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VOLUME II. NO. 47. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
A WEEKLY HOME NEWSPAPER, 
Designed for Loth Country and Town Residents. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASSISTED BY 
J, H. BIXBY, L. WETHERELL, and H. C. WHITE. 
Contributors and Correspondents: 
ROCHESTER,N. Y.—THURSDAY, NOVEMBER^0,' 1851. 
WHOLE NO. 99. 
L. B. Langworthy, 
William Garbttt, 
S. P. CnAPMAN, 
David Ely, 
Myron Adams, 
H. P. Norton, 
T. C. Peters, 
F. W. Lay, 
T. E. Wetmore, 
R. B. Warren, 
Archibald Stone, 
Chester Dewey, ll. d., 
M. M. Rodgers, m. d. 
J. Clement, 
D. W. Ballou, Jr., 
R. G. Pardee, 
I. Hildreth, 
Jas. H. Watts, 
W. H. Bristol, 
Wm. T. Kennedy, 
S. Luther, 
L. D. Whiting. 
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 on the important Practical 
Subjects connected with the business of those 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 last page. 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
DAIRY INTEREST OF NEW YORK. - NO. 9. 
SALTING AND PACKING BUTTER. 
As before stated, the salting of butter is 
a matter of much importance, in connection 
with its preservation for future use. The 
amount of salt to be used cannot be grad¬ 
uated by any general rule, though ordina¬ 
rily one pound of salt to about sixteen lbs. 
of butter will be found sufficient, if the but¬ 
ter-milk is all out, which it should be be¬ 
fore salting. Sugar, sal-nitre, and other 
substances are frequently added, and tho’ 
they may improve the flavor of that de¬ 
signed for immediate use, the practice 
should be discarded as injurious when but¬ 
ter is designed Tor packing. 
Pure salt is all that is necessary as a 
preservative, and no more should be used 
than enough to make the butter palatable. 
Salt .that contains any considerable quan¬ 
tity of lime or magnesia is very injuri¬ 
ous, giving a bitter taste to butter and 
preventing its keeping any length of time. 
Prof. Johnston says, salt may be rendered 
quite pure “ by adding to thirty pounds of 
salt two quarts of boiling water and stir¬ 
ring it occasionally for two hours. The 
lime and magnesia being more soluble than 
salt will be dissolved and run off with the 
water, leaving the salt that remains pure.” 
An opinion prevails that Onondaga 
salt is too impure to be used with safety 
for dairy purposes, and most dealers, com¬ 
mission houses, and even the committee on 
butter at the late State Fair, recommend 
the use of Turk’s Island or Liverpool salt. 
We should be led from so strong an en¬ 
dorsement to suppose this salt more suita¬ 
ble from its purity than any made in this 
State. That those interested may judge 
correctly, we here give analyses of several 
samples of salt, as made by the authorities 
of New York. 
Professor L. C. Beck made an analysis 
of one thousand grains of “ Ashton or Liv¬ 
erpool,” and the same quantity of “ Hope 
Factory,” Onondaga salt, with the follow¬ 
ing result: 
ASHTON. HOPE FACTORY. 
Insoluble matter, 0.25 Insoluble matter, 0.15 
Sulphate of lime, 11.65 Sulphate of lime, 11.06 
Sulphate of mag- Sulphate of mag¬ 
nesia, 1.56 nesia, 0.38 
Chloride of mag- Chloride of Sodi- 
nesium, a trace urn, 988.41 
Chloride of Sodi- _ 
urn, (pure salt,) 686.54 1000.00 
1000.00 
Nine samples of salt from different 
manufacturers in Onondaga Co., and a like 
number of foreign salt from different coun¬ 
tries, embracing Turk’s Island and Liver¬ 
pool fine, were also analyzed by the same 
person with similar results. It is believed 
that with ordinary care in selecting, as 
good, if not more pure salt can be obtained 
of our own State manufactories, than in any 
foreign market, and we are at a loss to un¬ 
derstand why dealers and commission hous¬ 
es so genrally recommend the Liverpool, 
unless their profits are larger on its sale.— 
State pride, and sound policy should lead 
to the use of domestic salt, and from ob¬ 
servation, we are fully convinced if butter 
is properly made and worked, the Ononda¬ 
ga salt will be found all that can be desired 
for dairy purposes. 
Butter should stand in a cool place some 
hours after it is salted, and then be worked 
again before packing. It should be packed 
tight in the tub, without any layers of salt 
mixed in, as they are always injurious.— 
The tub should be filled within an inch of 
the top, if Welch or flaring open tubs are 
used, and as full as it is possible to have 
them, if the tubs are to be headed up.— 
Open tubs should have a cloth well fitted 
on the top of the butter, over which sprin¬ 
kle damp, fine salt, and then put the cover 
on as tight as possible. 
The tubs or packages in which butter is 
sent to market, are of more importance 
than is generally believed. For the Bos¬ 
ton market, the flaring or Welch tubs are 
in general use. • These should be made of 
spruce or white ash, cut in the fall or in the 
winter before the sap starts. In the New 
York market, white oak tubs, barrel shaped, 
with two heads, are preferred. All the Or¬ 
ange county butter is put up in this way, 
and as that always commands the highest 
price, good butter from any other place 
sells for a better price for being put in the 
same kind of tubs. A butter dealer, resi¬ 
ding in Rockland Co., informed us he had 
frequently purchased Herkimer and Oneida 
butter sent to New York in Welch tubs at 
twelve cents, repacked it into Orange Co. 
tubs, and sold it for eighteen and twenty 
cents. The butter was equally as good as 
that from the river counties, but he assured 
us would not sell for as much, solely on ac¬ 
count of the tubs in which it was sent to 
market. Butter in packages of fifty to 
eighty pounds sells more satisfactorily than 
in larger ones. Clean, well-made tubs have 
a favorable influence in marketing butter, 
and an extensive commission house in 
New York assured us that clean, white 
tubs, varnished and finished as well as a 
piece of furniture, would ensure a better 
price. 
Dairymen cannot take too much pains in 
sending their products to market in good 
order. Uniformity in the color and ap¬ 
pearance of butter is very necessary to en¬ 
sure satisfactory prices. To render this 
less difficult some purchasers have the fresh 
churned butter of several dairies delivered 
at one place every morning, and there salt, 
work and pack the whole as though it had 
been one churning of a single dairy. This 
ensures uniformity, and makes butter that 
commands a higher price than the same 
dairies would put up and sent separately. 
There are many little things, unimportant 
nearly in themselves, which have so much 
influence upon the quality of butter, and 
so much affect the price in market that it 
has not been possible to more than glance 
at some of them. We can say in conclu¬ 
ding this part of our subject: select good 
cows, provide them with a full supply of 
good food; set your milk in a proper cellar* 
or milk room, take care that your cream 
does not stand too long, churn the cream 
slowly, and generally not less than forty to 
sixty minutes; work the butter-milk and 
water all out of the butter, salt it enough 
to make it eatable, but not too much; pack 
it in clean, well made firkins, have them 
reach market in good order, free from dirt 
or grease upon the outside, and you may 
feel assured you will receive a rich reward 
for your labors. 
Good butter always commands a remu¬ 
nerating price, and to our apprehension it 
costs no more to make and market a pound 
of butter that is sure to sell at twenty to 
twenty-five cents, than it does one that is 
not worth ten cents per pound. If these 
hints are of service to any, we shall feel 
fully rewarded. It is our purpose to add 
something upon the manufacture of cheese 
hereafter. \ 
STOWELL’S EVERGREEN CORN. 
Through the politeness of Prof. Mapes, 
I received on the 16th May last, seed for a 
few hills of the above new kind of Sweet 
Corn. I planted it immediately in a part of 
my garden remote from all other kinds of 
corn, and of course took good care of it.— 
I think every kernel sprouted at once, and 
it grew rapidly and very rankly. Until it 
began to tassel out, it appeared very much 
like enormous broom corn, and exhibited no 
symptoms of putting forth ears until very 
late in the season, when it eared out rap¬ 
idly, and bore three very large, full ears on 
all the best stalks, and in some cases the 
fourth ear was fairly set. Only a very few 
of the stalks bore single ears. It matured 
rapidly and very perfectly; but it was many 
weeks after frost set in and the corn was 
housed, and after the husks had become en¬ 
tirely white, before any of the kernels pre¬ 
sented the shrivelled appearance of sweet 
corn. By hanging it up in a store-room in 
a current of air, it readily hardened and 
presented the usual appearance of ripe 
sweet corn. 
The important question now arises, wheth¬ 
er, by tying up the ends of the husks and 
putting in a proper place, it will remain in 
a suitable condition for boiling, for 6 months 
or a year, or more. When it was in the 
proper green state for boiling, I was absent 
on a journey, and therefore cannot certify 
to a fair test even for the two months that 
has already elapsed. The most of the corn 
on the stalks housed, is now fit for boiling, 
but whether it will continue so for a year 
with the proper care, I am unable of course 
to say at present. 
That it will do all that has been said of 
it, I have no reason to doubt. On the con¬ 
trary, all I can discover promises that re¬ 
sult. As far as my observation of it during 
one season extends, I am satisfied it is a 
most valuable acquisition to our sweet corn. 
It grows freely, is of the first quality, and 
produces in my garden this season far be¬ 
yond any corn I have ever seen. Besides 
the 10 to 12 ears on a hill of four stalks, 
each ear and kernel is very large, although 
it dries down for seed to a very small ear 
and kernel. Very few of the ears have less 
than fourteen rows, and I have just noticed 
an ear of it only seven inches long, and yet 
it had sixteen rows, and contained more 
than 800 kernels. That it is different from 
any of the various kinds of sweet corn about 
here, is evident from its very peculiar habit 
of growth and bearing. The day I plant¬ 
ed this corn, I planted an equal number of 
hills of a very superior sweet corn, the ker¬ 
nels of which most perfectly resembled this, 
and although the soil and exposure was 
equal, yet the Stowell Corn surpassed in 
every respect. I shall try it another season 
with increased interest 
There has been so much inquiry and 
curiosity with reference to this remarkable 
variety of corn, that I have been induced 
to write thus minutely for the readers of 
the Rural, all I know about it from obser¬ 
vation and, I shall be gratified if others 
will do the same. R. G. Pardee. 
* Palmyra, Nov. 8,1851. 
LETTERS O N 
EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE, ETC. 
BY M. M. RODGERS, M. D. 
GERMANY. 
Prussia. —There are few parts of Ger¬ 
many which present anything of remarkable 
interest to the agriculturist,—particularly 
after having seen the best parts of England 
and Belgium. The vine, the prune, and 
some two or three other products peculiar 
to southern Germany, flourish more luxu¬ 
riantly than in the former kingdoms, owing 
to the mildness of the climate. No people, 
the French excepted, have made more ex- 
ensive scientific investigations, and useful 
discoveries in agriculture, than the Ger¬ 
mans : the researches of Baron Liebig alone, 
have overturned some of the most plausi¬ 
ble theories, rendered obsolete many of the 
most antiquated practices, and placed agri¬ 
culture, as an art, upon a scientific basis. 
The agricultural interests of Prussia are 
fast declining, from several causes. Firstly, 
the soil has been cultivated for many cen¬ 
turies, and is becoming, in many parts, al¬ 
most barren: this arises from want of prop¬ 
er manuring and rotation, as well as the 
failure of some natural resources. Secondly, 
the unequal division of land among farmers 
—the exhorbitant tax rates, and the want 
of men to cultivate the soil. A large part 
of the farm labor is performed by women 
and children, for the reason that a large 
portion of the able-bodied men are kept in 
the army, for a considerable part of their 
life-time. Thirdly,—tillage is done by the 
slow process of spading, or by . cumbrous 
and badly constructed wheel plows, and 
these drawn in many cases with no better 
team than donkeys or cows. Fourthly,—a 
large part of the soil is cultivated by ten¬ 
antry, instead of the owners, which always 
operates unfavorably upon the agricultural 
interests of a country. Land which is taken 
on short leases is often cropped by exhaust¬ 
ing plants, without proper manuring and ro¬ 
tation : the interest of the tenant being only 
temporary, his policy is, to take as much 
from the soil as possible and put nothing on 
in return: and those even, who hold farms 
by long leases, with stipulated conditions in 
relation to retaining their productive quali¬ 
ties by proper additions and change of crops, 
feel far less interest in making any perma¬ 
nent improvements than do those who are 
the real proprietors; consequently, the 
dwellings, barns, hedges, fences, ditches, 
&c., are nearly all poorly and cheaply con¬ 
structed. And lastly, the general want of 
enterprise and available talent in this, as 
well as all other branches of business in 
monarchical countries, shows an astonishing 
disparity between the productive farming of 
Germany and the United States. 
The Middle and Southern parts of Prus¬ 
sia, where the vine is cultivated most ex¬ 
tensively, appear more prosperous than those 
parts where the grains are the principal 
crop. Prussia has an area of 107,000 
square miles, and a population of 15,000,- 
000 or about 140 to the square mile: this 
is less than half that of Belgium in propor¬ 
tion, while the soil of the former country 
is on an average, quite as good by its natu¬ 
ral constitution; the fact, that this latter 
country sustains the largest number of peo¬ 
ple on an acre of land, of any country, proves 
that it either produces more, or that the 
subsistence required, is less; the former sup¬ 
position is doubtless true. 
The climate of Prussia is cool and damp, 
and consequently better adapted to grazing 
than grain growing; more especially along 
the valleys of the rivers, and in the vicinity 
of the shores of the Baltic Sea. The South 
has a climate and soil congenial to the vine 
and other fruits. This kingdom is included 
between 49° and 56° N. latitude, and would 
have a much colder climate, and greater 
extremes in the different seasons, only for 
the circumstance that much of the land is 
rather low and level, and sheltered by sev¬ 
eral chains of mountains. 
It is skirted by the Reisgeberg and a 
spur of the Hartz, on the south,— a spur of 
the Yosges on the south-west, and the Bo- 
merwald range on the west. The perpet¬ 
ual snow, which caps some of their summits 
produces a chilling effect, and renders the 
climate more rigid in their vicinity than it 
is elsewhere. Several large rivers, viz., the 
Rhine, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, Weser, and 
their numerous tributaries, nearly all flow¬ 
ing in a northerly and north-west direction, 
water most parts of the country abundantly, 
and waft down and deposit their debris along 
the shores, and thereby greatly enrich the 
soil. The northern parts, which are wash¬ 
ed by the waters of the Baltic, are mostly 
flat and have a somewhat cold and wet 
climate. The southern, and a portion of 
the middle, contain much poor and sandy 
soil, which is badly cultivated, and conse¬ 
quently very unproductive. 
FATTENING SWINE. 
Messrs. Editors: —Some farmers have 
tight houses in which to fatten their hogs, 
built of stone or wood, with roof over the 
whole, and all conveniences and fixings in 
order. Others, when they wish to com¬ 
mence fattening their swine, build a pen 
with rails, with a trough in one end for 
feeding, and a few loose boards over one 
corner, as a shelter — where the swine will 
crowd and fight and squeal through the 
cold and rainy nights, so frequent at this 
season. In this pen there is no floor, or 
spout to pour the slops through, so that 
when corn is fed it is thrown in upon the 
ground and the hogs eat some dirt and 
some corn, and often quite a share of the 
corn is trod into the mud and lost. So with 
the slops. They are lifted over the fence 
and poured out—some falls in the trough 
and the rest upon the heads of the hogs 
and upon the ground—and perhaps temper 
is lost as well as feed. 
From experience and observation, I am 
convinced that even the first of these modes 
is not the best that can be practiced. I 
once fattened some shoats in a tight hog- 
house, which had, in the sleeping aparment, 
a crack between the boards, some three 
inches wide, and observed that they al¬ 
ways laid with their noses as near this open 
space as possible. This satisfied me that 
they needed fresh, pure air, such as could 
not be obtained in a tight pen. 
The most successful plan I ever tried, I 
will now describe. In the first place I se _ 
cured a good breed of swine. I then pre¬ 
pared a pen with a floor and good dry 
place for sleeping and feeding, yet open to 
the fresh air, and with spouts to the trough 
so that no food need be lost I had one 
year considerable shrunken wheat, and a 
good crop of peas and corn. A quantity 
of the wheat and peas were ground togeth¬ 
er, and every night I took as much of this 
meal as would last the next day, and put 
it in a barrel with sufficient boiling water 
to scald it, and, with sour milk, made it 
thin, so as to answer for the drink of the 
hogs. I gave them what they wanted of 
this, and fed them as much corn in the ear 
as they would eat without leaving any, and 
I think I never saw hogs fatten so rapidly. 
I have tried this course several years with 
success. When I had not peas or wheat 
I used corn and barley mixed together. 
J. Sibley. 
Eagle Harbor, N. Y., Oct 1851. 
