4,2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
Contents for February, 1868. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Animals—The Yak. Illustrated.. .53 
Apple Stocks from Cuttings...G4 
Barns—Framing to Secure Wide Floors.. .Illustrated. .52 
Bovine Family. .53 
Box—Raising from Cuttings.63 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—What Little Folks can Do— 
Bread Cast on the Waters—Habits of Sheep, a Man in- 
a Ludicrous Position—Tumble Bugs—A Railway In¬ 
cident—The Tired Match Girl—Seeing the Chips Fly— 
New Puzzles to be Answered—Answers to Problems 
and Puzzles.4 Illustrations.. 67-68 
Broom-corn.55 
Cattle—More Wanted...59 
Cattle of the Channel Islands. Illustrated ..53 
Cellar, Above Ground.59 
Cheese Factories vs. Butter Supply.58 
Cherries—Culture and Varieties.61 
Chestnut Grafted on Oak.62 
Climbers—Two Useful.2 Illustrations.. 61 
Corn Crib—A Kansas. Illustrated. .57 
Cows—How Often Should they be Milked ?.50 
Department of Agriculture.52 
Eggs—Soft-shelled...51 
Farm Laborers—Prospects.51 
Farm Work for February.42 
Fish Eggs—Hatching. 58 
Flower Garden and Lawn in February.43 
Forage Plant—A New. Illustrated ..57 
Forage Plant—Another.52 
Fruit Garden in February.43 
Gates and Fences..2 Illustrations.. 52 
Goats—Angora or Cashmere. Illustrated. .60 
Grape-vinc-IIow it Grows and what to Do with it.2i7L.62 
Green and Hot-houses in February.43 
Horticultural Departments—Work in. 43 
Household Department—Do you Keep a Household 
Journal?—Household Ornaments—Skating for Girls 
—Economy in Food—To Correspondents—How to 
Entertain Guests — Frost-bitten Feet—To Prevent 
Stoves from Rusting—Recipes forCooking..iB’<7. .65-66 
Jerusalem Artichoke.64 
Kitchen Garden in February. 43 
Lespedeza striata.. Illustrated ..57 
Lophospermum erubescens. Illustrated. .61 
Market Reports.45 
Maurandia Barclayana. Illustrated. .61 
Milk Producers’ Association.52 
Mule Teams. Illustrated. .41 
Orchard and Nursery in February.43 
Pear Scale...63 
Pigs—Care of, in Winter. 59 
Plant Lice.... 63 
Plum—The Miner.62 
Poultry Manure—How to Save and Use. 59 
Premiums—Great Success. 44 
Rotation of Crops.57 
Saws—Cross-cut Drag.2 Illustrations. .58 
Spice Bush.2 Illustrations. .64 
Turkey—Origin of the Domestic.59 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 50—What Cows to 
Keep—Dairy Matters in England and America—Beef 
and Milk—High and Low Farming—White Clover— 
Mr. Horsfall’s Farm—Sheep and Mutton.54-55 
Weed—The Spiny Clotbur. Illustrated ..56 
INDEX TO “BASKET” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Amateur’s Queries.47 Horticultural Societies_46 
Am. Agricultural Annual.. 48 Hotels in Europe.50 
Am. Horticultural Annual.40 Journalistic Changes.47 
American Naturalist.48 Lead Pipe 
Arch Sleigh Bench.. .111. At) Maccaroni 
Barberry for Hedges.__47 
Beans for Name.50 
Bees in February.50 
Birch Bark Pots.47 
Buckthorn Hedge.50 
Calves, Triplets..__ ..48 
Canada Thistle.48 
Canker Worms. 2111. .49 
Care of Swine.48 
Cannot Tell....46 
Cotton Culture.47 
Cover for Agriculturist-47 
Death of R. A. Alexander.4S 
Dickens’ Works.49 
Elm Wood—Uses.47 
Erratum.49 
Feed for Milch Cows.48 
Fertilizers, Prices of.49 
Forcing Vegetables.49 
For Sabbath Schools.46 
Fruit in Nova Scotia.46 
Gardening for Profit.46 
Girdled Trees.48 
Good for Maine..49 
Good for P. M. Kelly.46 
Grand (Humbug) Prizes.. 40 
Grasshoppers.50 
Harris’ Insects.46 
Hedge in Maryland.50 
Hop Sets... .48 
.49 
.49 
Meerschaum.49 
Moving Trees... . .49 
Patent Office Reports.47 
Pashas’ Standard 111. .48 
Pine Leaves as Mulch... .50 
Plaster vs. Stable Manure.50 
Poppy Culture.50 
Potato Experience.47 
Potatoes on Broadway... .48 
Poultry in Winter.4S 
Registered Letters.46 
Report of Ag’l. Dep’t.48 
Rinderpestin Belgium... .48 
Root Grafted Trees.49 
Rotten Root”.49 
Russian Crab.49 
Seeds, etc., Where to Get.48 
Spring Budding the Peach49 
String of Queries.47 
Sundry Humbugs.40 
Tainted Barrels.47 
Tea Pot-tery.49 
Tribune’s Religions Items.47 
Verbenas from Seed.47 
Walter Grape.47 
Weeds.50 
Westchester Co. Ag’l Soc.49 
Whetstone Holder. .2 111. .48 
White Grapes.47 
Wooden Cards.48 
NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY, 1S68. 
Verdant fields, bright with white clover, or fresh 
springing grasses, together with the blossoming 
of shrubs and trees, make many clays of the Feb¬ 
ruary of the Gulf States and the far South among 
of the most delightful of the year. Plowing for 
spring wheat and for other crops gives employment 
to the laborers and teams, and the season of the 
work fairly.begins with the warm, drying, weather 
usually occurring at this time of the year. 
The Northern Farmer buffets the Winter usually 
for a good part of this month. He may look for 
deep snows, powerful rains, ice storms, and hard 
freezing weather, with the thermometer below 
zero, and need not he disappointed if before the 
20th the frost is all out of the ground south of 
latitude 41°, and bluebirds are singing. Never¬ 
theless it will probably freeze up again, and the 
poor little birds will look blue enough. 
The days are much longer, and they should 
show notably more work done than those of De¬ 
cember or even January ; nevertheless, there is com¬ 
parative leisure, and season for reviewing the past 
year’s work and laying plans for the coming- 
months, when so much hard labor will be demand¬ 
ed that the mind will not give itself readily to con¬ 
tinuous thought. Whatever plans are made, on 
this very account, if for no other reason, should be 
put upon paper, so that when the time comes for 
their prompt execution, they shall not be forgot¬ 
ten. The season of field work, when it does come, 
will be likely to come all at once, and then you 
will feel as if every moment were gold, as if the 
horses and oxen, though doing their utmost, did 
not walk half fast enough. Therefore use the lei¬ 
sure of this month to^get all ready for spring work. 
Mints Albont Work. 
The farmers of New England, to say nothing of 
our readers in New Scotlaud or even farther north, 
may smile at the idea of our dropping hints about 
spring work for February, and congratulate them¬ 
selves that they have two months of winter yet; as 
the old salt, in the midst of a roaring north-easter, 
expressed his supreme pity for “them unhappy 
folks a-shore now.” Nevertheless, we, of a milder 
climate, can stand it very well not to have the 
thermometer gp below zero more than twice a 
week, in December and January, and to have a 
thaw in February that will give us a chance to do a 
good deal of spring work important to do early. 
Field Work. —If the snow is off from the fields, 
the opportunity is a good one to pick up stones. 
Cart them off from the mowing and grain fields in 
the mornings, while the ground is frozen. The grass 
fields may be gone over with a sharp hoe, and all 
the tussocks of grass or clods that stand up above 
the rest of the field cut off smooth. 
Winter Grains. —If grain does not look well, and 
has been thrown by the frost, apply a light even 
dressing of fine well weathered muck, or soil, and 
roll, or simply roll without the top-dressing. 
Grass and Clover Seeds. —These may he sown to¬ 
ward the end of the month, if the frost is pretty 
well out of the ground and the surface open and 
fissured. The sowing is easiest done on a light 
snow, when the seed may be seen, and an even cast 
secured. To this end, it is often well to sow in 
two directions across the field, and sometimes even 
three, as in sowing grass seed upon a lawn. Suit¬ 
able weather for this frequently does not come 
until March. Avoid sowing where melting snows 
will wash the soil away, or move the seed unevenly. 
Buildings. —Timber may be prepared for new 
buildings, or for alterations and repairs of old 
ones, and if tlic weather favors, the frames may be 
raised, and the building go on. A few handfuls of 
salt, or a little old brine, put about the posts of 
sheds, corn cribs, gates, etc., which are likely to he 
heaved out of place by the frost, will prevent it, in 
most cases, certainly until the salt washes away. 
The Wood Lot still furnishes work in cutting fire¬ 
wood and clearing up stuff already down, cutting 
bean poles, splitting rails and posts, dressing and 
hauling them. It is a good season to cut pine and 
hemlock, but hard wood ought to be cut earlier in 
the season for either firewood or durable timber. 
Ice .-—The provident have probably taken advan¬ 
tage of the cold weather of December or January, 
to have their ice all gathered. Still it is not too 
late, though where ice can be brought to the door, 
twice a week all summer, at a cost of $7 or $10 for 
all that a family needs, it is hardly worth while to 
he at the expense of filling an ice-house. When ice 
is used for a large dairy or other purposes, the case 
is quite different. Many houses in which it has 
been found difficult to make the ice keep, will keep 
it very well if a thick layer of straw or wheat chaff 
is put at the bottom, and the house filled with 
pounded ice, thrown in, and beaten to pieces. 
Farm, Hands.- —February is thebest month for the 
employer to engage the best hands, and it is the 
best time for the hands to make the best engage¬ 
ments. The prices offered to secure a first-rate 
man are usually larger now than later. At present, 
January 15th, labor is very abundant in the vicinity 
of New York City, and it seems likely to remain so. 
Seed. —Look out betimes for all the seed you are 
likely to want, getting samples to test the vitality, 
and examine the quality before purchasing largely. 
Manure. —Composts may be made with two- 
thirds dry muck, and one-third fermenting stable 
manure, which will be ready for use in six weeks. 
Muck composts, or those made with peaty mate¬ 
rial or soil, may he hauled and spread at any time. 
It is also an excellent plan to work over all the 
manure in the yard and barn cellars, laying it up in 
compact rectangular heaps, well trodden down. 
Animals, toward the close of the winter, often 
begin to show lack of appetite, staring coats, ver¬ 
min, etc., and, if these are neglected, more serious 
maladies. This indicates neglect of some kind, 
and the master must look better to his own. 
The Card and Curryconib can hardly be too fre¬ 
quently or too thoroughly used. They will often 
exterminate lice from colts and calves iu a short 
time, if used two or three times a week upon 
them. The best article we know of for the removal 
of vermin is the carbolic acid soap. Cresjdic soap 
is, we believe, simply a trade name for the same 
thing. This is very efficient as a sheep dip, or 
wash, at this season, and may be applied without 
any danger of poisoning or injuring the animals. 
Working Stock should not stand idle; find some 
work for them, and, if possible, gradually increase 
it, that they shall not feel plowing and other hard 
work by and by. Both horses and oxen, used on 
the road, must be kept sharp shod, to prevent slip¬ 
ping and disabling themselves on the ice, and it is 
an excellent plan to feed roots with the grain given 
to both horses and cattle, or any other animals. 
Colts. —Pet and handle constantly, giving sugar 
or bits of root. There is often leisure for breaking 
colts at this season to both saddle and harness. 
There is seldom need of whipping. Coaxing with 
carrots or sugar will go twice as far. The results 
are more lasting and all for good. Whipping may 
produce a beneficial result for the time being, hut 
the aftereffect is only evil, except with hard eases 
which nothing else will effect. 
Steers also may be broken to the yoke and to 
labor. This is usually an easy matter, and it is an 
excellent thing to have the sight of the yoke and 
bow in the hands from the first associated with 
salt or a turnip. Yoking will be easy ever after. 
Beeves should be well fed; their gain in flesh is of 
far less consequence than the gain in the manure 
pile, but both are equally affected by good food. 
The great gain in beef cattle ought to be in the 
autumn. In the winter, if the stables he warm, 
beeves will keep on gaining very well, as a general 
thing, hut in cold stables, the gain will be of an ex¬ 
pensive kind, food being used as so much fuel only. 
Cows. —Most farmers dry their cows early, in order 
to save the labor of milking. This is poor policy, 
