Contents for July, 1867. 
868 
S49 
.340 
.358 
Illustrated. 
.358 
A Hopeful Sign 
Animals as Weatliei’ Guages. 
Apiary for July. 
Blood-red Amaranth. 
Blue-tailed Skink. 
Books and How They are Made 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—Instructive Experiments— 
The kind-hearted Tanner—Iron at $30,000 per pound 
—Many a Slip between Cup and Lip—Independence 
Day—Educated Senses-New Puzzles to be An¬ 
swered—Answers to Problems and Puzzles—4 lllus- 
\ratims .261,303 
.. 
Cold Grapery in July. 
Drying Fruit, Hops, etc. 4. Illustrations. 
Experience with French Fowls.346 
Farm Work in July.338 
Fatal Accident from Mowing Machines.249 
Flower Garden and Lawn in July.340 
Fruit Garden in July.339 
Green Corn Pudding.360 
Green and Hot-Houses in July.340 
Horticultural and other Patents.356 
Household Department—Dashes at Housekeeping with 
a Free Pencil—Tidies, Prize Essay-Diary of a 
Young Housekeeper—Housekeeper’s Journal....8 
Illustrations . 
Housekeepers with small Children...345 
Kitchen Garden in July.339 
Lady’s Slippers. Illustrated. 
Large versus Small Cotton-Plantations.349 
Left-handed Plows. Illustrated. .351 
Lizards... Illustrated ..247 
Markets. 
Mole or Gopher Trap. ^Illustrations. .351 
National Tax on Dogs.346 
Orchard and Nursery in July.339 
Pears, some of the less known,.3 Illustrations.. 356 
Pine Lizard. Illustrated.. 347 
Pxxma.. Illustrated. .347 
EaiseYour Own Wheat.348 
Raising Seedling Strawberries.354 
Re-stocking Fresh Waters with Fish..3 Illustrations..'i&Q 
Shad and Alewivcs.3 Illustrations. .<^4 
Sorrel Tree. Illustrated. 
The Jewel in Toads.353 
Tiger Triton. Illustrated.. 347 
Tim Bunker, or the Eight Hour Law.348 
Tritons. Illustrated.. 347 
Turnips, their Place on the Farm,.353 
Using Three Horses Abreast.3 Illustrations. .350 
Value of Corn Husks.353 
Viola Cornuta.258 
Virginian Lungwort. Illustrated. .355 
Walks and Talks on the Farm-^No. 43—Drain Tiles— 
Wheat Culture—True’s Potato Planter—Sores on 
Animals—Ditching—Working Heavy Land.353, 353 
Whitewashed or Painted Fences. 357 
Young Grape Vines.358 
nSTDBX TO “basket,” OB SHOETEB AETICLES. 
Advertising Agency.343 Mutual ExA: 
Aeration in Churning... .343 Notes of Tra 
Appleton’s Encyclopedia 344 
Asparagus.344 
Bees from Italy.243 
Big Things.245 
Birds and Eggs.341 
Blacking Brush Holder. .244 
Bowen’s Microscope.343 
ge.244 
Notes of TTavel.243 
Orchards on Gravel.244 
Over-cropped Land.245 
Patent Brooms.244 
Pears in Maine.244 
Piano, A Good.343 
Plastic Slate Roofing... .245 
Perseverance and Pianos 343 
Broom and Dust Pan_244iPotatoes under Straw_245 
Chess Again.344jPoultry Club.341 
Commercial Enterprise..343]Premiums, Chances for..241 
Corn, Value of.345,Quinces.343 
Cost of Marketing Crops . 2451-fat Premiums.344 
Crop Projects.241 Registered Letters.241 
Cure for Gapes.345 Re-packing Pork.244 
Deceptive Circulars.341: Sailed for Europe. 243 
Diseased Peach Leaves.. 242 Separating Honey.244 
Duty on Imported Ani’s.345 Shall we Milk before 
Parmer’s Fruit Cake.245 Calving.245 
Fire & Water-proof Wash245 Sheep as Lawn Mowers. .244 
Flowering Almond.243 
Grape Literature..343 
Grape Queries.313 
Grape-vine Beetle.342 
Gregory on Squashes... .243 
Horse-racing at Fairs_245 
Horse Radish....243 
Hungarian Grass. 243 
Keeping Meat.244 
Lice on Cattle.245 
Manure and Ashes .. . . .. !243 
Married .243 
Metcalf’s Strawberry....342 
Milch Cows and Dairy.. .344 
Miner Plum.244 
Mohr on the Vine.343 
More Grape Vines.343 
Silver-leaved Maple.243 
Soap and Candles.344 
Soap on Oil Stones.343 
Sowing Barley.244 
Suffolk Pigs.245 
Sumach Berries.243 
Sundry Humbugs.341 
Tennessee Lands.243 
The Hoove.343 
Tightenirg Screws,Dog8.244 
' Time Keeper ”.341 
To Officers of Societies. .343 
Value of Hay, etc.2-15 
Wasted Thunder.244 
Weather Observations.. .241 
Where can I get it ?.343 
The weather—how much depends npon^ the 
weather! Millions of dollars’ worth of hay will he 
exposed to damage from rain ; millions of bushels 
of grain will be in condition to suffer likewise. 
The lack of rain may bring a blight, if not a failure, 
to other crops. By the blessing of Heaven we are 
in little danger from a general famine in this broad 
land, with its diverse soils and different climates, 
bound together, not alone by a Constitution, but by 
potent and ever strengthening net-works of rail¬ 
ways and of commercial interests. The plenty of 
one section quickly supplies the want of another. 
How to judge beforehand of weather probabilities, 
and how to shape his plans so that protracted 
storms, or even hard showers, shall do little damage 
to crops, and cause little loss of time to himself 
and his hands, is a study to which the farmer may 
well give considerable thought. One thing we may 
certainly do, namely : always have work for our 
regular- hands on rainy days. It is more difficult to 
find work for teams. We have no doubt that the 
time is not distant when the corning of all great 
storms will be told by telegraph, so much in ad¬ 
vance, that wide-awake farmers, in neighborhoods 
receiving a daily mail, may easily prepare for their 
approach. The habit of closely watching the cloud s 
and changes of the wind, and the indicated currents 
of the air, high above the earth, is a valuable one. 
The barometer, taken in connection with other in¬ 
dications, is a very important premonitor of ap¬ 
proaching storms. So also are thermometers and 
hygrometers, the one indicatirrg the teirrperature, 
and the other the amount of moisture in the air. 
No one of these is of reliability alone, and all indi¬ 
cations must be weighed with the judgment which 
experience gives. It is great folly for a farmer to 
buy a barometer, and think he can tell when a storm 
is coming, by its ups and downs. As well might 
he go by the wind alone, much better might he be 
guided by the clouds. All the signs should be 
taken together, the energy of the indications con¬ 
sidered, and jiast experience, after all, taken as the 
surest guide. To gain experience, no way can com¬ 
pare with that of keeping a record of observations. 
See basket note on weather. The labors of this 
month are at all times severe. The facilities for 
using horse-power, in securing the bulky summer 
crops, are every year greater, yet human muscle is 
not dispensed with, but only made more efficient. 
Nevertheless, every year the farmer’s success de¬ 
pends less on brawn., and more on brain. 
Hints Al>ont Work. 
Animals.~Covi& at pasture must not lack pure 
and fresh water—stagnant pools are a poor source 
of supply. No stock ought to be forced to drink 
from them, and, least of all, milch cows. Calves 
are better pastured by themselves than with other- 
stock. Young horses often get the bad habit of run¬ 
ning after, and striking them, if they feed together. 
An old horse will take care of himself among cows, 
but colts, of one or two years old, are heedless, and, 
if pastured with cattle, may be hurt by their horns, 
without any real malice on tire part of cows. Work- 
iug stock should not lie OA’^er night in the pasture. 
It is very well for them to have a few hours, in 
which to graze, during some part of the day, but 
both cattle and horses work better on good hay, and 
some provinder, corn and oats, rye-shorts, and the 
like. The amount of feed may be graduated in 
accordance with the average amount of work re¬ 
quired, but it should be uniform. All animals, not 
at pasture, should have some green feed—ijerhaps 
one-third of all they eat. This should be cut, 
wilted, and brought to thej^ard or stables for them, 
and be ready when the day’s work is done. 
Harness and Yoke Galls. —^Wash with castile soap 
and cold water, and, if possible, bind on a piece of 
sacking, wet with water, to remain over night. Re¬ 
lieve pressure upon the sore spots by shifting the 
harness, or by padding, and protect from flies with 
grease and pine tar mixed, during the day. 
Sheep are distressed by the gad-fly this mouth and 
next, and should be protected by tarring their 
noses. Daub the tar on their noses, extending up, 
where they will not rub it off in feeding. The fly 
lays eggs in the nostrils, which hatch, and, the 
worms ascending, cause the “ grub in the head.” 
Hogs. —Provide swine with roomy pens, to work 
over all the litter and weeds that can be gathered, 
besides sods, muck, etc. The amount of excellent 
manure made,as noted on another page,is enormous. 
IFeecZs.—Suffer none to go to seed, is easily writ¬ 
ten, but very hard to carry out. Still, the nearer 
we can live up to this injunction, the easier will it 
be to carry it out, year after year. Many weeds, 
pulled or cut up in blossom, will ripen seed -w-hile 
dying, but few, the seeds of which are not fully 
mature, will survive the hog pen, in root or seed. 
It is never too late to pull docks in the mowing. 
Canada thistles, cut a few times below the surface, 
will disappear. Carrots are biennial, and, perhaps, 
in a few cases, will live a third year, if they cannot 
blossom the second; and we have strong faith, 
though not positive assurance, that the seeds will 
not germinate after the third year. So, two years’ 
cultivation will almost always clean them out. 
Mowings. —If grass lodges badly, cut it without 
reference to fitness. Timothy is fittest when it is 
just out of bloom; orchard grass and clover bloom 
at the same time, and should be cut when the latter 
is in fullest flower. Cut all grasses before the seed 
will shell after curing. The best time to manure grass 
is just after mowing; the best manure fine muck 
compost, with a modicum of ashes, bone dust and 
plaster. Si^read with a shovel from the cart, and 
go over the land with an iron toothed horse-rake, 
to spread and knock the lumps to pieces, and work 
them into the sward. See hints of last month. 
Grain Harvesting. —Barley should become nearly 
ripe before it is cut, and it ought to be bound and 
shocked the same day, and protected fi-om dews 
and rains as much as possible. Thus the brightest 
and most marketable grain is obtained. Oats ripen 
so unevenly that it is often best to cut them while 
many are hardly out of the milk, to save those that 
are getting too ripe. The best time is when the 
kernel is in the dough state. What is lost by early 
cutting, in the grain, is gained in the straw^ Wheat 
ought to get nearly ripe, according to the latest 
doctrine, to give the greatest weight of grain and the 
best quality. The happy medium between sufficient 
ripeness and liability to shell out is the point to be 
sought in determining when to cut. The older and 
perhaps safer theory, flwored cutting while the 
grain was in the dough. Make all preparations early, 
engage extra hands to be ready to cut, and harvest 
at the right time; have sharp and good tools. 
Hay and Grain Caps. —The cheapness of fabrics 
will now permit the economical use of caps for hay 
cocks and shocks of grain. Four feet square is a 
good size, and loops for i^ins at the corners are the 
best fastening. Once using sometimes pays the cost. 
Hoeing. —Hoe to kill weeds, to stir the soil, to 
replace earth washed off by rains. The stirring of 
the soil is a great security against the effects of 
drought. It enables tlie plants to get the full ad¬ 
vantage of showers and dew-s. It enables the air 
to circulate freely through the upper stratum of 
earth, and to penetrate lower, taking moisture with 
it, and depositing it in the cool soil below the sur¬ 
face. Work the soil as deeply as convenient, and 
not disturb the roots of crops. As a rule, avoid 
raising hills, either about corn or pototoes. Per¬ 
fectly flat culture j.-equires, however, deeper soil 
than we ordinarily have on ail fields. 
Turnips after With tlie last hoeing of 
corn, if the soil be tolerably deep, and the culture 
flat, turnip seed may be sown and hoed in lightly. 
(A potato hook, or “ claw hoe,” is the best thing 
to hoe corn with, especially^he last time, if there 
are not many weeds to cut up. It leaves the surface 
in excellent shape.) The corn is cut up and re-' 
moved Avhen the kernels are glazed, and the turnips 
often make a good crop, having 6 w-eeks to grow. 
Turnips Atoue.—Turnips may be sown any time 
this month. On tolerably mellow soil, it is best to 
sow in drills, and nive as much cultivation as other 
