KOCHESTER 
Y.-THURSDAY, MAY %, 1850 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY. 
Office in Bums’ Block, comer of Buffalo and State 
streets, (entrance on State,) Rochester. 
side, as it would if constructed as first men¬ 
tioned. These should be used more fre¬ 
quently — as often at least as the roads be¬ 
come rutted and uneven—and where proper 
turnpikes have already been formed, but 
little other labor will be found necessary. 
In England, where the roads have ever 
been the admiration of travelers from their 
excellence and beauty, straight lines are not 
so much regarded as level ones — and it 
has been found that the power required to 
draw two tons up a rise of one foot in a 
hundred, will draw with equal ease seven 
tons on a.dead level. But a rise of one foot 
in ten does not seem much of a hill, among 
the lovers of straight lines and right angles, 
who would be extremely surprised were you 
to tell them that the shortest way to get 
over a hill was actually to go around it. A 
curve must be made in both instances, and 
common sense will teach those who look at 
the matter, where it should run. The in¬ 
convenience of a three-cornered field to one 
man should not weigh against the ease of 
perhaps twenty teams a-day, when that is 
the only objection. 
In making or repairing a turnpike gravel 
and hard-pan are the best, and the surface 
soil, often mere muck, is the worst material 
which can be made use of. Better leave it 
untouched than to pile that in a narrow 
track, which will always become rutted and 
muddy with every heavy rmn, and impassa¬ 
ble with heavy loads in the spring and fall 
Often turnpikes are made where they are en¬ 
tirely unnecessary, and where a better road 
might be secured by scraping away the sur¬ 
face soil, and leaving it to take care of itself— 
making where necessary proper drains to 
keep water from standing on the surface. 
Filling deep ruts with large stones is a 
bad way of disposing of your surplus cob¬ 
bles. They will not stay at the bottom, and 
cause more jolts, and wear and tear to wag¬ 
ons than is necessary. Let them be broken 
fine—and then they will stay put, and the 
job will not need to be done over again.— 
Every loose or projecting stone in the road¬ 
way should be looked upon as a nuisance, 
and promptly abated. This our law now re¬ 
quires to be attended to oncq a month, but 
it is a dead letter. 
One more topic we must touch and have 
done. We have spoken of the uses — our 
heading mentions also the abuses of roads. 
Until we see some man’s pig a permanent 
occupant of his parlor, we must believe that 
people generally have some ideas of appro¬ 
priateness, and of the uses which a thing is 
designed for. But how queer must be his 
sense of the "fitness of things” whose 
whole farm, or manufactory, disgorges it¬ 
self on the public highway—making it the I 
ON ROOT CULTURE. 
Although much has been written on the 
field cultivation of Carrots, Beets, and Tur¬ 
nips, for winter feeding of stock, yet their 
value does not appear to be duly apprecia¬ 
ted by farmers in general. One great ob¬ 
jection urged against their culture is the 
I amount of labor they require, which I think 
is a mistake, for there is no succulent food 
that the farmer cultivates which will yield 
so much value for the labor bestowed as 
those roots will do—and they are not any 
more precarious then grain, after the art of 
cultivating of them has been acquired by 
experience. 
The more labor that can be applied in 
cultivation the better, providing that the 
amount raised remunerates the expense.— 
If a given number of days’ work will pro¬ 
duce on one acre the same value in roots, 
for winter feeding, that it would require two 
acres to produce in grain, it is certainly bet¬ 
ter to occupy one acre than two. But the 
amount of food is not the only benefit that 
the farmerreceives by cultivating those roots. 
Every one who has the straw of a thousand 
bushels of grain annually, to maniifacture 
into manure, will be amply remunerated for 
the labor of raising two or three acres of 
roots, in the increased quantity and quality 
of the manure. And they are a valuable 
preparation for a gi-ain crop. Manure the 
ground well for the roots, and keep it free 
from weeds, and it will generally yield a 
hea\y crop of barley the next season; after 
tin- barley it will produce good wheat, and 
after the w’heat it wiU give a heavy crop of 
clover—and all originating from the crop 
of roots, and the manure which they have 
made. 
The severity of our winters prevents the 
farmers here from going so extensively into 
the root culture as they do in England; but 
every one ought to raise at least from one 
to three acres annually. The kind that it is 
best to cultivate, will depend much on the 
quality of the soil that they are to be raised 
upon—and it is best to plant a variety, and 
ascertain by experience which is best adapt¬ 
ed to the soil and most profitable to culti¬ 
vate. 
The large White Carrot, Sugar Beet, and 
Mangel Wurtzel, thrive best in a stiff soil, 
or good wheat land, and will do on stiff clay, 
if it is but rich and well pulverized. The 
Swedish Turnip requires a light sandy or 
gravelly loam; and the long Yellow Carrot 
does wonders in a deep and rich loam, or 
even a black muck. 
Manure bountifully with well rotted dung. 
Plow deep and harrow thoroughly, until the 
ground is as fine as a garden. Ridge 2-^ 
feet apart, and plant as soon in May as the 
season and condition of the ground will per¬ 
mit Put in plenty of seed, for the benefit 
of having the crop uniform is of more value 
than the cost of the seed, and when there 
are abundance of plants it saves time in 
hoeing. Four or five pounds of beets, three 
pounds of turnips, and two pounds of car¬ 
rot seed per acre, is better than less. 
Commence hoeing^ soon as the plants 
can be seen, and repeat it as often as they 
are weedy—at least three times in the sea¬ 
son. Thin them well the last time hoeing; 
leave the beets at least one foot apart, tur¬ 
nips eight or ten inches, and carrots four or 
six inches apart in the rows. Secure them 
in the fall before heavy frosts commence.— 
A light frost does not injure them, provi- 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
(Late Publisher and Associate Editor Gen. Farmer.) 
L. B. LANGWORTHY, Associate Editor. 
Ckirresponding Editors: 
ELON COMSTOCK, (former Ed. Central N. Y. 
Farmer,) of Oneida County. 
T. C. PETERS, (Editor of the Wool Grower,) 
of Genesee County. 
Educational Department by I.. WETIIERELL. 
O’ For Terms, &c., see last page. 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
NOTES FOR THE MONTH. 
Madam May has just returned from the 
genial climes of the south, and proposes in 
a few days to dispense her favors to all who 
love and admire the works of Nature—hav¬ 
ing had considerable trouble to get posses- 
aon of her fair demenses from Don April, 
a cold-hearted, crabbed and unpleasant ten¬ 
ant, who had to be ousted vie et armis, at 
fte last moment 
The Signora opens her stores of the mag¬ 
nificent displays of nature. The unrivaled 
splendor of her parterres, are exhilerating 
to the frozen wmter spirits of the healthful, 
and revivifying to the heart of the shivering 
invalid—abounding in plant and shrub, or 
flower and fragrance—enlivened by the me¬ 
lodious songsters of the Aviary. Her car¬ 
pets are of Nature’s own weaving, and her 
flowers tinted by the pencils of the sun. So 
great a benetactor is Madam May to the 
sons of toil, that they are in grateful duty 
bound to lend the helping hand, to improve 
and beautify her fair domain. 
Ladies, drop into her beautiful saloon 
some morning before sunrise, and if its de¬ 
lights do not give you the fever for plants 
and flowers, then are you proof against the 
tender passion, and the exquisite feelings 
and taste for loveliness. It is not a suppos- 
able case. Show me a true woman that 
does not love flowers, and that will not go 
into extacies over a rose, and I will show 
you a thing that you may whittle out of an 
icicle. So dress up the walks, the borders 
and the beds—nurse the perennials and plant 
the annuals,—for there is no purer joy, or 
sweeter enjoyment of the things of this 
world, than a judicious arrangement of a 
succession of the gay and fragrant beauties 
of the vegetable kingdom; not forgetting 
your soberer duty to the substantials of the 
kitchen garden, the peas, the asparagus and 
the pie plant—the lettuce, the radish and 
the cucumber—the tomato, the pepper and 
celery — the onion, the parsnip and the car¬ 
rot : they are the blessings avouched to us, 
and it is not showing a proper respect and 
gratitude to the Giver, not to accept them. 
So see to it my fair cousins, ’tis your voca¬ 
tion, or ten to one the male monsters will 
neglect it, for the com field, the potato patch 
and politics. 
Men of the plowshare and the reaping- 
hook, be awake. Madam May has been 
retarded so long in her beneficent influ¬ 
ences, by the holding over of the old land¬ 
lord April, that you have need to put your 
hands to the plow in right earnest, or the 
summer crops .will come lamely off. Sys¬ 
tematize youi- work perfectly, and hammer 
the iron first that is nearest burning. Nev¬ 
er go to the dreamy land of Mod, till you 
have settled every item of the morrow’s 
work in your mind, and every man and team 
employment Be up betimes; an hour is 
easily spent in the morning by men and 
boys if the master spirit—the motive power 
—is inert and behind. Move every thine: at 
are healtlfy in that season of privation of 
fresh vegetables. Out with the manure for 
com and potatoes, and plow under as you 
go along if possible. Spread and divide it 
well; one load, if it could with the soil be 
ground through a coffee mill, and thorough¬ 
ly comminuted and mixed, would be worth 
a dozen loads left in great lumps and ipasses 
and half plowed in; nothing can grow in it 
and it is a positive injury to every plant 
with which itcomes in contact 
Look out for those cattle,/ oxen, horses, 
and cows; the season is so belated they wDl 
need all your care and prudence, or there 
will have to be some lifting by the tail. 
Young set trees should he straightened 
up, and staked if necessary; give them a 
I cant to the south-west, as the prevailing 
winds tendio the contrary direction. Early 
in the morning go through your orchards, 
: and stKtreh for worms nests; when small and 
in their webs, twist them out with an apple 
! tree sucker. 
I After the oats, barley and spring wheat, 
I attend to the roots crops. Carrots should 
be sown instanter; beets and bagas are 
worth looking after—for as much cattle nu¬ 
triment may be made from one acre, as is 
produced from the average yield of fifteen 
acres of grass. 
Slap on the manure for com; it is a great 
feeder—a regular gormandizer—and never 
gets its belly full, or its digestive system 
over-loaded. Remember ashes—ashes and 
plaster—immediately after the first hoeing, 
or sow them broad-cast, it does not matter 
much; and don’t stint the quantity; the al¬ 
kali produces the silicate of potash neces¬ 
sary for the stalk, and the sulphate the ni. 
trogenized material for the grain. Manu¬ 
ring corn in the hill cannot be depended 
upon; it gives it a good start, but fails when 
the roots extend beyond the small space 
enriched. 
As soon as red root is in blossom, weed 
the wheat fields of this pest and cockle at 
the same time, or mow the whole down to 
the ground—it will not injure the crop.— 
But if there is more red root than wheat on 
yom- whole farm, load up your goods and 
chattels some dark night, and show the fann 
a trick the red root never diidi—leave it, for 
some country where the pest don’t exist— 
So thinks Prompter. 
The Study of Nature. —" The sneei-s of 
superficial men upon the weakness which 
has appeared in the conduct of some inqui¬ 
rers into nature, ought to have no influence 
to discourage us from those researches. If 
some few have spent too much time in the 
study of insects, to the neglect of the no¬ 
bler parts of creation, their error ought to 
suggest to us, not a total neglect of those 
inferior parts of nature, but only to avoid 
the mistake of giving ourselves wholly to 
them. There is no species which Infinite 
Wisdom has thought worth making and pre¬ 
serving for ages, that is not supremely wor¬ 
thy of our inquiring into its nature. And 
it is certain there is more of curious work¬ 
manship m the structm-e of the body of the 
meanest reptile, than in the most complica¬ 
ted and most delicate machine that ever 
was, or will be, constructed by human 
If - 
