AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
FOR THE 
Farm, Grarden, and HouLseliolcl. 
“AGRICULTURE I^TIIE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOIILE EMPLOYMENT OF MjVN, W — WaSIIINGTOS. I 
ORANGE JUDD, A.OT., 
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
Oflflce, 41 Parlt Row, (Times Buildings.) 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
Published both in English and German. 
( $1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE 
-j SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 
\ For Contents, Terms, etc., see page 96. 
VOLUME XXII—No. 3. 
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1803, by 
Orange Jn>D, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of 
the United States for the Southern District of New-York. 
Other Journals are invited to copy desirable articles 
freely, ?/eacli article be credited to American Agriculturist. 
Suggestions and Notes for the Month. 
The Calendar tells us that it is Spring; and 
thoi|h the weather may be less mild than dur¬ 
ing nearly all of last January, yet tire lengthen¬ 
ing days, here and there the swelling buds of 
the early trees, and the appearance of the Liver- 
leaf in places where the snow has gone, remind 
the farmer that his time of comparative leisure 
is nearly over, and he begins to be impatient to 
commence his season’s work. This month of 
transition from Winter, one which witnesses the 
contest of the seasons for the mastery, is the oc¬ 
casion of many a skirmish between the rear 
guard of the retreating forces of the frost king, 
and the videttes of Spring. Sometimes the ad¬ 
vance is so slow, delayed by late snows and 
lingering cold, that the active farmer chafes at 
the tardy progress, and is half inclined to fear 
that seed time may not come according to the 
promise. An unusually mild Winter through¬ 
out the country has saved a great amount of fod¬ 
der, yet the daily decreasing store is now looked 
at with solicitude, for it will yet be a long time 
before the pastures yield food for the beasts, and 
during many weeks to come the provisions al¬ 
ready secured, must be the sole dependence. 
The crude old couplet “On February, four¬ 
teenth day; Half your corn and half your hay,” 
is not far from a true statement. 
Notwithstanding the teachings of the journals 
and the example of thrifty farmers, the agricul¬ 
ture of our country is characterized by a great 
deal of careless waste. Many farmers have not 
learned that saving is as important as producing. 
In almost every neighborhood we find exam¬ 
ples of wasteful feeding, where the cattle tram¬ 
ple under foot nearly as much as they eat. There 
are whole districts where almost every other 
man uses the public highway for a barn-yard.— 
If the contents of the hay mow and corn crib 
have so far diminished as to suggest a lack of 
NEW-YORK, MARCH, 1863. 
feed to take the animals safely through, the 
manner of feeding should be looked into, to see 
if it be done in the most saving way. In good 
feeding there should be just as much put before 
the animal as it will eat up, and no more. A 
correspondent writes us that “ it is a sin to throw 
fodder to the cattle in the barn-yard so that, they 
can tramp on it, when feeding boxes like those 
described on page 12 of the Agriculturist for 1862 
can be so cheaply made. It is a pleasure t.o 
see cattle eat out of them, and nothing is wasted.” 
But with all our individual faults, agriculture, 
as a whole, has made great progress, iu the man¬ 
ner of cultivating the main crops and economy 
in using them, and also in the introduction of a 
diversity of products. The war has brought 
changes even in the domestic economy of the 
smallest farms, and individuals as well as the 
nation are impelled to develop their resources. 
Besides the staples of wheat, corn, etc., sorghum, 
flax, cotton, and tobacco are either being suc¬ 
cessfully cultivated as regular crops, or are the 
subjects of important experiments. Before the 
work of the season fairly begins, there is still 
time to consider whether any change shall be 
made in the usual routine of crops. The read¬ 
ers of the Agriculturist will bear us wituess that 
we have never advised them to go blindly into 
any new project. We hold that there is a wise 
medium between that old fogyism which rejects 
everything and that rashness which adopts 
everything, and both for the same reason—be¬ 
cause it is new. In a country so extended as 
ours, and with such a diversity of soil and cli¬ 
mate, the experience of one locality will not 
answer as an infallible guide for the whole; 
hence we are cautious in recommending the gen¬ 
eral adoption of new things until they have 
been tried in widely different situations. 
With regard to sorghum, we consider that it 
has ceased to be an experiment. The syrup 
crop of last year, enormous as it was, will prob¬ 
ably be increased during the present year by 
millions of gallons. The question, in a large 
portion of the country, is not, will it succeed, 
but will it pay on the small scale ? With proper 
implements, good and cheap syrup can be made, 
but the farmer does not feel warranted in pro¬ 
curing these to merely make the sweetening for 
his own family. There is need of concert of 
action in the neighborhood. The farmer would 
plant the cane if he could get it manufactured at 
a fair rate, and the oue having the capital, would 
willingly invest it in a profitable apparatus, if 
he were sure that there would be a demand for it. 
Now is the time to canvass this matter, and 
see if any arrangement can be made to enable 
more farmers to grow their own sweetening. 
The scarcity of cotton has given a new inter¬ 
est to flax culture. The manufacture of flax- 
cotton or wool, from which so much was hoped, 
is yet an experiment, hut one which is by no 
means abandoned. Manufacturers say that they 
NEW SERIES—No. 194. 
can work up flax if they can get the raw mate¬ 
rial, and ask us to advise farmers to plant it. 
The farmer is ready to grow flax if he cau find 
a demand for his crop, but can not afford to en¬ 
gage in it at a venture. While we cannot, with¬ 
out more light ou the subject than we now 
have, advise the general culture for the fiber, 
we nevertheless counsel farmers to be awake to 
the subject, and see what facilities their particu¬ 
lar region offers for disposing of flax products*. 
Iu some parts of the Northern States, cottou 
can doubtless, at the present prices, be raised at 
a profit, but we have not seen any results which 
show that it would be a paying crop at the or¬ 
dinary price of the staple in peace times. 
The growing of tobacco has become an estab¬ 
lished fact, even in localities where a few years 
ago it would have been thought impracticable. 
We have been censured by some, for offering 
premiums for essays upon the culture of this 
foul weed. We can not argue the morality of 
tobacco raising, any more than the growth .of 
apples for cider, grapes for wine, or barley for 
brewing. But it has been, is, and probably will be, 
one of the staple crops of the country. While 
we advise no one to grow it, we can not disre¬ 
gard the demand of a very large number of our 
readers for information upon the best modes of 
culture. It is certainly better that they should 
know the real nature of the crop, than to grow it— 
as grow it they will—in ignorance of its damag¬ 
ing effects upon the soil. Whoever undertakes 
the culture, should keep iu mind the worn-out 
tobacco fields of Virginia, and not use up the 
productive forces of his machine—his farm. 
Work for tlie Farm, Household, etc. 
After an unusually mild Winter, we may look 
for more or less of cold weather this month, in 
which case the hints for January and February 
should he borne in mind. The reader will un¬ 
derstand that we are not giving rules to he 
blindly followed, but suggestions to help him 
“to think of something he did not think of." 
Buildings .—The fierce winds of this month will 
be sure to find every loose piece of siding. Sec 
that the animals do not suffer from a cold draft, 
which the driving of a few nails will stop. 
Have a contrivance for fastening barn doors 
open, as well as shut. We have known a barn¬ 
door swinging in the wind to inflict serious in¬ 
jury. Look out for loose blinds and shutters; 
t-liey soon bang themselves in pieces. Painting 
may be done, though a driving rain is injurious 
to a coat of paint if it comes upon it before it is 
dry. If not done early, tlie hot sun will injure 
the permanency of the paint. As a rule, au¬ 
tumn is preferable to late spring painting. 
Cattle .— See suggestions above, on feeding cat¬ 
tle. After some months of dry fodder, cattle 
long for something green. This craving can he 
in part satisfied by feeding roots. No animal 
should fall away in flesh; working cattle should 
