552 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. [December, 
Contents of This Number 
[Articles marked with a star (*) are illustrated; the fig¬ 
ure with the star indicates the number of illustrations.] 
Acorns and Oak “ Puff Balls”.566 
Badger Holes. 516 
Barrows, Some Useful..3*..571 
Barn, A Prize Sheep. — D. 31. Welday .6*..572 
Bean Vines for Sheep.564 
Bee Notes for December.— Prof. A. J. Cook ...559 
Better than Butter.— W. D. Boynton .571 
Borer, The Quince.— IP. IF. Meech .5G4 
Bounty on Foxes, Unwise Objections to.— Wm. Clift. 573 
Bots’ and Gibus’ Columns : 
A Bunch of Christmas Ilolly .—Agnes Carr .*..576 
Diminutive Cows.576 
The Doctors’ Correspondence.576 
Christmas, Around the World .—Afred Trumble.C* .577 
Cabbage Pest, A.568 
California, Oranges in.573 
Cattle Drive, Texas.561 
Christmas Gifts .—Agnes Carr .566 
“Christmas Comes But Once a Year”.*..567 
Cistern, Plan for Filtering.*..570 
Clover, The Crimson or Carnation.556 
Colts, Cow’s Milk for.556 
Correspondents, Answers to.561 
Cow, Famous Jersey, “Value 2nd,”...*. .554 
Cows, Winter Feed for Milch.563 
Cultivating the Memory.560 
Drainage Prolongs the Season. 503 
Dry the Seed Corn.571 
Draining Plug.2*..569 
liditorial Correspondence.— D. IF. ./..*..560 
Fairs, Unfair Treatment at.— Orange Judd .568 
Farm Work of the Month. 552 
Farming, Chinese, Around San Francisco.6*..562 
“Farming Does Not Pay”. 564 
Fences, Movable, for Swine.*..556 
Fowls, Cross Bred.— P. II. Jacobs .569 
Garden, The Flower. 553 
Garden, The Fruit.553 
Garden, The Kitchen.55g 
Gardening and Trucking in N. C.— Mrs. S. A. Elliott.. 56S 
Grapes, A Thousand Clusters for One Dollar.566 
Grasses, Tame, in the West.— Prof. S. JR. Thompson. .569 
Green-House and Window Garden. ..553 
Heeling-In.554 
Hog Killing, Hints on.— J. 31. Stahl. .5*..558 
Homes, Improving Farm, and Grounds. — E. A. Long. .550 
Horse-Show, A successful.556 
Horses of Different Breeds.*..557 
Herses, Shoeless. 561 
House, A Remodelled,— Mrs. G. Bush , Jr .6*..555 
Houses, Farm, Hints lor Furnishing.— E. Lynnde _555 
Household : 
Home-Made Clothes Bars. *. .574 
What Shall We Wear?— Ethel Stone .574 
Did 13,180 and 11,690 Pay ?.574 
Always Break the Skins ?.574 
Housekeepers’ Measures. *..575 
Fine Cucumber Pickles ... —.575 
Ivy in the House. ...4*..575 
The Care of the Hair.575 
Soup for Invalids.575 
Ice House, An Underground.— Dr. B. D. Hoisted.. 3*..566 
Gand Holders, Large. 561 
Land, How to Bring Up Worn Out..573 
Live Stock Notes.552 
“Located,” The Prairie “ Shack”.560 
Onions, Potato and Top. 559 
Oranges in California.— 31. E. Bamford .573 
Orchard and Nursery. 553 
Ox, A Single Harness for. .*..554 
Poultry, Prize Specimens of.— 31. C. M/eld .*. 565 
Poultry Raising as a Business.564 
Pumpkins for Swine.569 
Bails, Put Up The.568 
Rail Road Rivalry .560 
Schooner, A Live. 560 
Spring in the Garden.559 
Swine, The Changes in.— F. D. Coburn .558 
Taxing Absentees.561 
Trees, Damage to Orchard.*..573 
Vegetables, Great Improvement in.2*..571 
Wagon Wheels, Strengthening.— L. 1). Snook .*..568 
Wheat, The Origin of.— Dr. Geo. Thurber .*..573 
Wickets and Stiles for Fences.4*. .570 
Wood, Drawing the Fire. .*..551 
For Hiiinltug exposures, kook re¬ 
views, business announcements, 
etc., see tlie last papres ofthc paper. 
Your Subscription Expires, 
With this December number of the American 
Agriculturist the subscription of many of our read¬ 
ers expires. If you will immediately renew now, 
your names will be entered in their proper places, 
before the rush of the new year begins, and there 
will be no delay in the regular receipt of your 
numbers. We trust the American Agriculturist has 
proved so interesting and valuable during 1883 
that you will continue among our great army of 
subscribers for 1884. Furthermore, we hope you 
will bring many recruits with you. As an induce¬ 
ment to effort on your part we offer many gen¬ 
eral and special Premiums. If you have lost or 
mislaid your Premium List, sent you in October, 
we shall be glad to forward you another. 
P. S.—You will find on page 594 a blank form 
used for renewing subscriptions and sending new 
ones. If you prefer not to do so, you need not mu¬ 
tilate the paper, but prepare a new form of your 
own, with the printed one as a model. We will 
furnish as many of these blank forms as may be 
desired for those who canvass for subscriptions. 
Better than Ever—This Year, 
The collection of Premium Articles is more care¬ 
fully selected and more valuable than ever before, 
and they are also offered on the most liberal terms. 
There will be something of interest, and something 
to be readily obtained by 
Every Subscriber 
by 6imply inviting one or more friends or neigh¬ 
bors to unite with him in becoming a subscriber to 
this Journal. Our older subscribers can well 
judge whether those thus invited or induced to be¬ 
come readers will be benefited thereby. 
A Merry Christmas and a Happy 
New Year. 
If our readers will turn to page 589, they will re¬ 
ceive full directions for making their families, their 
friends, and themselves happy,with very little effort. 
Premiums for Subscribers. 
See page 590 for a detailed table of the Premiums 
for new subscribers to the American Agriculturist. 
Take care of the Index. 
The title page and Contents of the Volume, 
which closes with this December Number, accom¬ 
pany this paper on a separate sheet. Our readers 
should preserve this Index sheet, which will be 
constantly useful for reference. 
Of Interest to All. 
See page 584 for matters of special interest to 
every reader and friend of the American Agricultur¬ 
ist. 
Foes or Friends ? 
This magnificient picture which is given to every 
Subscriber for 1884, is giving general satisfaction. 
A full description of this engraving is given on 
page 593. 
A great offer. 
On page 590 we make a special offer for new sub¬ 
scribers to the American Agriculturist for 1884. 
The winter season is the one of most leisure to- 
the farmer and affords an opportunity for a study 
of his calling. The agricultural papers are a con¬ 
stant source of information, and no one can keep- 
abreast with the progress in farming, without care¬ 
fully reading them. The long winter evenings afford, 
ample time for the study of standard books upon 
farming, gardening, and the orchard. It is well to 
choose some branch of farm labor and make it the 
special subject of thought and study. The injuri¬ 
ous insects, for example, offer a field of reading 
which is most profitable. There are several fully 
illustrated hooks on these pests, and there is no 
need to argue the importance of a knowledge of 
injurious insects, when it is accepted as a fact that 
farming and gardening is now in large part a war¬ 
fare against these enemies. 
Now is a good time to lay all the plans for the= 
farm-work of the coining year, in fact, for several 
years. No systematic and successful farmer plans- 
only from one year’s end to another. The system 
of rotation of crops should be settled upon after 
careful study of the ends to be gained, and then all 
the principal things which bear upon the chosen 
rotation should be laid down and followed out. 
There is far too little planning of work by farmers. 
We recently received the printed programme of 
a rural club in which the subjects for discussion at 
all of the meetings of the winter were given in full,, 
with places of holding them and other important 
particulars. This is a most encouraging sign, as it 
indicates that the farmers in a well-to-do township 
are alive to the importance of union in the advance¬ 
ment of their calling. We wish that a similar club 
might be formed in every settled township. 
In these discussions many new facts are brought 
to light, and the minds of all are awakened. 
Five Stock Notes. 
Good Shelter. —It is absolute economy to provide^ 
warm and comfortable winter quarters for all live 
stock, with an ample supply of pure fresh air. 
When animals are housed in well-made barns and 
stables, they require much less food to keep them 
in a good condition. Lumber, in this form, is- 
cheaper than hay and grain for wintering farm 
stock. Pure water in abundance is very needful 
for the health of the animals. It should be drank 
fresh from the well. If left in the trough to freeze, 
it soon becomes as cold as ice water, and when 
taken into the animal system, it requires much heat 
of the body to bring it up to the required tempera¬ 
ture. Avoid as far as possible having the watering 
troughs partly filled with ice and snow. They may 
be made so as to turn over when not in use, and this 
keeps them clean and free from the chilling ice. 
Livestock should be fed regularly. Even if not 
generously fed, this regularity is better than an 
excess for a few days, and then a lack of food for 
