TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.) 



• PROGRESS A3TD ISIPROVEMENT." 



iSINGLE NO. FOUR CENTS. 



VOL. X. NO. 



ROCHESTER, N.Y.-F0K THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1859. 



i WHOLE NO. 520. 



MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 



RTJBAL, LITERARY AND FAULT RWSPAPKtt 



CLOSE OF THE YEAR AND VOLUME, 

 And of first Ten Years of the Rural New-Yorker. 



Ten Year* ! How long a period— the seventh 

 of a life-time of full "three score and ten" — and 

 yet how swiftly has it passed, bringinj: us to 

 another and important mile-stone ir. the cycf* of 

 Time! A decade of years has the Rdhal New- 

 Youkeii existed, and, thanks to its myriad friends, 

 annually progressed and triumphed— augmenting 

 in circulation end usefulness os it increased in 

 age and the vigor and strength of maturity. And 

 now it becomes onr duty, for the tenth time, to 

 indite a closing article for the Year and Volume, 

 How hackneyed the theme, yet what emotions 

 arise and what thoughts are awakened on an 

 occasion so interesting and important. Our first 

 emotion is one of gratitude — a sincere aspiration 

 of thanksgiving to Him who "doetli all things 

 well" — that we have not only been permitted to 

 live and labor, but to see the fruition of our most 

 sanguine hopes in regard to nn enterprise which 

 Was neither commenced or continued on selfish 

 principles, and to witness a remarkable advance 

 in the great cause of Rural " Progress and Im- 

 provement" which this journal has zealously, 

 constantly, and we trust successfully, sought to 

 promote. This is not an ago of miracles, yet bow 

 wondeiful, almost miraculous, have been the 

 changes, the inventions, the progress and improve- 

 ments of the past decade in nearly every depart- 

 ment — Mental, Moral and Physical. Would that 

 time and space, and memory and power, permitted 

 a proper enumeration of even what has come 

 under our own observntion in only one department 

 — the advancement of Improvement in Rural 

 Affairs and matters connected therewith. But 

 we must omit a discussion of this pleasant theme, 

 and turn our attention to more timely tonics— 

 matters pertinent to the occasion and season. 



For five hundred and twenty weeks, and during 

 the publication of that number of issues of the 

 Rl mi \i u Yorkbr, it has been our earnest, 

 constant and conscientious endeavor to faithfully 

 discbarge our duly to all in any wise interested or 

 affected— Individuals, Families, Community and 

 tlie Country. Starting with a consciousness of 

 tho great responsibility assumed, and humbly 

 realizing our inability in many respects, we 

 resolved to make a vigorous and persistant effort 

 to establish iu the heart of tho best cultivated and 

 populated Rural District of America 

 Agricultural and Family Journal which should be 

 Hon- ', Independent and Reliable. We bad heard 

 muon cant about the necessity of great genius and 

 talent and science and capital in such a sphere of 

 journalism, but believed tbut Pluck, Industry, 

 Principle and Energy were tbe first requisites, 

 and indispensable to a success worth achieving io 

 such an enterprise as we bad undertaken. Com- 

 paratively young, and hence hopeful, sanguine of 

 future success, iu benefiting others at least— confi- 

 dently believing thai those whose interests we 

 advocated would eventually appreciate our efforts 

 —we determined, against the advice of our beat 

 1 1 leodl, to venture our all (financially,, and devote 

 years of untiring labor in an endeavor to establish 

 upon a firm basis, a combined Remit., I.iterabv 

 and Family. Nkwsi'AMK which should excel in 

 merit and usefulness — and from that day to this 

 i boa been to render this journal 



minently Instructive, I'seiul and Entertaining— 



__ in our power, tbe Physical 



1 Home Happiness of all its readers— 



vilhout misleading the judgment, injuring Lb 



morals or vitiating the taste of a sii 

 'his was our standard, an elevated and laudable 

 ne — perhaps too fastidious to suit tbe popular 

 aste — but we resolved to adhere to it, and, if nee" 

 essary, " learn to labor and to wait" long years for 

 uccess and reward which we firmly believed 

 would eventually crown well-directed and per- 

 ,t efforts for the achievement of laudable 

 objects. And we were obliged to thus labor and 

 for years— ignoring ease and pleasure, sacri- 

 ficing health, and sinking thousands of dollars, 

 i even the last dollar we possessed,— before the 

 ral New-Yorker reached a "paying basis," 

 mgh, meantime, it paid thousands of its read- 

 i, and ns in the consciousness of benefiting 

 others and promoting a noble cause. Though 

 rasa period of tn;il and sacrifice, we never 

 wavered for a moment or lost our faith in the 

 espoused, or those to whom we looked for 

 rt; — in vulgar parlance, our pinch was 

 alicai/t good and. county,: mi to tin inch. And the 

 result, as already intimated, has thus far— for we 

 looked ten years ahead in the outset — fully real- 

 ed our early anticipations. 



In adversity and prosperity, through good and 

 evil report — and notwithstanding the base imita- 

 tions in name, style and manner, and subsequent 

 exhibitions of envy and jealousy, of some of its 

 contemporaries— the Rctial New-Yorker has 

 pursued the even tenor of its way, always calling 

 thing* by their right names, exposing and con- 

 demning what it believed to he Wrong, and 

 defending and advocating tbe Right, under alt 

 circumstances and regardless of tits frowns or 

 favors of individuals or associations. It has ever 

 relied upon its intrinsic merit for support, and 



such, from any individual or society — nor has it 

 ever been in any wise connected with any business 

 which could be promoted through the use of its 

 pages, or the puffing of which therein would 

 detract from its independence or reliability on 

 any subject connected with tbe business of those 

 whose interests it advocates. This is one great 

 secret of its power and success with those who 

 think aright— for the great mass of intelligent 

 men and women of this land believe in hooesty, 

 not only as the best policy, but as the best princi- 

 ple in practice and action. 



The Rural Nkw-Yorkbr is not, and we trust 

 never will be, a favorite with those speculators 

 and swindling sharpers whose chief labor of life 

 is to prey upon and into the pockets of the inno- 

 cent and confiding of all classes, annually deplet- 

 ing the purses and abusing tbe confidence of 

 thousands of unsuspecting persons throughout 

 tbe country. Our pages prove that these martyrs, 

 who would fain sacrifice themselves in teaching 

 the people bow to acquire wealth (nod wisdom ■*) 

 with remarkable ease and celerity, owe us nothing 

 in love or money. Nor is this journol a special 

 favorite with the would-be savans and self styled 

 professors who make great pretensions in various 

 branches of science connected with Rural Affairs, 

 but who have only a moiety of tbe knowledge, 

 ability or experience possessed by many of its con- 

 tributors. Agricultural Improvement gains tittle 

 — may lose much — from the pretentious displays of 

 men who really know little, practically or thor- 

 oughly, vet kindly condescend to leach by precept 



|:,,[ 



bRorai 



1 pruc 



*afai 





■xperi 





thousands 

 enterprising culti- 

 vators all over tbe land — not only in our own 

 highly favored "Empire State," but throughout 

 tbe rich valleys and prairies of the West, the steep 

 and rocky hills of New England, the naturally 

 fertile sections of tbe "Old Dominion" and other 

 localities of the sunny South, and in the better 

 portions of the British Provinces at the North. 

 From the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Canada 

 totheOulf, ilis, we are proud to know, a welcome 

 and entertaining visitor to the Farmer, the Horti- 

 culturist and the Family Circle — now having a 

 far Larger Circulation than any similar Journal. 

 Thus much, and perhaps altogether too much 

 . ..f the past. Perchance it would have 

 been better, had we referred to former volumes of 

 the RfEAL for its record and position — for with 

 all tbe mistakes, and sins of omission and com- 

 mission, which must be apparent to tbe discrimi- 

 nating reader, whatever bos appeared in its pages 

 must pass tbe ordeal of intelligent, though we 

 trust, lenient criticism; and the volue and char- 

 acter of the paper in tbe past must be the criterion 

 bj which to judge of its future. This is but just 

 and proper, and we therefore submit and refer to 

 tbe record with diffidence and humility — promis- 

 ing only tb&t, if life and health are spared, and our 

 efforts properly seconded by its Correspondents, 

 Agents and Subscribers, the future of the Run.* l 

 'hall he worthy ot its past history — 

 ud and augi 



I shall | 



confidence and anppon of its myriad of ardent 



friends, and those interested in its subjects, in the 

 East, the West, the North, and the South — and 

 that the spirit of its glorious Motto, " £xce hior, " 

 and laudable Objects, "Progress and Improve- 

 ment," viiW continue to be manifested in our efforts 

 to furnish an unequaled Rural, Literary and 

 Family Newspaper, 



THE FARMER A MANUFACTURER. 



Every farmer, great or small, is a manufac- 

 turer. In the manufactory which be Superintends, 

 is made butter, cheese, beef, pork, corn, wheat and 

 potatoes — in fact, all the real necessaries of life. 

 No other manufacturer is engaged in a work of so 

 much importance. We could get along without 

 Diiiiiiifacioricsi.if silk, cotton, or woolen goods, but 

 let tbe factories that make our bread and meat 

 cense to work, and ruin — death in its most horrid 

 form — would stare us in the face. There is no 

 work that requires more thought and care, — none 

 that makes greater calls for the exercise of the 

 biglivst faculties of the mind, than farming. To do 

 man, in any position of life, is a general knowl- 

 edge of tbe wonderful laws of nature of more im- 

 portance than it is to the farmer. Cotton, it is 

 well known, can be made into cotton cloth, and 

 wool into blankets and broadcloths ; but the great 



so done by a judicious selection of materials, and 

 skill in their manufacture, as to afford a profit over 

 cost. On his wisdom in this respect depends the 

 all-important question, whether bis business is a 

 success or a failure. Manure and labor will manu- 

 facture crops to an almost unlimited extent; but 

 on tbe cost of tl> ; »an ujd Mir nay and pur- 



|wm tvr nbi»l ■■.. depends the successor 



failure of the farmer — the fact whether or not he 

 makes these crops at a profit over cost. 



Tbe farmer, like the manufacturer, pursues his 

 business t (i -."hi n a livelihood for himself and family, 

 ny day. 



slan 





tions.or think he was doing u business that he had 

 reason to be proud of, if what be made cost all it 

 was worth in its production. Tbe farmer may 

 grow sixty or seventy bushels of wheat to tbe acre, 

 and proclaim the fact all over tbe country— obtain 

 the fust premium for the largest crop grown in the 

 State or Nation, and the wonderful performance be 

 lienili.lt?'! through all Hie papers in the laud; yet, 

 if this large crop cost more in its manufacture 

 than it would bring in the market, what has beou 

 gained, and who would like to follow such an ex- 

 ample for a living! 1 The farmer that raised thirty 

 bushels, at a price that would allow him a fair 

 profit over cost, would be far more worthy of 

 praise and imitation. He that can make corn and 

 wheat at the lowest possible price, and meat and 

 butter cheaper than bis neighbors, is tbe best far- 

 mer; it being always understood that he is not 

 nsui;: up liis capital— the fertility of bis soil. 



We can largely increase almost any of our crops 

 by the use of guano, (and if we believe half the 

 stories told, by theuse of Many patent manures;) the 

 question ij, whether we can use guano in tbe pro- 

 duction of crops, at a profit. This must, of course, 

 depend a good deal upon its price and the value of 

 the produce. The English farmers find its use 

 profitable, and to many of our crops it may doubt- 

 less be applied with advantage. Experiments 

 alone will give us tbe necessary light on the 



For some years wo bare thought that in the 

 production of potatoes He prospect was the most 

 favorable, and a few small experiments made a 



opinion, though the rot sadly interfered with our 

 arrangements. Tbe past summer we undertook to 

 investigate this quest ion a little more thoroughly, 

 and procured a quantity of Peruvian Guano for 

 the purpose. This was carefully weighed and 

 applied nt tbe rate of three hundred and fifty 

 pounds to the acre. Ths soil was a sandy loam, 

 somewhat impoverished by previous cropping. 

 The guano cost in New York three cents a pound 

 and transportation, cartige, Ac, nearly one cent 

 more, making the whole cost about $14. To this 

 we may add SI P«r acre as tbe cost of applying, 

 which was much lees thai it cost us, on account of 

 care in weighing the giu.no for every row, but is 

 perhaps more than tho necessary cost in ordinary 

 practioe, The increase 01 the acre from the guano, 

 over that which received none, tbe soil being pre- 

 cisely alike, in every r.-pii, was ~,Z bushels. The 

 product from both iho nannred and unmanured 

 bind, was both weighed and measured, for the 

 sake of the greater accuracy. The land also, was 

 accurately measured, staged off and labeled. Tbe 

 extia tS bushels coat for ;he raw material (guano) 

 from which they were trade, 20 cents per bushel. 

 The cost of cultivation wis the same as though no 

 guano had beeu used, atd digging and handling 

 but a trifle more. Potatoes were worth here the 

 pa»t fall about 40 cents per bushel, so Ib&f the 



A- NEAT POTJLTRY HOTJS 



descriptions of houses, barns, corn-cribs, and al- 

 most every other farm building, and now, in the 

 last number of the volume, present our readcrB 

 with a very pretty and convenient Poultry Ilouse, 

 built by C. N. BbKSST, at Springside, near Pough- 

 keepsie, of which Mr. b. gives tlie following de- 



In a sequestered nook, and cluster of treeB, on 

 tbe sunny side of a high bank, surmounted by 

 rocks covered with shrubbery, may be seen tbe 

 new fowl-bouse, lately erected by the writer. — 



taction from tbe cold northern blasts, and receiv- 

 ing the warmth and benefit of tho Winter's sun. 

 The deciduous trees in front being deprived of 

 their foliage in Winter, admits the full influence 

 of the sun, and, when in full leaf, to shade and 

 ward off his searching rays in Summer. 



D<scription,— The elevation, as will be seen in 

 the figure accompanying this article, is a rather 

 pretty affair. The centre building, with tbe gable 

 to the front, is twelve feet square; eight feet posts. 

 The roof very steep and surmounted with a kind 

 of cupola, for the purpose of ventilation and or- 

 nament; in the bottom of this are two small swing 



one and-a-quarter inch plank, tongued and groov- 

 ed, the joints painted with white lead and battened. 

 The entire front is of glass, extending to the very 



The left wing i3 a lower edifice, twenty-two feet 

 long and ten feet wide. Tbe floor, which iB of 

 broken stone covered with fine gravel, is Bunk be- 

 low the surface, two feet in front and eight feet in 



profit from the use of the guano was about $14 to 



Wo will not pretend to say that tbe farmer 

 cannot, by judicious management, make manure 

 that wilt grow potatoes cheaper than by using 

 guano, but we do say that no one new a good 

 market like this, can afford to plant, cultivate and 

 dig an acre of potatoes for SO or 7, r > bushels, while 

 be can add to the product from 110 to 80 bushels 

 by the use of Peruvian guano that will cost four- 

 teen or fifteen dollars. When potatoes are low, 

 from an over-supply, or on account of ihr gi'.-at 

 distance to market, say from £0 lu 

 bushel, of course they cannot be grown with guano 

 at a profit; but at 10 cents a bushel, or more, we 

 can make money by using guano to increase the 



How the farmer can make corn, wheat, meat, 

 4c, at tbe least cost, is tbe great question which 

 farmers should investigate. Each one can do 

 something towards solving this problem. By 



ng the necessary occounts he can tell bow 

 it costs him per bushel to produce the differ- 



•ains under tbe different systems of culture, 

 and the cost per pound of beef and pork under 

 different systems of feeding. It is such facts 03 



. derived from actual experience, thai we are 



us to lay before our readers. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE HAY CROP. 



. had.. 



tauqna, and the so 

 past summer, after 

 larly struck with th 

 tion of the grass ove 

 to the farmers. In 



any other so badly i 



a re, li 



which its destr\ 



M ,1a. 



the 



, aectlon of the State* 

 ked than in this, nor s; 

 cted. It will require jet 

 us -rood condition as th 



of May. " 



» narrate more than ever the gn 

 all others— espe 



importance of the hay crop over all others— espe- 

 cially in the dairy and grazing regions. The hay 



the rear. The back wall resting against the bank, 

 is of stone, twenty inches thick, faced with brick. 

 Tbe front wall and ends are also of brick. The 

 roof has a gentle pitch to the rear, and mode of 

 one-and-a-quarter inch plank, tongued and groov- 

 ed, joints painted with white lead before being 

 laid. The under sides of the rafters are lined with 

 hemlock boards, the spaces between tbe rafters 

 filled with tan, renderingit frostproof. Thefront 

 wall is of brick, and two feet high, on which the 

 wood and sash rest. In the base are gratings, to 

 sdoytair; also above the glass, and just underthe 

 ewflMf, are-open spaces fcr ventilation. In very 

 cold weather these spaces may be closed with 

 shutters. On the right is a door for entrance, and 



of the fowls. 



Internal Arrangement.— In tbe rear, and run- 

 ning tbe whole length of the room, are two tiers 

 of boxes or nests, which aro eighteen inches 

 sqnare, and the same in height. Adjoining the 

 nest is an apartment of the same size, where the 

 hen enters to go to her nest, which is latticed in 

 front, giving air and apparent secrecy, with which 

 she seems much pleased. The under tier is about 

 two feet above tbe ground floor. The range of 

 tiers is set out from the back wall teu inches.— 

 These nests ore covered with boards, sloping 

 down, like tbe roof of a house, to catch and carry 

 droppings of tbe fowls from tbe perches 



leljr ov. 



B? 



e is all saved, and out 

 of the way or the fowls. We kept our Spanish 

 fowls in this house lust Winter, without injury by 

 frost, to their wattles or large combs. 



raised iu 1834, ns appears by tho census of 1855, 

 ' Altecaay,. M, 63 T tuns. 



Wyoming, ,..........','.', '.'.'." Bs^l " 



The rapid increase of stock indicates that the 

 growth of bay has nearly doubled in tbe last five 

 years. Rut suppose there had been uo increase, 

 not over one-tenth of a crop has been made in 

 these counties. |hat involves a loss of over 300,- 

 000 tuns, which, -fct $10 per tun, its value to the 

 farmer in ordinary years, shows a pecuniary loss 

 to tbe farmers or that devoted region of not less 

 than three millions of dollars. 



Rut the loss does not step here, for tbe loss of 

 the hay crop invqjvea the' driving away from these 

 countiesatlfu-' Ihii " :l ""--ir animals, 



and they must be sold at prioagto low us to make 

 it out of the power of many farmers to replace 

 them again next spring, and their land will not 

 yield its proper return, because they have nothing 

 to eat their pasturage. 



The milch cows by the Census of 1655, now, id 



80,0 



which last spring were worth at lowest average 

 $.35 per bead — makiDg a total value of $3,402,750. 

 The loss by reason of the forced sales will be equal 

 to at least $S0 per head — thus involving a total 

 loss of $2,250,000. The loss upon ibeir other 

 cattle, of which they bad 10,000 head, and upon 

 their sheep and horses, would be at least $2,000,- 



Tbe failure of the I 



,, th* 





and the half of another, directly and i 

 directly involves a pecuniary loss to the inhabit- 

 ant* of not lesB than seven millions of dollar..— 

 The destruction of the wheal crop forma i 

 parison to this. 



gagas 



