MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL 
of the roots of plants, thereby increasing 
their fertility, more particularly in seasons 
of either excessive drought or moisture.— 
Besides these advantages, there is also the 
greatly increased facility and saving of la¬ 
bor in the subsequent working of the land, 
and the ease with which, at any later peri¬ 
od, the soil can be deepened by trench 
plowing, and bringing up a portion of the 
loosened and prepared subsoil. 
“My experience in subsoil plowing ex¬ 
tends over the last ten years, and with the 
exception of the first experiment, which 
was made on a soil consisting of a deep, dry 
loam, or a tolerably porous subsoil, when I 
observed no beneficial results, the whole of 
the other fields which I have subsoil plowed 
have been much improved thereby: and 
during the last three years, I have left a 
portion undone of each of the fields which 
I subsoil plowed, that I might be better able 
to judge of the results of the operation.— 
On all these fields I have observed that the 
portion not subsoil plowed was longer of 
drying in spring than that which was sub¬ 
soil plowed, and was about two days later 
of being in a lit state for working; and al¬ 
so that the crops of beans, potatoes, turnips, 
and wheat were superior on the land which 
had been subsoil plowed, to those on the 
portions of the fields that had not been so 
treated. 
“ Mr. Dickson further observed that 
though land w r as subsoiled, it was not to be 
expected that great results were to be im¬ 
mediately realized. (Hear.) Years might 
be required to bring about a satisfactory re¬ 
sult. So convinced was he of this, that on 
lands of wdiich he had just now a nineteen 
years’ lease, he had commenced the subsoil 
plowing, while on land of which he had 
now only seven years to run, he did not 
mean to interfere, until the lease of nineteen 
years should be renewed.” 
Harlow Munson. 
East Bloomfield, N. Y., Nov. 25,1850. 
WINTER TREATMENT OF SHEEP,. 
The following observations on an impor¬ 
tant, and just now seasonable subject, were 
written by Mr. E. Kirby, of Jefferson coun¬ 
ty, and originally published in Morrell’s 
Shepherd:— 
In wet weather it is of great advantage 
to be able to fodder under shelter. I have 
abandoned the practice of salting my hay, 
except when compelled by stress of weath¬ 
er to house it before it is cured. My sheep 
are salted about once a week the year 
round, and instead of giving them tar as 
recommended by some persons, I occasion¬ 
ally strew the yard with pine boughs, which 
they are fond of. 
I regard the fall management of lambs 
one of the most important branches of sheep 
husbandry. Having paid for my experi¬ 
ence on this point as well as that of winter 
shelter, I can speak with confidence. They 
should be separated from their dams about 
the first of September, and with a few old 
sheep, that require nursing, turned to the 
best pasture. Care should be taken that 
they are not stinted till removed to winter 
quarters, when they should have a small 
allowance of grain or oil-meal, in addition 
to a plentiful supply of good hay. As soon 
as the pasture begins to fail the x'ation of 
grain should be supplied. By neglecting 
to provide suitable pasture for a lot of 100 
very superior lambs one season, I lost the 
greater part of them the ensuing winter. 
My utmost efforts, after I discovered the er¬ 
ror, were of no avail. I gave them a com- 
THE MORGAN HORSE “MORGAN HUNTER.” 
is clothed with thunder, 
who rejoiceth in 
his strength,’ and ‘ mocketh at fear.’ ” 
Henry S. Randall, Esq., in his new 
work on the “ Breeds of the Horse in the 
United States,” (which we shall refer to 
more particularly in a week or two,) speaks 
of the Morgans in this mariner:—“Of this 
celebrated American variety or family of 
horses, the writer of this, possesses little 
knowledge derived from personal experience. 
That they have obtained much celebrity as 
light buggy and saddle horses,—attracted 
much notice and admiration at the New 
York State Fairs for their remarkably spir¬ 
ited action and evident docility—sold for 
high prices not only for the saddle and bug¬ 
gy, but as stallions to extend the breed—is 
certain. They have many warm admirers 
and find ready purchasers, while others, on 
the contrary are disposed to concede them 
no uncommon value as a family.” 
regular allowance ot meal, and tree access 
to water; but they never recovered, and 
the greater part died before spring. 
My bucks and ewes are put together, 
about the first of December. The flock 
which I keep at my home barn, under my 
own eye, and from which I raise my buck's 
for the supply of my own and many of my 
neighbors’ flocks, is managed in this way: 
ihe ewes in lots of 20 to 35 are placed in 
separate pens, and a select buck is turned 
into each pen, where they are kept together 
15 or 20 days. The ewes in each pen are 
marked with a letter in tar and lampblack, 
to indicate what buck they were served by. 
subscriber asks, “ how to prevent 
chimneys from smoking without pullino- 
them down ?” We will suggest a few facts: 
In the first place, the reason why smoke is 
carried through the chimney into the air 
above is, that the fire creates a partial vac¬ 
uum in it, and the air below rushing in to 
supply the void, produces a current which 
carries out the smoke and waterv vapor; for 
the ascent of smoke is entirely mechanical, 
and not owing, as some imagine, to its being 
lighter than air. 
The draft of a chimney is influenced by 
several things. Long chimneys have a 
stronger draught than short ones, because 
they have a longer column of warm air.— 
But here observe that they may be so long 
as to cool the air before it has reached top, 
and the smoke then will fall down, owing to 
its weight. A narrow throat opening into 
a large pipe, makes a strong draught. 0 But 
the throat must be wide enough to allow all 
the smoke, vapor, rarified air, &c., to ascend 
freely. Small pipes are more easily rarified 
than large ones, and hence are to be pre¬ 
ferred. But if they are too'small, they 
cause so much resistance from friction as to 
impede the passage of the draught. The 
size of the chimney ought to be regulated 
by the kind of tuel used—green wood re¬ 
quiring a larger aperture than dry, and 
bituminous coal more than authracite. 
A fireplace, with a low front, causes a 
stronger draught, because none but rarified 
air is then permitted to enter the chimney, 
and thus it is kept constantly warm. One 
thing in constructing chimneys is to exclude 
all air from entering that has not first pass¬ 
ed through the fire, and keep all air out that 
is not necessary to support combustion.— 
These things, if properly attended to, will 
obviate any necessity of a smoky chimney; 
but we will give some directions to those 
who have such nuisances, in order that 
they may in part, if not entirely, avoid all 
inconveniences arising from them. 
1. Your chimney may be too large, so 
large indeed that descending currents of air 
meet the smoke and drive it down; if so, 
this is easily obviated by putting a long, 
narrow crock on the top of it, a plan follow¬ 
ed in many places. 
2. The breast may be too high. This is 
quickly remedied by placing a piece of sheet 
iron so as to cover over part of the orifice. 
3. One plan followed by an old gentle¬ 
man we have heard of, was to knock out 
the corner bricks in the chimney, about two- 
thirds of the way from the fire-place to the 
top, so as to afford room to insert in each 
corner a cow’s horn, having first sawed them 
off so as to allow a free passage of air thro’ 
them, and having placed them in, little end 
foremost, and turned up at an angle of about 
35 degrees; then secure with plaster all 
orifices around them. This is from a very 
scientific man, who knew the plan to succeed, 
and from whom we obtained all our inform¬ 
ation in regard to chimneys. 
The last thing is to cut your wood and 
have it thoroughly dry, and very probably 
your chimney, which has so long smoked 
from using green wood, will be effectually 
cured.— Dollar Newspaper. 
PLEASURE AND PROFIT IN DESTROYING 
CANADA THISTLES. 
STRAW CUTTERS, ONCE MORE. 
He who buys a good straw cutter and 
uses it faithfully, will find that he can save 
abundance of fodder that would otherwise 
be wasted. There is always more or less 
rough fodder collected on a farm, that cat¬ 
tle, either because they do not like it as well 
as some with which it is mixed, or because 
it may be too hard and coarse to be easily 
masticated, will not eat- By passing such 
through a straw r cutter, it becomes prepared 
and in a condition for them to chew more 
easily, and they, of course, eat it readily. 
For horses that have the heaves, or are a 
little inclined that way, no better feed can 
in city and country. For the most part 
there appears to be an idea predominant 
that no other colors exist save Paris green 
and white lead. We are well pleased to 
see that this prejudice in favor of a very 
false taste is now becoming dissipated by 
the gradual introduction of more sombre 
tints, less painful to the sight, and more rev- 
alent to the softer russet of Nature. 
At this particular season, when the 
snow covers the ground, the tints of um¬ 
ber or ochre are a peculiar relief to this 
boundless sheet of glaring while. To the 
tired eye these darker tinted buildings are 
as a welcome oasis in the interminable des¬ 
ert. We trust that this most decided im¬ 
provement may go forward, until white and 
green may fall into the shade of a better 
taste. We even hope to see roofs tinted 
also, thus getting rid of the cold hue of 
the slate covering of England, the fiery 
glow ol the red tile covering of France, 
Germany, and the major part of Europe; 
,vs well as ol the dazzling tin or combusti¬ 
ble looking shingle, of America. We have 
heard the sage observation made that green 
ar.d white are favorite colors of Nature.— 
This reminds us of a worthy protestant cu¬ 
rate, who caused the interior of his pretty 
little country church to be painted sky blue, 
pews, pulpit, and all. His defence of the 
act was that such was the favorite color of 
Heaven 1— Buffalo Jour, of Com. 
Horse Distemper.— A correspondent of 
the Boston Cultivator says: —When a horse 
has contracted this distemper, he appears 
stupid, has a cough, discharges at the nose, 
and in advanced stages of the disease, swell¬ 
ings under the throat and on various other 
parts of the body. For the relief of ani¬ 
mals thus afflicted, I feel desirous to give 
my mode of treatment; it is this: —On the 
first appearance of the disease, commence 
feeding the horse with ginger, a table spoon- 
full three times a day, mixed with grain, 
keeping the bowels loose at the same time 
with some gentle purgative. One pound 
of ginger will, in ordinary cases, be suffi¬ 
cient to cure a horse. He should be worked 
moderately every day and covered with 
warm blankets at night to keep him from 
taking cold. It is highly necessary that he 
should be exercised, and when thus treated 
I have not known it to fail of a cure in my 
practice, which has been limited. 
FARMER’S ICE HOUSES. 
A correspondent of the Massachusetts 
Ploughman, in a communication to the edi¬ 
tor, says:—“At the first time I commenced 
using ice, it cost nfe more than $30 a year; 
and I had not half the benefit in the use of 
it that I now do, at the cost of three or four 
dollars per annum. I have tried various 
ways to keep ice„ and have come to the 
conclusion that in every neighborhood there 
should be an ice-house of sufficient capacity 
to contain and keep ice for the whole neigh¬ 
borhood; this should be built as near to 
where the ice is made as convenience will 
admit, and if there be no natural pond in 
the district, it will be very easy to make an 
artificial one, as a cake of ice four rods 
square, of usual thickness, if well secured, 
would supply a large neighborhood of far¬ 
mers ; and as soon as the ice is of sufficient 
thickness, it should be secured, for the first 
made ice is of twice the value that late ] 
made is; it keeps better, splits better, and is 
better in every respect.” 
Bread Cutters. —The Scientific Ameri¬ 
can has a cut of a patented machine for cut¬ 
ting bread into slices. It is the invention of 
Mr. Franklin Royse, of Berlin, Connecticut, 
and will aid the operator in cutting bread 
into slices of uniform thickness. There are 
two troubles about cutting bread in “ these 
diggings.” The first trouble is to get bread 
to cut, and the second is to cut it into slices 
of such exceeding uniformity of size, that 
some gormandizers will not get more than 
their share.— Maine Farmer. 
carrots as a Business, it would work a com¬ 
plete revolution, as carrots are known to 
contain nearly the same amount of nutri¬ 
ment as oats or half as much as corn. Now 
I ask what would be the result if we should 
all at once obtain 800 bushels of corn per 
acre with, say double the amount of labor 
that we now bestow? Farmers, think of 
this. J. Houghton. 
Adams’ Basin, N. Y., Dec., 1850. 
HOW TO CURE A COLD. 
Of all other means of curing colds, fast¬ 
ing is the most effectual. Let whoever has 
a cold, eat nothing whatever for two days, 
and his cold will be gone, provided he is not 
confined in bed—because by taking no car¬ 
bon into the system by food, but consuming 
that surplus which caused his disease by 
breath, he soon carries oft' his disease by re¬ 
moving the cause. This will be found more 
effectual if he adds copious water drinking 
to protracted fasting. ,< By the time a per¬ 
son has fasted one day and night, he will ex¬ 
perience a freedom from pain and a clear¬ 
ness of mind, in delightful contrast with 
that mental stupor and physical pain caused 
by colds. And how infinitely better is this 
method of breaking up colds, than medi¬ 
cines, especially, than violent poisons! 
Ice Preservers. —Every family needs 
an ice preserver; for it is not only an excel¬ 
lent thing for this purpose, but to keep 
meat, fruits, milk, and butter. Articles of 
this kind are made in New York, at prices 
ranging from $10 to $100. Ice may be 
kept in them several weeks, with a great 
saving of time. It is quite a loss to be 
obliged to open the ice house every day; 
and if we depend upon the daily calls of the 
ice cart, it costs twice as much as if we laid 
in a week’s supply at a time. 
Education of Farmers. —Farmers often 
complain that they are deficient in educa¬ 
tion. For this, there is no necessity. Let 
them support and improve good common 
schools. Let them avail themselves of the 
other means of mental improvement within 
their reach, and they will acquire an educa¬ 
tion adequate for any occasion they will be 
called to meet; and they will hold an ele¬ 
vation in society held by no other class of 
men. It is known that they have a large 
amount of leisure. Let this be spent in 
the cultivation of their minds; inlaying up 
stores of knowledge.— Blake's Farmers' 
£j very-Day Book. 
Vegetable fibre, under certain circum¬ 
stances, is a slowly decomposing substance. 
When vegetables are green and full of 
juices, they readily ferment; but when the 
stems are dried, as in the case of straw and 
other litter, they decompose with slowness, 
and the mixing them with animal matter 
hastens the putrefactive fermentation. This 
mixing of animal with vegetable matter is 
trt o . 
the process employed for preparing the 
'greater part of the farm-yard manure.— 
Farmers Every Day Book. 
Turnips for Geese. — An experiment 
has lately been tried of feeding geese with 
turnips, cut fine and put into a trough of 
water. The effect was, that six geese weigh¬ 
ing only nine pounds each, when shut up, 
actually weighed twenty pounds, after three 
weeks feeding with this alone. 
Wooden posts or stakes driven under 
salt vats, owing to the preserving quality 
of the salt are practically indestructible.— 
It would be very easy to adapt this hint to 
the preservation of fence, garden posts, &c., 
as they do in Syracuse. 
A small farm, well tilled and manured, 
will give a greater profit than a large one 
with the same labor and manure. 
