418 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
pDECEMBEn, 
Contents for December, 1866. , 
AMERICAN 
AGRICULTURIST. 
Annual—American Agricultural.420 
Annual—American Horticultural for 1867.420 
Apple—The Surprise.436 
Bees—Apiary in December.419 
Bees—Invention for Emptying Combs.431 
Binding—Papers, Pamphlets, etc_ 6 Illustrations . .439 
Bitters Injurious.439 
Boys ami Girls’ columns—Premiums for—Boy Culs 
Cord of Wood—flow Rain Falls—Great Amount of 
Rain—Problems about Rain—Checkers—Something 
about Meteors—Problems and Puzzles—Our Young 
Soldiers — Grudging Forgiveness — The Gipsies — 
I Comical Blisapprehension—Motions of a Watch— 
4 Illustrations .411-442 
Cattle Plagues.430 
Cattle—Pole Ax.430 
Cattle Stables.... .3 Illustrations ..431 
Cooking Hints—Farmers’Pudding—Tapioca Pudding 
—Cracker Pie—Steamed Apple Pudding—Puff Pud¬ 
ding—Cottage Puddding—Wine Sauce—Bread with¬ 
out Yeast—Pilaff—Oriental Dish—Frying Fish- 
Sour Curd Cheese. 440 
Cotton Culture—Costs and Risks.432 
Evergreens for Holidays. Illustrated. .433 
Farm Work in December.418 
Fences—Foundations for Stone.429 
Fertilization by Insects.3 Illustrations..437 
Flower Garden and Lawn in December.419 
Foliage—Ornamental Plants.433 
Fruit Garden in December..419 
Garden-Kitchen in December.419 
Geraniums—Double. Illustrated. .435 
Grapes—Cold Grapery in December.419 
Grapes—Greeley Prize Awarded.438 
Grapes—Notes on Varieties, etc.437 
Green and Hot-Houses in December. 419 
Hedge-hog—European.427 
Horse Breaking and Horse Sense.....' .432 
Horse—Young Ethan. Illustrated. .417 
Household—Information Wanted?. 410 
Housekeepers—Note to... .. .. .439 
Improving an Old Place.433 
Land—How to Improve.427 
Ladders—Extension and Fruit.2 Illustrations. .430 
Market Reports.451 
Orchard and Nursery in December.419 
Paper for Walls—Selecting.440 
Plants—Cut Leaved.2 Illustrations..436 
Plants—Half Hardy.435 
Porcupine—White Haired. .Illustrated. .427 
Premiums for 1867.426 
Protection from Frost.433 
Sheep Rack—Portable.4 Illustrations. .431 
Shirts—Fitting.440 
Slaughtering Animals.432 
Trees—Diseases.435 
Trees—Grafting Nut-Bearing...436 
Trees—Mountain Ashes. Illustrated. .438 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 36—Cutting Corn 
Fodder—Husking Machine—Potato Crop—Fatten¬ 
ing Sheep—Expense of Farming—Prices of Pro¬ 
duce—Capital Needed—Destroying Rats—Prices of 
Ferrets.429 
Western Farming—Good.432 
INDEX TO “basket,” 
Ann’l Register, Tucker’s422 
Barberry Seeds .421 
Beehive, Langstroth’s_423 
Bonnet, Fashionable ... .424 
Book—Bulbs.423 
Book—Fruit.423 
Book—Gardening.420 
Book—Gift.422 
Book—Grape Culture... .425 
Book—Manure.421 
Book—Poetry.422 
Book—Rural Art.423 
Book—S. S. Questions.. .420 
Book—Tree Culturist. ..423 
Books. Good Pay.425 
Bound Volumes.425 
Butter, Cost of.424 
Cabbage.Marblehead-421 
Calves, Rearing.423 
Chestnuts, Planting.421 
Clubs, Increasing.425 
Clubs, Where Made up..425 
Cows for Dairy.420 
Cranberries, Fine.423 
Documents Received ...422 
Fertilization by Insects. .423 
Flour, Best, Cheapest.. .424 
Fodder. Steaming....420 
Frost, Use of.424 
Fruit for Stock.425 
Geograpliy, New.422 
Gift Repeated.425 
Goats for Milk.420 
Grape Vine Cuttings_420 
Grape Vine—Trade Sale.42n 
Grape Vines, Growing.. .422 
Grouse, Cooking.424 
Heaves in Animals.423 
Honey, Artificial.42.3 
Hop Culture.424 
Horses, Crib-Biting.421 1 
Hurt. Soc. Philadelphia..423' 
Humbug, Lotteries .421 
OR SHORTER ARTICLES, 
Humbug Recipes.424 
Humbugs, Sundry.421 
Index Sheet.425 
Ink Recipe .420 
Irrigation—Windmills. ..422 
Leather, Preservation.. .424 
Letters, Subscription_420 
Map, Lloyd’s.422 
Measures, English.422 
Methodist Newspaper... .422 
Mower, Buckeye.420 
Musquash Skins—Price..420 
Osage Orange in Pa.425 
Paint, Coal Tar.424 
Painting, Colors.422 
Paintings.Eng’vings, etc.421 
Path, .Steep.422 
Pears at Hammondsport.423 
Pears, Beurre Clairgeau.423 
Pencil Marks, Fastening.424 
Plant Medicine.423 
Plants Named.421 
P. O. Address.425 
Pom. Soc., Ohio.425 
Poultry, Diseased.^.421 
Poultry, Large Flocks..421 
Pump and Sprinkler.422 
Quince, Hardiness.422 
Radish, Madras.42.3 
Recipes, Advertised.424 
Rose, Mareschal Niel_422 
Salsify, Cooking.424 
Sheep for Small Flock...420 
Smart Weed Fodder.420 
Snails in Cellars.423 
Sparrows, Eating.424 
Subscribe Now.425 
Tomato, Tilden.423 
Trout, Cooking.424 
Willow, White.422 
Wire for Clothes Lines. .421 
Young Man’s Success.. .424 
NEW-TORK, DECEMBER, 1866. 
Plowing, stump pulling, wall-laying, field-clear¬ 
ing of stones and roots, underdraining, etc., must 
cease when the thermometer drops down towards 
zero. Still these arc the appropriate labors of those 
favored sections where the plow may run in every’ 
month of the year, and where white cloy'er and 
annual grasses afford abundant pasturage, though 
often cropped, from November to May. 
This season is one of compar.ative rest to both 
the farmer and his stock. It is a time for him to 
read, to plan for the next year, to lay in a store of 
ideas, like as he collects choice seeds for his next 
spring’s planting. We have often said that winter 
is the seed time of practical ide.as, wliich bear their 
fruit in the season of labor. It is especially a time 
for farmers to compare notes. A. B. aveut to the 
fair, jjerhaps to the State fair; he brought away the 
hand-bills, cards, catalogues and posters of fifty dif¬ 
ferent dealers, and he will never weary of talking 
over what he saw, and you may copy off the ad¬ 
dresses and write to the parties for catalogues of 
stock, implements, fruit trees, or any thing you 
like. Almost all send such things free, or some¬ 
thing free, though many charge a small fee for 
their very extensive and expensively illustrated cat¬ 
alogues, which are almost always very instructive. 
An immense stock of information may be thus 
gathered, and readily turned to account. 
The Farmer’s Club is the place for discussing 
improved stock, implements, new crops, better 
seed, and all such things, and were the readers of 
the American Agriculturist aware of what the bene¬ 
fits of such an organization might be to them, and 
what pleasure as well as profit they would realize, 
there 5vould be a good club maintained in every 
country school district, or village at least. 
The Retrospect. —We have climbed the hill, and 
before this month is past 5ve may look over upon 
the sunlit prospects of the coming year ; but now if 
we face about in the clear winteiy air of these De¬ 
cember days, we may well take a survey of the road 
we have travelled, of the mistakes 5ve have made, 
and the points 5von—the failures and the gains. 
The year has had its anxieties, (more than usual). 
It has been a prosperous one on the whole; abun¬ 
dant harvests, ready markets, and high prices, have 
rewarded the toils of the husbandman. To a 
limited extent only has disease prevailed among 
fiocks or herds. Other nations have suffered from 
5var, from murrains, and from the failure of their 
harvests, while we are spared this distress, and our 
products are in great demand. 
Our commerce increases, and even our internal 
disquiet does not irrevent the most marked recogni¬ 
tion of our prosperity and greatness as a nation. 
So ends the year. What the future has in store is 
kn05vn only to Him who has guided us thus far in 
prosperity and in adversity, and Avhom in thankful¬ 
ness 5ve trust to lead still in ways of prosperity 
and usefulness, and that our ill-deserts may not be 
remembered against us. 
lliitttii aboiat Work. 
As 5ve have hinted above, the farmer’s most im¬ 
portant ivinter rvork may be in cultivating his own 
mind, and not his alone, but those of his children 
and dependents. In this free and independent 
country, it is often hard to tell which is the servant, 
he 5vho gives the labor of his free hands for money, 
or he who gives his money for labor. They some¬ 
times change places, and very often the hired man 
becomes the more intelligent,cultivated,and v'ealthy 
of the t5vo. Many a man has voted for a former 
day laborer as his representative in the Legislature, 
or in Congress. This comes ouiy by good use of 
the golden hours of ivinter evenings. 
Roohs. —The world is full of good ones. The less 
one knorys, the better is he satisfied 5vith what he 
kno5vs/ Those books upon subjects bearing upon 
a man’s own calling, are a never failing source of 
interest and profit; and in connection with books, 
Psriodwals both professional and those of general 
interest, are very important as educators. These 
things should be made available in each neighbor¬ 
hood, by means of a Avell selected 
Circulating Library., established in a central loca¬ 
tion, in the school-house, a store, or in a private 
fiimily, and open at regular hours. Even at 
present prices of literature of all kinds, a small 
sum only is required to establish and maintain 
such a library, if it be selected by a good agent. 
Schools. —Review hints in previous numbers on 
this most important subject. 
Accounts. —To begin the new year aright when it 
comes, the old year must be finished rightly. 
Farmers are very apt to run into careless habits 
about their accounts—not so much in money trans¬ 
actions as in their store bills, especially where the 
farm products are seldom sold for money, but are 
exchanged for family groceries. Go over all 
accounts, and get ready to commence with a clean 
balance sheet January 1st, 1867. A plain account 
book has prevented many a law suit, for it is the 
very best witness a man can take into court, pro¬ 
vided it has been regularly and accurately kept. 
Protections against Frost .—Protect cellars by bank¬ 
ing up outside the walls with sods and dirt, or v’hat 
is better, tan barb. Conduct off water dripping or 
fl05ving from leaves, and pack straw or leaves against 
such windows and doors as are not constantly in 
use. Pumps or hydrants may be protected by set¬ 
ting headless barrels around them and filling them 
with tan-bark, or muck, or manure. Protect 
underground cisterns, if necessary, by covering 
them with more earth. If water pipes freeze, clear 
the ice out by pouring hot 5vater upon the ice 
through an India rubber tube. Exposed pipes may 
be protected very well by winding them with hay 
rope, and smearing this with clay. 
Fodder. —It makes little difference how abundant 
fodder is ; its waste is criminal. Those who thro5V 
out hay, straw, or stalks, to be tr.ampled upon, and 
trod into the ground by cattle and sheep, do a very 
foolish thing, for if properly used as bedding even, 
it would be Tvorth a good deal for manure. Racks 
ought to be provided for the yards and sheds, as 
well as for the stalls, and so constructed that all 
the cattle refuse may be worked over, as indicated. 
Live Stock of all Kind.s require the farmer’s espe¬ 
cial care and daily personal atfention. The cold 
weather is apt to induce carelessness on the part of 
the hands, and animals are not all well watered or 
equally foddered, or systematically carded or clean¬ 
ed, unless the master’s presence secures faithful 
work. Feed and 5vater regularly and well, and 
keep salt before horses, cattle and sheep. We like 
the Liverpool rock salt best. This comes in solid, 
hard masses, weighing several pounds, and lumps 
may be laid in the mangers or in salt troughs in the 
yard. Give all kinds of cattle a daily airing of two 
or three hours. Young cattle and sheep may have 
much more liberty. No class of stock should be 
allowed to run down in flesh—it is so hard to bring 
them up again, and keep the young stock growing. 
Colts and Steers.—When we get a snow of a foot 
or more deep, it is .a capital time to break steers 
and colts. For hints on horse-breaking see p. 433. 
Horses. —See hints in last number. Look out for 
having them 5vell shod and caulked as soon as icy 
weather comes. The best application for bruises 
and sprains is usually cold water and thorough rub¬ 
bing. If very painful, piit ou rum and a little 
tincture of arnica, but not on'r.a^v spots. Cuts, or 
bruises, Avhen the skin is broken, arc best treated 
5 vith grease .and pine t.ar, melted together to a soft 
salve. See “Horse Hospital ” in our Basket. 
Working Oxen, if used, should be well shod and 
caulked, at any rate in front, otherwise one runs a 
great risk of having them get falls and sprains. 
Cow.9.—Keep their stables clean, sprinkle gypsum 
to prevent the odor of ammonia. Give abundant 
ventilation, but not cold drafts. Make them exer¬ 
cise daily when it is not very icy. If kept in a 
