MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL ANI) FAMILY JOURNAL. 
offer liberal premiums, but it is hoped (hat 
all do not contribute to the Fair their stock 
and implements, &c., for the mere pittance 
offered as a premium, but trust to the 
knowledge they may gain, and the ad¬ 
vancement of the agricultural interest of 
our State, for a portion of the remunera¬ 
tion they desire. Comparison and compe¬ 
tition will do much to aid improvement, 
and this is what is most needed. The in¬ 
creased number of entries would increase 
the means, and any deficiency could be 
made good by contributions, particularly in 
the place which was to be benefited by the 
location of the Fair. It is not necessary 
that articles from other counties should ex¬ 
clude the home articles from the usual pre¬ 
miums, as a list should be so made that 
articles from out of the county would be 
entitled to the same amount only when 
they excelled the home articles in the same 
class. 
It is an error, and often one nearly fatal, 
. to offer but few premiums. Everything of 
importance, grown or manufactured in the 
County, should be embraced in the list, and 
some premium, though small, as a book, 
an agricultural paper, or a diploma, award¬ 
ed fur the best articles. A thing of vital 
importance is to have all the articles exhib¬ 
ited examined by competent judges, and ev¬ 
ery exhibitor have an opportunity of being 
heard. The hasty, inefficient manner in 
which the examinations have often been 
made are prejudicial to the interest and 
harmony of the Society. To accomplish 
this, a practice we deem “ better kept in 
the breach than the observance,” of crowd¬ 
ing the Fair into one day—from 10 A. M. 
to 4 P. M., about six hours—must neces¬ 
sarily be discontinued, to allow the com¬ 
mittees time to faithfully discharge their 
duties. 
To secure the largest exhibition possible, 
to have an improvement in every depart¬ 
ment, that everything be done so as to ad¬ 
vance the interest of all,—to interchange 
observation and experience with the differ¬ 
ent members, and add something to the 
general stock of knowledge each possesses, 
should be the aim of every County Agri¬ 
cultural Society, and in every department 
we trust 1851 will show a decided “pro¬ 
gress.” We trust the Rural will be rep¬ 
resented at every accessible Fair in West¬ 
ern and Central New York to note the 
“ improvement.” + 
STRAINING ANB FASTENING WIRES FOR 
FENCES. 
We have seen a specimen of cheap wire 
fence built by W. D. Allis, of this city, 
which possesses some peculiarities worthy 
of notice. In fastening and straining the 
wires, Mr. A. uses a cast iron roller an inch 
in diameter, and six or eight inches long- 
or of sufficient length to pass through the 
post It has a small hole near one end, 
through which the wire is passed, and then 
by turning the roller with a wrench (one 
end being squared for that purpose,) it is 
easily brought to the required tension. 
The fastening of the roller is effected by 
a common nail—one half of which lays in 
a groove prepared in the roller for it and 
the other, by driving, crowds against and 
into the wood around it—securing the wire 
most effectively—and yet leaving the fast 
ening so as to be easily withdrawn, should 
the wire become broken or need a tighter 
strain. These rollers cost but a few cents 
each, and one only is needed to each wire, 
every ten or twelve rods distance. Mr. A. 
says he can put up a fence which will be a 
full protection against cattle and horses for 
less than fifty cents a rod. 
Highway Labor.— Labor performed on 
the highways at this season of the year is 
much more important than that which is 
done in September and October. For the 
materials placed on the road will now have 
time to settle and become solid. But earth 
of any kind, carted in October, will make 
the roads worse rather than better through 
the winter. 
Let neatly all the taxes be worked out, 
therefore, before this month is out A small 
part only, should be kept for repairs on sud¬ 
den emergency. 
Gravel is the only article that is really 
worth carting on the highways. Carry 
gravel a mile rather than scrape the mud 
and wash from the side gutters into the road. 
A little gravel is needed in every hollow 
that holds water. For where water stands, 
wheels will cut deep. On good roads no 
water is found standing, even after a rain. 
Such roads are easily kept good.— Mass, 
ploughman-. 
KETCHUM'S MOWING MACHINE. 
Mr. Geo. Shkffkk of Wheatland, one of 
our best farm el's, informs us that he has 
given one of these machines a thorough j 
trial, and thinks it just the article for the j 
purpose to which it is adapted. He pur- j 
chased one last season, and used it in cut¬ 
ting 70 acres of grass—including all kinds, 
from the largest and heaviest Clover and 
Timothy to the lightest grasses. It worked 
exceedingly well then, but has since been 
improved, and he commends the machine 
to all farmers. 
As Mr. S’s opinions can be depended up¬ 
on, we give it for the benefit of farmers, and 
without regard to the interest of the manu¬ 
facturers of the machine. He obtained 
his machine of G. W. Allen & Co., of 
Buffalo. Farmers in this section can exam¬ 
ine the machine by calling at the residence 
of Mr. Sheffer, near Scottsville. 
Since the above was written we have re¬ 
ceived the cut, at the head of this article, 
from the manufacturers; also an advertise¬ 
ment, which we give in the appropriate 
department of‘this number, and to which 
attention is directed. 
SOWING CORN FOR FODDER. 
Where corn fodder is intended to be 
used in the green state, we would recom¬ 
mend the Stowell’s evergreen corn, as it 
has a large stalk, and if planted too thickly 
to give ears, is nearly as sweet as the sugar 
cane, and therefore particularly well suited 
for milch cows. When Stowell’s seed can¬ 
not bo had, use the northern sweet corn. 
Another writer in the Michigan Farmer 
says, “ Dent corn is the best for fodder, it 
grows taller; by no means sow the yellow 
kinds. Dutton is next best. 
“ Before frost, bend up the tops of two 
rows and tie them; set up as much as you 
can conveniently hind at the top; the crop 
is now secured from frost and rain; let it 
stand until late in the fall,” &c.— Working 
Farmer. 
Mr. Editor: —I observe, in a late num¬ 
ber of the Michigan Farmer an inquiry for 
the best mode of raising corn for fodder, 
and having tried several different ways, the 
results may be of benefit to others. 
A common, and a very objectionable 
practice, is to sow broadcast. This requires 
at least four .bushels to the acre, and even 
with this amount of seed, the growth is 
not dense enough to keep down the weeds, 
and as a consequence, the ground is left in 
a foul condition. 
The best way is to sow in drills. First 
plow and harrow the ground, as if for 
corn or potatoes; run furrows in one direc¬ 
tion, with one horse, about three feet apart; 
with a hand-basket of corn on the left arm, 
walk rapidly along side of the furrow, stro w- 
ing the seed with the right hand, at the 
rate of about fifty grains to the foot, which 
will be about two bushels and a half to three 
bushels per acre. A little practice will en¬ 
able any one to do this evenly and expe¬ 
ditiously. The seed may be covered in the 
best manner, by means of a one-horse har¬ 
row, a one-horse cultivator, or a two-horse 
harrow, passed lengthwise with the furrow, 
Two men will thus put in five or six acres 
in a day. 
The only subsequent culture needed, is 
to pass a one-horse cultivator between the 
rows, when the corn is about a foot high. 
No hoeing is required. Its growth will 
soon cover the whole ground, and all weeds, 
no matter how thick they may be, will be 
completely smothered and destroyed; and 
when, at the close of summer, the crop is 
removed, the ground will be left as smooth 
and clean as a floor. No erop have 1 ever 
seen equalto this, for reducing grassy, weedy 
soil, into mellow condition, in a single sum¬ 
mer. 
If the crop stands erect, it is most con¬ 
veniently cut with a stiff scythe. A little 
practice will enable the workman to throw 
it all in an even swath, with the heads in 
one direction, so as to admit of easy bind¬ 
ing in bundles. If much thrown down by 
storms, it may be cut with a corn-cutter. 
When bound, it is to be put up in large, 
substantial shocks, to stand several weeks, 
or till winter, unless the ground is to be 
sown with wheat, in which case the crop 
must be drawn oft' and deposited to dry, 
elsewhere. 
Every beginner spoils his first crop, by 
its heating in the stack. Even after dry¬ 
ing several weeks, there is moisture enough 
in the stalks to cause violent fermentation. 
The only mode of preventing this disease, 
is either to leave the shocks on the ground 
till winter, or to build very small stacks, with 
three rails placed upright together at the 
centre, for ventilation, and applying plenty 
of salt. 
Fodder thus grown, and well cured and 
salted, is greatly preferred, by cattle, to hay. 
A neighbor thinks three tons are as good : s 
four tons ofjjood hay. It should be grown 
so thick, that the stalks will be wholly eaten 
by cattle, and none lost. 
I have tried different quantities of seed 
per acre, and find that a much less rate 
than about three bushels is attended with 
a diminished crop, although the stalks inay 
be taller. One bushel per acre will yield 
but little more than half as much. 
I usually obtain, on land that will yield 
thirty or thirty-five bushels of corn per acre, 
from four to six tons per acre of dried fod¬ 
der. Counting all expenses, including in¬ 
terest on fifty dollars per acre for the land, 
the dried fodder, as an average for live or 
six years past, has cost me about one dollar 
and a half per ton. Hay is usually sold 
here for six or seven dollars a ton, and 
sometimes for ten. Yet it is astonishing 
how reluctant our farmers are in adopting 
the corn fodder cultivation. I hope the 
farmers of Michigan may set a better ex¬ 
ample of economy. 
The best variety of corn appears to be 
that which will afford the greatest number 
of stalks to the quantity of seed sown. 
Coarse fodder is not as good as fine. A 
rather moist soil is best, as immense quan¬ 
tities of moisture are thrown off by such a 
mass of leaves. 
Besides the cheapness of this crop, and 
the great ease of its cultivation, it possesses 
the following'advantages:—1. It may be 
sown after the hurrying work of spring is 
accomplished, or at the end of spring, or 
early in summer. 2. It may be harvested 
after the wheat and hay crop are secured, 
or during the comparatively leisure season 
at the close of summer. 3. Not yielding 
any grain, it does not exhaust the soil, and 
is, perhaps, the best crop to precede wheat. 
4. It is an admirable crop for smothering 
and destroying weeds and grass. 
A brief glance at the advantages of the 
general cultivation of this crop may not be 
out of place. The value of the annual hay 
crop in the United States is about one hun¬ 
dred millions of dollars. Those who have 
already adopted the corn fodder crop, win¬ 
ter their cattle at less than 1-2 their form¬ 
er expense. Would it, therefore, be ex¬ 
travagant to believe that 1-4 of the present 
expense in the use of hay throughout the 
country would be saved by its general use ? 
Yet one quarter is about twenty-five mil¬ 
lions of dollars yearly—enough to endow 
agricultural schools, and build railroads, by 
the score—and is well worthy of some ex 
ertion for its introduction at large.—T, of 
Macedon , N. V, in the Michigan Farmer. 
INCREASE THE MANURE HEAP. 
Good farmers will now cart matter into 
their cattle yards to increase the manure 
heaps. There is no other mode of prevent¬ 
ing the waste of manure so certain as the 
mixing of the excrements of animals with 
such materials as will retain their virtues. 
We must have bulky heaps, and we have 
no faith in the doctrine that a little essence 
carried in one’s pocket can possibly be equal 
in virtue to a good cart load of matter. 
Peat mud is not the only matter suitable 
for the cattle yard. Soil from the side of 
the road, or from the side of fields next to 
a wall, are often found to be quite as good 
as peat mud—though there is as much dif¬ 
ference in peat mud as in soils. Some men 
are much deceived by the color of the ar¬ 
ticle they put into their yards. Black mud 
is supposed to be richer than that of other 
colors. But this is not always the case.— 
Still any kind of mud or soil will answer a 
good purpose compared with the poor prac¬ 
tice of yarding cattle in summer without 
supplying the means of retaining all the 
rich matter which is dropped there. Yards 
ought to be cleared out twice each year- 
once for planting in the spring—and again 
for sowing down in August and Septem 
ber. If no Sowing is then done the summer 
manure may be used to much advantage 
on grass lands in October. But by all means 
take care and keep a good quantity of mat¬ 
ter in the cow yard and in the hog pen, for 
otherwise you waste what cannot be easily 
replaced. 
All have leisure enough after planting to 
attend to this business—a business that was 
not much attended to fifty years ago.— 
Then not one farmer in fifty took care to 
supply his cow yard with matter to retain 
or to increase his manures. When the soil 
was first broken up and unexhausted, crops 
were expected and actually obtained with¬ 
out the application of manures.— Mass. 
Ploughman. 
It is a great fallacy to suppose that when 
an individual becomes the editor of an Ag¬ 
ricultural paper, he necessarily constitutes 
himself a dictator of opinion and practice 
to his readers /—Tennessee Farmer. 
MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
The season of swarming has arrived, 
and bees require constant attention. A 
person well acquainted with bees can gen¬ 
erally judge from the condition of his hives, 
and from the weather, when they will 
swarm. Yet they should be watched, as 
sometimes a swarm comes out unexpectedly 
even in weather, and at a time of day which 
is unusual. 
Generally bees swarm in the forenoon 
when the weather is warm and the sun 
bright, but we once had a swarm come out 
at six o’clock in the afternoon, when the 
weather was cool and cloudy. It was the 
only case we ever knew of bees swarming 
under circumstances so unfavorable. When 
they swarm so fate, they would probably 
remain all night if not hived. 
When bees swarm, they usually pitch on 
green trees, if they are convenient. But 
they sometimes light on dry trees, fences, 
buildings, walls, small bushes, &c. We 
once had a swarm pitch on a current bush, 
though a plenty of high trees were around 
them. 
Some apiarians set their bees where there 
are no trees near, and stick up poles, or 
dead spruces or pines, in front of them, on 
which they often pitch ; and then the poles 
are taken up and laid down to hive them. 
If old mullen heads are tied on to the 
poles, giving the appearance of a bunch of 
bees, they will be more likely to light on 
them. 
The following method often succeeds 
well. Place a board about 20 feet long, 
with one end just under the centre of the 
bee-house, and let it extend in front.— 
About five or six feet from the outer end 
of the board, drive down a stake on each 
side, and tie another stake across these 
about feet high. Lay the outer part of 
the board on the cross stake, the other end 
resting on the ground. When the bees 
swarm, if there are no trees or other invi¬ 
ting objects near, they will generally pitch 
on the under side of the board, which may 
be taken down, inverted, laid on the ground, 
and the hive set over them. 
When bees pitch on the limbs of trees, 
the most convenient way to hive them, 
generally, is to cut off the limb, select a 
shady place among the grass or weeds, and 
lay down the limb, or with a sudden jerk 
shake the bees on to the ground and place 
the hive over them. Then throw a sheet 
over the hive, and sprinkle water plentifully 
over it. 
By laying the limb down carefully, the 
bees are less disturbed, and of course less 
likely to sting. But they will not go into 
the hive so readily as when shaken oft’ as 
they often stick to the limb, and need dis¬ 
turbing by spreading them with a wing be¬ 
fore they will go into the hive. We had a 
swarm that would not leave the limb, so 
we lay down on the ground close to them, 
and with a wing we spread them, and ex¬ 
amined for the queen. We scon found 
her, and took her on the wing and put her 
into the top of the hive. Then the bees 
all started, and in a few minutes were with 
their sovereign. 
When bees pitch on the body of trees, 
or valuable branches, or other things difficult 
to move, they may be brushed into a hive, 
or the hive may be fastened over them, 
and then if they do not go up soon, disturb 
them, as before named, and dash cold water 
around them. The sooner bees are set on 
the stand the better, after they have all gone 
into the hive; yet it will answer to let them 
remain until evening. 
Sometimes, though probably very seldom 
bees dislike their hive after they have gone 
into it and go back into the old hive or go 
off. Some swarms cannot be suited with 
any hive. We once had a swarm that went 
into the hive, and soon returned to the pa¬ 
rent hive. They swarmed again, and went 
into another hive that was offered them, 
and they appeared contented during the 
dav; but towards night they went back 
again. They had made a piece of comb 
six inches long, and filled it with honey.— 
They swarmed again and again, and new 
hives were offered them, and sometimes 
they went into them. After swarming a 
number of times they grew very cross.— 
The eighth time they came out, they were 
very cross, and left the hive for the woods. 
Bees leave the old hive with a full meal, 
and are generarally in a good humor; and 
may be be attended to without any danger; 
but they are sometimes cross, and it is well 
for the manager to be protected in diffi¬ 
cult places, as on high trees. A friend of 
ours who had long experience in bees, 
laughed at our idea of having any protec¬ 
tion in managing bees, but one sad case al¬ 
tered his mind. He was attending to a 
swarm in the top of a high tree, and hun¬ 
dreds attacked him simultaneously, so that 
he was glad to make a percipitate retreat 
and he narrowly escaped with his life from 
the furious assault of so many formidable 
warriora 
tom; make a wide hem at one end and run 
in a string. Place this end over your hat, 
with the millinette in front, and draw and 
tie the string above the rim, put on your 
hat, and place the lower part of the pro¬ 
tection under your coat or jacket, and but¬ 
ton closely over it Leave it loose over the 
nose. We saw an operator who was pro¬ 
tected by a thin, white handkerchief over 
his face, with a close fit to the nose. He 
treated the bees roughly, and that promi¬ 
nent member being the only part exposed, 
it became the centre of hostile operations 
by the enraged enemy. 
The best thing to protect the hands is a 
pair of thick fringed mittens, as the bees 
cannot reach their stings through them, 
and they are not sufficiently firm to retain 
the stings. Thick leather gloves or mittens 
will serve as a protection, but all the bees 
that attempt to sting through lose their 
lives, as they will leave their sting behind. 
— N. E. Farmer. 
THE EFFECT OF PLOWING IN GREEN CROPS 
AS COMPARED WUIH FEEDING THEM. 
One cow well fed will be of more profit 
than two kept on the same fodder. This 
will also apply to other stock. 
They that govern most make least noise. 
If the operator is well protected, he can 
act deliberately in difficult cases. Take a 
piece of millinet about two feet long and 
some eighteen or twenty-five inches wide, 
and a piece of other thin cloth sufficient to 
make about three feet in width, when the 
two edge%of each are sewed to each other 
in the manner of a bag without top or bot- 
1t is yet a common notion that herbivo¬ 
rous animals have some distinct and peculiar 
mode of action upon the various constitu¬ 
ents of their food, bv which those parts ex¬ 
pelled as excretee are rendered more fit for 
the food of plants than could be the original 
food, rotted or decomposed in any other 
way. It is also ordinarily received that the 
deposits of a number of animals fed upon 
an acre of any green crop, will be more 
beneficial to the land than an acre of the 
same crop, plowed in and properly decom¬ 
posed in the land. 
For some years past, I have endeavored 
to combat these opinions, but as they are 
still retained in some quarters, 1 intend in 
tliis letter to repeat my arguments, and to 
give instances where practice has proved 
the truth of theoretical deductions. 1 shall 
not hero argue as to the amount of profit 
and loss attached to either mode of proceed¬ 
ing, as in fact, must always depend upon 
circumstances, of which the farmer is the 
best judge. Nor shall I attempt to prove 
that under all possible circumstances, to 
plow in a green crop will give a greater 
produce than to feed it off For in case of 
exceedingly light lands, the mechanical ac¬ 
tion of the treading of the feet of the sheep 
however, is, that under general circum¬ 
stances, in ordinary soils, the plowing in of 
any green crop, and its subsequent decom¬ 
position in the soil, will give more 'manure 
to that soil than if the crop had been fed 
off; and that the effect of this greater 
amount of manure will be. seen in the sub¬ 
sequent crops. The arguments in proof 
may be stated as follows:— 
Firstly: It is well established that ani¬ 
mals in breathing, give back more to the 
air than they derive from it They receive 
nitrogen and oxygen,and return them again, 
plus a certain excess of nitrogen, carbonic 
acid, and aqueous vapor. Animals also 
transmit to the air much insensible and sen¬ 
sible perspiration. 
Secondly : The experiments of Boussin- 
gault and others have shown that the liquid 
and solid excrements of animals weigh less 
than the food from which they have been 
derived, and that as regards the lood ex- 
cretai are deficient in nitrogen, carbon, and 
hydrogen. 
Thirdly: It is well known that animals 
consume a considerable portion ot the far¬ 
inaceous and oleaginous portions of their 
food for the production of animal heat, and 
the greater portion of the excess is laid up 
in tile form of fat; that of the nitrogenous 
portion, part is consumed by tht? voluntary 
! and involuntary motions of the muscles, and 
part forms fresh flesh for the growing ani¬ 
mal. Of the inorganic matters of the food, 
a portion is required for the formation of 
bone. It is, therefore, quite clear, that 
there must be less manuring matter in the 
excrements than in the food, of which they 
are merely the unconsumed remains —the 
ashes. 
Fourthly: It is known that animal and 
vegetable substances are composed of the 
same original elements; that all animal par¬ 
ticles have first had vegetable life; that tho’ 
the proximate changes and combinations of 
their aliments are most innumerable, yet, 
that the results of the ultimate decomposi¬ 
tion of animal and vegetable matter in con¬ 
tact with air are the same. 
Fifthly: To sum up; lfi as it has been 
proved, the excretes of animals weigh less 
than the fivod they have eaten; if there is a 
diminution of the most valuable of the in¬ 
gredients in passing through the animal; 
and if, in their ultimate decomposition, the 
food and the excretes give the same pro¬ 
ducts, it follows that the products of the de¬ 
composition of the original food will be 
greatest in quantity and richest in quality; 
but practical experiments are, in this in¬ 
stance, so easily made, that l should be 
wrong if 1 omitted to mention some of the 
numerous facts which experimentally prove 
the truth of my assertions. Mr. W. Trum- 
per, Mr. Oakley, and others, have forward¬ 
ed me the results of trials made on their 
respective farms. Mr. Trumper, in a field 
of rape part fed off by sheep, and the other 
plowed-in, found in the succeeding wheat 
crop a difference of a quarter per acre in 
favor of plowing-in.— Mark Lane Express. 
