MOORE’S RURAL KEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
which grow tobacco, under a regime of 
slave tillage, accounts at once for the fact 
that hundreds of farms are for sale, and that 
the Planter must remove farther south.— 
My own e.xpcrience, having lived in fhe 
State two years, coincides exactly with the 
meteorological facts given by Mr. Gkiscom 
in your last paper—that is, I found the 
summers no hotter than we have them in 
Michigan. The w'arm season is longer, it is 
true, by some months, and it is desirable to 
find a place where w'e do not have seven 
months winter. Taking the excellent cli¬ 
mate of Virginia into view, together with the 
low rate at which good farms may be 
bouglit there, I have concluded that but 
very few years will pass, before lands will 
sell there at $100 per acre, if northern 
men will settle there. The only remaining 
conceivable objection to the country will be 
gradually vanishing away;—I allude to 
Slavery. Hot heads and cold hearts are, 
I think, making more of a bug-bear of that 
than need be; but on that point I have only 
to say, that I never found a more delightful^ 
people to live with in the course of my 
travels. I miver knew' a northern gentleman, 
who minded his owm business, to c.ome away 
dissatisfied with his treatment in good Old 
Virginia. 
Some twenty years residence in the 
western States still leaves me with the con¬ 
viction that farmers can better their con¬ 
dition more rapidly, and more pleasantly, in 
Virginia than here. In fact agriculturists 
of veiy high standing as scholars, and suc¬ 
cessful practical farmers, have said, that an 
industrious northern man maj' buy a farm 
there, and pay for it from its products in 
two years. Mr. Griscom, the Land Agent 
there, now somewhat known to your read¬ 
ers, is a gentleman with whom I have some 
acquaintance, and I know' that purchasers 
may depend on his statistic description of 
the countr}' as being quite inside the truth. 
He will take great pleasure not only in 
furnishing every facility in his power to 
those who go there prospecting, but in their 
finding the country far better than might 
be inferred from Kis publications. I have 
requested him to'buy a farm for me; but he 
tells me I must not calculate to do much in 
the practice of medicine there—it is quite 
too healthy. If you can, please excuse the 
too great length of this communication. 
D. B. Crane. 
Albion, Calhoun Co., Mich., Aug. 24,1850. 
FINE WdDLED SHEEP. 
Mr. a. L. Binoham, of Cornw'all, Vt., has 
a flock of fine-wooled sheep, stopping ? few' 
days to recruit, at Handford’s Landing, 
three miles north of Rochester, that for val¬ 
uable qualities cannot be exceeded in this 
State. 
The fl-ock consists of 65 bucks and 200 
ewes, of either full or half-blood Taintors 
and Paulars. They are w'ell worth a pil¬ 
grimage the number of miles to view their 
oualities, to all wool-growers and sheep 
breeders, and others anxious or interested 
in that important branch of domestic econ¬ 
omy. A- 
The Taintor breed produce the most ex"- 
traordinary w'eight of fine-w'ooled fleece, of 
any breed yet introduced. One buck, this 
year, sheared 21-|- pounds o/ w'ool, of one 
year’s growth only, of a fineness that brought 
in market 40 cents per lb.—The half-blood 
yearlings sheared, this year, from six to nine 
lbs. of the finest quality. Mr. B. will offer 
f. few for sale. Bucks, from 15 to $50;— 
ewes at $15. We have had exhibited to 
our view, this fine flock, and can assure our 
readers that if they wish to improve their 
flocks, they will not be disappointed in pur¬ 
chasing. One largehuck for which the pro¬ 
prietor asks $500, is well worth viewing, if 
only as a curiosity, having some singularities 
peculiar to that breed. 
Drilling Wheat. —The. Michigan Far¬ 
mer states that two portions of a wheat field 
were sown at the same time, one with a 
drill, and the other broadcast; the drilled 
portion presented a far more vigorous and 
luxuriant appearance, and although the 
wheat had not been cut, the difference was 
estimated at one-third increase. The broad- 
• cast portion consumed a bushel and a half 
ner acre; the drilled, but half a bushel. 
More than half, probably more than two 
thirds of our whole population—some say | 
seven eights—and of course our male youth, 
are attached to agriculture. Numerically, 
they are proportionably of more importance 
than those attached to all other interests in 
the country. 
COMPEESSING AND THERMOMETER CHURN 
COMBINED. 
This arrangement is said to form the 
best hand churn now before the public.— 
It is thus described in Emery & Go’s Cat¬ 
alogue : 
It has the Double Zinc Cylinders for fa¬ 
cilitating the process of obtaining the proper 
temperature by means of hot or cold water, 
without mingling it with the milk and cream. 
A thermometer is neatly set in one end to 
enable the operator to know the proper de¬ 
gree of temperature at which to commence 
churning. The bevel floats which have 
been before described, are used without 
any shaft through the churn, by having a 
dowel at one end, and a .square socket at 
the other, which receives the end of the 
short crank when it is suspended and pro¬ 
pelled. The crank has a groove turned in 
its round part to receive a pin, which pin 
drops into the groove when the crank is in 
its place. To wash and take out the but¬ 
ter, all that is necessary is to raise the pin 
and withdraw the crank far enough to re¬ 
lieve the dasher, when it is readily taken out. 
For sale by Emery <fe Co., of the Alba¬ 
ny Agricultural Works. The price is but a 
trifle more than Kendall’s, of correspond- 
DIGGING POTATOES. 
As the time for securing this valuable 
root is not far distant, it will be well for ev¬ 
ery farmer to avail himself of the benefits 
of early digging, which are neither small 
nor few. Nine times out of ten he will 
save his potatoes from rot. The tops while 
green are worth more for the pig-yard or 
to cover on the ground, than when diy. — 
Potatoes dug in dry weather will be clean, 
and are worth more for the market or to 
feed out than those that are dirty. Early 
digging gives the farmer a chance to plow, 
sow, draw off stone, or make any improve¬ 
ment on his ground he pleases in the fall. 
It is often said that potatoes keep better 
in the ground than out; and that dirty po¬ 
tatoes keep better than clean ones. This is 
true, provided there is nothing to keep them 
from the light or air but dirt. But pota¬ 
toes put into the cellar the last of August 
or the first of September, and well covered 
with old quilts, mats, or boards, will be far 
superior to those which lie in the ground- 
and take the fall rains. Dirt was never 
made for food, for man or beast, and the 
bad effects sometimes produced by feeding 
potatoes to stock, is not attributable to the 
roots, but to dirt taken with them. In these 
superfine, flour-eating times, almost every 
one is well supplied with flour barrels. — 
These make first rate receptacles fw choice 
potatoes. Would it not be well to fill and 
eat, instead of depending upon others for 
that which is not half so wholesome ? — 
Boston Cultivator. 
PREPARING LAND FOR A CROP. 
A farmer has a field of clayey loam, 
which requires a week’s work at least to 
prepare it for corn, oats, or barley. Now, 
how ought he to proceed ? 
It is not uncommon to see such lots turn¬ 
ed over, and the furrow-slice left day after 
day, to dry and bake in the sun, without 
the least attention till the plowing of the 
whole field is completed. 
Well, what better could he do? 
Reduce what he has plowed to a fine 
tilth while it is moist and easily crumbles, 
— not leaving it to diy one day before he 
puts on the harrow or the drag-roller. A 
small share of labor at this time will do 
twice as much to pulverize the soil, as when 
it has hardened like an unburnt brick 
What! stop the plow before finishing the 
field! Farmers that drive ahead, don’t do 
so. 
That is, they drive one day ahead, and 
leave their work two days behind. But let 
me ask, what is the use of plowing land ? 
The use ? why, to put the ground in or¬ 
der. You could not expect a crop without 
it. 
Neither ought we to expect more, than 
half a crop when it is only half pulverized. 
If we plow eight inches deep, and one half 
of this soil is in hard clods, how much bet¬ 
ter is it to plow four inches deep, and have 
it thoroughly pulverized ? How much bet¬ 
ter is a clod on the field than a stone ?— 
Albany Cultivator, 
Any one may do a casual act of good¬ 
nature, but a continuation of them shpws it 
is a part of the temperament. 
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
The usefulness and importance of the 
county • associations are more manifest ev¬ 
ery year of their existence. The reports 
which are furnished the present year are 
far more valuable than those of any for¬ 
mer year. They are interesting to a very 
large class of farmers and others in thei^' 
operations, and their annual exhibitions 
call together in the several counties large 
portions of the population who are deep¬ 
ly interested in the progress which is ma¬ 
king in the agricultural interest. It is not 
alone by the improvements exhibited in 
the various departments of agriculture, 
that these annual meetings are useful.— 
Here the farmers meet together and have 
free intercourse with each other, and from 
their interchange of sentiment and opin¬ 
ion, they mutually stir up one another to 
more systematic and energetic measures 
in the pursuit of their profession. We 
have no where seen exhibited more strik- 
ingly the advantages of these societies, 
than in the following remarks of the Hon. 
Daniel Webster, of Marshfield, Mass., at 
the Fair of the Norfolk AgTicultural So¬ 
ciety. He says: 
“The great practical truth and charac¬ 
teristic of the present age is, that great 
public improvements are carried out by 
means of voluntary association. "This prin¬ 
ciple—the principle of voluntary associa¬ 
tion—of bringing minds together to act 
upon each other, is the great truth and 
principle of the age. Its germ, to be sure, 
was to be seen centuries ago in the old 
world. It was to be traced in the estab¬ 
lishment of cities in the feudal ago; it was 
stiU further extended in the professional as¬ 
sociations of Europe at a subsequent period. 
But it has been long—both in the old coun¬ 
try and in this—before the idea was brought 
to bear upon agriculture and the tillage 
of the Soil The reason of this was obvi¬ 
ous. Merchants, traders and others, con¬ 
gregating in large cities, could meet togeth¬ 
er at almost any hour, summoned by the 
peal of almost any bell, to interchange their 
sentiments on any topic of moment. 
Not so with farmers. They were scat¬ 
tered all over the country; their labors 
were mostly solitary—here upon the plains, 
and there in the deepest recesses of the 
hills; they have no* exchange, no coffee 
house, no lyceinn, where they could assem¬ 
ble together conveniently. Such, too, in a 
great measut'e, was. tW case -with them 
now; and hence it had. become essential 
that these annual fairs should be held.— 
Hence also the necessity that they shouldT 
be universally attended—not so much for 
the sake of the exhibition, or of any dis¬ 
courses to be delivered,, or lectures to be 
given, as for the sake of interchanging sen¬ 
timents, of comparing the experience of one 
with another; of mingling together and 
of keeping v,p a commvmication of ideas. — 
Every man obtained a great part of what¬ 
ever knowledge he might possess, by 
conversation and personal communication 
with others. Books, indeed, might do 
something in this respect, but nothing in 
comparison with the communication. If we 
deduct from the aggregate of each man’s 
knowledge, whatever he had learned by 
communication and conversation with his 
fellow man, very little would be left, and 
that little worth not much at best. It was 
intercourse with each other that made men 
sharp, and active, and enterprizing; and, 
therefore, if there should not be at any an¬ 
nual exhibition of an agricultural associa¬ 
tion, a handsome- pair of steers, or a likely 
•cow, in the whole countr}', still, if there 
were the men assembled together in social in¬ 
tercourse, then, he said, the exhibition 
would be productive of much good.” — 
Transactions for 1849. 
FACTS ABOUT SWINE. 
We have received from Mr. Rood, of 
Adrian, some facts in regard to the breed¬ 
ing of swine, which are of importance to 
every farmer. Mr. R. remarked that he 
had long observed that pigs from old sows 
made heavier hogs than those from yoimg 
sows. And he related an instance which 
places the matter in a very striking light. 
He had two sows of the same breed, one of 
which was one year old and the other three, 
the former being out of the latter. Both 
sows had a litter of pigs on the same night, 
and a part of both litters were put to¬ 
gether and nursed by the older sow. The 
pigs of the younger sow were apparently 
the most promising, at first; but they all 
grew up together, w'ere treated alike, and 
flitted alike, and when they came to be kill¬ 
ed the pigs of the older sow weighed about 
eighty pounds more than those of the young 
one.— Michigan Farmer. 
Envy no one. The situation of an inde¬ 
pendent farmer stands among the first for 
happiness and virtue. It is the one to 
which statesmen and warriors have retired, 
to find in the contemplation of the works of 
nature that serenity which more conspicious 
stations could not impart 
SALE OF DURHAM CATTLE. 
A sale of short horn cattle, owned and 
bred by J. M. Sheafe, Esq., took place at 
New Hamburg, Duchess county, yesterday. 
The attendance of breeders and amateurs 
was large, embracing many gentlemen from 
New Jersey, Long Island, the river and 
western counties of this State. The bid¬ 
ding was very spirited, and the whole 34 
head were sold for handsome prices. 
The bids upon which they Avere struck 
off’ were as follows; 
No. 1. An imported Cow, 14 yrs. old, .$47,50 
2. A 4 year old Heifer,..... .$65 
3. A3 do. do.105 
4. Yearling do. 65 
5. 5 year old Cow,.180 
6. 4 do. do. 70 
7. A yearling,. 80 
8. Cow 6 years old,.145 
9. do. 7 do.160 
10. Heifer 3 years old,.100 
11. do. 3 do.125 
12. Calf dropped in March,. 75 
13. do. do. do.80 
14. Withdrawn. 
15. Cow 4 years old,.125 
16. Two year old Heifer,.125 
17. Spring Calf,. 80 
18. Cow 5 years old,.175 
19. Cow 4 years old,.140 
20. A 2 year old Heifer,.125 
21. Her calf, just dropped,.50 
22. Two year old,.145 
23. Spring Calf,. 50 
24. do. . 70 
25. 5 year old,. 95 
Her calf, 6 weeks,. 65 
26. 2 year old Heifer,.185 
27. Cow 7 years old,. 90 
28. Spring Calf,. 50 
29. 6 year old Cow,.170 
30. A 3 year old,.100 
31. Her Calf,. 55 
I 32. Bull Calf, March,.150 
33. do. do.105 
j 34. Bull Exeter 2 year old, imported 
from England, was struck off to 
I Lewis F. Allen, Esq., of Black 
Rock, for. .500 
! Sum total of sales $3,747 50. A finer 
herd of Durhams have rarely been distrib¬ 
uted through our State .—Albany Jour. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
Destroy thistles; if they be cut oft' when 
in bloom, at about one inch above the sur¬ 
face' of the ground, the hollow part of the 
stem receives Avater and the roots Avill de¬ 
cay. In selecting seeds choose only the 
most thrifty,, so that your roots, &c., may be 
of an improved quality next year; by con¬ 
tinuing such a course for a few years, any 
vegetable may be brought to a high state 
of perfection. This is the proper season 
for making under-drains, draining SAvamps, 
(fee., &c„ and the earth taken from low de- 
posites may be placed with advantage into 
your hog pens, compost heaps, <fec. Weeds 
should now be removed to the hog pens, 
I that the hogi may perforin their share of ; 
labor in rooting them—throw into the hog¬ 
pen all potato tops, turf, ditch scrapings (fee., 
^d occasionally a handful of whole corn, 
to obtain which the hogs will keep the whole 
mass in continuous motion. On removing 
the contents of hog-pens to compost heaps, 
mix one bushel of refuse salt to every cord, 
and this* quantity will prevent those seeds 
from germinating which may not have been 
eaten by the hogs. 
If the surface of your barn yard is not 
so shaped as to save all the liquid drainage, 
you may consider that you have a hole in 
your pocket, or at least a waste which will 
prove equally destructive. — Working 
Farmer. 
CURE FOR RIN G-BON E, SPAVIN, &c. 
Mr. Joseph V. Stevenson, of Jefferson 
county, Ohio, communicates to the Ohio 
Cultivator his mode of curing these dis¬ 
eases, so hard to remove when they once 
take hold of the animal. He says— 
Take the oil of origanum and the oil of 
turpentine equal portions, and apply it to the 
part affected three times a day, by means 
of a feather, until it gets very sore, then let 
it heal up, and if the disease is not entirely 
killed, proceed in the same Avay again.. A 
young horse or colt can be cured by one 
application, but an older horse needs more 
severe treatment. Sometimes it is neces¬ 
sary to keep at it for three months before 
the cure is perfected in an old horse, yet I 
never JineAv an instance where it failed, if 
attended to. The same remedy will cure 
the bone spavin. 
Burning poll-evil is all humbug; I have 
tried all remedies, and find none so sure as 
probing and blistering. 
Etherization of Bjies.—P rof. Depays, 
of the Veterinary School at Brussels, has 
successfully applied the vapor of ether to 
bees, in order to deprive them of their 
honey without taking their lives. The 
vapor was blown into the hive through a 
glass tube, and the bees were soon made 
entirely torpid, in which condition they re¬ 
mained for some time, but subsequently re¬ 
vived, and were as lively and healthy as 
Joinestic (Itonomii. 
Subsoiling for Wheat Land. — The 
Ohio Board of Agriculture, recommend in 
their report the plan of using the subsoil 
plow in wheat land. The reasons are, that 
two important points are gained, viz:—Less 
liability to winter killing, by allowing the 
water to settle down into the soil, and pass 
off; giving the roots of the plant more 
room to range in search of the requisite 
quantity of food. 
ABOUT TOMATOES. ^ 
To Make Spiced Tomatoes. —Take in ( 
the proportion of 2 lbs. of tomatoes to 1 lb. ^ 
of broAvn sugar and half pint of good cider ^ 
vinegar, and 6 cloves; put them into a pre- ^ 
serving kettle and stew them over a slow J 
fire; after they have been in sufficiently ; 
long to cook them tolerably well, take the ; 
tomatoes up and place them upon a dish, < 
to cool, but continue the boiling of the < 
syrup, slowly in the meantime. When the | 
tomatoes become cool, put them into the < 
syrup, and boil them until they are done ' 
through and become dark red in color; \ 
then take them out again, and put them on | 
a dish to cool; after AA'hich, continue the ' 
boiling of the syrup until it becomes of the \ 
thickness of molasses. Then put your to- \ 
matoes and syrup,, when cooled, into jars; ' 
cover the mouths with paper, tightly tied ' 
around; make holes with a pin through the 
paper, and place the jars in a sunny window, 
for a few weeks; the jars must then hav'e 
paper tied over their mouths, so as to exclude 
the air, when they will be fit to put away. 
If the tomatoes should be large, it will be 
best to cut them in half before putting them 
in the kettle. This preparation of the tomatoes 
is excellent for pies, preferable, in the opin¬ 
ion of many, to preserved gooseberries. 
To Make Tomato Preserves. —Wash 
your tomatoes, then pare them; and for 
every pound of tomatoes, take \ a pound of 
refined loaf sugar; dissolve the sugar in a 
sufticent quantity of water to make it into 
syrup, in a preserving kettle over a slow 
fire; when your sugar is dissolved, put your 
tomatoes and the third of a lemon, sliced, 
into the syrup, and boil, sloAvly, until the 
tomatoes are cooked; then take the toma¬ 
toes carefully out of the syrup, and cool 
them on a dish; continue to boil the syrup, 
sloAvly, until the tomatoes are cooled; then 
strain your syrup through a hair sieve, 
and put the syrup and tomatoes back into 
the kettle, and boil them, very slowly, for 
an hour; then, if the syrup is boiled to 
the consistence of molasses, your preserves 
may be put into jars as soon as cooled. 
To Make Tomato Catsup. —For 2 bot¬ 
tles of catsup, take a peck of tomatoes, wash 
and slice them up, put them into your kettle 
and simmer them until they get into a boil; 
then strain or press them through a hair 
sieA'e, by pressing them with a wooden ladle 
or the hand, so as to rub the pulp or meat 
of the tomatoes through, leaving nothing 
but the skin and seeds behind; then put the 
juice, thus pressed through the sieve, again 
into your kettle; then take ^ a teaspoonful 
of cloves,4: teaspoonful of cinnamon, and 
teaspoonful of black pepper, and pulverise 
the whole in a mortar; tie the spices in a 
thin muslin bag, and put it the kettle; add 
teaspoonful of salt, and boil slowly until 
there is about two bottles of the catsup in 
quantity left; then let it cool and bottle it; 
place corks loosely in the bottles, and let it 
remain two or three days, when you must 
put a teaspoonful of brandy in each bottle, 
taking care not to let the bottle be fuller 
than just up to the mouth of the neck; 
cork tight, seal, and put the catsup away. 
Preserving Tomatoes for Table Use. 
—Tomatoes may be so prepared as to be 
kept a long time, and Avhen cooked are 
almost as good as the fresh fruit. The 
following is a recipe sent us a few years 
since by a subscriber in South Carolina. 
Prepare the tomatoes as for cooking, (with¬ 
out seasoning,) boil them one hour; then 
put them in small stone jars; cork and boil 
the jars for two hours, then take them out 
and seal them air-tight W!:,^:\ opened, 
season, <kc., and cook for half an hour. 
Tomato Figs.— The small pear-shaped 
tomatoes, may be preserved as follows: 
They are very fine and their resemblance 
to figs is not wholly in name and appear¬ 
ance. A chemist at our elbow, Avho has 
analysed both figs and tomatoes, tells us 
that the composition of the fruits is quite 
similar. 
Scald and peal the tomatoes, and then 
boil them in one-third their Aveight of 
sugar, till -they are penetrated by it Then 
flatten and dry them in the sun, occasional¬ 
ly turning them and sprinkling Avith sugar. 
When dry pack them in layers, with sugar 
sprinkling between. 
Cheap Oil for Kitchen Lamps. —Let 
all scraps of fat, (including even whatevez 
bits are left on the dinner-plates) and aH 
drippings be carefully saved and put into- 
an earthen crock, covered, and set in a (X)ld 
place. When the crock is full, transfer the 
fat to an iron pot, filling it half-way up. with 
fat; and pour in sufficient cold water to 
reach the top. Set it over the fire, and 
boil and skim it till all the impurities are 
removed. Next pour the melted fat into a 
largo broad pan of cold water, and set it 
away to cool. It will harden into a cake. 
Then take out the cake and put it away in 
a cool place. _ When wanted for use, cut off 
a sufficient quantity, melt it by the fire till it 
becomes liquid, and then fill the lamp with 
it, as with lard. It Avill give a clear, bright 
light, quite equal to that of lard, and better 
than whale oil; and it costs nothing but the 
trouble of preparing the fait. We highly 
recommend this piece of economy. 
