P 
/ " 
VOLUME IV. NO. 47. 1 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER : 
( A QUARTO WEEKLY 
) Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
( CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
> WITH AX ABLE CORPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
( The Rural New-Yorker is designed to bo unique and 
( beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
S and Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
) to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical Sub- 
f jeets connected with the business of those whose interests 
f it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Korticul- 
) tural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter — 
) interspersed with many appropriate and handsome engrav- 
> ings—than any other paper published in this Country. 
> STF” For Terms, &c., see last page. jV_3 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1853. 
1 WHOLE NO. 203. 
Progress and Improvement. 
BARN-YARD MANURE_No. II. 
) As nitrogen is such an important dement 
S of fertility, we may bo justified in giving 
? somo account of its action and charactor- 
s istics. In its elementary state, it is always 
( a gas. It forms 78 per cent, of atmospheric 
S air, acting simply as a dilutent to oxygen, 
c It is inhaled and respired from tho lungs 
) without tho least change, and is not taken 
> U P by plants in its olementary state. Nev- 
r ertholess, it is an indispensablo ingredient 
) in all animal and vegetable life. Nothing 
' that possesses organization or vitality, whoth- 
) er animal or vegetable, can bo formed with- 
| out it. 
> As plants or animals cannot take their 
) nitrogen as such, from earth or air, it fol- 
| lows that it must undergo somo chemical 
i change previous to its entrance into organic 
| life. This change is tho conversion of un- 
1 organized nitrogen into ammonia. This 
i takes place under certain well known cir- 
| eunastances, but tho operation is so slow and 
so limited, that it must have takon indefi¬ 
nite ages to form all tho ammonia and pro¬ 
ducts resulting from it, at present existing 
on the earth—unless ammonia was created 
as such. But, whether this was or was not 
tho caso, is of little importance. Wo know 
that nitrogen is organized and that, by tho 
decay ol all organic bodies their nitrogen is 
converted into ammonia,—and that this am¬ 
monia is taken up by plants and again 
becomes organized nitrogen. 
Ammonia is always formed by the ulti¬ 
mate decay or combustion of a nitrogenous 
substance, 1-1 lbs. of nitrogen uniting with 
3 lbs. of hydrogen, to form 17 lbs. of am¬ 
monia. It is a gas much lighter than tho 
air, and will consequently rapidly evaporate 
when exposed in a free state. It is an 
alkali, similar in many respects to potash 
and soda, forming fixed salts with all tho 
mineral and with most of the organic acids, 
and has a very strong affinity for them. It 
is rapidly absorbed by water, for which it 
has a great affinity, though no combination 
takes placo. As formed from decaying sub¬ 
stances it always unitos with carbonic acid, 
forming the volatile salt, carbonate of am¬ 
monia. It is this salt which all have 
observed on entering an ill-ventilatod stablo 
on a morning. It is what ladios sometimes 
endeavor to keep themselves awake with in 
church, stimulating tho nostrils when there 
is little in tho sermon to stimulate tho brain. 
If you doubt that tho nice clean hartshorn 
you have purchased of the druggost, is tho 
samo as that given off from all decaying 
animal and vegetable substancos, get a little 
guano, urine, blood, or any animal matter 
and mix it with ashes or lime, allowing it to : 
stand a short time in a covered vessol, and i 
then soo if you can detect tho least differ- < 
cnco in tho smell of tho two gases—tho one 
purchased in the city and tho one of domes- i 
tic manufacture. < 
Carbonate of ammonia contains all tho < 
four organic clomonts which compose such < 
a large proportion (generally from ninoty to 1 
ninety-eight per cent.,) of all animal and ; 
vegetable substances; and it is in this shape 1 
that nitrogen is taken up by tho plant and i 
orgnizod into food for animals. This is a 1 
strong argument, though wo possoss a still < 
stronger one for making and saving as much 
ammonia on tho farm as possiblo. We 
know of no modorn agricultural improve¬ 
ment, which experience has confirmed as 
giving larger crops but what, directly or in¬ 
directly, brings more ammonia on to the 
farm or renders that already there more 
available as food for plants. 
In making and preserving barn-yard ma¬ 
nure then, the primary object should bo 
to get as much ammonia as possiblo ; and, 
as wo have before stated, tho composition of 
tho food is tho true index to tho composi¬ 
tion of tho manure. Tho more nitrogen 
the food contains, the moro ammonia or 
compounds which will ultimately form am¬ 
monia, will tho manure contain; and there¬ 
fore, other things being equal, tho moro 
profitable will it bo for feeding purposes; 
for in all countries having oasy access to tho 
great markets of tho world, no farmer can 
afford to feed cattlo unless tho manure be 
accounted of somo value. 
As an aid to tho farmer who desires to 
improve his manure heap wo have made up, 
Irom various reliable sources, the following 
table, showing tho por contago of nitrogen, 
&c., in various substances us<.d as loou and 
as manure. It is worthy tho most careful 
study and consideration : 
ENGLISH SCARIFIER. 
ENGLISH IMPLEMENTS. trate a uniform depth in the land ; and this alter- 
, , ., . . . . , ation mav be effected while the implement is 
As a general thing, American agncultu- procee ding in its work.” 
ral implements are far more simple, effica- „ T 
cious and economical than tho English, and .'V" 3 "' ‘T”todays 
certainly far better suited to the peculiar!- ">> ’»* dibbling, 
, . ,. .. hand and horse hoeing have been more or 
ties ol our soil, climate and system of til- , 13 ^ _ 
J , less practiced in Great Britain. Driilino- 
lage, than those ot any other nation. At , , , , . . ° 
il•_ „„„„ .• • , ... , . ., wheat, barley, oats, peas and tares m rows 
tho same time, every intelligent agncultu- _ . r . 
. . , . . , . , . ... ° . t to 12 inches apart, is nealy universal.— 
risu desires to bo acquainted with every lin- J 
, . ,. .. . , , . . Hiobling,— dropping one seed on each 
provementm I 113 noble art, whether ongi- ?’ , ^ b . 
,. . .. . 5 square foot, and so using but a tew quarts 
natingm his own or foreign countries.— t. , . 4 
ui. ,, • . , , , ot seed per acre — is adopted only by 3uch 
For this reason, wo intend to give engra- -A ~ i If 
■ „ ° men as Hewitt Davis, Mechi, and IIuxta- 
v mgs of the most approved agricultural ira- rp . , . 
, , • r , , b .. ■ b o BBR - Fnoy have found that while it some- 
plements in Great Britain, France, See. , ■ , 
lteil clover any. 
I’ea straw.... 
Water. 
if aroucu. 
u'uiruncn 
Dry matter. 
in nutu- 
in (li y 
1 
ral stale. 
Mailer. 
.11.0 
89.0 
0.23 
0.26 
.Sil.U 
?y.u 
0.23 
u.atf 
. u.o 
80.0 
0.30 
. IS.U 
82 0 
0.33 - 
0.10 
.11.6 
Ss .4 
0.48 
U.o4 
.11.0 
89.0 
1.15 
1.28 
. l-z.7 
87.3 
1.83 
2.10 
. 8.5 
91.5 
1.79 
1.93 
.87.6 
12.4 
2.40 
.71.0 
20.0 
0.39 
1.49 
.87.0 
U.O 
0 29 
2.27 
• 88.(> 
11.4 
0.21 
1.87 
.10.0 
84.0 
1.UO 
I. bO 
. 7.0 
9J.0 
1.00 
1.72 
.10.0 
84.0 
1.80 
2.14 
.10.0 
84.0 
2.00 
2.38 
.18.0 
82.0 
1.04 
2.00 
. 7.0 
93.0 
4.00 
4.08 
. O.u 
94.0 
4.51 
4.90 
.12.0 
88.0 
3.7o 
4.26 
SiO.O 
81.0 
4.10 
.11.6 
88.4 
5.04 
6.71 
Kuta baga. .. 
JJarlcQ . . . . 
M:ilt.. 
Wheat. 
Gats. 
Indian corn.. 
Alulc-dusc. . . 
Malt-groins. . 
Linseed. . . . 
icaure i, vvooieu rags, nom-snavmgs, dry 
olood, dry flesh, audflsh, from 16 to 17 ijer eeac. of nitro¬ 
gen. 
It will bo seen that barley straw is the 
poorest and wheat straw tho richest of all 
the cereals. Pea straw is worth five times 
as much as wheat straw for manure. Clover 
hay is worth nearly as much again as Eng¬ 
lish meadow hay. We have no analyses of 
corn stalks that aro satisfactory, and there¬ 
fore have not given them in tho table. The 
analyses which wo have, indicate that tho 
dry stalk contains about 1.2 per cent of ni¬ 
trogen and the dry leaves 2£ per cent., 
showing them to ho ot high comparative 
value. Of tho cereal grains barley is the 
poorest in nitrogen, Indian corn a iittlo bet¬ 
ter, and oats best. Flax soed contains a 
largo percentage, peas still higher, and oil 
cake tho highest of all vegetable substances 
used for food, approximating closely to llosb. 
Ilair, feathers, Sec., aro most valuable fer¬ 
tilizers, equal in nitrogen to the very best 
Peruvian guano, and much better than what 
is often sold as such for $50 per ton. 
EXPORTATION OR COHN. 
m 
itm 
Tho Rochester American says, “With tho 
best possiblo facilities for transportation, 
tiiis country might profitably export one 
hundred million bushels of corn a year._ 
The corn crop of Monroe county is but a 
trifle below a million bushols, while its wheat 
crop is a million and half bushels.” 
Would it not bo far better to convert this 
hundred million bushols of corn into twelve 
hundred million pounds of pork or beef, as 
tho iroiglit on tho ono would bo five times 
as much as on tho other ?—and freight is no 
small item in carrying grain from our West¬ 
ern State to the Atlantic cities, or to Europe. 
By so doing wo should not only expend loss 
in freight charges, but should make a large 
quantity of manure, and thus enrich instead 
of impoverish our' farms. Wo trust the 
day will never come when wo shall export a 
hundred million bushels of corn. If we can 
afford to export wheat, all very well, but do 
let us koop something at home to feed stock 
and make manure. Would the American 
havo tho farmers of Monroe county grow 
corn instead of wheat for exportation ? 
. , . ,. . ~ Duuaio jiuoi', aim so using out a lew quarts 
( natingm his own or foreign countries.— i , • , , , , 4 , 
u. ., • . , . . ot seed per acre — is adopted only by 3 uch 
I or this reason, wo intend to give engra- A 
■ „ °. men as Hewitt Davis, Meciii, and IIuxta- 
v mgs of the most approved agricultural un- rv < i ,• j , ^ ’ . 
, , • t • W o BLR - Fnoy havo found that while it some- 
plemonts in Great Britain, France, Sec. , ■ \ , , , , 
w . ,, , ,, ,, times gave large crops, yet they always had 
Whether we shall ovor dispense with tho , t 1 J , , , , ‘ , 
e ., , , . . r moro or less that missed and had to be 
use ot tho piow or not, is yet an open ques- , , . ,, . , , 
.. plowed under m tho spring, and the loss 
tion, though Meciii, in tho London Times, 
. A . from such cases moro than counterbalanced 
has recently declared that its days are mim- .. . ,• , , _. 
. , , . J ,. . tho gam trom sowing loss seed. These en- 
bered, and that the Americ n digging ma- ° ... . , 
v. , , . , ... co . p* tnususis, though they will not own it, have 
chine, drawn by eight horses, will, with some , , , “ * TT , , . \ • 
r J dropped toe system. Hand-hoeing twice at 
slight improvements, soon universally tauo . c . .. , 45 
, m. ’ . a cosfc of is found very profit- 
its placo. There can be no question of one ,, p ■ . 1 
. ., . . . 1 ± , , able, from increasing tho yield of wheat, and 
thing, that both in this country, and tho C ,. M _ _- , . 
.... , ,. . . . „ r , . , , . stnl moro from leaving tho land clean for 
best farmed districts of England, the cuiti- f ,, . , . 
. , . ...... , tho following turnip crop. Nevertheless, 
vator has, to a great extent, taken the place „ ' c . . • J , . 
p ’ . . . ’ , \ not ono acre of wheat m tho thousand, is at 
ot tho plow m cleaning and pulverizing . , , , , . . ’ 
, , t . _ T b ° present either hand or horse-hood in Eng¬ 
land. In Western New York, a three times n ., ... , , , 6 
, . ,. ,, , „ I land. The practice is a good ono, and the 
plowed summer tallow is uncommon. Alter . . 
t . . , , . . , reason it is not more common, is owing to 
breaking up, tho cultivator is used instead Lv,„ , . K . ~ „ 
... , p w , , . the fact that there is no efficient means of 
ot the plow, and is found (such we believe is • • c ,. ,, 
.. , . . ' _ . diffusing information generally, among tho 
the general exponenco,) to be quite as eth- pp . 
.° , 1 , 1 mass of farmers. Alltheagriculturalpa- 
cacious and much moro expeditious, produ- ^ ... , , . r , . „ .f . .. . 
. . B ‘, pors published m Great Britain combined 
cmg quite as good, and some assert better • ... , „ ’ 
c , f have not half tne circulation of the Rural. 
crops of wheat. 
In Great Britain the cultivator has equal- 
ly triumphed. It is as indispensable on a 
farm as a plow. But for it tho vast quanti- 
ty ot turnips which aro now sown, entirely 
doing away with summer fallow except on 0 ^ 
tho heaviest clays, could not be got in in £ ' P l -=] 
season. As soon as tho wheat is harvested. % ,( 
tho stubble is all torn up with a broad-tined 3 
cultivator, which causes all small seeds to » • »|@' IA 
germinato, when another cultivating com- ~ f 
pietely destroys them. On light soils this g lSS||\ 
course is much the best, as it does away K‘ 
with fall plowing and al 1 attendant leaching, § ? l^- 
&c. There, as here, there aro many differ- " 
ent cultivators—tho most approved is tho L 
one figured above. Wo saw an imported Yi 
ono at tho late Provincial Show at Hamil- 
ton. It is made of iron and costs from $40, 1 >: ■' 
to $90. The manufacturer says of it: 
“ The principal novelty in this invention is the Wheat hoeing by machinery is a delicate 
frame at the top, suspended about six inches above operation. It requires a steady hand to 
the lower frame, parallel with which, by meains ot steer straight and avoid cutting up the 
a lever, it is moved backwards and forwards.- plants. With Garkett’s Horse-hoe hero 
Tins simple and easy movement regulate, the figured, wheat hoeing has been cheaply and 
depth of the tmes or prongs m he soil ; and as etlectively performed, and there appears to 
the implement does not require lifting, (the frame i i . , iu 
of which is at all times the same height from the b ° 1 f 0 ° d ™ aSOn t0 thl “ tho Pra®«<» 
ground.) all that is necessary to alter the depth of A s00n bocomo moro general. Professor 
penetration is, a slight movement of the lever ^ ILS0N , at tho Hamilton Fair, spoko of this 
above referred to, which changes the inclination mac ^‘ no with high commendation, rocom- 
of the tines. It will be found to answer all the mon ^ :n g its introduction into Canada._ 
purposes of harrowing weeds and rubbish from Wheat can be hoed with it for twelve cents 
the most foul lands; most efficient for opening, per acre. 
raising, and pulverising the soil; and as blades of The engraving gives such a correct idea 
different widths are made to fit the tmes, it may , ..... , . iaea 
l i , j , . , tho machine, that little explanation is 
be used with great advantage as a skim to take off i i m F un 1S 
a , , „ n w • needed. The thills can be fas'ened on nnv 
the couch, etc. 1 here are some late improvements „ r • eu on any 
in its construction, which consist in Substituting ^ ar ° 110 * rame * -^he axlotree is mov- 
wrought iron instead of cast iron for the tines, U ^° at en ’^ s ’ so ^ he expand- 
without any extra cost, whereby the liability to e< ^ or con t r acted to suit all lands and differ- 
breakage is entirely obviated; and in the appli- enfc w 'dths of drills. Each hoo works on 
cation of a lever to each side of the scarifier, so an independent lovor, and thus adapts itself 
that either traveling-wheel may be raised or de- to all inequalities of surface. Tho hoes can 
R'. ~ 
i 
MM 
able at both ends, so that it can bo expand¬ 
ed or contracted to suit all lands and differ¬ 
ent widths of drills. Each hoo works on 
an independent lovor, and thus adapts itself 
to all inequalities of surface. Tho hoes can 
w v w 1 ---* -«VV. ^ “Li AXV/L/O van 
pressed higher or lower than the other, to suit be set to any desired angle by means of the 
sloping grounds, and to cause the teeth to pene- crank on tho left side of the machine; it is 
attached by chains to tho jointed iron on 
which tho levers aro suspended. The swing 
steering apparatus is seen at tho back of tho 
machine. Tho cutting blades aro mado of 
steel, and of various sizes. Cost from $75 
to $100. 
NOTES FOR THE MONTH.— BY S. W. 
The Economy of Farmers. —How often 
do wo hear a farmer say that if ho lived at 
the samo expenso of a corporation-taxed, 
fast living villager, the products of his farm 
would not support him. ’Tis true a farmer 
lives moro au fait to his income than tho 
tax-ridden portion of a corporation ; but on 
the other hand, how much moro, and on a 
larger scale, the farmer loses by careless¬ 
ness and neglect, by labor dono too late, too 
slovenly, and too often misapplied for tho 
want of intelligence in tho great but com- 
plicated art rural. How many farmers 
now, in the long, cold and often stormy 
s nights in November, let their cattle lav in 
the road or tho field, wasting their manure, 
i while they have to eat to keep up animal 
? heat; per contra , a villager stables his cow 
s because his hay costs $10 a ton, and he - 
can afford food only for animal nutrition, 
i not combustion; and then the manure his 
cow makes in tho stable is indispensable 
1 t0 h ‘3 garden. But the farmer, better 
schooled in self denial, can grow crops suf¬ 
ficient to feed his family, almost without 
manuie, and if ho has nothing to soli ho 
5 buys tho less; if his animals are, as the Vir- 
’ ginians say, on the left in the spring, his 
^ family can well wait for milk till grass 
quickens the cow s lacteals. How often do 
wo hear a soi distant farmer say that tho 
drouth cut off his corn, when that same 
drouth was the salvation of a liko crop in a 
well drained, earlier and hotter tilled field. 
I have not failed to grow a patch of corn 
every year for thirty years, arid not in a 
single instance was tho cereal product les¬ 
sened by drouth. IIow erroneous is the 
trite saying that a farmer “ works too much 
land, when the fact is tho roverse ; ho ma¬ 
nures and works much land too little. 
Slckerixg Corn.—\ our correspondent, 
I. W. Briggs, has the right of the matter in 
relation to cutting off tho suckers from 
growing corn ; to which I will add that cut¬ 
ting out suckers and barren stalks from 
sweet corn planted in drills will not only in¬ 
duce larger and fuller ears, but they will 
be ready for cooking ton days to two weeks 
earlier than the unsuckered row's. 
Soiling Cows. —An oasis in a sandy des¬ 
ert two miles out of Providence, R. I., has 
been made by Adam Anthony who keeps 
forty milch cows by soiling in summer, and 
cut stalks, cut millot and clover hay, roots, 
Sec., in winter. His first cut for soiling in 
May and Juno, is fall sown rye, millet and 
clover next, and the Indian corn sown in 
drills for fodder once in two or three weeks 
from the 1st of May to the 1st of August. 
His cows are bedded in their stalls with dry 
swamp muck alone, which when saturated 
and mixed with the dung is kept under the 
liontos of the stablo until it is wan tod for 
tho land. He considers swampy muck as 
tho most certain, simple and economical 
fixer of tho carbonate of ammonia. Salt 
plaster, &c., would be necessary in too large 
quantities, to convert all tho volatile car¬ 
bonate into the more fixed muriate and sul¬ 
phate of ammonia. 
The Potato Rot— In this section of ' 
Seneca county wo had no potato rot until I 
after the heavy rain on the 15th October, J 
all tho potatoes ripe, and dug previous to ( 
that time, were sound. Last year there was j 
no rot; the crop was short from short plant- ) 
mg and continued dry weather, the rains in ( 
j Au g u st and September being too light to ) 
wot through tho potato lulls. Mysterious ( 
as the cause of tho rot undoubtedly is, there 5 
can be no doubt but that extra mo’isture f 
after the tubers aro large is an exciting cause ( 
of tho disease. ( 
The value of strongly azotised manure to < 
a sandy soil—To a heavy clay loam, coarse ( 
manuie deficient in ammonia, from its me- Sj 
chanical action alone, may bo better than <| 
