ROCHESTER, N. Y-THURS DAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1851 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO 
Agriculture, Horticulture, Mechanic Arts and Sci¬ 
ence, Education, Rural and Domestic Economy, 
General Intelligence, the Markets, &c., &c. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASSISTED BY 
J. II. BIXBY, L. VVETHERELL, and II. C. WHITE. 
Contributors and Correspondents: 
L. B. Langworthy, I Chester Dewey, ll. d 
William Garbutt, J. Clement ’’ 
S. P. Chapman, | w. Wallace Shaw, 
David Ely, R. G . Pardee, 
Myron Adams, Samuel Moulson, 
G. W. Marshall, Jas. II Watts 
£• W. K. WyckofV, 
T. E. Wetmore, W. H. Bristol, 
R. B. Warren, VV. I). Allis, a 
Archibald Stone, L. D. Whiting 
supply much vegetable matter. A luxu¬ 
riant growth of clover is an excellent prep¬ 
aration for any and every crop. The soil 
is loosened deeply and finely by its roots, 
which bring to their support and to the sur- 
■3 in the subsoil, not 
service. This too, is 
and a half or two foot from the level of the I "WERE FENCE—NOT ABANDONED YET. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY AND IMPROVEMENT. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— Since 7839, 
Mr. Editor:— Since reading in the last 1 have liad considerable experience m the 
Rural of the “Progress of the New- York- care s ^ ee P- My father then purchased 
er,"’ and ot the number of new subscribers a dne W0 °Kd dock, 50 in number, of Squires 
to the present volume, I have been led to & Seymour , of Mass., at $3 per head; also 
think that the subject of wire fences must makin g a contract with them to take the 
be new to many of them, and that a more W ° o1 of the flock and tlieir increase for five 
;annot afford to j minute and particular description would be y ears > at 50 cen ts per pound. This we 
— ...e present j acceptable. We often err by supposing that thought was tolerable fair business a.t the 
ground. Such a fence, Mr. Mm-sou tho’t, 
would be a good protection farm 
stock, and would cost not far from 60 cents 
per rod. 
Mr. M. said he thought it was not well 
to fence a farm into very small enclosures, 
as the cost of fencing and keeping them in 
icpaii, would be a large item in the coarse 
of the year—also, that we a 
fence our farms with cedar at the present 
price of rails. 
Mr. Ira Peck, said that the subject un¬ 
der discussion was one of great importance; 
and despite the almost universal change of 
tne times, we have here been presented 
with the method of fencing first adopted 
among the early settlers of the country, and 
have had its claims presented to < : 3r consid¬ 
eration, as the most desirable method of 
lencing. The common worm rail fence, is 
doubtless a good one; as it is also a good 
harbor for weeds and brush; and furnishes 
also, a breaker against which the snows of 
winter may accumulate in drifts, which on 
an average, destroy one acre in thirty of all 
the winter wheat sown. 
It is true, that many miserable apologies ; 
for wire fences have been built, and have 1 
consequently brought this kind of fence in- 
to general disrepute. Rut if in the very 1 
teeth of the mightiest cataract on the globe, 5 
a bridge of wire can be made to s the £ 
flood, arid web-like though it be, 'is capable 
of sustaining weight almost incredible, can- 0 
not the ingenuity of our people invent a a 
fence of wire, which shall answer perfectly, e 
our purposes? I believe such an one can a 
be, and has been constructed, and with a d 
much less expense than a fence of wood can t] 
be built. si 
Mr. Spencer said, that a farm well fenced, n 
more was worth from $8 to $10 per acre n ' 
than one poorly fenced. tl: 
The Secretary presented to the meeting b < 
some statements showing the yearly expense at 
of sustaining inside fences upon our farms; 
from which it appeared that the amount Wl 
thus annually expended, would amply pay U£ 
for cutting the feed, and carting it to yards P r 
and stables where it could be more econ- dr 
face, the valuable salts 
usually pressed into 
the reason, why clover so delights in a deep 
and vigorous soil—and why, where the sub¬ 
soil plow has been used, such abundant 
crops are sure to follow. 
Ih<* usual method of seeding with clover 
is to sow it early in spring upon winter 
grain, to be followed in May by a top dres¬ 
sing of one or two bushels of Gypsum to 
the acre. It is sometimes sown with bar¬ 
ley or oats but whenever or wherever, it 
should have its dressing of plaster. Lime, 
ashes, and salt, are also valuable adjuncts 
in its production.—But so universal is its 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
CLOVER AND GYPSUM. 
Clover was cultivated first, we believe, 
among the Dutch and Flemish farmers, and 
formed one of the leading causes of the 
great superiority of the husbandry of the 
Netherlands over that of the countries 
around it. F rom thence it was introduced 
into Great Britain in the 10th century, 
where it has been instrumental in convert¬ 
ing some of the most barren and worthless' 
soils into the most fertile and profitable. Clo¬ 
ver and Gypsum were brought into the Uni¬ 
ted btates about 1770, from Germany, 
where the benefits resulting from the appli¬ 
cation of the latter in the growth of the 
former had been discovered by accident. 
And often thus are facts of vast impor- 
tTvo brn-ght to light - facts whose appli¬ 
cation in practice exerts an immeasureable 
influence upon the prosperity of a country. 
That the use of Gypsum in promoting 
■cai&i BLOOMFIELD FARMERS’ CLUB. 
Mr. Moore: —The following minutes of 
the last weekly meeting of our Club, I send 
for insertion, if you shall see fit, in your 
most valuable paper. By the way, we read 
that paper of yours with the greatest inter¬ 
est ; and of the estimate which Bloomfield 
farmers put upon it, the number of copies 
taken in our town, must bear very satisfac¬ 
tory evidence to your mind. 
discussion on fencing. 
Tuesday Evening, Jan. 29 ,1951. 
The Club convened at an early hour.— 
After the reading of the Secretary’s Report, 
ouaung oi gas tar will answer a noc 10 le ea sneep gram until March M 
urpose, and the expense is a mere trifle. April, and then to give it to old and void® 
ive heretofore described the manner weak and strong, alike, is equal «,o turowfl 
ening the wire at the starting point, §' ood mone y after poor. I generally loll 
hnow tell of the mode of splicing the ft‘ ora ^ to 30 per cent, of lambs in the 
igether. Heat the ends of the wires s P rin g> and G to 12 per cent in wm- 
tten them for two inches. Then lap te ring. I followed the old track two years, 
ogether for three inches, and wind wlleu 1 came to the conclusion I was pay- 
'ery tight with a small wire, of the in S to o much toll, and that I would try some 
a common pin, which has been an- other way. I bought a Paular buck, used 
; I am not sure but the present man- one of mil ie for a teaser, and the ewes ser- 
joining Telegraph wires bv windmrr ved but once. I built some boxes—an* 
Munson, and others. On motion of Mr. 
Peck the subject was laid over for further 
consideration, at the next meeting. 
The Club then took up the subject se¬ 
lected for discussion, viz: “What is the 
cheapest and best method of fencing ?” 
Mr. T. Sprague, said, that the import¬ 
ance of the subject was evident to every 
one. In his opinion, a rail fence, staked and 
capped, was at the present, the best and 
most economical kind of fence. Cedar 
rails at $60 per thousand, would make a 
tence costing no more than a good board 
and post fence; and when built, it would 
remain good many years after the board 
fence had fallen down. 
Mr. Sprague 
estimated the cost of 
cedar rail fence, 80 rods in leno-th,as f< 
1,000 rails at $60 per M.° 
320 stakes at 2c. each,./ . 
160 caps, wood or wire, worth $1 per Yoo, 
Hauling rails $1,50 per hundred,. 
Building fence, $5. . 
used to the greatest profit 
After some familiar and highly interest¬ 
ing conversation, in which nearly all the 
members present participated, the usual 
miscellaneous business was transacted, and 
the Society adjourned one week. The fol¬ 
lowing Essay was read before the Club, by 
I. R. Peck; and, agreeable to a resolution 
passed by the meeting, I send it for in¬ 
sertion in your paper. [Essay necessarily 
deferred this week, but will be given in a 
I future number.— Ed.] 
E. M. Bradley, 
Sec’y of E. B. Farmers’ Club. 
Cheap Mode of Raising Carrots.— In 
Handers, carrots are sown early in spring, 
upon spring and winter grain, and give a 
were tagged, and at shearing they averaged, 
old and young, 8$ lbs. per head. That win- 
Equal to $1,10 per rod. ^ ° 
Mr. S. said that from observation he was 
not very favorably impressed with wire or 
iron fences, but had never built either. 
Mr. Henry Munson said, that he tho’t 
a wire fence could be built which would 
answer every purpose of a fence, and not 
cost more than 50 cents per rod. His man 
ner of building said fence would be nearly 
as follows: At the ends of the proposed 
fence, he would set a post firmly in the 
ground, and if necessary, would place inter¬ 
mediate posts some 4 or 5 rods apart along 
th e line of fence. Through these posts the 
wires would be passed, and tightened at 
one end by means of a lever, properly 
loaded so as to keep the wires sufficiently 
strained. Small slats or ties of wUp. 
elevating it 100 feet. I built more sheds 
—took more care and interest in sheep hus¬ 
bandry-raised carrots and ruta bagas for 
them,—fed them regularly three times a 
day, twice with hay, and with straw at noon. 
At evening, I threw out what straw re¬ 
mained in their boxes, which kept their 
sheds littered, dry and clean. I fed to each 
hundred sheep, one bushel, of one half car¬ 
rots and bagas, and the rest cob, oat meal, 
and bran, in equal parts, mixed together._ 
I bought of C. Moulton a Spanish Merino 
buck, from the flock «f Messrs. Hall & 
Hammond, of Vermont, for which I paid 
$40, and also ten ewes of the same flock. 
These ewes raised 8 lambs, and sheared 
55f lbs. of wool—the buck sheared 15 lbs. 
5 £ oz., making an average of near 6£ lbs. 
ough farmer. Profitable as a crop, an< 
cheap and easy in application, Clover is per 
haps the best manure, for feoils suited to iu 
growth, with which we are acquainted Mr 
huooM, a Georgia farmer estimates a good 
clover ley, as equal in its effects to a broad¬ 
est manuring of stable compost; while other 
.judicious agriculturists, from their own ex¬ 
perience, think the. benefit resulting equal 
0 two such manurings. 
Clover makes but slight demand upon 
^coutituents of fertility in the sur/ace 
wkilp ^ lfeeIy Up ° n tIlC atmos pbere, 
i s urge and numerous roots, as well 
as extensive stalks and ahnnHw 
