1 
i 
EOCHESTEE, N. Y.-THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1851 
VOLUME II.-NO. 6. y 
made for the district library enables the 
trustees to purchase a respectable collec¬ 
tion of boohs for the use and advantage of 
every neighborhood. A portion of these 
volumes should he of an agricultural char¬ 
acter, and you should have a book or peri¬ 
odical of this description, within reach at 
every leisure hour, that spare moments may 
be profitably improved. 
The human mind is seldom sterile; it is. 
prolific in good or evil, and like our soils it 
will produce either useful or noxious plants 
—and the good must be cultivated and nur¬ 
tured, or the bad will spring up sponta¬ 
neously. Our duties to our families—our 
obligation to society—our pride as good 
farmers, combine with irresistible force to 
urge us to the decision that neither our 
minds nor our farms shall run to weeds, but 
that both shall be sedulously cultivated, in 
the way that shall best conduce to their 
productiveness, and to our usefulness and 
happiness in time and eternity. 
M. P. Jackson. 
Booavilia, Oneida Co., N. Y., Jan., 1851. 
JUFTTS TO YOUNG FARMERS. 
Sere-instruction is the principal means 
of arriving at eminence in any pursuit or 
employmenl The education wc receive in 
youth serves but as the foundation, at best, 
of the superstructure which is to be reared 
in manhood; every individual is in a meas¬ 
ure his own architect and may select his 
model. To the farmer this truth applies 
with as much force as to any class of com¬ 
munity, for the business of husbandry is 
so diversified, that the wisest who engage 
in its pursuit may continue to add to their 
knowledge as long as they continue this 
employment 
The experience of every day, and of 
every country, is adding practically, some¬ 
thing new and useful to this branch of labor, 
and while science in all its ways and forms 
is throwing its effulgence upon it, he that 
will may profit by the concentrated wisdom 
of the age, and advance in improvement, 
in usefulness, and in intellectual enjoyment 
The fanner is urged to effort by a triple 
consideration—the improvement which it 
promises to his mind and his means,— 
the benefit which the example he sets con¬ 
fers upon his children,—and the increased 
ability it may afford him of doing good to 
those around him; —the last a considera¬ 
tion of no little weight with those who ap¬ 
preciate their obligations to society, and 
who have felt the pleasures which arise 
from their fulfillment. 
The means of self-instruction are named 
in two words— become bj&a- 5 ** 8 - Most, if 
not all farmers, can, and should appropri¬ 
ate three or four hours in the twenty-four, 
to thus acquiring knowledge; and while 
they are storing their own minds, they can¬ 
not fail to scatter the seed of instruction in 
the minds of their children,— and these 
hours in the course of life make an aggre¬ 
gate of years. 
Let me put a case. "Who of you, that 
has a spark of laudable ambition, would not 
feel it a privilege to spend an evening with 
many eminent farmers and hear them re¬ 
late the result of their operations, their 
practice and their improvements in husband¬ 
ry ? Who could fail to profit from their 
instructions? Again, what farmer would 
not count himself fortunate in the opportu¬ 
nity of hearing any of our eminent agricul¬ 
tural chemists explain, in language adapted 
to his comprehension, the nature and prop¬ 
erties of the soil he tills—of the plants he 
raises—of the manures he employs—of the 
agency of air, heat, light and moisture in 
vegetation; and the method of applying 
the facts to his immediate benefit? Now 
all of this is virtually within his reach, for 
these men have -written books for his in¬ 
struction and advantage. 
You do not converse, in your social meet¬ 
ings, upon farming in its various operations, 
without giving 
WIRE FENCE —NOT ABANDONED YET. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO 
Aoricnlture, Horticulture, Mechanic Arts and Sci¬ 
ence, Education, Eura.1 and Domestic Economy, 
General Intelligence, the Markets, &c., &c. 
CONDUCTED EY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASSISTED BY 
J. H. BIXBY, L. WETHERELL, and It. C. WHITE. 
NUMBER III. 
A very common error with those who 
build wire fence, is, to suppose that animals 
cannot be restrained by it except they can 
see it at a distance. To provide a visible 
object, some builders set posts as near to¬ 
gether as in a common board fence, and 
nail a board at the usual height of fences 
and fill in below with wires. But pigs and 
geese will be very likely to crawl between 
the wires, and the builder will see a great¬ 
er necessity for a bottom board. As this 
leaves but space for two boards between 
them, and the appearance of the thing is 
so unfinished and slovenly, the wire part of 
the fence will very likely be dispensed with 
before a year is past, and the whole consti¬ 
tute an ordinary board fence. 
Others propose interlacing wooden slats 
or pickets with the wires, while some would 
render the fence visible by covering it with 
flowering plants or creeping roses—thus ad¬ 
ding beauty to utility. The objection to 
these methods of building are, that they 
obstruct the wind—and would be overturn¬ 
ed unless many more posts and much lar¬ 
ger wires are used than is necessary. Ex¬ 
perience teaches that the invisibility of a 
wire fence, which all these several methods 
of building would do away with, is the 
very thing which renders it an effectual res¬ 
traint to unruly animals. 
It Is very obvious that a horse, addicted to 
jumping, will leap any fence whose height 
IS Tint, Sllffirtiprit to JJiv.'ronfc lilm. Put loi 
such a horse approach a wire fence and he 
is against it before he is aware of it, or pre¬ 
pares himself to jump it He pushes 
against it and never raises his fore feet, as 
in the act of jumping. I do not believe a 
horse that has been trained to leap fences, 
could ever be made to jump a wire fence 
which was over three feet high. Neither 
will a dog or other animal jump it. I have 
seen a turkey trying for more than an hour 
to get through the fence, making no effort 
to fly over it It cannot be denied that 
horses or oxen running away, from being 
frightened, will be more likely to break a 
wire fence than a common rail fence, and 
this objection must be set over against its 
durability, and its not being liable to be in¬ 
jured by high winds. 
The manner in which builders fasten the 
wires and strain them, has tended very 
much to bring the fence into disrepute. 
To suppose that wires can be fastened by 
merely driving a wooden plug into a hole 
through which they pass—or, by driving a 
hook or staple into a post over the wires— 
shows that the builder has but little idea 
with what force a strained wire acts upon 
its fastenings when pressed upon by unruly 
animals. The only satisfactory manner of 
fastening which I have ever seen tried, is 
to pass the wires through a strip of band- 
iron, placed on the outside of the post, the 
holes through which the wires pass being 
barely sufficient to admit them. The wires 
are then heated and flattened an inch or two 
at the ends. No fasteners are needed except 
at the ends of a pannel, which may be 
twenty or thirty rods long. The wires 
should pass through all intermediate posts 
and slats, and should not be fastened to 
them—the object of these being merely to 
maintain the relative position of the wires 
and conform the fence to the undulations of 
the land. The strength of the fence must 
depend upon the strength of the wires, and 
the braces and posts at each end. This is 
the Alpha and Omega of a good wire fence. 
Myron Adams. 
East Bloomfield, January 27, 1851. 
any body was coming/’—and there had ap¬ 
parently been quite a freshet from the 
south, for the “ nasty weed,” and its traces ) 
lay in ample confusion about the room. I ') 
took out the “ Rural,” at the same time i 
asking the gentleman if he did not wish to 
subscribe for a first rate family paper. He ) 
guessed not.—What’s about ? I told him 
it was mainly designed for a weekly Agricul¬ 
tural and Horticultural paper, but that it \ 
also treated of various other subjects, such l 
as Natural History, Geology, News of the < 
day. Markets, &c., Ac. He then wished to \ 
know “ what it came at ?” At this qaes- > 
tion, I felt a little encouraged. I told him 
that the price of a single copy was $ 2 , but 
in a club we could get it for twelve shillings > 
a year. “ Twelve shillings ! Why he 
could git jest as many papers as he was a 
mind to for .a dollar, and he wouldn’t give . 
any more for one, any how.” 
“Well, perhaps you would like the ' 
“ Cultivator,” (for I get occasionally a sub- > 
scriber for this excellent journal.) “ No, he ■; 
didn’t know as he cared much about a cul¬ 
tivator, for he didn’t raise much com,” (very \ 
true,) “ and besides he reckoned a plow was ; 
just as good!” 1 
At this interesting moment, Joe came < 
running in, saying"" the cattle had knocked \ 
down the barn door and got to that are 1 
grain, and old red was hooked so he guess' i 
ed she would die.” The confusion afforded 
me a fine opportunity for a retreat, and J 
old Prince seemed wonderfully pleased with 
the idea of getting home. s. p. o. 
: Remarks. —Friend C. may be assured ; 
that editors occasionally have some amuse- 1 
ment, as well as other people, though rarely N 
any so genuine as that which he so pleas- 1 
antly describes. Plis remittance for twenty - 
new subscribers, proves that he was success- ) 
ful in the main object of his tour, aside from i 
the amusement realized. We presume < 
many other friends of the Rural, who have \ 
recently canvassed their respective localities \ 
for subscribers, could a similar tale unfold. < 
By the way, is not this manner of obtaining 
amusement, and doing good at the same \ 
time, worthy the attention of those who de- > 
sire the prosperity of the New-Yoreer and 
the promotion of its objects? The idea ) 
is suggestive, and we hope many of our < 
friends will put it in practice during the \ 
present season of comparative leisure among \ 
farmers. Such an excursion among one’s 
neighbors and acquaintances pays better— 
furnishes more material for amusement and > 
instruction—than is generally imagined. 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
QUERIES BRIEFLY ANSWERED. 
(a.) How much land can a person laboring four 
. or five hours a day, cultivate in fruits and vegeta- 
) bles; the work to be well done? (’>.) IIow soon 
{ will grape cuttings bear? (c.) Pears in large pyra- 
' mide? Apples on the doucain? Cherries, (d.) 
f Raspberries? (e.) Will strawberries planted in au- 
I tumn, give half a crop next year? (/.) What 
> would the produce of his labor the first year or two 
which, of course, would be vegetables be worth?— 
| What the value after that? (g.) What will F. H. 
> Marshall charge for binding the Rural with leath- 
( er backs and corners? If Mr. Moore will be pleas- 
l ed to answer the above in his columns, he will 
( oblige A Subscriber. 
; (a.) Five hours attention per day, would 
> care for several acres of fruit trees, but for 
' market vegetables a small area would ab¬ 
sorb that time. 
) (b.) Grape cuttings will bear the third 
{ year if they get a good start 
/ (c.) Apples and pears on dwarf stocks 
| from three to four years from the start.— 
Cherries the same. 
(<£) Raspberries always the second year. 
( e .) If the season is very fine, they will 
{ do more. 
(/) This depends upon the soil, season, 
and distance from market Fruits that will 
■ bear transportation will pay near home, but 
> there are none that will bear an inland 
> transportation thirty miles without injury, 
which would be fatal to them. 
(<?.) One dollar in the style you mention, 
> if the papers are in good order. 
> What is the best plow of all work —i. e., when a 
, man heepe but one? Soil, a sandy loam—new, and 
/ probably some roots in the way; well rotted how- 
> ever. w. c. p. 
The plow “ of all work,” says the Report 
) of the Committee for the Trial of Plows, 
\ which met at Albany in June last under the 
I supervision of the State Ag. Society, “is 
s an impossibility. The different circumstan- 
( ces under which plows must be used and 
the different objects to he attained render a 
) difference of construction absolutely neces- 
| sary.” 
For the soil in question, we imagine the 
; Michigan Sod and Sub-Soil Plow —which 
> took at the trial, the first premium for “ old 
> land ” and “stiff sod” —would be very well 
\ adapted. The Peelcshill, jVo. 21, of Mi- 
) nek <fc Horton, which took the second 
c premium, is recommended by others as 
: best suited to the case stated by our cor- 
GETTING SUBSCRIBERS FOR THE “RURAL.” 
There are few occupations that do not 
afford some amusement. The farmer has 
his amusements—the lawyer, the merchant, 
mechanic, editors, (don’t they ?) and in short, 
all branches and ail professions are favored 
in some degree, with amusement Is it at 
all strange, then, that an individual who un¬ 
dertakes to extend the circulation, and con- 
>f " life DiVOrllit: perper* 
should find in this, too, some amusement ? 
It was on one clear, cold morning, to¬ 
ward the latter part of December, (will that 
do to begin a story ?—I don’t read many,) 
that I ordered up old Prince, wrapped my¬ 
self in the buffalo skins, and started off to 
see what I could do for the “Rural.” The 
first house I called at, found all comforta¬ 
ble. The beys had just finished the “ chores,” 
—the girls had the “ work done up ” and 
were busy sewing—the “old gentleman” 
sat very composedly w r ith his feet elevated 
on the wood-box, reading the news; and 
the lady, (it won’t do to say old,) was en¬ 
gaged in. hearing her eldest grand-child read 
a new book, which his grand-father had pur¬ 
chased for him the day before. After the 
usual salutations, and the refusal of sundry 
offers to put out old Prince, I made known 
my business. I told them I was getting 
subscribers for “Moore’s Rural New-York¬ 
er,” a paper started at Rochester about a 
year since, and which I considered the very 
very best family paper in existence. By 
this time sundry specimens were in the 
hands of different members of the family. 
It was soon evident that the paper suited. 
Little “Charlie” was laughing heartily 
over the “Plumorous;” “ Lotte ” was enga¬ 
ged in the Natural History; the “ old gen¬ 
tleman ” had found the “ Pioneer Settler, 
and his Progress,” which he said reminded 
him of old times, and which “ mother ” 
must see, it looked so natural; James had 
found an article in the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment, in which he was very much interest¬ 
ed—for he has a great taste for agricul¬ 
ture, and is becoming more and more, ev¬ 
ery year, a real “book farmer.” The sub¬ 
scription money was of course handed out, 
but before I left, I must take a look at the 
cattle. These I found all sleek and com¬ 
fortable, stables warm, clean, and well lit¬ 
tered, and everything showed prosperity 
and improvement. 
After procuring several more subscrip¬ 
tions, I called at a rather ancient house in 
appearance, the occupant of which, I well 
knew, was opposed to “ book farming.” The 
contrast between this and the first family I 
visited was somewhat striking. The house 
or receiving some useful 
hint, and how much greater must be the 
advantage, when this limited intercourse is 
extended, as it may be through the medium 
of Books and Agricultural Journals, to in¬ 
clude the most eminent farmers of your 
own and other countries. 
There are other branches of knowledge 
connected with the duties and happiness of 
life, which it becomes you to acquire, and 
to impart to those in your care—and these 
too are within your reach. Franklin, 
Roger Sherman, Buriu Burritt, and oth¬ 
ers, have risen from obscurity to distin¬ 
guished eminence, and from indigence to 
wealth, principally by self-instructed effort. 
Common school and public libraries were 
not then known among us, and the facilities 
these afford are manifestly great, as excel¬ 
lent means of acquiring and diffusing use¬ 
ful knowledge. The annual appropriation 
Few persons are aware, how important 
an item in cattle husbandry, it is for animals 
to be able to procure water when they need 
it This applies to all seasons, and particu¬ 
larly in winter, when they are subsisted on 
dry food. Animals when water is not con¬ 
venient, or situated in bad icy holes, or a 
great way off, will only resort to it when in 
extremity, and then they overload the 
stomach, prostrating the whole viscera of 
the digestive organs with an immense 
amount of a cold fluid, that will require the 
entire nutritive means of one feeding to 
create animal heat sufficient, to compensate 
for the ice in their bellies. 
Feed well and often in racks, or other 
clearly way. Salt after—with water ad 
libitum and you will not be required to lilt 
them up by the tail in the spring. 
Good fences indicate a thrifty fanner. 
* 
