MOORE’S RURAL NEAV-YORKER, profit of farming, here, and west. improvements in agriculture- 
PUBLISHKD WEKKLY. 
Office in Rums’ Rlock, comer of Rufliilo and State 
streets, (entrance on .State,) Rochester. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
(Late Publisher and Associate Editor Gen. Farmer.) 
L. B. LANGWORTHY, As.sociatk Editor. 
Corresponding Editors: 
ELON COMSTOCK a.vd II. C. WfllTE. 
Educational Department by L. WETTIERELL. 
The New-Yorker contains more Agricultural, 
Horticultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Educational, 
Literary and News matter, than any other Agricul¬ 
tural or Family .Journal published in the U. States. 
Those who wish a good paper, devoted to useful 
and instructive subjects, are invited to give this one 
a careful examination — and to bear in mind that 
the postage on a first class periodical is no more 
than on the smallest sheet, or most trashy reprint. 
(CT’ Eor Ter.ms, &c., see last page. .J~~n 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
PREPARE FOR WINTER. 
.The weather is now unusually fine for 
the season, and highly favorable to the in¬ 
terests of farmers and others engaged in 
out door avocations. Let it be improved by 
all, especially such as yet have crops unse¬ 
cured, or other preparations for winter in¬ 
complete. The frosty nights and occasion¬ 
al chilly blasts indicate the rapid approach 
of cold winter, and prudent men will see 
that their houses, barns, sheds, <fec., are all 
in order for the inclement season, Avhich 
awaits not the motion of the slothful. 
Of all seasons the present is the most ap¬ 
propriate for practising the advice embodied 
in the truthful adage which saith, “Never 
put off till to-morrow what you can do to¬ 
day.” Let the injunction be heeded by all 
who have crops to secure and market, build¬ 
ings to “ bank” and repair, stock to protect 
—and, last not least, children to educate and 
furnish with mental pabulum for evening in¬ 
struction and entertainment. We need not 
recapitulate the various items, each of which 
add to the aggregate of comfort and econo¬ 
my in the farmer’s household and on his 
premises. We merely wish to jog the mem¬ 
ories of our readers, for even the best of 
men require a little stirring up now and 
again. Indeed it may be said of many far¬ 
mers, as well as of those of other occupa¬ 
tions, that 
“ Tlieyknow the right, and they approve it too. 
Condemn the wrong, and atill tlie wrong pursue.” 
Yet we trust that but few readers of the 
Rural can be properly placed in that poet’s 
classification. 
In his last issue. Brother Cole of the Ne w- 
England Farmer, goes a step beyond our 
advice as above. He tells his readers to 
“Prepare for a Hard Winter,” and is of 
course on the safe side in enjoining prepa¬ 
rations for an emergency. In this wise he 
converses;—“ A very careful observer of the 
signs of the times remarks that we shall have 
an early, a long, and a hard winter. He 
considers the principal indications of this, the 
early heavy rains this fall, by wliich the 
earth has become fully saturated with wa¬ 
ter, and the stream.s, swamps, and fountains 
well filled. Whether there is any thing in 
these signs or not, it is best to prepare for 
the worst, and there can be no disadvant¬ 
age in being ready for a hard winter. If 
too much fuel be prepared, it will answer 
for future use. If the cellar be made un¬ 
usually warm, the temperature can be mod¬ 
erated, if there be too much warmth.— 
Should the farmer provide fodder for his 
stock beyond what they consume, it will be 
but a trifling disadvantage, compared with 
starving stock and an empty barn, or pay¬ 
ing extravagant prices for hay to finish win¬ 
tering too large a stock. So we hope that 
all will bo cautious, and prepare for a surly 
blast from old Boreas; and if it come not, so 
much the better for us.” 
Some calculations of the comparative 
profit of farming in Western New York, and 
Northern Illinois and Wisconsin, have been 
suggested by learning the results lately, of 
an individual c;x.se, in that part of Prairie- 
dom. 
Here land costs five times the amount it 
does there, and, were all other things equal, 
should produce five times the crop to give 
the same income. Here twice the labor of 
cultivation is necessary. So, other things 
equal, twice the price should be realized. 
But then, here, marketing is a mere nom¬ 
inal charge, as we can get as jirofitable a 
price near our doors as at a distance—while 
there, to get fifty bushels of wheat to the 
best market requires from three to six days 
work of man and team, which is a o'reat 
O 
make-weight against their advantages of 
cheapness of land and less amount of labor. 
Here, many of the products requiredTo be 
purchased for domestic use are lower than 
there, which counts on our .side, though some 
would say less of these articles were there 
required. Here the comforts and conven¬ 
iences of refined life are more easily avail¬ 
able than there, Avhich circumstance will be 
valued differently by different minds. 
These and many other considerations are 
nece.ssary to the solution of the problem of 
profit, east or west. And now to the report: 
Wheat, writes a friend, was poor this year, 
and the greater part injured by a ten-days 
rain which occurred about stacking time.— 
It will yield generally about ten busliels an 
acre, but one half of that is sprouted. We 
can get from 40 to 55 cents per bushel at 
Chicago—90 miles distant. Potatoes are 
rotting considerably, and hence are scarce 
and high—25 cts. per bushel. Corn was 
not much hurt by the chintz bug, and will 
average oO bushels per acre; (price not 
staled.) 
The farm to which the above refers is 
one oT the best on Rock River, in Northern 
Illinois. Farmers here, realized this year 
more than three times the crop, and three 
times the price, and, according to our cy¬ 
phering, the less number of acres here re¬ 
quired, will balance the cheapness of land 
there, and gives us this year at least from 
three to five times the profit which is there 
afforded. 
Our figuring may be rather loose, but we 
give it merely to call attention to the sub¬ 
ject, hoping that those interested will cypher 
out the matter to suit themselves. b. 
Sale of Live-Stock.- The Cultivator 
says that a public sale of live stock belong¬ 
ing to the estate of the late William Stick- 
ney, took place at Westminster, Vt., on the 
9th of October. The number of people in 
attendance was estimated at one thou.sand, 
and the animals brought satisfactory prices. 
One Devon lieifer, two years old, brought 
^150, another $100, and several cows up¬ 
wards of $100 each. The Devon bull im¬ 
ported by Mr. Stickney, brought $2'?'0. — 
The Suffolk, Middlesex, and Essex pigs sold 
well. One Suffolk sow and pigs brought 
over $100, and one sow alone $80. 
Heavy Steers. —Col. E. Long, of Cam¬ 
bridge, N. Y., informs the editor of the Cul¬ 
tivator that he has a pair of steers, two years 
old last April, which weighed alive, on the 
12th of October, 3,420 lbs. They were in¬ 
tended for exhibition at the State Fair, but 
by an accident were prevented from arri¬ 
ving in time. 
The land must be kept clean as a gar¬ 
den, by thoroughly working and cleaning, 
by hand-picking, pulling and cutting up nox¬ 
ious weeds, as well in the early stages of 
their growth as after the crops are carried. 
Messrs. Editors: —Accidentally I have 
obtained possession of an old work on ag¬ 
riculture, printed in Providence, R. I, in 
1824, and entitled “A Compendium of 
Agriculture, or Farmer’s Guide—by 'WM. 
Drown, with the aid and inspection of 
Solomon Drown, M. D.” It seems to 
have been submitted by the R. I. Society 
to a committee of gentlemen to examine 
and report upon its merits, and they pro¬ 
nounce it .a production highly creditable to 
the authors, and likely to be very useful to 
the agricultural interest of the country.— 
I have been very much interested in its 
periLsal, and in noting the changes in agri- 
riculture and agricultural implements in the 
space of 20 years. 
In looking over the list of implements 
there spoken of, I can scarcely find one 
that is in use at the present day. The cast- 
iron plow seems to have been just intro¬ 
duced in some parts of the country, by a 
few of the best farmers, and the work con¬ 
tains the remarks of Mr. Burgess upon 
Wood’s cast-iron plow. He calculates that 
it can be moved with a power one quarter 
less, and that it would do one quarter more 
work, than any other plow in the State.— 
This plow has long since gone out of use, 
being of such hard draught that the farmer 
could not afford a sufficient team to draw 
it. What would then have been thouffht 
O 
of a plow to loosen the subsoil, or even to 
turn the soil with -ffie ease '«<na elegance 
that the Eagle and other improved plows 
do at the present day? To read of the 
sickle being employed to cut gj-ain seems 
strange at the present day. Other labor 
saving machines, such as threshing and 
reaping machines, (fee., are not mentioned, 
and probably not thought of. The authors 
however hope that agricultural implements 
will be improved, and announce, for tlie 
benefit of those who wish to avail them¬ 
selves of the great improvements which 
have been made in agricultural implements 
and machinery, that Repositories have been 
established in the cities of New York and 
Boston, and hope the proprietors will be 
sustained by a judicious public for their 
exertions. 
Still, in looking over the amount of crops 
that can be raised per acre, and the system 
of tilling the soil, I cannot perceive any 
great difference in those days and the pres¬ 
ent. Very nearly the same things are re¬ 
commended as at the present time—thor¬ 
ough tillage, a rotation of crops—the hus¬ 
banding of all the manure, by the com¬ 
posting and saving of all the fertilizers that 
can be obtained, and enriching the soil by 
plowing in green crops and using mineral 
manure, as is now practiced by the most 
successful farmers. I cannot see that the 
average per acre has been materially in¬ 
creased or diminished. For corn, an aver¬ 
age crop is stated to be 40 bushels, though 
the authors cite instances of crops from 
IIG to l72 bushels per acre Of wheat, in 
the Eastern States, they think 13 biLshels 
per acre to be an average; this would look 
small in Western New York, but I presume 
is about the average of the Eastern States 
that try to raise any at the present day.— 
Other crops in like proportion. 
Hence it would seem that, with all our 
boasted skill in agriculture, wt do not raise 
larger crops than were raised 25 or 30 
years ago. How much have we improved ? 
While the mechanics have been improving 
our implements, so that we can perform as 
much labor in one day as was formerly 
done in two or three, and while eveiy other 
department of labor or science has been 
advancing with rapid strides, have farmers 
remained stationary ? Surely the soil has 
not arrived at the tdtiraa th\de of produc¬ 
tion, nor the system of tillage not suscepti¬ 
ble of improvement. Yours, f. av. l. 
Greece, N. Y., Oct. 1850. 
THE HYDRAULIC RAM-WATERING STOCK. 
Mr. Moore: —I infer from an editorial 
remark in one of the back numbers of the 
New'-Yorker, that some one inquires if the 
Hydraulic Rum “is what it is cracked up 
to be.” What it is cracked up to be to the 
inquirer, I do not know; but I can tell him 
what it cracks Mp for us. We have one of 
W. (fe B. Douglass’ No. 5 rams that cracks 
up over thirty barrels of water a day—a 
distance of 75 rods, up an elevation of 98 
feet, with a fall of 1.1 feet from .spring to ram. 
From spring to ram we have a cast-iron 
supply pipe 42 feet long, of two inch cali¬ 
bre, (larger than needed, but could not get 
less;)—common lead pipe for supply pipe, 
with as much fall as we have from spring 
to ram, would be likely to burst. Our dis¬ 
charge pipe is lead, of half an inch calibre. 
Having suffered very much for the want 
of water on a part of our farm, and in the 
barn yard, we know how to appreciate its 
worth now that we have an abundance just 
where toe want it. Our machine has been 
in operation some over a year. Previous to 
that time when we pastured a part of the 
farm we were obliged to drive our stock to 
the spring every day, unless it was rainy, 
when we let them go with what they could 
get from the gra.ss. The conseipience was, 
they frequently suffered for drink. We 
could not always attend to the drivinjr at 
the proper time, nor sis freipiently as neces¬ 
sary. Young animals did not thrive, nor 
cows give milk as now when they can go 
and drink when nature demands it. They 
do not suffer from a continual succession of 
/eastings and fastings, nor do they grow 
poor from traveling to and from the brook 
and carrying a day’s supply of water up the 
hill at a time. 
We have suffered almost as much win¬ 
ters as any time for water. During cold or 
stormy weather our stock would stay in the 
yard, until pinching necessity, or the driver’s 
lash, drove them off to drink—and then 
drink so much as to chill them, and, in spite 
of all the care taken of them, they would 
grow poor. Quite different was it the last 
winter. With an abundance of fresh spring 
water running into a tub in the yard, they 
needed less care, and improved on the feed 
that formerly they would have grown poor on. 
We are highly please with our ram, and 
would not part with it for five times its cost, 
if we could not get another. The question 
. is often asked “ will they work uniformly 
and perpetually.” Ours has performed ad¬ 
mirably, with very few exceptions. It never 
stopped without a good cause, and that 
easily removed. Gravel has sometimes 
been drawn into the supply pipe, and stop¬ 
ped the action of the piston or valve, which 
would instantly wash out by holding down 
the piston, and then go on raping as before. 
And now, in conclusion, we w’ould say to 
those who are destitute of w'ater -where they 
want it —if it can be had from spring or 
brook higher than where it is wanted, just 
put in a pipe and let it run down; if the 
spring or brook is lower, put in a Hydraulic 
Ram and make It run up. 
Yours, (fee., R. s. 
Van Buren, Oiion. co., Nov. 1850. 
The above, from one of the best practi¬ 
cal farmers in Onondaga county, is good 
testimony in favor of Douglass’ Ram—a 
figure and description of which will be found 
in our 18 th number. Such articles are to 
the point, and far more satisfactory to the 
public than any from either manufacturers 
or editors. We hope to hear from R. S. 
again and often. 
BIRDS AND THEIR PERSECUTORS. 
Friend Moore :—I read an article in thy 
last paper on the “ Treatment of Birds.”— 
The inference of H. L. M., -who endorses the 
communication, is, that it was written by 
David, Thomas. I am sorry that David, 
“ whose knowledge of, and large experience 
in rural affairs eminently ([ualify him to 
judge correctly and write advisedly upon 
this subject,” should say of the cedar-bird, 
that, “ it lives on the products of our labor, 
and renders no benefits in return.” When 
a boy I was taught to call what he calls the 
cedar-bird, the canker-bird, from the fact of 
its feeding on canker-worms. It is called 
cherry-bird because it feeds on cherries— 
and cedar-bird because it eats cedar-ber¬ 
ries. The canker-worm many years ago in 
the eastern part of New-England was very 
destructive, and, says an old worthy, “ The 
Lord sent a little bird that destroyed them 
all;”—and they called the bird, canker-bird. 
It also destroys caterpillars and slug-worms. 
A neighbor of mine, who is a careful ob¬ 
server and deeply interested in the cultiva¬ 
tion of fruit, told me this morning, that 12 
years ago he was in the habit of shooting 
cedar-birds and encouraging the boys to do 
so. He said that he learned subsequently 
from his own observation that they visited 
his cherry-trees, after the cherries were 
gone, to hunt and eat the slug-worm. From 
this time forth he destroyed no more cedar- 
birds, and taught his boys to “ spare the 
birds.” 
David puts the owl and the ha-nk In the 
same class with the cedar-bird, as the read¬ 
er will remember. The owl is a real mouser, 
and he spares not the rat. In some parts 
of Europe the owl is kept in families, as the 
cat, to destroy rats and mice; The owl not 
unfrequently does good service in the orch¬ 
ard, where he destroys mice that are some¬ 
times very destructive to fruit trees. The 
hawk also renders good service in destroy¬ 
ing vermin that are injurious to the culti¬ 
vator. 
I do not know a bird that visits us dur¬ 
ing the summer, or that tarries with us dur¬ 
ing the winter, that we can spare. The song¬ 
sters delight us with their sweet and cheerful 
notes, and the whole tribes, from the least 
to the greatest, aid and assist us, who are 
cultivators, directly, and all, whether farmers 
or not, are made richer and better and hap¬ 
pier by their contributions. 
David may regard me as being “ veiy 
ultra” in my views on this subject. Facts 
often carry one man further on than anoth¬ 
er ; and for this reason the latter charges 
the former with ultra notion. There need 
be no fear of this kind of ultraism. 
lllA month, 9</t. Wil.son 
IviDNEY-WoRM IN SwiNE. —A Correspon¬ 
dent of the Ohio Cultivator states, that he 
cures this disease by giving the animal af¬ 
flicted with it, one ounce of copperas daily, 
for six or eight days. He makes a slop of 
about two quarts of corn meal and dish-wa¬ 
ter ; dissolves the copperas in a cup of warm 
water, then mixes the whole together, and 
gives it to the hog. If he does not cat it at 
first, he shuts him in a pen and gives him 
nothing else for several days, until ho cats 
it. He states that this treatment has cured 
the disease even when at several months 
standing. 
Ancient Farming. —It is stated in an ar¬ 
ticle on this subject, in the July number of 
the London C^uarterly Review, that the av¬ 
erage product of wheat in the home prov¬ 
inces of Rome, in the time of Varro, was 
thirty-two bushels to the acre, far more 
than the present average in Britain, and 
probably three times as much as that of the 
United States. 
