32 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[March, 
Contents for March, 1876. 
Among the Farmers.—No. 2. 
A New Dodge. 98 
Apple Orchard,' Plant an. 103 
Awl for Mending Harness. Illustrated. . 99 
Bag Holder and Truck. Illustrated. . 97 
Barrel Header, Non-Patented. . Illustrated. . 97 
Bee Notes for March. 91 
Blackberries in Indiana. .103 
Boats, Building Ribless. Illustrated. . 100 
Rpys and Girls’ Columns—A Prefix Puzzle—Doctor’s 
Talks About a Bird’s Nest—Aunt Sue’s Chats—Aunt 
Sue’s Puzzle Box—Something«about Nails—The 
Great Clam-Bake—What Little May Thought—To 
Mount a Map.11 Illustrations . .105-108 
Butter Workers.6 Illustrations. . 90 
Catalogues Received. 115 
Cattle Killed by Rifle Bullets... 99 
Cheaper Production is Higher Price. 98 
Farmers, Are there too Many. 95 
Flower Garden, Lawn, Greenhouse, etc. 84 
Forest-tree Planting. 89 
Forges, Portable. Illustrated .. 96 
Fruit Garden and Vineyard for March. 83 
Hay Racks .3 Illustrations .. 95 
Hints about Work for March. 82 
Hollow Walls for Houses.. . 3 Illustrations. . 99 
Horticultural Notes for the Southern States. S4 
Household Department—Home Topics—A Bin for 
Coal—A Convenient Match Holder—Making the 
Best of It—Household Notes and Queries—Uses of 
Buttermilk.2 Illustrations .. 103-105 
House Plan. i Illustrations. . 91 
Husking in the Field or Barn. ...9S 
Kitchen Garden for March. 83 
Manures for the Garden.103 
Market Report for March. 84 
Milk Shelves for the Dairy. Illustrated. . 99 
New Climber. Illustrated. .101 
Now Jersey Horticultural Society.114 
New York Horticultural Association.114 
Notes from the Pines.102 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 73—Milk from a Jersey- 
Amount of Land for Cows—Transplanting Ruta¬ 
bagas. 90-91 
Orchard and Nursery for March. 83 
Paint Root. Illustrated.. 100 
Plants, A New Method for Growing. 91 
Poultry, Operating Table for. Illustrated.. 90 
Rocky Mountain Sheep. Illustrated . .81, 90 
Roses from Seed. 102 
Science Applied to Farming. Illustrated.. 88 
Science Applied to Farming, Correspondence.114 
Smoko nouse. .4 Illustrations.. 97 
Tug, To Mend a Broken.2 Illustrations .. 97 
Wook-coclc and Snipe.2 Illustrations.. 93 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” 
Black-leg in Calves. 80 
Bones, Reducing .113 
Booth Short-horns, His¬ 
tory of.87 
Bulbs, Way of. S6 
Butter from Milk, Mak¬ 
ing.113 
Candles, Making.113 
Cattle, Purchase of Ayr¬ 
shire .113 
Chamber of Commerce, 
Cincinnati. .87 
Clover Seed, Soaking_ 80 
Compost, Materials for..115 
Corn Cribs, Forms of... 113 
Cucumber, A New. 80 
Do Lice Produce Fleas ?. 86 
Essex Pigs, Heavy.86 
Fertilizers and ’ Other 
Things sent to Try... .115 
Fertilizers for Grass.115 
Flowers in Church.80 
Gold Hunting. SO 
Grain, Binding.. 80 
Grass, Hungarian.113 
Heating our Buildings... 80 
Calendar for March. 
OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Horticultural Society 
Western N. Y.115 
Land, How to Improve.. 80 
Live Weight of Stock, 
Judging of.115 
Mules, Where Procured..113 
North Carolina. 86 
Oat and Rye Chaff.115 
Peach Crop, Next. 87 
Peach Culture in Ind.. . 85 
Poinsettia, Double.115 
Poultry House, Size of... 86 
Rape.113 
Sap Buckets, Maple ... .115 
Science” at the Farm¬ 
er’s Club.115 
Scribner’s Horticulture.. 87 
Short-horns in the Dairy.115 
Southern Minnesota.... 113 
Spices, Pure .86 
“Sprung Knees,’’Cure for 80 
Stock Keeping on the 
Plains.. 87 
Sundry Humbugs. 80 
Swill for Hogs. 87 
When to Set a Saw . 86 
Failure S8i*ee«l. —“M. A. F.,” Greene 
Co., Mo. When a heifer has grown to be 0 years old 
without breeding, it may be concluded that there is some 
physical defect in her, which prevents it, and her case 
may be considered hopeless. There are no drugs that 
can avail in such a case ; reducing the condition by bleed¬ 
ing, is sometimes practiced, but this is only effective 
with fat or plethoric animals. 
Mule Breeding. —“ J. W. M.,” Isonti Co., 
Minn. The risk of injuring a small mare or other animal, 
in breeding her to a largo-sized mule, is greatly over¬ 
estimated. The risk lies more in choosing a large male 
with a large head and coarse limbs, and a small female, 
with light, narrow hind-quarters; with well formed ani¬ 
mals there is no extra risk. When a young mare produces 
a mule, very often, but not always, her future colts by a 
horse will have mulish ears, but they will not bo mules. 
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PHASES OF THE MOON. 
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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, MARCH, 1876. 
What has been the effect of the mild winter upon 
the fall-sown crops, we cannot as yet say. The ef¬ 
fect upon the live stock is the principal thing to be 
dreaded. A warm, damp winter, makes an unwhole¬ 
some barn-yard, and trouble may be looked for so 
soon as the warm spring suns have their effect. 
The least sign of discomfort amongst the stock 
should receive immediate attention. A dose of 
simple medicine, a little sulphur, or even a little 
nursing, with some warm slops or extra food, will 
generally prevent a serious attack, or the loss of a 
valuable animal. No farmer can succeed at the 
present day unless he he a “ book farmer," and the 
first book he will need at this time will he a memo¬ 
randum book in which he may jot down whatever 
may occur to him as needing to be done. If he at¬ 
tends to this “ book farming ” properly, he will find 
that a good many entries will have to he made, and 
everything set down should be taken up in order. 
The secret of those who are known as great work¬ 
ers, is that they work methodically, and do every¬ 
thing at the proper time, and there is no business 
in which so much will fail, unless the work be done 
when it should he, as that of farming. One day’s 
delay may not he recovered during the whole season. 
ffiinmts Work. 
Ihe Workshop .—The increase in the machinery 
used upon farms make it desirable to have a prop¬ 
erly furnished workshop. It will not pay to run to 
the carpenter or the blacksmith when a little repair 
is needed. The time lost is too valuable, and the 
yearly hill for repairs is a serious item. One of the 
useful results of machinery is to increase the value 
of a man’s time, aud this should be provided for. 
Cleaning up .—This is an important job, and can 
be done during rainy days. Cleau out the potato 
bins, select seed potatoes, thoroughly clean and 
whitewash the cellar, put the dairy into good con¬ 
dition, sweep the granary ; every cobweb and hid¬ 
ing place for weevils and grain moths to deposit 
their eggs in should he explored and filled with 
whitewash; the feed rooms and mixing troughs 
should be swept or scraped, the yards scraped, and 
the rubbish burned ; the plows painted, and the 
shares and mold-boards polished; the harrow teeth 
sharpened, and everything that can be done now, 
6hould be attended to. A little forethought is worth 
a great deal of afterthought. 
Manure may be hauled on to fall plowed ground 
intended for spring crops, upon the late snows or on 
the frozen ground in the early part of the day. 
That intended for corn should be carefully turned, 
and well mixed, to equalize its value. Mix the 
droppings from the poultry roost evenly in the 
heap. A few bushels of wood ashes thrown in will 
not hurt the manure if the whole is well mixed to¬ 
gether, and they will help to decompose it, but this 
should be cautiously done. Coarse, fresh manure 
for fall crops may be hauled out, aud made into a 
compost near where it will be used. 
Surface Water .—Turn the wash from the public 
roads into the fields where it can be made to spread 
over and fertilize as much surface as possible. 
Fence posts may be made firm by tamping with a 
rammer, a flat stone rammed down against a loose 
post will be useful, and as many stones as possible 
should be thus driven around the posts. Stakes 
should be driven down firmly while the ground is 
soft, after the frost has disappeared. 
Plowing.— No plow should be put into the ground 
until the soil is dry. When a spadeful of earth 
thrown down crumbles into a loose mellow heap, 
the plows may be started, but not while the spade 
comes out of the ground sheared and soiled. A 
few days delay is better than being a day too soon. 
The first in the field is often the last at harvest. 
Artificial Fertilizers .—In the southern and middle 
states where grass or clover have started growth, 
guano or plaster may be applied now; the best 
time is when the fields have a green and fresh ap¬ 
pearance, showing that vegetation is already active 
and ready to be assisted; 100 pounds of each, or 
both together, may be sown over an acre. 
Potatoes .—Plant early potatoes as soon as the 
ground is dry and warm. A few early frosts will 
do no harm if the young shoots are kept covered 
by the hoe or the plow when a frost is feared. The 
earlier the crop, the higher the prices. A difference 
of a week may make a difference of 81 a bushel. 
Spring Wheat .—The earlier this crop is in the 
ground the better. Now that the new process of 
grinding has been brought into use, the value of 
extra spring is equal to that of the best fall wheat. 
It is as easy to produce extra wheat as No. 3 or re¬ 
jected. The whole difference is just that between 
careful and slovenly farming. Perfectly clean seed, 
of a pure variety, and well prepared ground, will 
produce first quality of wheat; but with foul seed, 
mixed with oats and rubbish, as we sow, so wc 
reap. Minnesota farmers are making a world¬ 
wide reputation for their wheat, which is now 
sought in foreign markets, by producing a superior 
sample. This is worth making a note of. 
Meadows .—No stock should be allowed to wander 
over the meadows. This is doubly injurious. It 
destroys the grass and spoils the appetite of the 
animals for dry feed. Nothing is gained, but much, 
is lost by this practice. The ground is also 
“poached,” and quagmires are formed in low 
springy spots where the first grass appears. 
Mares in foal should not be tied up in their stalls ; 
but kept in loose roomy stalls not less than 9x11 
feet. It would be far better if no horse were kept 
in a stall of less size than this. Some horses will 
not lie down in a narrow stall until forced by 
fatigue, and mauy wounded hips and backs are 
caused by contact with the walls of narrow stalls. 
Brood mares may be worked lightly ; they are bet¬ 
ter for the exercise. A feed o ,l carrots, ruta-bagas, 
or sugar beets daily, will be useful, or instead of 
these a quart of linseed oil-meal, with their usual 
feed, may be given. Costiveness in any breeding- 
animal is to be carefully guarded against. 
Cows .—The safest place for an incoming cow is a 
roomy box stall. Sec lasts month’s “ Hints.” 
Calves.— A calf should never be allowed to suck 
if it is possible to avoid it. As soon as its coat is 
dry it should be taken from the cow and put into a 
stall next to her, where she can see it. This is bet¬ 
ter than separating them altogether, unless the caif 
can he removed entirely to where the cow cannot 
hear it. A calf may be taught to drink in one les- 
