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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[AuGtrST, 
Contents for August, 1866. 
Barometers—Useful to Fanners...277 
Bees—Apiary in August.276 
Book—American Pomology.277 
Book—Barry’s Fruit Garden.278 
Book—Market and Family Gardening.277 
Book on Peat and its Uses. .283 
Book—Practical and Scientific Gardening.277 
Book—Stnaii Fruit Culturist.277 
Boys and Girls' Columns—Tire Sun Seen at the Poles 
Two Fights and a Victory—Nicknames—How an 
Owl was Caught—Mixing the Pronouns—Checkers- 
—Problems and Puzzles—Fighting Recommended— 
The Right Road—Something About the Toad—An 
Auctioneer’s Mistake. 4 Illustrations. 296 
Butter IMaking...294 
Carts vs. "Wagons for Horses....283 
Cedar Apples—Description of. Illustrated. 
Chicken Medicine—Value of Charcoal.283 
Deodorizer—Dry Earth Efficient. 286 
Farm Work in August.273 
Fence Posts-Preserving with Gas Tar.283 
Fences—Designs for Ornamental-6 Illustrations. .2S5 
Fences—How to Set Bar Posts.282 
Fertilization by Insects.5 Illustrations. .290 
Flower Garden and Lawn in August.276 
Flushing Monument to Soldiers. Illustrated. .260 
Fruit Garden in August.275 
Fruit—Unusual Growths.2 Illustrations, .261 
Garden—Kitclien in August. 275 
Gas Tar for Posts.283 
Gate for the Farm. Illustrated..26b 
Grape Vines—How to Stop Bleeding.287 
Grapes—Cold Grapery in August.276 
Green and Hot-Houses in August. .276 
Hen Roosts—Improvement in. Illustrated. !284 
Hop Apliis—How the English Destroy. .282 
House Leeks and Stone Crops. .....Illustrated..292 
Implements—Trial at Auburn. 277 
Information Given—To Clean and Color Kid Gloves 
—To Get Rid of Flies—Cement for Knife Handles 
—Pork Brine—Good Home-made Ink—Extracting 
Wheel Grease—Preserving Bacon or Ham—Soap 
and Washing Fluid—To Color Carpet Warp .294 
Insect—Tlie .Mole Cricket. Illustrated. .260 
Insects and Fertilization of Plants. .5 Illustrations ..290 
Ladders for Farm and Orchard.4 Illustrations. .284 
Lamp Bracket.3 Illustrations. .293 
Linnatan Society at Lancaster, Pa. 290 
.tlanurc-Treatment of Urine.287 
Market Report .270 
.Mildew—Metiiods of Treating.286 
.Monuments to Deceased Soldiers. Illustrated. .260 
Oats, WiW—Various Opinions About.282 
Orchard and Nursery in August.274 
Pain Perdu. 294 
Peas—The Carter Condemned.286 
Peat and its Uses—New Work on.283 
Poultry—Feeding Boxes.2 Illustrations. .26b 
Rabbit Breeding.3 Illustrations..261 
Safe from Seeond Commandment.294 
Shirts—Difficulties in Fitting.293 
Stacking Apparatus for Hay or Grain.. ..Illustrated..26i 
Straw berries—Leading Varieties — 20 Illustrations. .268 
Strawberries—Notes on the Crop, etc.287 
Strawberries—Notes on Varieties .289 
.Swans in Brooding Time. Illustrated. .213 
Tidy Pattern—Neat and Cheap. Illustrated. .293 
Verbena—Notes on Introduction.287 
Walks and Talks on the Farm—No. 32.—Cheese Mak¬ 
ing—Winter Feeding and Yield of Butter—Visit 
from Mr. Judd—Weeding Farms—Care of Young 
Animats—Crops for Soiling.279-280 
Willow Hedges—How to Grow.286 
INDEX TO “ BASKET,” On SHOBTEK ARTICI.ES. 
■Vpple Parer.278 
Book, Fruit Culture.277 
Botanical Congress.'278 
Broom, Silver’s .278 
Butler Won’t Come.278 
< labbage andlndependent277 
Cancer Quacks.278 
Entomologist.278 
Fertilization.278 
Frost Flower.. . .278 
Gate for Farm. 278 
Humbug Concert .278 
Humbugs, Sundry.277 
Implement Trial.277 
Insects on Squashes ...278 
Knitting Machines.278 
Manure, Ashes .278 
Manure, Barn-Yard... .278 
Manure, Bone Flour... 278 
Paint Company.278 
Rinderpest in England..278 
Strawberry Engraving. .278 
Strawberry, Gol’n Queen278 
Wine, Unfermented.278 
l*ost-01licc Money 4>rd.ers — Im¬ 
provement.— The new law allows $b0 to be sent in 
one Order. The charge is ten cents for any sum up to 
$20, and 25 cents for any sum over $20 up to $50. For 
over $50 it is merely necessary to take more than one 
order. New Order Offices are being established. This 
system is of great value to the whole country, and 
amounts to positive safety in transmitting moderate sums 
of.mqney by mail, by paying about 1^ of one •ler cent. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-YORK, AUGUST, 1866. 
Agricultural operatious, especially out-of-door 
work, depend to a great extent upon the weather. 
In the early part of tlie season field labor was much 
interrupted by rains and cold storms, which pre¬ 
vented the early working of the land, and crowded 
work very much into June, so that whatever could 
he postponed until July was so put off, in many 
parts of the country. Tlie result is, that while grain 
has generally been promptly harvested when in the 
best condition, a good deal of grass has been left to 
get over ripe and wirey before being cut. To the 
careless farmer there is a gain in this delay, for the 
older the grass the quicker the hay will make; but 
few realize how much poorer the quality is. There 
is reason still to expect great heat, such as we ex¬ 
perienced in the last of June and the first of July, 
and if so, the provisions made for soiling cattle 
will be of great v.alue. We cannot too often insist 
upon the practice, now happily becoming much 
more common then formerly, namely, that of sow¬ 
ing corn, sugar-cane, millet, and perhaps also other 
summer crops, like ruta bagas, or rape, to be used 
for this purpose when pastures run short. There 
are several things that can bo sowed for fall feed 
now, which may come in most opportunely—such 
as oats, rye, sorghum, ruta-bagas, etc., sowed thick 
for leaf only. The pasturage m.ay also be “ pieced 
out ” to good advantage, by feeding some dry hay 
which will ordinarily be relished by all kinds of 
stock, especially if it be cut up, salted a little, a 
handful or two of meal or oil-cake for each ani¬ 
mal, sprinkled over it, and the whole moistened 
well with water and allowed to stand a few hours. 
The dry season gives opportunities to get into 
the muck and peat swamps, which in the lull of 
field work upon the staple crops should not be 
neglected. The recent perusal of Prof. Johnson’s 
admirable work on Peat and its Uses, impresses us 
more perhaps than ever before with the great stores 
of fertility locked up in our swamps and quag¬ 
mires, waiting only enterprise to develop and to en¬ 
rich with them the exhausted acres which on thou¬ 
sands of farms lie closely adjacent. The system of 
operations is first to find the lowest place and best 
outlet; then to dig trenches to drain the swamp, or 
part of it, making first the main ditches, open and 
flaring, then the lateral ones, leaving the muck 
which is thrown out exposed to the weather until 
it becomes dry and crumbles, unless the sun bakes 
it into too hard cakes, in which case, when partially 
dry, beat it to pieces and lay it up in compost 
heaps, with lime slaked with old brine. Such muck 
will be dry and ready for use in the stables as an 
absorbent in winter. That which is not so treated, 
will be disintegrated by frost for use in the spring. 
It often happens that the work of this season is 
such that it may be left a good deal to the hired 
men, and thus the time gained for a few days of 
relaxation. Nothing is more beneficial. A trip to 
tlie sea-side, when a few neighbors make up the 
party, and enjoy sea bathing, fishing, clam bakes, 
and chowders; even a day of fishing and out-of- 
door sports in the woods with one’s family and a 
few friends is worth a great deal for health and 
good spirits. We often hear it said that we make 
too little of holidays and have too few in this coun¬ 
try, and it is true. Farm work will go better and 
one’s interest in his farm, his family and in life it¬ 
self is hightened, and made generous and healthy 
by occasionally giving up a few days to enjoyment, 
and having a real good time. 
Not the least reason for occasional relief from the 
pressure of business and labor may be found in the 
sanitary condition of the country. There is no 
little anxiety at the time we write in regard to the 
cholera, which seems to be held off, under God, 
only by the strong sanitary police regulations main¬ 
tained at our ports of entry. It is therefore the 
bounden duty of everybody to keep himself so far 
as possible in a condition of health, not to over¬ 
work or get exhausted in body, or foolishly anxious. 
The women of the farm who, in the generosity of 
their hearts, often bid city cousins welcome to the 
best they have, and slave themselves almost day 
and night to serve them, are in more danger of 
over-working than anybody else, and husbands and 
fathers should quietly regulate this matter by plan¬ 
ning excursions or visits, which shall break up the 
too long stay of labor-making guests, and give 
their wives and daughters pleasure and relief from 
the severe burdens of their confining duties. Per¬ 
haps you have never been invited to spent a fort¬ 
night in January with your cousins in Boston, New- 
Tork, or Philadelphia, who visit you so gladly every 
August. At any rate you owe no one hospitality 
which will endanger the health of your family. 
Hints about Work. 
Bushes and Heeds.—August is a season for the 
most effective and deadly onslaughts upon weeds 
and bushes. The nature of most weeds is in the 
first part of the season to make tops, and after¬ 
wards to concentrate their energies either upon the 
production of seed or maturing their roots, so as 
to live through the winter. If cut in this dry hot 
weather, it is usually certain death. Even Butter- 
and-Eggs {Linaria), that most showy and detestible 
of weeds, is sometimes killed by thorough hoeing 
up in an August drouth. As for bushes, once cut¬ 
ting up, and then letting the sheep browse off the 
young shoots, will make an end of the worst, even 
wild roses, and blackberry bushes. Do not let any 
weeds go to seed. The season has been particular¬ 
ly favorable to crops of weeds, and without proper 
diligence it will take years to do away with the 
harm that may be done, if they scatter their seeds. 
Seed Gram .—Look out early for a good supply of 
clean plump seed, especially for that to be used this 
season. Clean it thoroughly from all shrunken 
kernels and weed seeds by repeated winnowing, 
using if possible tlie arrangement described on 
page 138 (April), which is applicable to all kinds of 
grain and grass seeds. 
Buckwheat may be sowed now and make a good 
mass of green manure, to be plowed under in time 
for sowing rye, or for enriching the ground for 
spring crops, and with a chance for a crop of grain. 
Timothy sowed alone will, on good soil quickened 
with a top-dressing of bone, guano, or any fine rich 
compost, usually catch well, and sooner make a 
good sward than that sown with spring grain, or 
upon winter grain in the spring. 
Wheat.—li the soil be dry in winter and in good 
heart now, plow early, and giving a top-dressing of 
some good fine compost, or special manure, drill 
in the wheat. It is poor policy to risk winter 
wheat on soil which, from lack of draining, barely 
allows the plants to struggle through. 
Oats .—Harvest before too ripe, and thus have 
much better straw, more and plumper grain. 
Corn .—It is a great temptation sometimes to 
sucker corn for the sake of getting green feed for 
cows. We do not believe in suckering corn at all, 
though with some kinds it may have no evil effects. 
With many varieties we feel sure that the suckers 
are important to secure the proper filling out of 
the tips of the ears, the tassels coming into flower 
a little later than those of the main stalks, the later 
maturing tip kernels of the ear, are thus fertilized. 
Full weeds among corn, but do no hoeing after the 
ground is shaded. 
Tobacco begins to ripen for cutting by the middle 
of the month, if properly topped and suckered. 
When about 13 to 16 le.aves have formed, and the 
flower stalk begins to push up rapidly, clear of the 
mass of large leaves below, then it should be 
broken off The hight will vary with the vigor of 
the plant, and the earliness or lateness of the sea¬ 
son. The leaves increase rapidly in size after this, 
and suckers will start fi-om the base of each, which 
must be broken off. The worming must go on all 
the time; and so vigorously do the suckers grow, 
and so active are the worms, that a few acres will 
give vei’y steady work during this month to several 
