VOLUME I. }■ 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1850 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY. 
Office in Bums’ Block, corner of Buffalo and State 
streets, (entrance on State,) Rochester. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
(Late Publisher and Associate Editor Gen. Farmer.) 
HOW TO DISPOSE OF STRAW. 
In most of the wheat growing regions, it 
is rather difticult to work all the straw into 
the manure yard, owing to the fact that grain 
growers do not find it profitable, to keep 
large stocks of cattle, either for the drover 
or for dairy purposes. It is not uncommon 
to observe large stacks in the yards, and in 
the fields where threshed, lying over from 
year to year without decomposing, or in any 
way profiting the owner. It is found that 
any of the winter grains sown upon a flat 
hard rolled surface and covered about three 
inches deep with straw, vegetate and passes 
through all its stages to the perfection of its 
seed with great strength, standing the win¬ 
ter well and giving a large yield. Straw 
thinly and evenly distributed over a field 
soAvn in the usual manner, cannot but be 
an assistant and protector of the young- 
plant. 
Its operation is decidedly beneficial to pas¬ 
tures and meadows when thus distributed, 
and although we are no great admirer of 
top dre.ssings with manure; yet straw being 
almost entirely composed of the woody fibre 
and the silicate of potash, which is not vol¬ 
atile, the straw in rotting and loosing its 
fibrous nature, becomes and forms a mass 
and soil, exactly the counterpart of the ori¬ 
ginal virgin soil of the forests. 
A very great saving and benefit will be 
derived, by distributing the overplus straw 
that cannot be used for bedding in the sta¬ 
bles, and properly converted in the yard, on 
new clover fields and old, or any age 
meadows. 
In the spring, after the danger is over 
that mice in winter are apt to inflict on fruit 
trees; straw may be put around all the 
trees of the orchard two feet deep, and over 
a space as large as their branches extend. 
It has the effect of killing all the grasses, 
keeping the earth open, free and moist, and 
in decaying furnishes the very best descrip¬ 
tion of manure for the tree. It is in effect 
the process of mulching. 
This we have often practiced with the 
most palpable advantages. It must be done 
after tlie snow has left in tlie spring, and in 
the fall perhaps, hoed away from the bole 
of the tree, to destroy the chance of mice 
finding a harbor. 
FINE WOOL SHEEP. 
I NOTICED with much regret, a few years 
since, that wool growers were becoming re¬ 
miss in their attention to fine wooled sheep. 
They seemed to have lost their attachment 
to fine wool; and to be running wild after 
the black faced and brown legged South 
Downs; and in favor of the large, coarse 
wooled mutton sheep. Well, the black fa¬ 
ced flocks have had their day, and the large, 
coarse Leicesters have had their reign.— 
The former have finished their cour.se—but 
the latter still retain, for the present, a 
name and a being. But the tables are turn* 
ed, and tho agony now is, again for fine 
■wooled sheep. 
The few, intelligent, prudent men who 
kept their flocks pure, and improved their 
quality if possible, or, at any rate, suffered 
it not to deteriorate, are now resorted to in 
order to restore dilapidated flocks to their 
former value. It is now conceded, even by 
those whose early prejudices repudiated 
fine sheep, that a fine wool fleece is indeed 
of more value than a coarse one of the 
same weight, and consequently it is the wi¬ 
ser policy to produce it. The question has 
practically presented itself, which is the 
most valuable of the breeds of fine wooled 
sheep—the Saxon or the Merino ? Great 
efforts are now making to award the palm 
to the Merino; and of these, to the stock 
derived from the flock of the Paular Con- j 
vent. They are stated to be larger, equal- ' 
ly fine, and affording larger fleeceif- than 
other breeds of the Merino; and to possess 
better constitutions, and be more easily kept 
than the Saxon. In occasional, isolated ca¬ 
ses, this may possibly be the fact 
I see, now and then, a statement of an 
almost incredibly large fleece. In the Ru¬ 
ral New- Yorker of the 5th inst., a fleece is 
quoted of 21| pounds; and in the leading 
editorial of the Genesee Farmer for this 
month, mention is made of a Virginia buck, 
producing a fleece of 18 pounds, the animal 
weighing 420 pounds! Now, it is just as 
preposterous to suppose, that a flock of any 
breed of fine wool sheep can produce any 
approximation to these quantities, as to sup¬ 
pose that every farmer can have his Dur¬ 
ham ox weigh 3,500 pounds, because Mr. 
A. of Avon has exhibited a Durham ox 
weighing this amount. We all know the 
average size and product of the common 
flocks of the country. We also know the 
size and product of sheep constituting flocks 
considered to be superior; owned by intel¬ 
ligent farmers, who have for years devoted 
to them the best care, and applied the best 
and wisest economies, in regard to feeding 
and breeding, in order to attain the best 
results. 
It is a noble flock of breeding ewes that 
shall weigh 105 pounds each, and produc.e 
4.J- to 5^ pounds superfine wool. But there 
are such Saxons, and this mark can be at¬ 
tained without “ costing more than it comes 
to.” Four such ewes would produce eigh¬ 
teen to twenty-one pounds of wool, the 
weight of the buck fleeces referred to above; 
and four such ewes would Aveigh the same 
420 pounds,—and I have to learn whether 
420 pounds in one carcass can be sustained 
at less cost than in four carcasses. Of 
course, even if this prodigious size were at¬ 
tainable as the certain result of great pains, 
I ask where is the gain. Now I have been 
largely acquainted with the different breeds 
of Merinos—have had in my ownership im¬ 
ported Paular sheep and bred from them. 
They w^ere tidier, larger frame, coarser bone 
sheep, and more costly to keep, than some 
others. Their fleece rather heavier as their 
carcass was larger than others. But for 
quality of fleece, they were never equal to 
the Escurial; and for fineness and delicacy 
of fibre, were decidedly inferior to the Sax¬ 
on. How much improvement may have 
been made upon them at the present time 
I do not know. But I can see no reason 
why a pure unmixed Paular ewe should be 
preferable to a Saxon. It is not possible 
that her fleece should be finer and more 
delicate than the Saxon. And with the 
same care and effort at improvement, the 
pure Saxon can equal in size of carcass, and 
weight of fleece, any other breed. I have 
derived from improved Saxons, as the aver¬ 
age, as large fleeces as I ever took, or have 
known to be taken, from any stock of Me¬ 
rino blood. And as to health and hardi¬ 
ness of constitution, the Saxons of the pres¬ 
ent day I consider equal to any fine avooI 
sheep. Conceding therefore to other breeds 
whatever excellence they possess, I can see 
no reason why any breed should be prefer¬ 
red to Saxons, who average from 4 to 5-| 
pounds of wool, and of a quality that can 
rarely be equalled, and never surpassed. 
September 6, 1850. A Farmer. 
that the amount of actual nourishment is ^ 
much greater in sweet than in sour apples. ) 
(See comparison of the analysis of the ^x- ^ 
bury Russet and Tolman Sweeting.) ^ 
Mr. Wingate practiced fattening swine ( 
for several years, on food composed princi- ( 
pally of apples. The animals attained good \ 
weights, and the pork was solid and of ex- < 
cellent quality. In other instances, vro have ■’ 
known apples fed raw to horses, cows, and < 
other stock through the winter, with much 5 
advantage. For using in this way sweet ^ 
apples Avould probably be best, and they ! 
'ill keep till spring. — s 
L. B. LANGWORTHY, Associate Editor, 
Corresponding Editors: 
ELON COMSTOCK and H. C. WHITE. 
Educational Department by L. WETHERELL 
Cy’ For Terms, &c., see last page. JH) 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
INSECT LIFE AND THEIR PROPOGATION. 
-•. 
There are some peculiarities and discrep¬ 
ancies appertaining to insect life, and their 
means of propogation, that is difficult to ex¬ 
plain. It would be a fair inference to sup¬ 
pose, that when the earth is fairly overrun 
with myriads of some peculiar insect, that 
they would go on increasing and multiply¬ 
ing ad infinitum till like the destroying lo¬ 
custs of Egypt they would sweep every thing 
before them. But this we do not find to be 
the case in no one instance. The Curculio 
Rose bug. Wheat fly, (Weevil,) and Aphis 
seem only to be limited by their ability to 
find the required material for a nidus to 
deposit the ova of the future progeny. At 
certain periods, without any regularity of 
succession like the American locust, ( Cicada 
Septemdecem, which has an exact and un¬ 
varying period of 17 years) many insects ap¬ 
pear and as suddenly disappear. It is not 
uncommon ipr the grass hopper, which are 
now ravaging a part of Pennsylvania and 
Ohio, to become so numerous as to fly in 
clouds before one as they move throuoh the 
should be such as -w'i 
They may be stored in a cellar under the ? 
barn, or in the bottom of the hay mow,— t 
a proper place having been left for that pur- > 
pose when the hay was put in. They will V 
be more likely to be injured by heating / 
than by freezing. They will seldom freeze Y 
in such a situation as is mentioned; and if ) 
they should be touched by frost, their nu- ) 
tritive properties will not be much lessened, > 
if they remain in a dark place, and where ( 
they will thaw slowly. > 
A peck of apples a day, fed to a cow, has I 
been found to add more than a quart to the ) 
daily quantity of milk, besides greatly in- 7 
creasing its richness, as well as improving 7 
the condition of the cow. The effect of ap- | 
pies is equally favorable to other stock.— ( 
Horses fatten on them, and their coats as- ( 
sume the brilliancy which hardly any other / 
food will give them. For all stock they an- \ 
swer a similar purpose as vegetables, in pre- ( 
venting costivene^:" which is likely to ensue* ( 
from the exclusive use of dry food; and in (’ 
this way, and by the nutriment they con- \ 
ain, they contribute much to tho animal’s ^ 
thrift 7 
An impression prevails that apples will < 
dry up the milk of a coav. This idea has i 
been imbibed either from the effect pro- u 
duced on a cow by eating a very large quan- ^ i 
tity of apples at once, by which surfeit and s 
fever were brought on, or from the trial not \ 
being properly conducted till the animal | 
had become habituated to the food. The ) 
ill effects attributed to apples would have S 
occun-ed with any other rich food, as any 
kind of grain, potatoes, or other vegetables. ^ 
A fair average product of an acre of or- ) 
charding, in good bearing condition, maybe I 
estimated at two hundred to three hundred v 
bushels a year; and at this rate, avc doubt ) 
whether so great an amount of animal nour- } 
ishment can be obtained from the same ex- | 
tent of land, in proportion to the exnense > 
APPLES AS FOOD. 
The following article from the Albany 
Cultivator, on the value'bf Apples as food 
for swine, confirms our opinion heretofore 
expressed, although we had not seen Mr. 
Wingate’s experiments. We think he lays 
the value too high when compared with the 
Potatoe, and allows a very small average 
yield per acre, at least with our young, 
thrifty orchards of the west: 
The late Pavne Wingate, of Hallo well, 
Maine, made some experiments in feeding 
pigs with apples compared with potatoes. 
Both the apples and potatoes were boiled, 
or rather stewed, separately, and about four 
quarts of oat and pea meal mixed with each 
bushel, at the time the cooking was finish¬ 
ed — the meal being intimately incorpora¬ 
ted Avith the potatoes and apples while they 
were hot, and the mass left to fermenU 
slightly, before it was fed to the pigs. 
Two pigs of the same litter, and as near 
as practicable of the same weight, were ta¬ 
ken; one was fed for a week on a given 
quantity of the cooked potatoes per day, 
and the other on the same quantity of ap¬ 
ples. At the end of each Aveek the pigs 
were weighed, and the food was reversed 
— the pig to which potatoes had been giv¬ 
en, was fed with apples, and the one which 
had received apples Avas fed for the next 
week on potatoes. This course was contin¬ 
ued through several weeks — the food of 
each pig being changed every week. Thft 
result was that the apples proved to be ful¬ 
ly equal, or someAvhat superior to the pota¬ 
toes. In this instance the apples were 
mostly SAveet^ and they, as well as the po¬ 
tatoes, Avere nearly in a ripe state. 
On another occasion, Mr. W. experiment¬ 
ed Avith sweet, compared Avith sour apples, 
in various ways. He found that when they 
were fed raw to swine the SAveet apples 
were preferable — the animals ate them 
better, as the sour apples seemed to make 
their teeth sore; — but Avhen both were 
cooked and mixed Avith meal in the Avay 
above described, there was no difference in 
the gain producf'd by an equal quantity of 
each. It should be stated, however, that 
all the apples used were of palateable kinds* 
nearly ripe; and that unripe, and ill-flavored 
apples are knoAA’u to be less relished by stock, 
as Avell as less nutriti\'e. It is probable, al¬ 
so, that when sour appie.s are eaten raw* 
and in considerable ipiantities, the animal 
may take into the stomach too large an 
amount of acid, Avhich may tend to derange 
the digestive organs. This objection would 
be chiefly obviated by cooking, and the 
saccharine fermentation, by which the pulp 
loses much of its acid and becomes nearly 
SAveet. It does not appear from analysis* 
CANADA THISTLES. 
There have been repeated instances, 
Avhere the simple mowing of the Canada 
Thistle has entirely' destroyed, and oblitera¬ 
ted the patches from the Earth; but in no 
case have the operators been able, from in¬ 
attention to the period, to settle under Avhat 
peculiar circumstances of the year, Aveather, 
or skiey influences the operation Avas per¬ 
formed. 
It has been suggested, that they must be 
cut when in blossom, and the stalks are at 
perfect maturity, and the stem being hol¬ 
low, and a rain folloAving and tilling the cav¬ 
ities, a hot sun scalds and destroys the 
root beyond the space Avhere the latent buds 
reside, that make the future sprout 
A writer in the Boston Cultivator con¬ 
firms this opinion. He says that a patch 
of Thistles were cut, during a rain in Hay¬ 
ing time, and that the next year a few strag¬ 
gling, feeble plants were seen, and the third 
year Avholly disappeared. 
It is a simple experiment to try, and 
worth the labor, even at the expense of a 
wet skin. 
Potato Disease.— Northampton, Mass., 
papers report the existence of the potato 
rot in seA'eral towns of that county t— Ches¬ 
terfield, Ware, Williarasburgh and Goshen, 
in most of them quite extensively. It is 
also said to be making serious ravages in 
the tOAvns of Hardwick and New Braintree, 
in Worcester county. 
Wash Roots. —Farmers are strongly re¬ 
commended to wash all roots before giving 
them to cattle. Professor Dick states that 
he has seen one hundred pounds of earth 
taken out of a horse which had been des¬ 
troyed by it 
> 7 
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