MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
PRESERVATION AND USE OF STRAW. 
Messrs. Editors:— In Western New 
York, straw is worth more care than some 
farmers bestow on it. With many it is 
thrown into a sort of an excuse for a stack, 
or removed just so as to get it out of the 
way of the machine. This mode of doing 
business is all out of order, for the straw 
left thus will require a long time to rot suf¬ 
ficiently to be drawn out as manure, as por¬ 
tions of it long remain dry or nearly so. 
Every farmer will find it to his advan¬ 
tage to build a good firm stack pen, say 
seven or eight rails high—well staked or 
locked, with two rails at each corner of the 
pen. Build your pen as near as you can 
guess, just large enough for the straw you 
intend for it, and then stack it as nicely as 
you would hay, and if your stack is large, 
provide yourself with a hay knife, cut down 
and feed out as regularly as you would 
your hay. 
A good thing to put upon your straw is 
a good supply of brine, (as fine salt will 
not dissolve,) and this can be easily done 
when stacking. The advantages of using- 
brine are many. Your cattle, horses and 
sheep will eat it better, and there will al¬ 
ways be a supply of salt in their feed, be¬ 
sides salt is considered a fertilizer, and on 
some lands very beneficial to crops, and 
perhaps would not be injurious to any.— 
This three-fold benefit is sufficient to com¬ 
pensate any farmer the trouble and ex¬ 
pense of putting a good supply of salt, 
in the shape of brine upon his stack of 
straw. 
And feeding out straw as above men¬ 
tioned, has many advantages over the com¬ 
mon careless way of letting cattle run to 
stack as they please, and pull out and tread 
under foot, until they are in danger of be- 
iug crushed to death by the fall of the 
heavy mass of snow and ice that invariably 
accumulates upon the top of the stack. An 
instance of this kind once came under my 
notice. Word came that the straw stack 
had fell over, or the trap had sprung and 
caught under it a fine two year old 
heifer. Hark, she is alive; I hear her 
breathe. Call the boys; go ask neighbors 
A, B and C, if they will come and help 
dig out the poor creature. Then with forks, 
shovels, old axes, and every thing we could 
get hands on, we fell to work to remove the 
frozen mass, and release the poor animal 
from her uneasy confinement. 
By taking the above advice, all such 
troubles may be avoided, and you may have 
plenty of this kind of fodder to last all 
winter, and no more; for it should all be 
thrown out in the course of the winter and 
spring, that it may become mixed with the 
manure and absorb its liquid portions, and 
thus become rotten, when it can be easily 
removed from the yard with forks and 
wagons to the soil that most needs it. 
O f 
From experience and observation we 
have become satisfied that the spring is the 
best time to clean your barn yard, not by 
throwiug it into large heaps in or out of the 
yard, but by drawing it where you want to 
use, with as much moisture in it as it will 
absorb, drop in loads so near together as 
will manure as high as you wish, then 
spread no faster than you want to plow so 
as to prevent loss by evaporation. 
J. Siblev. 
Eagle Harbor, Aug. 1, 1851. 
Economical Manure Sheds. — H. M. 
Baker, a Virginia farmer, thus describes the 
manner of protecting his manure from wash¬ 
ing rains and the exhausting power of the 
sun: — 
“ Set a row of forked posts through the 
cattle yard, 10 feet high, to sustain a range 
pole. Nine feet distant, set another row, 
eight feet high; and nine feet further, an¬ 
other row six feet high; put range poles 
upon these and cover the whole with old 
rails or poles, and brush, and upon these, 
put straw, cornstalks, or sedge, to form a 
roof, which will shed off most of the water 
and all the sun. Brace the corners well to 
prevent accidents from high winds, and 
heap up all yourmanure,commencingatone 
end, so as to allow cattle to occupy the oth¬ 
er portion, and you will gain twice the cost 
of the shed every year.” 
The Potato Rot.— Dr. T. W. Harris, of 
Harvard College, a distinguished entomol¬ 
ogist, has written a long letter to Mr, Proc¬ 
tor, of Danvers, (published in the Salem 
Observer,) in which he expresses his opin¬ 
ion very confidently, that insects have no 
concern or connection with the potato dis- 
ONE CLASS OF FARMERS. 
Eds. Rural: —Farmers, like men of all 
other vocations and trades, differ widely in | 
character and disposition,—and like every j 
other class comprise “ good, bad, and indif¬ 
ferent.” As well might one attempt to 
teach and show a blind man the difference 
and properties of colors, as endeavor to 
portray in a single description, a common 
similitude of the farmer. But as the old 
adage “ from one know all,” would not ap¬ 
ply in this case, I will endeavor to enumer¬ 
ate some of the different kinds of farmers 
embraced in that portion called bad farm¬ 
ers. 
A. owns a farm of some two or three 
hundred acres, keeps but a small amount 
of help, and that the poorest, because he 
hires the men that will work for the least 
wages. He toils hard himself; early and 
late he is at work at that which, by dint of 
labor, yields him the most immediate gain. 
Puts in a great amount of wheat, because 
a bushel of that is worth in market two 
bushels of most any other kind of grain. 
He greatly neglects his buildings, and es¬ 
pecially his fences. Manure is but seldom 
an enricher of his soil, and systematic rota¬ 
tion of crops is as incomprehensible to him 
as the most abstruse theory of Euclid. He 
literally skins his farm, and then complains 
of the poor quality of the land. Not hap¬ 
piness or enjoyment, but riches, is his chief, 
his only aim. 
B. is another farmer, but, unlike Mr. A., 
does not work. He is inclined rather to 
sloth than to industry; his whole premises 
look shabby, and he lets his farm piecemeal, 
on shares. 
Next, and the last I shall mention, is C., 
a man averse to improvement, and in many 
points exceedingly eccentric. He clings 
with tenacity to the ways and customs of 
his early and remote ancestors,—don’t like 
“ book farming,” and therefore takes no ag¬ 
ricultural paper. 
Such we should hardly call farmers; 
they are not at least “ cultivators of the 
soil.” We are much afraid that the first 
will injure his health and shorten his life; 
of the second we predict an early introduc¬ 
tion to want; and the last reminds us of 
the boy who went to mill with a bag upon 
his shoulder, containing a bushel and a half 
of wheat—having the wheat in one end, 
and a stone to balance it in the other. 
STRENGTH OF WIRE FENCES. 
We copy from the Farmer’s Guide, the 
following with regard to wire fence, not only 
as it is a subject which is causing consider¬ 
able attention at the present time, but that 
it gives a rather different view of the best 
kinds of wire adapted to the purpose, than 
has generall y been held: 
The wires used in fencing are of differ¬ 
ent kinds, and bear different names. They 
are named common, prepared, charcoal, and 
annealed wires. The common is the ordin¬ 
ary wire of commerce, and is the kind which 
has hitherto been mostly employed in wire 
fences. It is made from the coarser sorts 
of iron, and, as its name indicates, bears a 
corresponding relation, both as regard qual¬ 
ity and price. 
Prepared wire is made from a finer de¬ 
scription of iron, is more carefully manu¬ 
factured, comes out in longer length, is con¬ 
sequently superior in quality, and bears a 
higher price in market. 
Charcoal wire is the best and strongest 
of any of the qualities made. It is drawn 
from charcoal iron, prepared chiefly by 
wood charcoal, which is freer from the im¬ 
purities known to deteriorate the quality of 
iron that exists in a greater or less degree 
in all fuels used in the manufacture of the 
other descriptions of that material. 
Annealed wire is the common wire soft¬ 
ened in the furnace, and sent out in that 
state. It is purchased at the same price as 
the common, and is in some districts used 
in preference, from its being softer and more 
easily handled than the other. It is, how¬ 
ever, the very worst that can be put into a 
fence, and ought always to be rejected. It 
easily bends, and remains so from want of 
elasticity; and it soon oxidises, even when 
painted. 
The following table exhibits the compar¬ 
ative qualities of these wires, as tested by 
the number of pounds each kind sustains 
before breaking, the length being 10 feet: 
COMMON WIRE. 
No. 8 broke with 590 lbs. 
No. 6 “ “ 844 “ 
No. 4 “ “ 1268 “ 
without perceptibly 
stretching. 
TIME OF CUTTING SEED WHEAT. 
In the Rural of July 3d, an article on 
the above subject declares:—“ As soon as 
the straw immediately below the head 
turns yellow, no more nourishment can be 
received from the root.” In the last pas¬ 
sage,— “For seed, it is thought wheat 
should be suffered to stand until ripe.” 
That wheat yields more when cut early, 
I believe. That it is better for seed when 
cut at a later period, may be true, but I 
would like to see the experiment made two 
or three years in succession. 
When circulation in the straw ceases, 
there can be but little further elaboration 
in the grain, and that little seems to be an 
increase of woody fibre, at the expense of 
the starch and sugar, and consequently a 
decrease of food to sustain the future plant 
until it can draw its subsistence from the 
ground. If it can be shown that the germ 
is immature at the time the grain is capa¬ 
ble of affording the greatest weight of 
matter, and that early cutting prevents its 
perfect organization, then let it stand. 
Is not that grain best for seed which 
grows most readily ? I have heard farmers 
assert, that in a wet season early cut wheat 
is much more apt than late, to grow in the 
sheaf. Would not this, if true, indicate the 
propriety of early cutting for seed ? 
If some one that can, would sow early 
and late harvested seed beside each other, 
cutting again for seed early from the former 
and late from the latter, and so on three or 
four years, would it not settle the question ? 
This might seem a small matter, but if 
the result would show us how in ten years 
to increase our crop one bushel to the acre, 
the whole increase might make, at all events, 
a big loaf for a farmer’s jubilee. Every 
such improvement needs time; but hope on. 
Perhaps I am the only one uninformed 
on this subject; if so, do not laugh at me, 
but throw this in the fire. s. s. l. 
Never plow in bad weather, or when the 
ground is very wet. 
ANNEALED wire. 
No. 8 broke with 605 lbs., stretched 4J inches. 
No. 6 “ “ 832 “ “ 3 
No. 4 “ “ 1282 “ “ 2 
PREPARED WIRE. 
No. 8 broke with 955 lbs., stretched 1 inch. 
No. 6 “ “ 1380 “ “ l “ 
No. 4 “ “ 2163 “ “ \ “ 
CHARCOAL WIRE. 
No. 8 broke with 1274 lbs., ) stretched the same 
No. 6 “ “ 1762 “ > as the prepared 
No. 4 “ “ 2666 “ ) wire. 
These are the Nos. used in wire fences. 
Each bundle of wire is made up of 63 lbs., 
and each bundle runs thus:— 
No. 4 extends from 140 to 150 yards. 
No. 6 “ “ 180 to 200 “ 
No. 8 “ “ 280 to 300 “ 
The cost of the different kinds of wire of 
the same size, from No. 1 to No. 6 is 
the same. No. 1 to No. 6 of common wire 
costs from 8s. 6d. to 10s. 6d. per bundle; 
the prepared is 2s. more, and the charcoal 
2s. more than the prepared. 
MATERIALS FOR MANURE. 
August is usually the dryest month of 
the year, and consequently most favorable 
to the reclamation of wet lands, and to the 
excavation of “ muck ” for manure. Every 
farmer should provide substances of some 
kind for absorbing the liquid of his stables 
and yards. Straw, or litter of any kind 
will answer for this purpose, but all farms 
do not afford this material in sufficient quan¬ 
tity. We have often recommended the use 
of muck, or peaty earth, for this purpose, 
but the neglect of this substance—either 
from a want of a knowledge of its value, or 
some other cause—induces a repetition of 
the suggestion. Muck varies greatly in 
value, but all is more or less valuable—es¬ 
pecially as an absorbent of urine. It is, in 
many instances, a good manure of itself.— 
The deposits of small swamps, usually cov¬ 
ered with ash trees, surrounded by high 
lands, are often of this character. The 
muck contains less acid than that common¬ 
ly found in swamps where evergreens 
grow. 
We have lately heard the testimony of 
some of the best farmers in Columbia Co., 
N. Y., to the effect that a compost made of 
equal parts of muck from an ash and elm 
swamp, with barn-yard or stable manure, 
would produce greater effects, and better 
crops, for any length of time than an equal 
quantity of clear manure. We will not 
pretend to say what is the principle con¬ 
tained in this substance, which produces 
these effects — whether it is the carbon 
which is ultimately combined with oxygen 
and forms carbonic acid, and thus feeds the 
crops, or any other cause, is of secondary 
consequence to the farmer, so long as the 
effects are produced—and of these there is 
no doubt. — Albany Cultivator. 
Cultivators of the earth are the most 
valuable citizens. They are the most inde¬ 
pendent, the most virtuous, and they are 
tied to their country, and wedded to its 
liberty and interest by the most lasting 
bonds.— Jefferson. 
NUTRITION IN VARIOUS GRAINS. 
Wheat is one of the most important of 
our crops. The grain contains from 50 to 
75 per cent, of gluten and from 3 to 5 per 
cent, of fatty matter. The proportion of 
gluten is said to be largest in the grain of 
quite warm countries. 
It is a singular fact that, in all the seed 
of wheat and other grains, the principal 
part of the oil lies near or in the skin, as 
also does a large portion of the gluten.— 
The bran owes to this much of its nutritive 
and fattening qualities. Thus in refining 
our flour to the utmost possible extent, we 
diminish somewhat its value for food. The 
phosphates of the ash also lie to a great de¬ 
gree in the skin. The best fine flour con¬ 
tains above 75 pounds of starch to each 
hundred. The residue of 100 pounds con¬ 
sists of 10 or 12 pounds of gluten, 6 to 8 
pounds of sugar and gum, and 10 or 14 lbs. 
of water and a little oil. 
Rye flour more nearly resembles wheat- 
en flour in its composition than any other; 
it has, however, more of certain gummy and 
sugary substances, which make it tenacious 
and also impart a sweetish taste. In baking- 
all grains and roots which have much starch 
in them, a certain change takes place in 
their chemical composition. By baking, 
flour becomes more nutritious, and more 
easily digestible, because more soluble. 
Barley contains rather less starch than 
wheat, also less sugar and gum. There is 
little gluten, but a substance somewhat like 
it, and containing about the same amount of 
nitrogen. 
Oatmeal is little used as food in this coun¬ 
try, but it is equal, if not superior, in its 
nutritious qualities, to flour from any of the 
other grains; superior, I have no doubt, to 
most of the fine wheaten flour of the north¬ 
ern latitudes. It contains from 10 to 18 
per cent, of a body having about the same 
amount of nitrogen or gluten. Besides this, 
there is a considerable quantity of sugar 
and rum, and from five to six per cent, of 
oil or fatty matter, which may be obtained 
in the form of a clear, fragrant liquid.— 
Oatmeal cakes owe their peculiar agreeable 
taste and smell to this oil. Oatmeal, then, 
has not only an abundance of substance 
containing nitrogen, but is also quite fatten¬ 
ing. It is, in short, an excellent food for 
working animals, and, as has been abund¬ 
antly proved in Scotland, for working men 
also. 
Buckwheat is less nutritious than the 
other grains which we have noticed. Its 
flour has from six to ten per cent, of nitro¬ 
genous compounds, about fifty per cent, of 
starch, and trom five to eight of sugar and 
gum. In speaking of buckwheat or oats, 
we of course mean without husks. 
Rice was formerly supposed to contain 
little nitrogen; but recent examination has 
shown that there is a considerable portion, 
some six or eight per cent, of a substance 
like gluten. The per centage of fatty mat¬ 
ter and of sugar is quite small, but that of 
starch much larger than any grain yet men¬ 
tioned, being 80 and 90 per cent.; usually 
about 82. 
Indian corn is the last of grains that we 
shall notice. This contains about 60 per 
cent, of starch, nearly the same as oats. — 
The proportion of oil and gum is large, 
about 10 per cent; this explains the fat¬ 
tening properties of Indian meal, so well 
known to practical men. There is besides 
these, a good portion of sugar. The nitro¬ 
genous substances are also considerable in 
quantity, some 12 or 16 per cent All 
these statements are from the prize essay 
of Mr. J. H. Salisbury, published by the 
New York State Agricultural Society.— 
They show that the results of European 
chemists have probably been obtained by 
the examination of varieties inferior to ours; 
they have not placed Indian corn much 
above the level of buckwheat or rice, where¬ 
as, from the above, it is seen to be “ in most 
respects, superior to any other grain.” 
Sweet corn differs from all other varie¬ 
ties, containing only about 18 per cent, of 
starch. The amount of sugar is, of course, 
very large; the nitrogenous substance 
amounts to the very large proportion of 20 
per cent.; of gum, to 13 or 14; and of oil, 
to about 11. This, from the above results, 
is one of the most nourishing crops grown. 
If it can be made to yield as much per 
acre as the harder varieties, it is well worth 
a trial on a large scale. — Prof. Norton's 
Elements of Scientific Agriculture. 
Potato Crop in Ohio. —The Cincinnati 
Commercial says the potato crop, this year, 
has never been equalled by any previous 
one. In addition to the abundant supply, 
their flavor is far superior to any that has 
been introduced into our market for many 
years. 
Harvest Drink. —Mix with five gallons 
of good cool water, half a gallon of molas¬ 
ses, one quart of vinegar, and two ounces 
of powdered ginger. This will make not 
only a very pleasant but invigorating and 
healthful beverage. 
Plowing. —Never plow wet land in wet 
weather, much less harrow such, nor when 
it is wet in itself. Plow deep by degrees, 
and manure as you deepen. And, instead 
of the expensive horse, use theprofitable ox. 
THE USE OF MUCK. 
“ Were I so situated,” says a late En¬ 
glish writer on Geoponies, “ as to be able 
to command, at all times a supply of muck, 
I should feel myself almost entirely inde¬ 
pendent of atmospheric changes, and should 
feel myself warranted in defying the harm¬ 
ful effect of those contingencies which so 
spread desolation over whole districts, and 
bring down the fondest hopes of the farmer 
withered and blighted to the ground.” 
All lands, must have been frequently 
observed by the farmer, are not equally or 
in a like degree affected by drought In 
part this is owing to the difference in as¬ 
pect and constitution, yet in a still greater 
and more important degree, to the manner 
of working and manuring them. No field 
that has been liberally manured, and syste¬ 
matically worked will exhibit so soon the 
withering effects of drought, as one that is 
deficient in vegetable pabulum; and it may 
be laid down as an incontrovertible maxim, 
worthy of all credence, that manure is, in 
one sense, a substitute for water. Hence 
the writer above quoted says: 
“If a soil can be filled with a due quan¬ 
tity of old and readily decomposable ma¬ 
nure to the depth of one foot below the 
surface—thoroughly blending the organic 
matter with the inorganic, and keeping the 
surface thoroughly fined and light, there 
need be no serious apprehension entertained 
respecting the final success of the crop, un¬ 
less in cases of extreme and very protracted 
drought; for the pulverised surface will act 
as a non-conducter, while the manure in¬ 
humed beneath the superior stratum will 
be kept moist by the aqueous particles 
which are continually ascending from be¬ 
low. I have so long been convinced of this 
fact, that I now rarely suffer myself to con¬ 
template the loss of any crop, from drought, 
under my present system of aggrestie econo¬ 
my, as coming within the limits of actual 
probability. In the muck bed, the farmer 
has a deposite worth more to him and to 
the nation, than the richest veins of Cali¬ 
fornia or Peru, as it affords the means of 
almost’ illimitable agricultural prosperity, 
provided it be properly and judiciouly ap¬ 
plied.” 
There are few farmers in this country, 
who do not possess this invaluable resource, 
and the only thing calculated to excite 
surprise is, that sq little effort is made to 
render it more directly available. Let 
every one “ work” his muck bed as he 
would a “gold mine,” and the fortunate 
results will soon be made apparent.— Ger. 
Telegraph. 
Stone Wall, when the material is con¬ 
venient, is the best, and cheapest fence the 
farmer can make. Animals seldom at¬ 
tempt to go over it, or throw it down; and 
if it falls down a little in the course of the 
year, the materials are always at hand for 
repairing it. But do not cut the farm up 
into too small lots, as they are more difficult 
to till and to mow than open fields; be¬ 
sides the great waste of land for many in¬ 
terior fences. We have known farms of 
moderate size on which the waste of land 
forunnecessary fences, and the strips on 
each side not convenient to till, was suffi¬ 
cient to produce §100 worth of fruit annual¬ 
ly, if set in trees. —New Eng. Farmer. 
Account should be kept detailing the 
expenses and produce of each field. 
Vinegar.— It is a general opinion that 
cider makes the best vinegar, and it is prob¬ 
able the best substance generally used for 
this purpose; but maple sap is superior to 
cider for vinegar. The juice of blackber¬ 
ries makes a very superior vinegar for table 
use, retaining the beautiful color and fine 
aroma of the fruit The juice of the little, 
wild red cherry, and many other small fruits 
make excellent table vinegar. In the days 
of our childhood, in a new country, all the 
vinegar used in the family was made from 
the wild fruits, or from the sap of the maple. 
And in this respect there has been no im¬ 
provement in the quality of vinegar, but a 
deterioration.— N. E. Farmer. 
To Bake Apples. —Take sour apples, 
those of a keen acid, and to every square tin 
filled with them, pour a teacupful of water 
and one of sugar. Bake them slowly until 
done. .Eat them with cream and the juice 
which cooks from them. Nobody knows 
much of baking apples, who has not eaten 
them in this way. No quince, peach, pear 
nor plum preserves are equal to this simple 
dessert. 
Raspberry Pie.— Pick over the rasp¬ 
berries—they will not bear washing—put 
them into a deep dish lined with paste, 
spreading sugar in the bottom of the dish; 
cover the raspberries with sugar, dredge 
them with flour, and bake half an hour.— 
Mrs. Bliss. 
To Take Mildew out of Linen. —Take 
soap and rub it well; then scrape some fine 
chalk, and rub that also into the linen; lay 
it on the grass; as it dries, wet it a little, 
and the mildew will come out at twice doing. 
