AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
FOR TUB 
ICarm, Grardeii, and. Honseliold. 
“AGUICIILTCUE IS THE MOST 1IEALTIIF0L, MOST USEFUL, ANI» MOST NOBLE EMFLOVMENT OF MAX.”-\V*BHmoTon. 
OKAW«E .151 DO, A.M., 
FUBLISHEK AND PKOPBIETOB. 
Offic®, 41 Park Row, (Times Buildings.) 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
PoblisliLed. also in Crerman at Two Dollars a Year. 
SI.30 PER awbtxtm:, iisr advance- 
SINGLE NUMBER, 15 CENTS. 
4Copies roi-S5; 10 for Si;?; 20 or more, 91 cacti. 
VOLUME XXTV—No. 3. 
NEW-YORK, MAROH, 1865. 
NEW SERIES—No. 218. 
Entered according to act of Consress in tlie year 1864, By 
Orakge .Joni). in tlie Clerk’s Ottice of the District Court of 
the United States for tlie Sontliern District of Xew-York. 
other .lournals are invited to copy desirable articles 
freely, if each article be credited to American Agricnlluriit. 
Contents for March, 1865. 
Advertisers—Unreliable Excluded.......(57 
ARriciiltiiral Society—New York Slate......69 
Apples—Good Early Bearing.. ..84 
Bachelor in the Household.....8, 
Bees—.\piary in March.... ..67 
Bog Land—Reclaiming.... .'6 
Book List for Farmers etc.68 
Boy.s and Girls’ Columns—Wliat makes the Wind Blow 
—Book-keeping for Boys and Girls—Cure of the 
Drunkard—Bragging—What Kind of Puzzles to 
Send—About PviblishingNames—Problems and Puz- 
2 les—About Organ Grinder.'-Tlie Fate of tlie Elm— 
A Useful Dream—The Heroic Switch Tender— 
Tough Pies...3 Iliustrafions. .8^90 
Cliiiiese Magnolia. . Illustrated. 86 
Cions—Best Time to Cut.81 
Climbing Fumitory—Alleghany Wno.. ...Illustrated. 
Country Parson on Gardening. ..84 
Ea.sy Chair—Home-made.. .... Illustrated..%1 
Evergreen Hedges—Management. 85 
Farm Work in March.....65 
Fence Posts—Removing... Illustrated. .11 
Fire Wood—Preparing for Year.2 Illustrations..S2 
Flax Culture—New Work on........ .. 68 
F’lower Garden and Lawn in March.........67 
Flovi ers—Chinese Wistaria.... / tlustrated ..83 
Flowers—Making Hollyhocks Useful.87 
Fruit Garden in March...67 
Garden Frame or Pit—How Made.83 
Garden—Kitchen in Marcli. 66 
Grafting Wax—Substitute for. ....81 
Grape Planting this Spring. 85 
Grapery, Cold—Experience with. 84 
Grapery, Cold—Notes for March...67 
Grapes—Rogers’Hybrids. . .85 
Grass—Distinguishing Species..II—5 Illustrations..19 
Gravel-Wall or Concrete Buildings...... ...78 
Green and Hot Houses in March...67 
Hop Culture—Prize Essay-2 Illustrations..IH-IZ-H 
Houses—Cheap and Convenient.4 lllustration.s..1S 
Houses—Suggestions About. ...88 
Implements, Seeds, etc.—Procure Early.75 
Market Farm—Profitable English............. ......81 
Market Report and Commercial Notes..........68 
Meals—What to Get for Variety...88 
Milk, Labor, and Beef, No. Ill...77 
Notes and Suggestions for March...65 
Oats—Bad Management in Cultivation.77 
Orcliard and Nursery in March.....66 
Pear Trees—Doctoring......—..85 
Practical Ollds and Ends for Household...68 
Preparing for Field Labors........81 
Recipes—Cream Pie—Spanish Cream—Good Bread 
Pudding—Chocolate Blanc Mange—Dishes for the 
Sick Room—Crust Porridge—Water Gruel—Corn 
B read ..... 88-S9 
Root Cutter—Effective..... Illustrated. .11 
Roses—Best Varieties.... .. ..81 
Sheep—Improved American Merino.. Illustrated..15 
Sheep—March and April Lambs...75 
Silk Worm—The Ailanthus a Failure....76 
Soap, Hard—How to Make.88 
Squash—Notes on Yokohama ...82 
Sw'ill Barrel—Convenient Portable. Illustrated..80 
Tim Bunker's Raid Among the PicklS Patches. .II_80 
Tomatoes—New Varieties.. ..82 
Trees for the Prairies.. . ..86 
Washing Machines—A Good One. Illustrated..87 
Wells—Horizontal or Side-Hill.... 76 
Whilewash—Preparing for Spring. ...87 
Willow, White—Success with...... ....76 
INDEX TO “ BASKET, 
Advertisements, Good....69 
Adv’inents, Petroleum.. 69 
Agricultural Department.71 
Ammobium, Sowing.... .71 
Animals, Food of...70 
Beans. Cloncord......71 
Bee-Keepers’ Book.72 
Broom Corn, Dwarf..70 
Brush for Peas.71 
Bulbs, Cultivation.71 
Camellia, New...72 
Camellias, Fine..71 
Canada Tiii.stles.70 
Catalogues Received .. 69 
Caterpillars, Tent.72 
Cattle Breeders’ Society..69 
Cattle, Native Breed.70 
Cauliflowers in Winter..71 
Christian Commission...72 
' OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Clover with Oats.70 
Cow Milking Herself....70 
Cranberry, Upland.......71 
Currant. Black Naples...71 
Death of an Ag’l Editor. .69 
Ducks, Best Breeds.....70 
Farmers, Laboring......70 
Fence Posts. Setting.....70 
Flowers, Novelties..71 
Fruit Growers’ Guide....69 
Fuller’s Removal.71 
Grape Grafting...72 
Grapes, Del. Cuttings.. .71 
Grapes for Michigan.71 
Grass Named....71 
Greeley Fruit Prizes_71 
Gum Spring Drill..72 
Horse, $37,500..70 
Horses, Glandered..69 
Indian Corn, Fine.701 
Manure, Applying Coarse.70 
Manure, Leather Scraps..70| 
Manuring with Clover...70j 
Maple Sugar Moulds.69| 
Meats, Keeping Smoked.72 
Mole.s, Repelling.71 
A’ewton’s Newspaper... .72 
Number, Large.69 
Oats in Succession.70 
Onion Culture.....71 
Onions, Manure for.71 
Peach on the Willow... .71 
Pears on Thorn...71 
Peas, Soaking....71 
Plant Named..71 
Plaster and Bone Dust...70 
Potatoes, Bulkeley’s.... 70 
Potatoes, Experiment... .70 
Potatoes, Fluke.70 
Rats Gnawing Harness..TO 
Rose Cullurist.69 
Saw, Horse-Power.71 
Sap Bucket Hook.72 
Seed, How Sluch.71 
Sheep, Prolific...70 
Spring Greens.72 
S. S. Paper. Good.72 
Steers Turning Yoke.70 
Strawberry Prefniums_69 
Strawberries, Tribune_71 
Siiperpliosphate, ApplyingTO 
Teachers’ Agencies.72 
Wheat without Plowing..70 
Hotes and Suggestions for the Month. 
Dreary -winter is passing away, and joyous 
spring again comes to cheer and gladden. In 
many localities, where the March number of the 
Agriculturist will find its way, the music of the 
groves and the sound of lowing herds and bleating 
flocks may be heard, while in other regions the 
fields and meadows are covered with snow, and 
desolation reigns. With March, farmers in some 
of the States commence farming operations, 
Avhile in others chilling winds and pelting storms 
confine the husbandman to the in-door labors 
of the farm. In one State the soil will be plowed 
and the seed put in for various crops, but in 
some others the fertile fields and the babbling 
streams will still be hound in icy fetters. Every¬ 
thing should be on the march towards improve¬ 
ment. Should the programme of farming ope¬ 
rations for the season not have been already com¬ 
pleted, let it be done without delay. If a good 
system of rotation has not been already adopt¬ 
ed, plan it at once. Where no field labor can 
yet be performed, put every thing in order to 
do it as soon as weather and soil are favorable. 
There are hundreds of good farmers who do 
not know the great value of a crop of peas. They 
have never raised a crop, and they do not un¬ 
derstand how to use them up advantageously. 
Procure good seed, in time to have it ready to 
sow when the soil is dry enough to plow, and 
put in a few acres of peas instead of barley, 
oats, or Indian corn. Peas will leave the ground 
in an excellent condition if the soil be well 
prepared for them, and if sowed at the proper 
time. They will be found excellent food for all 
kinds of stock, and there is no better meal for 
feeding milch cows, or sows that are raising 
young pigs, for the purpose of producing an 
abundant flow of milk, than an equal quantity of 
good peas and Indian corn ground into meal. 
What Crops will you Raise f —What will 
your soil produce; or what kinds of grain, 
grass, or roots appear to be best adapted to 
the kind of soil, or what kinds of grain or 
other crops have grown for several years past 
on the soil ? These are the questions that every 
farmer ought to consider before he decides what 
kind of crops he will raise during the coming 
season. A farmer should endeavor, as far as may 
be practicable, to adapt the right kind of crops 
to his soil rather than to adapt the soil to the 
crops. If the soil is not adapted to oil her winter 
or spring wheat, do not attempt to raise it. If 
the soil is a good*wheat soil and it has jiroduced 
more wheat in years past than any other grain, 
it may he Avell to try some other crop that is 
also adapted to the soil, which will return per¬ 
haps as much, or more than a crop of wheat. 
Draining.—Before the soil is fit to plow, let it 
he examined for the purpose of ascertaining 
whether or not some portions of it may not b( 
drained very advantageously, where it is ex¬ 
cessively wet. Let ivet portions of a field be 
staked out and drains cut for tile, stone or wood. 
During the month of March along line of under- 
drain may be made before the soil is fit to plow, 
if the proprietor only has energy enough to lay 
out the work and commence it at once. If it he 
delayed until the soil is fit to be plowed, and 
other work begun, the draining will not be done. 
Cattle .— Begin to increase the amount of meal 
fed daily to all fattening animals. Bullocks and 
dry cows that are designed for early beef should 
he well fed, watered and protected from storms 
during this month. Indian meal and oil meal 
fed now to fattening animals will start them right 
and return a good profit next June in early beef. 
Horses .— Give horses daily exercise, either by 
turning them loose in a yard for a few hours, or 
by driving them in the harness. Mares with 
foal should be handled with great care, and if 
there is much snow and ice they should be sharp 
shod to prevent their slipping down, which 
would be very liable to cause slinking. Feed 
breeding mares a pint of unbolted wheat flour 
daily in connexion with their other food, as a 
small quantity of wheat flour is more highly es¬ 
teemed than any other grain by experienced 
horse breeders for developing the growing festus. 
Houses .— Paint dwelling houses and any other 
buildings during this month as the pores of the 
wood and sun-shrinks are now closed and the 
paint will form a more durable coating on the 
surface than if applied in hot weather. 
Implements and Tools .— Begin in good time to 
procure new tools and implements of husband¬ 
ry, and to repair old ones. Todd’s Young Farm¬ 
er’s Manual treats of the mechanical part of ag¬ 
riculture and edge tools and implements of bus 
bandry, giving many useful hints. See book list. 
Manures .— Spread horse manure over the 
heap and never allow it to heat and become fire- 
fanged. Haul manure to distant fields while 
there is sleighing, or before the ground has 
thawed, when the soil would be so wet that it 
would be injurious to drive over it and when a 
team would bo unable to haul off a load. See 
that the rain from the eaves of buildings or from 
any other source does not wash away the solu¬ 
ble portions, the best part of barn yard manure. 
Peas and Oats. —The oats keep the peas more 
erect than they would otherwise grow, and 
as they both ripen at about the same time, 
the yield per acre is usually much greater than 
if either were sowed alone. There is no better 
