well manured. We have been little 
troubled with worms after the first year of 
cultivation. Whether there is any thing in 
the gases that escape from the manure cal¬ 
culated to destroy the larvae of insects, we 
are unable to say. Possibly the manure 
pushes the plant along so vigorously that it 
is able to resist attacks, that would other¬ 
wise prove fatal. 
GREEN CORN FOR SUMMER FODDER. 
We think no farmer who has tried this 
safeguard against summer drouth, will ever 
relinquish this crop. We were rejoiced to 
see, last summer in our journeyings, abun¬ 
dant evidence that more attention is paid to 
this crop. It comes just in the season, 
when the pastures are liable to fail, and 
helps out the fall feed in a most satisfac¬ 
tory manner. If there is a surplus it makes 
excellent fodder for winter. The best way 
to cultivate it, is in drills thirty inches apart. 
This gives an opportunity lor cultivation 
during the early growth of the corn, and the 
yield is larger. Sweet corn is by many es¬ 
teemed better than the common field corn for 
this purpose, especially Stowells Evergreen. 
GREEN CORN FOR HOGS. 
We have used this crop for feedings wine 
