122 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
Contents for April, 1876. 
Among the Farmers—No. 3—A Village of Farmers— 
Fine Cows—Creamery—Deep and Shallow Setting— 
Quality of Milk—Guernseys—Tobacco—Milk Closet 
.....134-135 
Bin for Oats ...... Illustrated .. 137 
Bin, Spout for . Illustrated . .138 
Boys and Girls’.Columns—Doctor’s Talks About Aqua¬ 
rium—Aunt Sue’s Chats—Ho w Felt Hats are Made- 
Puzzle Box—Let us Celebrate—Bird “ As Red as 
Fire”—An Afternoon’s Misckief.17 Illustrations.. 145-14S 
Catalogues Received...... ... 154 
Cellar, Frost Roof or Cool. Illustrated.. 138 
Corn Planting—A Marker. 2 Illustrations. 135 
“ Cow-Pea ” of the South. ......8 Illustrations . .139 
Cows, Fastenings for.2 Illustrations. .137 
Cows, to Prevent Sucking.. 2 Illustrations. .137 
Farm Work in April...... 122 
Flower Garden and Lawn.... 124 
Flowers, How they are Fertilized.4 Illustrations.. 142 
Forest-tree Planting—Third Article. 131 
Fruit Garden in April. ... 123 
Gardening on a Town Lot.140 
Graft—Does the Stock affect it ... 143 
Greenhouse and Window Plants...124 
Horses—Navicular Disease. 187 
House Costing $2,900.4 Illustrations. .131-132 
Household Department—Home Topics—Tired Out— 
Calves and Babies—Arrowroot Diet—Bed-bugs— 
Sleep—Arrangement of a Kitchen—Lamps and 
Oil. Illustrated. .144-145 
Implements—Garden Marker. Illustrated. .142 
Insects—Oyster Shell Bark-Louse. 139 
Kitchen Garden in April. 123 
Market Report for April... 104 
Milk Cooling Apparatus. Illustrated.. 128 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 74.127-128 
Orchard and Nursery in April. 123 
Plants—The Clerodendrons.. Illustrated.. 140 
Plants—The Coleus . Illustrated.. 141 
Plants—Wild Balsam Apple. Illustrated. .140-141 
Postsand Rails, to Sharpen. Illustrated. .139-140 
Potatoes—Never too Late. 143 
Poultry—Movable Nests.. . Illustrated.. 136 
Science Applied to Farming.129-130 
Science Applied to Farming, Correspondence. 154 
Seed-Sower, Randolph’s. Illustrated.. 128 
Sheep—Care of Early Lambs. Illustrated. .1SS 
Skeleton Roofing.. ..Illustrated. .139 
Staging on the Plains. Illustrated. .121 
Stock, Cheap Shelters for.. . 4 Illustrations. .136 
Stock, Overfeeding Fine for Show. 138 
Tim Bunker on Printer’s Ink.......... .I 33 
Water on Prairie Farms. ... ..Illustrated.. 138 
Work-Shop—Driving Horseshoe Nails—Screw-drivers 
.3 Illustrations.. 137 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Advice to a Lawyer.__155 
Bad Fertilizers. ..126 
Beet-Sugar in California. 155 
Boys on the Farm.125 
Broom-Corn Culture.127 
Buffalo Stock Journal.. ..155 
Buckwheat for Sheep... .155 
Cabbage, Emp. William.155 
Charcoal Braize.155 
Clock, $2.00.127 
Distillery Manure..155 
Dollars, 115 for $3.10 .... 126 
Dynamite, Use of.153 
Egg Farm. .127 
Essex Pigs.125 
Farmers’ Club, Amenitiesl26 
Fish Manure............. 155 
Florida Fair... .155 
Hay Carriers. .126 
Horses <fe Cows together.153 
Land, why Cheap...._153 
Manure Yard... .155 
Mass. Hort. Society.126 
N. Y. Hort. Association. .127 
New Jersey Reports.127 
Orr’s Overalls 
Peach Baskets. 155 
Pigs, Which Breed?. 153 
Potato, Early Paragon.. .127 
Poultry Keeping..... ....153 
Poultry Wanted.153 
Prices of Produce..127 
Right of Way. 155 
Roots for Cows. 155 
Saltpeter for Grass.. 155 
Schools in the Woods.. .127 
Seeding Linseed. 155 
Senators, Don’t...125 
Sheep, Cotswold. 155 
Sheep, Wool-pulling.... 155 
Shepherd’s Manual.126 
Silk Worms in Kansas...155 
Small Fruit Manual..126 
Some Articles ...... ...126 
Sterling Strawberry.126 
Subsoiiing . ....155 
Sundry Humbugs ....... ]l26 
Sweet Potatoes... 155 
Thorough-breds... 155 
Windmills to Cut Feed. .127 
Winter Oats. .155 
Wood Land, Clearing.]. ]l27 
127 
How manure Shouldl>e Applied.— 
“ C. G. P.,” Ohio. When coarse manure is applied to a 
crop, it decomposes very slowly and we fail to get the 
whole benefit of it for the first crop, and may lose some 
of its value. But when it is made completely available 
before it is applied, the first crop is enabled to appropriate 
all that it wants, and the surplus remains for the next 
crop. To get the greatest benefit from it, therefore, 
manure for shallow-rooted plants, such as wheat, oats, 
etc., shonld be applied near the surface and mixed with 
tlie soil by harrowing, just before the seed is sown, so 
that the young plant can reach its food when it will do it 
the most good. For deep-rooted gross feeding plants, as 
the various roots, potatoes, etc., the manure'should be 
covered with a light furrow in the drill, and a little extra 
fine fertilizer be placed near the seed. 
Calendar for April. 
Boston.NUag- 
N. Y.City, Ct., 
Philadelphia, 
Washington. 
land, N. 
York 
Maryland. 
State. 
Michi- 
Aew Jersey, 
Virginia.Ken- 
‘S 
>4 
gan 
. Wiscon - 
Penn.. 
Ohio. 
luckv. Missou- 
c 
1 
sin, Iowa, and 
Indiana, and 
ri. 
and 
Cali- 
& 
Oregon. 
Illinois. 
fornia. 
£5 
53 
$5 § 
«2 TO 
1*^ «o 
I-Q-g 
§ 
0 H 
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P' CO 
0 ^ 
1*7^ GO 
H.M 
n.M 
n. m. 
H.M 
H.M 
II. M. 
H.M 
FI .M 
H. M. 
1 
S 
5 a 
0 20 
145 
5 45 
6 24 
137 
5 46 
6 23 
1 29 
2 
s 
5 42 
6 28 
2 39 
5 44 
6 26 
2 32 
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6 24 
2 25 
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4 
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22 
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sets 
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25 
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4 59 
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PHASES OF THE MOON. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK. 
WASH’N. 
cha’ston 
CHICAGO. 
1st Quart 1 
Full M’n 8 
3cl Quart. 16 
New M’n 24 
1st Quart 30 
H. >r. 
1 28 mo. 
2 55 ev. 
3 53 ev. 
2 19 mo. 
5 43 ev. 
h. sr. 
1 16 mo. 
2 43 ev. 
3 41 ev. 
2 7 mo. 
5 31 ev. 
n. m. 
11 4 mo 
2 31 ev. 
3 29 ev. 
1 55 mo 
5 19 ev. 
H. M. 
0 52 mo. 
2 19 ev. 
3 17 ev. 
1 43 mo. 
5 7 ev 
ir. M. 
0 22 mo. 
1 49 ev. 
2 47 ev. 
1 13 mo. 
4 37 ev. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, APRIL, 1876. 
With the second mouth of spring comes a rush 
of work to the farmer. Many things need to be 
done at once, and the April showers and last storms 
yet lingering in the lap of spring, try the farmer’s 
patience. The man who cultivates the ground as a 
business, needs to be a patient man, for anxieties 
and disappointment meet him at every turn and 
every season. There are those who cannot wait 
until the right moment, but who begin too soon, 
and consequently have to finish too late. One may 
very easily plow a field too soon, and delay his sow¬ 
ing, or greatly damage the prospects of his crop. 
The well drained fields may he plowed as soon as 
the surface cracks and crumbles, but some heavy 
low soils may not be fit to turn over for some days 
after the surface appears dry. Seeds will not 
germinate until there is sufficient warmth in the 
soil, although some, such as oats, spring-wheat, or 
clover, will remain dormant without injury. There¬ 
fore the condition of the soil must be closely 
watched before it is worked, and when it is ready, 
then go ahead. 
Hints about Work. 
Weeds are the farmer’s most inveterate enemies. 
Just now they look very harmless ; but if we recall 
the appearance of the fields last fall, the tax they 
draw from the crops may be easily appreciated. As 
a beginning of the season’s work, let us resolve to 
let no weed escape, and let the word weeds be 
noted in the memorandum book in conspicuous 
letters, at the head of every page. Then let the 
question how the weeds may be kept down, he the 
subject of frequent study. One of the effective 
means of doing this, will be to. 
Harrow the Fall Wheat and Bye .—This should he 
done as early as possible after the surface is dry. 
The stirring of the ground will start the weeds into 
growth, and a second harrowing in ten days after¬ 
wards, will kill them by thousands. At this second 
harrowing the clover seed may be sown. We have 
found the best harrow for this purpose to be 
Thomas’, the backward-sloping teeth of which 
passes over the young wheat plants without injury, 
and help to cover with fresh soil, those which have 
been heaved to the surface by the late frosts. 
Sowing Glover Seed .—Something ought to have 
been learned by the frequent failures to get a catch 
of clover of late years. The seed takes best upon 
good soil, that has been harrowed and freshened 
up previously, and fails most frequently when 
sown upon poor soil, and on the bare hard surface 
that has been packed by the winter’s storms. This 
old careless way of seeding ought then to be aban¬ 
doned, along with the hope of getting a stand upon 
soil too poor to grow anything else. We have 
never failed of a “catch,” by sowing when the 
earth was full of little cracks made by a slight 
freezing; the thawing earth covers the seed. Clover 
is a good thing with which to feed and restore a 
soil with, but land can easily get past recovery in 
this way. 
Spring Grains.— All the spring grains are best to 
be sown early, but what early is, depends greatly 
upon the character and condition of the soil. There 
are early soils, light, warm, and naturally well 
drained; on these barley and oats may he sown 
several days sooner than on cold, heavy clays. As 
a rale our earlier sown crops have been the best, 
even upon our heaviest fields, and to have the work 
well forward, is a temptation to hurry the seed 
into the ground as soon as the soil is in proper con¬ 
dition for it, but not sooner. 
Barley or Oats can be sown upon a fall plowed oat 
stubble, as soon as the surface is dry, and thus, by 
plowing the ground in the fall, a gain of valuable 
time is made in the spring. Those farmers who 
are now forced to wait for the ground to dry before 
it can he plowed, may learn a hint for the next 
season. Make a note of this. 
Peas.—For this crop, in the northern states, Can¬ 
ada grown seed should be procured, as this is free 
from the pea-weevil, which bores into much of the 
seed and injures it. Very few of the seed is de¬ 
stroyed by the weevil, but in sowing infested seed, 
we sow the enemy along with it, and perpetuate its 
existence. Stirring the seed in scalding water for 
a minute or two, pouring off the water and drying, 
a, great many of the pupa of the weevils may be de¬ 
stroyed. It is therefore wisest and best to procure 
seed free from the weevil. Peas should be sown 
with a drill. 
Fodder Crops— For fodder crops the following- 
may he sown: 2i bushels of oats, with li bushel of 
peas, mixed together, or 2 bushels of barley, and 
li bushel of tares, together. Spring wheat and rye 
are not worth sowing when oats or barley can be 
obtained, as they are deficient in leaf, and make a 
light yield. These crops may be sown in succession 
every 10 days, for soiling or for dry fodder, any time 
through this month. 
Potatoes have paid best with the writer on fall 
plowed and winter manured land, and next on a 
top-dressed clover or grass-sod. The seed and 
labor for a crop of 800 bushels, cost no more, ex¬ 
cept some little extra in harvesting, (but the latter 
not at all in proportion to the excess of crop), than 
a crop of 75 bushels. At this time of low prices it 
Is incumbent upon us that we consider this fact well, 
and act accordingly. None but perfectly sound 
seed should be planted. 
Carrots .—This is a crop that deserves more at-: 
tention than it receives, for its value as a healthful 
food for all kinds of stock, A prejudice exists 
against it, on account of its slow germination, 
which enables weeds to get the start of it; the 
length of the roots, and the need for clean culture. 
By sowing some radish seed in the drill with it, 
and having the soil deeply plowed and mellowed, 
and rich, and procuring the seed of the Short Horn 
variety, these difficulties will be removed. The 
radish will start and make the row visible, when 
the horse hoe can be used before the carrots are 
seen. The foster radish crop is consumed by the 
flea, or easily taken out afterwards by hand, when 
it will pay for the trouble. The white and yellow 
Belgian carrots, will yield heavier crops, and are 
late and good keepers, but are much longer. 
Manure and Fertilizers. —Top-dressing at this sea¬ 
son, with anything but the very finest and best ma¬ 
nure, except on sod for corn, is a waste of time and 
labor. The effect comes too late to benefit the 
crop. Some active commercial fertilizer should 
