:(f'!f4;^^' 
VOLUME 1. }■ 
ROCHESTEE, N. Y.-THUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1850 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY. 
Office in Bums’ Block, corner of Buffalo and State 
streets, (entrance on State,) Rochester. 
of soda, more genial in their action than 
either alone. Four bushels of this mixture, 
with one cord of muck, will fully decom¬ 
pose it, forming at the end of a month, in 
warm tveather, a most valuable manure. 
Lime also acts mechanically when appli¬ 
ed in the state of a carbonate, rendering 
heavy soils loose and friable—acting for a 
long time, both chemically and mechanic¬ 
ally. Its effects may be seen for twenty 
years after its application, in the lightness 
and fertility of the soil which contains it. 
Its effect is greatest when applied to the 
surface, as it is not of a volatile character, 
and when below the manures applied, its 
decomposing power is lost It will not rise 
like other manures, in gaseous exhalations, 
but is only brought up by the roots of plants 
which take it into circulation. Clover, es- 
ONCE PLOWING FOR WINTER CROPS. 
The practice of only one plowing of 
green sward for wheat, and the free use of 
the large triangular, or the wheel cultivator, 
is gaining prevalence very hist. Every rea¬ 
son, fact and effect is in favor of that course, 
and the results endorse its preference over 
plowings, 
DRILLING vs. BROADCAST SOWING. 
We have long advocated the drilling sys¬ 
tem, and frequently mentioned its advanta 
ges over broadcast sowing. For the pur¬ 
pose of showing, at a glance, some of these 
advantages, we present the annexed illus¬ 
trations representing the appearance, at 
harvest time, of wheat sown both by the 
drill and broadcast. 
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
Hardwick, Mass., Aug. 20th, 1850. 
Friend Moore The weather has been 
veiy cool here for about a week. Frost 
was seen, on low land, on Saturday morn¬ 
ing, the lYth inst; also on Sunday morn¬ 
ing. It is very cool to-day. Corn looks 
well but it is very late. It requires that 
the remainder of this month should be 
warm, and nearly the whole of September, 
in order to come to full maturity. It will 
be the best way for farmers to make sure 
of their corn this year, to cut it up as soon 
as it will do, and let it ripen ami dry on the 
stalk, in small shocks. This is frequently 
done in ordinary seasons, when it is desired 
to sow wheat or r 3 'e on the same ground 
where the corn f^rew. 
The summer thus far has been uncom¬ 
monly wet, in this region. At Providence, 
some days since, it was stated that the Rain 
Guage indicated that eight inches more of 
rain had fallen since the first of the year, 
than the average of former years during the 
same period. Streams are high and have 
been all summer. 
The forests look as green and rich as on 
the first of July. Feed in the old summer 
pastures, is as green and fresh as it was in 
June. Were it not for the mournful song 
of the insect, and the blossoming of the 
Solidago 4nd the Aster, premonitors of de¬ 
parting summer, one might suppose it the 
first of July rather than the last of August, 
This has been truly a remarkable season. 
From the tenth of June to the tenth of Au¬ 
gust, the weather was remarkably 
> CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
1 (Late Publisher and Associate Editor Gen. Farmer.) 
) - 
^ L. B. LANGWORTHY, Associate Editor. 
) Corresponding Editors: 
^ ELON COMSTOCK and T. C. PETERS. 
) Educational Department by L. WETHERELL. 
’ ICr’ For Terms, &.c., see last page. ,J~T| 
the old system of three 
any one fact 
in vegetable 
physiology settled, it is, that the food of 
plants are gases, and some few soluble min¬ 
eral substances, held in solution by water as 
the menstruum of solution and distribution. 
The principal food of plants, is the produc¬ 
tion of the decomposition of vegetable mat¬ 
ter, from the change that takes place when 
exposed to moisture,—forming a new ma¬ 
terial called humus, or an incipient charcoal, 
that causes the dark coloring of rich soils, 
and possesses a strong affinity for the oxy¬ 
gen of the air; which, combining with the . 
carbonaceous principle, forms carbonic acid, 
‘which combines with water bulk for bulk, 
and is the great agent for the production of 
the live fibre in the growing plant 
The nutriment depended upon, and which 
constitutes the value of the rotation of 
crops and the constant seeding with grasses, 
is the roots and herbage—the turf of the 
surface; and its true and only available por¬ 
tion is below "the surface, unexposed to the 
sun, wind and air, and in a constant state of 
moisture, which is a condition absolute to 
its perfect and rapid decomposition. 
In the old process, the vegetable matter 
is turned in and out, exposed to evaporation 
and leachings of the surface, without the 
ability of becoming rotted or decomposed, 
and a great portion of it lays in a position 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT, 
) LIME AS A MANURE. 
; - 
( To speak of lime as a manure, may per- 
; haps startle those^ who deny it the possession 
j of any fertilizing quality, yet as it is a constit- 
; uent, not only of all soils, but of all plants 
, in a greater or less degree, we may consid- 
) er it as feeding and assisting vegetable 
; growth, and thus acting as a manure. 
; How it thus acts, and in what way it con- 
: duces to the production of fertility, has long 
) been misunderstood, and many theories 
have been advanced, not only fanciful but 
j fallacious. That large quantities are useful, 
) or that by the application of litne alone fer- 
) tility can be kept up, have become explod- 
^ ed ideas. It is now considered to act both 
^ by chemical combination and directly—de- 
^ composing the inert matter both vegetable 
s and mineral for which it has affinities, and 
j entering actually into the composition of 
^ the plants, as proved by chemical analysis 
\ The ash of the wheat plant contains 6 'per 
^ cent., that of the pea, 14,—while the ash of 
^ the oak 32 per cent., or is composed of near- 
I ly one-third pure lime. 
, Lime has been found especially benefi- 
^ cial to the grasses and grain plants, by stim- 
^ ulating the productive energies of the soil 
) -^and by its efficient agency in the produc- 
; tion and preparation of the elements of 
; vegetable fertility. It does this when prop- 
^ erly applied, by accelerating the decompo- 
^ sition of all dead vegetable and animal sub- 
j stances—by neutralizing the» free acids of 
) the soil, and thus discouraging the growth 
) of coarse, noxious weeds, and promoting 
that of the grasses. Under a favorable 
) concurrence of mould, moisture and heat, 
^ ibinduces the formation of nitrates, imparts 
> warmth to the soil, and increases its power 
> of absorption—serves to render stiff soils 
) friable, and gives consistency to sandy ones. 
^ It promotes by its electric force, fermenta- 
tion and ultimate decay in inert matters, 
> causing carbonic acid to be evolved, and nitro- 
^ geneous gases to be disengaged, thereby con- 
^ verting that which was before unavailable, 
> into active sources of vegetable nutriment. 
) Lime, clover and 
Wheat sown Broadcast. 
The cuts tell the story, rendering com¬ 
ment unnecessary. The difference in the 
appearance of the grain is very striking. It 
will be noticed that the height of the grain 
sown broadcast is very uneven, while the 
upright position of many of the heads, in¬ 
dicates that they are hght, not being well 
filled. On the contrary that sown in drills, 
is very imiform in height, and the appear¬ 
ance of the heads indicate a heavy yield. 
warm— ^ 
that is to say, the temperature through the 
twenty-four hours was unusually liigh;—in i 
other words, the nights as well as the days ^ 
were warm. ' 
Berries of all kinds common to this re- 't 
gion are exceedingly plenty. The quality < 
is no less extraordinary than the quantity. ^ 
Whortleberries have been selling for three ' 
cents a quart and dull at that. 
•op not extra- ; 
ajj 4 /My t/te jooa oj plants, ana clover, or 
some other green crop, must be grown and 
plowed in’ every third and fourth year.”_ 
Thus it will be seen, that practical and sci¬ 
entific knowledge and e.xperience, in this as 
in all other operations upon the farm, con¬ 
duce much-to the most profitable and judi¬ 
cious use of lime as a manure. b. 
Oats come in very well-^^- 
ordinary. The farmers have had a rainy 
time to gather them. By the waj', they 
have not all done haying 3 /et. Hay is so 
abundant that it is selling for eight dollars 
a ton. One farmer in Warren, a few miles 
south of this, cut over four tons per acre of 
good hay. Who, in Western New York, 
has beat this ? If any one, let him say so, 
through the Rural, to your readers. 
It begins to be conceded that fruit is 
very scarce, especially peaches and plums. 
Apples are far from being plenty. There 
are more than last year—and not many 
either. Potatoes pretty good, not extra by 
any means. 
In speaking of plums, the writer is re¬ 
minded of a fact which has come to his 
knowledge since he came into this town.— 
A farmer had several trees—they did not 
bear much because of the disease that is 
destroying plum trees almost everywhere. 
He for some reason was led to apply salt 
about the roots. The trees soon became 
not only vigorous, but productive. This fact 
goes to confirm the remark made in a for¬ 
mer communication by the writer, that all 
who know how, can, in this latitude, and in 
ordinary seasons, raise an abundance of 
peaches, pears, plums, apricots, due. WiU 
those who are desirous of enjoying these 
luxuries, learn how to cultivate and produce 
them before they condemn the soil and the 
season ? Many grumblers among those 
who attempt to produce fruit, as in other 
departments of labor, will ere long find that 
the want of success is to be attributed to ig¬ 
norance rather than to the climate. Man 
is prone to look abroad for the cause of 
evUs which are the fruit of his own igno¬ 
rance. Knowledge gives power in idhe 
physical, as in the spiritual world. w. 
A lie ngure aoes not, nowever lanly repre¬ 
sent the appearance of the ground at har¬ 
vest time. The drill leaves the ground in 
ridges, as represented—but during winter 
and spring these ridges are worn down by 
freezing, thawing and washing, so that the 
ground is nearly level at harvest time. 
DRAINING - EDUCATION. 
It is not land alone that requires to be 
drained; for though there is scarcely a far¬ 
mer who does not leave more or less of his 
best land undrained, and therefore unpro¬ 
ductive, losing for ever the interest on the 
money he values it at, yet it has been well 
said, that “ a general enlightened education 
is equally necessary, to drain the farmer's 
mind of obsolete prejudices." And the best 
system that could possibly be established 
is exactly that which is taught to those se¬ 
lected for West Point, (there to be educa¬ 
ted at the farmer’s expense,) only substitut¬ 
ing the art of tillage for tactics. All else is 
exactly adapted to prepare the student, in 
the most efficient manner, to become an 
active, valuable citizen—useful and honor¬ 
able to himself and his country. A West 
Point education makes him a botanist in a 
measure, a geologist, a chemist, a mathe¬ 
matician, and a civil engineer; prepares him 
to examine the qualities of land, the strength 
of timber, to build roads, and to plan canals, 
to construct bridges and farm-buildings, and 
to pronounce on the proportions of parts and 
the value of materials. All this is the fruit 
of a government West Point education, and 
every farmer of sense and spirit should in¬ 
sist on one school in each State, where men 
should be reared to go out annually aU over 
the coimtry, carrying with &em this sort of 
knowledge, and prepared to teach in the 
common schools.— ^l. 
SEED WHEAT. 
There is not as much care taken in pre¬ 
paring seed wheat, in regard to purity, as 
is important and profitable to the sower.— 
Red-root, cockle and chess are the three 
great impurities to be guarded against; for 
if any of these are sown, they multiply ex¬ 
ceedingly, reduce the crop, depreciate the 
price in market and inflict a lasting evil to 
the land that years cannot obliterate. 
When there is no other course for a far¬ 
mer but to be obliged to use seed that is 
foul, the best method to pursue is, having 
a good fan mill, to draw out the chess board 
to near its middle, and to put through one 
quarter or two-thirds more wheat than he 
intends to use—blowing over with a rapid 
motion all the light and foul seeds, and all 
the light kernels of wheat, leaving behind 
full grown and perfectly developed and rip¬ 
ened grains for the future crop. If once 
through does not perfect it, repeat the oper¬ 
ation until it is clean and satisfactory. 
It is generally supposed that red root is 
not sown with the seed, as its seed is so 
small that it must be seperated in passing 
the last or cockle screen in the fanning mill. 
This is a mistake, as the examination of 
wheat grown where red root prevails will 
show. The jomt containing the seed is 
much stronger and harder at the knot where 
the seed is produced than any other part of 
the steija, and consequently is broken off 
above and below, holding the seed in its cap¬ 
sules, on a stem too large to pass the cockle 
screen, and goes down with the wheat . 
are parts of 
wheat is the product, 
ana, like a problem in proportion, we must 
have three numbers given to be sure of the 
fourth. The elements of the soil which go 
to form the grain, must be returned again 
in some shape, or they will finally be ex¬ 
hausted, and profitable production will cease. 
Applied directly to our summer fallows, 
at the rate of from 40 to 80 bushels per 
acre, lime cannot fail to prove beneficial, 
but if there be any want of this constituent 
in the soil, its application proves especially 
valuable. Some prefer applying it in small 
quantities to the land when in grass—oth¬ 
ers compost it with muck, and apply it to 
any crop in the rotation. 
Lime should nev¬ 
er be mi.\ed with barn-yard manure direct¬ 
ly, as it decomposes it, and evolves the gas¬ 
es—dissipating its most valuable qualities. 
But muck becomes manure by fermentation, 
which mixture with lime produces. Prof. 
Johnston proposes a mixture of salt and 
lime—of-three bushels of shell lime, hot 
from the kiln, with one of common salt, 
which forms chloride of lime, and carbofrate 
