2 , 4,2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
Contents for July, 1873. 
Calendar for July. 
Grape, Summer Pinning.246,Soiling, Believes in. 
Grass and Clover, Sowing ISteajfning Food. 
in Fall.246 Steam Dow 
Grass Seed, Sowing.249 
Ground Sumac Waste... .219 
Hand-mill for Wheat..247 
Harrow, Thomas.24S 
Hatching-Boxes, Patent..249 
Hugs, Large.24(i 
Horse with Sore Shoulder245 
Humbugs, Sundry.245 
Hydrangea paniculate in 
Wisconsin.245 
Land Sales of Union Pa¬ 
cific R.R.247 
Lead Pipe. 248 
Lice on Sitting Hens_247 
Maine Pomological Soc.,245 
Manure, A Cord of... .. .249 
Manure, Drawing.249 
Stocks, French.246 
Sulphur and Salt.247 
“ Saint.” Composition of 247 
Superphosphate or Plas¬ 
ter for Potatoes.247 
Thumps.248 
Tumors, Removal of.247 
Turnips among Corn.249 
Turnips, How to Raise.,247 
VinePuncturcd bylnsects2hi 
Warts on Cows’ Teats.. .249 
Water in a Milk-trough. .248 
Wlmt is a Globule?..'.. .249 
Wheat and Chess.249 
Wlnffletrees.246 
Wind, Force of the.249 
Wool-box.246 
Bee Notes for July.4 Illustrations. .250 
Bittern or Stake-driver. Illustrated. .253 
Blackbird, Red-wing. Illustrated.. 253 
Blue-fishing. Illustrated . .259 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—Menagerie Prizes—Result 
of the Prize Trial—Aunt Sue’s Puzzle-Box—A Peep 
at the Show. Illustrated.. 267, 268 
Boys and Girls, To the.250 
Buckwheat, Climbing. Illustrated. .263 
Budding.2 Illustrations. .264 
Butter-worker, An Efficient.2 Illustrations. .256 
Chicken Coop, Safety. Illustrated.. 257 
“Common Cows” in England? What are.258 
Cottage, Neat Farm-Laborer’s.4 Illustrations. .252 
Destroying Insects—Bellows-Syringe. Illustrated. .263 
Eggs, Impregnation of..253 
Filter, Cheap Rain-water. Illustrated. .257 
Flower-Garden and Lawn in July.243 
Fores. 256 
Fruit Garden for July.243 
Garden Plans.263 
Greenhouse and Window Plants in July.244 
Heifers, IIow Early should have Calves.258 
Household Department—Hoop-skirts, Use for Old— 
What to Do with Bleeding Wounds-Home Topics 
—How to Cook a Beefsteak—Mosquito Guards— 
Lemon Pies—Watermelon Vinegar.2 111. .265. 266 
Kitchen Garden for July.243 
Manufactories in Farming Districts.255 
Market Reports.244 
Milk Cellar. Illustrated.. 257 
Milk-Pail Holder.2 Illustrations. .259 
Notes from the Pines —Spring Foliage—Weeping 
Poplar—Double Li!y-of-the-Valley—Double Crimson 
Thorn—Aqnilegias—Vines and Shrubs.262 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 41—Jersey Cow—Abortion 
among Cows—Labor.251, 252 
Oil-producing Crops...259 
Orchard and Nursery for July.243 
Packing and Marketing Produce.261 
Po atoes, Second Crop of.257 
Road Mending. . Illustrated.. 241 
Sheep, Removing Vermin from.256 
Soiling Question.259 
Stacks, Thatching. .5 illustrations. .255 
Steam Plowing in Europe. 258 
Turkeys, Feeding Young.258 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 115—Wheat Crop 
—Plaster—Nutritive Value of Ilay, Straw, and Corn 
—Feeding Cows Corn Meal—Pigs—Ammonia. .254, 255 
Water Plants...2 Illustrations. .261 
Which should Yield the Best Crops.259 
Woolen Mills, Waste from.257 
Work, Hints about.242 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Abortion in Cows.24S ! Manure, Making.249 
Agricultural Colleges_246 Milk, Keeping Sweet_246 
Agriculturist.Value of.. .250 Milk, Loss of.248 
Apple of Sodom.245 Mole-plow .248 
Apple-seed from Pomace.245jMrs. or Miss?.245 
Arithmetical Problem.. ,248jNew Subscriber’s Ques- 
Ayrshires or Jerseys in lions.249 
Texas.. .245|Northern Pacific R.R_250 
Barley, Soil for.249;Not a Bad Thing to Have.247 
Bog Spavin.249|Oil-cake for Poultry... .248 
Bushel. Size of.246|P„cat-ashes, Value of.249 
Canada Thistles, To Kill.S47iPickles.250 
Castration of Colts.24S.Pigs, Grade or Thorough 
Cattle,When to Water.. ,248| bred..247 
Cesspool, To Empty.247,Pigs, Keeping without 
Cheese Factories in Kan.246| Clover.247 
China B -fries.245 Plaster in Stables.248 
Cholera in Chickens.248 Potash.247 
Clover Alsike.249 Potatoes for Cows.219 
Coal-ashes, Value of.. . 246 Poultry Farming.248 
Composting. 246 Prairie Farmer .245 
Corns in Horses’Feet.. ..246 Ramie, Preparing.248 
Corn, Suckering.249 Right and Wrong.245 
Cotton-seed as Manure. ..249 Roller, To Prevent Clog- 
DoGood andMakeMoney.249j ging . 247 
Draining.248 Roots ofTrees in t.heWell248 
Earth-closet Manure.246[Rose-bugs onGrape-vines246 
Eggs for Winter Use.248 Rye for Cows... 248 
Farming and Hunting.. .246 Rye, Plowing Under for 
Food, Consumption of...249] Manure.247 
“ For Information ”.245,“ Salt-fish ” Composting.248 
Four Months in Texas...249,Sawdust ns a Mulch.246 
Fourteen Weeks in Hu- jScnles on Chickens’Feet.248 
man Physiology.249 Self-opening Gate.245 
Fowls. Five-toed.247 Sheep, Folding.249 
Frauds on Farmers.247iSheep-tick..246 
Furs. Dressing .247 Skin Diseases in Dogs.. .246 
Grafting.250 Snake-bitten Horse,Cure.248 
Grain-bags, Hiring.247 Snow, Benefits of..248 
Boston .M Eng¬ 
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Washington, 
Maryland, 
Virginia. Ken¬ 
tucky. Miss on- 
ri, and Cali¬ 
fornia. 
PHASES OF THE MOON. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK. 
wash’n. 
cha’ston 
CHICAGO. 
In. 
1st Quart 2 
Full M’n 10 
8d Quart. 10 
New M’n 124 
n. jr. 
6 26 ev. 
1 50 in. 
4 14 ev. 
5 50 m. 
H. M. 
6 14 ev. 
1 as m. 
4 2 e.v. 
5 38 111. 
II. M. 
6 2 ev. 
1 26 m. 
3 50 ev. 
5 26 in. 
H. M. 
5 50 ev. 
1 14 m. 
3 33 ev. 
5 14 m. 
n. M. 
5 20 ev. 
0 44 m. 
3 Rev. 
4 44 in. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTUREST. 
NEW YORK, JULY, 1873. 
The great truth which the American Agriculturist 
aims to teach and enforce is the necessity for bet¬ 
ter farming. Every year the partial failure of some 
of our crops illustrates the importance of the 
lesson. These failures rob us of half our profits. 
Some years wc have poor corn, and some years 
poor potatoes or poor hay. This year, in our own 
neighborhood, we have poor winter wheat. It is 
time we looked this matter squarely in the face. 
The seasons do not change. What has been will 
be. We have always had floods and drouth, cold 
winters and hot summers. It is the part of wis¬ 
dom to expect them and prepare for them. 
Right before our eyes where we now write is a 
twenty-acre field of wheat, half of which will pro¬ 
duce over 30 bushels per acre, and fhe other half 
not three bushels. The poor crop is attributed to 
the bad season. The good crop is due to richer 
land and better culture. It will not do to say that 
the season has nothing to" do with the fitilure on 
one-half of the field; but it is certain that good 
farming will to a considerable extent enable us to 
get profitable crops even in the worst seasons. 
This is a lesson we are exceedingly slow to learn. 
We must farm better. We do not advocate any 
great radical changes in our system of farming. 
We propose no extravagant expenditures. We 
recommend nothing that farmers can not carry 
out. We simply urge them to spare no efforts to 
clean and cnricli their land. Wc want them to 
fully realize the absolute necessity there is for a 
better system of farming. 
Mints siTbosat Work. 
Haying and Harvesting arc supposed to be the 
most important work of the mouth. In one 
sense this is, of course, true. But any one who 
keeps a record of the daily and hourly work done 
on the farm will he astonished to find how small a 
proportion of his time is spent in .the actual opera¬ 
tions of cutting and gathering the crops. 
Thirteen Hours a Day spent in actual work gives 
us 338 hours in the month. An average farm em¬ 
ploys perhaps five persons. This gives 1690 work¬ 
ing hours during the month. 
How are these Hours Spent? —Will our readers 
take a pencil and figure up ? We think it will be 
found that not one-half of these working hours 
are spent in doing what we call important work. 
And if this is so, the really important work of the 
farm must be looked for outside of the regular 
operations that we think and talk about. 
Look for the Weak Spot. —The success of a 
farmer depends very much on his ability to dis¬ 
cover where time is lost, and on his skill and 
promptness in rectifying the trouble. The weak 
spot differs on different farms, but it always exists. 
See if you can find it. 
Machinery is a great help, provided a farmer 
knows how to use it. He must keep it in thor¬ 
ough repair and iu working order. As a rule, a 
farmer will generally do better to hire as much of 
his work done by machinery as possible, rather 
than to keep the machines himself. 
Haying on a large grain farm should be pushed 
forward as rapidly as possible, so as to be out of 
the way before the grain is ready to cut. 
Better Cut Grass too Early than too Late; and we 
have found from experience that it is not well to 
be too timid iu regard to the weather. 
Get the Ilay in as East as you can Cure it. —If you 
do this, you need not hesitate to cut down the 
grass for fear of bad weather. On the other hand, 
however, be careful not to cut down more hay than 
you have force enough to handle. 
In Making Ilay, the essential points are to get 
rid of the moisture in the grass as rapidly as pos¬ 
sible. Wo should aim to expose it as much as 
possible to the sun and air; but the shorter the 
time it is exposed the better, provided it is suffi¬ 
ciently cured to keep without molding. Above all, 
aim to avoid exposing cured or partially cured hay 
to dew and rain. 
Green Grass, freshly cut, can be exposed to rain 
or dews with little or no damage. For tins reason 
we like to cut in the afternoon or evening, and let 
the grass lie undisturbed until the dew is off the. 
next morning. Then use the tedder, and try to 
get the hay ready to draw in during the afternoon. 
Any hay that can not be drawn in should be made 
into cocks before the dew falls. Where there is 
force enough, the most economical way to draw 
in hay is with three ivagons. The pitcher remains 
in the field all the time. One wagon is going 
back and forth all the time, one is at the barn, and 
one in the field. A good pitcher should send 
home a fair two-horse load every 25 minutes. 
Make Good loads, but not high ones. All loaders 
have a tendency to draw in their loads at each end. 
This involves an unnecessary expenditure of 
power on the part of the pitcher. 
A Boy to Drive the Wagon from Cock to Cock 
will save much time. A good pitcher will give 
a loader all ho wants to do without his having 
to look after the team. Where the loader drives, 
half the time is often spent in getting from cock 
to cock. If you doubt it, test it by the watch. 
A Little Salt, say a quart to a ton, may be scat¬ 
tered on t lie hay as it is put in the barn or stack 
with advantage. It is a mistake to suppose that 
salt draws moisture from the atmosphere. It draws 
it out of the hay. 
Wheat should he Cut as soon as the grain ceases 
to have any “milk” in it, hut not before. With 
us, straw is so valuable that we cut as close to the 
ground as possible. An inch of straw at the ground 
weighs as much as two inches at the top. 
Binding is now the costly work of harvesting 
wheat. ■ We have known a farmer pay $4 per day 
to men to bind a light crop of wheat that was so 
full of thistles that they could not do more than 
half a good day’s work. We would have made 
“ takings ” of the whole crop; or rather wc would 
have left it in the gavils as thrown off by the 
reaper and pitched it with a barley-fork. Anything 
is better than submitting to the extortionate de- 
