MOORE’S RURAL NEM’-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
MAY-WEED.-WILD CHAMOMILE. 
Our correspondent, A. R., of Waterloo, 
complains of the prevalence of a noxious 
weed, which is prevailing on many of the 
wheat lands in that vicinity. It has also got 
a foot-hold on many farms in this section, 
and is called May-Weed, {Anthemis cotvla,) 
which it may be in some cases; but iis that 
is an aimual, it is easily destroyed. But we 
suspect the weed complabied of is the. wild 
Chamomile, {Anthemis arvensis,) and is a 
biennial. It becomes well rooted in the 
fall, and like red-root comes forward in the 
spring a strong, thrifty and spreading plant 
—robbing the crop of a great portion of its 
nutriment. Its seed, when once plowed 
under the soil, last for a long period, and is 
a pest but little inferior to red-root The 
same process for eradicating the one will 
apply to the other. It is difficult to ever 
get rid of it, as long as the ripe seeds are 
harvested with the wlieat crop, and carried 
every year into the barn yard, and annually 
distributed over the various fields of the 
farm; and there is no way to prevent this 
result, short of composting the winter’s 
manure, or by heaping it in the yard, and 
during summer turning it over two or three 
times, to allow decomposition of all parts of 
the heaps. 
When any of these pernicious annuals or 
biennials are first discovered, they should 
be hand wed, and if prevailing to any great 
extent, after the wheat is taken off must lay 
till all the seeds are ripe, and then drag 
over the stubble, so that they all may take 
rO(.)t; follow by spring plowing as soon as 
they vegetate and a hoed crop, or even oats, 
barley or spring wheat, and double the 
quantity of grass seed—and the trespas¬ 
sers will be found non est inventus. The 
whole class are ugly customers that we had 
a good deal rather would not come on our 
premise.s. 
Our corrcs])ondont also asks how he shall 
accommodate himself for cellar conveniences, 
not being situated where he can drain. In 
such cases a concrete bottom, made by lay¬ 
ing a course of two or three inches thick of 
fine broken stone, liot over one inch in di¬ 
ameter, and grouting it down with water 
lime cement, and plastering the sides with 
the same material, as high as the source of 
the water. This course if well performed 
is effective. 
We should have very little confidence in 
an out door cellar for dairy purpose.s, unless 
sunk two or three feet in the ground, with 
stone walls, and arched, or covered with a 
roof, and again witli earth; in which case 
the earth, or cement bottom, answ'ers well 
for setting milk. 
RED ROOT, STEIN KEOUT, PIGEON WEED. 
[ Lilhos])erm)jm. ] 
One of the most successful experiments 
for the eradication of this pestiferous inflic¬ 
tion of the farmer that we have heard of, 
was related to us a few days since, by Mr. 
-John Kintz, Jr., one of the best wheat far- 
mers m the town of Greece, in this County. 
Ills ffirm is troubled considerably with the 
pi-evalence of Red Root, and about the mid¬ 
dle of May, of 1849, a field of 12 acres 
was perfectly white with its blossoms. He 
made up his mind that the wheat was “ a 
lost community,” and had some notion of 
plowing it up, but finally concluded to take 
three or four hands and try weeding it; after 
a day’s work, so little impression was made 
that he gave it up. 
He then came to the conclusion that the 
wheat might as well die one way as another, 
and on examination, finding the centre seed 
stem not yet putting forth, he took a rather 
dull scythe, and giving it a sharp and rag¬ 
ged edge, mowed the whole as close as it 
could bo performed. His neighbors told 
him he had destroyed his crop; but he was 
content, considering the immense onslaught 
he had made upon the enemy. 
In one week the wheat came forward, 
and no one would suspect that the scythe 
had ever passed over it; the Red Root was 
dead and in its grave, and a finer crop of 
wheat was not harvested in that neighbor¬ 
hood. 
This is a trick worth knowing, and there 
are thousands of acres in this region, that 
might be greatly benefitted by the process. 
The Red Root is a hard, wiry, woody stem, 
and in mo.st instances is cut off neatly, while 
the fragile leaves of the wheat flee before 
the edge of the scythe, and are not cut at 
all. _ 
Resist a temptation till you conquer it. 
MILK-HOUSES. 
Opinions have changed as to milk-houses. 
Some years ago, those made by a spring or 
cold brook, so that the cold water would 
constantly run around the pans, were con¬ 
sidered the best; and those who had not 
the advantages of a stream of cold water, 
chose a cold part of the cellar as the most 
eligible situation. 
But experience shows that spring-houses 
are too damp, if not too cold, and the bot¬ 
tom of a cellar, if neither too cold or damp, 
is generally without sufficient ventilation; 
and in a cellar there are generally many 
substances injurious to milk, and if a room 
is made in the cellar purposely for milk, it 
often communicates with other parts that 
arc used for various purposes. 
We think that milk-rooms may be made 
above the ground, or partially above it, so 
as to have a good ^'cntilation, and, of course, 
{)ure air, and at the same time be suflicient- 
ly cool. If no ice is to be used to mitigate 
the extreme heat, it may be necessary to 
ha\’e the bottom of the house a few feet be¬ 
low the surface of the ground, or to have it 
constructed on a plan similar to that of an 
ice-house, in part, excepting arranging it for 
thorough ventilation, which is not necessary 
in ice-houses. 
If a part of the cellar is used for a milk- 
room it should be in the driest part, and 
where the house is most elevated, that 
there may be an opportunity for windows 
well arranged for ventilation. In a close, 
deep cellar, foul air settles to the bottom, 
which has an unfavorable effect on milk and 
butter. 
One important objection to cold, damp, 
and unventilated milk rooms, is their un¬ 
healthy condition for those wlio attend to 
the milk, and to churning, and working and 
packing butter in such rooms in very hot 
weather. 
We take the following interesting article 
on this subject from the Wool-Grower, an 
excellent paper, recently started by Mr. Pe¬ 
ters, of the Buffalo Wool Depot.— JU. 
Farmer. 
“E.vperience had taught me that the 
great difficulty to be encountered in the 
manufacture of butter, in warm weather 
particidarly, is the preservation of the milk 
after it is taken from the cow, until all the 
cream can rise to the surface, be taken oftj 
and transferred to the churn in a perfect 
state. To obviate this difficulty, after a con¬ 
sultation with my wife, who, by the way, I 
must be allowed to puff a little, is au fait in 
all matters of this kind. We devised, and 
caused to be constructed, a milk-house, on 
the plan of the dimensions following. In¬ 
tending to make butter for my own family 
use only, the arrangements were to be, of 
course, upon a corresponding scale. 
Now, then, to a description of the build¬ 
ing:— 
Frame, of joice and scantling, seven by 
ten feet; six and a half feet from floor to 
plate, covered with inch pine stuff, planed 
and matched, painted on the outside; roof 
of the same. At each end, and near to one 
side, a window, exactly opposite each other, 
20 inches wide, extending from the floor to 
the bottom of the plate, covered with wire 
cloth sufficiently fine to exclude flies, and 
painted to prevent rust. In the front end a 
door, and in the rear end a window exactly op¬ 
posite, about 20 by 30 inches, covered same 
as the other windows, and placed sufficient¬ 
ly high from the floor to be on a level with 
a stationary table, (one and a half inch plank,) 
for the convenience of straining, skimming, 
working out butter, <kc. Six shelves on one 
side of the room, ranged one above the 
other. These shelves are each composed 
of two strips of pine stuff' one and a half 
inches in diameter, and of the length of the 
room, joined together at the ends and mid¬ 
dle by cross pieces framed in, leaving the 
longitudinal strips about four inches apart. 
These shelves are supported at the ends by 
strips nailed to the window-frames inside, 
at suitable and equal distances, and at two 
places between these points by correspond¬ 
ing strips, fastened at one end to a stud, 
and at the other to a stancheon placed about 
twenty inches in front of the stud, and se¬ 
cured at the top and bottom. This distance 
is necessary, that the shelves may slide 
back and forth, as convenience in handling 
pans of milk requires. In this way, but a 
small part of the bottom of the pan is cov¬ 
ered by the shelf, leaving a free circulation 
of air, which comes in at the windows of 
each extremity. The building is placed un¬ 
der a cluster of fruit-trees, which effectually 
shields it from the rays of the sun during 
the heat of the day, A second roof of 
rough boards elevated, say two feet above 
the top of the milk-house, and of sufficient 
dimensions to cast a shade all round it, 
would doubtless answer everj’^ purpose. 
I do not pretend to say that this is the 
very be.st kind of milk-house that can be 
constructed, but it is the best that we could 
devise, and with its results we are perfectly 
satisfied. It answers admirably all the pur¬ 
poses for which it was intended. The milk 
keeps much longer before changing, giving 
an opportunity for all the cream to rise; and 
durmg the warmest weather in July and 
August, we are enabled to make the choic¬ 
est kind of butter, and, for aught I can dis¬ 
cover, as much in proportion to the quanti¬ 
ty of milk, as at any other time of the sea¬ 
son. We have the benefit of an ice-house 
in close proximity, the contents of which, I 
consider an indespensable auxiliary in the 
manufacture of butter in warm w'eather. 
Before the erection of this building, we 
had tried in vain to make butter in warm 
weather. The cellar was too damp or too 
cold, or too something; and the pantry too 
hot.” 
THE APHIS FAMILY. 
The insects comprised within this group 
are too well known to need any minute des¬ 
cription. We observed last summer in one 
of the best laid out gardens that we have 
seen in Canada, some beautiful Rose bushes 
whose leaves were literally destroyed by 
these insects. In England they sometimes 
prove destructive to whole plantations of 
Hops, by absorbing the vegetable juices, 
and covering the leaves with their sweet 
and shining excrements, known as honey- 
dew. Beans are liable to their attacks—the 
“black-fly,” as it is called,—and the blight 
in Apples is occasioned by them. 
Their mode of reproduction is very pe¬ 
culiar, and deserving of special considera¬ 
tion. In the autumn they are oviparous, 
and deposit their eggs, otherwise their race 
would be destroyed by the severity of win¬ 
ter. The genial warmth of spring devel- 
opes their eggs, and what is \Gry curious, 
the next generation of insects become vivi- 
parous, and during summer bring forth 
their young alive. Their powers of repro¬ 
duction are inconceivably great Reaumer, 
the celebrated French naturalist paid very 
minute attention to their economy, and ob¬ 
served one insect in a single day, become 
the parent of twenty; and these again would 
give existence to fresh swarms in a few 
days. Another French naturalist isolated 
the female insects as soon as they ivere 
born, and yet he obtained nine generations 
of perfect insects, without contact with the 
male, the latter not being produced until 
autumn. 
Tlie amazing fecundity of these insects 
would be absolutely destructive to a large 
class of plants, had not nature in her wise ar¬ 
rangements appointed numerous enemies to 
operate as checks. The little shining in¬ 
sect known to children as the “ lady-bird,” 
is among the most powerful of them, and 
should, therefore, never be destroyed. La¬ 
dy-birds will devour Aphides by millions. 
In gardens infested by these unwelcome 
guests, cleansing the plants with tobacco 
water will have a good effect; but for attacks 
on a large scale in the field, no remedy of 
this sort is practicable, and nature must be 
left to work her own cure.— Canadian Ag¬ 
riculturist. 
LARGE YIELD OF BROOM CORN. 
'I'liE Northampton correspondent of the 
Spring-field Republican furnishes that paper 
with the following statistics of the broom 
corn crop of Dr. J osiaii Trow, of Sunder¬ 
land, (Mass.) grown in 1849: 
The land was upon the bank of the Con¬ 
necticut River in that town. The lot, con- 
containing about 2|- acres, was in “good 
heart,” but notin a high state of cultivation. 
Eight loads of muck manure, from the hog- 
yard, were applied to the acre. The hills 
were planted about 30 inches apart, with 
about 12 stalks to the hill. The yield per 
acre was 1030 lbs. brush, which sold for 
ca.sh at 10 cents a pound—1103;—90 bush¬ 
els seed, at 33 cents a bushel—$29,70; to¬ 
tal, $132,70. The labor per acre cost $22,- 
32, and the manure $8. Deduct the amount 
$30,32, and the net receipts per acre stand 
at $102,38. Dr. Trow states that his brush 
was of superior quality, and that the land 
can be improved so as to produce much lar¬ 
ger crops. Dr. Trow has no temptation to 
go to California certainly, when 2-| acres of 
ground net him $281 at home. 
Breeuing Mares. —These animals, du¬ 
ring the inclemency of winter and early 
spring, should be the object of the farmer’s 
care. They should be moderately fed with 
grain,—oats is best,—and plentifully fed 
with good hay or fodder, and in their sta¬ 
bling treatment, receive every attention paid 
to the working horses. It is best that in 
good weather they should have access to a 
lot for the purpose of exercise, that being 
equally essential to their own health, iis to 
the full developement and growth of their 
foals. Nor should it be forgotten that, like 
the other animals, they should be watered 
thrice a day, and receive semi-weekly al¬ 
lowances of salt, or of the mixture of salt, 
ashes and lime, before recommended.—Air. 
Stone Drains are of three kinds. A 
common, but the least efficient mode, is, to 
dig a trench from two to three feet deep, 
and fill it half full or less, with stones pro¬ 
miscuously thrown in, and then fill it up with 
earth. The next method is, to lay at the 
bottom a regular drain with suitable stones, 
with an aperture of six or eight inches, up¬ 
on which six or eight inches of stones are 
deposited in compact order, and then the 
trench is filled with earth. A third mode, 
and which we recommend, on account of 
its permanency as well as cheapness, in all 
situations where it is practicable, is to use 
broken stone as the draininof material. 
]^rDf. Sn^n0toii’0 Itriuua, 
On tbe General Relations of Science to 
PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE 
LECTURE THIRD~ 
The Relations of Botany, Vegetable Physiology, 
and Zoology, to Practical Agriculture, 
Gentlemen:— The subject of the lecture 
for this evening, is the relations of Botany, 
Vegetable Physiology, and Zoology, to 
Practical Agriculture. 
If the other subjects, of which I have 
treated in the preceding lectures, were far 
too wide to admit even a sketch or outline 
of them in a single lecture, I am sure you 
will appreciate the necessity, if I crowd into 
one lecture the three subjects which I am 
now about to bring before you, of my being 
even more brief and desultory than hereto¬ 
fore. 
First, as to the general relations of Bot¬ 
any. You will bear in mind, that as botany 
is the science of plant.s, it must have a close 
relation to the culture of plants, and as far 
as these general relations are concerned, 
they involve the natural relations which all 
plants have one to another. 
The general natural relations of plants are 
such, for example, as that all the different 
kinds of corn plants, commonly known as 
cerealia, and all the grasses, producing seeds 
of a similar character, possess nutritious prop- 
eries of a similar kind. The potato pos¬ 
sesses a nutritive character, different from 
the corn plant. This, however, is not so im¬ 
portant a matter, as it is to know that the 
entire family to which the potato belongs, 
all possess a similar character; so that if you 
know the character of one, you know the 
character of the whole group of plants. So 
far as these general relations are concerned, 
the subject is familiar enough to all, to lead 
them to conclude that it is one of consider¬ 
able interest to the practical agriculturist. 
Nor shall I enter into a minute analysis 
of the nature of plants,'a province peculiar 
to the medical man who knows what sub¬ 
stances belong to particular plants, and in 
what plants he is to look for peculiar medi¬ 
cinal properties. 
Nor can I do more than bring to your no¬ 
tice the uses of Botany to the art of Horti¬ 
culture, giving new esculents to the gardener, 
bringing new flowering plants, and new or¬ 
namental shrubs into your gardens, and 
teaching us how to transfer successfully, 
plants of value and beauty, from the climates 
in which they naturally grow, and how to 
realize its importance to arboriculture, a 
branch which you do not follow as we do in 
England, because the extent of your natural 
forests, rather gives you employment enough, 
in cutting down than in rearing up, but 
which in many parts of Europe, is an en¬ 
grossing pursuit, and has led botanists into 
all parts of the world, in search of new trees; 
and thus the newly discovered continent has 
been made to contribute to the beauty of the 
forests of the old. 
PcO-ssing over these relations, at which I 
can merely glance, I must now draw your 
attention to tiie structure of plants, and to a 
description of their organs. In investigating 
the structure of plants, that of the leaves be¬ 
comes essential, to know as well how plants 
live, as how they should be fed; that is, to 
those who are desirous of understanding the 
principal branches of knowledge, on which 
all sound agriculture must be based. Among 
the circumstances connected with the struc¬ 
ture of plants, the organization of the leaf is 
of the greatest importance. The upper side 
differs generally from the under; when sub¬ 
jected to the magnifying power of the mi¬ 
croscope, this difference is very striking.— 
The under part of the leaf is found to be 
studded with little holes, or pores or mouths, 
which sustain important functions or rela¬ 
tions to the life of plants. They are very 
numerous. To give you some idea of their 
number, I may mention that on a square 
inch of a single leaf, twenty thousand of these 
little pores have been seen and counted.— j 
The number of these pores indicates to those' 
who have studied this subject, the circum¬ 
stances of climate and atmosphere to which 
the plant is adapted. 
Prof. J. here pointed to a diagram repre¬ 
senting, on a large scale, the form of the 
pores of three different plants, showing their 
difference in size and shape. This peculiar 
structure, continued he, is so intimately con¬ 
nected with the functions of the leaf, that I 
must dwell upon it for a moment, to illus¬ 
trate in what manner plants live, so far as 
their growth depends on the air. By means 
of these pores, they suck in aerial food from 
the atmosphere, the mode in which they 
drink it in, the quantity and the circumstan¬ 
ces under which they absorb it most favor¬ 
ably, that is, the circumstances of tempera¬ 
ture and moisture, are related to the form 
and number of these pores, as they occur in 
particular kinds of leaves. 
The structure of the stems of plants, is 
also one much connected with their growth. 
Those who have the curiosity to examine 
the structure of the stems of plants, have 
only to turn to Prof. Emmons’ volume on 
the Agriculture of the State, where sections 
of plants and trees are given with great ac¬ 
curacy and beauty. These, as Prof. E. well 
says, exhibit in a strong light, the important 
relations which science bears, to the practi¬ 
cal cultivation of these plants. 
The structure of the roots of plants, is an¬ 
other important point, requiring a minute 
study into the manner in which the stem, 
tapers down into the extreme fibres of the 
root, of the spongy form of the extremities 
of the roots, which enables it to draw to it, 
all of sustenance that it gets from the soil. 
Thus the habits of these roots are important. 
Some plants spread their roots over the sur¬ 
face, as the turnip, which spreads its roots 
to the distance of four or five feet You 
may readily trace tlicm to the distance of 
throe or four and oven five feet, showing 
from how great a distance these plants draw 
their sustenance. Some plants descend to 
a great depth. This is another important 
point; for if the habit of a'plant, is thus to 
go down to a great depth, and if the deeper 
it goes, the more; food it extracts from the 
soil, then it is quite clear, that the more shal¬ 
low the soil is kept, the loss the farmer has 
studied the soil. 
Now amongtho plantsof this habit, wheat 
is one that will send its roots three or four 
feet into the soil, in search of food; and the 
more mellow the soil, the more easy is it to 
get the food, which enables it to grow to a 
great height .and to reach its maturity.— 
Hence a knowledge of this fact, in regard to 
wlieat and flax, suggests the necessity that 
the soil should be deeply cultivated—that 
the farmer should plow deep, in order to 
avail himself of this store-house of natural 
food, which is essential to supply the wants 
of the plant and enable it, through the me¬ 
dium of its roots, to bring this food to the 
surface and make it useful. Thus, some 
plants have roots so formed, that they will 
grow only in light soils—others in stiff soils 
only. Wheat requires a strong and stiff 
soil — the barley and the turnip a light soil, 
and this fact indicates that where a farmer 
has only a strong soil, he must lighten it in 
order to grow barley or the turnip; and that 
some soils must be drained in order to cul¬ 
tivate these two things. 
On the other hand, the different kinds of 
plants indicate to the skilful man different 
kinds of soil. If I had a geological map, 
and if time permitted, I could have shown 
you how certain plants indicate certain ge¬ 
ological formations; how I could know from 
the kind of plants growing on a particular 
spot, of what rocks the soil was formed, and 
what kind of rocks I could there look for 
with certainty. I have here a list of differ¬ 
ent plants, with the different geological form¬ 
ations on which they are found; but I can¬ 
not dwell upon it. I have a list of trees 
also which are peculiar to certian formations; 
but I prefer to draw your attention to the 
agricultural indications of plants. 
Certain plants, (the names of which I 
need not give, as they are scientific names, 
and require a knowledge of Botany to un¬ 
derstand them,) certain plants indicate cer¬ 
tain soils, as the thistle indicates a rich and 
productive soil—keep down these thistles 
and you have a good soil. Brambles indi¬ 
cate a loamy soil; the wild radish, a poor 
soil; the rush, a good soil, but one that is 
useless for want of drainage; the common 
rag-wort, which occurs in arable lands, in¬ 
dicates that the land is badly cultivated. 
Then you all know that trees indicate dif¬ 
ferent varieties of soil. The beech, a light 
soil; maple, also a light soil of a very supe¬ 
rior character. I have here a list of forest 
trees, and the different formations which they 
severally indicate, but I need not dwell on 
this part of the subject. 
The habits of planks, particularly of those 
which infest the soil, are important fis teach¬ 
ing us how to exterminate them; that is, it 
is important to know whether they are an¬ 
nual, biennial, or perennial. Those that are 
perennial, like the Canada thistle, indicate 
from that fact how they are to be extermin¬ 
ated; if annual, they must be kept down 
every year; if biennial, they must, to be ex¬ 
terminated, be attended to once in 2 years. 
Perennial plants recpiirc to be more effect¬ 
ually exterminated, according to the char¬ 
acter of their seeds —iis, for instance, whether 
they are sti’ong, and ivill remain long in the 
ground without rotting. The seed of the 
pigeon weed, for instance, is of this charac¬ 
ter, and may be carried to great distances 
without being destroyed. This vitality of 
seeds, therefore, is of great consequence to 
the practical man. 
Again, the mode in which plants are prop¬ 
agated is another subject of importance.— 
Many of them are propagated only by seeds, 
and if you destroy the seeds, you are cer¬ 
tain they will not appear again. But there 
are others which are propagated not only by 
seeds, but by running roots; of this charac¬ 
ter is the Canada thistle, so that if you cut 
down the plant, before the seeds are ripened, 
the roots will propagate and increase the 
crop. So with the common twitch grass; 
the more you cut it down, the more it will 
grow. These facts bear closely on the jirac- 
tical operations of the farmer, and in this re¬ 
spect botany has a direct and a special ref¬ 
erence to the art on which the farmer lives. 
I need not go farther into details, to con¬ 
vince you how far an ignorance of botany 
stands in the way of progress in agricultu¬ 
ral pursuits. But there are many different 
kinds of plants, which botanists study, which 
are of particular interest to the practical far¬ 
mer, or which, at least, possess as high an 
interest in them, as any other. 
I may mention mildew, smuts and rust. 
