MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
between Brussels and the celebrated field 
of Waterloo, is nearly two miles long and 
one mile wide; it consists of beech trees 
from one foot to 18 inches in diameter, reg¬ 
ularly planted and pruned, while the ground 
in which they grow is entirely cleared of 
underbrush and covered with grass for pas¬ 
turage. 
The principal object of these plantations 
is a supply of timber; there ate, however, 
numerous other advantages derived from 
them. By means of vegetation, the proper 
balance between the carbonic acid and oxy¬ 
gen gas of the atmosphere is kept up: 
forests also prevent evaporation and keep 
the soil more moist in localities that would 
otherwise become arid. In districts and 
countries where there are no forests, the soil 
is generally dry, with remarkably few springs 
and small streams: large streams and lakes 
are also affected by the same cause. The 
mean annual quantity of rain is much less 
in these countries than where there are 
forests: in some naked, desert parts of 
South America it seldom or never rains; 
while in Chili and Peru where there are 
abundant and luxuriant forests it rains al¬ 
most incessantly. 
Humboldt justly remarks, “by cutting 
down the forests mankind are every where 
bringing upon future generations a twofold 
misfortune, viz., a scarcely of water and a 
destitution of wood.” By changing the hy- 
grometrical constitution of a country, the 
temperature and qualities of the soil, and 
consequently the agriculture are in time 
greatly changed. So that if we expect to 
retain the cultivation of those crops which 
are peculiar to our country, we must culti¬ 
vate and retain a large part of our forest 
lands, or cultivate timber plantations.— 
Many parts of our yet new country are al¬ 
ready nearly destitute of wood, and unless 
we pursue a better policy in this respect, 
we shall soon be as poor in wood for fen¬ 
cing, building and fuel as any country in 
Europe. 
DIVISIONS OF LAND IN FRANCE. 
Since the Revolution, which preceded 
the “ reign of terror” in France, the law of 
primogeniture has been abolished, so that 
at the decease of a land-owner, his estate 
is divided equally among his children or 
other heirs. The proposition for this law 
met with much opposition, but its beneficial 
effects so far, have been entirely satisfactory. 
It was predicted that the land would all be 
divided up into little patches, —but this has 
not been the case; one of the heirs of an 
estate has often purchased the interest of 
the rest, so that in many instances the farms 
have remained entire. In other cases es¬ 
tates have been divided so that several men, 
instead of a single one became proprietors. 
The law in this respect, operates with per¬ 
fect justice, as it leaves the disposition of the 
property to those most interested; too great 
an accumulation in the hands of a few is 
prevented, and every man may at least in¬ 
dulge in the hope that he may sometime 
own a portion of the soil which he cultivates 
In the rural districts, remote from large 
towns, there are farms containing from one 
to five hundred acres, or more in a few 
cases. The law which requires a division 
of land, does not require that it shall be 
permanent; but only that it shall be brought 
into market, and then disposed of at the will 
of the owners. The average size of farms 
in France exceeds those in Belgium, and 
falls far below those in England. In 
Belgium the farms do not exceed, on an 
average, 75 acres; and many contain only 
from 10 to 20 acres. 
Too great a subdivision, in order that eve¬ 
ry man might have a “ homestead,” would 
be absurd, and destructive to the farming 
interests, excepting in the vicinity of large 
towns, where small pieces of land could be 
made to pay well for tillage only by raising 
fruit, garden vegetables and poultry: but 
in no country, can grain farming be carried 
on to any extent on little patches of soil, 
such as would be required by an “ equali¬ 
zation of property.” Belgium presents ex¬ 
amples of successful farming on farms of 20 
acres, but this is too small for successful 
grain farming in most countries. Most of 
the rural population remote from towns, 
would be far more prosperous to work the 
soil for large proprietors, than to undertake 
farming on their own account on so small a 
farm. A great advantage of sub division 
in France is, that a larger number of men 
are guarantied an interest in the soil, which 
would ,be endangered by revolutions, and 
consequently the proprietors are not likely 
to engage in them. By this means also a 
larger amount of labor is secured, and con¬ 
sequently a larger supply of the necessaries 
of life: a better tone of public morals, more 
health and happiness, also follow as direct 
consequences. 
A law then which produces so many sal¬ 
utary effects, must tend greatly to amelior¬ 
ate the condition of the great mass of poorer 
population, and add greatly to the wealth 
of the country. There can be no doubt 
that if an equalization of property should 
take place to morrow, so that each man 
should possess precisely as much as every 
other, it would be but a short time before 
it would change ham’s and resolve itself in¬ 
to about the same condition as at present. 
The greater number would become vol¬ 
untarily poor, and a few would become 
again rich almost without exertion. And 
although not at all agrarian in principle, I 
should prefer that any government should 
weigh equally the claims of all its subjects 
and deal them justice in the outset; allow 
all primitive, original rights, and guaranty 
their security so far as their possessors en-' 
deavored to hold and maintain them by 
honest industry and enterprise: but no man 
ought to expect the law to secure or reserve 
to him more than he is willing to render an 
equivalent for in useful labor, either mental 
or physical. Such a law would operate 
partially, and would be unjust to all classes; 
it would not be founded in accordance with 
the original differences in the character of 
the human family, and is therefore founded 
in error. 
WIRE WORMS, INSECTS, &c. 
In the 27th No. of the Rural, mention 
is made of the w ire-worm and some others, 
us being unusually destructive in your part 
of the country. The same is true of this 
place. Last year the corn in my garden was 
uninjured, although the ground was a dark 
moist soil that had lain to meadow for sev¬ 
eral years. It was plowed in Nov. preced¬ 
ing, and again in the following May. This 
season it was plowed in May, and planted 
chiefly the latter part of the same month. 
The corn, (some of which was not plant¬ 
ed till in June,) and some other things, have 
suffered very much especially the late plant¬ 
ed, which is almost entirely destroyed. The 
same little brown worm that you describe, 
has made sad work among my “buds” of 
the apple, attacking them soon after open¬ 
ing, (and some even before,) and eating out 
the heart or centre, so as to kill them out¬ 
right. It appears that without any appa¬ 
rent cause, worms and insects are much 
more numerous and destructive in some 
years than in others; but it has generally 
been observed, that when they have abound¬ 
ed in one year, they have been scarce the 
next. Extremes generally follow each 
other. h. 
CANADA THISTLES. 
If your correspondent “ Leonade ” had 
visited the western part of Tompkins coun¬ 
ty some 10 or 15 years ago, he might have 
found farms so covered with Canada this¬ 
tles, that when ripe a breeze would fill the 
air with thistle down, like snow-flakes in a 
winter storm. He m : ght also have seen 
wheat fields of 8 or 10 acres, in which the 
ground was not half cut over, and of part 
of that, the wheat was picked from the 
thistles before binding; Yet, from the most 
of these fields, they have been so nearly 
eradicated, as now to give little trouble.— 
But some are yet so covered that I think 
he would soon despair of getting clear of 
them by the recommended cut-close and 
pickle-down practice. Among the best 
ways of exterminating them, is one spoken 
of in the Rural; that of mowing them when 
in blossom, and the stalk hollow,—and if 
before a rain, all the better—as the water 
fills the stems and causes the roots to de¬ 
cay ; and if cut before summer fallowing, the 
better still. Arvillo. 
Effects of Irrigation. —Water, applied 
to the soil by irrigation gives many other 
things beside humidity; it manures, con¬ 
solidates, deepens the staple, or surface 
mould, and guards against cold—effects as 
obvious in a northern, as in a southern 
climate. 
Cultivators of the earth are the most 
valuable citizens. They are the most in¬ 
dependent, the most virtuous, and they are 
tied to their country, and wedded to its lib¬ 
erty and interests, by the most lasting bonds. 
— Jefferson. 
FIELD ROLLER. 
In presenting the readers of the Rural 
with the cut of a field roller, we only intro¬ 
duce to their notice an old acquaintance.— 
Various methods have been in use among 
farmers to obtain pressure upon lands which 
have been plowed for crops, as well as those 
devoted to grass. In England the treading 
of sheep has been considered highly advan¬ 
tageous to the wheat crop, provided the 
land was thoroughly drained and subsoiled. 
Some farmers have employed not only 
sheep, but horses, and even men, who, it 
has been found could tread down land for 
three shillings per acre. 
Use is also made of an instrument called a 
peg-roller, formed of a heavy wood cylinder, 
studded with hard-wood pegs, about four 
inches part. This has been pronounced an 
efficient instrument when drawn over land, 
imitating as it did, the consolidating power 
exercised by a flock of sheep. The Eng¬ 
lish farmer regards pressing down the land 
as a valuable means of preventing the op¬ 
erations of the grubs and wire worms.— 
In our country, to obtain the same result, 
rollers have usually been rrade of a cylin¬ 
der of wood, dispensing with the pegs. They 
have been found of service in rolling light 
soils, by rendering them more compact and 
tenacious. Use is also made of them on 
meadow lands to render the surface smooth, 
and press the small stones below the reach 
of the scythe. Many of our farmers are 
in the habit of rolling their spring crops as 
soon as sown, particularly if they seed to 
grass at the same time. 
CATTLE FAIRS. 
It seems to me that, in this respect, we 
might learn a good lesson from the English 
farmer. We have nothing analogous to the 
numerous county and village fairs which 
are held at stated periods in all parts of 
Great Britain. If a farmer here wishes to 
buy a lot of sheep or cattle for fattening or 
other purposes, either in the fall or spring, 
he is obliged, after purchasing what he can 
advantageously in his own vicinity, to wait 
for a passing drove from which to make a 
selection. This may not come at the right 
time, and may not suit him as to price or 
quality when it does come; he may, there¬ 
fore, be either disappointed altogether, or 
forced to buy what does not exactly please. 
If he wishes a pair of working cattle, or a 
horse, he must leave his work, and drive 
about the country often for days, before find¬ 
ing any thing fit for his purpose or with¬ 
in his means. I might go on to mention 
many other inconveniences connected with 
the present system, but every practical far¬ 
mer knows them better than I. 
That there is a growing feeling on the 
subject, is proved by the numerous attempts 
now making in various parts of the country 
to connect sales of stock and implements 
with the country and other fairs. This is 
an excellent way of making these fairs still 
more impo tant, and more popular, than 
they have ever been. If they could be 
made places to which, at certain times, 
stock of ali kinds will congregate for sale 
as well as for exhibition, the interest of the 
masses in them would augment wonderfully. 
Buyers and drovers with stock would be 
drawn together from a distance, more or 
less great, according to the importance ol 
the fair. By one influence or another, the 
people of a whole Country or district would 
thus be gradually gathered in to take a 
part in the fair, if not for the sake of im¬ 
provement, at least as buyers or sellers.— 
Prof. Norton. 
A SMART TURKEY. 
There is on the farm of Mr Paris Mathew 
son, in Johnston, a male turkey, who has the 
present season, set upon twenty-one eggs, 
and hatched eighteen of them—having 
driven his better half from the nest, and ta¬ 
ken upon himself all the female cares of do¬ 
mestic life, and spurned all interference 
from die gentler sex. This is’nt all. When 
his turkeyship got his own brood out of the 
way, he found some of the women folks in 
the old flock had also been at work, and 
that there were in all sixty-seven young 
turkeys to be taken of. All these he has 
taken care of, and is now a sort of lord 
mayor of the whole tribe, and knocks down 
all the intefering old ladies that come into 
his presence. lie is a queer fellow and a 
good one in the bargain.— Prov. Post. 
The roller has also done some service in 
wheat land, liable from freezing or other 
causes, to heave out the roots and expose 
them to the wet and frost. Pressing the 
land down immediately after sowing, and 
again as soon as it is dry enough in spring 
helps to keep the roots in the ground, and 
ensures a better crop. But with us, as in 
England, the land should be thoroughly 
drained and subsoiled, as rolling wet, heavy 
lands must be an injury instead of a ben¬ 
efit — adding largely to their tenacity and 
compactness. 
The roller is used to good advantage to 
level and compress sod lands when plowed 
for spring crops, a practice has also obtain¬ 
ed to a considerable extent, of rolling down 
the summer fallow soon after plowing, when 
fitting the land for the wheat crop by the 
use of the wheel cultivator, which, we un¬ 
derstand, gives good satisfaction. 
The most approved mode of construction, 
is in two sections of equal length which 
revolve on a shaft fast in the frame. They 
work easier, in turning round, and are alto¬ 
gether better than a whole cylinder. The 
cut represents a roller constructed with 
arms, and a rim or flange, covered with 
staves or wide boards, in the manner of 
large cylinders used in driving machinery. 
The most approved method, is to have them 
made of iron, in separate sections, 22 or 30 
; inches in diameter, placed on a wrought iron 
| arbor, on which they turn independent of 
' each other. They are more durable, but 
j much more expensive than when made of 
I wood. + 
l 
NEWLY DISCOVERED DEODORIZER. 
Mention was made, in a previous num¬ 
ber of the Journal, of a newly discovered 
substance, possessing the property of ren¬ 
dering fetid matter inodorous. At that time 
sufficient opportunity had not been afford¬ 
ed to test fully its merits, and we were un¬ 
willing to commit ourselves until perfectly 
satisfied that it would accomplish all that it 
was represented to do. Since then we have 
given it a fair trial upon matter which was 
most offensive to the olfactories, and must 
say that the result was both satisfactory and 
astonishing. Any putrid decomposed ani¬ 
mal or vegetable matter, placed in contact 
with this agent, was, in a very short time, 
rendered perfectly inodorous. We take 
much pleasure in testifying to its merits, 
and trust it will prove as satisfactory in ex¬ 
periments by others as it has in the few by 
ourselves. 
To Dr. J. D. Buzzell, one of the directors 
of the company who prepare it, we are in¬ 
debted for much useful and interesting 
matter relative to its discovery and manu¬ 
facture, some of which we shall at an early 
day lay before our readers. It would be 
well if the Boards of Health of large towns 
and cities should examine for themselves, 
this new agent, and give the result of their 
investigation to the public. There cannot 
be too much done for the preservation of 
health and lives of our citizens, and those 
who by their researches promote the one, 
and prolong the other, may be considered 
benefactors of the race, and richly merit a 
reward of their labors. This deodorizer is 
manufactured by the Great Pond Mining- 
Company, Cape Elizabeth, near Portland, 
Maine, and is offered at a veiy low price, in 
order to induce our citizens to make trial 
of its remarkable properties. — Poston Med¬ 
ical Journal. 
Mulching Tomatoes.— There exists in 
the minds of cultivators a great difference 
fo opinion with regard to the best method of 
managing the tomato. Some tie them up 
on bushes, while most people allow nature 
to take its own course. 
Now, sir, my method is to cultivate well, 
till the vines get large enough to begin to 
lean and spread, then to hoe the ground 
over fresh, and cover the entire surface, one 
or two inches thick at least, with clean 
straw. 
This proves beneficial in keeping down 
the weeds, in retaining moisture, and in 
keeping the fruit perfectly clean. I tried 
the above method last year, at the sugges¬ 
tion of a friend, and was perfectly satisfied 
with the result.— Cor. N. E. Farmer. 
Let every farmer who has a son to edu¬ 
cate, believe and remember, that science 
lays the foundation of everything valuable 
in agriculture. 
WHY NOT GROW MORE WOOL! 
It has been the aim of this journal to so 
awaken the attention of farmers as to ena¬ 
ble them to adopt the most profitable sys¬ 
tem. We have therefore urged upon them 
from time to time an increase of their flocks 
of sheep. Our own experience and obser¬ 
vation have satisfied us that there is no kind 
of farming that is so generally profitable as 
raising sheep and wool, it matters not 
whether you are upon the bleak mountains 
of Vermont or in the fertile plains of Texas, 
upon the prairies of the West or the now 
solitary hills and mountains of the iSouth. 
Everywhere and anywhere the sheep will 
live and thrive and with proper care pay 
more for the labor and capital invested than 
any other animal or any system of farming. 
It is one of the most tueful and economical 
machines which has t een given us to con¬ 
vert the vegetation of the farm into money. 
Were it for the first time now presented 
to us, we should consider the sheep one of 
the most wonderful animals nature has pro¬ 
duced for the use of man. Its annual 
growth of wool so admirably calculated for 
human clothing and used in every portion 
of the globe, its skin and flesh, and in many 
localities its milk, all serve for the neces¬ 
saries or luxuries of man. There is no ani¬ 
mal in which there is so little waste or so 
little loss. For at least seven years of its 
life it will give an annual fleece equal to 
each year the value of the carcass, and the 
yearly increase will be nearly or quite equal 
to the cost of keeping, giving as a general 
thing a profit of cent per cent. Of ali other 
animals the cow comes nearest to the sheep 
in the profit it returns to the farmer if well 
cared for; it will pay for itself each year by 
the milk it yields, and defray also the cost 
of keeping. 
Is there any branch of farming or any 
other kind of legitimate business that will 
yield for a series of years a profit of 10 per 
cent? We assume that there is none. The 
very idea that profit of 50 per cent, could 
be realised in any branch of buisness would 
set the whole capital of the country in mo¬ 
tion. Farms would be sold, merchants 
would sell off their stocks, bankers close 
their banks, and everybody who had money 
to invest would rush into this gold mine. 
We aver, without fear of contradiction in 
truth, that there is hardly a locality in the 
whole Union, where any kind of farm ani¬ 
mal can subsist, that the sheep if properly 
attended to will not give a net profit on ihe 
investment of at least 50 per cent, and that 
with the ordinary management of farms it 
will give some 20 to 40 per cent 
That there is no danger of overdoing the 
business we have shown repeatedly in previ¬ 
ous numbers. The annual increase of popu¬ 
lation in the Union requires the wool from 
three millions of sheep, so that to clothe 
the increased population would require an 
annual increase of sheep equal to four mil¬ 
lions. But when we come to consider that 
there is now an annual deficiency of over 
seventy millions of pounds, there can be no 
doubt that wool growing is the most stable 
pursuit that can be engaged in. We can¬ 
not glut the market, nor will there be any 
long lime that the market will depressed 
below a point of profitable production. On 
the contrary, it is certain that no farm pro¬ 
duct goes less below this point than wool. 
It has long been a source of constant won¬ 
der to us that so many farmers in the Wes¬ 
tern States neglect the sheep for the very 
precarious business of grain growing. Eve¬ 
ry year will give them a crop of wool if 
they do but take care of their sheep. But 
there is no certainty for wheat, prepare the 
ground ever so well. If we have been 
rightly informed, the wheat raised in the 
West has cost the farmer more than he has 
obtained for it in market. Too much de¬ 
pendence has been placed upon this most 
uncertain and expensive crop. We have 
tried wheat-growing upon probably as good 
a wheat farm as can be found in Western 
New York, and we have also tried sheep 
upon the same farm, and we are free to 
confess that, although we have a good mar¬ 
ket at our own door, yet we can raise a 
given amount of money quicker and much 
easier with a flock of sheep than with wheat. 
But we find it well to raise both sheep and 
wheat, as by that means we find we get a 
better profit than to be confined to either 
alone. With us, and in this reigon, four 
years is as long as it proves profitable to 
leave land to grass. Very few now resort 
to naked fallows. Some mow their clover 
early, and then let it grow till August, when 
it is turned under, cultivated, and sown to 
wheat; others mow the first year, and pas¬ 
ture with sheep the second, and then plow. 
Every good farmer keeps a few good sheep 
at least. Very many who have been in the 
habit of putting up a large quantity of pork 
for summer use now select out a few weth¬ 
ers and give them extra keep and make 
their summer meat of mutton, decidedly 
the most healthful that can be used, and 
thus realize the money for their pork fresh. 
The inducements to grow more wool are: 
a sure market, less fluctuation from the point 
of profitable production than any farm pro¬ 
duct, a larger interest of profit on the capital 
invested than any other business, and there¬ 
fore the best business as a general thing 
that the farmer can follow.— Wool Grower. 
