358 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
Contents for October, 1869. 
Barn at Ogden Farm...G Illustrations. .373 
Bee Notes, by Quinby.?S6. 
Boys' and Girls’Columns—The Doctor’s Talks—IIo.w 
to Make a Fire—“ The One that Watches the Sheep 
will Win ihe Wool - ’ — Ways of Getting a Living— 
Street Beggars — Defiance— Del. and Sc,— Only, a 
Pebble—New Puzzles to be Answered. 12 Illvs. 3Ss3S4 
Corn Salad.8T9 
Cribbing Horses.2 Mutt-rations. .373 
Digging Potatoes.375 
Fairs to be Held in October. 360 
Farm Work for October..35S 
Fence, New and Excellent. Illustrated. .374 
Flower Garden and Lawn in October.35S 
Flowers—The Blazing Stars.3 Illustrations. .377 
Fruit Garden in October.358 
Getting Wild Flowering Shrubs.379 
Green-house and Window Plants in October.360 
Guessing at the Weight.. Illustrated. .376 
Hamper for Poultry. Illustrated.. 375 
Handling a Bull.2 Illustrations.. 374 
Horticultural Skirmishing.379 
Household Department—Feather Fashions—TheTable 
—Order and Ornament—An Overworked Farmer’s 
Wife—Bills of Fare for Autumn—Cleaning Coat Col¬ 
lars—Vinegar—Acetic Acid—The Pickle Question- 
How to Use Sour Bread—Hints on Cooking—Car¬ 
rot Pie —Onions and Tomatoes — Soda Sponge 
Cake.4 Illustrations. .3S1-3S2 
Insecticide—A New. 379 
Keeping Winter Pears. 379 
Kitchen Garden in October.358 
Land Drainage, Details of Work.6 Illustrations. .374 
Lemon Verbena.380 
Marigolds. Illustrated.. 380 
Market Reports..3G0 
Marks and Numbers.380 
Narcissus. Illustrated.. 380 
Notes from “ The Pines,” No. 5—Walks and Talks’ 
Views of Gardening—Working the Garden—Trum¬ 
pet Creeper—Trees Poisoning the Ground.37S 
Notes of Travel in the West.387 
Orchard and Nursery in October.358 
Petroleum as Paint.303 
Premium List and Descriptions.364-367 
Planting Bulbs.377 
Products of the Pine Forests.10 Illustrations. .369-370 
Raising Potatoes from the Seed.378 
Raking Sea-weed with a Horse-Rake. 373 
Sheep—The Cotswolds. Illustrated . .357 
Taking up Plants for Winter.379 
Tim Bunker on Ashes . 387 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 70—Petroleum on 
Wagon Wheels—Improvement in Harrows—Horse- 
Power—Weight of Loads—Barley—Summer Fallow¬ 
ing—Building Stone Walls—Timothy Seed.371-372 
Well-curbs and Well Covers.3 Illustrations'. .372 
INPEX TO “BASKET’ 
Apple Butter..362 
Apple on a Vine.386i 
Arc Hickory Nuts Seeds ?386 
Barley, to Clean.361 
Basket Pushed Along.. .361 
Beet Sugar.386 
Bermuda.386 
Bulbs.362 
Bushberg Catalogue.362 
Cabbages.386 
California Butter.386 
California Fruit...361 
Corn Sheller.362 
Early Mohawk Potato.. .362 
Fairs.361 
Fall Planting.386 
Farm Wanted.386 
Fine Tomatoes.362 
Graham Meal. 386 
Grain in Kansas.386 
Grasses Named.386 
Hale’s Early Peach.361 
Horse-book.3S6 
on SHOKTEB AUTICBES. 
Ivy Does not Cling.3S6 
Keeping Plants.. .*.386 
Lima Beans.386 
Mabbett’s Egg-saving 
Nest. 111. 362 
Machine for Pruning... .362 
Name, Town, etc....362 
Norway Oats.362 
One Man and 200 Acres..362 
Osage Orange in Iowa...386 
Peach Tree Diseased. . 386 
Pear Tree Trouble.362 
Pecan Does not Bear.386 
Plants Named.362 
Potatoes for Seed.362 
Premiums.361 
Sap Spouts.386 
Sheep Labels Wanted...362 
Sundry Humbugs.362 
Vegetable Fann'g in S.C.386 
Water for Cheese Fact’s.38ti 
Wild Potato Vine.3S6 
Wright’s Poultry-book..362 
Take Notice. 
2 Months Subscription for 
Every NiV xv Subscriber to the American Agri¬ 
culturist for BQ'S'G, whose subscription comes to 
hand during October, will be presented with , the pa¬ 
per the rest of this year without, charge, 
if the name be marked new when sent in. 
....Take Notice, that this offer extends to All 
■Hew Subscribers, whether coming singly, or in Pre¬ 
mium Clubs, or otherwise. (This will help those who 
dhow begin to make up lists for Premiums, for they 
can offer in each new subscriber a bonus of two months 
free, and still count these names in Premium Lists.) 
A M EIII € A N A G It 5 C ir L T U It IS T. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1S69. 
What a fine thing it would be if every farmer in 
the United States were able to attend a good agri¬ 
cultural fair and cattle show every year! There 
tire few' counties in the older States where a Society 
. might not. be maintained and good paying fairs 
held, which would not only afford agreeable holi¬ 
days, but be of great benefit to the agriculture of 
the district. Any effort, to combine the sale of 
stock or produce with the shows, and to make this 
a marked feature, has utterly failed wherever it has 
been attempted. It seems essentially foreign to the 
genius of our people. However, sales of stock 
and of seed grain, potatoes, etc., are made to a con¬ 
siderable extent, and it seems as if, were we to let 
this sort of thing work awhile, the problem would 
be solved in an American way, and we should 
finally see these meetings not only all that they 
are now, and more too, but regular marts for the 
sale of certain classes of live-stock, implements, 
plants, seeds, etc. A few stirring men will start a 
Farmers’ Club or an Agricultural Society in almost 
any community and keep it up with unflagging 
interest. If such a thing is undertaken, be sure to 
get active men of both or all political parties to 
unite in it, and, beyond this, never think of politics 
for a moment in connection with the Society. Too 
many once useful organizations are now dead or in 
a state of suspended animation, simply because 
they were made use of by shrewd politicians as 
stepping-stones to office in the State. 
As we approach the winter, the labor of different 
sections varies essentially, and our hints about 
work must be taken with reasonable allowances for 
differences of latitude. 
HHSeats. Work. 
Farm Buildings .—Look to the foundat ions, and re¬ 
pair where necessary before cold weather; bank up 
the earth to prevent water settling near or work¬ 
ing through them. See that good channels exist 
to carry surface water away from (not out of) barn¬ 
yards, and away from all buildings. See that no 
sills rest upon the ground, and that no manure or 
litter has accumulated under the floors or sills. 
Eave-troughs should be put upon every roof from 
which the water might run into the barn-yard; 
carry all rain-water into cisterns or well away. 
The water supply for the stock-yard is very im¬ 
portant. Bring it, if possible, in pipes (lead-en¬ 
cased block tin, which is best, wood or iron); 
otherwise, if a well and pump cannot be conven¬ 
iently located in the barn or yard, consider the 
feasibility of storing water in underground cisterns. 
These may be made at this season of the year very 
well. They are of simple construction, all that is 
necessary being to dig a pit of proper size—round, 
flat, or bowl-shaped, on the bottom—and to plaster 
it on the bottom and sides with the best cement and 
sand, working round and round, so as to have the 
narrow strip setting all the time, yet not hard, be¬ 
fore the next course is applied. Such a cistern may 
he arched over by laying a thick cement dome over 
a rough structure of boards, a man-hole being left 
in the apex ; or it may be covered with planks and 
earth. In either case it must he below frost. 
Water near a barn is a great convenience. 
Ice-houses may be built entirely above ground, and 
of cheap, rough materials, and will answer an ex¬ 
cellent purpose, provided only the essential condi¬ 
tions are observed. There must he no free circula¬ 
tion of air beneath nor against the ice. No water 
may stand in contact with the ice. The channel 
through which water flows off should not admit a 
draft of air. The ice must lie upon a mass of some 
non-conducting material—straw, wheat chaff, etc. 
The sides should be of wood, double, and packed 
with some non-conductor, as dry sawdust,, shav¬ 
ings, spent tan baric, etc. There should be some 
free communication with the air through the roof 
above the ice (not a draft). If in small masses, say 
12x12 feet square, the mass should be surrounded 
and also covered with straw, chaff, or sawdust. 
Henneries for securing eggs in winter may have 
their floors three feet below the surface of the 
ground, well cemented, to prevent water coming 
in. The earth coming out of the pit, if banked up 
against the walls, will make them very warm, while 
green-house -sashes will admit light and the heat of 
tha sun to such a degree that fowls in such quar¬ 
ters, well fed, will usually lay all winter. The 
whole structure should not be over 5 feet high, 
in front, from the floor, and 8 feet at the rear. Fowls 
may also be accommodated in other warm, light 
quarters with the same results. Be sure to ventilate. 
Beeves .—Push forward such as are to be marketed 
soon with the most fattening food—old corn meal, 
if you have it, and linseed-meal, with occasional or 
regular feeds of pumpkins and turnips ; keep them 
in tlie pastnre by day if the grass is good. 
Fattening Sheep require similar feeding. Give 
them about as much oil-cake as they will eat, but 
be careful not to cloy them with too much corn 
meal, corn, or other grain; for if they get off their 
feed they pick up slowly. Give sheep some range 
when first taken up, but where they will be quiet. 
Swine should have the soft corn as fast as it is 
husked, and be fed with cooked feed, corn soaked 
and boiled being nearly as good as cooked meal, 
and saving miller’s tolls. Feeding corn on the ear is 
very wasteful. It is a mistake to keep breeding 
sows very thin before they farrow. Feed with roots 
rather than grain, keep them in good flesh, and their 
bowels in good order. A few handfuls of powdered 
charcoal once or twice a week is of marked benefit. 
Breeding Sheep .—March lambs are “spoken for” 
in October, and in our climate this is early enough 
for the majority of early lambs to be yeaned; ear¬ 
lier ones require a good deal of care, and without 
it never pay so well. The choice of rams for early 
lambs lies between Southdowns and Cotswolds. 
The former give the better, the latter the larger 
lambs and often those which bring the highest 
price. In point of quality, Cotswold grade lambs 
are so good that few can tell the difference. 
Fatten Poultry on scalded corn meal, keeping them 
yarded, and feeding them four times a day. Give 
wheat screenings or whole com for the night, and 
soft feed by day. Each time give all they will eat, 
and no more, but keep fresh grass sods and pork 
scrap cake before them to pick at. 
Potatoes must be dug at once. This is now the 
most pressing farm work, if the com is cut up, and 
until this crop is secure undertake nothing else. 
Boots may stand as long as they grow well, but 
harvest them as the advancing season indicates the 
freezing of the ground. Carrots and beets bear a 
little freezing, turnips still more, and parsnips stand 
the winter and may be dug in the spring. 
Corn .—'When the grain is cured, that is, when the 
kernels are hard, the cars stiff and solid, husk in 
the field, binding the stalks in small bundles to 
cure for winter fodder. If you would save the 
husks, pick the ears off and bring them to the bam 
to be husked at odd spells, or break off the ears, 
saving the husks in the field. Look out for the 
new corn-huskcrs at the fairs. The)' take the ear 
from the stalk and husk it as last as the stalks can 
be fed into a sort of cutting-box arrangement. 
Sorghum .—Secure before hurt by hard frosts. 
Slight frosts are a warning and stop the growth. If 
the stalks are stripped, and bound in convenient 
bundles with two bands, they will keep some time, 
but ought to be worked up without needless delay. 
Winter Grain .—Few crops respond more prompt¬ 
ly to a thorough preparation of the soil than winter 
grain and especially wheat. Late sown wheat 
especially should have a fine rich mellow seed bed. 
Do not risk it on heavy land, unless it has time 
enough to cover the ground well before winter, 
'flic first of October is late for wheat, though just 
right for rye, which indeed may lie sown any time 
during the month; but north of latitude 42° late 
sowing is usually attended by too much risk. If 
grain does not start well, and owing to cold 
weather fails to tiller and cover the ground, a dress- 
