I?5»v 



:OOEE'S HTOj§lL KEW-YORKER. 



DEC. 3. 



, the sheep will not eat it, even 



Enough fodder can be saved 



ay for good stables for either 



sheep, and the animals look so much bet- 



that I wonder any former would be st 



feed good hay or straw to cithei 



hecp oot of doors, exposed 



flesh. 



To recapitulate. If you have no 



fodder, feed 



mdjh 





i of 

 nake your 



grain, well ground, i. e 



stables and sheds tight, and inouffn of Hum, una 

 my word for it, hay will be cheaper next spring 

 than now. 1). A. A. Nichols. 



Wcstfleld, N. T., 1B55. 



A WORD FOE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



"I wisn my cattle hud a better shelter," is the 

 cry of the humane bat improvident farmer, as 

 each winter he sees those poor, patient servants of 

 his standing in the open air, suffering from storms 

 of wind, rain and snow, or shivering in the cold 

 comfort of the leeward side of barn or stack ; and 

 pity for their dependent, shelterless condition 

 moves him to resolve that next summer he will set 

 about providing warm, substantial barns and sheds 

 for tbem. But, when summer comes again, the 

 immediate, pressing need of such conveniences 

 has passed away; and, occupied with things that 

 matt bt dam now, t lie owner's good resolution 

 is half forgotten till the sight of his animals 

 exposed to the severities of another winter brings 

 it once more to mind. If the sc&son when the 

 want of comfortable housing for cattle is most 

 imperatively felt were also the time for supplying 

 that want, doubtless few farms would be without 

 & suitable provision of this kind; but, unfortu- 

 nately for the poor creatures most interested, the 

 building of shelters for stock is one of the things 

 that cannot be done the moment they are needed ; 

 and so the race of well-intentioned butprocrasti 

 oating farmers continually put off the cxecutioc 

 of their benevolent resolves. 



The motive of gain, though more geoerollj 

 effective than any other, is not the only nor tb( 

 worthiest one that can be urged in favor of careful 

 and considerate treatment of domestic animals. 

 Pleas for shelter for these out-door servants ol 

 man have, hitherto, been made up, principally, of 

 appeals to the selfishness of their masters. The 

 less quantity of food his cattle would require, and 

 the greater amount of work they would be able to 

 perform, the larger supply of wool his sheep 

 would yield, and the less hay and grain they 

 would consume— such are the reasons commonly 

 employed to induce the owner of domestic nnimals 

 to provide them comfortable shelter. Now and 

 then, the comparative helplessness of the brute cre- 

 ation, their position of dependence on man, their 

 sensibility to cold, hunger, &c, Ac, are brought 

 forward to make up a claim on the compassionate 

 nature of the lord of the lower animals. The 

 economists' argument is as good as anything 

 purely selfish can be; the plea of the sentimen- 

 talist would sound better if we did not remember 

 what we have been told, that in their natural 

 state, horses, cattle, sheep, Ac, managed to take 

 tolerable care of themselves, and that man re- 

 duced them to subjection and dependence. 



The question whether the owners of farm stock 

 shall provide comfortable shelter for their animals 

 is not properly one of self-interest merely, nor of 

 self-interest joined with the compassion due from 

 a being of high capabilities to one or lower endow- 

 ments ; it is, and should be treated, partly, at least, 

 as a question of justice. The proper relation be- 

 tween servant and served is based on the principle 

 of mutual benefit. We should be ashamed to 

 deprive the humblest creatures of liberty and corn- 



nothing to eat except what they can pick tbi 

 selves from said straw-slack, and giving, when 

 milked, from 1 to 3 quarts per milking. This, 

 say, is the condition (except in isolated cases 

 cows in this State. This is one of the causes, 

 a very prominent one, of u deficiency in butter 

 and cheese. Another is want of good stock,— but 

 few farmers taking the pains to improve their 

 stock by breeding from thorough-breds. If 

 farmers would only wake up to the necessity of a 

 reformation iu this department, they would find 

 they could make more money, and make it easier, 

 by judicious management, at butter ranging from 

 12 to 15, and cheeie from f> to 8 cents per pound, 

 by makiog more of it, to say nothing about the 

 advantage accruing to their stock in good looks 

 and better condition. 



More on this subject at a subsequent date, if 

 this is not consigned to the dark drawer. 



Kalunui7.ini, Mich., 1S5P. Touss Farmer. 



GRAIN GROWING ON THE 



s rivjIluliMriil 



I !l,,-ir 





r tbau they c 



i for 



! for themselves. 

 What they receive from us in the way of food and 

 shelter should not be regarded as so much una- 

 oidably subtracted from tbe profits of their labor, 

 ; nor bestowed grudg- 

 but cheerfully paid as right- 



their fleece, 



inglyasasortofalmi 



ful wages. It is as much their due 



capable of bargaining for it, and wi 



their services in case of breach of cont 



other party. It is time the relation be 



and the brute creation were considered 



than coldly economical point of 



a plea for tbe right usu^e of domestic 



addressed to the pockets, the sympathies, 



letu 



- -,f i 



tiLlv. 



ai,N." 



AEOTJT BUTTER AND CHEESE. 



:— In the Rirai, of 

 ;le headed Butter and 

 What has become of 



very important 



Eds. Rural Nbw-Yo 

 Nov. 5th, we noticed an 

 Cheese, and the quest 

 them ? This question 



not only to your State, (N. V.,j but'to nil of _ 

 Northern ones, both East and West. That article 

 says—" There would seem to be a general falling 

 ofl' in tbe dairy product of this State, (meaning 

 N. Y., I presume,) judging from the present prices 

 of butter and cheese." The article also gives 

 figures ofthe prices of both those commodities for 

 one month, (October) of each year, for ten years— 

 viz: from 1*50 to 185'.', inclusive. During tbe 

 first five years, butter averaged 15J^ cents per 

 pound, and cheese 8J< cents per pound. During 

 the next five years we find an increase of nearly 

 twenty-five per cent., which is surely a profitable 

 investment for farmers. But even at these prices 

 we can hardly find either for sale. 



(Michigan,) ut our market, 

 an scarcely find a pound of 

 ■ at this date iNov. i -tip,., for 

 do find it, have to pay from Is 



g M.chigs 



II there can bo 



gl» produced for all home 

 at far less figures 

 :t: is just here ; 

 hitler, and leave 





.UN-fiiunuNF upon the prai 

 reached its maximum, so I 

 production by labor-saving machinery is lo aid it. 

 Tbe plow and the reaper find naught to obstruct 

 progress or hinder their labor. When the 

 is fair it is indeed a fertile source of wealth, 

 ; all times its market is to be sought thou- 

 sands of miles away, and when low prices rule the 

 of carriage consumes much of the product, 

 it so with the dairy — especially the cheese 

 ?. The home demand exceeds the supply, and 

 orders have now to be drawn upon the States of 

 New York to supply tbe deficit. And 

 n a land where pasturage is unlimited in 

 frequent localities, and forage of all kinds is 

 tasily supplied. At the present day 

 the capital to be invested in grain growing is 

 nearly or quite as large as that for dairying, but 

 owing to past success all eyes have been turned 

 toward the production of grain, and the business 

 of dairying is lost sight of. 



Every farmer who uses machinery must own it 

 himself, or pay others for owning and working it, 

 which amounts to the same thing, and here is 

 opened an expenditure for reapers and drills and 

 cultivators equaling the cost of quite a herd of 

 cows. Then, the hardest work of t 

 comes when his neighbors are pushed to the last 

 extremity and thousands of acres of grain are 

 coming over-ripened, causing "bidding up 

 wages" by those who wish to hire help. All these 

 are items against the growing of 



The dairy has to be provided with suitable and 

 convenient buildings for the manufacture of bui 

 or cheese. These at the West are among the chief 

 obstructions to opening this business upon the 

 prairie, and have doubtless hindered many from 

 investing in it. But the moderate price of lum- 

 ber at the present date does much toward r 

 ing this hindrance. When buildings are 

 constructed the cost of keeping a cow for the 

 year is much less tban at the East. Where the 

 range is amnio no interest hos to be paid, either 

 upou the land furnishing summer range or wi: 

 forage. The cost of securing hay is certainly 

 than at the East, while of help suited to butter 

 and cheese making, it may be a trifle greater. 

 The advantages of dairying over grain-grow 

 are, while their natural facilities are equal, 

 market for the dairy is found in the neighborhood 

 at high prices, while the other has to seek a 

 market and bo governed by the fluctuations of 

 and trade. W. H. Gaud: 



HORIZONTAL WELLS. 



Wn.i ., : 



opposed to living fountains of earth 

 drawn water, are generally reported against. - 

 Everybody seems to love the enduring, voluntce 

 fountain, whether found in forest or prairie - 

 among rocks, or gurgling forth from the soil 

 roeta sing of these fountains and barbarians wor 

 ship them — western emigrant* shout "Eureka' 



t th ,, ri,> 



indn 



i there they rest. The world 



*l.J,..r- 









irith 



)hill< 



A PROLIFIC SHEEP. 



Eds. Rdbal New-Yorker :— I noticed an article 



the Rural of Oct. SOttl, speaking of ^profitable 



flock of sheep owned by J. Manvel, Dover, Md. I 



will speak of a profitable shtep. I have a small 



flock of South Downs, from which I give you an 



account of the product of one ewe, raised from one 



of my imported ewes. She was 4 years old last May. 



When one year old she raised a buck lamb; when 



two years old two ewe lambs; when three years 



old two buck lambs ; when four years old two ewe 



lambs — in all seven lambs. I weighed this day 



her pair of two year old ewes — one weighed 181 



pounds, the other 172 lbs. Her last spring lambs 



me in May; one weighed 100 lbs., the other 



lbs. The three bucks I have disposed of, winch 



mid of course weigh at same ages as much or 



>re. The weight of the mother when in same 



condition is about 190 lbs. The whole estimated 



present weight of the ewe and her product would 



be fully 1,200 lbs., from the ewe lambs of four 



years ago last May. 



large, but none as prolific I 

 oots to my sheep — only corn 

 stalks and hay in winter. "Who 



Thei 



s beautiful, as well e 



Wampsvlllo, Madison C 



. N. 



large. 



Ralph II. Avert. 



, Nov., 1859. 



1>ii ISkes Select a Home iiefore Swaiiming 'i— 

 tali in- flu AjlirmtUi re,— A tree was cut down, 

 and a cavity found in it, with bees at work clean- 

 showing a largo amount of labor had 



a comfortable dwelling. 



t day, while men i 

 a swarm of bees c 

 and began to mi 



orkc 



■ fui] t ..-r 



i has been known t 



of aim 



her.— A young 

 go directly into an empty hive standing near with- 

 going through the usual form of swarming.— 

 The question is still open, do they always select a 

 home before swarming? What Bees go out to 

 bunt the new borne, Queen, Drones, or Workers? 

 . /"., 18S9, 



urs KM Fattening Hogs.— I thiuk it is not 



ally understood that beans may be used for 



fattening hogs. I have had some experience in 



i matter, and I think there is nothing that will 



them fuster tbon beans, They must be boiled 



t and well mashed, then put into a tub or bar- 



and let sour. Cure should be taken in feeding 



Urst so as not to cloy them, as they make very 



hearty feed. Try it, you who have benns that are 



merchantable.— A. 0., Le Hoy, N. J', 1859. 



ountuinous regioi 

 tains, by digging thorn horizontally into the 

 sides? Mining nfter coal in Pennsylvania, 

 gold in California has clearly illustrated the : 

 that wells may be dug into hillsides or bank; 

 bluffs, as well level or horizontally as down 

 pendicularly; so that every unlucky thing falling 

 into tbe water becomes a portion of tin 

 of the well. Very many of the dairy farm houses 

 in the Empire State may be supplied with water 

 from the hill by means of the artificial fountains 

 we are describing. Also dry pastures may have 

 such wells, and tbe water gathered in a trough 

 as naturally as if it had always flowed there. 



Much dangerous and severe labor may also be 

 saved in drawing the dirt by windlass from the 

 well. Water so very troublesome in commou 

 wells, has not to be bailed iu the horizontal, as it 

 takes care of itself. The certainty oTdiscovery or 

 cutting off veins of water is greater with the hori- 

 zontal well than the perpendicular, if it starts in 

 near the base of a hill or anywhere as much below 

 the surface as a common shaft would be likely to 



How much labor and cost in bringing springs in 

 logs or pipes from distant fields, and in the end 

 only having secured semi-cold water of not half 

 the value for the dairy it bad at its source, might 

 have been saved by a trial of the horizontal well. 

 The California. Farmer indorses their efficiency, 

 and urges farmers to construct them wherever 

 practicable. The construction is simple and hardly 

 need be described. When the location is chosen, 

 let it be so that the course of the well may rise a 

 few inches as it progresses, that the water, instead 

 of running in, may run out. If it should be sandy 

 or gravelly and tbe arch incline to fall, plank must 

 be used to support it. The labor can be performed 



from instead of into the work. The dirt is easily 

 lemovedwitha wheel-barrow. The stoning may 



be with an arch i 



r only a drai 



ufficieut I 



SHEET -LEON EAVES CONDUCTORS. 



Tin eve conductors are expensive in first cost 

 and soon rust and become unsightly. Their cos 

 hinders many from providing their houses witl 

 these necessary fixtures of a dwelling well fitted ti 

 be a home. To a considerable extent this expens. 

 may be obviated by using tbe better sorts of sheet 

 iron in place of tin. Iron may be soldered as well a; 

 tin and form the glitters as well as round conduc 

 tors. To enable iron to withstand, without rusting 

 the effects of the weather, it should be well painted 

 with oil and lead, or gas tar, put on while thi 

 is a little warmed. Many buildings now needing 

 these conductors, may have them if the oi 

 will but hear the experience of others. 



Any ingenious person having the use of tools 

 can make a set of eve gutters answering well the 

 purpose designed, and if there are no elbows— the 

 conductors or spouts also. But as iron is i 

 readily soldered as tin, we subjoin the modus 

 operandi, for the benefit of whom it may conce: 



Bright iron edges can be soldered, but i 

 better to apply either sal-ammoniac or chlorid 

 zinc to the edges to be soldered. A few pen 

 worth of sal-ammoniac will be snIEcient. Wet 

 and rub it upon the brightened iron; then sprii 

 on rosin and the soldering is as easy as if of 

 Instead of sal-ammoniac, chloride of zinc ma; 

 used, which can be prepared as followo : — " 

 into a phial or bottle a handful of bits of zinc- 

 old sheet zinc, cleaned, will do— and pouring up 

 f a gill or a gill of muriatic acid (hyd 

 chloric acid,) with three or four times as much 

 '. The cork should be left out until effc 

 ceases." In a few hours it will bo 1 

 md iron wet with it will solder as read 

 if sal-ammoniac was used. It should be p 



tb a stick. 



We think there is less npology for farmer 

 providing cisterns with the cost reduced to tl 

 as above given. Well painted they w 

 durable than tin. A«ua Postaj 



Rural Spirit of tlje $)res0 



Ix a letter to the Branch County (Mich.) Ilrpub 

 ttean, Mr. Jas. Clisdbe, a well known and promi- 

 nent farmer, thus writes of winter barley ;— « The 

 barley has been grown in this vicinity for the lust 

 three years, and is, consequently, no longer an ex 

 perimeut. With us it has done well in every i n . 

 stance where it has had auy chance. Tbe general 

 yield is from twenty to twenty-four bushels to 

 acre. Judging from what we have seen of the 

 grain, it is capable of yielding eighty bushels 

 acre. During the past season it has been rai 

 by tbe side of spring barley, and has produced 

 four bushels to one of tbe spring 

 Amos Colvkr of this place (Quincy.) has" raised 

 during the past season, sixty bushels 

 oat stubble once plowed, or one hundred and 

 eighty bushels on three acres, and on land thathas 

 been cropped for eight years 



We think it has decided iidvantagi 

 Imrkv. vi... -1st, It may be sown afterfarmers get 

 *'•-- iugh with their hurry in sowing their wint 

 may be harvested before wheat 

 as no black or false heads. 4th, It 

 one, at least. 5th, Tbe insect will 

 lot hurt it in the fall, and it is so early that the 

 veevil will not hurt it. 



We are in hopes this barley will prove a substi- 

 ;ute for the wheat crop, if we should be obliged to 

 give up the cultivation of that 

 of the insects and w< 



destruction in Michigan. T 

 ley should be sown some time : 

 September and the 1st of No' 

 bushels of seed per s 



wheat. 





L-i-itin 







ifort 



I Ui .:n 



■ is choice cows, sheep, horses and mules, 

 he Fidd and Firstide, that yield the greatest 

 is to skillful husbandmen. The production 

 ubs, or mean stock of any kind, is rather a 

 business, in a pecuniary point of view. — 

 superior animal, on rich perrenial grasses, 

 seek a good income from your farm in stock 

 odry. Such animals may obtain part of 

 their living from uuimpvoved old fields, particu- 

 larly sheep; but they want good clover and pea 

 hay in the winter, or hay made from the English 

 grasses. The most prominent error in stock 

 ;rowing is the attempt to rear fine hoes, cattle 

 nd sheep on scanty an 

 rant a good deal of meat 

 le or nothing. They at 

 rich, while they lie in 

 the fire in wintei 





ind defective food. Some 

 at, milk, or wool, from lit- 

 ask nature to make them 

 the shade in summer, and 



', and leave their poor ani- 



irly or quite perish from neglect. 



VeigUt 





MAKING CHEESE FROM A FEW COWS. 



Eds. Rural New-Tourer :— Not witnessing 



ny reply to your correspondent on this subject, 



and believing that few make the trial, I will ven- 



to give you my mode, which I have found 



satisfactory and successful. Having commenced 



years since, ignorant of many of the prac- 



luties ofa farmer's wife, while seeking for 



information I chanced to find in an agricultural 



in account of a visit by a gentleman to 



f the dairies in Cheshire, England, in 



which he describes a small, self-acting press, 



which I gathered sufficient information to 



order one made. It is simply a tin can, 28 inches 



circumference, s inches deep, pierced full of 



all boles, the corner to be fastened by a hinge 



both sides, and book over on the outside. I 



i no other apparatus, except two wooden folioiv- 



de when tbe curd does not till tbe 



hoop. Fro 

 "eighing te 



's, I make each day a 



inds, after supplying my fi 

 Mice, prepare what 



nil,'. 



ight, (a st 



as well,) upon them, and if < 

 full size prepare another c" 

 rifyiog the first. Iu either c 

 ;d over two or three times, i 

 xa into the opposite cover, 

 i very little trouble, I have s 



Pad 



■ Wipe 



bb Battle Creek (Mich.) Jifftrsoman, thus 

 describes a method adopted bysome KewEngland 

 irs to improve tbe aggregate weight of the 

 sof their sheep. " They noted tbe weight of 

 fieece of each sheep in tbe flock ; opposite w. 

 the number of the sheep, a corresponding number 

 having been branded upon the animal itself: 

 time of taking its last clip. This course had 

 pursued for some years, and its results we: 

 parent in a wool crop, brought up from an average 



increase in size and quality of sheep. The pi 

 tice bad been to slaughter, and otherwise dispose 

 of all animals ranking lowest in weight of fleece, 

 and to improve upon the quality oT the remainder 

 by judicious crossing. Tbe crop of this flock wi 

 disposed of at 4S cents per pound, while we wei 

 there, a buck's fleece bringing the snug sum ol $5, 



A i'atest has been secured by W. Chuk, i 

 London, Eng ,for the following method of preser 

 ing butter :— " The butleris first well beaten in th 

 usual manner after churning, then placed between 

 linen cloths and submitted to severe pressu 

 removing whey and water. It is now completely 

 enveloped or covered with "clean white paper, 

 which is coated on both sides with a preparation 

 of the white of eggs, in which fifteen grains of salt 

 is used for each egg. This prepared paper is fir 

 dried, then heated before a fire, or with a hot it o 

 just prior to wrapping it round the butter. It 

 stated that the butter may be kept perfectly sweet 

 without any salt for two months, when thus treat- 

 ed, if placed in a cool, dry cellar. The submitting 

 of butter to pressure, os described, is a good plan, 

 and farmers can easily practice it with a small 



The whitewashing of cattle and horse stalls, 

 as well as the iuside of hog cotes and henneries, 

 not only renders them more healthy, but prevents 

 the animals and fowls from being invested 

 troublesome and tiltby vermin. Keep your stables 

 and barms well littered. Leaves from the woods 

 are excellent and absorb the liquid manure well, 

 besides of themselves they make good manure. 

 Nothing that will make good manure should bo 

 wasted, but carefully saved. Never undertake to 

 fat an animal until you have first made it com- 

 fortable in bed and board. If you wonder why 

 other people's cattle are gentle, try the discipline 

 of kind treatment on jours, and you will soon 

 learn the secret. 



'lie Vallty Farmer advocates the use of finely 

 powdered charcoal mixed with the food of fatten- 

 ng animals, especially hogs, once or twice a week. 

 It says that it serves' as a medicine, and is also 



inely fattening, either iu itself or by render- 

 ing the food more available by strengthening and 

 itimulftling the digestive powers. We can not be- 

 lieve that it i«, in itself, nutritious. 



C. S. Fust, In his new and valuable work, 



uvainffftOfB that heifers 



with d little linseed cake, in addition to their 



other fodder, for three months before calving, oc- 



a larger development of milk vessels, and 



,,,.1,1 ml )H milk afterward, than others fed as 



Agricultural itluJtttlarrD, 



fund bopee, and 





ig onr bright pr 



sperta la eael 



VTT'V" 11 



"" 



whelming manne 



, regardless o 



only the Btnu, 



..1, 



bat portion of tb 





rreat " Uni versa 



Y« 



nkee Nation" w 













n dependence, a 



lud 



ng free speech to 



aranteedbythe 







not altogether mjlbtcal ! How- 







£real pecuniary 









dignity and pro 





omiog hnmllily 



»tt 



from both Norlhc 



iHiiiSJJI 







ad perhaps for eon 





iveehaU continue 



toe 



it and publish tb 



BlTBAL NlW- 



s cottou-sted < 



old a 



