What I know of farming: / a series of brief and plain expositions of practical agriculture as an art based upon science

by Horace Greeley

I close with the avowal of my joyful trust that these essays, slight and imperfect as they are, will incite thousands of young farmers to feel a loftier pride in their calling and take a livelier interest in its improvement, and that many will be induced by them to read abler and better works on Agriculture and the sciences which minister to its efficiency and impel its progress toward a perfection which few as yet have even faintly foreseen.

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INDEX.

• ACCOUNTS—Accounts in Farming, chap. xxxv, [207];
  • the causes of pecuniary failure, [207];
  • loss from waste of time, [207];
  • the author has found all successful farmers rigid economists of time, [208];
  • farmers urged to keep a rigid account of how they dispose of their time, [208];
  • keeping a diary recommended, [208];
  • what it should contain, [209];
  • accounts with neighbors, [209];
  • the farmer should keep an account of the expenses of his farm, and the receipts therefrom, [209];
  • importance of keeping an account with the several fields and crops, [210];
  • complication and uncertainty in account-keeping considered, [210-211];
  • the advantage of keeping careful accounts, [211].
• AGRICULTURE. See Farming: books on practical, referred to, [30].
• ALABAMA, [50].
• ALDER, [53].
• ALKALIS, as fertilizers. See Fertilizers, Commercial.
• ALLEGHANY RIDGE, [39].
• ALLEGHANIES, the, [45], [49], [79], [81], [156].
• ALPS, [75].
• ALPS, AUSTRIAN, [75].
• AMERICA, [44], [170].
• AMHERST. N. H., [52].
• AMMONIA, [104], [306].
• AMMONOOSUC, the river, [194].
• ANTELOPE, [278].
• APENNINES, [267].
• APPLE, the, [53], [118], [129].
  • Fruit-Trees. The Apple, chap. xxix, [139];
    • fruit-trees form a distinguishing feature of Northern farms and holdings, [139];
    • unequaled in that respect elsewhere, [140];
    • our country north of the Potomac excels, in its supply of tree-fruits, all other portions of the earth's surface of equal area, [140];
    • the Northern States admirably adapted to the apple and kindred fruit-trees, [140];
    • effects of such adaptability, [140];
    • give an orchard the northern slope of a hill where possible, [140];
    • the one which blossoms latest, yields, on the average, most fruit, [141];
    • storing ice to place under trees, not recommended, [141];
    • importance of drainage, [145];
    • some reasons for choosing sloping ground for an apple-orchard, [141];
    • the soil for such, [142];
    • preparation of the soil, [142-3];
    • treatment and care of the land devoted to an orchard, [143-4];
  • More about Apple Trees, chap. xxv, [145];
    • apple trees are planted too far apart, and allowed to grow too tall, [145];
    • consequences, [145-6];
    • trees should be set diamond fashion, [146];
    • pruning should be attended to annually, [146];
    • sprouts valueless, [147];
    • the demands which apple-trees make on the soil should be supplied, [147];
    • apple-trees in the township of Newcastle, Westchester, N. Y., [147];
    • causes of their unproductiveness, [147-8];
    • caterpillars and their ravages, [148];
    • duties of farmers and fruit growers, [149];
    • the abundant apple-crop of 1870, [149];
    • establishes the capacity of our regions to bear Apples, [149], [191], [232], [291], [294];
    • the apple-crop of 1870, as an illustration of the imperfect means of exchanging farm products, [297-8]-9;
    • loss to consumers and producers, [299-300].
• ARIZONA, [48].
• ARKANSAS, State of, [25], [36];
  • the river, [73], [261];
  • the upper river, [274].
• ARTESIAN WELLS, [77], [277-8], [316].
• ASHES as fertilizers, [108-9], [127], [128];
  • use in preparing for an orchard, [142], [174].
  • See also Fertilizers, Commercial.
• ATLANTIC, the coast, [156], [178];
  • seaboard, [220];
  • slope, [76], [157], [213].
• AUSTIN, [46].
• AUSTRALIA, [138], [200], [238].
• AUTUMN, [89], [97], [99], [116], [124], [173], [178], [179], [192], [193], [202], [262].
  
• BABYLON, [266].
• BALSAM FIR, [58].
• BALTIMORE, [165].
• BARLEY, [245], [265].
• BARN, the use of stone recommended in building a, [216]
• BATAVIA YAMS, [271].
• BATTENKILL, [75].
• BEANS, [210], [271], [296].
• BEECH, [19], [53], [60], [287].
• BEEF, [37], [118], [220], [294].
• BEETS. see ROOTS, also [143], [232], [264], [271].
• BELGIUM, [70], [238].
• BERRIES, [90].
• BIRCH, [60].
• BIRDS—Insects, Birds, chap. xxii, [129];
  • birds our best allies against insects, [129];
  • the destruction of birds not the sole cause of insect ravages, [130];
  • birds should be protected and kindly treated, [132];
  • associations should be formed to do so, [132];
  • artificial nests, [133];
  • legal measures to protect birds, [133].
• BLACK ASH, [30].
• BLACKBERRIES, [90], [158].
• BLACK WALNUT, [314].
• BLACKWELL'S ISLAND, [87].
• BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, [81].
• BOARD OF WORKS (London), [269].
• BOISSIÈRE, E. V, DE, [253-4].
• BONES. See Commercial Fertilizers, also [118], [119], [192], [317].
• BONE-DUST, [174].
• BONES, flour of, [121].
• BONE FLOUR, [167].
• BONES, raw, [317].
• BOSTON, farm near, [15], [289].
• BOTANY, [30].
• BUCKEYE, [260].
• BUCKWHEAT, [21], [189], [191], [210].
• BUFFALO, [278].
• BUFFALO GRASS, [153].
• BURLINGTON, N. J., [166].
• BUTTER, [38], [164], [167].
• BRIDGES, [250].
• BRITISH ISLES, [178], [245].
• BROCCOLI, [271].
  
• CABBAGES, [264], [271], [296], [300].
• CACHE-LA-POUDRE, the river, [82], [262], [263].
• CALIFORNIA, [26], [76], [80], [159], [181], [260].
• CANADA, [48], [165], [289];
  • creek, [75].
• CANALS, [105].
• CAROLINAS, the, [166], [315].
• CARROTS. See Roots, also [143], [271].
• CARSON, the river, [81], [83].
• CATTLE, [15];
  • Pasturing, [19-20];
  • Soiling, [20];
  • treatment of herds of, in the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys, [20];
  • rearing of, referred to, [35], [132], [150], [157], [219], [220], [224], [293].
• CATSKILLS, the, [172].
• CENSUS: the Seventh, [150];
  • the Eighth, [150];
  • the, of 1870, [286].
• CHAMPLAIN, the, basin, [72];
  • lake, [279].
• CHAPPAQUA, [62].
• CHAUTAUQUA Co., N. Y., [287], [288].
• CHEESE, [38], [164], [167].
• CHEMISTRY, [30], [119], [196], [231].
• CHERRIES. See Fruits, also [129], [139], [294].
• CHESTER CO., Penn., [110].
• CHESTNUT, [54], [55], [60], [135], [136], [215], [314].
  • See also, Trees.
• CHEYENNE, [262].
• CHICAGO, [164].
• CHICKENS, [295].
  • See Fowls.
• CHLORINE, [114], [235].
• CHLORIDE OF LIME, [128].
• CHOLERA, [268].
• CHURCHES, [250].
• CINCINNATI, [156].
• CLIMATES, American, for the finer fruits, [156].
• CLOVER, [120], [153], [167], [318].
• CLUBS. See Farmers' Clubs.
• COAL, [109], [288].
• COLONIES, advantage of settling in, [28];
  • the course to adopt in organizing one, [28];
  • Union Colony, [262];
  • its location, [262];
  • the City of Greeley, its nucleus, [262];
  • irrigation canals of, [262-4];
  • fertility of the soil at, [264].
• COLONISTS, English, [171].
• COLORADO, [181], [206], [317];
  • river, [46].
• CONGRESS, [46].
• CONNECTICUT, [27], [171], [299];
  • river, [194], [279];
  • valley of the, [317].
• COMO, lake, [75].
• COMMON SCHOOLS, [196-7].
• COMMUNISM: Differs radically from Co-operation, [248].
• CONCLUSIONS, General, Summing up, chap. lli, [308];
  • the facts set forth in the essays, [308];
  • common misrepresentations, [308-9];
  • object of the author in writing these essays, [309];
  • the propositions sought to be established therein, [310];
  • good farming must ever be a paying business, [310];
  • thorough tillage advocated, [310];
  • a location should be permanent, [310];
  • the too great haste in incurring responsibilities, [311];
  • the greed for land, [310];
  • common abuses in fencing and cattle-raising, [312-13];
  • tree-cutting and tree-planting, [314-15];
  • underdraining, [315];
  • irrigation, [316];
  • commercial fertilizers, [317-8]-9;
  • shallow culture, [319-20];
  • the need for study and inquiry, [320-21];
  • concluding remarks, [321].
• CO-OPERATION, reference to, in regard to wild lands, [24];
  • Co-operation in Farming, chap. xlii, [248];
    • Co-operation is the word of hope and cheer for labor, [248];
    • its meaning, [248];
    • differs radically from communism, [248];
    • the difficulties of a young farmer who migrates to Kansas, Minnesota or one of the Territories, [248-9];
    • the different circumstances consequent on settlement by co-operation, [250];
    • advantages of co-operation not limited to colonizing distant tracts, [250];
    • would benefit colored men, [250-1];
    • fencing as an illustration of the loss consequent on want of co-operation, [251-2];
    • how co-operation would remedy it, [252];
    • further application of the system, [252-3];
    • Mr. E. V. de Boissière's co-operative farming, [254-5].
• CORN, [20], [21], [22]
  • growing of bread-corn eastward of the Hudson, [37], [43], [67], [68], [81], [86], [88], [92], [94], [99], [103], [107], [113], [114], [115], [118], [147].
  • Grain Growing—East and West—chap. xxviii, [162];
    • hoeing is of no use to Corn, [162];
    • the best and cheapest way to cultivate corn, [162];
    • the fields of the Mississippi Valley are the most productive in the world, [163];
    • the tillage, in some places, seemed susceptible of improvement, [163];
    • the West is the granary of the East, [163];
    • a change imminent, [163];
    • changes since twenty-three years ago when the author visited Illinois, [164];
    • the course the West will ultimately adopt, [164];
    • exhaustion of the soil in New England and Eastern New York, [164];
    • in the Genesee Valley, [165];
    • Eastern Pennsylvania profits by a provident system of husbandry, [165];
    • the States this side of the Delaware will yet have to grow a large share of their breadstuffs, [165];
    • can it be done with profit now, considering, also, if the East has wisely, so largely abandoned grain-growing, [165-9];
    • the places not taken into account, [165];
    • the "Pine Barrens" of New Jersey selected to illustrate the profits of grain-growing in the East, [168];
    • their nature, [168];
    • estimate of expenses thereon, [167];
    • the product anticipated, [167];
    • the favorable conditions the cultivator would enjoy, [168];
    • the money value of his crop, [168];
    • great economy could be achieved in the cost of cultivating, [169];
    • conclusions, [169];
    • also [177], [191], [192], [193], [210], [228], [238], [242], [246-7], [264], [265], [271-2], [290].
• COTTON, [107], [200].
• COTTON-GROWERS, Southern, [118].
• COTTONWOOD, [261].
• CREDIT, buying a farm on, [25].
• CROPS, Fall, [97].
• CURRANTS, [129].
  
• DAIRYING, [288].
• DANA'S MUCK MANUAL, [199].
• DELAWARE, the State of, [165];
  • the river, [152], [165].
• DENVER, [264], [277];
  • Pacific Railroad, the, [262].
• DEPOPULATION, (RURAL)—Rural Depopulation, chap. xlviii, [286];
  • the alleged decrease in the relative population of rural districts, [286];
  • no increase since 1859 in the number of farmers in the State of New York, [286];
  • probable slight decrease in that of New England, [286];
  • consolidating farms, [286];
  • small farmers are selling out and migrating, [287];
  • reasons therefore, [287];
  • the changed character of the tillage, [287-8];
  • the general use of coal has reduced the demand for labour, [288];
  • labour-saving implements, [288-9];
  • the supposed degeneracy of the New England Puritan stock, [289];
  • the migration from New England, [289-90];
  • the assumption that Americans prefer other pursuits to farming, [291];
  • the rock and bog of New England form a discouraging impediment to agricultural progress, [290];
  • compensation therefor, [291].
• DIARY, the keeping of one recommended, [31].
• DICKINSON, Andrew B., [105], [106].
• DISTRIBUTION (of farm products). See Exchange.
• DOCK, [232].
• DOGWOOD, [314].
• DOGS; their depredations on sheep, [203-4].
• DRAINING—
  • Draining—My Own, chap. x, [62];
    • the author's farm, [62];
    • situation of the land thereon requiring drainage, [62-3];
    • difficulties it presented, [63];
    • blunders, [66];
    • how repaired, [66];
    • condition of the marsh before draining it, [61];
    • how success was retarded, [67];
    • evidence of success, [67];
    • the crops of 1870 on the reclaimed land, [68];
  • Draining Generally, chap. xi, [69];
    • general conclusions from the author's experience, [69];
    • extent of land to be drained, [69];
    • all swamp lands and nearly all of some other kinds must be drained to be well tilled, [69];
    • the many uses of underdrains, [69-70];
    • no one should run into debt for draining, [70];
    • tile and stone drains, [71];
    • draining by a Mole Plow, [72];
    • general direction, [72-3];
    • covered mains recommended, [73];
    • the question of labor, [73];
    • a case where the rudest surface drains would have changed bog into decent meadows, [152];
    • the stone drains on the author's farm, [214];
    • the author's summing up on, [315].
• DROUTH—habitually shortens our Fall crops, [98];
  • a Lesson of To-day (1870), chap. xxxii, [189];
    • the popular view of hot and cold seasons, [189];
    • the Summer of 1870, effects of the drouth, [189-190];
    • general character of each Summer, [190];
    • proof that drouth need not be feared by those who farm prudently, [190];
    • the author's observations during a trip through Warren Co., N. Y., [191-2];
    • results to be attained there by right cultivation, [192];
    • the inquiry: how are the people there to obtain fertilizers? [192];
    • answered, [193];
    • irrigation might be applied profitably, [194].
• 
  
• EARTH CLOSET, [123].
• EASTERN STATES, pasturing in, [19].
• EASTERN STATES, the, [23], [25-6], [37], [179], [189], [204], [215], [279], [311].
• EDINBURGH, [269].
• EGGS, [294-5].
• EGYPT, [164], [167].
• ELECTRICITY, [285].
• ELK, [278].
• ELM, [59].
• EMERSON, R. W., [44].
  • (Western) [170], [178], [268].
• ENGLAND, [70], [89], [164];
• ERIE Co., Pa., [23].
• EUROPE, [35], [74], [156], [163], [170], [171], [178], [180], [219], [238].
  • the machinery for disposing of surplus farm products imperfect, [297];
  • the abundant apple crop of 1870 as an illustration thereof, [297-8]-9;
  • apples should have been as common as bread or potatoes, [298];
  • the actual facts, [298];
  • cause of both the waste and dearness of apples, [299-300];
  • consequent loss to producers and consumers, [299-300];
  • turnips as a further illustration, [300];
  • disappointments of inexperienced farmers, [300-1];
  • hucksters and middlemen, [301];
  • suggestion to have a railroad purchase and sell farm products, [301-2];
  • results to be expected, [302];
  • an objection answered, [302].
• EXCHANGE: Exchange and Distribution, chap. l, [297];
  • author has attended at least fifty, [225];
  • concludes they were not what they might and should be, [225];
  • the reform must begin with the people, [225];
  • the lot of the public speaker, [225-6];
  • what is needed to render our annual Fairs useful and instructive detailed, [226];
  • each farmer should hold himself bound to make some contribution to his, [226];
  • an interesting and running commentary should given, [227-8];
  • liberal premiums should be given for proficiency in farming, [228-9];
  • need for improvement in the character of the public speaking, [229];
  • counties should be canvassed to enrol exhibitors, [230];
  • all in a locality should feel a common interest in their fair, [230].
• EXHIBITIONS (AGRICULTURAL)—Agricultural Exhibitions, chap. xxxviii, [225];
• EYE-SMART, [125].
  
• FABRICS, [200].
• FAIRS. See Exhibitions.
• FALL, the, [126], [173], [174], [193], [318].
  • Will Farming Pay, chap. i, [13];
    • will it pay considered, [13];
    • the case of a man without capital, [13];
    • difficulties common to all pursuits, [13-4];
    • Astor referred to, [14];
    • earning the first thousand dollars, [14];
    • instance of remarkable success in farming, near Boston, [15];
    • case of a farmer in Northern Vermont, [15-6];
    • Professor Mapes's success, [14];
    • profitable return from a fruit farm on the Hudson, [15-6];
    • that shiftless farming don't pay admitted, [17];
    • good farming profitable, [17];
    • farming not recommended as a pursuit to every man, [17];
    • it can never be dispensed with, [17];
    • it is the first, and most essential of human pursuits, [17];
    • all are interested in having it honored and prosperous, [17];
    • if unprofitable, it is from mismanagement, [17];
    • the author's aim in these essays, [17].
  • Good and Bad Husbandry, chap. ii, [18];
    • good and bad farming considered, [18];
    • necessity master of us all, [18];
    • dictates the line to follow in farming, [18-9];
    • application of the principle to pasturing, [19-20];
    • illustration of good farming, [20-21];
    • excuses for waste insufficient, [21];
    • truths on which good farming depend, [21];
    • good crops invariably practicable, [21-2];
    • rarely fail to pay, [23];
    • increasing productiveness of the soil the fairest single test, [22];
    • where to farm considered, [23];
    • experience of the author's father regarding the East and West, [23];
    • circumstances qualifying it, [23];
    • the difficulties of the pioneer's life, [23-4];
    • purchase of an "improvement" recommended in certain cases, [24];
    • civilized places are to be preferred for settlement, [24];
    • co-operation may change matters, [24];
    • good farming will pay everywhere, [25];
    • no one having a good farm advised to migrate, [25];
    • money is made by farming near New York as fast as in the West, [25];
    • where migration is advised, and its advantages, [25];
    • troubles attendant on buying on credit, [25];
    • the West will grow more rapidly than the East during the next twenty years, [26];
    • the South invites immigration, [26];
    • great inducements offered, [26];
    • combined effort recommended, [26];
    • good farming land cheapest in the United States, [27];
    • an incident in Illinois farming, [27];
    • counsel to intending purchasers, [27];
    • land cheap in every State, [28];
    • advantages of settling in colonies, [28];
    • the first steps toward doing so, [28];
    • division of the lands, [28];
    • laying out the town, [28];
    • the progress it ought to make, [28];
    • economy of capital accomplished, [28];
  • Preparing to farm, chap. iv, [29];
    • counsel intended for young men unaccustomed to farming, [29];
    • patience recommended, [29];
    • penalties of over haste, [29];
    • value of experience illustrated, [30];
    • an inexperienced young man advised to hire out, [30];
    • procure books, [30];
    • general counsel, [31];
    • how the course advised differs from running into debt, [31-2];
    • experience and practice essential, [32];
    • circumstances where theoretical study is approved, [32];
    • qualifying remarks, [32-3];
    • he who has mastered farming is competent to buy a farm, [33];
    • exceptions, [33];
    • a young man should not wait until he can buy a large farm, [33];
    • twenty acres ample for $2,000 capital, [33];
    • that extent is sufficient to test his aptitude, [33];
  • Buying A Farm, chap. v, [34];
    • it is better to buy good land than poor, [34];
    • poor land can be turned to account, [34];
    • the smallest farm should have its strip of forest, [34];
    • advantage of New England and countries of like surface over very fertile regions, [34];
    • cannot be divested of forest, [34];
    • "Five Acres" or "Ten Acres" not sufficient, [35];
    • exceptions, [35];
    • genuine farms, the general want, [35];
    • the remark "he has too much land," [35];
    • some men specially adapted for large farms, [35];
    • individual circumstances control, [35];
    • counsel to a young man intent on buying a farm, [36];
    • means of buying to be the main guide, [36];
    • capital the true limit, [36];
    • New England farms comparatively as cheap as Western, [36];
    • migration urged only for those who cannot buy farms in the Old States, [36];
    • success of the butter-makers of Vermont, [36];
    • also of New York cheese dairymen, [36];
    • insuperable barriers in the East to effective cultivation, [37];
    • cultivation by steam must render large farms necessary, [37];
    • grain growing not likely to be extended in the East, [37];
    • the West to be the source of supply of bread-corn to the East, [37];
    • main considerations in buying land in the Eastern States, [37];
    • in the West the case is different, [37];
    • social considerations, [38];
    • make a permanent investment, [38];
    • have confidence that industry will be rewarded, [38];
  • Laying off a Farm, chap. vi, [39];
    • the surface and soil of a farm should be carefully studied, [39];
    • misconception of the similarity of prairie farms, [39];
    • a Northern farm selected for illustration, [40];
    • preparatory steps in laying off, [40];
    • care necessary, [40];
    • a pasture to be first selected, [40];
    • what it should be, [41];
    • the one great error in relation to this matter, [41];
    • weeds inseparable from pasture, [42];
    • treatment of a pasture, [42-3];
    • it should have a rude shed, [43];
    • fodder to be brought to cattle, [43];
    • "too much" land and tree planting, [50];
    • farming in Westchester County, N. Y., [51];
    • management of grass lands a test of farming, [152];
  • The Farmer's Calling: chap. xxxi, [183];
    • merits of farmers as a class, [183];
    • the author would have advised one of his sons if spared to attain manhood to become a good farmer, [183];
    • difficulties attending the farmer's calling, [184];
    • author's reason for recommending farming as a vocation to his son, [184];
    • no other business in which success is so nearly certain as it, [184-5];
    • farming conduces to a reverence for honesty and truth, [185-6];
    • it is conducive to thorough manliness of character, [186-7];
    • advantages the farmer enjoys in that respect over persons in other pursuits, [187];
    • incidents of the author's experience as a journalist in this regard, [187-8];
    • independent position of the true farmer, [188];
    • difficulties a young farmer encounters as a pioneer, [248-9];
    • considerably obviated be co-operation, [250];
    • co-operation admits of wider application, [250-1];
    • fencing as an illustration of the want of co-operation, [251-2];
    • wide adaptability of co-operation, [252-3];
    • Mr. E. V. de Boissière's co-operative farm, [253-4];
    • farming in Colorado, [265];
    • mistaken calculations of inexperienced farmers, [299-300];
    • summing up: the farmer's calling, [308];
    • American farming, [309];
    • good farming is and must ever be a paying business, [310];
    • thorough tillage, [310];
    • choosing a location, [311];
    • prudence enjoined, [311-2];
    • the greed for land, [312-3];
    • shallow culture, [319];
    • need for study and inquiry, [320].
• FARMING—
  • naked magnitude has fascination for most minds, [292];
  • some men can farm a township, [292];
  • large farmers, [293];
  • the opportunities and expectations of the small farmer, [293];
  • making money from small farms, [293-4];
  • large farming can never enable us to dispense with small farms, [294];
  • evidence thereof, [294];
  • fruit culture, [294];
  • the production of eggs and the rearing of fowls, [294];
  • the inducements offered to fowl-breeders, [295];
  • this industry should comment itself to poor widows, [295];
  • the growing of market vegetables, [296];
  • the profits realized therein; [296];
  • general conclusions, [296-7].
• FARMS: Large and small Farms, chap. xlix, [292];
  • farmers divide into two classes, [254];
  • characteristics of those who do too little work, [255];
  • the farmers who work too much, [255];
  • illustration thereof, [255];
  • value of the club to them, [256];
  • who should form the club, [256];
  • its rules, [256-7];
  • the chief end to be attained, [257];
  • habits of observation and reflection, [257];
  • evidence of the need thereof, [257];
  • a genuine interest in their vocation is needed by farmers, [257-8];
  • false fancies to be removed, [258];
  • the officers of the club, [258];
  • grafts, plants or seeds for gratuitous distribution, [258];
  • an annual flower show, [259];
  • an exhibition of fruits, [259];
  • the organization of a farmers' club is the chief difficulty, [259];
  • how removed, [259].
• FARMERS' CLUBS—Farmers' Clubs, chap. xliii, [254];
  • labor arduous enough without adding inefficient implements, [237];
  • improvements therein during fifty years, [237];
  • proofs thereof, [237];
  • the inferior implements used in the greater part of Europe, [237-8];
  • the claim of inventors or their agents to attention, [238-9];
  • the stock of an implement warehouse, [239];
  • a co-operative plan will be found necessary to secure the needful implements, [240];
  • reasons therefor, [240];
  • greater inventions are certain to be made, [241];
  • inventions for plowing, [241].
• FARM IMPLEMENTS—Farm Implements, chap. xli, [237];
  • Fences and Fencing, chap. xxxvii, [219];
    • excessive fencing general, [219];
    • fences are commonly dispensed with in France and other parts of Europe, [219];
    • drivers must there keep their cattle from injuring the wayside crops, [219];
    • American railroads have largely superseded cattle-driving, [220];
    • fresh meat will ultimately come from the Prairies, in refrigerating cars, [220];
    • owners of animals should be responsible for their care, [220-221];
    • fencing bears with special severity on the pioneer, [221];
    • fences, where necessary, are a deplorable necessity, [221];
    • obstacles to introducing ditches and hedges, [221-2];
    • wire fences, [222];
    • stone walls, [222];
    • rail fences, [222-3];
    • posts and boards are the cheapest material for fences, [223];
    • Red Cedar posts, [223];
    • Locust posts, [223];
    • posts set top-end down last longest, [224];
    • general conclusions, [224];
    • forms one of the pioneer's many trials, [251];
    • it is different, but not better, with settlers on broad prairies, [251];
    • co-operation would secure an immense economy in, [252], [287];
    • should be scrutinized in winter, [306];
    • most American farms east of the Roanoke and Wabash have too many fences, [313].
• FENCES, [100-1].
  • Commercial Fertilizers—Gypsum, chap. xvii, [102];
    • Gypsum might be generally applied to cultivated land, with profit, [102];
    • the case where it costs $10, or over, per ton, considered, [102];
    • it should be used in all stables and yards, [102];
    • on meadows and pastures, [102];
    • time and mode of application, [103];
    • how Gypsum impels and invigorates vegetable growth, referred to, [103];
    • its value practically demonstrated in and around Paris, [303-4];
    • the nature of Gypsum, [104];
    • the chemists' theory of it, [104];
    • its actual effect assumed as the basis of these remarks, [104];
    • Gypsum ought to be extensively applied to pastures and slopes, [104-5];
    • a farmer's observations on its effects, [105];
    • it may be easily procured, [105];
    • its trial requested, [105-6];
    • soils can be improved by means of calcined clay, [105];
    • a successful trial thereof, [106].
  • Alkalis ... Salt—Ashes—Lime, chap. xvii, [107];
    • all our country's surface might be improved by the use of suitable fertilizers, [107];
    • not many acres but might be made more fertile by their use, [107];
    • comparative exhaustion of the soil soon renders them necessary, [107-8];
    • the good farmer's inquiry on the subject, [108];
    • the state of each soil respectively, the true guide in using fertilizers, [108];
    • alkaline substances might be universally applied with profit, [108];
    • the use of ashes considered, [108-9]
    • Marls of New Jersey, [109];
    • Salt, [109];
    • Potash, [109];
    • the author's trial of, [109-10];
    • Lime as a fertilizer, [110];
    • careful tests of the value of Alkalis suggested, [110-11].
  • Soil and Fertilizers, chap. xix, [112];
    • the farmer a manufacturer, [112];
    • the opinion that some lands are naturally rich enough, [112];
    • the great wheat product at the Salt Lake City Plain, [112];
    • the author's experience regarding the imperfect manuring of land, [113];
    • more manure and less seed should be applied by most farmers, [113];
    • the richest soils deteriorate after successive crops, [114];
    • Nature's law of inflexible exaction, [114];
    • rich soil from the West exhibited at the N. Y. Farmers' Club, [114];
    • chemical analysis made of same, [114];
    • Professor Mapes' remark thereon, [114];
    • the mistake of fertilizing poor lands only, [115];
    • better to produce the same quantity of Corn from a small than a large area in certain cases, [115];
    • barn-yard manure, and its use, [115-6];
    • no farmer ever impoverished by making and using manure of his own manufacture, [117];
    • Lime has been used without advantage, [111];
    • reasons therefor, [111];
    • adulteration of Lime, [111];
    • farmers advised to be discriminating, [111];
    • experiment recommended where there is doubt, [111];
  • Bones—Phosphates—Guano, chap. xx, [118];
    • wasteful outlay for fertilizers, [118];
    • fertilizers needed and used in Westchester Co., N. Y., [118];
    • where not needed, [119];
    • unprofitable use of Guano, [120];
    • exceptions to the general rule, [120];
    • the other fertilizers, [120];
    • author's trial of Guano, [121];
    • not of general application, [121];
    • experiments and careful observation recommended, [122];
    • results that may be expected, [123];
    • the earth closet, [123];
    • importance of it and kindred devices, [123];
    • oyster-shell lime is the best, [128];
    • the fertilizers to be used in preparing for an orchard, [142-3];
    • treatment of swamp muck for potatoes, [173];
    • fertilizers for potatoes when muck cannot be had, [173-4];
    • supposed inquiry of the people of Warren Co., N. Y, "How shall we obtain fertilizers?" [192];
    • answered, [193];
    • a Maine essayist on sourness of the soil and its remedy, [232-3];
    • necessity for scientific knowledge on the effects of, [232];
    • importance of some standard to go by in using, [234-5];
    • the digging and drawing of clay as winter work, [306];
    • value of clay for grass land, [306];
    • procuring commercial fertilizers, as winter work, [306].
• FERTILIZERS, Commercial.
  • culture of, [35], [37], [107];
  • ravages of insects on fruits, [129-30].
  • Peaches—Pears—Cherries—Grapes, chap. xxvii, [156];
    • adaptability of American climates as regards fruit-growing, [157];
    • why the climates of some sections are unfavorable for the most valued tree fruits, [156-7];
    • author's personal observations, [157];
    • difficulties attending the growing of finer fruits, [158];
    • counsel thereon to farmers mainly engaged in the production of grain and cattle, [157-8];
    • grape-growing, [159];
    • the mistake of neglecting vines, [159];
    • experiment recommended, [159];
    • necessary precautions, [160];
    • the course recommended to a farmer who proposes to grow pears, peaches, and quinces, [160-1], [168], [228], [232], [259];
    • the descriptions of fruit grown by small farmers, [294];
    • fruit culture would decline should small farms be generally absorbed into larger, [294];
    • treatment of fruit-trees in winter, [307].
• FRUIT: a profitable fruit farm on the Hudson, [14];
• 
  
• GAMMA GRASS, [261].
• GARDA, Lake, [75].
• GENESEE, Valley of the, [163], [165], [292].
• GEOLOGY, [30], [190], [231].
  • See also Corn.
• GERMANY, [289].
  • See also Fruits.
• GRAIN, [22], [35], [40], [107], [110], [118], [125], [126], [132], [157], [167], [186], [206], [228], [235], [239], [264], [266], [291], [293], [294], [296].
• GRAPES, [16], [59], [140], [226], [294].
• GREAT BASIN, the, [138], [278], [317].
  • See also Pasturing and Hay.
• GREAT BRITAIN, [179], [238].
  • own experience of the difficulties of securing a good start in life, [14];
  • remark of his father to, on migration toward the West, [23];
  • own evidence of the value of experience, [30];
  • is descended from several generations of tree-cutters, [44];
  • engaged for three years in land clearing, [44];
  • reference to Amherst, N. H., his birthplace, [52];
  • description of his farm, [62];
  • drainage thereof. [63-8];
  • observations in Italy, [74-6];
  • experiments in irrigation, [76-7];
  • observations in Virginia, [80];
  • experience of the plowing of his plat in New York city, [87-8];
  • tries deep plowing, [88];
  • plowing of the hill-sides on his farm, [94];
  • benefits thereof, [94];
  • judges that the gravelly hill-sides of his farm would repay applying 200 tons per acre of pure clay, [108];
  • experience of guano, [121];
  • raising locust from seed, [134];
  • hay product of his farm, [151];
  • helps in hay-making from swamps, [152];
  • hoed corn in his boyhood, [162];
  • observations on the corn-fields of the Mississippi valley, [163];
  • observations at Chicago twenty-three years ago, [164];
  • finds potatoes less prolific on his farm than in New Hampshire, [173];
  • speaks as a journalist's and farmer's calling, [187];
  • observations in Warren county, N. Y., [191];
  • the stone wall on his farm, [218];
  • experience of agricultural exhibitions, [225];
  • the plowing on his farm, [281];
  • mentions the sale of his apples as an illustration of the imperfect means of exchanging farm products, [298].
• GRASS, [22], [40], [43], [67], [68], [95], [107], [110], [121], [152-3], [191], [232], [238], [239], [264].
• GREELEY, Horace—Arrival in New York, [13-4];
• GREELEY, the city of, [262].
• GUANO, [116], [120], [121], [192], [318].
  • See also Fertilizers, Commercial.
• GULF STREAM, [178].
• GYPSUM, [120], [121], [122], [174], [233], [317], [318].
• 
  
  • Hay and Hay-making, chap. xxvi, [150];
    • importance of the grass crop, [150];
    • the portion made into hay, [150];
    • its quantity, [150];
    • the product and quality should be better, [151];
    • author's experience, [151];
    • the management of grass lands is a criterion of farming, [150];
    • hay-making in New England fifty years ago, [152];
    • too little grass-seed is now used, [152];
    • too little discrimination used in sowing grass seeds, [153];
    • the variety of good grasses will be increased, [153];
    • grass is cut in the average too late, [153];
    • consequences, [153-54];
    • the plea that our farmers are short-handed in the summer harvest, [154];
    • treatment of grass when cut, [154];
    • the author's anticipation of how hay-making will yet be carried on, [155];
    • the need for improvement in hay-making insisted on, [155];
    • explanation thereof, [155]. Also [167], [189], [191], [211], [235], [288], [291], [306].
    • See also Grass.
• HARLEM RAILROAD, [62].
• HAWK, the, [132].
• HAY, [20], [68], [78], [95], [119], [122], [147].
• HAY-MAKING, See Hay.
• HEMLOCK, [19], [58], [60], [66], [223], [287], [314].
• HICKORY, [53], [54], [55], [59], [135], [136], [215], [291], [314].
• HIGHWAYS, [249].
• HOES, [237].
• HOGS, [143].
• HOLLAND, [238].
  • carrots as food for, [182].
• HOMESTEAD LAW, [249].
  • a fruit farmer on the, [16];
  • the valley of the, [165];
  • banks of the upper, [191];
  • the valley of the upper, [190], [191], [317].
• HOPS, [164].
• HORSES, [132];
• HUDSON, the, [16];
• HUMBOLDT, the river, [81].
  • Northern, [163], [164];
  • prairies of, [164], [246], [264], [289].
• HUMBOLDT, the, or Canada Creek, [75].
• HUNGARY, [164].
  
  • the serious loss to farmers from insects, [129];
  • birds our best allies, [129];
  • what good they can do, [130];
  • ravages of insects not entirely due to the scarcity of birds, [130];
  • degeneracy of our plants largely causes their ravages, [130];
  • Gov. Packer of Pennsylvania's observations thereon, [130-31];
  • the case of wheat and other plants, [131];
  • a war against insects must continue for a generation, [131];
  • the destruction of birds, [132];
  • the measures to be adopted against insects, [132];
  • birds should be preserved, [132];
  • associations should be formed to do so, [132];
  • artificial posts, [133];
  • legal measures proposed, [133];
  • their ravages in Newcastle township, Westchester, N. Y., [147-8];
  • caterpillars, [148];
  • numerous from neglect, [148];
  • duties of farmers and fruit growers, [149].
• ILLINOIS, State of, [37];
  • years of rugged manual labor essential to success in hewing a farm out of the forest, [195];
  • value of education to the farmer, [196];
  • our average common schools defective in not teaching geology and chemistry, [196];
  • the leading principles and facts of these sciences ought to constitute the reader of the highest class in the common schools, [196];
  • counsel to the young farmer on agricultural books, [197];
  • their value demonstrated, [198];
  • a two-hundred acre farm will be found to give ample scope, [199];
  • instructions regarding particular books, [199];
  • men of the strongest minds and best abilities will be attracted to farming so fast and so far as it becomes intellectual, [199].
• INDIANA, [37], [163].
• INSECTS—Insects—Birds, chap. xxii, [129];
• INTELLECT (in Agriculture)—Intellect In Agriculture, chap. xxxiii, [195];
• INTEREST, relatively high in this country, [202].
  • Irrigation—Means and Ends, chap. xii. [74];
    • need of water for crops not often kept in view, [74];
    • the authors observations in Lombardy (Italy), [74-5];
    • the Atlantic Slope and Irrigation, [76];
    • author's experience in irrigation, [76-7];
    • results, [76];
    • irrigation of New England farms, [78];
    • advantages that would result therefrom, [78].
  • Possibilities of Irrigation, chap. xiii, [79];
    • natural facilities for irrigation
    • general, [79];
    • artesian wells on the prairies, [79];
    • wells in California, [80];
    • water as a fertilizer, [80];
    • crops in Virginia suffering from want of irrigation, [80-1];
    • counsel to farmers on irrigation, [81-2];
    • great profits to be realized by irrigation, [82-3];
    • need of irrigation in the Eastern and Middle States considered, [83];
    • the prairie States after 1900, [83];
    • common objections to irrigation, [84];
    • it must become general, [247];
    • wells will be sunk for the purpose, [247];
    • a steam locomotive for the purpose referred to, [247];
    • irrigation will become general, [247];
  • Western Irrigation, chap. xliv, [260];
    • irrigation is practicable everywhere, [260];
    • the portion of our country which cannot be cultivated without irrigation, [260];
    • its extent, [260];
    • its climate, [260];
    • it is spoken of as desert, [261];
    • the readiest means of irrigating the plains, [261];
    • their extent, [261];
    • the North and South Platte rivers, [261];
    • Union Colony, [262];
    • its location, [262];
    • location of Greeley, [262];
    • the first irrigating canal of Union Colony, [262];
    • branches and ditches therefrom, [262-3];
    • how the water is deflected to it, [263];
    • the larger and longer canal, [263];
    • doubts at first entertained respecting the capacities of the soil, [264];
    • proved baseless, [264];
    • products of the soil, [264];
    • the cost of irrigation is not in excess of cultivating without it, [264];
    • demonstration thereof, [265];
    • it would pay to expend $10 per acre for irrigating New England grass lands, [266];
  • More of Irrigation, chap. xlvi, [274];
    • irrigation of places bordered by streams referred to, [274];
    • the facilities the Platte offers for irrigation, [274-5];
    • results that may be attained, [275];
    • the Plains, [275];
    • obstacles to their cultivation, [275-6];
    • the change that will be yet effected, [276];
    • how the plains will be irrigated, [276-7];
    • artesian wells, [277-8];
    • the co-operation of railroad companies anticipated, [278];
    • rain increases as settlements are multiplied, [278];
    • the permanent character of the Plains, [279];
    • tracts needing irrigation in the East, [279];
    • summing up of the author's views on, [315-6]-7.
• IOWA, [27], [163], [164], [168].
• IRELAND, [170], [175], [289].
• IRRIGATION—
• IRON, [242].
• ITALY (Northern), [171].
  
  • the river, [279].
• KANSAS, [25], [26], [167], [249], [261], [264], [289].
• KANSAS PACIFIC, the railroad, [262].
• KENNEBEC, the valley of the, [165];
• KENTUCKY, [50].
• KIT CARSON, the, [277].
  
• LABORERS, Farm—Dearth of employment for, in winter, a great and growing evil, [303].
• LAKES, the Northern, [165].
• LANCASTER COUNTY, Penn., [110].
• LANCASHIRE (England), [76].
• LAND. See Farming.
• LANDS, public, [46].
  • as a fertilizer, see Fertilizers, Commercial;
  • also, [104], [110], [111], [120];
  • oyster shell, [121], [122], [128];
  • use in preparing for an orchard, [142], [143], [147], [167], [174], [192], [211], [232-3], [235], [306], [317], [318].
• LARD, [164].
• LIEBIG'S agricultural chemistry, [199].
• LIME, [104];
• LOCUST, the, tree, [53], [54], [55], [60], [134], [215], [223], [314].
  • New Hampshire, [171].
• LOMBARDY, [74], [75], [76].
  • Sound, [172].
• LONDON, [269].
• LONDONDERRY (Ireland), [171];
• LONG ISLAND, N. Y., [166], [251], [315];
• LONG'S PEAK, [262].
• LORING, Dr. George B. (of Mass.), [193].
• LUMBERING—How rocks in creeks are removed by a lumberman, [217].
  
• MACHINES, agricultural, [225].
• MAGGIORE, Lake, [75].
• MAGNESIA, [235].
• MAIDSTONE (England), [89].
• MAINE, [125], [171], [232].
• MANGANESE, [111].
• MANGOLDS, [271].
• MANUFACTURES, [164], [243].
• MANURE, [95].
  • See also Fertilizers, Commercial.
• MAPLE, [287].
• MAPES, Professor, [16], [85], [114], [128].
  • Eastern, [315].
• MARL, [109], [120], [122], [142], [167].
• MARTINEAU, Miss., [187].
• MARYLAND, [166], [251];
  • meat will be ultimately conveyed in refrigerating cars, [220], [266].
• MASSACHUSETTS, [171], [193].
• McCORMICK, C., [86].
• MEATS, [150], [164], [167], [200], [201];
• MECHANICS, [243].
  • Lake, [156].
• MELON, [226].
• MEXICO, [172].
• MICHIGAN, State of, [163];
• MIDDLE STATES, [139].
• MILK, [115], [167], [171].
• MILLS, [249], [250].
  • State of, [168];
  • the river, [260], [261], [279].
• MINNEHAHA, the, [285].
  • valley of the, [45], [69], [163];
  • the river, [163].
• MINNESOTA, [25], [26], [36], [37], [163], [164], [168], [206], [249], [289].
• MISSOURI, valley of the, [20];
• MISSISSIPPI, valley of the upper, [20], [38];
• MOLE PLOW, the, [72].
• MONMOUTH, N. J., [166].
• MORMONS, tree planting by, [46].
  • use in preparing for an orchard, [142].
  • Muck—How to Utilize it, chap. xxi, [124];
    • chemists will yet be able to determine the value of all kinds, [124];
    • use of muck profitable, [124];
    • the author's trial of it, [124];
    • how swamp muck forms, [124-5];
    • its vast extent, [125];
    • little benefit derived from applying it directly, [125];
    • the true course to adopt to secure good returns, [126-7];
    • practical evidence of its value, [127];
    • the course to be adopted by farmers having few animals, [127-8];
    • mixing salt with lime, [128], [147], [167];
    • diversity of opinion about, [233];
    • as an illustration of the need for more scientific knowledge, [233-4];
    • as an illustration of winter work, [304];
    • it is abundant and accessible, [304];
    • proof thereof, [305-6];
    • value of muck, [305];
    • where to procure, [318].
• MORTGAGE, buying land on, [31].
  • also, [200], [220].
• MIDDLE STATES, pasturing in, [19], [25], [69], [142], [179], [204], [215].
• MUCK, [95], [109], [116], [120];
• MUTTON. See Sheep;
• 
  
• NAPOLEON I, [33], [292].
• NEVADA, [46], [76], [83], [260].
• NEWBURG, N. Y., a fruit farm above, on the Hudson, [16].
  • Southern, [166], [167], [168], [169], [190], [251], [305], [315].
• NEWCASTLE (township), Westchester Co., N. Y., [62], [147].
• NEW ENGLAND, [25], [34], [36], [39], [45], [50], [69], [78], [79], [139], [152], [163], [164], [165], [171], [190], [206], [214], [266], [279], [286], [287], [289], [290], [291], [303].
• NEW HAMPSHIRE, [87], [140], [172], [237].
  • cheese dairymen of, [36], [47], [62], [68], [79], [102], [131], [140], [164];
  • Western, [163];
  • Eastern, [164], [165], [190], [286], [290].
• NEW JERSEY, [49], [85], [109], [165];
• NEW RIVER, Va., [86].
• NEW YORK (city), [13], [60], [87], [129], [269].
• NEW YORK STATE, [37], [49];
• NIAGARA, the falls of, [285].
• NINEVEH, [266].
• NITRATES. See Fertilizers.
  • valley of the river, [38];
  • the river, [53], [159].
• NITRATE OF SODA, [122].
• NORTHERN STATES, [48], [139], [140], [192], [297].
  
• OATS, [67], [92], [94], [113], [118], [121], [143], [189], [191], [210], [238], [245], [264], [265].
• OHIO, State of, [37], [163], [220];
• OLD STATES, the, [73], [249], [306].
  • valley, a broad, [101].
• ONIONS, [191].
• ONTARIO, Lake, [156].
  
• PACIFIC STATES, [178].
  • its pernicious effects, [19];
  • soiling is preferable to pasturing, [20];
  • a pasture should be the first field selected on a new farm, [40];
  • where it should be placed, [41];
  • misconceptions respecting indiscriminate pasturing, [41];
  • treatment of a pasture, [42-3];
  • should have a shed, [43];
  • appearance of pastures where there is bad farming, [152];
  • summing up of the author's views on pasturing, [313-4].
  • See also Hay.
• PACIFIC, the coast, [156];
  • also [129], [140], [161].
• PACKER, Gov. William F., of Penn., [130].
  • also [129], [139], [156], [204].
• PARIS, [103].
• PASTURES—Pasturing will soon disappear in the Eastern and Middle States, [19];
  • Eastern, [165], [172], [288].
• PEACH-TREES. See Fruits,
• PEARS. See Fruits,
• PEAS, [89], [90], [271], [296].
  • also [119], [121], [122], [192].
• PENNSYLVANIA, [23];
• PEMIGEWASSET, the river, [75].
• PHILADELPHIA, [156], [159].
• PHOSPHATES. See Commercial Fertilizers,
• PHOSPHORUS, [118], [119], [235].
• PIPPINS, [53].
• PITCH-PINE, [314].
• PILGRIMS, the descendants of the, [289].
  • irrigation of, [275-9], [316].
• PINE, [58], [223].
  • also [80], [173], [211], [232], [233].
• PINE BARRENS, [166].
  • valley of the, [274].
• PLAGUE, the, [268].
• PLAINS, the, [46], [101], [261];
  • Plowing, deep or shallow, chap. xiv, [87];
    • the Deep Plowing of all lands, not advocated, [85];
    • reasons therefor, [85];
    • instances where Deep Plowing was unadvisable, [85-6];
    • the primitive plow, [86];
    • plowing in New Hampshire in the author's boyhood, [87];
    • will Deep Plowing pay? [87];
    • author's experience of the plowing of a plat in New York city, [87-8];
    • plows deeply with profit, [88-9];
    • an English farmer's trial of Deep Plowing, [89-90];
    • the imperative reasons for Deep Plowing, [90].
  • Plowing—Good and Bad, chap. xv, [91];
    • misconceptions regarding Deep Plowing, [91];
    • the right conditions for Deep Plowing, [91];
    • case of a farmer of the old school cited, [91-2];
    • how Deep Plowing will prove profitable to him, [92-3];
    • how he should proceed, [92-3];
    • subsoiling hill-sides, [94];
    • author's own experience, [94];
    • the revolution that steam-plowing will cause, [95];
    • plowing of Grass land considered, [95];
    • treatment of Grass land that has been plowed, [95];
    • plowing of a poor man's rugged sterile farm, [97-9];
    • Fall-plowing, [99-100];
    • fences impede plowing, [100];
    • favored lot of the squatter on the prairie in regard to plowing, [101];
    • the plows of sixty years ago, [237];
    • the plows used in the greater part of Europe, [238];
    • improvement in plowing inevitable, [241];
    • the improved system would be adopted in the West, [241];
    • steam plows and their inventors, [243];
    • at work in Great Britain, [243-4];
    • the locomotive that is needed for steam-plowing, [244];
    • losses from want of such, [244-5];
    • necessity for greater rapidity in plowing demonstrated, [246];
    • advice of a German observer on plowing for Corn, [246-7];
    • author's experience of the cost and delay of plowing, [281-2];
    • not half so much or so thorough plowing done as there should be, [282];
    • the imperfect means of plowing, [282];
    • steam-plowing in England, [283-4]-5;
    • application of the facts to this country, [284].
    • See also Steam.
• PLASTER (Gypsum). See Commercial Fertilizers,
• PLATTE, the river, [82], [260], [261], [262];
• PLOWS, steel, [87].
• PLOWING:
• PLUM-TREES. See Fruits, also [129], [139], [294].
  • Esculent Roots—Potatoes, chap. xxix, [170];
    • their productiveness, [170];
    • cultivated universally in Europe, [170];
    • they alone form part of the every-day food of prince and peasant, [170];
    • the poor of New England depended on them when the grain crop was cut short, [171];
    • formed part of the regular supper in farmers' homes, [171];
    • the history of the Potato, [171];
    • it is essentially a mountainous plant, [172];
    • it may have grown wild on the sides of the great chain traversing Spanish America, [172];
    • everything there congenial to it, [172];
    • results attained by the author in growing potatoes, [172];
    • conditions which insure a good crop, [172-3];
    • swamp muck treated as described, makes an excellent fertilizer for, [173];
    • how to act where such is not to be had, [173-4];
    • instructions to a farmer having a poor, worn-out field of sandy loam, [174];
    • objections thereto considered, [174-5];
    • the potato blights, [175-6];
    • the kind of seed to plant, [176];
    • drills are preferable, in the author's judgment, [176-7];
    • preparation of the soil, [177];
    • varieties considered, [177];
    • growing from tubers tends to degeneracy, [177];
    • the originator of a valuable new potato entitled to a recompense, [177];
    • also, [189], [264], [296].
• PO, the river, [74-5].
  • valley of the, [317].
• PORK, [37], [99], [143], [186], [191], [220], [238], [291].
• POTASH. See Fertilizers, Commercial, also [109].
  • the farmer's sources and command of power less than the manufacturer's, [280];
  • both have the same opportunities, [280];
  • author's experience of the delay and cost of plowing, [281-2];
  • further illustrations of the imperfect means of plowing, [282];
  • steam plowing in England, [282-3]-4;
  • steam not commended as a source of power to the farmer, [284];
  • reasons therefor, [284];
  • wind as a source of power, [284-5];
  • the further anticipated sources, [285];
  • the triumphs of the future, [285].
• POTATOES, [88], [99].
  • prairies, the, of the West, [213];
  • the, [261].
• POTOMAC river, the, [53], [73], [140], [159];
• PORTUGAL, [237].
• POWER—Undeveloped Sources of Power, chap. xlvii, [280];
• PRAIRIE, [24];
• PRAIRIE STATES, [46], [83].
• PRUNING, [146].
• PUBLIC LANDS, [24], [46].
  • suggestions to have one act as factor of farm products, [301-2].
• PURSLEY, [125].
  
• QUINCES. See Fruits.
  
• RAG-WEED, [125].
• RAILROADS, their influence on the progress of the West, [26], [105];
• RALEIGH, Sir Walter, [171].
• "RANCHING," [292].
• RASPBERRIES, [90].
• REAPERS, American, [245].
• RED CEDAR, [58], [157], [223].
• RED OAK, [19], [53], [60].
• REPUBLICAN, valleys of the, [274].
• ROADS, [250].
• ROBINSON, SOLON, on fencing, [219].
  • all seek heat and moisture, [98], [126], [168], [206], [228], [242], [265];
  • Roots—Turnips—Beets—Carrots, chap. xxx, [178];
    • British and American climates compared as regards turnip culture, [178-9];
    • turnips may be profitably grown in the United States, [179];
    • cattle breeders should each commence with one or two acres per annum, [179];
    • the beet better adapted to our climate than the turnip, [180];
    • its value to Europe as a sugar producer, [180];
    • reasons for doubting that beet sugar will become an important American staple, [180-1];
    • beets will be extensively grown under a better system of tillage, [181];
    • the author's experience of growing carrots, [181];
    • reasons for not achieving eminent success therein, [181];
    • the carrot ought to be extensively grown for horse feeding, [182];
    • its value as such, [182];
    • the oat degenerates in very hot, dry summers, [182];
    • roots valuable to diversify food, [182].
• ROCK. See Stone.
• ROCKY MOUNTAINS, [206], [261], [262], [274].
  • winter, [43], [92], [143], [191], [192].
• ROMFORD, England, [269-70].
• ROOTS, culture of, [35], [43];
• RUTA BAGAS, [143].
• RYE, [21];
  • also [109], [114], [122], [127], [128], [143], [147], [174].
• 
  
• SAGE-BUSH, [261].
• ST. LOUIS, [156].
• SALEM, N. J., [166].
• SALT. See Fertilizers, Commercial;
  • Science in Agriculture, chap. xxxix, [231];
    • author disclaims being a scientific farmer, [231];
    • men have raised good crops, who knew nothing of science, [231];
    • science is the true base of efficient cultivation, [231];
    • the elements of every plant, [231];
    • necessity for scientific knowledge, [232];
    • author's personal experience, [232];
    • the assertion of a Maine essayist, as an illustration of the need of scientific information, [233];
    • the diversity of opinion as to the value of swamp muck as a further illustration, [233-4];
    • analysis of soils considered, [234];
    • the necessity for some standard to go by in manuring land, [234];
    • illustration thereof, [234-5];
    • science explains the impoverishment of soils, [235];
    • author's testimony on the value of science, from personal experience, [236];
    • a competence is reserved for young men fully conversant with agriculture, [236].
• SALT LAKE, [46].
• SALT LAKE CITY, [112].
• SAVOYS, [271].
• SCHOOLS, [249], [250].
• SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE, [32];
• SCOTCH-IRISH, the, [171].
  • causes which doomed ancient empires to decay, [266];
  • illustrations thereof, [266-7];
  • the soil must receive back the elements taken from it, [267];
  • obstacles thereto, [267];
  • location of ancient and modern cities, [267];
  • imperative necessity for cleansing treat cities, [267-8];
  • meaning given to sewage in England, [268];
  • conditions necessary for its equable diffusion over the soil, [268];
  • application of sewage, [268];
  • difficulties of utilizing it, [268-9];
  • the progress made, [269];
  • the measures taken to utilize sewage at Romford, England, [269];
  • farm whereon it was used, and the results attained, [269-70]-1-2-3;
  • conclusion therefrom, [273-4].
• SCOTLAND, [178], [269].
  • production of wool in the United States insufficient, [200];
  • they might profitably grow as much as they consume, [201];
  • reasons therefore, [201];
  • the increased price of mutton will make up for the reduction on wool, [201];
  • sheep-growing in England as an illustration, [201];
  • sheep soon make a return for the outlay on them, [202];
  • they successfully contend with bushes and briars, [203];
  • more mutton should be consumed, [202-3];
  • all farmers are not counseled to grow sheep, [203];
  • depredations of dogs, [203-4];
  • precautions against them, [204];
  • the change in the relative values of mutton and wool, [204];
  • the relative prices and product the farmer must expect in the future, [205];
  • growing sheep for mutton near New York, [205];
  • profit thereof, [205];
  • sheep-growing is no experiment, [205];
  • encouragement thereto, [205-6];
  • sheep growing in Colorado and other Territories, and its future, [206].
• SCRUB OAK, [314].
• SCYTHES, [239].
• SEASONS, Dry. See Drouth.
• SEWAGE—Sewage, chap. xlv, [266];
• SHEEP—Sheep and Wool Growing, chap. xxxiv, [200];
  • See Farmers' Clubs.
• SICILY, [267].
• SICKLE, [239].
• SILICA, [235].
• SMITH, William (Woolston, Eng.), [283].
• SOCIETY, Agricultural, an, [228].
  • inviting immigration, [26];
  • the inducements she offers, [26-7]-8, [178], [311].
• SODA, [235].
• SOILS, analysis of, [234].
• SORGHUM, stalks of, [43].
• SORREL, [125], [232].
• SOUTH, [25];
• SOUTH AMERICA, [200], [206].
• SPAIN, [86], [237].
• SPANISH AMERICA, [172].
  • application of steam to plowing, [95].
  • Steam in Agriculture, chap. xli, [241];
    • farmers have been slow in utilizing the natural forces around them, [241];
    • evidence thereof, [242];
    • steam as a source of power is hardly a century old, [242];
    • the revolution it has effected, [242];
    • it will effect still greater, [243];
    • steam has contributed very little to preparing the soil, [243];
    • disappointments of inventors of steam plows, [243];
    • steam plowing in Louisiana, [243];
    • steam plows in Great Britain, [243-4];
    • the locomotive that is needed for steam plowing, [244];
    • the saving it would effect, [244-5];
    • American reapers in England, their value appreciated, [245];
    • need for a machine to plow rapidly demonstrated, [246];
    • recommendation of a German observer regarding plowing, [246];
    • irrigation will become general, [247];
    • the locomotive referred to above could be used for sinking wells, [247];
    • steam plowing in England, [283-4]-5.
• SPRING, [67], [70], [73], [75], [76], [78], [81], [87], [88], [99], [111], [126], [127], [134], [135], [136], [137], [140], [141], [150], [168], [171], [173], [174], [193], [194], [202], [258], [303], [319].
• SPRUCE, [223].
• SQUASH, [226], [264].
• STARK COUNTY, Ohio, [110].
  • formation of the earth, [212];
  • diffusion of stones over the surface, [213];
  • these are sometimes a facility, but oftener an impediment to efficient agriculture, [213];
  • no rock on the surface of the great prairies of the West, and a portion of the valleys and plains of the Atlantic slope, [213];
  • advantages and disadvantages thereof to the pioneer, [214];
  • less use for stone now than formerly, [214];
  • the stone on Eastern farms to be yet utilized, [214-5];
  • very stony land should be planted with trees, [215];
  • rough, unshapen stones will be more and more used for building, [215-6];
  • instructions for building a barn partly with stone concrete, [216];
  • its advantages, [216];
  • blasting out stone considered, [216-7];
  • the mode a lumberman employs to remove rocks in creeks, [217];
  • the author's experience regarding the fencing of his farm, [218];
  • his stone walls, [218].
• STEAM IN AGRICULTURE, cultivation by, [37];
• STEAM PLOWS. See Steam.
• STEEL, [242].
  • maple, [19], [314].
• STEUBEN COUNTY, N. Y., [105].
• STONE—Stone on a Farm, chap. xxxvi, [213];
• STONES, [249].
• STRAWBERRIES, [16], [90].
  • the valley of the, [317].
• SUGAR, production of, from the beet, [180];
  • See Draining.
• SULPHUR, [104].
• SUMMER, [47], [59], [64], [67], [78], [83], [84], [86], [88], [99], [103], [124], [126], [130], [154], [173], [178], [189], [190], [191], [202], [260], [264], [279], [288].
  • Northern, [171].
• SUPER-PHOSPHATE, [174].
• SUSQUEHANNA, the, [279], [292];
• SWAMP LAND: about 50,000,000 acres of, in the old States (including Maine), [125];
• SWINE, [143].
  • (Western), [260].
• SWITZERLAND, [139];
• SYCAMORE, [59].
  
• TAMARACK, [223].
• TERRITORIES, the, [206], [249].
• TEXAS, [43], [205], [206];
  • rocky character of the author's own fields, [96];
  • clearing off stones profitable, [96];
  • cultivating wet lands without draining unprofitable, [97];
  • the course a poor man with a rugged, sterile farm should adopt, [97];
  • should reclaim one field each year, [97];
  • should plow often, deeply and thoroughly, [98-9];
  • reasons therefor, [99];
  • Fall plowing, [99];
  • enriches the soil, [99-100];
  • fences, [100];
  • the favored lot of the squatter on the prairie, [101].
  • See also, Plowing—Draining—Farming.
• TEXTILE FABRICS, [242].
• THEBES, [266].
• THISTLES, [42].
• THREAD, [200].
• TILLAGE: Thorough Tillage, chap. xvi, [96];
• THE TIMES (London),282
• TIMBER. See Trees.
• TIMOTHY GRASS, [38], [153].
• TOBACCO, [191].
  • New England must always be well wooded, [34], [37];
  • Trees—Woodlands—Forests, chap. vii;
    • the author not sentimental regarding the destruction of, [44];
    • utility the reason
    • and end of vegetable growth, [44];
    • profit the main consideration, [44];
    • the beauty and grace of trees, [44];
    • New England a favored section in regard to tree-growing, [45];
    • disadvantage of prairie land in that respect, [45];
    • trees once grew on "the Plains," [46];
    • tree-planting in Utah, and its climatic influence, [46];
    • failure of congress to pass a bill encouraging tree planting, [46];
    • mistake of the New York dairy farmers in destroying trees, [47];
    • Spain, Italy, and portions of France suffering from the destruction of their forests, [47];
    • other illustrations of improvidence, [48].
  • Growing Timber—Tree-Planting, chap. viii, [50];
    • proportion of a farm that should be devoted to trees, [49];
    • the question of "too much land" and tree-growing, [51-2];
    • its general application, [52];
    • timber should be culled out rather than cut off, [52];
    • the care of apple trees applicable to all trees, [52];
    • some woodlands, the cheapest property in the United States, [53];
    • another profitable field of labor, [54];
    • plant thickly, [54];
    • a common objection answered, [54];
    • the Far West and tree-planting, [55].
  • Planting and Growing Trees, chap. ix, [56];
    • timber general on most farms, [56];
    • suggestions for locating trees, [56];
    • trees once planted cost nothing for cultivation, [56];
    • the soil is richer even after repeated crops of wood, [57];
    • poor land improved by growing timber on it, [57];
    • springs and streams will be rendered more equable and enduring by tree-growing, [57];
    • trees should be set on all hill-sides and ravines, [57];
    • trees accumulate manure, [58];
    • they can be placed so as to modify agreeably the temperature of a farm, [58];
    • author's experience, [58];
    • trees on the crest of a hill improve the crops on the slope, [59];
    • trees may be placed with advantage on banks of rivers, &c., [59];
    • a good tree grows as thriftily as a poor one, [59];
    • evidence thereof, [60];
    • diversity profitable, [60];
    • wood-lot should be thinned out, not cleared, [60];
    • the future should be considered when cutting, [60];
    • evidence thereof, [60];
    • a plantation furnishes employment at all seasons, [61];
    • tree-growing will make springs appear, and cause rain, [61], [97].
  • About Tree-Planting, chap. xxiii, [134];
    • author's experience in raising Locust plants, [134];
    • general counsel on the raising of locust and most other trees, [135];
    • sowing seed and raising plants therefrom, [135];
    • the raising of Chestnut, Hickory, White Oak, [135-6];
    • how a farmer, having a rugged, stony hill should act, [136];
    • profits which can be realized, [137];
    • the utility of forests, [137-8];
    • tree-planting as a field for adventurous young men, [138];
    • how they should proceed, [138];
    • the great profits to be realized, [138];
    • drouths may be expected as the country is more and more denuded of its forests, [100];
    • how stony land may be advantageously used for tree-planting, [215];
    • treatment of forests in winter, [307];
    • summing up of author's views on, [314].
• TOMATOES, [264], [296].
• TRIBUNE, the, New York, [188].
• TURKEY, [86].
  • the city of Greeley its nucleus, [262];
  • irrigating canals of Union Colony, [262-4];
  • doubts of the fertility of the soil of its location, [264];
  • proved groundless, [264].
• TURNIPS. See Roots, also [178], [264], [300].
  • the annual hay crop of, [150], [151], [315].
• TREES: clearing off timber, [30];
• TREE-FRUITS. See Apples and Fruits.
  • the growing of market, as a source of profit, [296].
• TREE-PLANTING. See Trees.
  
• UNION COLONY—Its location, [262];
• UNITED STATES, [27], [53];
• UTAH, [46], [76], [181].
  
• VEGETABLES, culture of, [35], [37], [90], [107], [168], [228], [264], [265], [266];
• VENICE, [74].
• VERMONT—A grazing farm in Northern Vermont, [15], [25], [36], [48], [110], [159], [172].
  • elements of agriculture by, [199];
  • on drainage, [315].
• VINES. See Fruit.
  • See also Irrigation.
• VIRGINIA, [50], [80], [86], [140], [166], [191], [237].
  
• WALNUT, [54], [60], [135], [136].
• WARREN COUNTY, N. Y., [191], [192].
• WARING, on drainage, [72];
  • illustration of good farming drawn from, [20], [23], [25], [26], [27], [36], [37], [41];
  • regards tree growing, [45], [55], [142];
  • the granary of the East, [163], [165], [168], [169], [179];
  • the Far, [205];
  • the Great, [241], [291], [311].
• WATER, [231-2].
• WATER MELONS, [300]
• WEBER, the river, [81].
  • See also Corn.
• WEEDS, in pastures, [43].
• WEST, the, a farmer who migrated to, [16];
• WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N. Y., [49], [52], [62], [67], [118], [119], [125].
• WESTERN IRRIGATION. See Irrigation.
• WHEAT, [21], [22], [37], [92], [94], [112], [113], [121], [131], [162], [167], [169], [238], [242], [245], [264], [265].
• WHITE ASH, [291].
• WHITE BIRCH, [314].
• WHITE DAISY, [42].
• WHITE MAPLE, [53].
• WHITE MOUNTAINS, N. H., [172].
• WHITE OAK, [54], [55], [135], [215], [291], [314].
• WHITE PINE, [30], [48], [53], [54], [55], [215], [287], [314].
• WHITNEY, Eli, [86].
• WILLOW, [59].
  • Eastern, [163].
• WINDMILL, [276-7].
• WINDS—Utilizing the Winds for power, [284].
• WINTER, [47], [59], [73], [81], [89], [113], [126], [135], [140], [141], [150], [154], [156], [157], [171], [178], [179], [193], [206], [209], [222], [258], [262], [263], [288], [298].
• WINTER. See Work, Winter.
  • dearth of winter work a great and growing evil. [303];
  • consequences thereof, [303];
  • it is quite a modern evil, [303-4];
  • the hard-working farmer's claim to leisure, [304];
  • he errs in supposing that there is no winter work to be done, [304];
  • the drawing and preparing of muck as an illustration, [304-5]-6;
  • the work to be substituted where muck is not to be had, [306];
  • procuring commercial fertilizers, [306];
  • fences, [306];
  • fruit trees, [306];
  • forests, [307];
  • general counsel, [307].
• WISCONSIN, [25], [159];
• WOOD ASHES, [120], [147], [173].
  • torrid, [46].
• WOOL, [164]. See Sheep.
• WOOL GROWING. See Sheep.
• WORK, WINTER—Winter Work, chap. li. [303];
• WYOMING, [206].
  
• ZONE, temperate, [46];

THE END.

---

Horace Greeley's Autobiography.

RECOLLECTIONS OF A BUSY LIFE: