MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
POTATO EXPEEIMENT.-SEEDLING APPLE. 
Eds. Ruhal New-Yorker:— By refer¬ 
ring to your paper of Oct 31, I find there 
recorded, what you call a successful exper¬ 
iment in the culture of 'potatoes. I wish 
to know (through the medium of the New- 
Yorker,) whether the eight acres there 
spoken of, were of similar soil and situation, 
if planted at the same time; and if the seed 
used was of the same variety on the whole 
piece ? 
From the present appearance, it would 
seem that the plaster was considered the 
cause of the difference in the quality of the 
of the potatoes; if so, it would be confer¬ 
ring a great benefit to mankind to know that 
fact If however the soil, and situation, 
were different in the piece that was un¬ 
sound, or the variety used for seed on that 
piece was not the same as on the other, that 
might account for the difference in the crop 
at harvest time. 
I feel much interested in knowing the 
facts in the case, and presume you will be 
pleased to ascertain the particulars for the 
benefit of the agriculturist 
Also, in same paper, is an advertisement 
of Moses Long, (who dates at Rochester,) 
of an extraordinary seedling apple, which 
he says “ may be regarded the apple of ap¬ 
ples in all the world.” As 1 am beginning 
to cultivate fruit, I wish to know Avhat the 
apple spoken of is. It smacks a little of 
humbug, I think; if, however, it is an apple 
of high merit, I think Mr. Long is in duty 
bound to give a description of it—its pecu¬ 
liar good qualities, and the growth and bear¬ 
ing habits of the parent tree. I should be 
loth to let such an apple be passed by in 
my selection, if indeed it is such .an one as 
his advertisement would seem to make it 
However I do not think it be.s£ to admit it, 
on the strength of that puff alone, (for such 
I consider it to be.) 
In asking the above questions my object 
is to get information, definite, and available, 
as I think both subjects are left in the dark, 
as they now are. Yours, (fee., 
Jonathan Talcott. 
Rente, N. Y., Nov. G, 1850. 
Remarks. —The item relative to pota¬ 
toes was copied from an exchange paper, 
and we believe Avas first published in one 
of the Boston agi-icultural journals-the place 
where the experiment Avas being made in 
Massachusetts. It had been published in 
several agricultural papers, and we copied 
it as a suggestive idea—as an incentive to 
further experiments and to call out facts in . 
proof or condemnation of its statements.— . 
We hope the paper in Avhich the article 
originated Avill give the particulars desired . 
by our correspondent ! 
In regard to Hr. Long’s seedling apple ; 
Avc can give no definite information, but of¬ 
fer him a hearing in the Neav-Yorker on 
the subject Our correspondent must not 
hold us responsible for the assertions of ad¬ 
vertisers; but AVC are ever ready to defend i 
or correct statements made in other depart- ■ 
ments of the paper. Our aim is to avoid ' 
and condemn every species of humbug— 
to publish a paper for the benefit of its sub¬ 
scribers, instead of forwarding the interests i 
of speculators. We do not place Hr. Long 
in that category, however—and presume, 
from his character and standing in commu- ' 
nity, that he can furnish a proper explana¬ 
tion or confirmation of the statements in his 
advertisement 
Since the above Avas Avritten and in type, 
we have met Hr. Long and mentioned the 
subject He avers that the statement in 
his advertisement is correct, and that he 
will furnish evidence of the fact for publi¬ 
cation in our next. 
STUMBLING HORSES. 
It is a general, but very mistaken notion 
that the safety of a roadster depends upon ' 
his lifting his fore-feet high from the ground, ' 
whereas it all depends on the manner in 
which he places them down upon it. I’lie ■ 
highest goers are often the most unsafe; ' 
and there are thousands of instances of hor¬ 
ses going ver)/ near the ground and never 
making a trip. It is, however, a well es- ' 
tablished fact, that if the form of a horse’s ' 
shoulder, and the consequent position of ' 
the fore leg, enable him to put his foot to ' 
the ground Jlat, with the heel down, his | 
lifting the foot high is not at all necessary; ^ 
whereas, on the other hand, if, by any im- ' 
proper position of the leg, issuing out of a 
short, upright, ill-formed shoulder, the toe i 
touches the ground first and as it Avere digs ] 
into it; no matter how high such a horse i 
may lift his leg, in any of his paces he will ( 
be liable to stumble. — A'ssay on the Horse, j 
SAUSAGE OR MINCING MACHINE. 
We are indebted to Emery <fe Co. of the 
Albany Ag. Warehouse, for the annexed 
cut and description of this neat and valua¬ 
ble machine. It is a desirable labor-saving 
article for farmers, pork-packers and hotel 
keepers—and the present is just the season 
to remind them of the fact We are assur¬ 
ed that the machine is extensively used in 
the eastern portion of this State, and in the 
New England States. The first figure repre¬ 
sents the machine closed and ready for op¬ 
eration;—the other shows it open, repre¬ 
senting the internal cylinder, which can be 
easily removed when necessary to be 
cleaned:— 
It is constructed of blocks of hard wood 
about five inches thick, nine inches wide, 
and fifteen inches long, connected together 
by hinges and hasps. The two faces of 
the blocks are carved or bored out so as 
to form a hollow cylinder or barrel extend¬ 
ing through the length of the blocks, except¬ 
ing enough at each end to form a head or 
cap. In this cavity is suspended a wooden 
cone or an iron shaft, running lengthwise, 
and one end of the shaft extending through 
and connecting with a crank outside. In 
this cone are placed three rows of wood or 
iron peg.s, so arranged spirally as to form a 
kind of screw, running lengthwise—the 
pegs being smaller, shorter, and closer to¬ 
gether as they approach the large end of 
the cone, making the mean diameter of the 
pegs the same at each en^l of the cone, and 
just filling the space or cavity. Each block 
has a set of triangular knives fixed station¬ 
ary, and so as to allow the pegs to pass be¬ 
tween them. 
The process is simply putting in the meat 
at the small end of the cone, through the 
kind of hopper or funnel, and by turning the 
crank tJie meat is passed round through 
and between the knives, and forAvard to the 
large end of the cone by the combined ac¬ 
tion of the pegs and knives, and finally dis¬ 
charged through an aperture in the bottom 
at the large end of the cone or opposite the 
hopper end—the fineness being guaged by 
the size of this discharging aperture. . 
The machine is Avarranted to cut fit for 
use from 80 to 150 lbs. per hour, according 
to the power applied—one man being suf¬ 
ficient to turn it constantly. Several hun¬ 
dred have been sold during the p;ist three 
years, and given entire satisfaction. A good 
machine, Avarranted, can be atForded at from 
^12 to ^15 — and may be obtained as above. 
DESTRUCTION OF THE WIRE WORM. 
The injury done to crops by the wire 
worm is often very great. It attacks the 
seed grain, after it is sown, and by eating 
its substance, and by boring into the heart 
of the tender stalk, the growth is prevent¬ 
ed. It is a hard insect to kill, being pro¬ 
tected by a smooth, tough shell. A writer 
in the Mark-lane Express states that he 
collected several of these worms and tried 
the effect of different substances applied to 
them. He says:—“ In my first experiment, 
I tested their tenacity for life with the most 
corrosive and powerful poisons. Prepara¬ 
tions of corrosive sublimate and arsenic 
were used in vain. Their immersion in so¬ 
lutions of these poisons occasioned them 
no inconvenience; in fact it appeared to 
give them more pleasure than pain. I 
then tried the effect of vitriol and aquafor¬ 
tis: these liquids certainly destroyed the 
worm, but only after a very considerable 
time. At length, by accident, I was in¬ 
duced to try li(|uid ammonia. The result 
was marvellous; in an instant these crea¬ 
tures, which had hitherto resisted with 
comparative indifference the most deadly 
and corrosive scids and poisons, were shriv¬ 
eled up, and reduced almost to the state of 
a cinder. Finding that ammonia possessed 
this astonishing power, it then occurred to 
me that this agent might be employed in 
an extremely simple and effective way. I 
took a portion of the earth containing the 
worm, and mixed with it a small quantity 
of lime; to this I added a quantity of pow¬ 
dered sal-ammoniac; the effect of this Avas 
the decomposition of tfie sal-ammoniac by 
the lime, and the liberation of ammonical 
gas: this had pecisely the result of the 
liquid ammonia; the worm Avas instantly 
destroyed as by an electric shock.” 
We do not knoAV that this method of 
destroying the wire-worm, can be made 
practically useful; we publish 'it to induce 
a repetition of the experiment, under vari¬ 
ous forms, in the hope that some valuable 
results may be brought out.— Cult. 
PREPARE YOUR WHEAT FOR WINTER. 
A VAST portion of winter-killed wheat 
comes in consequence of wanton neglect of 
the plainest dictates of common sense, Avhile 
putting in the seed. Thousands of acres 
are sown every year upon hollow places in 
the field, which, although the richest spots, 
are covered Avith a pool of water Avhenever 
a heavy rain falls. 
Without offering our own opinions or stop¬ 
ping to discuss the mooted question, wheth¬ 
er wheat will produce chess or not, we can 
safely say that all such spots in the wheat 
field will be much more likely to produce it 
than the adjoining ground that is free from 
standing Avater; and that spots arc often to 
be seen at harvest, covered with this Avorth- 
less grain, where a single furrow, or fifteen 
minutes’ labor, Avould have opened a drain 
and kept the soil dry, and given the owner 
several bushels of sound wheat for such a 
very small outlay of labor. 
! It is a wanton waste of labor and seed to 
throw it away upon a flat clayey surface 
without turning water furrows to carry off 
the 'winter rains a.s they fall. It is only up¬ 
on such neglected spots that the advocates 
of transmutation contend the change takes 
place. And as wheat is so much more val¬ 
uable than chess, it is perfectly surprising 
that any people will prepare the ground ex¬ 
actly right to produce the latter. So well 
do the wheat growers of Lower Virgina un¬ 
derstand the benefits of drainage, that they 
sow almost universally in beds, and in many 
places, these are only five feet wide; that is, 
the wheat is sown upon beds of the same 
width as Indian corn is planted, and the ad¬ 
vocates of narrow beds contend that they 
can make more wheat than those who sow 
upon nine or fifteen foot beds. 
Until American farmers learn the great 
value of underdraining, we must constantly 
remind them of the necessity of keeping the 
surface dry by open ditches. To every one 
of our readers, therefore, who has an acre 
of wheat sown, we say most earnestly, go at 
once and examine whether any little pools 
of water stand after a shower, and if so, take 
steps immediately to drain it off as fast as it 
falls, or you cannot expect to grow wheat, 
though you may grow chess or weed.s.— 
Amer. Agriculturist. 
WHICH TONGUE? 
In writing for the agricultural public, dif¬ 
ferent writers characterize themselves, not 
only in the different styles in which they 
choose to couch their ideas, but in one fea¬ 
ture of that style, very diflerently. We al¬ 
lude to their use of technical phrases and 
scientific terms. A few years since, tfie ag¬ 
ricultural [japers in many instances were 
little better than Greek to a plain reader.— 
An essay would be so blinded by the use 
of the terms alluded to, that the whole might 
often as well have been in the same sort of 
phrase. The Hessian fly Avas the Cecidomya 
destructor^ buckwheat. Polygonum fagopy- 
rum; a locust tree an acacia; a maple an 
acer, and an elm an ulmus. The house dog 
had his long Avorn title merged in that of 
canis familiaris, and puss with all her sis¬ 
ter cats lost herself in a Felis. Of late Ave 
.see much less of this hunting after scientific 
terms. The best and best informed Avriters 
see the necessity of talking to people in a 
familiar tongue. That the strained use of 
technicalities has done much injury, Ave have 
110 doubt. Common readers, whose atten¬ 
tion, for the first lime, Avas called to agri¬ 
cultural reading, would find themselves in 
a forest of angular Graeco-Latin, words; and 
would either come to the conclusion at once, 
that the subject Avhich required such bar¬ 
barous diction was either a humbug, or so 
far above their comprehension as to render 
the study of it iLseless; or that whatever 
merits it might have, they could never mas¬ 
ter its phraseology, and would conseqently 
retire in di.sgust. Multitudes were thus re¬ 
pulsed forever from reading upon agricul¬ 
tural subjects by the formidable character 
of its incidentals. 
Our readers Avill we think bear us wit¬ 
ness that Ave have not grievously sinned on 
the score alluded to. We have generally 
preferred to call things by their names; 
regarding cat as good a name as felis, and 
dog as canis. We do not wish however to 
be understood as objecting to all use of a 
scientific nomenclature. In writing for 
strictly scientific men it is often more intel¬ 
ligible than any other. In writing also for 
the public it is sometimes necessary to use 
technical terms as the scientific name is 
sometimes the only one; and sometimes the 
popular names are several, and the techni¬ 
cal is the only certain name. 
This subject is brought before us by some 
extremely sensible articles on the subject by 
Hr. Lindley, in the London Gardeners’ 
Chronicle, which have been copied by some 
of our exchanges. We may return to it 
again.— Prairie Farmer. 
Norle Sentiment.— Teach your children 
the elements of Christian philosophy, the 
Bible, lessons of love, and temperance, and 
knowledge, and virtue, and faith, and hope, 
and charity, and you may turn them out 
into the world without a pang of apprehen¬ 
sion, without a doubt of distrust, or fear; 
they Avill never hurt each other, and never 
injure the State.— Henry A. Wise. 
REMARKS ON BREEDING. 
As an illustration of the effects of in-and- 
in breeding, the following instance is rela¬ 
ted to us as having occurred in a particular 
neighborhood in this county. A farmer of 
a sour, unsocial disposition, who as much as 
possible avoided all intercourse with the rest 
of the world, and shunned asking the slight¬ 
est faA^or of a neighbor, lest he might at 
some time be desired to reciprocate the 
kindness shown him, for a long series of 
years, bred his cattle entirely from his OAvn 
stock. In consequence of this course, such 
a herd of mis-shapen, ungainly, big-headed 
quadrupeds Avere produced that they could 
scarcely be recognized as belonging to the 
cattle kind; and “-’s wolverines” were 
for a long time the butt of ridicule in the 
whole vicinity. 
The careful breeder, upon either system, 
will avoid using, even for a single season, 
any animal possessing obvious defects; for 
such defects, once introduced in but the 
slightest degree, are liable to be transmitted 
and reappear even after several generations 
have passed. To the many curious and val¬ 
uable facts already on record relating to 
this subject, the following maybe added: 
A portion of the foAvls possessed by Con- 
tant Clapp, Es(p, were formerly of the 
“ downy” breed. But this variety, so 
strongly marked, had run out and entirely 
disappeared from his promises for 8 years, 
when three of these doAvny individuals, per¬ 
fect in every particular, reappeared among 
his flock-^showing that the blood, though 
apparently obliterated, had yet been lurking 
there generation after generation. [This is 
Avhat is technically called in breeding, “ cry¬ 
ing back.”— Ed.] 
It Avas a favorite theory with the late dis¬ 
tinguished Gen. Schuyler, a man of exten¬ 
sive observation, of deep penetration, and 
sound judgment, that the true character, 
either of a man or beast, could be a.scertain- 
ed by looking at the parentage from which 
he had descended; and as an illustration of 
this, he used humorously to relate the inci¬ 
dent, that in the early years of the Hutch 
trade with the East Indies, one of his an¬ 
cestors,being a sea captain, had gone thither, 
and returned with a Avife—a Mongolian lady, 
whom he had married in his absence. And 
the blood of that cross continued still to 
cling to the descendants two centuries af¬ 
terwards, despite of all their efforts to erad¬ 
icate it—so that doAvn to the present day, 
in one branch and another of the family, one 
of these confounded East Indians would oc¬ 
casionally be making his appearance!— 
Trans. JT. Y. Ag. Society. 
MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS. 
In breaking or managing a liorsc, liow- 
ever intractable or stubborn his temper may 
be, preserve your own. Almost every fiiult 
of the brute arises from ignorance. Be pa¬ 
tient with him, teach and coax him, and suc¬ 
cess, in time, is certain. There are tricks, 
hoAvever, which are the results of confirmed 
habit or viciousness. A horse accustomed 
to starting and running aAvay, may be ef¬ 
fectually cured by putting him'to the top 
of his speed on such occasions, and running 
him till pretty thoroughly exhausted. 
A horse that had a trick of pulling at his 
bridle and breaking it was at last reduced 
to better habits, by tying him tightly to a 
stake driven on the bank of a deep stream, 
Avith his tail pointing to the Avater; he com¬ 
menced pulling at the halter, Avhich sudden¬ 
ly parting, over the bank he tumbled, and 
after a summerset or Iavo, and floundering 
aAvhile in the water, he Avas satisfied to re¬ 
main at his post in future and break no 
more bridles. 
A ram has been cured of butting at 
every thing and every body, by placing an 
unresisting effigy in a similar position; when 
the sudden assault on a Avindy day resulted 
in tumbling his ram.ship into a cold bath, 
which his improved manners took good care 
to avoid in the future. 
A sheep-killing dog has been made too 
much ashamed ever again to look a sheep 
in the face, by tying his legs to a stout ram, 
on the brow of a hill, while the flock were 
quietly feeding at the bottom. On being 
set free, and someAvhat startled at setting 
out, in his haste to regain his frieds, he tum¬ 
bled and thumped master Tray so sadly 
over the stones and gullies, that he was 
quite satisfied to confine himself to cooked 
mutton thereafter. ! 
Man’s reason was given him to control 
“ the beasts of the field and the birds of the 
air,” by other means than brute force. If 
he Avill bring this into play, he will have no 
difficulty in meeting and overcoming every 
emergency of perverse intellect or bad hab¬ 
its in the dumb thing, by his superior cun¬ 
ning.— Selected. 
A Good Hog. —The CleA'eland Herald 
records a general “ runaAvay” in that city. 
One horse and a buggy dashed doAvn Main 
street, Avhen a Hog belonging to Livingston 
(fe Fargo’s Express, put out after, and caught 
at the reins, but missed them and was 
struck by the wheel Nothing daunted, it 
was “ up dogs and at ’em ” again; and at 
the second grab he caught the reins in his 
teeth and brought the horse to his knees 
till secured. The dog then went home 
“saying nothing to nobody.” Good dog, that. 
LAWS OF LABOR, HEALTH, &c. 
An enlightened appreciation of the inflex¬ 
ible laws which govern health, growth, de¬ 
cay and death in the animal and vegetable 
world, is especially important to the pros¬ 
perity of a farmer. There is no such thing 
as luck. A violation of nature’s laAvs meets 
with swift retribution—obedience to those 
laws is sure of reward. The laws of labor 
and success know no favorites of clime or 
race. They scorn the control of caprice ; 
they are as inexorable as fate —a slave to 
none—a master of us all. Whoever at¬ 
tempts to master them is himself mastered. 
Whoever yields a cheerful obedience be¬ 
comes an equal partner in the fruits of the 
harvest. God’s laws are written in the 
growth of the most obscure plant, as well 
as in the fearful movements of the ele¬ 
ments. Certain retribution follows alike 
the overtasking and abuse of the earth, the 
violation of his OAvn physical constitution on 
the part of the man, and the neglect of the 
humblest breathing thing around him, 
Avith the certainty, if not rapidity of the 
electric shock. 
Labor must be performed in the promo¬ 
tion, and not in contravention of natural 
laws. It is the object of Societies, Fairs, 
Schools and Papers, to induce men to ob¬ 
serve these laAv.s. That is the object of our 
association. But it is usele.ss to attempt 
the instruction of an unAvilling, a bigoted 
or a stupid mind. It is the part of man to 
guide his labor by intelligence. Brute la¬ 
bor is not sufficient for the farmer’s suc¬ 
cess. But in order to bring the best minds 
to the work of husbandry, it must be re¬ 
spectable and honorable to toil. Happily 
in this country, it is no longer considered 
respectable not to perform one’s share of 
the toil, and even the drudgeries of life.— 
Even the posses.sion of a large fortune does 
not now exemjit a man, in public estima¬ 
tion, from his share of duty and labor.— 
The greater the trust, the greater the ex¬ 
pectation. The man Avho coolly sits doAvn 
to gormandize and vegetate is looked on 
with contempt. A Berkshire eats nnore 
and fattens faster. Among the most grate¬ 
ful signs of the times, is the fact, that it Is 
becoming fashionable to Avork. The more 
pervading these correct ideas, the more 
certain tlie productiveness and elevation of 
the farmer’s calling. If all labor is honor¬ 
able, that labor is most so which educes, 
evolve.s, creates most from the natural ele¬ 
ments, and far more creditable, than that 
which converts and exchanges products, 
and perhaps carves out a cruel, an unjust, 
or an extortionate profit in the operation.— 
That labor should be held most in honor 
Avhich engrosses most all the poAvers and 
faculties of a man; and brings the labor¬ 
er nearer to the character of a maker and 
a creator. Surely no toil so nearly fulfills 
those conditions, as that Avhich is bestowed 
on the earth, the common parent of us all. 
* --k * * % H: 
“ In all I liave said I wish to impress 
upon your minds deeply the conviction, 
that a nation’s thrift, well-being and gloiy, 
consist in an uniform and general develop¬ 
ment. Let every man be an enlightenc d 
freeholder. If he Avill not seek the light, 
carry light to him—to the darkest recesses 
in which he may immure himself. We 
Avant no mammoth oxen, nor mammoth 
crops, if they are to be regarded as match¬ 
less exceptions, and teach no lessons—if 
Ave regard them Avith the idle Avonder Avith 
Avhich children gaze on a menagerie. We 
Avant an all-penetrating impression made of 
the health, beauty, product! vene.ss and 
perfection, to Avhich animal and vegetable 
life can be matured, and the almost mirac¬ 
ulous agencies by which human toil can be 
abridged; if we improve all the faculties 
Avhich God and nature afford: if avc use and 
not abuse the trust. Our efforts fail if they 
fail to do this. The people of our Avhole na¬ 
tion ought to be placed on an elevated table¬ 
land of prosperity, opulence and civilization, 
of which the world hitherto has afforded 
no parallel. Compared Avith any nation of 
Europe, the aggregrate of civilization is al¬ 
ready in favor of the American people.— 
Tell me not of an empire whose millionth 
man is a Brougham or a Wellington. Tell 
me not of learned men and v^istly endowed 
institutions. Tell me not of treasures of 
science and princely patronage of arts. All 
these may be, as they have been, the grace 
and boast of a despotism. That is the most 
civilized people, of whom each individual 
is a fully developed man, Avho understands 
his duties, his responsibilities and his rights, 
and that is the most prosperous people where 
pro.sperity is mo.st equally diffused. The 
forest, diversified with a fcAv trees of col- 
lossal size, casting their shade over dwarf¬ 
ed and stinted bushes,—compares not with 
that Avide scene of richness, luxriancc and 
beauty, Avhere all rise in grand and equal 
proportions, their branches interlaced, sup¬ 
porting and supported.”— J. R. William's 
Address. 
The Herring is a delicate fish. When¬ 
ever it is taken out of the, Avater CA'cn 
though it seems to have received no hurt, 
it gives a squeak, and immediately expires; 
and though it be throAvn instantly back into 
the Avater it never recovers. Hence the 
proverb—“ dead as a herring.” 
