VOLUME II. NO. 13. J- 
110CHESTER, N. Y.-THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1851. 
1 WHOLE NO. 65. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
A WEEKI.Y 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. IJIXBY, L. WETHER ELL, and H. C. WHITE. 
Contributors and Correspondents: 
L. IS. Langworthy, 
William Gakbutt, 
IS. P. Chapman, 
David Ei.y, 
Myron Adams, 
II. P. Norton, 
F. W. Lay, 
T. ,E. Wetmore, 
R.'B. Warren, 
Archibald Stone, 
Chester Dewey, ll. d., 
.). Clement, 
W. Wallace Shaw, 
R. G. 1’ardee, 
Samuel Moulson, 
Jas. II. Watts, 
W. K. Wyckoff, 
W. II. Bristol, 
W. I). Allis, 
I,. D. Whiting. 
And numerous others—practical, sciontilic, and literary 
writers—whose names are necessarily omitted. 
PROGRESS ANO IMPROVEMENT. 
DAIRY INTEREST OF NEW YORK-NO. 3. 
BUILDINGS. 
No dairyman can successfully pursue his 
business, who has not provided suitable 
buildings for comfort and convenience, as 
well as those indispensably necessary. Most 
of the dairymen of this vicinity were for¬ 
merly grain growers, and have gradually 
changed their business, making only such 
additions to their barns and other buildino’s 
O 
as seemed requisite, thus perfecting no sys¬ 
tem, or arrangement particularly adapted to 
their operations. Such will probably be 
the course in a majority of the dairy dis¬ 
tricts of the State, and very few buildings 
erected with a view to the prosecution of 
this business solely, can be found. 
Barns and stables are indispensable, as 
no herdsman who consults his pecuniary in¬ 
terest, or whose heart is tempered with the 
milk of human kindness, will ever in these 
latitudes suffer a hoof about the premisea 
to pass through a winter unaccommodated 
with a dry bed under a tight roof. The 
less amount of food required, the freedom 
of the stock from disease, the better man¬ 
ner in which the fodder may be kept, ren¬ 
der it a matter of economy to have good 
barns, and warm, yet well ventilated stables. 
These should claim more than ordinary 
care. It is impossible, however, to give any 
definite plan for such buildings, that would 
meet the wants of different persons with 
their diversified interests and localities. 
We have no feelings of tolerance for a 
phalanx of stacks in different parts of the 
farm, or ranged in apple-pie order around 
a small barn. In a new country they may 
he sufferable, but with improved farms, 
large crops, good stock, and an expensive 
dwelling, they are inexcusable. The ex¬ 
pense of stacking, the waste and loss in the 
stack, or in removing to the barn, or the 
worse practice of foddering it in the field, 
must soon cost more than the good farm 
buildings necessary for its preservation. 
One of the most convenient modes of 
building a barn is upon a side hill, so that 
the main floor may be entered upon from 
the up hill side. This leaves room for a 
good range of stabling underneath, and be¬ 
ing but partly exposed to the weather the 
stables are warmer than they would other¬ 
wise be. The hay, grain and feed, being over 
the stables may be supplied to the stock with 
little labor, by means of scuttles,or of ceiled 
passages, which would serve as ventilators 
lor the stable. As much bay room as can 
be had without too high a building would 
he preferable, as pitching hay up into high 
lofts to be, taken down in a few weeks seems 
a waste of labor. 
Cellars for root crops are by many con¬ 
sidered an indispensable appendage of the 
barn, and beyond question, if dairymen 
would fill them with carrots and other 
succulent roots, for winter feeding, they 
would he found to richly repay the outlay. 
So also large and comfortable sheds are of 
much value to stock, and should not be 
omitted. 
That portion of a dairy barn which should 
claim most attention, and upon the judicious 
construction of which the most is depend¬ 
ing, is the stables. These should be high 
between joints or between floor and hay¬ 
loft above, roomy and capacious, well ven- 
tillated dry and warm. It is a great error, 
and one into which dairymen easily fall, to 
crowd too many cows into a small low stable* 
rendering the air impure, engendering dis¬ 
ease, and destroying the usefulness of the 
stock. The stable should have a good floor 
with sufficient descent for all liquids to flow 
off, and not so much as to render it diffi¬ 
cult or inconvenient for the animals to stand 
with ease. For flooring we have seen cement 
used, and think it will answer a good pur¬ 
pose, care being taken to put it down in the 
best manner. 
The interior fittings are of less conse¬ 
quence than the exterior, though some at¬ 
tention to them may render them more 
convenient in using. It is the custom to 
have cows stand in ranges without stall 
partitions, fastening them by the head or 
neck. One method of fastening is by 
“ cattle chains,” having a large ring to slide 
on a post, and a chain and strap, or two 
chains to fasten to the head around the 
horns. 
Another, and a more general practice is 
to have two perpendicular posts, one of 
which can be thrown out of its position at 
the top, so as to admit the head of the cow, 
and is then fastened with a key. In some 
stables, by a lever power the whole range 
is opened and shut at one time. Where 
stables are wide enough, the cows stand in 
two ranges, with heads toward each other 
as shown by the cut. 
ON DRAINING-(No. 3.) 
RAISING FOREST TREES FROM THE SEED. 
TOBACCO CULTURE. 
SbE 
The passage way between the heads of 
the cows should be ten feet wide, to admit 
of feeding from a hand car, or other means 
of conveying the feed; also a good alley 
way in the rear of the stock, we should 
consider mangers or feeding troughs very 
useful in economizing food and keeping it 
in place. Seed, fine portions of hay, leaves, 
and other stuff are more generally saved 
and eaten by the cattle. They are like¬ 
wise convenient for feeding shorts or other 
ground stuff, roots, or grain. 
In the dairy stable of J. Howe, Esq., in 
Orleans Co., of which we gave a notice in 
the former volume, not only the whole stable 
floor, but the feeding basins are construct¬ 
ed of hydraulic cement. We thought it 
then the best arrangement with which we 
had met, and our opinion has gained 
strength.— We have only indicated some of 
the prominent features of a dairy barn and 
its appendages, as they are of less moment 
than the dairy house of which we shall treat 
in another chapter. + 
Soaking Seeds before Planting.— The 
custom—which now pretty generally pre¬ 
vails—of soaking seed before planting, I 
regard as highly advantageous and would 
recommend to those who do not do so, to 
try the experiment. It hastens the germi¬ 
nation of the seed; or rather that germina¬ 
tion takes place much sooner after the seed 
is committed to the earth, because the pro¬ 
cess of imbibing moisture sufficient to be¬ 
gin the action of germination lias already 
been performed Leonade. 
r I he man who minds his own business has 
a good, steady and profitable employment. 
The next class of draining, on which I 
would remark, is that of land intersected by 
water courses through which the water runs 
from the time of the fall rains, until late in 
June. These are a species of surface drain 
for a considerable width of land, and may 
be found on almost every farm. Often 
there is quite a valley of low ground with 
these brooks wandering through them, and 
where they approach the bank on either 
side, it is generally thought too steep for 
the plow. Ask the farmer if these swales 
have ever been sown to grain, and lie will 
tell you they have not, and give the uneven¬ 
ness of the surface, as one reason. Yet, 
they can be made the best of grain land. 
These banks can be removed by a little 
well-directed labor. With a shovel throw 
the top of the bank down so as to admit of 
the passage of a team, and then with a plow 
strike furrows as much quartering the bank 
as convenient, to throw the furrow where 
you want it, and when you have gone over 
it with the plow, hitch to your harrow, and 
as you commence going down the bank 
step upon it, stepping off where you wish 
the dirt left. Two hands with a team will 
fit many such places for plowing in a single 
day, and I have ever found the labor re¬ 
quired, less than I expected when I began. 
But, how much will it cost to drain that 
flat. If it averages 40 feet wide one drain 
will answer. If 80 feet, wide two, and in 
that proportion for any width, if *here are 
springs making out of the banks, it will re¬ 
quire branches to give them an outlet into 
the main drains. 
But, says the farmer, an under-drain 
won’t answer in that swale; every heavy 
storm or thaw, swells that rivulet to a brook, 
and it will require a large open ditch to car¬ 
ry off the water. Now I dislike these, for 
several reasons. First, it requires consider¬ 
able labor to keep them in good order,— 
second, they occupy quite a strip of land, 
and third, they make it very inconvenient 
to till the field and gather the crop. 
In the spring of 1849,1 drained with tile 
one-fourth of an acre of land of this descrip¬ 
tion, and fitted it for corn, and planted a 
part of the piece one Friday. That night 
there came a heavy storm of rain, and Sat¬ 
urday morning there was a large brook run¬ 
ning across my corn ground, though I had 
laid two tier of three inch tile in the main 
drain. The next Monday there was no wa¬ 
ter standing on my corn ground, and I fin¬ 
ished planting that day, though rather wet. 
The result was, I had twice as much corn 
per acre, on the flat, as I had on upland, 
which had been in pasture two years, and 
had been given a dressing of between 40 
and 50 loads of manure per acre just be¬ 
fore plowing. 
In the spring of 1850, I sowed the same 
piece to spring wheat, and seeded it to clo¬ 
ver, and three or four times, after the wheat 
was up, there were heavy rains that over¬ 
flowed the flat, but I could discover no in¬ 
jury to the wheat by the overflows, only 
washing it out in some places, and covering 
it up in others. The result was, 150 sheaves 
of wheat on ± of an acre on the flat, and 
the whole piece yielded one bushel to 15 
sheaves, or 32 bushels per acre. And, not¬ 
withstanding the heavy thaws and rains of 
late, causing frequent overflows, the clover 
on the flat stands as firmly in the ground, 
and bids as fair for a heavy crop as any 
part of the field. 
I have come to the conclusion, that drains 
sufficient to carry the water, 24 or 48 hours 
after the thaw or storm subsides, answer 
all purposes for grain crops, and the over¬ 
flow is a benefit to the land, unless it washes 
the soil off. Alvin Wilcox. 
West Bloomfield, Ontario Co., N. V., 1851. 
Messrs. Eds: —As the decrease of our 
woodlands is a subject of frequent remark, a 
few hints on the growing of forest trees 
from the seed may not be without interest 
to some of your readers. I am satisfied 
that this branch of the nursery business 
is destined to be carried on extensively 
throughout our whole farming country, and 
that farther information is needed, for when 
the right process is understood it will be as 
easy to cover a ten acre field with trees of 
different kinds as it is now to otow thereon 
O 
a crop of corn. 
There are few of the seeds of trees which 
are capable of withstanding the frequent 
freezing and thawing that they arc subject 
to in winter when planted in the open 
ground. Every observing person must be 
aware of the difference in the temperature 
of the soil between that in the open fields 
and that in the forest where it is covered 
with leaves. In the latter case these seeds 
have a perfect protection and a regular sup¬ 
ply of moisture—just what they want to 
promote vegetation. Most of people imag¬ 
ine that frost is necessary to burst the hard 
shell of some of these seeds, but such is 
not the case; it is moisture and a certain 
degree of warmth that performs this pro¬ 
cess, and all artificial means that are adopt¬ 
ed should imitate nature in this particular. 
Any person who wishes to grow forest 
trees should gather the seed before it be¬ 
comes dry, if possible, and mix it with fine 
leaf mould from the woods, then put the 
whole iu boxes and place them in a pit, 
and cover with earth, so as to exclude the 
frost. The pit should be in a situation 
where the water will not settle early in 
spring. After the frosts are over, scatter 
the preparation of mould and seeds in a 
broad drill, where they are intended to be 
grown, and cover with more loaf mould 
sifted upon them in depth to correspond 
with the size of the seeds, and strength of 
the young plants, as a butternut or walnut 
will require a much heavier covering than 
some smaller seeds. 
As regards the soil to suit the different 
kinds of trees, the different varieties should 
be put on sucli ground as they naturally 
grow upon; natilre is the best guide, al¬ 
though some trees will adapt themselves to 
almost any situation. Such is the case with 
the yellow locust, for instance; but it will be 
found impossible to grow a chestnut tree 
except on light loamy soil. i. h. 
Big Stream Point, March G, 1851. 
“POSTS INVERTED.” 
It is now generally believed that posts 
will endure much longer if inverted, than if 
set in their natural position. The fact, it is 
said, “ has not been satisfactorily explained.” 
Now it appears to me that the difficulty 
in explaining this, is the same with that of 
explaining the circulation of the sap The 
mechanism, if any there be, in the green 
tree, remains the same in the dry. In the 
green tree the sap ascends through the 
pores, or tubes, in the wood, and descends 
between the wood and the bark. Hence, 
if a post be set in its natural position, the 
moisture from the ground will ascend in the 
same way, if not on the same principle that 
the sap ascended in the living tree. Hence 
such a post will be found wet, or moist, in¬ 
ternally, at some distance above the surfaoe 
of the ground. If set in an inverted posi¬ 
tion, this will not often be the case (as the 
circulation would be downward instead of 
upward.) Hence such a post will generally 
be dry within, even below the surface of the 
ground. As moisture hastens decay, the 
former must perish sooner that the latter. 
Down East, Feb. ‘58, 1851. H. 
FOOD OF HORSES. 
Mr. Editor: — Will you inform me thro’ 
the columns of the Rural, what is the best 
food for a horse which is at work only part 
of the time, and then used on the road ? 
Should the food of a horse be changed with 
every change in its occupation? We may 
readily see they do not require as hearty 
food, when idle as when at the plow, but is 
the food best at the plow, also best when on 
the road ? As the horse is a very valuable 
animal, he should be fed with much care 
and judgement, with the food best suited 
to promote his health and usefulness. 
Remarks. —Perhaps a variation in the quantity 
of food would answer every purpose, but we can¬ 
not pretend to decide. We should be pleased to 
receive, from those who have had experience iu 
the matter, an answer to the above, for the Rural. 
Permit me to say a few words to “A 
Subscriber,” who in a late number of your 
paper inquires about “Tobacco culture.”— 
There has been but little tobacco raised in 
this county; but two or three persons have 
grown it for market. 
The plants, in this climate, should be 
transplanted to the field, as early as they 
can be obtained of sufficient size, not later 
than the first week in June—from 15th of 
May to 1st of June is the best time. To 
be able to obtain the plants thus early, the 
seed should be sown in a hot bed, or in a 
very favorable place where brush have been 
burned on new land, and protected from 
cold winds and frosty nights. Let the seed 
beds be carefully raked and finely pulver¬ 
ized,—sow the seed broad-cast, being care¬ 
ful not to have it too thick. The beds 
should be free from all foul seeds, for as the 
tobacco seed is very small, when first up 
the plants are easily destroyed by pullino- 
out weeds and grass from amongst them. 
When the seed is sown, the only covering 
of it necessary is, to press down the surface 
of the ground evenly with a board. 
The best soil is considered to be sandy 
loam, with a plenty of limestone therein_ 
new land is undoubtedly the best. If the 
land is not new and wants fertilizing, use 
ashes, and barn-yard manure. The richer 
the soil, the greater the product, but the 
quality of the tobacco on soil made arti¬ 
ficially very rich, is not as good as that 
grown on new land. 
r Ihe land being well plowed and pulver¬ 
ized by harrowing, set out the plants in 
rows, 3.' feet apart, and plants three feet 
apart in the rows. If the ground is in a 
high state of cultivation, let the rows and 
plants be six inches further apart 
Cultivate with the hoe and cultivator as 
j ou would corn, but not make hills around 
the plants—twice hoeing will be sufficient. 
Top it, before it blossoms, and remove all 
suckers once every eight or ten days till ripe. 
When ripe, cut it close to the ground, let it 
l.iy and wilt a few hours, wl.eu it can be 
easily handled without breaking; then hang 
it up in your dry house, which may be a 
barn, shed or any building which will shield 
it from the rain and sun. Y\ hen the leaves 
have become sufficiently dry, which will be 
known by the stem of the leaf being hard, 
strip the leaves from the main stalk and 
make into hanks, when the weather is suit¬ 
able. 
lobacco, after it once becomes dry, can¬ 
not be handled except in moist or damp 
weather, without serious injury. After be¬ 
ing stiipped, <tc., it should be packed down 
in boxes or in a bin, with moderate pres¬ 
sure, till it is to be packed for market, when 
it should be closely packed in boxes con¬ 
taining about 300 lbs. and snugly pressed. 
Monroe County. 
■HUM 
