MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
_ ID 
“ OATES vs- BARS.” 
On page 66 of the current Vol. a 
“ Subscriber ” intimates that bars are 
sometimes useful and convenient, and 
queries, if gates are to be substituted, 
how we can permit the smaller ani¬ 
mals of the farm to pass while the 
larger shall be kept back. 
It is true, that in such cases as he 
cites, bars may be more convenient 
than the ordinary gate. But, for all 
general purposes — even in nine cases 
out of every ten that may occur on t 
the farm, —the gate is far preferable 
as a time-saving and patience-soothing 
mode of egress from one field to an¬ 
other. The one which may combine 
the greatest simplicity, with strength, 
durability and ease in opening and 
shutting, is certainty the gate for the 
farm. And every farmer should add 
beauty to the arrangement of his fields f — 
by casting aside the bars and substituting 
a gate. 
In such cases as are cited by a “ Subscri¬ 
ber,” bars might also be ’continued, whilst 
the gate would serve for 'the general use. 
For passing pigs and sheep, if it be a rail . 
fence, a few minutes labor can so plan a 11 
length that two or three of the lower rails 1 
Can be slipped at pleasure. A board fence ] 
can also be made, with a like amount of ‘ 
trouble in the fixing, to pass the smaller an- , 
imals by having a half length that may be i 
opened similarly to bars. For horned cat- • 
tie bars might be necessary, unless one ■ 
chooses to build a side gate of sufficient 
width and height to allow a creature to pass 
through. Just above it there might be a 
cross bar which would keep back the hor¬ 
ses. This gate could be made in halves, so 
that opening only the lower parts, pigs and 
sheep alone could pass. 
For my own part, the advantages of the 
gate so far outweigh its disadvantages, that, 
were I to be confined to the use of but one, 
bars should quickly disappear. Possibly 
Yankee ingenuity will yet invent a liar -gate 
which shall combine all the advantages of 
both, and thus obviate the disadvantages of 
either. Who knows ? Skill has overcome 
difficulties far more intricate, and why may 
it not this—if it shall deign to stoop to the 
task? t. e. w. 
GALLS ON HORSES, 
We have been requested to republish 
the following recipe, and we do so with 
great pleasure, having the fullest confidence 
in its efficacy.—E ds, Rural. 
More than twenty years ago, when our 
large ferry boats were propelled by horse 
power, and the horses, by moving round in 
a circle, were exceedingly liable to be gall¬ 
ed by the collar, I learned from the ferry¬ 
men the use of alum and whiskey. They 
bathed the neck and back, and wherever 
the harness rubbed, with whiskey into which 
pounded alum had been put until no more 
could be dissolved. When a gall had oc¬ 
curred, constant bathing would secure the 
continued use of the horse, and actually 
heal the wound while in service. I resort¬ 
ed to this remedy, carrying it with me when 
I journeyed, and have continued its use with 
undiminished approval, for more than twen¬ 
ty years. I apply no other remedy. When 
a horse has been put out for the w’inter, 
and has not been used, his breast and back 
will be tender. A single hour’s use of sad¬ 
dle or collar, in a hot day, will then scald 
the breast so as to produce serious injury. 
My uniform practice, therefore, has been, 
for a week before beginning to use the har¬ 
ness, to harden the breast and back by 
bathing them regularly two or three times 
a day. No injury has then resulted from 
the application of the collar. And when 
I a bad gall has actually occurred, a frequent 
1 and persevering use of this remedy has se- 
> cured the constant use of the animal, and 
> healed the wound while in continued service. 
! Should the canal horses, now being cal- 
> led in from their winter’s respite, have their 
> breasts hardened by one week’s previous 
) use of this application, I have entire confi- 
) dence that a great amount of injury and 
$ suffering might be avoided. e. d. 
> Magnesia in California. —On Pitch (or 
> Pitt) River, the principal affluent of the 
| Sacramento, which flows through a charm- 
< ing vally, and about five days journey 
} from Goose Lake, there is a hill of pure 
carbonate of Magnesia, 100 feet high. 
} Much of it is perfectly white, while some 
s is more or less discolored with iron, as if a 
( painter had been striving to give effect by 
r a coloring of light and shade. Large mas- 
j ses were easily detached, which, rolling 
\ down into the river that washed its base, 
( floated off as light and buoyant as cork, un- 
) til it became saturated with water. A 
/ thousand wagons could be loaded in a very 
| short time, and there is enough to supply 
\ the whole world. For three days travel 
< below, the soil seems to be impregnated 
with it, and the banks of the river formed 
/ of it.— Sci. American. 
WILL GOOD FARMING PAY? 
SURFACE LIME 
fffpfi p * I P 
III M. y 
~ li: - ^ -- 
Fif ISft 
Haggles, Nourse, Mason Sf Co.’s Plow for Lapped Furrows—Furrows 7 by 10. 
OF PLOWS AND PLOWING. 
[ Concluded from last weeks number.'] 
Fig. 11 represents an elevation, and Fig. 
12 a plan of the new sw r ard plow for moist, 
adhesive soils. There is another size, for 
furrows nine inches deep, of the same gene¬ 
ral form and proportions with the one here 
represented. The handles, Fig. 11, are long 
and raking, the beam is high, giving a space 
of seventeen inches forward of the coulter, 
and the plow is mounted with a Scotch 
clevis, the adjustment for earthing being 
represented in Fig. 11, and that for landing 
in Fig. 12. The general outline of the 
mould-board is very well represented in 
Fig. 12. The share is narrow, the wedge- 
power great, and the back part of the mould¬ 
board is adapted to place the furrovy-slice 
exactly at an angle of 45° before leaving it. 
The land side is perpendicular, and the 
coulter stands in a range with it. 
In considering the form and proportions 
of a plow best adapted to the working of 
stiff heavy soils, Messrs. R, N., M. & Co. 
have thought that plow the best that will 
cut a perfectly rectangular furrow, whose 
deptli"is to its width as two is to three, and 
lay it at an angle of 45°. The plows for 
stiff lands that they now offer the public, 
are adapted to work as above specified. 
They combine the best working properties 
of the celebrated Scotch plow invented by 
Small, with the lightness and cheapness of 
the American plow. The lines of scale 
ttUmlllF i 
are of unequal sides, and the angles, i, k, 
are angles of only 36°. If we suppose a 
series of sections of these 7 by 10 and i by 
12 furrow-slices, each extended to ten rods, 
for instance, in width, and that they are 
one inch thick, we shall find upon a ealeu-. 
lation of the aggregate exposed surface of 
each, that the furrow sections, 7 by 10, of 
equal faces, have exposed 2791 inches of 
surface to the air, while the sections, 7 by 
12 , of unequal faces, have exposed 2722 
inches; and any one who chooses to extend the 
calculation and comparison to an acre of 
ground, will find the balance to be very much 
m favor of the slices represented in Fig. 13. 
A like comparison of rectangular furrow- 
slices, whose depth is to their width as two 
is to three, and which are laid at an inclina¬ 
tion of 45°, with furrow-slices of any other 
form, or proportions, that are practicable to 
be laid, will be found to result in favor of 
those first named;—indeed it can be shown 
that no furrow-slices but rectangular ones 
whose depth is equal to two-thirds their 
width, can be laid at an inclination of 45°; 
and since it can be proved that rectangular 
furrow-slices, whose depth is equal to two- 
thirds their width, and which are laid at 
45 °, present the greatest surface to the 
ameliorating action of the atmosphere; and 
since it can also be proved that such fur¬ 
row-slices present in their projecting angles 
the greatest cubical contents of soil for the 
harrow to operate on, in raising a fine, deep 
tilth, or seed-bed, and that such furrow- 
from which these mould-boards are fashion¬ 
ed, give the mould boards a slight convexi¬ 
ty of surface, which is considered an advan¬ 
tage in the working of tenacious, unwelding 
soils; but the lines may be varied to straight 
lines for medium soils, or to concave lines 
for light sandy soils. The line of transit 
for the upper edge of the furrow-slice, is 
adapted to the delivery of the slice with an 
unbroken crest. The mould-board presents 
a uniform resistance to the furrow-slice, and 
will brighten uniformly over the entire sur¬ 
face, however tenacious the soil may be. 
Fig. 13 represents the action of this plow 
in furrows seven inches deep by ten inches 
wide. The plow enters the ground very easi- 
ty, a good hinge is preserved upon which to 
raise the furrow-slice to its perpendicular po¬ 
sition, the back part of the mould-board lays 
the slice at an angle of 45° before lea ving it, 
and the two exposed faces of the slice are 
of equal breadth,—namely, seven inches. 
Fig. 14 represents the action of a plow 
unadapted to laying proper lapped furrows. 
The plow is so wide upon the bottom as to 
require a width of furrow-slice of at least 
twelve inches, and yet it cannot go more 
than seven inches deep; indeed it can hardly 
do that, without crowding over to the leit 
or land badly, and it cramps and breaks 
the slice very much. But the slices are of 
unequal proportions. The width is too 
much for the depth, and consequently, so 
flat a surface is formed, that if the furrows 
are to lie exposed for some time to the 
weather, undifthe soil be a stiff adhesive clay, 
it will run together and bake so much as to 
render the harrow quite inoperative, and but 
a shallow seed-bed will be raised. The 
spaces underneath the furrows are wide and 
low, and they will be apt to iill with soil, 
which will prevent a proper circulation of 
air, and a free passage of superfluous mois¬ 
ture, and the surface will be apt to be wet 
and heavy. 
The triangles, abc, efg, Fig. 13, are of 
equal sides, and the angles, b, f, are angles 
of 45°. The triangles hik, kim, Fig. 14, 
slices have the best spaces for the circula¬ 
tion of air, and the passage of water, un¬ 
derneath them,— we may conclude that all 
plows, for laying lapped-furrows in heavy 
adhesive soils, are absolutely faulty in just 
so far as they fail to cut rectangular furrows, 
whose depth is to their width as two is to 
three; and to lay them at an inclination of 
45 °. I would give unerring mathematical 
demonstration of these points, were it not 
that I should be extending air article already 
too long. 
I intended, Messrs. Editors, to have said 
something about the importance of each 
radical improvement in the plow, in in¬ 
creasing actually the wealth of the country, 
not only directly by the increased crops to 
be derived from improved plowing, and the 
direct saving of expense in doing the work, 
(a good plow, saving time and labor,) but, 
indirectly, by exciting in the farmer’s mind 
a new degree of pride and ambition to farm 
it' better every way. But my article is 
already too long, and I forbear. 
Planting out Elms. —A Philadelphia 
correspondent of the Horticulturist, states, 
that in setting out a hundred elms from the 
forest, about 18 feet high, and as large as a 
man’s arm, he fully tested the advantage of 
heading back. The tops were so handsome 
that he was reluctant to touch them, he ac¬ 
cordingly left a part entire, and shortened 
back the remainder about one-third, to cor¬ 
respond with the necessary shortening of 
the roots outside of the large balls. 
Few trees were lost; most of those with 
entire heads made little or no growth the 
first year, and many limbs died and had to 
be cutout. Of those cut back, all lived; 
and their leaves the first summer were 
three times as large as on the unpruned trees. 
They have outstripped the others so much, 
as to have entirety regained the symmetry 
and beauty of their heads. 
Sow clover deep; it secures it against 
the drought. 
We are sometimes provoked by the re¬ 
ceipt of letters from farmers who coolly li 
undertake to set us right with regard to a 
what we may term High and Low Farm- fi 
i t1 g—they considering our notions occasion- v 
ally indicated in The Tribune entirety er- v 
roneous, or at least unsuited to the present c 
condition of Agriculture in this Country, c 
“Land is so cheap and Labor so dear,” say t 
they, “that we can’t afford to farm so high 1 
as the English and Belgians do.” Now t 
half the men who talk in this way have no c 
clear idea of what superior farming really c 
is, but, if pressed for a definition ot it, will £ 
dilate on the unproductive expense of white- < 
washing trees, planing boards for fences, or 1 
something of the sort, which has nothing to ’ 
do with farming at all. A farmer, good 
or bad, may expend so much capital in mere ] 
fancy-work as to render his farm unproduc- I 
tive and even an expense to him; but that ; 
does not invalidate the sound, general rule 1 
that Any th.ng can profitably be well done \ 
which can profitably be done at all. To this I 
rule we know no exceptions. One man’s 
land may be unsuited to Corn, or Wheat, ! 
or Barley, so that he ought not to attempt 
the growing of that particular grain; bute/ 
it will pay for growing any crop of it at 
all, it will pay for growing a good one. If 
it will not pay for such a crop, it will not 
for any; and should be turned over to some¬ 
thing of which it will yield a generous re¬ 
turn; and, in default of that, given up to 
pasturage and got into wood as soon as pos¬ 
sible. To raise a twenty-bushel crop of 
Indian Corn ought to be indictable as a 
perversion and waste of the bounties of 
Providence. 
The farmer who plows (once) five or six 
inches, and manures feebly, and gets in his 
crop late, and about half cultivates it through 
the Summer, and gets a meagre half-crop 
in the Fall, (unless cattle happen to break 
over his shiftless fences and eat it up mean¬ 
time) not only dooms himself to fence, and 
watch, and pay taxes to twice or thrice the 
extent he ought, but he is committing a 
flagrant crime against Nature by exhaus¬ 
ting the Soil of its virtues. An official sur¬ 
vey of our National Agriculture estimates 
the deterioration of the soil of this country 
since its settlement by white men as detract¬ 
ing at least Five Hundred Millions of Dol¬ 
lars from its value! 'All observing men 
are familiar with facts which sustain this 
estimate. There are whole Counties, and 
almost whole States, which would once have 
yielded an average of twenty bushels of 
Wheat or forty of Indian Corn to the acre, 
yet would now (unmanured) average not 
mnro tKan I.U7£»nt.y nf Horn yiiul not live ol 
Wheat. “The virtue has gone out of them.” 
They have been gradually robbed of their 
fertility by false, miserable, wasteful culture. 
The elements essential to the production ol 
the cereal grains have been gradually ab¬ 
stracted, and not returned nor replaced. 
They have been sent off’ to the cities, to 
Europe, and have long since served to fer¬ 
tilize British fields or have been thrown 
from the docks, or crept through the sew¬ 
ers of our seaboard cities into the ocean. 
Every dollar of the diminished value of the 
Soil is so much robbed by indolence and 
ignorance in the past from the patrimony 
■ of future generations. 1 
Every acre of land under cultivation 
\ ought to be worth more after each year’s 
7 tillage than it was before. It may not-, in- 
1 deed, be in condition to produce a larger 
i amount of that same crop; if so, that is 
’ ample reason for changing to something 
' qlse. To say that a farmer can’t afford the 
fertilization and culture needed to obtain 
* fifty bushels of corn from an acre but can 
7 afford to own, fence, till, and pay taxes on 
it for twenty bushels, is an amazing ab- 
i surdity.— N. Y. Tribune. 
MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT BUILDINGS. 
__ < 
The first and most obvious reflection in 
hot weather relates to ventilation. Houses ! 
are often so constructed that no air can ; 
find its way into any of the rooms. The 
whole remedy for this is a right location of 
windows and doors, which should be so pla¬ 
ced with reference to each other that a draft 
of air may be had through the house with 
the wind in any direction. It is particular¬ 
ly needful to see to it so as to secure the 
draft at all events when the wind is south 
or southwest. These winds bring a suffo¬ 
cating heat which with all the air we can 
get is barely endurable, but which without 
a drop of air is like the air of a heated oven 
with the oven lid closed. A north wind 
will find its way into the house at all events. 
The east wind should also be afforded a 
passage through the house, since it often 
blows while the sun is intensely hot, and 
serves to brace the system so as to make 
time of its prevalence, within doors, emi¬ 
nently pleasant. These remarks apply to 
this lake shore; but it is possible that else¬ 
where they may not hold; but they will 
serve to put the reader on the track of the 
truth in any locality. 
Another observation is that verandahs 
eminently become our Western country; 
as do wide over hanging roofs, keeping the 
sun off the wall of the building, and serving 
to temper the air of the rooms. Venetian 
blinds are a great luxury. A set of these will 
cool a room several degrees. during the heat 
of the sun; at the same time they shade it 
to any desired degree of light Houses in 
the country are destitute o2 these blinds 
very extensively from the impression tiiat 
they are merely an ornament; a notion very 
far from truth. 
Then again, in the way of building ma¬ 
terials. It is a truth, that a house warm in 
Winter will be cool in Summer, from the 
fact that its walls are poor conductors of 
heat, and will as readily impede its transit 
one way as the other. A thin, rickety wood 
wall with one coat of plaster will be hot in 
Summer and cool Winter. It is to be 
wished that unburnt clay might be tried 
more fully than it has, even though it be 
covered outside with boards. It is a non¬ 
conductor, and might conduce to comfort 
most essentially. 
Another matter is the shap>e of our win¬ 
dows. We make them too short and too 
wide. They thus serve to heat the house 
in the Summer much more than they ought. 
A long narrow window will let in as much 
' light as is needed and will admit far less 
heat than one of the opposite shape. 
Much might be said about shading the 
;■ house with trees and vines. This may be 
» carried 10 excess; and yet our climate, where 
. the soil is dry, will admit more shade than 
an English or New England one, without 
I the risk of dampness and the diseases which 
result from it .—Prairie Farmer. 
BROOME COUNTY SALT. 
We have in our possession a specimen of 
Salt manufactured from water procured 
from a Salt Spring on Half-way Brook, in 
this county, about four miles from Chenan¬ 
go Forks, and one mile from the Onondaga 
River and the proposed line of the Syracuse 
Railroad, which in appearance and taste is 
equal to any we have ever seen. It is 
clean, bright and finely chrystalized and 
gives all the indications of a very superior 
quality. It has been known for many years 
that a salt spring or vein existed at the 
place where thisspecimen was obtained, ayd 
attempts have formerly been made to ren¬ 
der it available by boring; but without 
reaching a sufficient depth. 
An efficient Company has now been 
formed, comprising several of our enterpris¬ 
ing business men, with the view of prose¬ 
cuting the work effectually, and operations 
have been commenced anew, under the 
charge of Col. Loring Cook, who has long 
made the subject of salt deposits, &c., mat¬ 
ter of investigation, as connected with this 
locality. The shaft has already been sunk 
about 480 feet, and so far, we are told, the 
results exhibited are more favorable than 
the geological theory upon which calcula¬ 
tions have been based. The different strata 
of overlying rocks have been found of much 
less thickness than was anticipated.— Bing¬ 
hamton (Broome Co.) Democrat.' 
CLEANING HOUSES. 
As this is about the season when good 
housewives clean their houses from cellar to 
garret, it may be well to say a few words 
on the subject. When you wash paint, 
don’t use soft soap and warm water, for 
that will take off the paint as well as-the 
dirt. Use cold water and hard soap. Scrub 
the floors with soap, and don’t put down 
the carpets until the floor is perfectly dry. 
Always put down some fine,clean (mind 
clean) straw under the carpet, and lay it 
smooth and level. Carpets may be cleaned 
by pounding them in strong soap suds and 
washing them well out of the soap. The 
suds must be very strong and cold. This 
is done by cutting down the hard soap aixl 
dissolving it in warm water. The suds feel 
slippery, between the fingers. Bedsteads 
should receive a complete scrubbling with 
soap and water, and should not be put up 
until perfectly dry. The seams and holes 
should then be anointed with corrosive 
sublimate dissolved in alcohol or sulphur 
mixed with camphine, or a solution ot the 
chloride of zinc. 
No person should go to sleep in a damp 
bed-room. Many people by overlooking this 
caution during house cleaning season, catch 
severe colds, and make their beds with the 
clods of the valley before the subsequent 
Christmas. Always commence to clean at 
the top of the house, and descend by steady 
and regular stages. Some people clean 
their houses with quietness and scarce any 
disorder; others do not do any more work, 
but make a great deal of noise. It there is 
a dog or cat about the house, it generally 
disappears till the squall is over. 1 he grand 
rule for facilitating work is system. Ar¬ 
range all the work to be done, betore com¬ 
mencing. For want of system, many a job 
has to be done over and over again.— Sci¬ 
entific American. 
The roads ought to be lined with rock 
maple trees. They are exceedingly orna¬ 
mental as well as useful. No cleaner tree 
grows in the land, and there is no better 
fuel to be found in the country—it is equal 
to walnut, and is much like it in its power 
to give out heat and burn readily when it 
is green.— Mass. Ploughman. 
Never plow in bad weather, or when the 
ground is very wet. 
