VOLUME II. NO. §7. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.—THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1851.. 
WHOLE NO. 79. 
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 IIY 
J. II. BIXBY, L. WETHERELL, and II. C. WHITE. 
Dr. M. M. RODGERS, Foreign Correspondent. 
Contributors and Correspondents: 
| “WATCHMAN WHAT OF THE NIGHT” 
Chester Dewey, ll. d., 
.1. Clement, 
D. W. Ballou, Jr., 
R. G. Pardee, 
I. Hildreth, 
Jas. H. Watts, 
W. K. Wyckoff, 
W. H. Bristol, 
YVm. Perry Fogg, 
S. Luther, 
L. D. Whiting. 
L. B. Langworthy, 
William Garbutt, 
S. P. Chapman, 
David Ely, 
Myron Adams, 
H. P. Norton, 
T. C. Peters, 
F. W. Lay, 
T. E. Wetmore, 
R. R. Warren, 
Archibald Stone, 
And numerous others—practical, scientific, and literary 
writers—whose names are necessarily omitted. 
Thf. Rural New-Yortker is designed to be unique and 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
and Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
to make it a Reliable Guide oil the important Practical 
Subjects connected with the business of tiiose whose inter¬ 
ests it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter 
—interspersed with many appropriate and handsome en¬ 
gravings—than any other paper published in this Country. 
For Terms, &c.. see laBt page. JFJi 
FKOGHESS AND IMPRO VEMENT. 
TIME OF CUTTING WHEAT. 
i l> 
Experiments, careful and repeated,—the true 
touchstone of all theories—have solved the ques¬ 
tion of the period of cutting grain, in favor of 
early harvesting. “ Don’t delay this,” says the 
American Farmer, “ until the grain is either ripe 
or dead ripe, but cut a week or ten days before it 
is either the one or the other.” As soon as the 
straw immediately below the head turns yellow- 
becoming hard and dry two or three iuches in 
length,—no more nourishment can be received 
from the root, and for several reasons the sooner it 
is harvested the better. These reasons are stated 
in the article above quoted, briefly as follows: — 
“Grain cut at this period of its growth, is plump 
er, thinner skinned, more nutritive, makes better 
and more flour, and weighs heavier, than when 
permitted to get dead ripe; so that by cutting early, 
you will make more, and a better article; while 2 
pounds of the straw, thus cut, is worth 3 lbs. that 
may he left to bleach and become dry to the ground. 
There is another reason in favor of cutting before 
the grain is ripe, or dead ripe; when so cut, it is 
not liable to scatter, and much of the gram is saved, 
that would otherwise be lost. There is still another 
and more potent reason, which most emphatically 
calls for the practice of early cutting. The rust, 
that fell destroyer of the wheat crop, generally 
makes its appearance just before the grain ripens; 
when, if it were cut some seven, or ten days in 
advance of the usual time of cutting, this danger, 
and consequent loss, would be avoided. Again 
—more time would be allowed for harvesting, a 
consideration of much importance.” 
Pmfessor Norton, who justly ranks among th* 
ablest agricultural chemists holds these views.— 
He says:— 
“ The time of cutting grain very sensibly affects 
the proportion of fine flour and bran yiielded in- 
samples of it. Careful experiments have shown, 
with regard to wheat, that when cut from 10 to 14 
days before it is fully ripe, the grain not only 
weighs heavier, but measures more: it is positively 
better in quality, producing a larger proportion of 
fine flour to the bushel. When the grain is in the 
milk, there is but little woody fibre; nearly every 
thing is starch, gluten, sugar, &c., with a large 
per centage of water. If cut 10 or 12 days before 
full ripeness, the proportion of woody fibre is still 
small; hut as the grain ripens, the thickness of the 
skin rapidly increases, woody fibre being formed 
at the expense of the starch and sugar; these must 
obviously diminish in a corresponding degree, the 
quality of the grain being of course injured. The 
same thing is true as to all of tho other graius.” 
If “ theso things bo so,” of which there can bo 
no doubt, this is truly an important matter in this 
large wheat-growing region. If grain cut 2 weeks 
before it is fully ripe will produce 15 per cent, 
more flour, and 14 per cent, greater weight of 
straw—both of a superior quality,—in the aggre¬ 
gate, an important difference in product would ro- 
sult to the country from early harvesting. Every 
( experiment, of which we have seen any account, 
j proves unmistakeably that such is the fact. 
> For seed, it is thought that wheat should be suf- 
; fered to stand until ripe This is undoubtedly 
I true, for all know that mature and perfect seed is 
; necessary to produce healthy and vigorous plants 
j But this can be easily managed, by selecting a 
) portion of the field to stand until the remainder 
\ of the harvest is completed. 
MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
The season thus far is peculiar, and although 
the thermometer shows the month of May a few 
degrees higher in temperature, than the same 
month last year; yet the rains and cold, caused it 
to be very uncongenial for seed time and its prep¬ 
aration. June up to this time, from the prevalence 
of north winds, and no inconsiderable portion of 
rain, has been decidedly the worst June, we have 
ever witnessed, and while we are suffering with 
excess of wet and cold Alabama, Louisiana and 
contiguous regions, are realizing the reverse—no 
rains having fallen for the last three months. The 
corn and cotton crop are nearly ruined, and the 
leaves of the trees are withering and falling off, 
and numerous races of known and unknown in¬ 
sects committing extensive ravages. 
The great bulk of the corn crop is backward, 
and unhealthy looking. The wire worm has at¬ 
tacked it very severely and the plant has not vigor 
enough to withstand its depredations. If July and 
August are not extraordinarily favorable, with a 
mild fall, a great part of the crop in this region 
will be a failure. 
The wheat plant withstood the winter better 
than for a number of years, notwithstanding its 
exposure from the want of snow. The cold and 
wet spring has favored its tillering, and given it a 
great breadth of leaf and luxuriant foliage. From 
its lateness and the great growth of leaf and straw, 
fears are indulged, that if the ripening season is 
not very favorable, that extensive rust will ensue. 
Oats and barley look well on dry upland, as do 
potatoes, from the fact that the idea generally pre¬ 
vails, that they should be planted early on dry, and 
not too highly manured soil. 
Grass for hay on newly seeded land is very 
heavy; while old meadows, particularly those that 
were closely fed last fall, are quite below par, for 
a season so generally esteemed favorable for grass 
Pastures are good, and the white clover never 
looked finer. The root crops look tolerably well, 
but from the uufavorableness of the season, very 
narrow breadths have been sown. 
For fruit, the apple and pear has set well, and 
from those orchards of which this is the bearing 
vear, we may expect a large yield. Young and 
thrifty peach orchards are promising well, while 
old trees never looked worse. The curl has pre¬ 
vailed extensively,doing great damage to the lower 
and small limbs. All those twigs that simply put 
out their terminal buds, and do not push for new 
wood, are killed by this disease. Its first appear¬ 
ance was on the mornings of the 14th and 15th of 
May, both previous nights cool, with north-east 
winds. The leaf first folds up, looking quite trans¬ 
parent, as from the effects of frost,—the pulpy part 
of the leaf rap : dly commences increasing, without 
a corresponding enlargement of the anatomy or 
frame work; it consequently curls, puckers, and 
twists into shapes not unlike burnt leather, and 
falls off, and if there are no dormant buds to push 
forth, the limb and fruit dies. There seems to be 
a disorganization between the arterial and venous 
systems—or, the rising sap is sent into the leaf and 
is only elaborated one sido and does not descend to 
form new wood. The best observers attribute this 
dif-easo to the effects of cold easterly winds and not 
lo insects. It is not a little curious that a few va- 
r.eties are not affected at all, and some of them the 
earliest and teiideiest trees we have. 
The grape never promised better, but is quite 
late. In some localities, the blue steel hug com¬ 
menced early eating out the leaf buds, and have 
ruined the fruit; in others a small naked chocolate 
colored caterpiller is now destroying the leaves, 
as are the rose bugs, who attack the young flowe.- 
ing clusters. 
Plums and apricots are a dead letter, the circu- 
lio having made extensive depredations, and near¬ 
ly the entire crop has already fallen to the ground. 
Cherries are abundant and promise well. Straw¬ 
berries are not over fine this year, although they 
have had water enough, an important item when 
they are swelling. Yet the cold nights and want 
of good sun by day, has had an unfavorable effect 
on that delicious fruit. Green peas, which are a 
pretty good metre of tho geniality of a season, are 
full a fortnight behind last year, in their appear¬ 
ance in market. 
The whole army of depredatory insects — the 
Goths and Vandals of the earth and air,—are 
swarming over the land. The cut worm, wire 
worm, curculio, apple tree caterpiller, squash and 
cucumber bug, et id omne genus, those redundan¬ 
cies of prolific creation, are doing excessive dam¬ 
age in different localities. 
The fire blight on the pear has already com¬ 
menced, and some varieties of the apple tree arc 
showing its effects. A very extraordinary blight 
has struck the plum tree on buttonwood, which 
has almost entirely denuded them of leaves, excep 
a brush at the top twigs, and seemingly without 
[ cause, as none can be discovered. 
Eds. Rural:— Having seen several articles in 
the New-Yorker on bee-keeping and man¬ 
agement, I have concluded to send my mite of 
information and experience on the subject 
Patent beTo-hives, I regard as of little value to 
the Apiarian, for they add nothing to the amount 
of honey to be gathered. All that is necessary for 
profit, is a good hive for wintering the bees, so ar¬ 
ranged as to take away box-honey whenever itcan 
be spared from their stores. The cheapest, and 
perhaps as good a hive as any, is mtpL aiter the 
following pattern: 
Of inch boards, two pieces thirteen* inches wide, 
and twenty inches long, form tho front and back. 
Two pieces, the same length, and fifteen inches 
wide, form the sides—but these are to he sawed 
in two nine inches below the top, the upper pieces 
forming the chamber doors, and the lower, eleven 
inches long, forming the sides of the main hive. A 
board thirteen inches square makes tho chamber 
floor, and a narrow strip, two or threefinches long, 
is cut from the edges of this floor, back and front, to 
allow tho passage of the bees from the main hive 
to the boxes in the chamber. The boxes are 
made of thin siding, 12£ inches long, and 6 by 8 
window glass set in each end,—two standing in 
the chamber at a time, each when filled' holding 
about sixteen pounds of honey. 
1 prefer having my hives stand on three stakes 
—two under the back part, with a strip of board 
nailed across them to prevent the bottom board 
from warping—and the other under the front part 
of the hive. This gives the small birds a better 
chance to catch the millers whose eggs form the 
bee moth, which gather round the hives. Through 
July and August tho hives should be covered from 
the sun to prevent tho comb melting down—the 
rest of the year they need no protection. 
As the season of swarming has just commenc¬ 
ed, a few hiuts froirugine who has ui much ex¬ 
perience in their management, may be useful to 
your readers. 
Hiving young swarms is made quite easy, by 
having things convenient. If they light near 
where you want tho hive to stand, set the hive in 
its place, raise the frontside an inch or more from 
the bottom board. A wide board about four feet 
long, is placed in front of the hive, one end on 
the ground, tho other end raised to a level with 
the bottom board, to shake tho bees upon. Then 
you want what I call a scoop, to catch the bees in. 
Take a small pole, split tho top end sufficient to 
form a hoop two feet across, and sew a piece of 
cloth on the hoop to hold the bees when they are 
shaken from the limb. If your bees light in the 
top of a large fruit tree, go up with your scoop, 
hold it under the bees and shake them into it.— 
Nearly half will rise again on the wing, but hold 
the scoop convenient for them to light upon, and 
keep shaking the limb—they will light on the 
scoop. This will save cutting limbs from valua¬ 
ble fruit trees. 
To get the bees into the hive, place the edge of 
the scoop close to the front edge of the hive, and 
commence stirring the bees with a small stick 
nearest the entrance. In a few minutes you will 
have them running from all parts of the scoop to 
the hive. Then you may shake them all off from 
the scoop on to the wide board, and none will rise 
and go to the limb again. If the trees are not 
hu ge, it is convenient to have tho handle of the 
i scoop long enough to reach the bees, and a strip 
! of hoard one inch square, with a hook on one end 
i may be used to hitcli over the limbs to shake off 
the bees. If your bees are cross and difficult to 
manage, a tow fine chips burning in a small kettle 
will render them peaceable as soon as they fly 
through tho smoke a few times. 
If two large swarms light together and you wish 
to divide them, catch one of the queens, put it 
under a glass tumbler and set it in the shade; then 
put the bees into two hives. In a few minutes the 
bees that have no queen with thorn will be uneasy 
and begin to leave the hive; then put the queen 
with them, and if there is two queens, you will 
seldom fail of success. Make young swarms 
commence in the main hive first, and add boxes as 
they want more room, which will be known by 
the bees gathering over the out sido of the hive. 
West Bloomfield, June, 1851. Alvin Wilcox. 
A SYMMETRICAL COTTAGE. 
Our readers who are farmers can live in good 
houses; and their fitness, beauty, and order should 
be such as becomes the most intelligent and refined 
rural population of any country on the globe. Such 
homes are of the highest social and moral value to 
a people. Make the “family hearth a central 
point of the Beautiful and the Good,” and you 
create that which shall influence every member of 
that household throughout their whole existence. 
To promote this end we give occasional plans of 
tasteful cottages, which, though they inay not suit 
exactly any one’s wants and circumstances, will 
assist those who design building, materially in 
planning for themselves. We take our engraving 
and condense the description which follows, from 
Downing’s Country Houses: 
cottage, for the sum proposed, than the present de¬ 
sign. Though picturesque in its exterior, it is not 
so much so as to demand a highly rural or pic¬ 
turesque site, but would look equally well either in 
the suburbs of a town or in the midst of the country. 
The chimneys in the elevation show one of the 
forms made in Garnkirk fire clay. These are sold 
by the importers (Jas. Lee & Co., New York and 
Boston,) at from $4 to $6 each. The base of 
this chimney (of common brick work) should be 
carried up a couple of feet above the level of the 
ridge of the roof before the chimney-tops are set 
Construction. —The exterior of this cottage is 
vertical boarding—of planed and matched floor 
plank about 10 inches wide. The window frames 
are from three to three and a half ieet, inside 
measure—with a centre mullion and latticed sash¬ 
es. The roof of the porch is nearly flat and 
roofed with tin, so as to form a balcony to the bed¬ 
room window over it. 
The house is, of course, filled in with brick on 
edge, set flush with the outside of the frame, and 
the inside walls plastered on the face of the brick. 
Estimate. —The cost of this cottage, with the 
interior neatly finished and painted in oil color, and 
the two principal rooms grained and vanished like 
oak, and their wails papered with suitable paper— 
all the other walls being brown walls white-washed 
—would be $835. 
STIR THE SOIL. 
Hints in Season. —“ Be sure you’re right, then 
go ahead.” This is not the time for inactivity, or 
to pay or receive visits. Drive your work, and if 
possible let every thing be done in season ,—and 
with system and order. “ Make hay while the 
sun shines,” and cut and securo grain at the 
earliest moment it is fit for the cradle or reaper. 
Use the best implements,—and don’t give tho 
bovs the poorest, and expect them to keep up with 
men. It will pay to let your boys and workmen 
have a holiday on the “ Glorious Fourth.” Re¬ 
member, “ all work and no play,” &c. 
GROUND PLAN. 
Whoever loves symmetry and the simpler kind 
of cottage beaut}*, including good proportion, taste¬ 
ful forms, and chasteness of ornament, we think, 
cannot but like this little design—since it unites all 
those requisites. It is an illustration of a cottage 
made ornamental with very trifling expense, and 
without sacrificing truthfulness to that kind of 
tasteful simplicity which is the true touchstone of 
cottage beauty. This cottage is designed in the 
rural Gothic or English manner, but much modi¬ 
fied, so as to adapt it to almost any site. 
The light, open porch of this cottage may be 
omitted without injuring the design, but it gives 
the front an air of so much feeling and refinement 
aside from its manifest utility, that we should al¬ 
ways hope to see it adopted by those about to ex¬ 
ecute the design. 
Accommodation. —The kitchen is on the same 
floor with the living-room. Many families would 
prefer to use the room marked “parlor” in the 
plan, as a bed-room, and, if so used, the cottage 
would be a very complete one for a small family 
_having living-room, bed-room, pantry, &c., on 
the same floor. But to others who would prefer 
to have no bed-room on this floor, a parlor would 
be looked upon as far more important. 
In the plan, A is the porch, from which we en¬ 
ter the hall or entry, 8 feet v/ide—with the two 
best rooms, each 16 by 18 feet, on either side of 
it. Connected with the living-room, in its rear, is 
a good pantry, B is the back entry communicat¬ 
ing with the kitchen. C is the back-porch, which 
may be left open in summer and enclosed in win¬ 
ter, when it will serve as a place for coal and 
wood. On one side of the kitchen fire-place is a 
closet, and on the other a sink, into which, if pos¬ 
sible, a water pipe should be brought. 
The first story of this cottage is supposed to be 
10 feet, and the chamebr story 5 feet on the sides, 
and 8 feet in the middle of the rooms. The pitch 
of the roof is a right angle. 
As the entry, or hall, of this plan is wide, and 
the arrangements both simple and convenient, we 
think it will be difficult to build a more agreeable 
The greater drought, the more necessity for fre¬ 
quently stirring the soil among our hoed crops, and 
in our gardens. The atmosphere even in the hot¬ 
test days contains a large amount of moisture, as 
will readily be observed when there is any cause 
for its condensation—such as the cold surface of a 
pitcher of ice water—upon which it gathers from 
the air, so as to run down its sides in drops of con¬ 
siderable size. Tho earth, if light and porous 
from deep plowing and frequent culture will, in 
the same way, absorb much water from the atmos¬ 
phere. 
The difference in the amount of moisture gath¬ 
ered by a soil frequently stirred and roughened, is 
much larger than generally supposed. The soil 
when undisturbed, soon becomes from rain and 
other causes, smooth and hard with a much small¬ 
er surface and power of attraction than it would 
otherwise possess. “ After disintegration the at¬ 
mosphere can readily enter the soil, and on meet¬ 
ing with the colder particles below, is robbed of 
the moisture it contains,” which process is con¬ 
tinually repeated where a light and open surface 
admits of continual absorption. “ It is for this rea¬ 
son that frequent hoeing is found so beneficial, and 
also from similar causes that under-drained and 
sub-soiled land suffer least from drought.” 
Not only is moisture best absorbed by a fre¬ 
quently stirred soil, but the inanurial gases—car¬ 
bonic acid and ammonia—are more extensively 
attracted and appropriated from the atmosphere. 
Soils, light from a mixture of muck, suffer less 
irom drought than most others. There is no dan¬ 
ger of any deeply plowed soil becoming still dryer 
by the most thorough exposure to the sun and air, 
as some suppose. Stir the soil, then—suffer uo 
weeds to live—and you may be sure to reap the 
rich reward of thorough and constant culture. 
This Number of the Rural is somewhat more 
pictorial than any of its predecessors—and em¬ 
braces a variety of reading and illustrations which 
must prove highly interesting to all who com¬ 
memorate our Nation’s Birth Day. Of course 
we are unable to preserve the general arrange¬ 
ment of the paper, or give the usual variety of 
matter appropriate to each department. Yet 
we have the confidence to believe that the con¬ 
tents and appearance of our sheet will give gen¬ 
eral satisfaction, if not elicit special attention. 
