MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
DREAMS AND SPECULATIONS. 
Change, one of the inherent conditions of nature— 
Beds of Rivers accidental— Their immense antiqui¬ 
ty—The beginning of the end— Chronology of 
wan and animals—Our lots cast too far North ■ 
Tearful increase of live stock — Its effects on animal 
and vegetable life—The end of the beginning. 
All things are the subjects of change.— 
The mountains and high lands are con¬ 
stantly decreasing in height, and finding 
their level, and disastrous floods and over¬ 
flowings of streams, will increase for all 
time to come. 
The beds of rivers, are the results of the 
final subsidence of the waters that covered 
the whole earth during the deposit of all 
the secondary rocks, and the formation and 
distribution of the soil covering the surface 
of the earth, and are the simple, accidental, 
and most convenient route to the great 
level, the ocean. They have been worn 
down by a series of years, probably beyond 
human conception. 
That animated life has existed longer 
than records run is palpable, but there is 
no good evidence that man has inhabited 
this globe longer than our received chro¬ 
nology admits, unless he for a nameless 
period of time, roamed a nomad in the 
tropical climates, existing on the spontane¬ 
ous productions of the soil, and neither is 
there any good reason for supposing that 
the Circassian race, were the original cre¬ 
ated Adamic race more than those races 
that were originally found in possession of 
the earth, and now exist in that position. 
It is a mooted point, whether the Crea¬ 
tor of all things designed that man should 
inhabit continents beyond 45 degrees from 
the Equator, and in fact, a doubt may be 
indulged whether all north of Mason & 
Dixon’s line, are not trespassers on the re¬ 
gions of the Polar Bear. May not the 
query be indulged, whether or not our lot 
is not cast a little too far north—a climate 
where seven months out of the twelve we 
have to set around great watch fires, in 
heated rooms, to keep alive the vital spark 
—five or six months toil to lay up stores to 
subsist ourselves and animals, enduring 
frost, and sleet and snow—enjoying none 
of the pleasures of a green and growing 
world—but only to look upon a monotonous 
leafless, frozen lump of clay—it is at least 
a mooted point and various opinions are in¬ 
dulged on the subject. 
The truth is, there is a great crop of 
folks about these days, and the thousand 
million of human beings now existing on 
this little footstool, are increasing in a fear¬ 
ful ratio, and the same may be said of ani¬ 
mals; for it is a fact that in our agricultural 
' country there are more horses than men: 
the fear may therefore be indulged, that 
the entire atmosphere may be contaminated 
with the carbonic gas thrown out from so 
many gas works—the lungs of such a mass 
of vitality. The cholera, ship fever, con¬ 
sumption-blights of the pear, the peach 
and the potato, and various other exotic 
curses that affect almost every blessing we 
enjoy, are due to this cause. Verily, the be¬ 
ginning of the end may be nearer than 
human philosophy anticipates. h. y. 
Mammoth II ay-Stack.— H. Bacon, Esq., 
of Barre, Mass., has made the largest hay¬ 
stack this season, that we have ever seen. 
It is 40 feet in length, 30 in width, and 
about 25 feet in height. It is thatched with 
a sort of flag-grass, after the English fash¬ 
ion, and secured by ropes of hay over the 
top, fastened to the sides of the stack. Mr. 
B. has cut about 140 tons of hay the pres¬ 
ent year. Worcester county, in which 
Barre is situated, contains some valuable 
dairy farms. Mr. Bacon’s is one of them. 
Surface Drains. —Wheat fields, where 
the soil inclines to clay, should have a suf¬ 
ficient number of surface drains to take off 
the water as soon as it falls. This will pre¬ 
vent much loss from stagnant water, and 
winter-killing. 
Wire Worms. —On taking possession of 
a piece of ground five years ago, for a gar¬ 
den—now in this city, but then out up¬ 
on the prairie—we found it infested with 
wire worms. They were present by thou¬ 
sands in every part of the soil, and the 
question was how to get rid of them. Two 
years after, we procured some refuse salt, 
and sowed at the rate of 3^- bushels per 
acre, in the fall of the year. On working 
the ground the following summer the wire 
worms had taken themselves away, save a 
few stragglers which have been gradually 
leaving ever since, till now there is scarcely 
a solitary resident left. This would seem 
to say, salt them.— Prairie Farmer. 
PIG STYES AND PIG MANURE. 
In the construction of a piggery, three 
important requisites are to be observed, 
NEW LEICESTER LONG-HORNED BULL 
THE LEICESTER LONG-HORNS. 
Near the close of the last century sever¬ 
al public spirited farmers in England turned 
their attention particularly to the improve¬ 
ment of their breeds of cattle, in regard to 
the beauty * and utility of form, quality of 
flesh, and the propensity to fatness—seek¬ 
ing to unite these points in one animal. 
They took the Long-Horns as their basis, 
and by breeding produced what were then 
known as the New Leicester Long-Horns. 
In Stevens’ Youatt on Cattle we find the 
following remarks relative to the subject. 
It was a bold and a successful experi¬ 
ment. It seemed for awhile to answer the 
most sanguine expectations of these scienitfic 
and spirited breeders. In the districts in 
which the experiments were carried on, it 
established a breed of cattle equaled by 
few, and excelled by none but the Here- 
fords. It enabled the long-horns to contend, 
FALL PLOWING- 
Messrs. Editors: —The advantage of 
plowing corn ground in the fall, is so great 
that no farmer should neglect it. r Ihe land 
should not merely be gone over, but that 
which is not too stony should be plowed 
deep, and thoroughly moved, if a good crop 
is desired. The roots of corn in mellow 
ground penetrate much beyond the usual 
depth of furrow. If the soil is not loose, 
they spread along the surface, and in case 
of drougth the crop suffers and perhaps 
fails. In most uplands, a portion of the 
subsoil should be stirred up at every plow¬ 
ing. This practice continued, will at length 
increase the depth of the natural soil, and 
give a continued increase of crops. 
Hauover, Pa., Nov., 1831. J.S. G. 
WE ARE COMING AROUND. 
We begin to think it is not profitable, or 
becoming, to allow worms to spin webs in 
our apple trees till the orchard looks like 
the ruins of a wasting conflagration. The 
practice is growing less frequent of suffer¬ 
ing our cattle to carry about them a pro¬ 
portion of the barn-yard, solidly caked on 
for a winter overcoat, while in regard to 
such remnant of the hide as is visible, a 
course of exposure and low diet, like the 
tale that Hamlet’s father could have told, 
causes “ each particular hair to stand on 
end." 
It has also been discovered, that howev¬ 
er appropriate fur of the beaver may be 
for the head, it has a marked incongruity 
when protruding through a broken window. 
This peculiarity to our landscape might 
once have elicited some expressions of sur¬ 
prise at the unusual number of hatters’ 
shops, were it not corrected by the convic¬ 
tion, that no sane mechanic would ever ex¬ 
hibit such specimens of his handicraft. On 
the whole, we have arrived at the conclu¬ 
sion—that trees, like other things, require 
some attention after being planted, — that 
cleanliness is about as essential to animals, 
as good food,—and that the fashion of gla¬ 
zing with old hats, goes out with the rum 
bottle.— Qeo. R. Russell. 
Cornstalks. —If short of long proven¬ 
der for your cattle, have your cornstalks cut 
into inch or half inch lengths, and steam 
them, and a bushel will be a good feed for 
a cow or an ox without hay. We have 
seen them prepared in a very simple way 
—a neighbor of ours had an oblong tight 
box made, which had a top to it; he filled 
this box with cut stalks, poured over them 
a pot of boiling water, shut down the lid, 
put a weight upon it, and thus cooked them 
with the steam. By the time the water 
became milk warm, the stalks were suf¬ 
ficiently cooked to be fed to the cattle. In 
the portion allotted for his milch cows he 
had bran or mill feed mixed, and in this 
way he managed to keep his stock always 
in thriving condition, with very little use of 
hay or fodder.— Am. Farmer. 
WATER, THE GRAND CONSTITUENT AND 
SOLVENT. 
Of organic bodies, whether vegetable or 
namely, convenience, cleanliness, and econo- animal, water is a large constituent during 
my or facility of making manure. In the ‘Ac, an A a powerful solvent after death.— 
selection of a site for such an establishment, Potatoes, for example, contain i5 per cent., 
it should be located, if possible, on a gentle (by weight,) and turnips no less than 90 
declivity, in order that one side of the yard P er cent, of water, which explains, by the 
may be kept free from moisture or excess wa y> the small inclination of turnip-fed cat- 
of water from rains, or melting snows. On A e an A sheep for drink. A beef-steak 
the lower side of the yard,' a shed may be strongly pressed between blotting-paper 
erected for a day sty or “ eating house,” yields nearly four-fifths of its weight of wa- 
facing a northerly point of the horizon, with t er> Of the human frame (bones included) 
the roof sloping toward the south, so that on U a bout one-fourth is solid matter, (chief- 
the rain may not run into the yard among ty carbon and nitrogen) the rest is water, 
the manure; and directly opposite, on the If a man weighing 10 stone were squeezed 
other side of the yard, another shed may flat under a hydraulio press, 7-^- stones of 
be built, facing the south, for a night sty, water would run out, and only 2£ stones of 
or “ lodging house,” with tli t roof leaned A r y residue would remain. A man is, 
back from the yard toward the north, in therefore, chemically speaking, 45 lbs. of 
order to prevent the rain, as much as pos- carbon and nitrogen diffused through 5^ 
sible, from running into the m mure. 
pails full of water. Berzilius, indeed, in 
and often successfully, with the heaviest 
and best of the middle-horns. It did more; 
it improved, and that to a material degree, 
the whole breed of long-horns. The Lan¬ 
cashire, the Derbyshire, the Staffordshire 
cattle became, and still are, an improved 
race; they got rid of a portion of their 
coarse bone. They began to gain their 
flesh and fat on the more profitable points, 
they acquired a somewhat earlier maturity, 
and, the process of improvement not being 
carried too far, the very dairy-cattle obtain¬ 
ed a disposition to convert their aliment 
into milk while milk was wanted, and, after 
that, to use the same nutriment for the 
accumulation of flesh and fat. The mid¬ 
land counties will always have occasion to 
associate a feeling of respect and gratitude 
with the name of Bakewell. 
But the march of improvement did not 
stop with this, and breeds which surpass 
the Leicester Long-Horns have driven them 
from notoriety, if not altogether from the 
I present generation of cattle. 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
In England the want of uniformity in 
weights and measures was long felt to be 
a serious evil. The old standard wine gal¬ 
lon contained 231 cubic inches; the ale and 
beer gallon 282 cubic inches; the corn gal¬ 
lon 268 4-5 cubic inches, and the Scot’s 
pint 103 2-5 cubic inches. In 1824 these 
measures, with all other local measures of 
every description were abolished, and in¬ 
stead of them a measure called an imperial 
gallon was established. This gallon was 
declarod to contain 10 pounds avoirdupois 
weight, of distilled water, weighed in air, 
62° Farenheit, the barometer being at 30 
inches. 
The mode of verifying this measure is 
simple and beautiful. The contents of the 
cube of the sixth part of the length of the 
pendulum vibrating seconds in the latitude 
of London, at the level of the sea, and in 
a vacuum, varies only three-tenths of a cu¬ 
bic inch from the contents of the imperial 
gallon; and the tenth part of the weight of 
an imperial gallon of water is the standard 
avoirdupois pound. 
In the testimony taken by the committee, 
some curious facts were elicited, which re¬ 
minded me of the dealing at country stores 
in our own country. A bushel or gallon 
of some kinds of articles was not merely 
the quantity which the measure would con¬ 
tain within it, but a super-addition of as 
much more as could be heaped upon it in 
the form of a cone. Other articles were 
measured by striking off this cone—the only 
legal method of measuring now in England 
—potatoes, turnips and the like being sold 
by the pound. The uncertainty of heaped 
measure was demonstrated by the clerk of 
the Covent Garden Market, who stated that 
he had employed two different persons to 
measure each a peck of nuts, and that one 
of them put in eleven, while the other put 
in only ten quarts. It was considered,that 
when the cone was no longer permitted to 
be added to the measure, that the form of j 
the measure was immaterial. This is found 
to be incorrect. Some articles, such as corn 
are made to lie closer together when sub¬ 
jected to pressure, and for this reason a 
deep vessel will hold a larger quantity than 
one having the cubic contents, but which is 
more shallow in form. Dr. Anderson tes¬ 
tified that wheat measured in a bushel 
measure, ll£ inches deep, weighed one 
part in 150 parts more than the same wheat 
measured in a bushel 8^ inches deep—a 
gain of some moment where large quantities 
are delivered. —Boston Post. 
Corn which is intended for the market, 
should not be shelled until near the time 
for sending it away; it should then be 
thoroughly dry, and carefully fanned from 
chaff and particles of cob, because these 
substances are frequently the origin of heat 
in shelled corn, from the fact of their being- 
more subject to decay than the corn itself. 
—Dollar Newspaper. 
He that is most worthy of fame is often 
the most careless of it—while the would-be 
great is ever in fear of losing caste. 
The yard should be well paved, so that recording the fact, justly remarks, that the 
nothing can soak into the ground, in order living organism is to be regarded merely 
that the dung, urine, and water from the as a mass diffused in water; and Dalton, by 
clouds may mix with whatever may be a number of experiments tried on his own 
thrown in, and would thus form one grand person, found that of the food with which 
slope, the lower side and ends of which, 
should have a tight wall or barrier to pre¬ 
vent the loss of manure from the washing 
of rains, Ac. 
we daily repair this water-built fabric, five- 
sixths are also of water. 
The sap of plants is a solution of material 
matters, sallie and organic, in water, which 
to them, and conducive to health. 
Whatever be the mode of construction distiibutes them so rapidly that its upward 
of the sty, it should have one part close course through the minute vessels (as ob- 
and warm, with a tight roof over it; and served by Lindley in the stripules of the 
the other part, containing their troughs, ficus elastica) looks like the rushing of a 
more or less open to let in the light and air; swift stream. A pail full of water, suitably 
for swine will not bear to be wholly exclu- impregnated with salt, is speedily sucked 
ded from the weather and sunshine; and it up by the root of a growing tree immersed 
is equally hurtful to them to bo constantly A 5 the salts are assimilated, as is also a 
exposed to the wet and cold, as well as to P ar t of the water, the remainder being evap- 
the intense heat from the sun. They orated from the leaves. Food or provisions 
should be allowed to run at large in a pas- may thus be. artificially administered to 
ture, or orchard during a portion of the plants; and timber is thus hardened in 
year. To prepare a pasture for them, let France, and even stained, whilst living, of 
the ground be broken up, tilled, and manur- divers brilliant hues. As for evaporation 
ed, and then laid down with clover—for from foilage, it is so abundant that a sun- 
swine are more fond of this grass than of any flower perspires 1^ pails per diem, and a 
other. Let the quantity of land be so pro- cabbage nearly as much—nay, it appears 
portioned to the number of hogs, that they from valuable experiments published by Mr. 
may keep the grass from running to seed. Lawes, of Rothamsted, that a wheat plant, 
For this will prevent waste; and the shorter during the period of its growth (170 days) 
the feed, the sweeter the herbage, and the exhales about 100,000 grains of water, so 
more tender and agreeable to their taste, that, taking the ultimate weight of the ma- 
One acre of rich land is considered sufficient ture plant at 100 grains, which is a full es- 
to support 20 or more swine through the timate, its mean daily perspiration actually 
summer, say from the first of May till the exceeds ten times its own mean weight.— 
last of October. At this rate an acre of wheat, (weighing at 
It should also be remembered, that the least, two tons at maturity,) should exhale, 
pasturing with swine will enrich the land 011 an average, fully ten tons of water per 
more than by pasturing or soiling with diem. 
other stock; and by this means, the profit Of a plaster of Paris statue, weighing 5 
of the farmer will be increased. When it lb s -> more than 1 lb. is solidified water.— 
can with convenience be so ordered, it is an Even the iridiscent opal is but a mass of 
excellent plan to make a hog pasture of an flint and water combined in the proportion 
orchard. For, the shade of the trees will °f nine grains of the earthly ingredient to 
be very grateful and comfortable to them °ne of the fluid. Of one acre of clay land, 
in summer; their dung is allowed to be one a f°°f deep, weighing about 1,200 tons, at 
of the best of manures for the apple; and least 400 tons are water; and even of the 
beside, they will keep the ground around great mountain chains with*which the globe 
the roots very light and loose, and they will > s ribbed, many millions of tons are water 
destroy many insects that inlest the trees solidified in earth. 
or their fruit. It will also be of great ad- Water, indeed, exists to an extent and 
vantage to a hog pasture to have plenty of under conditions which escape the notice of 
water & in it during the summer; and that cursory observers. When the dyer buys 
which is running is best, as it will afford °f the drysalter 100 lbs. each of alum, car- 
the swine the most wholesome drink, and bonate of soda, and soap, he obtains in ex- 
at the same time will serve as well as any change, for his money, no less than 45 lbs. 
other for them to wallow in; and it will of water in the first, 40 lbs. in the second, 
keep them clean, which is no small advan- a »d a variable quantity, sometimes amount- 
tage. But the most dirty puddle is better ing^to 73^ lbs., in the third, 
than none, as they can cool themselves in -Even the transparent air we breathe con¬ 
it in hot weather, which is very refreshing t a > ns in ordinary weather about five grains 
of water diffused through each cubic foot 
The refuse of the garden, or other waste of As bulk; and this rarefied water no more 
matter, as bean stalks, the pods of beans we ts the air than the solidified water wets 
and peas, weeds, dried plants, as well as tAe solid material on which it is absorbed, 
dried peat, swamp or pond muck, loam, and —Daguerrian Journal. 
other earthy materials, thrown in, from ---- 
time to time, will please the hogs, which GROUND AND UN-^OUND -C00EED AND 
they will work over, and produce a quantity "__ 
of manure many times gre.ater than natural- j N a communication from the Society of 
ot manure many times greater man natural- a communication from the Society of 
ly would be made from the same numbei gh a k ers at Lebanon, New York, in the 
of swine. I his maybe cleaied away as patent Office Report, we find the following: 
often as may be necessary, and used as an 
excellent dressing for the land, as there may 
Patent Office Report, we find the following: 
“ The experience of more than 30 years 
leads us to estimate ground corn at one- 
HENS IN WINTER. 
, • • • r _icttua ua iu usbinitiic (//uu/ttv turn uiil— 
be occassion, tnrowing in fresh matter in ... . . J . , , . 
i . ’ . & j 7. third higher than un-ground as food for 
return —Amenca* Muck Bool. oatt i e , especially for fattening pork; 
HENS IN WINTER hence it has been the practice of our soci- 
- cty for more than a quarter of a century to 
A shed behind your horse stable is the grind all our provender, 
most favorable place for hens during the The same experience induces us to put a 
• -\r ~~ — -higher value upon cooked than upon raw 
meal; and for fattening animals, swine par¬ 
ticularly, we consider three of cooked, equal 
most favorable place for hens during the 
winter. You can throw the manure from 
the stalls into it, and as horse dung, espe¬ 
cially where the animals are grain-fed, fer¬ 
ments rapidly and powerfully, its heat will to four bushels of raw meal, 
conduce to keep up a genial and summer- Until within the last three or four years 
like temperature highly advantageous to our Society fattened annually for 30 years 
the fowls. By sprinkling sulphuric acid from 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of pork, ex- 
freely over the surface every few days, all elusive of lard and offal fat; and it is the 
the unpleasant and deleterious consequences constant pi actice to cook the meal, for which 
resulting from the ammoniacal gas, evolv- six or seven potash kettles are used.” 
ed by the manure, are neutralised and saved The Shakers are a close-observing, calcu- 
for the benefit of the crops. Another im- lating people, and go in for the practical re- 
portant advantage attending this practice, alities of life, and therefore, in the economy 
is the saving effected by the economization of food, must be presumed to be good 
of the grain contained in the excrement.— judges. For ourself, we are disposed to 
Hens accomodated in this way, if well fed, believe the conclusions to which they have 
and supplied with meal, lime, ashes, chop- arrived at are correct.— Plow, Loom and 
ped vegetables, buttermilk, Ac., will lay Anvil. 
constantly, and be nearly or quite as profit- 
Frost takes effect more readily on roots 
that have been dug up, than on those 
------ . which are left in the ground; therefore, 
If the milker will keep his nails short, either give your store roots complete pro- 
not one cow in a hundred will kick. 1 tection, or let them remain in the ground. 
able as during the summer months.— Qer. 
Telegraph. 
