r 
volume ii. no. 13 . 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.—THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1851. 
•i WHOLE NO. 9a. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
A WEEKLY HOME NEWSPAPER, 
Designed for both Country and Town Residents 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASSISTED BY 
J. H. BIXBY, L. WETIU3RELL, and II. C. WHITE 
Contributor* and Correspondents: 
J- 
Chester Dewp.y, r.r,. n., 
M. M. Rodgers, m. d. 
.1. Clement, 
D. IV. Ballou, Jr., 
R. G. Pardee, 
I. Hildreth. 
Jas. II. Watts, 
W. II. Bristol. 
Wm. T. Kennedy, 
S. Luther, 
I.. I). Whiting. 
I,. B. Lanoworthy, 
William Gar butt, 
S. P. Chapman, 
David Ely, 
Myron Adams, 
H. P. Norton, 
T. 0. Peters, 
F. W. I, ay, 
T. Fi. Wetmorb, 
R. B. Warren, 
Archibald Stone, 
And numerous others—practical, scientific, and literary 
writers—whose names are necessarily omitted. 
The Rural New-Yorker 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 ou the important Practical 
Subjects connected with the business of those whose inter¬ 
ests it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Ilorti 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter 
—interspersed with many appropriate and handsome en¬ 
gravings—than any otiier paper published in this Country. 
O?” For Terms, &c.. see last page. 
PHOGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
LETTERS 0 IT 
EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE, ETC. 
BY M. M. RODGERS, M. P. 
BEL G I IT m.. 
OPERATIONS ON THE SOIL. 
Draining. —On account of the land ly¬ 
ing low and being inundated, at times, by 
the numerous rivers which flow from the 
vicinity of mountains covered with perpet¬ 
ual snow, one of the principal branches of 
work is draining. This is performed main¬ 
ly by wind-mills, which raise the water from 
’! the lower to the higher lands by successive 
ji stages: these mills operate upon various 
|> plans; some raise the water, where the de- 
j i scent is only slight, by means of a pad- 
! ■ die wheel; others have an Archimedes’ 
j; screw attached, while others still, lift up the 
i; water in buckets and empty it into reser- 
K voirs above. The depth of water to be 
thus carried olf is sometimes several feet, 
and the machines used for the purpose ex¬ 
ceedingly numerous. Constant vigilonceis 
required, and advantage is taken of every 
P wind that blows: many of the largest of 
; these windmills are the abodes Of the fam- 
J dies who tend them. On the low flat lands, 
[ the surface is cut into a net-work of innu- 
; merable small canals intersecting each other, 
I ) O / 
|all leading into a main one at the most 
j; depending point. The soil is thus drained 
jat great expense and with vast labor, and 
j; is, to the stranger, one of the best evidences 
|! of the untiring industry of the p'eople. Other 
| • modes of draining are also in use. 
Tillage. — I his operation is performed 
( doth by the plow and spade, and is gene- 
| rally carried to greater depth than in the 
j: United States. The grain lands are usu- 
j; ally thrown up into beds, from six to ten 
j, feet wide, with a small ditch or trench be- 
J, tween them: this is filled up by the plow 
every year and opened in another place; 
the ridge of the bed of one year occupying 
the place of the trench of the former. In 
this way the soil is tilled to greater depth 
than could well be done in any other way. 
U hen the trench is made bv plowing,-it is 
usually deepened and finished with the 
spade,—and this with much care and pre¬ 
cision. Great pains is taken to mix the soil, 
so as to have the different qualities of strata 
equally disturbed. Sub-soiling is practiced 
to great extent, both with the spade and plow. 
Dotation of Crops?, is carried on with 
great precision and regularity. Grain, root 
and green crops, alternate each other ac¬ 
cording to the nature of the soil and the 
inquisitions of the market. Rotations are 
divided into courses of three, four, seven, 
nine, eleven, <fcc., consisting of five to ten 
different plants in succession, during a se- 
lies of years. The chemical principles up¬ 
on which rotation is founded, are of course 
the same in all countries. 
Manuring. —This is practiced in this 
country, as in Holland and England, very 
extensively; in many cases on strictly chem¬ 
ical principles,—but in all with the great¬ 
est precision and in accordance with rules 
approved by experience. The manner of 
applying fertilizers is considered a matter 
of great importance: the first object ap¬ 
pears to be, to obtain the immediate effect 
of whatever is used, as soon as it is brought 
into proper condition and relation to the soil 
to furnish its fertilizing properties to the 
young plants. 
Coarse manures are usually laid pn the 
soil and plowed under in the fall, so as to be 
available for the spring sown crops. Com¬ 
posts, of very complicated nature, are some¬ 
times used; they are usually composed of 
barn manure, straw, peat, wood ashes, coal 
IMPROVEMENT GF SHEEP IN CHAUTAUQUE, j an ill-formed, bad-wooled sheep, as an in 
mal and vegetable waste matters of all kinds- 
It is often erroneously supposed that these 
mixtures actually generate some new prin¬ 
ciple not previously contained in them: but 
whenever a good manure is obtained by 
such a combination, it is done at the ex¬ 
pense of some rich fertilizer which enters 
into the formula. The greatest advantage 
of compost is that of bringing coarse and 
crude matters into a state of decomposition, 
which renders soluble and fit for absorption 
by the spongioles of plants, and of extend¬ 
ing and diluting those which are too con¬ 
centrated or expensive to be used alone. 
Liquid manures are saved with great 
care, and applied to the soil with great ex¬ 
actness: the}' consist of the urine of animals, 
washings of the barn-yard, and solutions of 
various mineral salts. The barns and sta¬ 
bles are constructed with stone or wood 
floors with a slight inclination, and gutters 
to convey the liquid into tanks or reservoirs, 
where it is sometimes fermented and mixed 
with solutions of salts, &c. It is applied to 
the land by means of carts, watering-pots, 
or by being let into small canals or gutters 
made at short intervals over the fields. 
Lime, marl and gypsum, are much used 
on the same crops and soils as in the Uni¬ 
ted States. From the great abundance of 
carbonate of lime in some parts, as well as 
in France and England, it is extensively 
used on cold, wet, and heavy clay soils. 
Everything of an organic nature is used; 
such as animal flesh, bones, woolen rags, 
and wastes from various manufactories.— 
Paring and burning is also practiced in flat 
and moist lands. Poudrette and guano, are 
both more extensively used than in the 
United States: they are said to produce 
grain of a better quality, but less in quantity, 
than stable manure. 
Mr. Moore: — As you have requested 
your readers to aid in the cause of Agri¬ 
culture, by publishing their experience in 
its different branches, and as there is no 
mans experience, however small, but some¬ 
thing beneficial may be gathered from it, 
I send you a statement of my man¬ 
agement in keeping and improving my 
flock of sheep, which you may publish if 
you think proper. 
I have been in the wool growing business 
on a small scale, for some 10 or 12 years. 
I commenced with one hundred line wool- 
ed sheep from Massachusetts. They were 
a mixtiure of the Saxon and Merino, of a 
delicate frame and constitution, and ave¬ 
raged about 2^- lbs. of wool per head. I 
usually lost 10 or 12 per cent, of old sheep, 
and 25 per cent, of lambs with the best of 
waste, soot, lime, plaster, common salt, ani- 1 cai0 ‘ * usec * bucks that were bred and 
SUCCESS IN FARMING--ITS SECRET. 
Universal success in agriculture often 
dooms the favored man to the envy of his 
fellows. It has even called down upon him 
the wrathful superstitions of a whole neigh¬ 
borhood. The great diffusion of light and 
knowledge, however, is dispelling the horror 
of “ book” or scientific farming. 
Pliny gives a case among the Romans, 
where Cresinus »• as cited before the peo¬ 
ple to answer to a charge of sorcery found¬ 
ed upon the fact of his gathering greater 
crops than his neighbors from a small spot 
of ground. In answer, Cresinus produced 
his efficient and superior instruments, his 
well fed oxen, and a hale young woman. 
Pointing to them, he exclaimed—“ There, 
Romans, are my instruments of witchcraft; 
but I cannot here show you my labors, 
sweats, and anxious cares.” Reader, skill 
and energy are the witches that now bring 
success to the husbandman. t. e. w. 
drove in with the same flock. I continued 
without much improvement, until about four 
years ago, when I found by reading the 
Genesee Farmer, that there were flocks of 
sheep in Vermont and other places that 
averaged 4 pounds of wool per head, and I 
thought I would try and bring my flock up 
to that average if possible. 
For a starting point I determined to aim 
for a well formed body, strong, robust con¬ 
stitution, and long, thick, and fine wool.— 
Having this object in view, 1 purchased two 
full-blooded Spanish Merino backs and five 
ewes from Hammond’s flock, of Vermont, 
The stock of these bucks prove to be just 
what I aimed at ou the start—a hard/', ro¬ 
bust, long, thick and fine wooled sheep— 
shearing, when one year old, from four to 
seven pounds per head. I believe the 
Spanish Merino will shear more wool and 
give a greater profit, according to the cost 
of keeping, than any other breed of sheep 
in this country. 
I give my sheep, winter and summer, a 
sufficient quantity of good, wholesome food 
to keep them in an even and thriving con¬ 
dition. I give them but very little grain 
and no extra feed for the purpose of acoutnu- 
mulatingfat or great weight of fleece beyond 
a natural, thrifty growth—I believe it is in¬ 
jurious to the sheep in the long run. To 
promote their health, I give occasionally, 
ashes, tar and sulphur, winter and summer. 
When I dispose of any, I pick out such as 
do not agree with my notion of a good sheep 
in form of body and quality of wool. It 
is seldom that I lose a sheep or lamb un¬ 
less by accident. 
On the 5th of June last, I sheared from 
157 sheep—my entire flock (including 12 
full-bloods,) all ewes and lambs except 3 
old bucks, no wethers over one year old, 
and 13 days less than one years growth— 
680 lbs. of well washed wool, being a trifle 
over an average of 4 lbs. and 5 oz. per head. 
Buck Ho. 1, 3 years old, sheared 11 lbs. 
and 4 oz. -washed wool; No. 2, same age, 11 
lbs. and 12 oz. 
Production of the 157 sheep for 1 year: 
680 lbs. of wool sold at 42£ cents per lb..$287,30 
Raised 63 half-blood lambs, worth $2 
Per head. 126,00 
6 full-blood lambs, at $8 per head,. 48,00 
_ J „ - $461,30 
Feed for flock through the winter, 15 
tona of hay, at $6 per ton, average 
price here,'.. $90,00 
130 bushels ruta bagas at 1 shilling per 
bushel,. 16 25 
40 bushels oats, ground and mixed with 
roots, at 25 cts. per bushel,. 10,00 
20 bushels bran at 10 cts. per bushel,_ 2,00 
dividual, can be much improved in form or 
constitution, but, her offspring may be rua- 
terailly improved, in both, by proper selec¬ 
tion of bucks. B. Barnard. 
Ellington, Chautauque Co., N. Y., Oct. 13,1851. 
$118,25 
I have given a fair statement of facts in 
my experience, which show that almost any 
ordinary flock of sheep may be brought up 
to a high state of improvement, with prop¬ 
er care and management, I do not say that 
RURAL OBSERVATIONS, AND AGRICULTU¬ 
RAL NEWSPAPERS. 
Friend Moore :—Ruralizing lends to 
familiarize persons with the manners, cus¬ 
toms and habits of rural life. The diversi¬ 
ty of mind and taste are less manifest 
here than in the town. Persons are to be 
found in all the Varied vocations of life who 
really find their highest pleasure and delight 
in the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. 
Persons, who by observation, study, read¬ 
ing, reflection: and experience, have learned 
in their several vocations, to adopt the right 
means, for the accomplishment of given 
ends, know how to labor, so as to make it 
effectual. Such have been trained and 
taught by the experience of others as well 
as by their own. 
The reason why every enlightened and 
intelligent cultivator of the soil desires to 
take and read a good Weekly Agricultural 
Journal, is that he may know and learn 
the improvements that are making in the 
art which employs his time and attention. 
Hence he seeks that paper which reflects 
best to his own mind the true state of the 
agricultural improvements—or, in other 
words, farming as it now is ; and besides 
this, he desires to learn the practical lessons 
of wisdom, which are deduced from experi¬ 
ence even year, in order that he may add 
these to the stock already acquired from 
the study of the past. Positive knowledge 
thus attained is of great value to all who 
know how to use it. 
How unlike is such a periodical to that 
class of papers or journals, whose conduc¬ 
tors being speculative theorists, are ever 
tickling the fancy of their readers with 
new views and notions about labor and the 
mode of applying it. Such visionary and 
dreamy projections have misled and deceiv¬ 
ed many an honest seeker for knowledge, 
and have thus brought into bad repute, real 
facts and instructions by stigmatizing them 
as “ book knowledge,” and such among 
farmers as read and study books and peri¬ 
odicals, “ book-farmers.” Just as if facts 
derived from a book or paper, were of any 
less value, from having been so learned, than 
if they had been received orally or from 
tradition. 
Every Conductor of an Agricultural 
Journal should know that what he publish¬ 
es, is true, both in theory and pract'ce. If 
it be not so, and he thus misleads one in¬ 
dividual, he brings into odium agricultural 
papers—even such as are conducted with 
care. Farmers like all other classes of actve 
men, are seekers for, and lovers of knowl¬ 
edge. And they are as grateful for instruc¬ 
tion when communicated by such persons 
as have it, whether by speech or letter, as 
any other class of laborers. In mingling 
with them as I have done for some days 
past, I am more than ever confirmed in the 
truth of the aforesaid remarks. I have 
found their disposition to ask for, and seek 
after counsel and instruction, far greater 
than my ability to turnish them. And I 
am more than ever convinced, that the best 
of our Farmers’ Periodicals, are not in all 
respects what they should be. Writers are 
too general in what they say—not minute 
and specific enough—too eager to furnish 
something new —something amusing, or 
strange, and not careful enough to write 
what they have to say so that it can be 
clearly understood by all readers, and then 
reduced to practice. J 
The pleasure of imparting knowledge is 
fully equalled by that of receiving it. If 
knowledge gives lustre to the eye of him 
who has it to impart, it is equally true that 
the receiving of it is reflected from the eye 
of the recipient—not that the reading or 
hearing of words will do this, but the re¬ 
ceiving of what the words represent—the 
soul of thought, so to speak, and not words 
alone. Knowledge and understanding are 
inseperabie, and must go hand in hand 
through life. Get understanding if you 
would make knowledge available. w. 
YV;:re, Mass., Aug., 1851. 
KEEPING THE POTATO ONION. 
Eds. Rural: —“A Subscriber” asks for 
information in regard to keeping Potato 
Onions. I have had a little sad experience 
in that line, and can give him the desired 
information. Inquiries of this kind are ben¬ 
eficial to many others, besides the one ask¬ 
ing the question. It sets us to thinking of 
some plan to remedy the evils complained 
of, or if already found it will of course call 
it out for the public benefit. 
I kept potato onions one season in the 
cellar, and one season on the chamber floor 
of the carriage house. In both cases thev 
kept very well; in the former they were not 
frozen; in the latter they were frozen and 
thawed many times in the course of the 
season, but the loss in either case was per¬ 
haps an eighth or less. 
Last fall I intended to winter about 10 
bushels each, of the potato and the top 
onions, but by this time or sooner, they had 
commenced rotting very badly; in fact I ex¬ 
pected to lose the whole crop. I had these 
on shelves about 8 inches deep, and the 
stench from them became so offensive that 
I was compelled to turn them out. I first 
prepared a piece of ground and planted the 
rotten mass in drills, strewed along as ma¬ 
nure. Many that were rotten outside were 
still sound at the core; these took root and 
lived through the winter. The result was 
not a total loss, but a bed of onions second 
to none that I have seen this or any 
former season. I sold from the potato 
onions $30 worth, at 6 to 10 shillings per 
bushel, and have 10 bushels for seed in good 
condition. 
This settles the question of planting in 
the fall. After planting and before the 
ground freezes very hard the bed should 
be covered with a good coat of straw or 
coarse manure, which may be removed 
again when vegetation starts in the spring. 
I think they may be kept through the win¬ 
ter with very little loss, with no other care 
than to be put up ripe and thoroughly dry 
on racks about 3 inches deep, sufficiently 
open at the bottom to admit the free circu¬ 
lation of air from below, either in the gar¬ 
ret or the cellar. i. w. b. 
West Macedon, N. Y., Oct. 14,1S51 
The Sweet Potato.— Owing to the 
backwardness of the last spring, the sweet 
potato has not succeeded as well with me 
as in former seasons, though I get more 
bushels on a given quantity of land than I 
do of the Moshanocks. They are good, tho’ 
not as large. I have conversed with a Mr. 
Bennett, who procured from-me 50 plants. 
He says he has dug three bushels of fine 
potatoes, some of them very large and had 
the pleasure of treating some eastern friends 
with them, who admitted they had never 
tasted better ones grown in New Jersey or 
eastern part of our State. I should like to 
hear from others who have experimented 
with them the past season, and any hints or 
suggestions relative to their culture, found¬ 
ed upon experience, will be gratefully re¬ 
ceived. I. WL IL 
West Macedon, N. Y. 
