volume ii. no. 46. ^ 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1851. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
». . . A WEEKLY HOME NEWSPAPER, 
Designed for both Country and Town Residents. 
CONDUCTED 3Y D. D. T. MOORE, 
assisted ny 
J. H. BIXBY, L. WETHER ELL, and H. C. WHITE. 
Contributors and Correspondents: 
L. B. Langworthy, || Chester Dewey, ll. d., 
William Garbutt, 
S. P. Chapman, 
David Ely, 
Myron Adams, 
H. P. Norton, 
T. C. Peters, 
F. W. Lay, 
T. E. Wetmoke, 
R. B. Warren, 
Archibald Stone, 
M. M. Rodgers, m. d. 
.1. Clement, 
D. W. Bai.lou, Jr., 
R. G. Pardee, 
I. Hildreth, 
Jas. II. Watts, 
W. II. Bristol, 
Wm. T. Kennedy, 
S. LuTnuR, 
L. 1). Whiting. 
And numerous others—practical, scientific, and literary 
J writers—whose names are necessarily omitted. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to he unique and 
> beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
1 and Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
1 to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical 
) Subjects connected with the business of those whose inter¬ 
ests it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Horti- 
j cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter 
l —interspersed with many appropriate and handsome en- 
) gravings—than any other paper published in thre Country. 
riS 5 " For Terms, &c.. see last page. 
> _ _ _ 
, PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
i _ _. 
LIME AS AN AMELIORATED, OF THE SOIL. 
Lime applied to^ the soil, acts, strictly 
speaking, more as an ameliorator in im¬ 
proving its texture and modifying its natu¬ 
ral condition, than by adding materials for 
the growth of vegetation. Its importance 
as a constituent of the soil is largely owing 
to its power of bringing into action things 
otherwise inert and unproductive, neutral¬ 
izing injurious acids, accelerating decompo¬ 
sition, and promoting the formation of those 
nitrates most active in the laboratory of Na¬ 
ture. Lime, it is true, is found by analysis 
in the ashes of almost every plant, but it is 
also true that it exists in almost every soil, in 
a greater or lesser proportion, and need not 
generally be added merely for the purpose 
of supplying vegetation with itself as a 
constituent. • 
The texture of some soils is improved by 
the mechanical action of lime. Heavy and 
stiff clays are rendered loose and friable by 
its presence, while to sandy soils it gives 
body and consistency. Its mechanical ef¬ 
fect is of a very permanent nature. The 
places where lime has been burned upon 
log-heaps, as has sometimes been practiced 
in times long past, are still to be distinguish¬ 
ed from the surrounding field by the depth 
and excellent character of the soil in regard 
both to culture and fertility. CalciineouU 
soils applied to muci/y, are very useful in 
giving firmness and character to the same 
—and mainly from the lime thus supplied. 
The natural character of the soil is mod¬ 
ified by the action of lime, not only mechan¬ 
ically but chemically. It seems to possess 
the power of giving energy and action to 
the inert principles of vegetable life—of 
rendering harmless the noxious gases of the 
soil—of forming new compounds of value 
out of otherwise useless substances, and so 
promoting the decomposition of both organic 
and inorganic manures as to prepare them 
for entering the circulation and assisting in 
the growth of plants. These, we remark, < 
are the consequences of the presence of i 
lime in the soil, but it does not follow that 1 
all soils require its application. In some < 
lands it is already abundant. ] 
Analysis will determine of this, as of all < 
other applications to the soil, whether use- t 
ful or not—whether they are already abun- < 
dant or totally lacking. Calcareous earths, *. 
or those which contain sufficient lime, if 1 
brought in contact with an acid produce t 
an effervescence, and this may be taken as i 
a test in the matter. The spontaneous i 
vegetation also furnishes an indication of f 
value. Lands upon which sorrel, heath, t 
chestnut and resinous trees are found, will c 
be beneficially affected by the application c 
of lime in all cases, unless only such pro¬ 
ducts are desired. 
When assured that the application, of 
lime will add to the fertility of our land, we 
must next ascertain the amount required, 
and the best time and mode of making it. 
The nature of the soil, and the durability 
of effect desired, must enter into the calcu¬ 
lation of the quantity. Of soils, it is re 
marked that clays and those abundant in 
vegetable matter which decomposes but 
slowly, need much more abundant liming 
than light and barren ones. One or two 
hundred bushels are sometimes applied to 
the first, while half that quantity is abun¬ 
dant for the last. The effect will be long 
continued in most cases, if we keep up the 
supply of vegetable substances upon which 
it may act, and suffer no stagnant water to 
stand upon the surface. “ Lime improves 
only such lands as are moist by nature and 
not by situation.” 
The convenience of the farmer may be 
consulted as to the time and mode of appli¬ 
cation. It may be applied as a top-dressing 
to pasture or mowing land—or to the sum¬ 
mer fallow just previous to seeding, or bet¬ 
ter still, composted with muck and applied 
as a manure. “ The best mode of combin¬ 
ing the advantagesof these several methods, 
(says Prof. Higgins, of Maryland,) is first 
to fallow up the ground, which leaves it 
uneven, with numerous fissures produced 
by plowing—apply the lime—fallow it with 
a heavy iron-tooth harrow, and cultivate it 
with some crop that requires frequent work¬ 
ing, corn for example. In this manner we 
mix the lime well with the soil, receive its 
benefits immediately in a crop which can 
be realized, as the corn can be followed by 
the wheat, and with it clover may be sown. 
The chief indications are thus fulfilled. 1st, 
The thorough mixture of lime with the soil; 
2d, return for its cost in a crop; 3d, in¬ 
creased return by a crop of wheat immedi¬ 
ately succeeding the corn, and then the 
benefit of a good crop of clover, so useful 
not only as food for stock, but as an im¬ 
provement to the crop which it precedes.” 
OHIO AGRICULTURE. 
Messrs. Editors:— Being on a rural ex¬ 
cursion in Northern Ohio, I propose to pre¬ 
sent you some facts of general interest 
' TOUching the agricultural resources of this 
State. In so doing, I shall not confine my¬ 
self to any particular locality, nor depend 
entirely upon late and limited observations 
for my epistolatory materials. 
While Agriculture, as it is estimated, en¬ 
gages the attention of four-fifths of the in¬ 
habitants of this State, the same branches 
do not receive equal attention in all parts. 
This circumstance is owing to the fact that 
the soil is greatly diversified and the cli¬ 
mate varies several degrees. For example, 
the counties bordering on the lake are com¬ 
paratively cold, and much of the land is 
unsuitable for the the profitable cultivation 
of wheat, while those lying sixty or eighty 
miles from the lake, are well adapted to 
the growing of this grain. One may go 
directly south of Cleveland fifty or sixty 
miles, passing through Summit into Stark 
county, and he will find himself in An en¬ 
tirely different, and a very much warmer 
climate. He will go through an excellent 
grazing into an admirable wheat country. 
I know not where I ever saw better cheese 
than I have seen within a week past in 
in Cuyahoga and Summit counties, where 
it is made; and save the Genesee Valley, 
few parts of the country grow better wheat 
than Stark, V' ayne and a few adjacent 
counties. Again, in more Southerly parts 
of the State, it is sufficiently warm for the 
- cultivation of the vine. Indeed, so much 
capital stock, has been invested successfully 
f in the manufacture of wine, that it is 
i prophesied that “ the time is not far distant 
when the vintage of the Ohio will rival 
that of the far-famed Rhine.” 
r Although portions of the soil in this 
. State, are unsuited to the cultivation of 
wheat, yet the aggregate yield of this one 
i article has of late years exceeded 25,000,- 
; 000 bushels. The other principal grains 
are corn and oats, of which the quantity 
, raised is immense. I have seen many 
beautiful fields of corn in ’ my travels in 
different States, yet I have §eldom seen 
taller stalks or richer looking fields than 
have met my eye this afternoon in passing 
from Monroeville, after leaving the Sandus¬ 
ky and Mansfield railroad, to this place.— 
Doubtless, however, there are just as good 
fields of this kind of grain in a hundred 
other towns in the State. 
Among vegetable products in Ohio, the 
grass crop stands very high, some rating it 
as the second and none lower than the third 
item of agricultural productions in import¬ 
ance. According to the fifth annual re¬ 
port of the Board of Agriculture, being for 
the year 1850, “the prolits of the grazing 
interest have been for several years in ad¬ 
vance of the grain-growing interest, if we 
take into consideration the relative amount 
of labor and capital required to carry on 
these branches of industry, amt the uni¬ 
formity and certainty of receiving a fair re¬ 
muneration upon the investment.” 
Ohio is a great swine raising State; and 
these animals are sent eastward through 
Buffalo annually by the tens of thousands. 
On my way from Cleveland to Shelby, via- 
the Columbus and Cincinnati railroad, two 
days ago, I met a train of hog cars two 
stories high, crammed with the bristly gen¬ 
try, whom I was forced to pass to the wind¬ 
ward, a circumstance which will not afford 
the most fragrant recollection of my first 
trip on that admirable road. Some of the 
boats that run in the Sandusky and Buffalo 
line, have for four or five years past, had, 
in the autumn, few other deck passengers 
save personages of the class under notice; 
and I once traveled to Buffalo with two 
hundred of them on board, all sea-sick 
and apparently all squealing in concert for 
an opportunity to commit suicide! And O 
how w/ilike “ the odor of brine from the 
ocean,” is the “ memory ” of that October - 
trip. 
Among other animals the raising of 
which is becoming a highly important 
branch of stock business in this State, are 
mules. They are pronounced, by the best 
judges here, to be decidedly the most prof¬ 
itable animals that can be reared The 
compensation which they afford is uniform¬ 
ly high and rarely fluctuating, and they are 1 
sooner fit for the n&rket than most other 1 
stock. This branch of the stock business 1 
of the State, tvill be likely to increase rap- i 
idly for years. 
But my sheet is nearly full, and for this ] 
time I shall merely subscribe myself 
Yours, among the Buckeyes, i 
THE WOODS. 
“ Timber is one of the most valuable produc¬ 
tions of the soil, and an indispensable requisite to 
the improvement and civilization of man.” 
“ Trees are not merely useful and ornamental 
—but eminently conducive to health .”—Senator 
Douglass' Ag. Address. 
“ The forest went down before his axe.”—N. 
R. S. 
Norwalk, O., Oct., 1851. j. c 
MALAY CHICKENS. 
Eds. Rural: —One of my neighbors, 
Mr. John P. Me Yean, had a brood of 
Malay chickens hatched on the first day of 
July last, two of which he succeeded in 
raising. Those two chickens had, up to 
21st of October, laid 26 eggs., which were 
sold in this village at the market price.— 
They were small specimens, to be sure— 
but we challenge any of your Monroe Co. 
chickens to do as smart a thing. 
Yours truly, J. H. Stanley. 
Le Roy, Nov. 3,1851. 
3 That our great and growing country 
should retain all its primeval forests, is cer- 
3 tainly not to be expected, nor even desired. 
' Man must live, and the earth was given 
him for a residence. But I cannot divest 
1 myself of the belief, that many are abu- 
1 sing their privilege ofi occupying the earth, 
1 by the manifestation of a selfishness alto- 
> gether unbecoming the character of civil 
ized men. The ambition to be great and 
wealthy seems to inspire not merely individ- 
^ uals, but the nation. It has become a na- 
^ tional passion. The whole country seems 
anxious to “ press civilization forward,” 
: even at the expense of every other interest 
’ or consideration. 
"Why be in such haste ? Why wish to 
destroy rather than erjoy? Must the 
present generation necessarily “occupy the 
xvholc land ?” Have we so much of the 
Yandal in us, that we must destroy even 
what we do not want ? So much selfish¬ 
ness, that we must hoard up what we shall 
not need ? So little benevolence that we 
have no regard for those “ that shall come 
after us?” 
“ The forest went down before his axe.” 
I imagine myself standing on some lofty 
eminence. I look abroad over my beloved 
country. I see its splendid cities, its beau¬ 
tiful villages, its cultivated fields, its manu¬ 
factories, its flocks and herds, &c., and I 
rejoice in its prosperity. But I see also its 
naked hills, its parched and barren plains, 
its failing streams, and I think of pos¬ 
terity, of coming generations, and ask my¬ 
self if this need be so ? No, it is the fruit 
of that misguided selfishness of which I 
complain. How many have I heard la¬ 
menting that they had not been more pru¬ 
dent, more economical, in the use of their 
timber lands—that they had exercised so 
little judgment, so little taste, so little re¬ 
gard to their own, and their childrens’ in¬ 
terest, in the management of their wood¬ 
lands. This is coming directly to the point. 
Let every one, then, consider, before he ap¬ 
plies his axe too freely , what he owes to 
himself, what he owes® to his country, and 
what he owes to posterity, and act as a so¬ 
cial, not as a selfish being. It is better, 
in such a case, to do too little than too 
much. Error in the former case is easily 
corrected; in the latter, not. 
I love the forest I love nature in her 
native dress, in her wildest mood. I think 
of my early years, and I almost wish my¬ 
self “ young again,” only to enjoy the forests 
and woodlands of my youth. But those have 
passed away, and I have already reached 
the “ summit of the hill;” while a frowning 
providence has deprived me (doubtless for 
wise purposes) of the means of choosing 
my own future course. I read on “ Rural ” 
and agricultural subjects, and I long to 
have an active interest in them. It would 
be the height of my earthly wishes to 
spend the remainder of my days where, in 
connexion with my present business, I could 
employ both my hands and my pen on 
matters and subjects of an agricultural, 
horticultural, or “ Rural ” character. In 
such a sphere I could make myself useful 
and contented. Does such a field open ? . 
I am ready to occupy it 
-i WHOLE NO. 98. 
PROFITS OF DRAINING, &c. 
Mr. Editor: — Traveling through the 
greater part of Madison Co., and visiting 
almost every farm, I observe a great 
amount of land rendered partially or wholy 
unproductive, by the water allowed to stand 
upon the surface, and saturate the soil for 
the greater part of the season. This, I am 
aware, is also the case over the whole ex- 
ent ot our State; scarcely a farm being 
exempt from more or less acres thus ren¬ 
dered unproductive,—yet most of them so 
easily reclaimed that it becomes a wonder 
that so little is done to redeem these un¬ 
sightly places. These spots often occurring 
in the middle of cultivated fields, are the 
source of a mischief greater than one could 
possibly suppose, without going into an ac¬ 
tual estimation thereof 
I recollect calling upon ci gentleman in 
the harvest field, when something like the 
following conversation occurred. After 
passing the compliments, I remarked: 
“ Your wheat, sir, looks very fine; how 
many acres have you in this field ?” 
“ In the neighborhood of eii.ht, I judge.” 
“ Did you sow ugon fallow ?” 
“No sir. Ye turned over green sward 
—sowed immediately upon the sod, and 
dragged it thoroughly-and you see the 
yield will probably be 25 bushels to the 
acre, where it is not too wet.” 
“Yes sir, it is mostly very fine. I ob¬ 
served a thin strip through it, but did not 
notice that it was wet.” 
“ V ell, it is not very wet. Sometimes 
after a rain, the water runs across it, and 
in spring and fall it is just wet enough to 
heave the wheat out and kill it.” 
I inquired whether a couple of good 
drains across the lot would not render it 
dry. 
“Perhaps so—but there is not over an 
acre that is killed out.” 
“ Have you made an estimate of the 
loss you annually sustain from this wet 
place ?” 
“No, I had not thought much about it.” 
“ Would $30 be too high ?” 
“ O yes, double.” 
“ Well, let’s see; it cost you $3 to turn 
over the sward ? Two bushels of seed, $2; 
harrowing in, 75 cents; interest, taxes and 
fences, $5,25; 25 bushels of wheat lost, 
$25.” 
“ Deduct for harvesting-” 
“ No; the straw would pay for that.” 
“Very well, all footed $36.” 
“ What will the wheat and straw on this 
acre be worth this year ?” 
“ Nothing, as I shall not cut the ground 
Down East, Oct., 1851. 
jf****. t****. 
If you would be merciful, and likewise 
economical, let your stock be well sheltered. 
“ Then it appears that you have lost, in 
what you have actually expended, and the 
wheat you would have harvested, had the 
ground been dry, $36, a pretty large sum 
for one acre.” 
“ Yes I see,” said the farmer. 
Thus a loss is sustained on many farms 
that would pay the first year for draining 
the land perfectly. An estimate similar to 
this might with equal truth be made upon 
many fields of corn, oats, barley <fcc., consti¬ 
tuting a draw-back upon the annual income 
of the farmer of no small importance, es¬ 
pecially in regions where swales and springs 
are of frequent occurrence. 
Many portions, indeed a large part of 
the area of this county, is composed of 
deep gravel beds, naturally dry enough, 
but upon most of the side hills, where the 
rock is near the suface, springs are so nu¬ 
merous—either constant, or running during 
spring and fall—that they are quite unfit for 
profitable tillage, and hence are constantly 
devoted to pasturage and meadow. Upon 
