322 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
Contents for September, 1876. 
Among tlie Farmers—No. 8.334 
Bee Notes for September.330 
Black Walnut, Increasing Value of .33S 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—The Children’s Play-House 
—Doctor’s Correspondence—A Dog Dying of Grief 
—Aunt Sue’s Puzzle Bos—What Katy Did—Aunt 
Sue’s Chats—Doctor’s Talks about Iron and Steel— 
The Ducklings’ First Experience 7 Illustrations. .345-348 
Caps for Posts of Corn-Cribs .2 Illustrations ..338 
Centennial Exposition, The—Go and See It if Possible 328 
Cherries, New Hardy.312 
Corn-Fodder, How to Cure.5 Illustrations. .328 
Currants and Gooseberries, Standard. Illustrated. .311 
Department of Agriculture, The, Centennially .330 
Fairs, State, County, and Other, in 1S7G.—355 
Farming in England.337 
Farm Villages. 33S 
Feed Rack for the Yard. Illustrated. .338 
Fences, Portable and Temporary.5 Illustrations. .3 30 
Flower Garden and Lawn for September. 324 
Fruit Garden for September.323 
Grass, Is it Intoxicating ?.338 
Greenhouse and Window Plants for September.324 
Guano, Peruvian... 333 
Hay, Substitute for. 338 
Hen Manure in the Garden.342 
Horse, Orloff Stallion “Pravnouk,”. Illustrated. .321 
Household Department—Home Topics —Preserving 
Small Quantities of Ice—A Safe Ash Bin— Household 
Notes and Querries..4 Illustrations. .343-345 
House Plan.4 Illustrations.. 332 
Irrigation in the Garden.343 
Kitchen Garden for September.323 
Market Report for September.324 
Markets, Study Your.337 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 79.331 
Orchard and Nursery for September.323 
Plants, Labrador Tea. Illustrated.. 341 
Raspberries, New. Illustrated .340 
Science Applied to Farming.329 
Short-horn Speculation.2 Illustrations. .333 
Sled for Removing Corn-Shocks.2 Illustrations. .33S 
Starch, Manufacture of Potato. 10 Illustrations. .335 
Sumach, Cut-leaved. 343 
Watering Stock. 2 Illustrations. .339 
Wetg la. Pruning the. 340 
Work, Hints About.322 
Work in the Horticultural Departments.323 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Agricultural Engineer....326] 
“ All the Eggs in One 
Basket”.327 
Board at. the Centennial..326 
“ Campaigns,” Political.327 
Cattle, D senses of.353 1 
Chickens, Fleas on......353 
Clover Seed, Gathering. .354 
Coal-Oil Barrels.327 
Coco-grass—Nut-grass.. .355 
Colt, Feeding Oats to a. .354 
Corn, Canning Green_355 
Cotton-seed for Manure. .355 
Cow, Sucking, Cure.355 
Grnps, Profitable in the 
South.354 
Cucumbers, Salted. .354 
Dedenck & Co. HayPress- 
es.326 
Draining by Weils.354 
Eggs, Turning During In¬ 
cubation.354 
Evergreens at Auction.. .326 
Fair List. The.32o| 
Farm Crops, Book on_326. 
Farmers’ Veterinary Ad¬ 
viser .327j 
Farming in Louisiana.. .355 
Gooseberries ami Cur¬ 
rants. Standard.325 
Grain, Best., for a Horse.353 
Grapes in Missouri.326 
Grapes, Mr. Rickett’s_326 
Grass for Pasture.354 
Herd Books, Ayrshire.. .354 
Hillsides, Prevent Wash¬ 
ing. 354 
Horticulture at the Cen¬ 
tennial..327 
Huckleberries, White... .354 
Kohl-Rabi.354 
Lambs, Ticks on.354 
Leather, Tanning.327 
Martynia Pickles.354 
Morel, The .355 
Mowing, Powerful Team326 
National Ag’l. Congress.327 
N. Y. Horticultural Soc’y326 
Orchard Grass, Sowing..353 
Perpetual Motion.327 
Pickle, Chopped.354 
Plants Named..354 
Plow, Double.355 
Pomologists this Month.326 
Potato Bug, The.353 
Potatoes Mixing.353 
Rabbits, Breeding.326 
Red Ants.354 
Root Houses, Dry.355 
Rupp’s Com. Calculator. .326 
Sheep, Scab in . 353 
Smut in Corn, Cause.354 
Sundry Humbugs.326 
Swine Breeders’ Conven¬ 
tion .327 
Tail, Carrying to one Side354 
Thrashing Machines at 
the Centennial.327 
Tobacco, Artificial.355 
Tree-Fence, A.353 
Uncle Sam as Gardener. .327 
Ventilation of a Drain.. .327 
Very Like a Swindle—Be 
Carefn 1 What, you Sign. 354 
Wakefield Earth Closet, 
Company.326 
Watch Key, Self-Adjust¬ 
ing.326 
Weed, a Horrible.326 
What Dom Pedro Saw.. .326 
Wheat, Top-dressing... 355 
Winter Oats.354 
Composting a D ox»4l Mtacl.— “ G. J. F.,” 
Phillipsburg, N. J. To compost, pond mud it is proper 
to throw it in piles upon the bank to drain, and when it 
is only moist, and not wet , to mix it in layers with barn¬ 
yard manure, and if desired, with lime. If one load of 
coarse stable manure, one bushel of lime, and five loads 
of the drained mud, are evenly mixed and left, to decom¬ 
pose, there will be no loss of ammonia, as the mud will 
absorb all that is set free from the manure. The heap 
should b - made about four feet high, flat,, and slightly 
hollow upon the top, to hold all the rain that may fall. 
Calendar for September. 
1 
lioxtou.X Eng¬ 
land. N. York 
Slate, Michi¬ 
gan , Wiscon¬ 
sin. Inioa. ami 
Oregon. 
y. Y.Cit//. Cl., 
Philadelphia, 
Xew Jersey. 
Penn.. Ohio. 
Indiana, and 
Illinois. 
Washington, 
Marg land. 
Virginia. Ken- 
luck//. Missou¬ 
ri, and Cali¬ 
fornia. 
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EH ASICS Ob' TilIC MOON. 
BOSTON. N. YORK. IWASU’N. CIIA’STON CHICAGO, 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
D 
II. M. 
Full M’n 
3 
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11 25 ev. 111 1 3 ev. 
4 5S ev. 4 56 ev. 
7 T.iiio. I 6 55 mo 
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11 l ev. 
4 31 ev. 
6 43 mo. 
II. M. 
5 23 ev. 
10 31 ev. 
4 4 ev. 
6 13 mo. 
A M E III € A ^ A ii III € U L T UIIIS T. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1876. 
The results of the harvest season now nearly 
closed, show very clearly that the effects of the 
variableness of the seasons may be greatly modified 
by the farmer himself. In parts of the East, where 
a severe drouth has prevailed, and where the potato 
beetles have appeared in great numbers, those 
farmers have suffered most whose fields have been 
poor, oi; who have neglected those simple precau¬ 
tions by which others have saved their crops. In 
the West, where floods of rain have drenched the 
fields, it is the undrained lands that have suffered. 
Where liberal manuring, drainage, or careful culti¬ 
vation has been done, the ill effects of drouth or 
excessive moisture have been mitigated. One more 
resource remains to he exercised, that is irrigation. 
Every successive year shows more and more con¬ 
clusively that some practical means of utilizing the 
excess of the rainfall of a part of the year, during 
our almost certain dry season, would be of the 
greatest advantage. How we can best use the sur¬ 
plus of our wet months to relieve the necessities of 
the dry months, is a question that appeals to the 
interests of farmers, fruit growers, and gardeners. 
Hints al»ont Work. 
Thrashing .—The dry weather of July and August 
over a large portion of the East, has brought the 
wheat and rye into a condition of ripeness that will 
much facilitate early thrashing. A large proportion 
of the grain was in the best condition for thrashing 
as it came from the field. Many of the best farm¬ 
ers now haul their grain direct from the field to the, 
machine. A second handling is thus avoided, and 
the straw may go into the stack in a better condi¬ 
tion, or into the barn direct. With our usually dry 
harvest season there seems to be no reason for this 
double handling, and none to prevent the thrashing 
of wheat, rye, or oats directly from the field. Our 
own experience is decidedly in favor of this practice. 
Wheat or Eye .—Rye is little more than half the 
price of wheat. The chief reason why this crop is 
grown, is tliarthe soil is too poor to bring a crop of 
wheat. To grow a bushel of rye costs just as much 
as to produce a bushel of wheat. Either the rye is 
grown at a loss, or the wheat at a large profit. The 
former is the fact. Why then should rye he grown, 
excepting in those rare cases iu which the straw is 
in demand for various purposes, and in which the 
profit of the crop thus lies ? Only because the 
method of farming is poor, and therefore unprofita¬ 
ble. As a help to change the system, we might 
suggest that the manure used to grow a few acres 
of rye, be used on half the number of acres of 
wheat, and the rest of the laud be fallowed or sown 
to clover in the spring, as a means of renovation. 
But in some way wheat ought to take the place of 
rye iu many districts where that is generally grown. 
Seed Wheat .—To procure the largest ripest grains 
for seed, some sheaves may be thrown upon the 
barn floor in a deep bed, and partly thrashed with 
the flail, or by driving a pair of horses over them, 
without untying them. They may then be returned 
to the mow. This may seem like going back on 
machinery, and returning to by-gone fashions, but 
there are some things which can, and perhaps al¬ 
ways will, be done best ‘by hand, and this is one of 
them. Machine thrashed grain is so much cracked 
or broken, that a large proportion is unfit for seed, 
and especially when we have to buy seed at double J 
prices, or even more, much is saved by procuring 
baud thrashed seed. In the way pointed out -we 
get the ripest and largest grain, which makes the 
best seed. 
Sowing the Seed .—How much seed per acre should 
be sown, is a question about which there are various 
opinions. It depends upon the kind of seed and r 
the richness of the soil. It is pretty certain that a 
great deal of seed is wasted by over thick sowing. 
We have found one bushel per acre to produce 
more than five or six pecks upon similar ground, 
when sown early this month. But the soil was rich ; 
enough to yield 30 bushels per acre. Upon poorer j 
ground this sowing would be too thin. If later 
sown more seed is needed. There is no question 
about the advantage of drill sowing over broadcast. i 
To cover the seed by a common cultivator, is a 
good substitute for drill sowing. Where the ground 
is at all cloddy, rolling after sowing will be of ad¬ 
vantage, otherwise we leave the surface rough. 
Smut .—As a preventive against smut, it will pay 
to “pickle” the seed. Steeping in strong brine, 
lime water, or stale urine, for three hours, are 
found effective in many eases. Perhaps the best 
method of pickling seed, is to dissolve four ounces 
of blue stone (sulphate of copper) in one gallon of 
water, for every two bushels of seed. Heap the 
seed upon the barn floor, and sprinkle the solution 
over it; then mix thoroughly with the shovel until 
the moisture is spread evenly through the heap. 
Let it remain twelve hours, when the pickle will be 
absorbed, and the seed may be sown at once. 
Fertilizers .—Where the soil has not been well- 
dressed with rich, rotted manure, some active fer¬ 
tilizer will be useful. Now that we can procure 
guano guaranteed as to quality, we would choose 
this for fall use before any other purchased fertili¬ 
zer. Superphosphate is generally most effective 
when used in the spring. 150 lbs. of guano, cost¬ 
ing about 84.50, per acre, would make a good dress¬ 
ing, to be harrowed in before sowing, or with the 
seed if it is sown broadcast. 
Surface Draining .—When they are necessary, sur¬ 
face drains should be made as soon as the fields are 
sown, and not left until full rains have come. Gen¬ 
erally, to clear out the dead furrows on the higher 
parts of the field, and to make outlets from the 
lower parts, where surface water might accumulate, 
will be sufficient. 
Grass Seed .—Timothy or orchard grass are better 
to be sown as soon as the wheat is drilled or cover¬ 
ed, than in the spring. A peek of the former, or 
six pecks of the latter, is not too much if the grass 
alone is to he sown. If clover is to be sown in the 
spring, four to six quarts of the former, or a bushel 
of the latter would he a proper quantity per acre. 
Grasslands .—Meadows and pastures may be top- 
dressed with advantage at any spare time during 
the month. Coarse manure had better be left in 
the yard to rot, but if any well rotted mauure is on 
hand, it may be evenly spread, and the lumps bro¬ 
ken by drawing a dull harrow or a log clod-crusher 
over it. 
Clover Seed .—The high price of clover seed makes 
