2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
Contents for January, 1875. 
Agriculturist, Who Writes for the. 7 
Agriculture, Southern... 15 
Apple, Mystic..2 Illustrations.. 23 
Bee Hive, Voices from. . 10 
Botanical Instruction at Harvard. . 0 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—About Ball Covering— 
Aunt Sue’s Chats—Aunt Sue’s Puzzle-Box—Blowing 
Soap Bubbles—Learning to Sow. .6 Illustrations. .27, 28 
Breeding, In-and-Iu. 19 
Catalogues Received. 8 
Cold Water Dressing for Spavin.2 Illustrations.. 17 
Cow, Victoria Victrix. Illustrated.. 13 
Draining Hollows. Illustrated.. 18 
Flower Garden and Lawn in January. 4 
Fruit Garden in January. 3 
Fruit, Is it Changed by Foreign Pollen. 22 
Greenhouse and Window Plants in January. 4 
Grindstone, How to Hang a. Illustrated.. 17 
Hoop-Poles and Hoops...5 Illustrations.. 16 
norse Stables. 3 Illustrations.. 18 
Horses in the West, Heavy. 19 
Household Department—Speaking-Tube Call—Uses 
for Old Fruit Cans—Homo Topics..12 Illustrations. .26,26 
Humbugs, Sundry. G 
Ice Harvest. Illustrated.. 1 
Kitchen Garden in January. 3 
Kum-Quat. Illustrated.. 24 
Land, Clearing by Blasting..2 Illustrations.. 16 
“Malt-Combs?" What are. 9 
Manure Pit, Italian. Illustrated.. 18 
Market Gardeners, Subsoiling. Illustrated.. 22 
Market Report in January. 4 
Mice vs. Fruit Trees..... 19 
Mystic Apple. % Illustrations.. 23 
New Uses of Old Tools.. Illustrated.. 22 
Notes from tho Pines—Enlarging Greenhouse—Japan 
Quince—Cultivation of Native Plants. ...111.. 23 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 59—Deep Cans tor Mills— 
Dry Earth in Stables—Cooking Food for Cows— 
Feeding a Family'Cow— Great Yield of Mangolds, 11,12 
Orchard and Nursery i» January. 3 
Peach Trees, Ornamental... 24 
Plants, Cnphea Hyssop-leaved. Illustrated.. 21 
Plants, Native Canna. Illustrated.. 21 
Plows, Double Furrow.•... .Jllustrated.. 20 
Ram, Southdown.. Illustrated.: 13 
Roof, To Clear of Snow... Illustrated.. 19 
Science Applied to’Farming. 10 
Sheep, Roots for. 19 
Tools, New Uses for Old... ... .Illustrated.. 22 
Walks and Talks Correspondence. 9 
Walks and Talks on tho Farm, No. 133—Fall Work—’ 
Summer Fallow—Barley and Wheat—Plowing— 
Lime—Farm Labor.... 14 , 15 
Water and Ico... 19 
Work, Hints About. 2 
Who Write for tho Agriculturist. ...... .. 7 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Advertisements, Reading. 
Agricultural Colleges..... 
Agriculture, Report of the 
Department of.. 
Agriculturist, German.... 
Bacon, To Prepare. 
Bed Covering. 
Boldll...- ; • . 
Botanic Garden, Edin¬ 
burgh — .... 
Bulletin of the Bussey In¬ 
stitution.... 
Charlock.. 
Chess & Wheat.... 
Christian Advocate. 
Clnbs, Enlarging..... 
Coffee, New Species of... 
Dairymen’s Association, 
New York... .. 
Death of Ezra Cornell.... 
Destitution in Nebraska 
and Kansas. 
Diseases of Horses and 
Cattle.. 
Enterprises, Outside. 
Exhibition in the Island 
of Java. 
5|Flattering if not Fair. 5 
8 Florida, Good News from 8 
Games of American His¬ 
tory and Biography..... 8 
Horticultural Society, 
Ohio State. g 
Humbugs, Sundry. 6 
Kitchen Gardening in N.E. 7 
Letters we Cannot Answer 8 
Manure, Sommer’s. 7 
Medical Record. 8 
Parrots, How to Feed_ 8 
Planet Junior. .. 7 
Please Notice... 7 
Poultry Shows, Western.. 5 
Shorthorn Convention .. 7 
Shorthorns, Large Pur¬ 
chase of... 8 
Strawberries, Barren__ 8 
Sumach .. 8 
Tan for Mulching___ 12 
Tiles and Brick.. 8 
Vignes Americaines.. ... 8 
Wasted Half-Hours. .. . 7 
Wheat, North Western 
Spring. 7 
Witness, The..... 7 
German Ivy.—“A. G. R.” Of course 
German Ivy is not Mikania scan dens, as that is a native 
plant, hut Senicio scandens, or as some have it, S. mikan- 
erktes. Y#u will notice that the article in the Gardener's 
Monthly is a contribution. Of course the editor knows 
better, and he could not have carefully examined the 
article, or he would not have let this pass, or allow the 
pretty little Olhonna to be called “ bag-wort.” 
Fug© US* 
Calendar for January. 
ISOSton.NEna- 
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PHASES OF THE MOON. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK. 
WASIl’N. 
cha’ston 
CHICAGO. 
D. 
New Al’n 7 
1st Quart 14 
Full M’li 21 
3d Quart. 29 
FI. SI. 
0 24 ev. 
4 88 ev. 
0 57 ev. 
7 50 mo. 
n. M. 
0 12 ev. 
4 26 ev. 
0 45 ev. 
7 38 mo. 
IT. M. 
12 0 mo 
4 14 ev. 
0 33 ev. 
7 26 mo 
h. sr. 
11 48 mo. 
4 2 ev. 
0 21 ev. 
7 14 mo. 
TI. M. 
11 18 mo. 
8 32 ev. 
11 51 mo. 
6 44 mo. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1875. 
The commencement of a new year is the most 
appropriate time to open a day-hook, and begin to 
keep not only accounts, but a record of events. 
The farmer or the mechanic who neglects this, is 
not a business man. Thorough business habits are 
as needful to the success of a farmer, as for that 
of any other manufacturer or dealer—for a fanner 
is both of these. He manufactures, buys, and sells. 
If he does not know the cost of his wares, whether 
they be wheat or pork, lie can never he sure if he 
is doing business at a loss or a profit. No elaborate 
system of book-keeping is needed. A plain daily 
record or diary of occurrences is first needed. From 
this, once a week, can be posted into a simple ac¬ 
count book, everything that relates to purchases, 
sales, payments, contracts, and work done upon 
each crop, in such a way that nothing will be trust¬ 
ed to memory. A daily journal will be a valuable 
record of facts and experiences, of great use in the 
future. Such a record for the past year would be 
profitable reading now, and many hints for one’s 
guidance would he always at hand. What a man 
knows is but little compared with what he has 
forgotten. When the year’s experiences are writ¬ 
ten down and indexed at the end of each year, the 
needed information is ready at a moment’s notice. 
This is the appropriate season for laying out plans 
for the new year. To have a well-digested plan is 
the best preparation for a successful year’s work. 
A methodical man, whether farmer or not, is a man 
of comparative leisure, and yet he accomplishes 
much more work than the one who is without plan 
or system. He is rarely the victim of accident, and 
if one occurs, there is leisure to repair damages 
before mischief is done. This is a time also to 
clear off old scores, to pay debts, and settle accounts.' 
Business men complain of the want of money, 
and look to the farmers for relief. The farmer who 
owes a hundred dollars in a Western village, has it 
in his power to set in action an impulse that will 
be felt through a hundred distinct points, until it 
reaches one of the great Eastern cities. By paying 
his debts, be enables another to be paid, and so this 
goes on, and thousands of such collections gather 
and swell into a stream, which overflows at the 
money-centers, and straightway we hear of active 
trade, money in plenty going west again, to pur¬ 
chase grain or pork, and thus the money finds its 
way back again to the pockets whence it started. 
ISiMts afeosit W©i*ik» 
Marketing Crops has gone on but slowly this sea¬ 
son. Prices are low, not only here, but' in all parts 
of the world. The promise of higher prices is un¬ 
certain. The newly sown crops are in splendid 
condition, and there must be some unusually bad 
weather for the markets to be affected from this 
cause. It is a serious question how far it is profit¬ 
able to hold produce. The farmer has an un¬ 
questionable right to hold or sell his grain, as he 
pleases, but it is well to consider the wisdom of 
holding it in a spirit of opposition to the absurd 
demands of those, who question this right. There 
is a more sensible way of looking at this matter 
than th^t, which is to regard the simple profit or 
loss in holding or selling, in view of the condition 
and prospects of the markets. 
Economy , in everything, upon the farm and in the 
household, will be needed. We are passing out of 
a cycle of high prices, and probably entering one of 
low prices. If profits are to be kept up, expenses 
must be reduced. Tools must be carefully used 
and preserved. Little things must be watched as 
carefully as large ones. The boys and girls must 
not be ashamed to ride in the farm wagon rather 
than go in debt for a carriage. Debt must in most 
cases be religiously avoided. A year or two of 
hard times may prove a blessing, if they lead to a 
system of buying only for cash. 
Look out for Fire .—At this season much work is 
done in the barn by the light of a lantern, and the 
greatest caution should be observed. The lamp 
should not be trimmed, or filled, or lighted, in the 
bam or stables, nor near them ; do not keep matches 
in any of the farm buildings, and take every 
precaution to prevent fires. If there is an in¬ 
surance upon the buildings, it should not be al¬ 
lowed to expire without renewal, and if there is 
none, procure one without delay. 
Snow should be removed from weak or flat roofs 
after every storm, lest the weight should be too 
much for them. It should be also removed from 
doorways and yards as soon as it stops snowing. 
Hoads and Paths. —Clear after every snow-fall. 
Cows and ewes may be seriously injured by wading 
through deep snow or mud, and heavy in-lamb 
ewes, falling in the deep snow, are sometimes un¬ 
able to extricate themselves. It is well to throw 
down some of the fences, or open gates, in places 
where drifts may gather, to save the labor of re¬ 
moving the snow, which would accumulate. 
Care of Stock. —Liberal feeding will he found of 
benefit to all kinds of stock. Observe caution with 
cows in high condition ; as they near the period of 
calving, let their feed he gently laxative, and not 
stimulating. No corn-meal should be given to such 
cows. Bran is safe feed, and if there is any sign of 
fever, a pint of linseed oil, or a dose of salts, should 
be given, as a precaution against milk-fever. Pure 
air is of vital consequence to stock confined in 
stables. Animals will maintain their natural heat 
better in pure cold air, than in a warm foul one. 
Feeding Straw. —Straw is too valuable to be used 
for bedding, whenever other absorbents, such as 
sand, swamp muck, leaves, or sawdust can be pro¬ 
cured. Horses working moderately may be kept in 
good condition upon clean, bright straw, cut and 
mixed with six quarts of meal daily. A feed of 
long hay and oats may be given on Sundays, to save 
labor, and as a welcome change. Common sheep 
will do well fed on straw, with a pint of corn, or a 
quart of bran daily ; the heavier bodied breeds will 
require a pound of oil-cake meal, or some roots, 
and at least one feed of hay daily in addition. 
Sheep are not early feeders, and love to lie late. 
They need not be fed until after breakfast. Other 
stock should be fed before breakfast. For cows, 
straw is very poor feed. 
Com Stalks.—-Cows will thrive upon well-cured 
corn stalks. As good butter, both in color and 
flavor, has been made in winter from cows fed 
wholly upon cut stalks, with bran and meal, as 
