170 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
Cellars. —Clean house and barn cellars ; wash the 
windows ; whitewash the walls, and sprinkle quick¬ 
lime where there is dampness or impurity. 
Dairy. —Look out for improvements in selecting 
cows for the dairy as well as making butter and 
cheese. Make a horse or sheep do the churning. 
Flo.x. —See that water does not stand at all on 
any part of the field. Pull large weeds while the 
plants are small. Review the article on Flax Cul¬ 
ture in the April number. 
Grain Fields. —Keep fences in good repair around 
them, and confine turkeys and all other fowls that 
persist in going on the grass, as they will break 
down and destroy more than they are worth. 
O^'oss ^eed .—Fields may be plowed and sowed 
with grass seed this month, without any kind of 
grain. Still it is better to sow two or three pecks 
of rye per acre, to partially shade the young grass. 
Faying. —Commence haying in good time. Where 
there is much grass to cut, some of it must be 
mowed before it is really fit; otherwise a good pro¬ 
portion will become too ripe. Grass will make the 
best hay if cut when the stalks are full grown 
and the heads are in full bloom. When there are 
weeds among the grass, cut it before their seeds 
are formed. Grass is much less liable to be injured 
by hot and dry weather if cut when quite green. 
Hoove. —Watch all animals that feed on red clover, 
and prevent this dangerous disease which comes 
from over-feeding. “ See Basket.” 
Implements. —During rainy and leisure days ex¬ 
amine mowers and reapers to see if they are in 
running order. Take them apart; remove gum and 
dirt from the journals and boxes ; oil afresh, and 
screw up all nuts and tighten loose rivets. The effi¬ 
ciency of tools and implements depends almost 
altogether on their condition. 
Manure. —^Prepare compost for winter grain and 
top-dressing for grass land. Collect barnyard ma¬ 
nure into covered quarters, or protect as much as 
practicable from alternate rain and sunshine. Barn¬ 
yard manure should be forked over to fiicilitate rot¬ 
ting ; and where it is so deep as to fire-fang, water 
or liquid from some part of the yard, pumped upon it. 
Millet. —Whore the soil is moderately fertile, sow 
millet at any time previous to the 25th of the 
month in our latitude. From 8 to 12 quarts per 
acre is sufficient unless the seed be large. Millet, 
grows r.apidly in mellow soil and bears drouth well. 
Oats. —Mow off Canada thistles, and any other 
weeds that appear above the oats. This so checks 
their growth that they injure the crop'but little. 
Oxen. —Feed workers a few quarts of meal every 
day, whether they labor or not, as it will give them 
strength, make them endure the heat better and 
increase their market value more than the worth of 
the meal. Never allow ill-natured drivers to worry 
and beat oxen while at work. Provide such te.ams- 
ters with a soft leather lash and limber stock, with 
which they cannot strike a hard blow. 
Pastures. —Do not feed off permanent pastures 
too closely the former part of the season, unless 
there is a large proportion of Kentucky blue grass, 
which is better to be kept short. If grass gets 
the start of stock, and begins to head out, it will 
make much better pasture to mow off all the seed 
stems, as animals will not relish them; andwhen seed 
is allowed to form, a large portion of the vital ener¬ 
gies of the plant, which are exhausted in produc¬ 
ing the seed and stems, would make excellent grass. 
, FUatoes. —Cultivate thoroughly and hoe well be¬ 
fore the tops begin to fall over, and sprinkle a 
handful of wood ashes around the stems of every 
hill. Never allow careless laborers to strike their 
hOes into the ground near the hills, as roots that 
would bear tubers, may be cut off. Potatoes do 
not need root pruning If weeds close to the hills 
are too large to be covered with earth, ijull them. 
Poidtr-y.—llo gratify the secretiveness of hens, 
make nests where they can not be seen by other 
fowls, when they are laying or sitting. If nests 
be too deep, eggs will rest on each other, which 
should never occur. See “Basket.” 
i%as.—Sow apart of an acre the last of the month 
for seed. If sowed soon enough to mature before 
early frost, they will be free from bugs. 
Poultry. —Feed well; let them out of the yard 
before sunset daily; supply them with a box of 
sharp gravel, where there is none in the soil. Whole 
grain should be soaked at least twenty hours for 
them; and if ground, it will go much farther. 
Ruta-Bayas. —Do not fail to raise a few square rods 
of them for stock next winter. Pulverize the soil 
thoroughly, manure it well, and sow the seed in 
drills two feet apart, as soon as the ground is dry 
enough to work after a good shower. Then a crust 
of earth will not prevent them from coming up. 
Roofs. —Examine roofs of out-buildings when it 
rains. Leaky places will usually be found where a 
shingle has been split directly over a joint of the 
next course below. In such a case another shingle 
may be driven beneath the split one. 
Rye. —Spring rye, two bushels per acre, may be 
sowed during this month, to be cut for horse-feed 
before early frosts. 
Rotation of Crops. —Raise crops that are best 
adapted to the soil, rather than attempt to adapt 
the soil to the crops. Every farmer should adopt 
some kind of a rotation, if he has not already done 
so, as this is one of the fundamental principles of 
scientific agriculture. See “ Basket.” 
Sheep. —Let sheep have access to salt in a water¬ 
tight tub, or trough. When salted only occasional¬ 
ly, they consume too miieh for their health. Protect 
from cold storms for some weeks after shearing. 
Apply a little pine tar to their noses to repel the 
fly. Separate bucks from ewes, or fetter their fore¬ 
legs, about five or six inches apart, that they may 
be impotent to harm. Designate the age and char¬ 
acter of each sheep by significant marks on the 
rumps or shoulders. A figure (1, 2 or 3, etc.) on 
the shoulder may signify a ewe and her age, and 
one on the rump, a wether and its age. 
Swine. —Pigs designed for pork next fall should 
be separated from the sows as soon as they will eat 
readily. Keep them in moderately close quarters ; 
as, when running about in large enclosures, they 
will expend a great deal of material, without adding 
proportionately to their growth. There is nothing 
better than milk, oat and barley meal and wheat 
flour unbolted, to make pigs grow. It is sometimes 
more economical to feed wheat flour than oat meal 
to pigs. Where pigs are chiefly valuable as ma¬ 
nure makers, see that they have enough muck, sods, 
weeds, etc., to work over. 
SorgJmm. —When the plants are young they are 
very tender. They need dressing and hoeing with 
care. Careless men and boys will often retard their 
growth by cutting off the roots, and burying the 
leaves. If the ends of the leaves be covered with 
earth the growth will be checked. 
Weeds. —Wage an unceasing warfare against weeds 
and bushes this month. Mow them close to the 
ground; cut them with hoes, or pull them. It 
injures Canada thistles, ox-eye daisies, and other 
perennials materially to cut them close to the 
ground just before they blossom. We tell work¬ 
men in our employ that a sharp, steel hoe is poison¬ 
ous to weeds, when it cuts them off below the sur¬ 
face of the ground. 
Wagons —Keep them well protected from rains 
and sunshine, as the continued influence of these 
injures vehicles more than the ordinary use. Rain 
will hurt them but little if they are kept in the 
shade. A liberal coat of linseed oil on the wheels 
will often save dollars for resetting the tire. 
Wool. —Keep the floor clean while shearing ; tie 
it up neatly; arrange the fleeces to show advanta¬ 
geously ; and, keep it in a clean apartment where 
mice or rats will not carry chaff and straw among it. 
Work. —Keep in advance rather than behind your 
work. Perform every operation in good time and 
in a thorough manner. 
Wood. —Split and pile whatever firewood is ex¬ 
posed to the weather, so that it may dry out before 
it becomes water-soaked. 
Wheat.— Cni off all heads of rye, cockle, chess, 
and pull gromwell (incorrectly called pigeon-weed), 
from the growing crop. 
[June, 
Work ill tlie Orchard and Nursery. 
It seldom happens that the nurseryman'is tdore 'j 
crowded than he has been the present season. The ' 
sales were unusually large, and the time for filling | 
orders was, by the forwardness of the season, I 
rendered very brief. The benefit of providing all j 
possible appliances for facilitating work, on the [' 
part of the nurseryman, and the early sending in 
of orders, on that of the purchaser, were never 
more strikingly manifest than they were this spring, j, 
and those who have suffered from past neglect !' 
of either precaution, should profit hy the lesson. 
Birds. —Encourage the visits of insect-eating : 
birds, and destroy sap-suckers and birds of prey. I 
- Black Knot. —The only remedy is the knife. If j; 
it occurs on large limbs, cut it out when it first j; 
appears, down to perfectly sound wood, and cover P 
the wound with grafting wax. If the trouble is 
too deep for this, or is upon small limbs, off with 
the limb and burn it at once, to keep the spores ' 
from propagating. The knot is a minute fungus, ; 
and all the talk about diseased sap and curculios, ; 
as the cause, is fancy, opposed to established fact. 
- Budded Stocks. —These will need looking to, not I 
only to remove the suckers which spring from the '■ 
stock, but to see that the rapidly growing shoot is 
properly secured against breaking by wind, or from I 
its own weight. The portion of the stock left ' 
above the bud is usually sufficient to tie the shoot 
to, but where it is not, place a stake for tying. ^ 
Evergreens. —In ordinary seasons, these may be ' 
removed this month, but at the present time they 
will probably be too far adv.anced. If the attempt 
is made, the precautions given last month should ! 
be followed. Keep the grass away from around the 
newly planted ones. Trim and shape trees and ■ 
hedges as recommended on page 186. - . i 
Oh-afts. —Those inserted this spring will need at¬ 
tention, to replace the covering, if removed, and 
support or check very rampant growing shoots. 
Rub off any buds that shoot up near the graft. • ; 
Insects. —These are now making havoc with the 
foliage. If a caterpillar’s tent is observed, do not 
rest until it and its builders are destroyed. Pulling 
the nest off with the hand, and trampling under 
foot, is quite as effeetive as the use of the many 
contrivances recommended. A swab, wet with ' 
some disagreeable liquid, may often be used to ad¬ 
vantage. See article elsewhere on the use of ben¬ 
zine, and on the use of white hellebore upon the : 
currant worm. Moths, which are about looking 
for a place to lay their eggs, may be killed in gi'eat 
numbers by setting a lighted lamp in a large pan of | 
water at night. Jar the plum trees daily, and catch 
the curculios on a sheet and kill them. 
Layers. —The new growth of shrubs may be treat- | 
ed as directed on page 187. 
Labels. —Trees when sent from the nursery fre- j 
quently have the labels secured so firmly that I 
whenever the limb increases slightly in size, a ' 
troublesome stricture is made by the wire cutting 
into the bark. It is well to look at once to the 
labels of newly set and all other trees, and see that ; 
no trouble can arise from this cause. 1 
Manure. —A top-dressing of manure, spread over 1 
the roots of fruit trees, will help the growth of I 
the wood and the developement of the fruit. 
Mulch. —Newly planted trees, especially, need it. | 
Sufficient is said on page 186. 
Pinching. —The shape of a tree is easily modified 
by a little care when it is jmung. By removing 
those young shoots not needed, and stopping the 
growth of those disposed to grow too long, by 
pinching off the end, the form of the tree is quite 
under control, and much pruning is avoided. 
Seedlings. —Young seedlings of forest trees, and 
evergreens especially, need shading by some of 
the methods mentioned on page 186. The little 
evergreens will be benefited by sifting a layer of 
sand, or light earth, over them, to cover the stems 
up as far as the seed-leaves. 
Thinning. —Do not allow any fruit tree to be in. 
jured by over-bearing. It will pay besides, in the 
increased size and beauty of the remaining fruit. 
