VOLUME IV. NO. 46. } 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER : 
A QUARTO 'WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WTT3 AN ABLE CORPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
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 
t o make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical Sub¬ 
jects connected with the business of those whose interests 
it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter — 
interspersed with many appropriate and handsome engrav¬ 
ings— than any other paper published in this Country. 
E-iT For Terms, &c., see last page. 
mer. 
Progress and Improvement. 
BARN-YARD MANURE.—No. 1. 
When a plant is burned, the four organic 
olements, oxygon, hydrogen, nitrogen,.and 
carbon are driven off into the air, whilo the 
ton inorganic elemonts are loft as ashes.— 
Consumption by an animal has boon fre¬ 
quently compared to this burning process, 
and to a certain extent the analogy holds true. 
It has beon supposed, by some at least, that 
the organic elements of tho food passed in¬ 
to tho atmosphere in tho form of breath, 
perspiration, &c., whilo the inorganic, or 
ashes, were voided in tho solid excrements. 
Th«, however, is true only in part, and 
gives hut a faint idea of tho actual process 
of nutrition. It is true, that ono half tho 
organic matter of tho food is given off by 
respiration, &e., but it is not half the whole 
organic matter; there is none of tho nitro¬ 
gen of tho food exhaled in tho breath, or 
given off through tho pores of tho skin. It 
is only tho digestible hydrogen and carbon 
which aro burned in the lungs and thrown 
off from tho body in the form of water and 
carbonic acid. The greater part of tho nitro¬ 
gen ig voidod in tho urine, while tho undi¬ 
gested carbon compounds (woody fibre, &c.,) 
are voided, in conjunction with tho inorgan¬ 
ic elements in the dung. If a ton of clover 
hay is fod to animals, the liquid and solid 
excrements will contain (oxcopting a small 
portion of phosphoric acid, lime, and potash) 
tho same amount of elements as the ton of 
clover, minus one half its organic matter 
which has been given off into tho air as car¬ 
bonic acid and water, two substances of no 
manurial value on a wheat farm. There aro 
no fertilizing properties gained by passing 
food through tho body of an animal, and 
there need he nothing of material conso- 
quonco lost. 
Tho composition of tho food, then, affords 
a truo criterion of tho composition and value 
of tho manure. If clover, plowed in would 
bo good manure, clover passod through 
tho body of an animal, would bo equally 
good ; if straw plowed in is of little valuo, 
manure inado by animals eating nothing 
hut straw, will bo of little benefit. 
llog and horse manures aro known to bo 
of more valuo than cow and sheep manures. 
They are so because hogs and horses live 
on richer food, and for no other reason. A 
cow or a shcop would give equally as good 
manure as hogs or horses if both wore fed 
on tho same food and other things woro 
equal. 
Tho noxt most important point is, what 
foods make tho richest manure ? There aro 
many conflicting opinions on this matter. 
Some eminent theoretical chemists tell us 
that tho more phosphoric acid and potash 
tho manure contains tho bettor it is. Wo 
believe, on tho other hand, that the valuo of 
manure will be In oxact proportion to tho 
amount of nitrogen tho food contains.— 
There cannot be a rational doubt on this 
point. It is woll known that clovor is of 
moro valuo as manure than straw-. This is 
because clover contains moro nitrogen than 
straw. Practical farmers know that ma¬ 
nure made by animals eating oil cake and 
poas is worth moro than that mado by ani¬ 
mals eating nothing but turnips or hay, and 
this is because oil cake and poas contain 
such a largo quantity of nitrogen. Blood, 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1853. 
{WHOLE NO. 
w-oolen rags, horn shavings, leather, hair and 
tho carcasses of animals, aro all known to bo 
tho best of fertilizers, and thi3 simply bo- 
cause they contain such an immense amount 
of nitrogen. In fact, wo know of no sub¬ 
stance containing much nitrogen, but what 
practical farmers, without knowing why, 
consider of great valuo as manure. Tho 
value of Peruvian Guano is always estima¬ 
ted by the quantity of nitrogen it contains. 
Tho moro intelligent dealers, boforo pur¬ 
chasing, always have tho per centage of ni¬ 
trogen determined in various cargoes, and 
buy that which contains the most. On this 
point tho late Prof. Norton says, “ that du¬ 
ring his stay in Edinburgh, samples from 
more than 500 cargoes of guano were ana¬ 
lyzed in tho laboratory of Prof. Johnston, 
and wore sold by his analyses, fluctuating in 
price as they indicated moro or less nitro¬ 
gen. Had thero beon any mistake in this 
method of estimating valuo, experience 
would soon have detected it.” Thepractical 
valuo of this fact wo will explain in future 
articles. 
ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 
A friend bought, one year ago, a small farm 
which had previously been under ordinary culti¬ 
vation, but had been for many years mainly fer¬ 
tilized with Gypsum—an excellent thing in its 
place, and which had doubtless done the land 
good service. But the new farmer’s brother is a 
thorough Chemist, and he was invited to analyse 
the soil. Careful analysis showed a signal defi¬ 
ciency of lime, but a superabundance of sulphur 
aud other ingredients of plaster. Of course, at 
each successive application of plaster the plants 
took up the lime only, leaving all the residue to 
lie inert in the soil; and so the old farmer had for 
years been feeding his soil, at the rate of twenty 
to thirty cents per bushel, with the requisite lime 
brought from a distance in the form of plaster, 
while there was far better lime burned all around 
him, and for sale at six cents a bushel! The loss 
thus incurred may have averaged fifty dollars per 
annum—all for want of an analysis that might 
have cost ten to twenty dollars. *And there are 
tens of thousands to-day farming just as blindly. 
—Horace Greeley. • 
The above is a fair specimen of tho lino 
of argumont at present used to prove tho 
valuo of soil analysis. “ Of course, at each 
successive application of plaster tho plants 
took up tho lime only, leaving all the rosiduo 
to lio inert in the soil.” This long contested 
point, then, is at length decided: plants have, 
thepoiver of selection, —they can decompose 
sulphate of limo, (no easy matter,) appro¬ 
priate tho lime, and lot the sulphuric acid 
go free. Lot all objectors keep silence, and 
you, who have held tho opposite opinion, 
forever hold your peace. Mr. Greeley says 
that plants havo tho power of selection ; so 
“ of course ” they havo. 
Wo will not argue this point. Thore aro 
somo facts which indicato that plants havo 
the power of solection, whilo there are 
many, equally well authenticated, which 
point to the opposito conclusion. Admit¬ 
ting, however, that they havo the power of 
decomposing sulphate of limo, and that, in 
tho caso assumed, thoy had taken up all tho 
limo and loft.tho sulphur in tho soil un¬ 
touched, what amount of sulphur would tho 
analyst discover ? Supposing that, for tho 
last hundred yoars, ono hundred pounds of 
gypsum had beon applied to tho soil every 
year, what proportion of sulphur would bo 
thus added to tho soil ? Ono hundred 
pounds of gypsum contain about 1S£ lbs. of 
sulphur, so that in ono hundred years there 
would be added to an aero of soil, 1,850 lbs. 
of sulphur. Now, ono square acre, a foot 
doop, contains 3,920.000 11)3. of soil; tbore- 
foro, tho 1,850 lbs. of sulphur would form 
ono part in 2,130. Tho brother of Mr. 
Greeley’s friend is undoubtedly a “ thor¬ 
ough chemist,” if ho can accurately deter¬ 
mine this proportion of sulphur in tho soil, 
or tho quantity which has been added by an 
annual application of 100 lbs. for ono hun¬ 
dred years. 
Wo contend that no one can dotormino, 
with any degree of certainty, such a pro¬ 
portion. And that ton to twenty dollar soil 
analyses aro utterly devoid of all practical 
value. If lime was of more valuo to this 
soil than sulphate of limo, a few applications 
of tho two substances would indicate the 
fact far bettor than evon a thorough analysis, 
to say nothing of a ten dollar one. 
UNDERDRAINING. 
Eds. Rural :—Though not much accus¬ 
tomed to writing for tho public press, yet 
tho favorable reception you gave my article 
on tho subject of Draining, encourages mo 
to write further upon that very interesting 
topic. But I am inclined in the outset to 
allude to a single typographical error, which 
occurs in tho last paragraph, where for the 
word sorrow is substituted that of sworn .— 
It renders tho sentonco quite unintelligible; 
and if the fault is with the writer, ho will 
endeavor hereafter, to scribble more legibly. 
Your inquiries in regard to my experi¬ 
ments in draining, I will answer in the order 
in which they are made. » 
1st. What is the width of your drains ?— 
This has been regulated by tho amount of 
water to bo discharged. Main drains, which 
in wet seasons have to convey a largo amount 
of water, have beon cut from 18 to 20 inches 
wide on tho bottom. Such allow tho ad¬ 
mission of pretty large sized cobble stones 
for tho side walls, and you consequently 
have a sluice-way which is not liablo to 
choko. And bore let mo say, in roferenco 
to the uso of tilo, that no pattern which has 
ovor fallen under my eye, is sufficiently 
large to discharge such an amount of watch 
as I havo buried under-ground, in at loast 
threo long main drains. For branch drains, 
my usual width has been from 12 to 15 
inches:V For these, of course, smaller cob¬ 
bles are used, and a smaller sluice-way mado. 
A sluice-way in the bottom of each ditch, is 
esteemed important. The opinion has pre¬ 
vailed, that to throw tho stones in promis¬ 
cuously, is a bettor way. This notion—a 
very erroneous ono in my judgment—was 
held to by the former occupant of my farm 
—and tho result has been that his drains, 
which woro only two foot in depth, and were 
half filled with stone, choked up from moles 
and other causes, and entirely failed boforo 
ten years had passod. With a substantial 
sluice-way, resting upon hard-pan bottom, 
2£ feet under ground, and abundantly ca¬ 
pacious to allow the passage of all the water, 
I do not bolievo tho drain will very soon 
fail. I sco not why it ever should. Somo 
ton years ago, tho writer constructed ono 
on this plan, which is apparently as good as 
when it was first made. 
2d. Cost of cutting and laying the stone .— 
This is expensive, for my soil is underlaid 
with a hard subsoil, quito impenetrable by 
a spado, and diggers in these parts aro not 
particularly plonty. Two of them tho past 
season, who boarded thomselvos, dug 300 
rods 2i feet deep, placing tho stone in tho 
bottom from the bank adjoining, at 40 cents 
per rod. Estimating laying tho stone at 6 
cents per rod (tho usual price hero,) the sum 
of 34 cents is left for tho digging. If this 
seems expensivo, it must bo borno in mind 
that much of my soil was wot, somo of it 
vory stony, and beneath the whole was a 
subsoil too hard for Yankee pationco, and 
which mado ovon tho Irish diggers swear. 
3d. Filling up. —Tho cost of this, I esti¬ 
mate at about 3 cts. per rod. A coat of wheat 
straw (worth but little,) is spread evenly 
upon tho top of tho stono and tho dirt plow¬ 
ed in. Somo lot the off horse walk in tho 
ditch and the nigh ono on the bank, but 
there is dangor of disturbing the stono, and 
I prefer that both horses should bo on the 
bank. You cannot get along quite as rap- 
dily, but even in this way, from ono to two 
hundred rods may be covered by two men 
in a day. 
4th. Do you like to cut the drains up the 
natural slope or fall of the land, or across 
it ? —I answer, across it, by all means. In 
this way, whore water makes out along a 
slope, it is much moro effectually cut off.— 
Possibly thero may be land whore it would 
bo as well to run the drains the other way, 
but tho writer has never seen it, and on his 
land tho practice would be quite senseless. 
W. B. Pratt. 
Pittsburgh, N. Y., 1853. 
POTASH IN INDIAN CORN. 
Every ono at all acquainted with the 
working of his own mind, knows how easy 
it is, after adopting any particular theory, 
to find facts to sustain it. He is no longer 
an impartial observer, but twists and per¬ 
verts every phenomenon till it agrees with 
his preconceived opinions. It is this fact 
that explains how such a man as Henry 
Colman could find innumerable evidences 
in New and Old England farming that sup¬ 
ported tho facinating mineral theory of 
Baron Liebig, whilo to an unbiassed observ¬ 
er the facts point to a very different ration¬ 
ale of agriculture. It is well known that 
Liebig thinks that potash is of more impor¬ 
tance in a soil than any other ingredient, 
excepting perhaps phosphoric acid, and ho 
mentions so many facts, which apparently 
sustain this view, that hundreds of good 
chemists without duo investigation have 
adopted his theory. 
We will mention one instance that shows 
how even a great man can make a great 
mistake in order to sustain a previously 
adopted theory. It is well known that In¬ 
dian corn has been grown annually on the 
same soil for centuries. Liebig explains 
tho fact as follows :—“ There are certain 
plants which contain either no potash, or 
mere traces of it. Such aro the poppey, 
Indian corn, &c. For such plants tho pot¬ 
ash in tho soil is of no use, and farmers aro 
well aware that they can be cultivated with¬ 
out rotation on tho same soil, particularly 
when tho herbs and straw or thoir ashes, 
are returned to tho soil after tho reaping of 
the crop.” 
If Indian corn contained no potash, or 
merely a trace of it, Liebig would have at 
least ono fact on which to base his theory, 
but Dr. J. II. Salisbury, Chemist to tho 
New York Stato Agricultural Society, in 
his investigation of tho maize plant, found 
in tho ashes of the grain of Indian corn 
20.73 per cent of potash and in the ash of 
corn stalks 7.23 per cent. This is but one 
of tho many mistakes which subsequent ex¬ 
perimenters havo found in Liebig’s brill¬ 
iant writings on Agricultural Chemistry. 
SOILS-THEIR COMPOSITION-No. II. 
Mr. Editor :—I am not able to compro- 
hend or to enter into, or explain ono of tho 
“ thousand inscrutables” that all admit sur¬ 
rounds tho subject of vegetable life. I am 
award of tbo glassy covering of straw, tho 
rush and other plants, but where or how it 
is procured, exceeds my comprehension.— 
What power tho plant possesses to disinte¬ 
grate solid flint, or what acid or other sol¬ 
vent there is in water, I am unable to com¬ 
prehend. I also know, that after leaching 
ashes, which are made from a vegetable 
matter, there is as much bulk left as was 
used at tho commencement, but not as 
much woight, having lost its potash, and this 
residuum is tho result of burning wood, 
which previously did not contain a particle 
of either potash or silex, that can be discov¬ 
ered, as I am aware. 
I can hardly think it is procured from tho 
soil; as tho experiment of planting a willow 
in a tub of earth weighing a hundred pounds, 
and by simply adding water until tho tree 
and tub weighed two hundred pounds, on 
being taken up tho earth was found intact 
and of its original weight, so that I am dis¬ 
posed to think that water and the gaseous 
elements are tho great and primary causes 
of vogotation, and that tho earth is a mere 
eonvenionco—a foot hold—a sponge to re¬ 
tain moisture. 
A stalk of corn has boon perfectly grown, 
though of dwarfish proportion, in a glass 
vaso filled with powdered glass, with no 
mineral or artificial manures except water. 
Water, nor none of the ordinary pi’oductions 
of water dissolvo glass, and whore did it 
get all the elemonts of silicate of potash, 
phosphatos, limo and magnesia, that chem¬ 
ists discover on analysis ? 
Would the boiling down of a thousand 
gallons of sap produce a drachm of silex 
or potash—no, but the burning of tho wood 
secreted from this sap produces both, so 
I cannot conceive where these abundant 
minerals are obtained, unless from the air. 
I am precisely in tho predicament of tho 
boy who knew that millers had fat hogs, but 
did not know whoso corn thoy were fatted 
on. L. Manly. 
Chestnut Ridge, N. Y., 1853. 
Remarks. —Surely our correspondent is jesting. 
He cannot suppose that because potash, by a di¬ 
rect application of a chemical test, cannot be 
detected in wood, that therefore, wood does not 
contain any ? The ash of wood contains potash ; 
if, therefore, the wood contains any ash it must 
also contain potash. 
The experiment with the willow, though often 
quoted, is altogether too indefinite to be satisfac¬ 
tory. If the soil increased in -weight, it must 
have been from the formation of organic matter, 
from the carbonic acid and ammonia of the at¬ 
mosphere. Such a supposition is quite consistent 
with science and observed facts. 
That a perfect com stalk has been grown in 
powdered glass and pure water, we cannot credit. 
The water probably contained lime, potash, &c., 
and would supply the plant with them. M. Las- 
saigxe grew seeds in flowers of sulphur, moist¬ 
ened with distilled water, and the plants produced 
contained neither more nor less saline and earthy 
matter than was originally present in the seed. 
In regard to the composition of sap, we would 
refer our correspondent to Boussingault’s Rural 
Economy, page 6G,—where he will find analyses 
of the sap of various trees, in all of which potash 
was found. The sap of elm, taken in April, con¬ 
tained in 1,000 lbs. of sap, 9 lbs. of acetate of pot¬ 
ash and 1 lb. of carbonate of lime, besides other 
inorganic and organic matter. 
CORN, A PROFITABLE CROP. 
Whether Indian corn will prove a profit¬ 
able crop or not, depends much moro on 
the preparation of the soil and its proper 
culturo, than on the season or the variety 
which may be planted. The many fields 
throughout the country, from which littlo or 
no return is received, are but proofs of tho 
slovenly farming of the owners. 
To show what good management has to 
do with tho profit of farming, let us repeat 
the statement of a farmer, who bought 20 
acres of land — for how much ho does not 
state, except that half of it cost him $300. 
It was a warm, loamy soil; he plowed it 
well, but the wet season prevented tho 
planting until June. He hoed it thoroughly 
twico, and in the fall gathered nineteen hun¬ 
dred bushels of good sound ears—picking 
it from tho stalks, which wore left to bo 
plowed in for another crop. 
This is no extraordinary yield—though it 
amounts to somo nine hundred bushels of 
shelled corn; yet, as it was sold, it paid for 
the land and the interest on its cost, tho 
taxos, for tho manure, and all tho labor at¬ 
tending the crop, except hauling tho ma¬ 
nure. A profitable crop, surely. 
But he failed to gain all the profit which 
might havo resulted, by not curing the stalks 
for fodder, and then cutting and steaming 
them for his cattle, horses and sheep. By 
this method much hay and grain might have 
boon saved, and the stalks, by increasing 
the value of the manure, would have re¬ 
turned the cost of the additional labor in 
tho increase to tho next crop, to which it 
should bo applied.— b. 
TO DRIVE AWAY RATS. 
A friend has just informed us of a plan 
ho adopted to get ri<J of rats. His premises 
swarmed with them. He took a small fish 
hook, attached to a fine wire, and suspended 
on it a piece of cheese, lotting it hang about 
a foot from tho ground. One of tho rats 
loapod at it and was hooked, and sat up 
such a horrible squoal, noise and rattle that 
all the rest forsook him and Hod. Not a 
rat remained on the premises. A few days 
afterwards his neighbor declared that ho 
was visited wdth a plague worse than those 
of Egypt,—that tho rats would surely eat 
him up, houso and all. Our friend enjoyed 
the joke, but kept shady. This was not 
philanthropic of him, so, for tho benefit of 
his neighbor, who wo hope takes the Rural, 
and the rest of mankind, wo “disclose 
the disclosure” without enjoining socrecy or 
charging tho dollar. 
