FOK THE 
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Office, 41 Park Row, (Times Buildings.) 
ESTABLISHED IE 1842. 
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VOLUME XXIV—No. 7, 
NEW-YORK, JULY, 
18G5. 
NEW SERIES—No. 222. 
Entered according to act of Congress in tlie year 1864, by 
Orange Judd, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of 
the United States for the Southern District of New-York. 
9^ Other Journals are invited to copy desirable articles 
freely, tyeach article be credited to Ajnerican Agriculturist. 
CoEtents for July, 1865. 
Agricultural Bureau—A Word to President Johnson.232 
Bees— Apiary in July. .. - ..204 
Boys and Girls’ Department—Making Garden Work 
Easy—Interesting Traditions of the Earliest Times 
—A Child’s Question—Problems and Puzzles— 
“ The Boys are coming Home again ”—Friends 
among the Birds—A Calculating Hen... 3 III .223-224 
Celery—How to Raise...3 Illustrations. .2\S 
Everlasting Flower.205 
Fairbanks’ Scales.......205 
Farms, Southern........ 204 
Flower Beds, Form.205 
Fruit, Bottling...205 
Fruit, Preserving... ....206 
Fruit Stains. 206 
Fuchsia. Defective......205 
Grape Vines in Pots....205 
Grapes and Wine.205 
Hungarian Grass....205 
Lightning Rods.....205 
Locust Suckers.205 
Lottery Humbug.206 
Manu.e, Liquid...204 
Melons, Training.205 
Microscope Humbug... .206 
Missouri Lands.....204 
Muck and Lime....... ..206 
Mushroom Culture......206 
Nurserymen, Reliable.. .204 
Papaw Bark ..205 
Persimmon Seed.205 
Photographs of Lincoln,206 
Plants Named.. . 206 
Plants for Shade.205 
Plaster, etc.., for Land.. .204 
Poudrelte Museum.205 
Sandy Land, Improving.204 
Soap and Caterpillars...205 
Squashes, Mixing.205 
Tree Protectors....205 
Turnip Seed per Acre.. .205 
Vine Culturist....205 
Notes and Suggestions for the Month. 
Beans .— Field beans may be planted as late as 
the middle of this month, where early potatoes 
have been dug, or where Indian corn has failed. 
Buckwheat .— Sow as soon as the middle 
of the month in this latitude. Where there is 
danger of early frost, put in the seed sooner. 
Do not sow more than one bushel per acre. 
Twenty-four quarts of good seed is sufficient. 
Buckwheat may be sowed after barley, in many 
localities, and ripen before frost. Sow the seed 
very evenl}’’, and roll the ground where there 
are any small stones or clods, in order to have 
a smooth surface on which to harvest the grain. 
Cheese—Coloring without Annatto.....221 
Citron—How Prepared......2 Illustrations. .^21 
Clay Lands—Crushing Clods.....214 
Clover Hay—How to Cure.....214 
Cold Grapery in July................264 
Cooking without a Fire.....222 
Currants—How to Preserve ...222 
Drinks for Summer.. ....221 
Exhibition Tables at Agriculturist OSice.. ........206 
Farm Work in July............201 
Flower Garden and Lawn in July..... ...203 
Flower—Touch-me-not or Jewel Weed.,...../lZas(..217 
Fox—The Red {Vulpes fulvus}.. . Illustrated..209 
Fruit Garden in July. ....203 
Garden—Kitchen in July. .....203 
Gardening—Useful Implements for. Illustrated. .219 
Grape Mildew and Us Gave..........9 Illustrations. .2Vl 
Green and Hot-IIouses in July..........203 
Hay Cured without Drying........211 
Hay—Drawing with a Rope. Illustrated. .2X2 
Hay Fork Attachment—Halsted’s....2 Illustrations. .2X2 
Hay Rigging for Wagon. Illustrated. .212 
Hearth Rug—Home-made .222 
Hoed Crops—How to Cultivate.......210 
Hoove in Cattle and Sheep—Prevention. .211 
Horse Power Defined................................210 
Horses—Use of Cheek Rein........211 
Manure—Liquid, and Pump for Raising.... ....2 /H..213 
Map of Fortifications around Petersburg.....208 
Map of Vicinity of Petersburg and Richmond...._207 
Market Report and Commercial Notes...226 
Mowing Machine Knives—How to Sharpen.211 
Notes and Suggestions for July................ .... 201 
Orchard and Nursery in July........202 
Orchard Grass—Further Notes on......214 
Pear Tree Blight—Causes and Cure...220 
Pear Trees—Double Working......218 
Plow Beams—Proper Lengtii for........210 
Poultry Book—New....... ....215 
Poultry—Hints on Showing ; Exhibition at Museum. .206 
Poultry—Various New BveeAs,. .2 Illustrations. .215-2X0 
Recipes—Bread—Steamed Corn Bread—Butter Crack¬ 
ers—Lime Water for Sour Dough—Floating Island 
—Poor Man’s Jumbles—Tea Crackers—Omelet— 
Beet Hash.......223 
Rake for Gathering Scatterings .......... Illustrated..21Z 
Rake Teeth—Best Form for. Illustrated. .2X0 
Rhododendrons at Parson’s & Co.’s....220 
Rose—Sport of . . ............Illustrated..220 
Rural Embellishments..... Illustrated. .2X1 
Shackles - Improved for Bulls and 'Sacks.Illustrated. .213 
Soap and Soap Making...222 
Sparrows-European in America .. . .Illustrated. .209 
Strawberry—Agriculturist Plants for Premiums.....232 
Strawberry Exhibition at Agriculturist OlRce..232 
Strawberry Time in New York.....222 
Strawberries—Notes on ......219 
Summer Fallows—Suggestions About. .211 
Turnips—Raising on Heavy Soils, etc....... 209 
Vinegar Making.. Illustrated. .221 
Virginia Battle Fields ..2 Illustrations..201-200 
Washington Monument—Is it a Humbug?.. .232 
Western Agricullurs—Letter from Western Boy.215 
Weed—The Common Groundsel. ....Illustrated..220 
INDEX TO “ BASKET,” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Articles, Publishing.204 
Asparagus Beds.205 
Azalea, Fine . 205 
Beef for Government.. .206 
Beef, Price of.206 
Bones, Breaking.204 
Bones, Use of.204 
Broccoli.206 
Broom Corn, Dwarf.....205 
Buttonwoods.205 
Canada Thi.stles.205 
Carrots, Wild.206 
Cider Mills...206 
Clothe.s-W ringers.205 
Corn.Fodder. 204 
Diarrhoea Remedy.206 
July, if the weather he only what we hope 
for, will give the farmer but little time for 
reading. His labors begin early and close late, 
to be renewed with the next dawn. Men are 
very likely to overwork, and over-ambitious 
boys, by too hard mow’ing or pitching, or by 
doing “ the work of a man ” in some other wajr, 
injure themselves for life. Many a farmer is 
undersized, crooked, or one-sided, because he 
was ambitious, when a boy, of being told that 
he was worth as much as a man in the harvest 
field. They only realize when too late, that 
they will never be worth so much again. 
Drouths may come, and constant w’orking of 
the surface, mellowing the soil, deeply as pos¬ 
sible, without injury to the roots of the growing 
crop, is the cure which almost all may apply. 
A fine mellow surface absorbs water from the 
air. We can not too often urge irrigation. 
The brooks and streams which can be conducted 
over meadows and lower-ground, are of almost 
inestimable value, and yet it is hard work to 
make farmers believe it. Every man may have 
a demonstration of the advantages to him in a 
fortnight’s time, if he will only conduct a small 
stream over his grass land. The time is not far 
distant when many farms will have irrigated 
meadows, yielding three, four, or five crops of 
luxuriant grass during a single season. 
Bams. —Clean out thoroughly during rainy 
weather. Begin at the top and sweep down 
all spider webs, chaff and mouse litter from the 
beams and girders. Turn over loose boards on 
the ground floors, and brush out wire-w’orms, 
sowbugs, centipedes, and all other insects that 
exist there and in cracks. Where there are large 
cracks in the upper sides of beams, fill them 
with coal tar, and then scatter clean sand over 
them, so that it will settle into the tar. This 
preserves the timber and also repels insects. 
Barley. —-Cut before it is dead ripe, and cure 
with care, as the grain will be heavier and 
brighter, and command a greater price in mar¬ 
ket ; and the straw will furnish a great amount 
of fodder. When hay caps are not used on the 
barley shocks, to protect them from rain, the 
long straight bunches of straw should he placed 
carefully all over the tops of the shocks to turn 
the water as much as possible, and save the grain. 
Butter .— See that milk pails and pans are 
thorou.ghly scalded; that those w’ho milk have 
clean hands; that the milk is kept in a cool and 
airy place; that the cream is skimmed off at 
the right time; that churning is done often; 
that clean salt is used, and that the butter well 
■n’orked and neatly packed in inodorous vessels. 
Cabbages .— Where the ground is rich, nice 
heads may be raised before -winter from plants 
set any time in July, if they are kept well hoed. 
Corn. —Keep the horse-hoes and cultivators 
in motion among the growing corn. Use a 
short whiffle-tree when the stalks are so large 
as to break off easily. Straighten up all hills 
that are not disposed to grow erect. Hot 
weather is the best time to work among grow¬ 
ing corn. Better pull than to cut large weeds; 
Indian corn does not need root pruning. 
Calves. —See that they have a good supply nf 
clean fresh water, during the hot weather. Let 
them have access also to a tub containing salt. 
Wean them gradually. It is very injurious to 
withhold a full supply of milk, abruptly, and 
confine them to grass and w’ater. It often 
stunts them so that they never recover from it. 
Clover. —Read the articles on clover seed, and 
making clover hay, in this and previous num¬ 
bers. Where clover has got the start of stock 
in pastures, it is better to mow it off and let a 
new crop grow, than to let it go to seed, as ani¬ 
mals do not relish it when it is old and tough. 
Braining .— Look out for, and give early or¬ 
ders for good tiles. Round or pipe tiles are best, 
if -well made and burned. Never use soft ones. 
A well burnt tile ought to ring like a bell when 
struck, and a soft one -will not unfrequently be 
crushed by the weight of earth settling over it. 
Fallows .— Read the remarks on summer fal¬ 
lows on page 211 of this number. Rather than 
allow a good soil to lie exposed to the burning 
sun for several months, sow three or four 
bushels of Indian corn per acre. In six weeks 
there will be a good burden of green manure to 
plow under. Let fathers repeat it to their sons, 
and let them impress it upon their posterity, 
that fallowing good land tends to impoverish it. 
Grain. —Make timely calculations to com¬ 
mence harvesring grain before it is dead rinp. 
