MOOJIE’S SURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
EMASCULATION OF HEIFERS, &c. 
It is to be wondered at, that so little at¬ 
tention is paid to the advantages derived 
from spaying cows, heifers and sows, partic¬ 
ularly' the two latter, for fattening purposes. 
Heifers, when spayed young, increase in size 
and put on the look and appearance of 
steers; and in fact hav^e a greater tendency 
to put on fab and their flesh is preferred by 
butchei-s, to any other young beef It caus¬ 
es them to become (juiet and orderly; and 
for those localities where the raising of cattle 
for the drover, or in fattening for the butch- 
•?r, this process is of the first importance: 
hence we cannot but wonder at its neglect 
by breeders, and that so few persons are able 
to perform the process—a profession that 
would insure a fortune to the possessor, if 
skilful, more certain than delving in the sands 
of the Gila or the American Fork. 
Another, and one of the greatest advan¬ 
tages to be derived from this process, is, the 
ability it confers on milch cows, to keep up 
a continuous secretion and flow of milk dur¬ 
ing their lives, without diminution of quan- 
titv or quality, except through the influence 
of green and dry food. This fact is well 
settled, though rarely practiced; and, in 
grain growing countries, where it is the poli¬ 
cy of the farmer to keep no more horned 
cattle than for his own domestic supplies, 
and he does not wish to raise young stock, itis 
a very valuable process. It would also be 
very advantageous to individual families liv¬ 
ing in cities and villages, to have a good fami¬ 
ly cow, that would afford a supply without 
the hiatus of gestation. 
Mr. Winn, near Hatches, some years ago 
practiced this operation on five cows, at dif- 
fert.mt ages, and lias proved the certainty of 
the result for years. He finds the best pe¬ 
riod to perform the operation, for milking 
projierties, is at their second or third calf, 
when the bag is fully developed, and at the 
ag(.- for the maximum production of milk. 
When altered after their first calf, they may 
be broke and worked in the yoke, -with all 
the advantages of oxen of the same size and 
iveight, and are found to stand heat much 
better, and may be milked at the .same time. 
The effect emasculation has upon the dog 
and cat is well known. The same effect is 
produced on swine—rendering tlie female 
qmet, docile, and creating a disposition to 
fatten early, and producing the very best of 
pork. The same effects are produced, more 
or less, with the whole class mammalia.— 
We should be glad to hear from any of our 
readers, their experience or views, confirm¬ 
ing or otherwise the peculiar operation and 
ils effeebs. 
ONEIDA COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCTETY. 
T'fiis large and flourishing institution, has 
this year decided to hold its Annual Cattle 
Show and Fair, in the village of Home — 
the citizens of that place having offered to 
enclose a field of ten acres, after the plan 
of the Stirte Society, giving to the Society 
aU the receipts realized for admission, the 
fee for which, it is understood, will be 12-^ 
cents. 
The location is a favorable one, and we 
have no doubt that the exhibition will excel 
any County Show ever yet held in the State. 
A g(X)d opportunity will be afforded for 
gentlemen from other counties, who may 
desire to sec how things are done in “ old 
Oneida," to attend this show, as it is dii-ect- 
ly on the line of Ilaih-oad, and will accom¬ 
modate many from other counties, almost 
as well as the farmers of Oneida We trust 
that this exhibition may be one worthy of 
the reputation which that county sustains, 
and creditable to the interests which are 
sought to be advanced. c. 
Sowing Ci.over Seed. —Much of the 
clover upon James River plantations, is sown 
by a very cheap, simple contrivance of a 
box, made of thin, light wood, four inches 
deep, three and three quarters wdde, and 
thirteen feet long, divided into thirteen 
equal parts, with twenty-six half-inch holes 
through the bottom, six inches apart; that 
is two in each division. Over this tack a 
piece of tin, through which make a hole, 
about three-sixteenths of an inch, hirger or 
smaller, until it is found by experiment, that 
it will sow just the quantity per acre that 
you desire. This implement is carried by 
a strap around a man’s neck, who shakes it 
as he walks, and sow^s a bed fifteen feet 
wide. It appears not only to be a labor 
.saving implement, but a crop increasing one. 
A PAPER, in spejUdng of a temperance 
address, says it abounded with oceans of 
sentiment, rivers of love, torrents of feeling, 
and a perfect deluge of sense. 
PRESERVING BUTTER.-NEW EXPERIMENT. 
Mr. Moore :— About ten yeans ago, I 
figured as one of those perambulating ge¬ 
niuses, called tin peddlers. In the course of 
my trade I found it necessary to take all 
kinds of trails and fann productions, that 
were portable. Among others, Avhen butter 
was cheap, I brought in, at one time, two 
hundred pound-s procured at twenty or 
thirty different places. This was in warm 
W'eather, in June. I procured a woman to 
w'ork it over, and lay it down in solid layers 
in a barrel, until it (a new oak provision 
one,) was entirely full This I headed up, 
and sunk into a running stream of water, 
where it was left, till the next March, when 
it was taken out, and retailed at 19 cents 
per pound by a neighboring grocer. It 
was perfectly sweet, without the rancidity 
of firkin butter, and of a peculiar rich and 
Itisciqus flavor. 
This experiment is worth knowing by 
those rightly situated, in relation to a stream 
of water. Since I have been on a farm, I 
have tried the experiment in another man¬ 
ner, w'ith like good effect. A common fir¬ 
kin, filled and neatly packed down, was con¬ 
fined to the bottom of a barrel, and the 
barrel filled with a brine, strong enough to 
protect the w'ater from becoming putrid.— 
Water strongly impregnated with lime is 
equally efficacious. The cask should be 
W'ater tight to prevent the brine or lime 
from entering with the butter. t. b. m, 
Pittsford, N. Y,, February^ 1850. 
Remarks. —We can readily believe this 
relation, as we once tasted butter that w'as 
twenty-tw'o yearn old, preserv'ed in the fol¬ 
lowing manner: A farmer in our neighbor¬ 
hood had a deep, cold w'ell, and once on a 
time he concluded to have it cleaned out— 
a process it had not undergone for many 
years. After dipping out a part of the w'a¬ 
ter with a bucket, a man descended into 
the bottom, and on the first movement, a 
w'hitc substance bounded up and floated on 
the surface, w'hich he sent up in the bucket. 
On examination, it w’as found to be butter. 
Among others the good wife was consulted, 
who, on comparing notes, determined the 
fact, that twenty-tw'o years before, she had 
put down in the well to cool, a pewter plate, 
with a roll of butter tied in a cloth; but the 
string breaking, the whole sunk to the bot¬ 
tom—a fact she had long since failed to re¬ 
member, until the finding of it refreshed her 
memory. It was as sw'eet and fresh, as if 
it had that moment come out of the churn. 
The salt w'as entirely extracted, as well as 
the color, but in no other property changed. 
The best method to keep butter, under 
ordinary circumstances, is to pack it in stone 
pots haN’ing covers, and pour over it a quart 
or two of brine of about half the strength 
of saturation. If the pot is a stone one, 
glazed, and the brine is never allowed to 
evaporate, it wiU remain the same, (if it w'as 
well piuified from the butter milk,) for ten 
or tw'enty years. It is unchangeable. 
MANAGEMENT OF COWS. 
It is of no little importance to the health 
and profitable result of cows that are expect¬ 
ed to come in early, that they shoidd be 
housed and comfortably bedded for two or 
three weeks before calving, to’ avoid cold 
stoi-ms and rains and the hooking and jam¬ 
ming about by the master cattle. They 
possess all the animal functions and mech¬ 
anism of the human species, except the abil¬ 
ity to complain of neglect and hard treat¬ 
ment They should not only be housed^ 
but allowed an increase of food in grain, 
mill feed or roots. It is very important to 
increase the nutriment so as to stimulate 
the milk secreta.nts, and cause a proper dis¬ 
tension of the udder, or no after feeding 
will bring it forth and cause them to be good 
summer milkers. 
After calving, give a w'arm mash in wa¬ 
ter enough to .slake their thirst and keep 
them away from cold water. To assist in 
clearing, give them a pail of warm water, 
with a handful of ashes in it In extreme 
cases use the manual operation. Be care¬ 
ful to milk away all the calf leaves if you 
wish her to be a free milker ‘during the sea¬ 
son. Inflamed teats and bag may be read¬ 
ily reduced by anointing with an ointment 
made by simmering the yellow dock root 
in hog’s lard. 
As the pearl, which is the object of uni¬ 
versal admiration, is produced by the dis¬ 
ease of the oyster, so do many of the most 
illustrious actions originate in that mental 
disease—an overweening ambition. 
COMPARATIVE MERITS OF FOWLS. 
I WISH to ascertain tlirough the columns ! 
of the inimitable “ Rural,’’ the comparative 
merits of the different breeds of Fowls.— 
Have you not correspondents that will state 
such facts as may have come under their 
observation, of at least one breed, if unable 
to give information concerning all of the 
different breeds of Fowls? 
Mr. Allen, in his Appendix to Browne’s 
“American Poultry Yard,’’ says: “But, in 
respect to the comparative merits of the 
existing varieties of Fowls in this country. 
I have but little to say. The Cochin- 
China, Shanghae, Great Malay, Jago, and 
other monstrous breeds produced by cross¬ 
ing with one another, in my humble opinion, 
are not the most de.sirablo kinds for gene¬ 
ral use; as their legs are very long and 
large, which are bad points-in a Fowl; their 
flesh coarse; and they are great eaters; be¬ 
sides they lay, comparatively, but few eggs, 
which arc very liable to be trodden upon 
and broken at the time of setting. I have 
bred most of them in their so-called purity, 
as well as many of their crosses, and I am 
free to say, there is no way to make them 
profitable except, perhaps, by caponizing, 
and afterwards fattening them for market. 
The Dorking \s, a Fowl, all things consid¬ 
ered, much to be preferred to all others for 
profit. * * * Their scarcity, as well 
as the high prices at which they are held 
by those who breed them in their purity, 
will, for some yeai-s, prevent them from com¬ 
ing into general use. 
That there is a dift'erence in the number 
and quality of egg-s laid by different hens, 
I believe is conceded by all. Of these, the 
Polands stand first in public estimation; but 
to say or believe, that even these are ‘ ever¬ 
lasting layers,’ is a great mistake. They 
are less inclined to sit, to be sure, and it 
is on this account that they have obtained 
the reputation of great layers; and for this 
reason, if I wanted eggs only, and not 
cliickens, I would keep tliis variety. * * 
Next to the Polands, in point of profit, the 
eggs of the Dorkings may be considered 
the best, although those of the Bantams and 
other small Fowls are richer, better fla¬ 
vored, and larger yoll«ed in proportion to 
their size. 
The Gatne Fowl, crossed with the Dor- 
kiiuA for the first or second cross, is an ex- 
O' 
cellent bird, both in the flavor of the flesh 
and eggs; but they are objectionable on 
account of their turbulent dispositions when 
kept with other fowls. The little Bantams, 
howevei-, can only be kept with any advan¬ 
tage as pets withind oors, where the climate 
is severe. 
Tlie Dominique Fowl is another breed 
becoming more and more in favor, as they 
are universally pronoimced as being hardy, 
good layers, careful nurses, and affording 
excellent eggs and flesh. Besides, their 
beautiful appearance, Avhen in full plumage, 
is quite an acquisition to the farm yard or 
the lawn.’’ 
I ask, not solely from selfish motives, but 
for the benefit of community at large, who 
will have the goodness to give their opin¬ 
ions, concurring w-ith the above, or not, as 
the case may be, including the many differ¬ 
ent varieties as far as practicable ? Also 
the cost of Fowls or eggs, and udiere they 
could be obtained? u. u.-u. u. 
Gten Cole, mo., 1850. 
THE FARM AND THE DESK. 
EXTERNAL APPEARANCES. 
N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The New' York Sun truly remarks:— 
That the young man w'ho leaves the farm- 
field for the merchant’s desk, or the law¬ 
yer’s or doctor’s office, thinking to dignify 
or ennoble his toil, makes a sad mistake.— 
He passes, by that step, from independence 
into vassalage. He bartei-s a natural for an 
artificial profession, and he must be the 
slave of the caprice of customers, and the 
chicane of trade, either to support himself 
or to acquire a fortune. The more artificial 
a man’s pursuit, the more debasing is it 
morally and physically. To test it, contrast 
the merchant’s clerk with the plow boy.— 
The former may have the most external pol¬ 
ish, but the latter, under his rough outside, 
possesses the truer sUimina. He is a freer, 
franker, happier and nobler man. Would 
that young men might judge of the digni¬ 
ty of labor more by its usefulness and man¬ 
liness, than by the superficial glosses it 
wears. Therefore, we never see a man’s no¬ 
bility in his kid gloves, nor in his toilet 
adornments, but i-jvther in "that sinewy arm, 
w'hose outlines browned by the sun betoken 
a hardy and honest toiler, under whose 
farmer’s or mechanic’s vest, a kingly heart 
may beat 
In some feeling there is all the strength, 
and all the divinity of knowledge. 
Business men, in making a display of 
their wares, goods and merchandise, act up¬ 
on an old and well established principle of 
human nature. The same principle w'as the 
base of St. Paul’s caution, to abstain from 
all appearance of e^’il. Although our eyes 
are under the control of the Avill, yet they 
are so industriously disposed, that until they 
shall have grown dim with age, they are 
ahvays found in the discharge of their duty. 
The traveler in his journeyings is continual¬ 
ly obsen’ing and judging the communities 
and countries through which he passes.— 
He counts their spires, their school houses, 
and their hotels. Their roads and bridges 
are also estimated. In addition to these, he 
takes a new of their agricultiu-al, manufac¬ 
turing, and commercial facilitiea Then- 
forts, navy yards, arsenals, and ai-mories are 
also inspected. 
In judging an individual his homestead 
is prima facia evidence of his good or bad 
hiLsbandry. His house, bam, out buildings, 
fruit yard, orchard, and domestic animals 
are the principal witnesses to be examined. 
Upon their collective, as well as individual 
testimony, he is judged. His]house, w'hat 
is it?—a large unsightly, unfinished, isolat¬ 
ed building, haring the public highway for 
its front yard, and not a shade tree or shrub 
to protect it from a scorching sun, or a 
frow-ning heaven? Or is it the extreme 
counter part? His bam and other out 
buildings; what are they? Arc they the 
relics of what once W'as, or w'hat was once 
intended to be—wdth boards off, and doors 
hanging by one hinge, rotten sills, and sur¬ 
rounded with the aggregation of a number of 
year’s manure ? Or is this the wrong side 
lof the picture? The fruit yard—-w'hat is 
it? A fe-w uncared for, limby, -warty, im- 
productive natural fruit trees— cumberers 
of the ground?—or is it the reverse, and 
the most productive acre on the fami ? The 
orchard—how is it with that? Is it graft¬ 
ed or not ? —is it fenced or not ? —and, if 
fenced, is it found in one comer of a large 
horse pasture, where the ground is kept as 
hard as it is capable of being made by the 
horses’ stamping flies ? 
There are many other external appear¬ 
ances, on .single farms, and in rural districts, 
worthy of notice-r-indicative of industry and 
thrift, or indolence, neglect and ignorance 
but perhaps the above will suffice for the 
present. * a. s. 
Ilinmanville, N. Y,, February, 1850. 
GOOD FARMING. 
Mr. J ohn Johnston, near Geneva, has on 
his farm a cow, which probably gives more 
milk than any other cow' in the U. States. 
Through the month of June, 1848, she gave 
42 quarts a day; and for five days she gave 
forty-five quarts per day; w'hich is probably 
without imy parallel in this country. From 
the cream only they made fourteen and a 
half pounds of butter per week. Had they 
churned from the milk, they would have got 
more butter. The cow w'as milked three 
times a day. The only feed she got w-as 
gi-ass in the pasture. She is of a roan color, 
half Durham an dilative breed, and is seven 
years old. She is finely formed, and is a 
handsome animal. She ivas raised by Mr. 
Johnston, who says she will be a good cow' 
at twelv'c years or more. He has eight 
cows in his pasture, of clover up to their 
^nees, all fine animals, which it is a pleasure 
to look at. 
Mr. Johnston is a Scotch farmer and graz¬ 
ier of great celebrity, and sells many fat cat¬ 
tle for New' York. He has a farm of three 
hundred and six acres in one compact body 
of land, on the east side of Seneca Lake 
about three miles from Geneva, in fields of 
eight to eighteen acres, all in the best con¬ 
dition. One field of eighteen acres of In¬ 
dian corn last yeai- yielded eighty-three 
bushels of shelled corn per acre. One field 
of eight acres yielded ninety-one bushels 
forty-five pounds per acre, and a field of 
wheat, of sixteen acres, yielded forty-five 
bushels per acre. Mr. Johnston drains his 
land by underground di-aining, and has some 
miles of earthen pipe, (made at Waterloo,) 
W'hich he has been laying the last eight 
years. From the rich feed in his pastures, 
the cattle are all in the best conditon. He 
does not feed his grass down to the ground. 
This he calls bad farming—as the roots get 
scorched by the summer drought, and froz¬ 
en in winter. But a covering of grass pro¬ 
tects the roots from both, and also keeps the 
cattle ill good condition. He has large barns 
and yar^, and sheds for the cattle. In the 
yards the cattle make large quantities of 
manure, from wheat straw, lie carts no 
mud from meadows into his barn-yard. He 
puts the manure on the land in the fall, 
spreading and plowing it in at once, and not 
letting it remain for the sun and wind to 
dry up. 
ExF.cuTivi; Meeting, Feb. 14, 1850. 
Present— F.. P. Prentice, Pre.sident; George 
Vail, Ex-President; A. iStevens, Oliver Phelps, 
Vice Presidents: B. P. Johason and J. McD. McIn¬ 
tyre, Secretaries; L. 'Pucker, 'Preasuror; H. B. Kirt- 
land, J. J. Viele, Exeoitive Committee. 
The minutes of the previous meeting having 
been read; the resolution locating the F''air at Al¬ 
bany was called up, and the grounds near the 
Bulls Hoad, on the Troy Road, selected for the 
show grounds. F^air to be held Sept. 3d, 4th, 5th, 
and 6ih. 
The Premium List for 1850 was called up, and 
after amendments, w'as adopted, and ordered pub¬ 
lished by the Secretary. 
Messrs. Prentice, Tucker, McIntyre, and .John¬ 
son, were appointed a committee to apply to the 
proper autliorities ibr the use of the lower rooms 
in the old State Hall for a Laboratoiy for the use 
of the Society. 
The following extract from the Premium List 
is given, for the information of manufacturers of 
Plows. The regulations for the trial will be given 
in the Premium Li.st when published: 
Trial of Plows. — Judges, Anthony Van Ber¬ 
gen, Coxsackie; John Delafield, Oaklands; J. 
Stanton Gould, Hudson; Sanford Howard, Alba¬ 
ny; B. B. Kirtland, Greenbush. 
Trial to take place the 2d week in June, 1850, 
at Albany — to commence on Tuesday, 4th of 
June. 
Competitors must become members and enter 
their names and plows at the room of the Society 
by the ISih of May, with B. P. Johnson. Secreta- 
ly; and the plows to which premiums are adjudg¬ 
ed, to be deposited in the rooms of the Society for 
exhibition, if plows of the same pattern are not 
already there. 
The committee will meet at the Society’s rooms 
on Monday, 3d of June, to make arrangements 
for the trial Trial to continue until the commit¬ 
tee and competitors are fully satisfied, so that the 
awards may with confidence be relied upon, from 
the thorough trial made, leading to practical and 
satisfactoiy results. 
N. B. A general competition is invited under 
this head, as the trials will be conducted and the 
decisions made without regard to any former trials 
or awards, and will he opened to competitors from 
any part of the world. 
In deciding the general question — What are 
the best plows? the committee will be governed 
by the following principles: 1st, the character of 
the work performed; 2d, the power required in 
draught; 3d, quality of materials, durability and 
cost of the implements. 
For etifi' soil, excellence of work shall consist, 
first, in leaving the furrow slice light and friable; 
second, in so disposing the sod and all vegetable 
matter as to insure its ready decompositron. 
For sandy .soil, or that winch is already too light, 
the points in regard to work will be, first, thor¬ 
oughly burying the vegetable matter, and second, 
leaving the ground generally level. 
Fory’affoios or old land, the principle in refer¬ 
ence to the quality of work will be, the thorough 
pulverization and friability of the soil. 
In determining the power required in draught, 
the most perfect instrument will be used, and the 
trial will be conducted in the most careful and 
thorough manner. 
The same implement for testing draught and 
the same team will be used for all plows in the 
same class. 
The plows may bo held by the oompetitors or 
persons appointed by them, as may be preferred. 
J. A. Kennicott, Illinois, writes in relation to the 
subject of Agricultural Education for the rising 
generation of farmers: “ All hail to New York, to 
her Governor, to the State Agricultural Societv, 
for the incipient steps taken in this great work, 
which if carried out, its influence must be immense 
on all the relations of life, social, political, and re¬ 
ligious. As a nation, we are nine-tenths agricul¬ 
turists, and not one-tenth of us even tolerably ed¬ 
ucated. As farmers, a specific education is as 
neccessary for our immediate advancement, and a 
general one, to enable us to take our appropriate 
and legitimate stand with other professions. May 
wisdom be given to all, to your legislators v/ho are 
to act upon this great question, as well as to those 
who are endeavoring to secure it for the farmers 
and working men of the Empire State and of the 
Union.” 
Chester Gridley, late President Cayuga Agri¬ 
cultural Society, writes: “ I highly approve of 
the plan for an Agricultural College and Experi¬ 
mental Farm, as given by the Commissioners in 
their Teport to the Legislature. My desire is that 
the Legislature will establish such an iiutjjhutiou 
for the present and future generations — the 
knowledge of the science of agriculture, combined 
with practice on the farm, may be generally dif¬ 
fused. Tlierc is much to be done if this institution 
is established, its location should be central, and 
a farm selected consisting of the different varieties 
of soil, and men of sound judgment selected for 
the various departments. The farmer especially, 
should be a practical man of quick discernment, 
capable of seeing the difference between his pupils, 
and ready to attend to the various departments of 
labor. He should be ready not only to direct, but 
if need be, to take hold of the plow himself and 
teach those under his charge in the best practical 
manner how their work should be done.” 
B. P. Johnson, Sec’y. 
Free Stone for Building. —At a recent 
meeting of the Massachusetta Historical So¬ 
ciety, some discussion was had in relation 
to the comparative value of different quali¬ 
ties of free stone for architectural purjioses. 
Mr. Alger states that the free stone found 
in Connecticut contains much carbonate of 
lime and iron, readily crumbles from the ac¬ 
tion of heat, and is therefore dangerous in 
cases of fire. The New Jersey stone con¬ 
tains iron and is liable to atmospheric chang¬ 
es. Tlie stone from the Bay of Fundy is 
considered the best, as it contains no mica 
or carbonate of lime. The finer the grain 
of the mateml tlie better. In one thou¬ 
sand years, he said, not a free stone build¬ 
ing now standing, will be in existence. The 
Capitol at Wcushington is built of this stone, 
and is rapidly going to decay. Chemical 
tests have been applied to this species of 
stone, to show the effect the elements vrill 
have in producing their decomposition. 
It is said that every boy servant on a 
farm requires a man to look after him. The 
following is also a rural saying: “ One boy- 
is a boy, two boys are half a boy — tliree 
boys are no boy at all’’ 
A COVETOUS man is a dog in a wheel, 
that roasteth meat for others. 
