122 
AMERICAN. AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
Contents for April, 1867. 
Adobe and Concrete Buildings.137 
Apiary for April....-131 
At.ragene Americana. Illustrated .. 141 
Baskets—Home Made.4 Illustrations. AZI 
Boys’ and Girls Columns—The “Doctor’s” Talk— 
New and Useful Toy—Plant Something—The Boy 
Who Kept Blowing—New Puzzles—Answers to 
Problems and Puzzles—Great Excitement in the 
Monkey Family—I Wasn’t Watching—A IIome-Lov- 
ing Cat—A Novel Bird Catcher—How to “Finish” 
a Boy.10 lUustrations. 
Carrot Culture.. ■ • ..1®! 
Cheddar Cheese—How Made.10 lUustratkms. AZi 
Cob—Smallness Desirable.135 
Cold Grapery in April.134 
Cotton Culture....... • ..135 
Design in Feeding Stock. 136 
Driving Horses at Plowing.134 
Evergreens—To Help their Growth...... .144 
Farm Work in April...... 133 
Flower Garden and Lawn in April............ .134 
For and Against Dogs.. Illustrated. .VtiQ 
Fruit Garden in April. 133 
Garden—Kitchen in April... 123 
Grape Culture and Vine Training.2 Illustrations. AiZ 
Green and Hot-Houses in April...134 
Green Turtle.... lUustrated .. 133 
Hay Barracks..3 i llustratiOns .. 136 
Horse Radish—How Grown .. 3 Illustrations .. 141 
Household Ornaments.3 Illustrations. .145 
Housekeepers’ Diary... 11llustrations. .145 
Housekeepers’ Journal. 146 
How the Women can Help. .146 
Investing in the Farm. 138 
Judas Tree. lUustrated.. 144 
Lime Soap. 146 
Mangel Wurtzels for Sheep .138 
Markets... .125 
Measurement of Unhusked Corn...131 
Notes on Grapes and Grape Culture.142 
Nut-Bearing Trees—Grafting.144 
Opossum.... ... 1 llustraled .. 1.33 
Orchard and Nursery in April.123 
Pine Barrens of the South.1.30 
Premiums. .125 
Preparing Trees for Removal.142 
Salt W’ater Terrapin.. Illustrated. .1.33 
Sheep’s Foot—Biflex Canal.3 lUmtrations. .136 
Sheep—Southdown Ram... lUustrated. .121 
Screens for Shelter... lUustrated.. 1.34 
Stone Fences. 138 
Sweet Potato Culture. lUustrated. .139 
Sweet Potato Plants—Starting.143 
Ventilator—A Simple... . lUustrated. .137 
Walks and Talks on the Farm No. 40—Diseases in , 
Window Gardenihg. lUustrated. A4A 
INDEX TO “basket,” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
American Naturalist.127 
American Pomology.126 
Apples for Wisconsin.... 129 
Black Spanish.129 
Cabbage, Cooking.128 
Catalogues.127 
Coal Ashes.1^ 
Com Biscuit...l^S 
Com Blight..129 
Corn Cobs..128 
Cornmeal Pudding.128 
Com Muffins.... ....128 
Cribbing Horses.129 
Draining Marshes.. .129 
Eggs for Sotting..128 
Farming by Prof 1 Men . .129 
Feeding Turnips.1.30 
Flat or Lap Furrows.129 
Frothy; Cream..12S 
Grapes, Correction.. .... .128 
Grape Cultiirist,...._126 
Hay Fork Trial... .127 
Hens, to Make Lay..... .129 
Hoe Cake..,....128 
Hort’l Gift Enterprise... .126 
How it Sells .. .127 
Humbug Plants...126 
King Philip Corn...129 
Louisiana State Fair._129 
Maryland Hams..128 
M:ice...,.....128 
Miner Plum......_128 
Moon on Meat...128 
Newport Cake, i...128 
N. Y. State Ag’l Society.128 
No Plants for Sale.126 
Patent Office Reports....128 
Peat as Fuel. .128 
Personal.127 
Pickles in Salt....128 
Poor Man’s Pudding.128 
Prescribing at a distance 128 
Prize Essays. 127 
Pump for Well.129 
Pumpkin Johnny Cake.. 128 
Racing at Fairs. 127 
Report, Dep’tof Agrture.128 
Rye Bread.. 123 
Salt in Whitewash.. .;.. .123 
Scalding Peas..127 
Selling Quarries.1^ 
Slaughter-House Bones.. 129 
Slow Torture at Stack.. .129 
iSmoked Meat, Keeping. .129 
Sorghum Skimmings_129 
Sorghum Vinegar,____128 
Special to Advertisers 
S. S. Question Books 
Stale Fish Manure... 
Sundry Humbugs.... 
Threshing. 
Threshing Machines. 
Two Eggs a Day. 
Ventilation. 
Wet Cellars. 
Wheat Failure....... 
Why it Pays ?.. 
...126 
...126 
...129 
...126 
...129 
...130 
...129 
...123 
...127 
. ..129 
...127 
Works in Preparation... 127 
Back Volumes Supplied.— The back volumes 
of tlie Agriculturist are very valuable. Tliey contain 
information upon every topic connected with rural life, 
out-door and in-door, and the last ten volumes make up 
a very complete library. Each volume lias a full index 
for ready reference to any desire;! topic. Wc have on 
hand, and print frorh stereotype plates as wanted, all the' 
numbers and volumes for ten yearn past, beginning with 
1857—that is, Vol. 16 to Vol. 25, inclusive. Any of these 
volumes sent complete (in numbers) at $1.75 each, post¬ 
paid, (or $1.50 if taken at the office). The volumes 
neatly bound, are supplied for $2 each, or $2.50 if to be 
sent by mail. Any single numbers of the past ten 
years will be supplied, post-paid, for 15 cents each. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-TOPvK, APPvIL, 1867. 
Extreme views and practices are held and follow¬ 
ed, with small profit to any one, and least of all to 
him who suddenly adopts them. However at vari¬ 
ance any man’s system of farming is with sound 
philosophy, if he has hitherto met with any sort of 
success, and is not absolutely running backward, 
we would surely not advise him to cast loose from 
his moorings and adopt all new practices, to accord 
with the views of a sounder agricultural faith, to 
which he may have become a convert. Kashness is 
the usual precursor of failure, hut progressive con¬ 
servatism uniformly leads to success. Deep plow¬ 
ing is an excellent practice, hut only when there is 
a soil to plow. He who lifts several inches of un¬ 
tempered subsoil and mingles it with a shallow 
surface soil, will repent his deed when the sickly, 
yellow grain testifies to the poison presented tathe 
plants with their food, or to the difficulty they have 
in picking up a living among the mass of rubbish. 
In the spring, especially, the soil should not be 
plowed much deeper than heretofore. In the 
autumn the plow may very well be put down quite 
deeply, provided there is enough plant food in the 
soil, or added to it, to warrant it; for the freezing 
and thawing of winter, and the action of the at¬ 
mosphere will essentially modify its character. 
These influences are wanting at this season, and 
deeper plowing than usual must either be accom¬ 
panied with thorough liming or the use of uni cach¬ 
ed ashes, or very heavy manuring; and even then it 
is not to be recommended for small grains. It is 
well, however, at every plowing to run the plow' a 
little deeper than before; and if the soil is neither 
water soaked nor leachy, even quite shallow sub¬ 
soiling will prove of great benefit. We advocate 
most earnestly deepening of the soil, hut not rash¬ 
ly, nor too much in spring plowing. 
The failures of certain crops year after year ad¬ 
monish ns not to put our trust too much in any 
single staple. Influences, which are injurious to 
one class of crops, benefit others, and so, judicious¬ 
ly dividing our interests, wc are sui’er of success. 
Double cropping of the land is one of the essen¬ 
tial features of “high” or “intensive” farming. 
It is equivalent to getting double interest for the 
money invested in the land, and in the labor of 
weeding and clearing the same, and for the build¬ 
ings, fences, roads and superintendence of the farm, 
it gives quicker returns for the investment in ma¬ 
nure, and in all points is a great gain. It requires 
that the land should be rich and in good tilth, 
reasonably free from weeds, and that there should 
be a proper rotation of crops followed, and labor 
enough at command. It affords also a means of 
profitably employing many hands the season 
through, for whom there would otherwise be little 
to do most of the time. The practice should he 
commenced in the garden and extended to the 
field, when fiimiliarity has given confidence in it. 
We entreat farmers not to neglect their gardens. 
Many arc too apt to read the hints about farm work 
and slight the other columns. The kitchen garden, 
if well cultivated, better rewards labor than any 
portion of the farm of five times its extent. 
Hints A1>ont Work* 
Bevieuj the hints for last month ; many of them 
will he found equally applicable to this, especially 
if the season he backward. Besides, the weather 
of March, in the latitude of Philadelphia and St. 
Louis, is that of April near Boston or St. Paul. 
Tillage.—The preparation of the soil for the seed 
is the important work of this month. Manure is 
to he hauled and spread, and the ground is to ho 
plowed. The waste of manure wliich occurs after 
it is spread is very little in weather which will not 
allow plowing, and not very great in full, hot sun¬ 
shine, if it does not lie long. It is much w;orse to 
dump the manure in small heaps and leave it for 
some time exposed to the action of rains, for the 
goodness washes out into the soil and enriches it in 
spots, to the seriong damage of the crop. 
Plowing and any other working of the soil should 
never be done when the clods will not crumble. 
Dryness is essential to useful tillage. It is much 
better to delay work than to leave the land lumpy 
and hard. There are many spots on which 
Praining may be done in the spring—especially 
where there is a good fall, and work may progress 
from the outlet. The necessity for drainnge is 
now obvious, and though partial drainnge is never 
to be recommended where thorough work will bo 
undertaken, yet as a demonstration of the fact that 
“bui’ying crockery” will pay, it is worth wdiile 
often to try the experiment “just to see.” Re¬ 
member that the full effects of draining are often 
not witnessed until the third or fourth season. 
Spring Grains .—Prepare seed by selecting with 
the fan-mill the heaviest grain—the more times it 
is fanned, the better will be. the seed; then, when 
the soil is nearly or quite ready, prepare the seed 
by pickling to destroy the seed of smut, which may 
be attached to it. This is useful for barley, and 
imperatively necessary for wheat. Add to a strong 
brine pulverized “blue stone,” (sulphate of cop¬ 
per,) until no more is dissolved; into this throw 
the grain, stir thoroughly, and after five minutes 
scoop it out, throw into a basket, let it drip hack 
into the tub of inckle, then put in a heap upon a 
floor; after 24.hours shovel it over, sprinkling 
on dry slaked lime, thus drying it. Sow 5 to 7 
pecks of wheat, 2 bushels to 2)^ of barley, 2)^ of 
oats. The ground should have been plowed in the 
fall for wheat and barley. Oats do tolerably well 
on a sward plowed in spring. For ail either very 
fine compost or some concentrated fertilizer, such 
as a mixture of superphosphate of lime and Peru¬ 
vian guano—say 100 lbs. of each—should be used. 
Sow, as a rule, those kinds of grain which are 
in highest repute in your own neighborhoods. 
Poot Crops .—Prepare the soil for sowing carrots, 
beets and mangels, and onions, the earlier the better., 
It should he deep and rich, plowed in the fall and 
as free from weeds as possible, especially for onions, 
which require the finest and mellowest soil, en¬ 
riched Avith good, fine compost. The other root 
crops need also rich soil, deeper than onion soil, 
hut not less rich, though the enrichment need not 
he of so fine a quality. These crops can not bo 
sown too early, after danger for hard freezing Li 
passed and the soil is warm and dry enough. Bed- 
seed ought to be soaked 24 hours. 
Potatoes .—At least a portion of the crop shouTI' 
be planted A-ery early for security against tls 
rot. The Early Cottage, White Peachblow, 
Cuzco and Fluke are commendable kinds. Plant 
deep, in drills 2}^ to 3 feet apart, cover Avith the 
ploAV. Harrow as often as weeds appear, until the 
tops show very plainly, and once after that, driving 
with the rows. It is sometimes well to turn fur¬ 
rows upon the rows to cover them a few days after 
this, and Avhen a new crop of weeds appears to har¬ 
row again. Superphosphate, castor pomace, leach¬ 
ed or unleached ashes are good used in the drill. 
It is usually poor pi-actice to plant in hills. 
Peas .—See notes for last month. 
jpa Nuts or Ground Nuts, for profitable culture, 
require a rather long season. Sow in roAA's three 
to four feet apart in deep, mellow, rather sandy 
soil, in a good condition; drop tAvo shelled kernels 
in a hill, and imt the hills one foot apart. Plant as 
early as there is a chance for the young plants to 
escape frosts, to Avhich they are as sensitive as 
beans—cover tAVO inches deep. Use horse hoes at 
first, and hand hoes after the)- begin to run. At all 
events keep the weeds down. After first hoeing, 
thin to one plant in each hill. Crop, in the warmer 
States, 50 to 150 bushels per acre. 
■EYaa;.—Sec pamphlet “Flax Culture.” Sow on very 
mellOAV soil, free from weeds, one and a half bushels 
per acre, (for seed and lint both,) as evenly as pos¬ 
sible. Selecting the heaviest seed, soak in warm 
water two or three hours, roll in gj'psum and soav 
two ways. Cover with a brush or light harroAV. 
Manure makes fast in compost heaps, if oc- 
