Perhaps you think I use too bitter lan¬ 
guage—language more severe than my sub¬ 
ject would call for. Let mo say to you, open 
your eyos ! I have been a farm laborer, 
I know how the thermometer ranges—I can 
remember when my proffered hand was not 
received—when my nod of recognition was 
unreturned. I have treasured memories of 
slights shown, and thrusts given, when I 
was only John, our hired man. 
Then need we wonder longer, that young 
men are unwilling, unless necessitated so to 
do, to enter the service of farmers ? Think 
you that they are destitute of pride ? Then 
continue on in the course too many have 
adopted, and you will have the satisfaction 
ere long, of seeing that you havo driven 
from the ranks of “month laborers” all 
young men of spirit, ambition, and trust.— 
Situations in stores and shops—any situa¬ 
tion that is respected — California s and 
Australia’s golden sands will bo sifted—any 
occupation will bo sought rather than sei\o 
as a menial. Farmers, do you hear ! 
What has been, will doubtless be again. 
From the ranks of our present bright¬ 
eyed, broad-shouldered, strong-limbed far¬ 
mer boys, will go forth the first men of our 
nation—first in respectability—first in tal¬ 
ent, and greatest in genuis, energy, and in¬ 
fluence. Then I ask why trample upon 
them ? Why not show them duo courtesy 
and politeness? It will oncourago and 
strengthen them to go on. 
“ The Jews would not willingly tread up¬ 
on the smallest piece of paper in their way, 
but took it up; for possibly, said they, the 
name of God may be written upon it. 
Though thoro was a little superstition in 
this, yet truly, thoro is nothing but high mo¬ 
tives if we apply it to men. Iramplo not 
on any; there may be some work of grace 
there that thou knowest not of.” Genius 
may 7 havo marked him as hers. We can 
not divine, when we look upon the ruddy 
countenance, and into the bright eye of the 
farmer boy. what may 7 yet be his station, in¬ 
fluence, and success in life ? Who would 
have predicted that “ the mill boy of the 
slashes” would move a nation—gain the at¬ 
tention of a world—and bo admired and 
loved by millions of people, and yet this 
Henry Ceay accomplished. It has been 
stated that of the fourteen whom our na¬ 
tion has honored with the highest office in 
our government, that twelve have made 
their way upward, depending upon their 
own resources. Bo this as it may, mo aio 
surrounded by abundant evidences of what 
farmer boys havo bccomo, and we havo but 
to encourage them—to respect them to 
bid them press on—and wo will see them 
enter the field joyfully—and triumphant 
success ore long crowning their efforts. 
To my young friends, who, employed as 
month hands, aro laboring for hire, I would 
say, your position is an honorable one. 
« Sages and patriots in these ways have trod.” 
Go on then !—weary not—let idlers sneer 
_you are above them—aro more honorable. 
Thousands havo gone before you to stations 
of the highest respectability and trust.— 
Maintain a proper self-respect—for the sake 
of company, associate not with tho idle nor 
profligate. “If sinners entice thee, con¬ 
sent thou not;” value a good character abovo 
rubies. Be patient—persevere, and though 
now poor, ere long you will have attained a 
position to tho occupant of which they who 
now deign not to notico the “vulgar month 
hand,” will be looking for an example and 
influence. 
Take courage then my young friends— 
and go on—gain knowledge as it may bo in 
your power, and when a few more years 
shall have passed away, you will realize in 
its fullest sense tho grand result of being 
industrious and improving your early years. 
By an old month laborer, 
John Sanfield. 
Hill Farm, N. Y., 1853. 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. 
■ 
pp m 
— 
y.H. 
BUREAU'S GRAIN REAPER. 
Among tho many Reaping Machines now 
boforo tho public—each of which is claimed 
to possess peculiar morits—tho one abovo 
represented has achieved an enviable repu¬ 
tation. Without disparagement to other 
machines manufactured and sold in Western 
Ncw-York, and which wo have heretofore 
noticed, wo may hero repeat what we have 
heretofore said of Burrael’s Reaper, after 
witnessing its operation:—“We expected, 
from what wo had previously heard, to soe 
a good machine, but did not anticipate wit¬ 
nessing one so complete and porfect in its 
practical operation. It was not a highly j 
buisiness most effectually—and that, we 
tako it, is just what fanners want at harvest 
time. Neither was it rigged for visitors, 
and certainly not for us, for our call at tho 
field was unexpected—and we found it cut¬ 
ting oats as fast as the team could walk, 
and saw it operate while tho horses were 
trotting. It runs easily, cuts every straw, 
is subject to little jar and noise—and is al¬ 
together creditablp to tho inventive genius 
of Mr. Burraee, who is a genuine Western 
New-Yorker.” 
For particulars as to price of this Reaper, 
and whero obtainable, soo advertisement in 
finished and painted concern, but did the J this paper. 
as long in tho day as at night, which must ; 
bo unplasant and injurious to the cows.— 
We always havo the milkers pick their 
cows in tho spring, and each one milk his 
or her cows tho season through. It is a 
bad plan to change milkers, for tho cows 
will not give down as well to a strango hand. 
As soon as winter sets in we feed on hay, 
adding corn stalks if wo have them, until, 
thoy aro dry—the last of Doc. or thereabout, 
as we liko to havo them go dry threo or 
four months. About tho middlo of Febru¬ 
ary we commence feeding hay and meal; 
we have had corn in the cob mixed with 
rve, ground, which is very rich, but I think 
buckwheat is better for milk. In feeding 
corn and cob meal, our cows got fat and 
did not clean well which as all dairymen 
know, hurts them very much. Tho plan wo 
now adopt, is, as soon as the cows begin ma¬ 
king bag, to commenco feeding them raw 
oats, about two quarts per day until they 
como in, xvhich will loosen and clean them 
well. Oats will not raise their milk, so thoro 
will not be any danger of caking in tho bag. 
Wo then commenco feeding something to 
increase tho milk. One more remark—wo 
never allow a calf to suck tho cow, because 
they will hold up their milk if we do.—S. 
Lehman, Sharon Centre, Scho. Co., JY. Y. 
Management of Milch Cows. 
Messrs Editors. —This is the first timo I 
over attempted to w T rite for publication, but 
seeing often in the Rural, statements about 
the care of cows in winter and summer, tho 
different kinds of grain that make the most 
milk, &c., I havo concluded to send you an 
account of our mode of management, which 
you can publish if you think it will prove 
beneficial to do so. 
My father and I have usually kept from 
fifteen to twenty cows for the last six years 
In summer they havo nothing but good pas¬ 
ture day and night. In tho day timo we 
think it best to keep them in a pasture 
where there is running water; in the 
night we turn them to the dry lots, as it is 
not as warm, and the dew affords considera 
ble moisture. Wo milk in the morning be¬ 
fore it is too warm, as the cows stand more 
quietly, and about half past six or a little 
later in the afternoon. This does not di¬ 
vide the time very well, but it is bettor than 
to milk before sunrise and after dark, as 
this makes the time between milking twice 
“ The Birds.” 
“ TnEiR wise Creator formed them for an 
important use; it you destroy them, you 
frustrate this plan—and nature always suf¬ 
fers whon tho laws and plans of God aro 
disregarded.”— (Rural, \ol. H , p. 1‘29.) 
I road tho Rural with undimishod inter¬ 
est, and no portions of it interest me more 
than those indicating the progress of the hu¬ 
man mind towards what I consider a right 
state of feeling in regard to tho “Tho 
Birds,” as well as its progressive knowledge 
and improvement. “How do you know,” 
asks the writer from whom “ my text” is ta¬ 
ken, “ but their quick eye perceived a worm 
in tho very cherry you grudge them ?”— 
Two yoars ago I stated an incident which to 
my mind confirmed, or at least ^answered, 
this same inquiry, (it was published, I be- 
believo, in tho Rural,) and suggested the 
propriety of further observations on the 
same subject. I am happy now to find my 
opinion confirmed by tho observations of 
T. C. Peters, in an interesting articlo from 
his pen in No. 20, of the present Vol. of tho 
Rural. 
“ Nature always suffers,” &c. I will add 
but two brief remarks : 1st. There is reason 
to believe, that although most birds live on 
a variety of food, yet each particular spe¬ 
cies of birds has a greater partiality, or 
fondness, for some particular kinds of in- 
sccts or reptiles. Many examples occur, 
but I omit them for tho present. This evin¬ 
ces a plan. 
2d. Many specios of birds follow civiliza¬ 
tion. Tho same may be said of several spe¬ 
cies of insects; or, at least, they multiply 
under its influence. Ilonco a necessity that 
tho birds should follow, in order to roduco 
tho number of tho insects. This also evin¬ 
ces apian. Let us, then, study and observe. 
No man can study “Nature’s works and 
ways” without becoming a wiser, and a bet¬ 
ter man.— Out West, May, 1853. 
and 1 would now introduce a substitute 
whore these materials aro hard to bo got. 
Tako oak boards, one inch thick, and six 
inches wide; nail two boards together in 
the shape of a sheep-trough. Tho bottom 
board ought to bo loft about six inches 
longer at one end, in order to break joints 
to keep them straight. Every three boards 
will roquiro about nino nails; tho bottom 
board may bo omitted if the bottom of the 
dirain is hard and but little water to dis¬ 
charge. The drains ought to be one foot 
wide and over two and a half feet deep; tho 
doeper tho bettor. I should prefer laying 
tiles on a board to the sole pieces generally 
used. I think board drains will last from 
20 to 30 years. My stone drains do not last 
but a few years, when thoy get filled with 
quick sand, and moles aro doing much dam¬ 
age to them. I think board drains will be 
very beneficial to those living on low lands 
whero stone aro scarce and timber plenty, 
and tiles not convenient to be had. 
d. m. n. 
•New Material for Roofs. 
Friend Moore :—On reading the articlo 
on tiling fo v f roofs, in tho Rural, it brought 
to mind a calculation on roofing with book- 
board, painted heavy with mineral tar and 
sprinkled woll with sand; to which add 
another coat, or to any required thickness. 
It will become as solid as slate, not only 
water tight and snow tight, but air tight 
and warm in winter. If our calculation 
was correct, tho expense would bo a trifle 
less than with shingles at two dollars per 
thousand, allowing for tho difference in 
nails. The joints need lapping but little, 
and painting between the laps, then fasten¬ 
ing with light tacks. Wo should liko to 
hear, through tho Rural, some remarks 
from an abler and better informed person 
on this subject.—D. M, Sandy Creek, Oswe¬ 
go Co., June 4th, 1853. 
horse harrow or cultivator, or with a two- 
horse harrow, lengthwise with the furrow, 
and covers the seed. Two men will thus 
plant six or seven acres in a day. 
When tho corn is six inches to a foot high, 
run a one-horse cultivator between tho 
rows. This is all the dressing the crop 
noeds. No hoeing is necessary, for tho 
dense growth soon smothers down all elso ; 
and in the autumn, when tho crop is cutoff, 
tho earth is left as clean as a newly plowed 
field. 
It is to be harvosted about the first of 
autumn. If the crop is heavy and much 
“ lodged,” it is cut by reaping. It straight 
and even, a common scythe will answer the 
purposo, a little practice enabling tho opera¬ 
tor to throw it smoothly with tfm heads in 
one direction. After partly drying for a 
day or two, tho best way is to tie it in bun¬ 
dles, and put it up in large shocks although 
raking by a horso into winrows for cocks, 
might answer well for large fields. It must 
dry for some weeks. 
It can never bo safely put into largo 
stacks. The most perfect way would be to 
place it in small stacks or long upright rows, 
under a large shed. Even if tho stalks ap¬ 
pear perfectly cured after several wocks ex¬ 
posure, they will certainly heat and spoil if 
stacked in the oadinary way. Hence, the 
stacks must be quito small, freely salted, and 
well ventilated by moans of three or four 
poles placed upright in tho centre. Wo 
have found tho stalks to retain a good con¬ 
dition when loft in largo well maao shocks 
on tho field, till wanted in winter. Curing 
is the only difficulty with this crop, and this 
ceases whon understood. 
Land that will yield thirty bushels of corn 
to tho acre, will afford about five tons of 
dried fodder. Moist land is bettor than 
very dry, as it is moro affected by drouth 
than ordinary corn crops. Wo have not 
found tho cost, including interest on the land 
to exceed $1,50 per ton for tho dried fodder. 
For soiling, or feeding green, corn foddor, 
often proves of tho highest value, when pas¬ 
tures are burnt by drouth. For this pur¬ 
poso, it may be sown at difforont periods 
till midsummer. 
THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 
Draining. 
This is a subject of great importance to 
this, as well as other countries, whero it has 
been proved. The experience of many 
yoars has satisfactorily shown its benefit to 
them and that it ought to be adopted by us. 
There has boon enough said on the sub¬ 
ject of stone and tile drains; wo havo had 
tho statements of well experienced men, 
Sowing Corn for Fodder. 
We find tho following articlo in the Alba¬ 
ny Cultivator. It is valuable as furnishing 
very complete directions on tho subject: 
We havo cultivated corn for fodder for 
many years, and find it, all things consider¬ 
ed, the most profitable wo can raise. It 
may be sown during the comparative season 
of leisure just after corn planting, and 
secured at tho next season of leisure just 
after haying and harvesting. After re¬ 
peatedly cropping the same ground, wo 
aro satisfied that it rather enriches than 
impoverishes the land, no grain being fromed, 
and a vast bed of roots remaining. Nothing 
is equal to it for reducing rough, turfy, wood 
land, to a state of cleanliness and good tilth. 
We believe it the best fallow crop in the 
world to precede wheat. 
It should never bo sown broadcast. Tho 
imperfections of this mode aro tho chief 
reasons that tho crop has not become more 
generally introduced. It requires moro 
seed, and leaves the ground in a fouler con¬ 
dition, than when sown in plowed drills.— 
Wo havo tried both ways, to our entire 
satisfaction, as to the comparative value of 
each. Tho following is tho best mode for 
sowing, cultivating, and secui'ing the crop : 
Plow and harrow the ground as for any 
other crop; furrow it with a one-horso plow, 
threo feet apart; lot a man pass along one 
of these drills with a half-bushel basket on 
his left arm containing shelled corn, and 
strew the seed in the furrow at tho rate of 
about 40 or 50 grains to a foot, which will 
be about two and a half or threo bushels 
per acre. He will do this evenly, with a 
little practice, as fast as he can walk. If 
sowed thinner tho crop will be smaller.— 
Wo have found, by accurately weighing and 
measuring, that twenty grains to tho toot 
yield only two-thirds the crop afforded by 
forty grains to tho foot. Immediately al¬ 
ter the sower, follows a man with a ono- 
Time for Cutting Hay. 
The Germantown Telegraph has tho fol¬ 
lowing article on this subject: 
Meadow hay, if intended for winter food 
for stock of any kind, should never bo al¬ 
lowed to stand until fully ripo. By remain¬ 
ing in tho field till it becomes mature, it 
acquires a hard and wirey character, which 
ensures its being rejected by most animals 
when not actually compelled by hungor; 
and is, indeed, fit for little elso besides litter, 
or bedding. By cutting—tho period of in¬ 
florescence, perhaps, indicates with sufficient 
general accuracy, the most suitable season 
for harvesting—making thoroughly, and 
salting with from one to two pecks of salt 
per ton, (tho quantity in all cases to be 
graduated in comformity to tho use to which 
it is to bo applied,) a very excellent and salu 
tary winter food will be secured. 
Sheep do well, perhaps in most cases 
much better, on this than on any other hay. 
They pertako eagerly, and are seldom sick. 
In marshes appended to most of tho farms, 
or whero salt-hay can bo obtained in almost 
any quantity, and at a merely nominal prico, 
tho wild grass of meadaw and fresh bog 
land, possess less intrinsic value; but even 
then it is not by any means to be thrown 
away. Even if you have no use for it in 
your barn, it will bo found an excellent 
articlo for manure. When used for this 
purpose, cart it into your yards green, or in 
a partially made condition, and spread over 
tho surface, or else pack it away, after “ ma¬ 
king it” as hay, in some convenient and un¬ 
occupied out-building, to bo thrown out oc¬ 
casionally during tho winter, or to supply 
bedding for your horses, sheep, swine and 
other animals, and thus be mixed up with 
tho manure for future use. But there aro 
few places whero a good crop of wild hay, 
will not be valuable to the farmer for feed¬ 
ing. In the interior, it is eminently so. and 
there is generally a demand for a much 
larger quantity of it than most farmers find 
it practicable to obtain. In such places, the 
most imperfect of tho wild grasses, if proper¬ 
ly salted, will be found to possess a high 
value. It is an error to suppose that long 
standing improves the quality of this de¬ 
scription of hay. Tho earlier it is cut, af¬ 
ter the soason of haying commences, the 
better. 
get rid of many weeds, when the crops re¬ 
ceive proper attention—thus a carrot crop, 
if properly attended, will secure tho remo¬ 
val of weeds. Tho use of properly con¬ 
structed cultivators among root crops, if 
used sufficiently ofton, will save much labor 
in the removal of weeds, for they will turn 
out evory weed between tho rows, leaving 
those only in the rows to bo removed by 
hand or by tho hand-hoo. Tho uso of tho 
push or scuffle lioo in skillful hands, will do 
much to save tho soil from weeds ; if applied 
to a proper depth in a well disintegrated 
soil, it cuts off tho woods, and in tho back 
action draws them above tho surface, to de¬ 
cay without replacing tho roots. Horse- 
hoes are also constructed so as to cut weeds 
deeply, and to loavo tho entire weed, root 
and all, on the surface to decay. 
Never leavo weeds a fow days longer, be¬ 
cause, they aro not going to seed. Large 
weeds seldom como forth with so much of 
their roots as small ones, and then their in¬ 
creased sizo robs other plants of their prop¬ 
er food, nor will their decay on the surfaco 
restoro all thoy havo robbed, again to tho 
soil, for a large part of tho nitrogenous por¬ 
tion of their constituents will bo lost in the 
atmosphero. Salt and lime mixture, used 
in composts, destroys tho accidental weed 
seed from tho stable, by assisting in their 
more perfect decomposition. Hog-pen ma¬ 
nure will decompose with such violence as 
to destroy many, and when tho divisor used 
is decomposed "muck or charcoal braze, tho 
ammonia is not lost oven by so violent a de¬ 
composition. _____ 
Brady’s Address. — Chess and Wheat 
The following is an oxtract from tho inter¬ 
esting address of Joseph Brady, before tho 
Franklin County (Ind.) Agricultural Society: 
“It is now moro than fifteen years since 
my father determined to raise pure wheat, 
instead of having it intermingled with cheat, 
rvo, and sometimes even cockle, as ho and 
his neighbors had been doing, and as some 
farmers, I am sorry to say, even yet do.— 
Tho rye, being taller than tho wheat, was 
easily destroyed by cutting it out before 
harvest, and tho cockle was not difficult to 
overcome. As to destroying cheat, many 
only laughed at him, assuring him that tho 
first hard winter would undo all his labor, 
oven if he should gain a partial victory.— 
Nevertheless, ho was determined to mako 
an experiment at least. I was then a youth 
at home, and much interested in the ex¬ 
periment. Wo picked our seed, not as one 
who has written in favor of the changing 
theory, that ho did his, in a somewhat simi¬ 
lar experiment,—“ in bunches of two or 
threo hundred heads,” but head by head.— 
Lest a singlo grain of choat might havo fal¬ 
len into it, wo ran it two or threo timo thro’ 
a fanning-mill containing a good screon, bo- 
in o- careful that none of tho screenings 
should bo sown. We thon sowed tho seed, 
thus prepared, on the cloanest ground that 
we had. We went throught a similar pro¬ 
cess tho two succeeding years. If a singlo 
stalk or grain of cheat was found in harvest¬ 
ing. threshing, or winnowing, it was carful- 
ly pocketed and burned. By that time our 
wheat was almost perfectly clear of it, and 
would havo been ontirely so, I _ have no 
doubt, had there been nono of it in tho 
ground from year to year. Sinco then it 
has only been necessary to exercise prudent 
caro in the preparation of tho seed to insure 
a crop of almost pure wheat. There was 
no longer any noed of picking it head by 
head, or subjecting it to any tedious pio- 
cess. When wo wished to cultivate a now 
variety, or make an interchange of seed, wo 
had only to carofully prepare that which 
wo sowed to insure a crop of all wheat.— 
Many years havo passed sinco then, and I 
am confident that I may safely say, that 
there never has a grain or stalk changed on 
that farm ; and, I will venture thofuithoi 
assertion, that thoro never will. It has been 
exposed to all tho casualties that have bcon 
supposed to produce the change, but with¬ 
out producing the slightest visible effect. 
From that day to this tho samo caro has 
been exercised, and with the samo success, 
and so careful is my father that ho would at 
any time stop the most important farming 
operation to destroy a stalk of cheat. Our 
neighbors, seeing tho result, adopted a simi¬ 
lar practice, and with tho samo unfailing re¬ 
sult;—so that tho opposite theory, once 
generally entertained, has now few advocates 
among them.” 
Ho that by the plow would thrive > 
Himself must either hold or drive. 
Weeds and Weeding. 
The Working Farmer has a chapter on 
tho destruction of weeds by other means 
than plowing and hoeing : 
The remedies proposed for doing away 
with weeds, are only exceeded in number by 
weeds themselves—but among the many 
methods some may be adopted with propri¬ 
ety. Some weeds of tho smaller kinds are 
destroyed by burning a slight coating of 
litter on the surface of tho soil, in early 
spring, and market gardeners so prepare soil 
for raising cabbago plants. Many kinds of 
tho smaller weeds aro destroyed by a coat 
ing of six bushels of common salt por 
acre after plowing, and a few days before 
planting. Some woods, embracing quito a 
large class, may bo done away with, by two 
plowings at a fow weeks apart, and Avhen 
tho field is intended for late crops, this may 
roadily be done. 
Whero a noglectod corner is so full of 
weeds, that they cannot bo got rid of by 
ordinary means, then salt tho soil so heavily 
as to destroy all growth, and by losing tho 
use of it for one year, and adding lime with 
with a full plowing, such saltod soil will bo 
found clear of weeds tho following season 
and of improved fertility. Tho ultimate 
constituents of salt ( chlorine and soda ) aro 
not unfriendly to vegetation, and thoy soon 
separate in the soil by chomical influences, 
and thus cease to be salt. 
Root and other hood crops enablo us to 
Horses in New York.— Wo copy the fol¬ 
lowing paragraph from tho New York 
Herald: 
“Wo find tho number of horses at pres¬ 
ent in the city is 22,540, and their value $2,- 
495,000. Tho number in 1825 was 5,634, 
whon tho population of New York was 166,- 
086. This gave a proportion of ono horse 
to every thirty inhabitants, while tho pro¬ 
portion at present is one to eyery twenty- 
three, showing a largo increaso. r i his proves 
that the application of steam to the differ¬ 
ent mechanical inventions which have sinco 
been mado has not had the effect either ot 
diminishing tho value ot horso labor, or 10 - 
ducing tho number, as they might naturally 
be supposod to havo done. 
Agricultural College in Onto.—I ho 
frionds of practical education, in Clermont 
county, have been moving in the matter of 
establishing an Agricultural and loacheis 
College. Tho enterprise meets with de- 
cided favor among the leading citizens of 
tho county, and wo may yet bo happily dis¬ 
appointed" in seeing a truly Agricultural In¬ 
stitution spring up among tho thriving far¬ 
mers of Clermont. Tho undertaking is ono 
of no small magnitude if our friends pro¬ 
pose to establish a permanent and living 
school, and wo hope they will sufficient!) 
count tho cost, and not add another to the 
whited sepulchres, with groat sounding 
names, signifying nothing.— Ohio Cult. 
