MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
HAY MAKING. 
So much of the real value of the hay 
crop depends upon its being secured in the 
proper manner and season, that we may be 
allowed to say a few words on the subject, 
though we bring forward no new ideas to 
any of the thorough-going farmer-readers 
of the Rural New'-Yorker. 
The proper stage of cutting for hay in 
the growth of all grasses, is now g morally 
conceded to be during their period of flow¬ 
ering. After that has passed, the plants 
cease their growth, the leaves begin to fall 
off, and they deteriorate rapidly in all their 
nutritive qualities —the saccharine and oily 
portions decomposing or evaporating, as 
well as concentrating in the seed—leaving 
the stalks dry and w'oody, like the straw of 
wheat and other grains. The plants used 
for medicinal or culinary purposes are al¬ 
ways gathered when in full bloom, retain¬ 
ing then in the greatest perfection their pe¬ 
culiar and valuable qualities. 
The practice of the best farmers in hay¬ 
making is to mow the grass gjteely as pos¬ 
sible,—spreading it evenly awsoon as the 
’ dew or surface moisture has dried away— 
letting it dry through the day —and with a 
horse-rake before sunset putting it into 
winrows, and then forming it into small 
cocks; in which it may remain until the 
ground becomes warm and dry the next 
morning. The cocks should then be open¬ 
ed—their contents shaken up lightly—and 
if the weather has been favorable the pre¬ 
ceding day, and during this, by turning and 
stirring immediately after dinner, the cu¬ 
ring may be completed so that the hay may 
be placed in the stack or mow during the 
afternoon. Or, if desirable, the hay may 
remain in the cocks for two or three days, 
curing in part by the sweating process, 
which many think secures in the greatest 
perfection, all its nutritive qualities. When 
thus left—they must be shaken out to the 
sun an hour or so before drawing. This 
method of curing is particularly recommen¬ 
ded for clover hay— especially the larger 
kinds, and that most luxuriant in its 
growth. 
The importance of good implements in 
gathering and securing the hay crop, is 
evident to every practical farmer. Good? 
sharp scythes, light, well-made rakes and 
forks —and a horse-rake are of much val¬ 
ue, and aid materially in getting the hay 
into the barn in the best order. No one 
who has once used a good horse-rake, would 
think of going through haying without one. 
The labor they save, and the speed and 
neatness with which they do their work, 
make their cost but a small object to any 
one with even a few acres of grass to 
gather. 
But the sun does not always shine while 
farmers wish to be “ making hay.” Those 
who have used them, speak in high terms 
of the advantages of hay-caps for protec¬ 
tion from rain during the process of curing. 
They are made of sheeting, yard and a 
half, or yard and a quarter wide, torn into 
squares, with a loop at each corner by 
which they are fastened to the cocks. A 
Massachusetts farmer who has used them 
for years gives his method of applying them 
as follows:—“ Make four sticks about 18 
inches long for each cap, let two hands at 
opposite corners draw the cap down tight 
over the cock—pass the stick through the 
loop and up (not down) into the hay, and it 
will stand both wind and rain a month, if 
you please.” 
EARLY CUTTING OF GRAIN. 
In advance of the time of harvesting 
the wheat crop, we desire to impress these 
truths upon all wheat growers. By cut¬ 
ting your wheat from seven to ten days 
before it is ripe, the following beneficial re¬ 
sults will flow; your straw will be heavier, 
brighter, more nutritive, and make better 
food for your stock; while to a certainty, 
your crop will escape injury from that fatal 
disease—the Rust. 
Wheat intended for seed, should, we 
think, not be cut before it may have ripened. 
This, however, is an unsettled point. 
Had our advice been followed last year, 
we are confident that wheat growers would 
have been spared the loss of thousands of 
bushels of wheat, which they sustained 
through the rust, owing to their delaying 
cutting until the grain was ripe. 
We will here add, that it would be con¬ 
sistent with enlightened economy', to har¬ 
dest all descriptions of small grain, before 
they are fully ripe.— Am. Farmer. 
Plowing while in blossom will destroy 
sorrel, and liming will prevent its growth. 
THE BANTAM FOWL. 
These diminutive specimens of the Poul¬ 
try tribe originated in the Island of Java, 
but since their introduction into Europe 
many varieties and crosses have become 
known, distinguished by as many different 
names—and none of them destitute of ele¬ 
gance and beauty. The Sebright Bantam, 
figured below, is one of the most graceful 
and consequential of them all. 
“ His coat,” says Dixon, “ is of a rich 
brownish yellow; almost every feather is 
edged with a border of darker hue, ap¬ 
proaching to black. His neat, slim legs are 
of a light, dull lead color; his ample tail is 
carried well over his back. His dependent 
wings nearly touch the ground. He is as 
upright as the stiffest drill sergeant, or 
more so, for he appears now and then as if 
he would fall backward like a horse that 
over-rears himself.” He is as pugnacious 
as he is consequential and will not give over 
for a few pecks and scratches. 
The fowl commonly known as the Ban¬ 
tam, (figured at the head of this article,) 
varies in color and is feathered to the toes. 
They have been known so small as to weigh, 
when full grown, less than ten ounces.— 
They are kept, of course, more as a matter 
of curiosity and ornament than profit, though 
they are both good layers and good sitters. 
SMALL FARMS. 
There are thousands of farms in the New 
England States, varying in size from twen¬ 
ty-five to one hundred acres upon which 
thousands of families notonly live but are well 
to do in the world, and have reared large 
families in comfort and prosperity. It is 
true, the children, for the want of room to 
work, have to go to contriving, and it is this 
necessity that has filled the whole country 
with Yankee contrivances of all kinds, from 
a basswood pumpkin seed to a steam engine. 
One of the greatest crops of the diminu¬ 
tive farms, is, that inventive genius which 
characterises the whole nation. No Yan¬ 
kee clock ever run with more regularity 
than the whole of the operations connected 
with some of the small farmers. Look at 
their cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, geese, ducks 
and chickens. There is an appearance of 
unmistakable thrift about everything ani¬ 
mate and inanimate upon some of riiese pla¬ 
ces. It is true, many of the occupants work 
with the same old fashioned tools their fath¬ 
ers did, and follow all the same time-hon¬ 
ored practices, but the next generation will 
be more alive to the spirit of improvem >nt. 
— Am. Agriculturist. 
HOW SHOULD CREAM BE KEPT? 
This question is often asked and is an¬ 
swered in different ways. We say that 
cream is sweeter when kept out of a damp 
cellar or well than when kept in it. Cream 
is kept best in a cool back room above 
ground, or chiefly so. It ought to be stir¬ 
red daily while it is kept, otherwise mouldy 
particles gather on the surface of the pots. 
Milk also, set for cream, yields more 
cream when it is placed above ground than 
when placed in cellars, and it rises sooner 
also. Any one may prove this by a trial 
of both modes. Much is said about keep¬ 
ing cream sweet, but cream perfectly sweet 
is not easily churned. It should undergo 
a change in order to make, good butter. 
The act of churning produces a chemical 
change in the cream, and though the cream 
may have a sour taste, the butter is not 
necessarily sour. The nature of it is 
changed on churning. 
A room above ground, on the north side 
of a large building, well shaded with trees 
is a better place for setting, than any damp 
cellar that we have seen. In such a room 
the cream will all rise in thirty-six hours 
that is really valuable.— Mass. Plough* 
CORN COB MEAL. 
We make the following extract from a 
letter in the Germantown Telegraph. The 
subject is an important one, and we should 
be pleased to receive from any of our sub¬ 
scribers who have made use of corn cob 
meal for feeding cattle or horses, additional 
information concerning its value and effects: 
Some forty years ago this same cob meal 
notion crept in here, I know not how; and 
every mill in the neighborhood was obliged 
to get a peculiar machine to grind corn cobs 
or lose its custom. In one mill I recollect 
seeing a heap of corn in the ear of 500 or 
600 bushels, which the miller informed me 
he had taken as toll. I of course with oth¬ 
ers went with the crowd, and had my feed 
prepared in the same way. On one occa¬ 
sion I had some hard work for my team, 
for several weeks, and I noticed the horses 
declining in flesh, notwithstanding I knew 
they were well and regularly fed. An ob¬ 
servant neighbor also called my attention 
to the altered appearance of the 'horses, 
and asked me what they were fed on. I 
replied, cob meal. He advised me to quit 
it immediately. I did so, and gave them 
whole corn instead, and in less than two 
weeks the improved condition of the horses 
was very perceptible. At the same time I 
was stall feeding several oxen on the same 
meal, and from its very apparent effect on 
the horses, was led to examine how it affect¬ 
ed the cattle. One bad consequence I 
thought was very striking. In going into 
the stable in the morning, the fetor proved 
that there were more of fermented than of 
properly digested food. To an observant 
physician, going into a sick chamber, there 
is no better test of a deranged state of the 
stomach and bowels than this circumstance. 
Now it must be admitted that any animal 
.to thrive and do well, must have nutritious 
food, and that which is etisy of digestion. 
A part of the corn cob is harder and less 
liable to be acted on by the gas or juices 
than the hardest wood. It is also a well- 
known fact that any substance introdu¬ 
ced into the stomach, which is incapable 
of digestion, disorders it 
I would again ask any rational man, what 
effect corn bread of which one quarter at 
least was corn-cobs, would have on bis 
stomach ? It is also well known, that all 
animals of which grass and grain are 
their natural food, have weak digestive 
powers. 
I will now only add, that in less than 
five years after the first introduction of these 
cob machines, not one was to be found in 
any of the mills that used them; if any 
one is desirous of trying the experiment, I 
have no doubt they can be had at a very 
low price, if time and rust have not used 
them up. w. 
REPLANTING. 
It is often the case that very serious 
injury is effected in the cornfield by the 
ravages of the cut-worm; amd whenever 
this is experienced, the farmer should at 
once introduce some plan which will most 
readily and profitably supply its place. As 
the soil of cornfields is generally well pre¬ 
pared and rich, there is no danger of most 
vegetables failing when introduced into va- 
cant spots. Potatoes are commonly resort¬ 
ed to for this purpose, though I think them 
less profitable than turnips. Beans answer 
well, especially the later varieties, and so 
do English turnips. These make a fine 
winter feed for sheep, and are of value if 
fed off in the fall. Large crops of these 
turnips are often raised even in fields where 
the corn has been seriously injured by the 
worms. If sown in June or July, just be¬ 
fore a rain, they will come on rapidly, and 
as they grow late—long after the harvesting 
of the corn has been effected, they generally 
have time enough, and though they may 
not be altogether so large as those produc¬ 
ed in open field, and by themselves, they 
will nevertheless be sound, of excellent 
quality and flavor. 
A late writer asserts that he has known 
one hundred and fifty bushels of sound tur¬ 
nips, fit for marketing, raised from one acre 
in this manner, and where the hills of corn 
were all occupied by corn plants, and these 
of a robust size. Eighty bushels I think is 
the largest yield I ever knew under such 
circumstances. Now supposing this to be 
the maximum production, and allowing the 
turnips to be worth one shilling per bushel 
fur sheep—which I am confident is a mod¬ 
erate estimate, we have a crop worth thir¬ 
teen dollars and a trifle over, almost gratis. 
The cost of the seed and the sowing will 
not exceed three shillings, if a proper time 
is selected; and as to harvesting, the cost 
is indeed a mere trifle. The tops, if fed to 
your milch cows, will more than pay this. 
Equally, or nearly equally profitable results 
attend the planting of ruta bagas, cabbages, 
and Swedes. Every inch of prepared soil, 
should produce something of value. — Ger¬ 
mantown Telegraph. 
We believe in good fences, good barns, 
good farm-houses, good stock, good orchards 
and children enough to gather the fruit. 
We believe in a clean kitohen, a neat 
wife in it, a spinning piano, a clean cupboard, 
and a clear conscience. 
PRESERVING EGGS. 
Iris an object of considerable importance, 
when eggs are plenty, to pack them away 
in such a manner as to preserve them in 
good condition. Various methods have 
been recommended, but a really good and 
reliable mode has not yet been discovered. 
The whole philosophy of egg-ology has not 
yet been ascertained. An egg contains the 
elements of life within itself, and of course 
all the elements or requisites of decorr po¬ 
sition within itself. If it be kept in a situ¬ 
ation sufficiently warm, the decomposition 
begins and proceeds until it is accomplish¬ 
ed. Even when kept cool enough to pre¬ 
vent decomposition, there are changes go¬ 
ing on which spoil the egg. They lose 
weight and diminish in specific gravity.— 
When first laid, an egg is heavier than 
water; but when kept a long time, it some¬ 
times becomes lighter than water. It is 
stated in some of the journals that Dr. 
Prout kept an egg two years and found 1 
that its weight diminished daily. At first 
it weighed 907 grains and 5 tenths. At 
the end of two years’ exposure, it weighed 
only 363 grains and 2 tenths. Hence it 
lost more than half its original weight.— 
The inside of the egg diminishes in bulk, 
and the space becomes filled with air.— 
Some process by wl ich the pores of the egg 
shall be'closed, and a uniformly cool tem¬ 
perature be kept up, will preserve it best. 
Stephens, in his Book of the Farm, recom¬ 
mends covering the shell with grease or 
something that shall close the pores, and 
then packing them away in bran, oats, or 
something similar. 
The following are his remarks on this 
subject:—“ To render eggs a remunerative 
item of farm economy, they should be pre¬ 
served fresh, until the scarce season arrives, 
when they realize a fair price, such as 8d. 
the dozen. It is easy to preserve eggs in 
summer, by first smearing them, while still 
warm, with butter or melted suet, and then 
packing them on the small end in barrels 
in salt, oats, or melted suet. Salt will im¬ 
part a salt taste to eggs, if fresh ones, un¬ 
smeared with butter, are packed in it; but 
certainly not if first smeared with butter or 
suet Oats form a good packing, and may 
be afterwards used by the fowls. Suet, to 
be used in this way, ought to be quite fresh, 
and rendered pure by melting on a slow 
fire, which has the effect of separating it 
from any muscular or tendonous matter as¬ 
sociated with it. 
After packing the eggs on end in the 
vessel destined to contain them — as a 
barrel or jar—the melted suet in a warm, 
not hot slate, is poured over them,— 
which is removed and used for domestic 
purposes, as the eggs are taken out. Eggs 
preserved in either of these methods I have 
found fresh for some months, even so as to 
contain the milk in them—which is the 
popular criterion of a fresh egg, but it is not 
so, since an egg may contain it which can¬ 
not be fresh or new laid. Lime water is 
used to preserve eggs, and answers the pur¬ 
pose; but any dry material is more agreea¬ 
ble than wet ones. In truth, any substance 
that will prevent the air entering the pores 1 
of the shell, together with an} 7 means that 
will prevent the yolk adhering to the shell, 
will preserve them in a sweet state for a 
considerable time.— Maine Farmer. 
Buckwheat. —Any time this month, and 
up to the lOih of July, a crop of buckwheat 
may be seeded, the sooner after the mid¬ 
dle of this month the better. It is a sure 
crop, even on a poor soil, with the aid of a 
little manure; in a tolerable fair soil, a very 
large crop may be calculated upon, the 
same means being used to enliven the soil. 
Buckwheat, as it derives a large portion 
of its food from the air up to the time of 
forming the grain, is not a very exhausting 
crop. It makes most delicious cakes, as 
every good housewife knows, and should 
grace the farmer’s breakfast table through¬ 
out winter; chopt and mixed with cut straw 
or bay, it is excellent as an alterative food 
for horses; made into slop for milch cows, 
it makes the milk flow; hogs, occasionally 
slopt with it, thrive well; it makes good 
food for chickens, particularly at moulting 
time—all poultry relish it Its straw, cured 
into hay, is good long forage for cattle.— 
Sow from 2 to 3 pecks per acre.—Ameri¬ 
can Farmer. 
Watering Horses. —We see every sum¬ 
mer hundreds of incidents of horses being 
killed by giving them water when overheat- 
ted while traveling. It would seem that 
drivers generally think that the preservation 
of the horse’s life consists in having him 
watered at every tavern they come to. But 
we would condemn it as being a most ab¬ 
surd and unnecessary practice. A farmer 
who works his horses at a plow, harrow, or 
cart, never gives them water from the time 
they go to work after breakfast until they 
come in at noon. In France coachmen 
never water their horses except when they 
feed, and if you take the trouble to inquire 
into the effect of the system in that country, 
you will find it has a salutary influence. 
When the driver stops at an inn he washes 
the horse’s nose with a little vinegar in a 
sponge. 
Angry men seldom want woe.i 
KEEP THE PREMISES CLEAN. 
Every cultivator should keep his premi¬ 
ses as clean as possible, for the important 
purposes of saving manure, and promoting 
health. 
Some discerning persons remark that in 
the hot summer, while vegetation is in a 
flourishing condition, it is more healthy in 
the country than in the city, but the reverse 
is the case in September and October, as at 
this season man) vegetable productions 
have come to maturity and are decaying, 
tilling the air with noxious gases and odors; 
whence arise fevers, dysentery, and other 
complaints which are more common in the 
country early in the fall. We give this 
view of the subject which some have pre¬ 
sented, and we will make few remarks on 
subjects that claim the particular attention 
of every cultivator, whether this view be 
correct or not. 
Keep the premises, particularly around 
the dwelling, peifcctly free from every sub¬ 
stance that will taint the air, Every de¬ 
caying vegetable or animal substance 
should be removed a good distance, and 
then covered in earth lor the purpose of 
manure. 
The pig-pen though at a respectable dis¬ 
tance, should be supplied with loam to ab¬ 
sorb all liquid matter. All manure in the 
barn yard should be covered with loam, sand 
or mud, to save it from waste, and to keep 
the air pure, as, in the changes so common 
to the wind, the air is liable to be wafted 
from the barn to the house. 
Cellars should be made as clean as pos¬ 
sible, particularly as they communicate di¬ 
rectly with the dwelling above and any 
foul air produced in them is liable to pass 
into the house. All vegetables in the cel¬ 
lar that are tending to decay should be re¬ 
moved immediately. It is best to ventilate 
cellars thoroughly by opening doors and 
windows, keeping the door open as little 
as possible that communicates with the 
rooms. 
Ground plaster, and freshly burnt char¬ 
coal, set in vessels or strewed around in cel¬ 
lars or other places where foul air exists, or 
is liable to be produced, has a very healthy 
effect by absorbing gases. 
Necessaries often produce a foul atmos¬ 
phere around them; and as the dwelling is 
near, the offensive air is often wafted to it, 
and even when not perceptible is often op¬ 
erating injuriously. Some prepare these 
conveniences and cover with loam or other 
substances all night soil, so as to do away 
entirely with all unpleasant and unwhole¬ 
some effects. When this is not the case, 
charcoal, plaster, chloride of lime, or other 
disenfectantsshould be thrown into the vault 
to absorb all noxious odors. 
Water from the sink should be absorbed 
in loam, (fee., for manure, instead of rising 
in foul gases, and being blown into the 
house. 
There are some cases of malignant and 
fatal disorders going through a family, 
while all the rest of the neighborhood are 
in good health. This is often owing to 
some local cause, some foul puddle, pool, or 
stagnant pond near the dwelling, or a gen¬ 
eral negligence as to keeping the premises 
clean. 
Decaying weeds, grass, potatoes affected 
with the rot, potato tops, pumpkin and oth¬ 
er vines, and various productions, are under¬ 
going decomposition in the fall; and in the 
aggregate the amount is large, and filling 
the air with pestilential gases. Farmers 
may do much good to themselves and the 
community, by burying all such substances, 
and convertin':: them into manure. Make 
them into a compost heap, well covered 
with loam, to absorb the gases. 
Oxen vs. Houses. — It is an old maxim 
that oxen are better than horses for farm 
work—that they are kept cheaper and are 
not liable to so many diseases as the horse 
—that oxen are more patient and can live 
better on grass and the natural produce of 
the farm, and that with good usage they 
are continually growing more valuable till 
they are fit to be turned off for meat. On 
rough or rocky lands they are much the 
best team for plowing, and the gearing or 
harness is more simple and less costly. A 
wooden yoke and a single chain serving for 
two oxen, while a pair of horses must have 
four chains for draft, and leather collars and 
straps in abundance to keep the chains in 
place. Is the substitution of horses on the 
farm any great improvement after all ?— 
Mass. Ploughman. • 
Hilling. —Do not practice the folly of 
making a hill around every vegetable you 
cultivate in your kitchen garden. Obser¬ 
vation will show you that as plants grow 
older, the roots at the base of the stem in¬ 
variably elongate upward toward the sur¬ 
face, indicating thereby, a disinclination to 
be wholly excluded from the air. And be¬ 
side, unless the vegetable be one that re¬ 
quires a large supply of moisture, you de¬ 
prive it, in a great measure, of the benefit 
of the rains, by accumulating around it a 
heap of soil to carry off the water. The hoe 
should be applied only to loosen the soil, 
and kill the weeds, not to bury the vegeta¬ 
ble, and deprive it of the rains. — German¬ 
town Telegraph. 
