322 
AMP: RICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
Contents for September, 1874. 
Calendar for September. 
Barn Doors, Wooden Hangings for... .2 Illustrations. .339 
Bee Notes.... • .330 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—Wat-er Melon-choly Ac¬ 
cident—Aunt Sue’s Puzzle-Box—Little Garden 
Aunt Sue Goes to the Hippodrome—Dogs—Little 
Gleaners...2 Illustrations. 347, 348 
Butter, Inspection of.339 
Canning Tomatoes, etc. 331 
Cattle Barn, Western.2 Illustrations . .336 
Cattle, Mount Fordham Herd. Illustrated. .321, 332 
Cider and Cider Vinegar.5 Illustrations.. 339 
Clod Crusher, Simple. Illustrated.. 336 
Ducks, Imperial Pekin. Illustrated. .333 
Fairs to be held... . 353, 354 
Farm Work for September. 322 
Fish, Grayling... Illustrated.. 333 
Flower Garden and Lawn in September.324 
Flowers, Preserving—Winter Bouquets.343 
Fruit Garden in September...324 
Game Fowls and Poultry Societies.330 
Greenhouse and Window Plants in September.324 
Hollyhock Fungus—Cotton in danger_ Illustrated. .342 
Household Department—Corn Knife—Home Topics— 
Farmers’ Tables.3 Illustrations. .345, 346 
Kitehen Garden in September. 324 
Market Reports.324 
Mink or Rat Traps.. 3 Illustrations.. 337 
Oak, Enemies of.5/W..344 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 55—Jersey Cattle Club— 
Color of Skin—Yield of Butter—Guernsey and 
Jersey—Hay Making.331, 332 
Onions Sown in the Fall....341 
Orchard and Nursery in September. 323 
Plants, Broad-leaved Acanthus. Illustrated.. 341 
Plants, Florida Air. Illustrated. .343 
Plants, Palmate Spiraea. Illustrated. .341 
Road-dust. 335 
Roller, Cement...3 111 ..337 
Rose Growing in Winter.342 
Seeding, Thick or Thin. 335 
Tiles, Kiln for Burning..3 Illustrations.. 338 
Tobacco in the Connecticut Valley. .338 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 129—Wheat— 
Manure—Hessian Fly — Hay—Corn —Petroleum- 
Thrashing Wheat—Stacks.334, 335 
Wagon-Jack, Handy.2 Illustrations.. 336 
Water for Stock...... — Illustrated.. 336 
Wire Fence Tightener.... Illustrated. .337 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” 
Blackberries..327 
Butchers’ Offal. 326 
Car Load. A.329; 
Carrots. Wild ..327 
Cattle. Hereford.329 
Cattle in the South..... .329 
Chairs, Comfortable Coun¬ 
try .326 
Cheese Factory.328, 
Cider Mills....326 
Cisterns. Leaky .328 
Cobs, Small or Large... .329 
Colorado Potato Beetle in 
New Jersey....327 
Cornell University.325 
Corn for Fodder, Cutting.828 
Corn Raising............329 
Cow, A gorged... .328 
Cow’s Toes, Clipping a..328 
Crops in Kansas....._326 
Death of H. Stephens.. .326 
Death of J. S. Gould_325 
Ditching.329 
Draining. 328 
Draining a Pond.330 
Eastman’s Business Col¬ 
lege . 327 
Eggs for Pullets.328 
Elliott, F. R.326 
Emasculation, Safe.329 
Fair List....325 
Farm, Selling the.329 
Fodder Crops in the So’th328 
Garden Questions.32.8 
Goose, to Recognize a... 329 
Grain Binders.329 
Grain, Low Freights on..329 
Grass, Permanent.328 
Guano or Plaster Sowing326 
Harvest HomeCelebr’tion329 
Hedge Rows, Breaking.'.328 
Humbugs. Sundry.326 
Hurdles, Iron. .326 
Hydrangea.326 
Ice-Houses—Milk-Rooins326 
OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Irrigating Corn orCotton32S 
Leaks in a Roof.328 
Lilium auratum, Mons¬ 
trous. 327 
Lime on Wheat.326 
Lime Spreading.327 
Loans, Procuring.329 
Lump upon a Mare.326 
Muck, About. .330 
Milk, Bloody.328 
Onion Grub...327 
Paris Green.... .... .. 326 
Parrots, Treatment of... .329 
Phloxes. Perennial.326 
Plows, To Keep free of 
Rust.329 
Poultry, Pedigree Book.,328 
Pump, Submerged.326 
Rabbits.326 
Railway Gazetteer.325 
Raspberries, New.. 327 
Rather Mixed...329 
Rye, Seed.326 
Spaying Heifers or Cows.328 
Spring, To Raise a.328 
Straw, Etc., Dispose of. .328 
Sugar from Beets.328 
Sunflowers. 326 
Superphosphate, Appli¬ 
cation of. . 326 
Superphosphate, Charles¬ 
ton.. ......328 
Sweet Potatoes.. 328 
Sweet Potatoes for Feed 328 
Tree Planting in Neb... .329 
Virginia State Ag’l. Soc.326 
Weed, Named.326 
Weigh and Measure 
everything ..320 
Wheat and Guano Drill. .327 
Wheat, Bone Dust for.. .328 
Wheat on Com Stubble .328 
Wheat, Seed.328 
Willow, White.327 
Wistaria.. 326 
A Ditching machine. —“ N. D.,” New 
Iberia, La. We have seen a ditching machine in opera¬ 
tion upon the prairie soils of the West, which performed 
excellent work. It is the Carter ditching machine., is 
drawn by two or four horses, cuts a deep, narrow, smooth 
trench, and leaves the earth upon one side of the ditch. 
We do not know the manufacturer’s address, but from the 
numerous inquiries for such a machine, it is a thing 
that ought to be made known in the usual way. 
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T. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1874. 
In September the farmer begins to receive returns 
for months of care and labor. He has hitherto 
been casting bread upon the waters, and now it 
returns after many days. His reward is now in 
proportion to his faith. If he has believed in what 
he has read in these pages, in the fruits of his own 
and other’s experiences, and in the teachings of 
intelligence and common sense, he has not been 
chary of hard work, constant attention, and gener¬ 
ous treatment of his land and crops; he has fed 
his land, and now his fields will feed him in return. 
Now the farmer learns that out of nothing, noth¬ 
ing comes. If he has put nothing upon his fields, 
his crop is poor. If, on the other hand, he has well 
and intelligently fertilized and worked, he finds in 
spite of seasons, that he has barns full, and the 
promise of harvest is surely fulfilled to those who 
carefully meet the requirements of seed time. The 
better the farmer the better the crops, and the risks 
of seasons and unfavorable weather, bring disaster 
only to the farmer who neglects the precautions by 
which he may avoid them. Generally the fall 
wheat crop has yielded well, and has been harvested 
cheaply and in good condition. There is a good 
market for it. Crops in Europe are not over an 
average, and there are vast deficiencies in stocks to 
be made up. Besides our spring crops will be 
deficient. Spring wheat is a comparative failure in 
many places, and the surplus of the fall crop will 
be partly needed to meet this deficiency. Oats and 
com will be below the average, and hay is short in 
the West, although plentiful in the East. Prices 
therefore will be satisfactory on the whole, if grain 
is not sacrificed, and there is no good reason why 
farmers should hasten to put their grain into the 
hands of speculators, that they may hold it for a 
rise. The outlook is favorable to steady prices if 
not to some advance. The Agricultural Fairs are 
now in season. To attend the State and County 
Fairs, should be made a duty as it should be a 
pleasure. Every farmer should strive to he a com¬ 
petitor at his local fair. We wish there could be 
premiums offered for the best managed farms here, 
as there are in England, and plowing matches for 
.farmers’ boys. Competition induces study as well 
as work, and it is thought and study that we want. 
No farmer in the world works harder or more 
steadily, than an American farmer, or has fewer 
idle days. But with the increase of machinery, 
and the need of better farming, more study and 
knowledge are needed. To give the best matter 
for study, and the most trustworthy knowledge, is 
the whole purpose of the American Agriculturist. 
And it is our desire to reach every farmer in the 
country, for we work for the whole country, and 
for no one section or locality alone. 
Mints alsomt Work. 
Plowing for winter wheat , should be finished by 
the first week of September in this latitude, and 
in the West as far South as Kansas. Further 
South, a month later will he time enough. Two 
plowings of an oat or barley stubble should be 
given, that the scattered grain which has sprouted 
may be killed. It is a mistake to suppose that oats 
are a protection to the young wheat. On the con¬ 
trary they are weeds, and rob the young wheat 
plants of their nourishment, to their injury. We 
do not care to have the surface too fine and mellow. 
A cloddy surface will do no harm if there is a mel¬ 
low bed below for the seed. In good time these- 
clods will crumble down, and until then they are a 
protection to the plants. 
Manuring. —A few loads of good well-rotted 
manure harrowed into the surface, or covered with 
a very light furrow at the second plowing, is better 
than twice as many loads spread in the winter as a 
top dressing. Strong plants at the start are what 
we want. If there is food at hand, the roots from 
the sprouting seed find it and make a rapid growth, 
when growth is safety. Strong fibrous roots 
spreading far into the soil, are not so easily thrown 
out by frost, as weak puny short roots which have 
uo hold. Thousands of young plants die for want 
of food in poor soil, long before any frost touches 
them. The manure and seed should go into the 
ground together. Top dressing in winter is an. 
after expedient, useful when nothing better can be 
done. But it is better for the crop that it should 
not need it. Where no manure is at hand, 200 lbs. 
of Peruvian guano per acre, will give the wheat 
or rye a fine start. It may be followed later by a 
top dressing. 
The selection of seed is important. Changes of 
seed should be made with caution, and the whole 
crop should not be risked at once. Experiment 
wisely, that is, cautiously. The fine white wheats 
require rich soil, and strong limestone land. The 
hardier red or amber wheats, are safer on gravelly 
land, or where the soil is not so rich. A great 
improvement may be made, by choosing the best 
and heaviest seed each year from local sources. 
Above all things avoid weeds. Sow clean seed, if 
it is picked over by hand, upon a portion of the 
field at least. A stock of clean seed may be raised 
from this for another season. 
The Quantity of Seed. —This depends much upon 
its quality. Six peeks of plump seed that has not 
been broken in thrashing, and that is free from 
weeds, is better than two bushels taken at random 
from the bin. On rich clean, ground wheat will 
lodge, that is too thickly sown. On poorer soils 
two bushels per acre is little enough. 
Tickling the Seed. —Smut may be prevented by 
soaking the seed in strong brine. Pour the seed 
slowly into the brine in a large tub. All light im¬ 
perfect grains will float and should be removed. 
Stir the seed, and then scoop it out on to the barn 
floor, and leave it for an hour to dry, or a few hand¬ 
fuls of finely slacked lime will dry it at once. 
Pickling the seed is so great an advantage, and so 
little trouble, that it should never be neglected, 
even where smut is not prevalent. 
Sowing. —Experiments made in England, showed 
that three inches was the best depth at which to 
sow wheat. Before the sprouts appeared above 
ground, there was abundant growth of roots, 
and a larger proportion of plants escaped winter 
killing. Even sowing can only be done by the drill. 
All the seed is then covered. This is not the case 
in broadcast sowing. If the ground is too rough 
or stony for the drill, it is a lesson for another 
year, to be remembered and acted upon in time. 
