AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
FOR THE 
TTarin, Grarden, and KConseliold. 
“AOKICULTUKE is TUE most IIEAETUFCI,, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOHLE EMl'LOYMENT OF MAN.”-W*bb, kotos. 
ORANGE JUOO, A.M., 
PtTBLISHEB AND PEOPHIETOK. 
Office, 41 Park Row, (Times Buildings.) 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
Published also in German at Two Dollars a Year. 
$1.50 PER ANEUM, IE ADVANCE, 
SINGLE NUMBER, IS CENTS. 
4 Copies for $ 5 • 10 for S13; 30 or more, S1 each 
VOLUME XXIV—No. 4. 
NEW- YORK, APRIL. 1805. 
NEW SERIES—No. 219. 
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1S«. by 
Orange Judd, in the Clerk’s Office of the Comt of 
the United States for the Sontliern District ot New-York 
Other Journals are invited to copy desirable articles 
freely, i/each article be credited to A?ngncan Agriculturist. 
Contents for April, 1865. 
.121 
.124 
Advertisers and Readers—A word to. 
Asparagus—Directions for Culture.. 
Bees—Apiary in April. 
Books for Farmers and others.......... • ..•••• • • - y • • 
Bovs and Girls’ Columns—About the Month of Apiil 
Make Friends among the Birds—Beware of a.Ptev- 
alent Vice-The Play of Charades-A Go<^ Hint 
for the Boys and Girls—Damaged Glass-Puzxles 
and Problems-No Hand Like a MothePs-A Cun¬ 
ning Old Rat—Harry’s most Successful Effoit 
out for the Weak Point .5 HZusfrafions..125-126 
Broom Corn-Notes on Cultivation.... 
Cabbages—Notes on Varieties. 
Carpets—Management of......... y .. 
Cattle-Warbles, Cause and Treatment.. .......^ 
Claytoniaor Spring Beauty. Illustrated..}^ 
Cold Grapery—Experience with. 
Cold Grapery in April.. 
Corn Ground—How to Plow. 
Corn—Selecting Seed.'" " i u 
Cows—Direction for Spaying.J*’ 
Cows—Treatment at Calving Time.Go 
Cranberries in the Carden..... • • ..■■■■,; 
Currant Bushes-Plant this Spring.V.',"’Z''Z V .Tn 
Daphne Mezereum. Illustrated. .1} 
Farm Work in April... 
Fashions, Comfort and Health.,’1.1 i„ 
Fl.ax Culture—$50Prize Essay.. 13 Hfusfrarions..lOi-lll 
Flower Garden and Lawn in April.........103 
Flowers—Herbaceous Perennials.IG 
Fruit Trees—Cultivation of..1-0 
Fruit Garden in April.104 
Fruit Growers’ Meetings.1^ 
Garden*Seeds—Notes on Raising...Gl 
Gardens for Farmers...yll® 
Grape Vines—Directions for Planting... .//lMsfrafcd..l20 
Grass—Distinguishing Species. .III...3 Illustrations..\}b 
Grass, Kentucky Blue—Notes on....115 
Grass, Orchard-Notes on......114 
Green and Hot-Houses in April. Wn'V i’vTia 
Harkness’Nursery Tree Digger.........Iffusfrafed..! 9 
Hav—Amount Required by Cattle.G3 
Hoe.,—Benefit of Sharpening...............G4 
Household—Practical Odds and Ends for the.124 
..ands Cheap—on the Atlantic Coast.105 
Lawn or Grass Plot—Making.122 
Market Reports, etc . 104 
Notes and Suggestions for April..........lUI 
Orchard and Nursery in April. 102 
Papering Walls—Suggestions...123 
Poultry—Bones Useful for. -Gv 
Ponllry—Preventing Gapes in Chickens. 113 
Premiums for 1865. 104 
Recipes—Sweet Apple Syrup—Potato Syrup—Cheese 
Omelet—Crackers—Potato Yeast—Drying Squash or 
Pumpkin—Baked Hubbard Squash.................125 
Seeds—Starting in Pots... 
Sheep Raisers “ Striking He”.. Illustrated..\1S 
Shrubbery in Spring.- • -- V ’ ’ ’ 
Socks Made of Cloth. Illustrated.. 
S,oda, Saleratns, Quick Yeast, etc...... ..124 
Strawberry Show in June.104 
Strawberries—Notes on..121 
Stump Pulling Apparatus—Cheap. Illustrated. .IH 
Swine—Best Large Breed.112 
Tainted Meat, Fish etc.—Treatment of.124 
Tallow Candles—Improved..124 
Tirn Bunker on “ Striking lie”..116 
Yheat—Preparation for Sowing. 112 
Wheat. Spring—Best Soils for.112 
Whitewasliing—Directions for.123 
Wood Anemone or Wind Flower. Illustrated. .V21 
Wool—Value of Yolk.. Illustrated..}}% 
INDEX TO “^ASKET.” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Advertisements, Land.. 1071 Catalogues Received... 107 
Agricnlliiral Reports... 106' Cider, Keeping Sweet.. 106 
Beef for Soldiers. 107 Clubs, Increasing. 105 
Bene Plant,. 196 Cork Oak. 106 
Black Currants. 106 Crowded Out. 105 
Books Good. 107 Downing’s Landscape.. 107 
Evei'lasting Flowers... 1061 
Farms in Iowa, etc... 106 
Flax and Hop IBooks. . 105 
German Edition. 105 
Gipsies’ Charms.106 
Gladiolus bulbs. 106 
Gloves for Gardening.. 106 
Howard Association.... 106, 
Humbug. 106' 
Humbug Advertisem’ts.. 106 
L’Estragon.106 
Magazine—New.107 
Mails from Pacific-..107 
Manure fora Garden — 106 
Massachusetts Coffee....106 
Monstrous Capacity ...106 
Name for a Seed.106 
New Magazine.107 
Number - Large.105 
Osier Willows.106 
Park Row. Park Place..106 
Premiums for all.107 
■Rags, Sell Now.107 
Rust, Preventing.106 
Sheep and Fences. 106 
Sorghum, How to Plant.106 
Sorghum in China.106 
Sleam Engine. Glass-107 
Strawberry Distribution.I07 
Subscriptions— Date.105 
Sweet Potatoes.107 
Tobacco Book....107 
Tobacco Seed Beds.... 107 
Turpentine Making-106 
Vinegar in Cement.106 
Wash Machine—Doty’s.107 
Weed. Elecampane .. 106 
Willow Frauds. ..106 
Wolves and Gophers —106 
Woodward’s Houses... .107 
Notes and Suggestions for the Month. 
With the advent of April, all animated nature 
merges from the long reign of winter and com¬ 
mences life anew. In this latitude the tender 
grass comes springing up everywhere; in seclud¬ 
ed nooks of the fields and on the sunny hill¬ 
side flowers are opening their petals to catch the 
sunshine. The song of the blue bird—“There’ll 
be no more winter”—admonishes us that it is 
time to prepare for field operations, and all the 
forces of the farm have already commenced, or 
are just beginning the labors of the season. 
Animals .—April is one of tlie most critical pe¬ 
riods of the year with our domestic animals, es¬ 
pecially with the females. Have a care before¬ 
hand that none suffer from lack of a sufficiency 
and variety of feed. Let roots be fed at least in 
small quantities wherever practicable. Use the 
card and brush freely on horses and neat stock, 
and see to it that the active fermentation which 
the warm weather Avill cause in the manure does 
not affect the stock unfavorably. See “Basket” 
item on vermin. Mares, cows, ewes and sows, 
are all liable to slink their young at this time of 
the year, unless they receive constant care, not 
once a week, but several times a day. It is an 
erroneous notion that the causes of abor¬ 
tion are very obscure. It is unnatural for ani¬ 
mals to bring forth prematurely, and the reason 
for their doing so is often plain. Sometimes it 
is caused by lack of sufficient nourishment, w’ater 
and feed, sometimes by ergot, and perhaps smut, 
or poisonous fungi in the hay; sometimes by 
over-exertion, by slipping down, or by some act 
of violence, such as a kick in the flank with a big 
boot, a severe hooking, or worrying, or some¬ 
thing else. Mares and cows frequently slink 
their young in April for want of water and 
sometimes from being compelled to drink im¬ 
pure water, especially tliat impregnated with 
manure—either upon the surface, or from 
wells in the barn-yard into which the leachings 
run. Feed v/hole grain to no animals, ex¬ 
cept sheep having good teeth. See that enough 
coarse grain is ground to last teams and stock 
until pasture time, so that it will not he neces¬ 
sary to go to mill when teams should be plow¬ 
ing. As the warm weather comes on, and ani¬ 
mals begin to shed their hair, they will consume 
as much feed as in the winter, if it be good. 
Barley .—If the soil be in a good slate, sow as 
soon as the ground will do to plow. If possible, 
obtain seed free from oats, buckwlieat and 
spring wheat, as all such grain is a nuisance 
when the barley is malted. In the best regions 
for barley, good farmers are so careful to keep 
the crop free from oats that they will not allow 
unground oats to be fed to their teams M’hile 
they are preparing the ground or putting in the 
seed. Always keep the two-rowed, four-rowed, 
and six-rowed barley separate, because, during 
the malting process, different kinds will not 
malt in the same time. Old barley should never 
be mingled with new when sold, as the two 
will not malt alike, and a loss must be sus¬ 
tained by the brewers to the farmer’s discredit. 
Birds .—Whatever havoc birds maj’ make among 
the fruits in summer, during April and May 
they live upon insects, and the number tliey de¬ 
stroy is immense. Happy is he who has his 
garden full of them. Wrens and bluebirds 
especially should he courted and furnished 
with houses of appropriate sizes ; for wrens, 
boxes 4x4 with an inch hole for entrance two 
inches above the floor; for bluebirds, Gx6 with 
li inch hole. Colonize the different birds in 
separate places, for the wrens are quarrelsome. 
Cattle .—Cows that have not yet calved should 
be allowed to stand several hours daily in large 
sunny yards. If the calves be removed from milch 
cows as soon as dropped, the cow is less wor¬ 
ried than if they are taken away after she has 
become attached to them. New milch cows 
ought to have roots or some green succulent, 
feed at this season: ■what is called “slops,” sup¬ 
plies the place of more natural and better thing.s. 
This is one of the worst mouths for caked bag, 
garget, milk fever, etc.; watch for the first symp¬ 
toms and check the disease if possible. Beeves. 
Increase the amount of meal fed to fattening 
bullocks. Do not require them to eat too 
much cut straw with it. Coarse meal will 
digest more readily if soaked over night. 
During April, bullocks three years old 
should receive from ten to fifteen pounds 
of fine corn meal mingled with wet straw 
during the dajA Meal fed at this season of the 
year will prepare them to lay on fat and flesh 
when they are turned to grass. This is equally 
true of fattening sheep designed for early mutton. 
Working Oxen .—See that the yokes are right 
and bows are not so short as to choke them. 
Feed working cattle well and handle them care¬ 
fully, and they will grow fiit every day’ and bo 
worth more for beef next summer than they 
may he bought for now. Oxen will endure the 
heat nearly as well as horses if fed as well and 
not abused and worried by bad driving. Always 
allow them at least two hours during the mid¬ 
dle of the day for rest and chewing the cud—time 
for which is quite as necessary as time to fec(L 
