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VOLUME VII, NO. 13. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. -SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1856. 
i WHOLE NO. 325. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY JOURNAL, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN ABLE CORPS OP ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS I 
H. T. BROOKS, Prof. C. DEWEY, 
T. C. PETERS, L. B. LANGWORTHY, 
H. C. WHITE, T. E. WETMORE. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to lie 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 interests it advocates. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Mechan¬ 
ical, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with many appro¬ 
priate and beautiful Engravings, than any other paper published 
in this Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Lit¬ 
erary and Family Newspaper. 
For Terms, and other particulars, see last page. 
Ural ffefo-fiirfejL 
CLOVER. 
Clover has an importance to farmers which 
can scarcely be over-estimated, and we fear it 
does not receive sufficient consideration. As 
furnishing a large amount of excellent pasture 
and fodder for domestic animals, and as a means 
of keeping up the fertility of our farms when 
plowed under, it deserves a prominent place in 
the system of rotation adopted by those who 
follow either a mixed or a grain-growing hus¬ 
bandry. As a general rule every acre of win¬ 
ter grain should be “seeded down,” as it is 
termed, to clover in the spring, to remain for at 
least one, and not more than three years as a 
meadow or pasture. 
The soil best adapted to the clover plant is 
that of a somewhat clayey character—such as 
will produce the best wheat crops. Any soil 
which will grow wheat will also grow clover.— 
A deep, well-drained loam suits it well—on all 
ill-drained soils it suffers much from winter- 
killing, especially if the spring prove one of 
little snow and variable temperature. On light 
soils it needs the assistance of manure to prove 
profitable. 
Clover is usually sown early in spring upon 
winter grains, and occasionally with oats and 
barley. With the latter it generally does well, 
especially if sown in good season. Upon 
wheat, we sow in March, when the season is 
sufficiently advanced—the prospect is that the 
snow banks will prevent this year. While 
light frosts continue, the slight cracking and 
heaving of the soil, through their action, will 
generally furnish a sufficient covering for the 
seed, though some recommend sowing later, and 
harrowing in, arguing that this process not only 
covers the clover more perfectly, but benefits 
the wdieat crop. When seeding with spring 
grains, it is usually sufficient to pass over with 
the roller, sowing the clover seed after the last 
harrowing. 
The benefit which clover derives from plaster 
seems a “ fixed fact in agriculture” not needing 
special remark in this connection. Hence they 
have become associated in the minds of most 
farmers as partners in the product desired, and 
the one usually accompanies the other. We 
think, however, that the sowing of plaster upon 
wdieat-fields seeded to clover is frecpiently de¬ 
ferred too late. The clover needs its aid when 
it first comes up,—besides, if sown late the 
wheat is injured by its causing too rank a growth 
of straw at the time when the grain is forming. 
We should sow plaster as early as April, if pos¬ 
sible, upon wheat, and upon spring grain seed¬ 
ing, as soon as it fairly appeared above ground. 
The amount of seed necessary for an acre de¬ 
pends upon the character of the soil, but there 
seems no disposition as yet to seed too heavily. 
Loamy soils need less than clayey, and the 
growth of the crop with which it is seeded— 
whether large or small—has considerable influ¬ 
ence. A peck to the acre is little enough— 
some use more, but many less. It is poor econ¬ 
omy to sow but half enough to cover the sur¬ 
face—the pasturage and hay are of much less 
value, and the saving of five dollars in seed 
often entails a loss of five times that amount in 
the product. 
There are many varieties of the clover plant, 
but those most grown are the common red, or 
Northern clover, of which we believe there are 
two varieties—the large, or pea-vine clover, and 
the medium —as it is called, perhaps, from lying 
between that and the Southern or small variety. 
The medium kind makes the best hay, and is 
equally valuable as a green manure. 
We have already remarked upon the great 
value of clover for this latter purpose. Some of 
the reasons why it is so, may be thus briefly 
stated. Clover takes less from the soil and 
more from the atmosphere, in proportion to the 
feeding and manuring value of its product, than 
most other plants. It has numerous roots, long, 
bulky stalks, and abundant leaves, each supply¬ 
ing vegetable matter to the soil. A luxuriant 
growth of clover is an excellent preparation for 
any and every crop. Its far-spreading roots 
loosen and deepen the soil, and bring to their 
support and to the surface the elements of fer¬ 
tility below the reach of most other crops.— 
This, too, is the reason why clover delights in a 
deep, fresh soil, and why, after subsoil plowing, 
it is so certain to succeed. 
Other considerations in regard to clover 
might appropriately be presented, and may 
form the subject of another article. 
STEAM ENGINES FOR THE FARM. 
The economy of the steam engine for me¬ 
chanical purposes, no one at the present day is 
inclined to doubt. On the ocean, river, and 
rail; in the factory, furnace, and mine; from 
the minute engine of one-horse power which 
drives the turning-lathe and buzz-saw of the 
small mechanic up to the titanic motor of the 
steamship Persia, equal in power to twelve hun¬ 
dred horses, and furnished with steam from 
eight boilers heated by forty furnaces, which 
consume coal at the rate of four and a half tons 
every hour ; through all grades of size, form, 
and finish, this wonderful and untiring servant 
of humanity is familiar to us all. 
Universally recognized as the utility of the 
steam engine is, and generally as it is employed 
for all these purposes, there is one important 
department of industry in this country where 
its aid is nearly unknown. The department to 
which we refer, is that of agriculture ; in which, 
if properly applied and intelligently managed, 
it would undoubtedly, in a vast number of in¬ 
stances, be of great advantage. The small far¬ 
mer of fifty acres would not probably find it 
profitable to invest the necessary amount of 
funds in a steam engine, any more than in a 
mower or reaper, a threshing machine and horse 
power, and all the other expensive, but to a 
large farmer, really economical agricultural ma¬ 
chinery of modern times; but to agriculturists of 
broad fields and ample buildings, extensive 
crops and numerous herds of domestic animals 
a portable steam engine, of moderate dimen¬ 
sions, would unquestionably he one of the best 
investments by way of machinery that could 
possibly be made. In England these engines 
are coming into general use, and in all the ag¬ 
ricultural journals they occupy a conspicuous 
place among the advertisements of farm imple¬ 
ments and machinery. In the last number of 
the Mark Lane Express, the organ of the London 
Corn Exchange and reporter of the agricultural 
markets, no less than three different forms of 
portable engines are advertised. 
For threshing wheat and sawing wood ; for 
chopping roots and grinding coarse grains ; for 
cutting feed and cleansing turnips and potatoes ; 
lor pumping water and turning grindstones ; for 
driving churns and washing clothes; for heat¬ 
ing water and steaming food for domestic ani¬ 
mals, a small portable engine, say of five horse 
power, would be invaluable. We have consult¬ 
ed a couple of gentlemen extensively engaged 
in building stationary engines of all sizes in 
this city, and also one of the members of a firm 
engaged in a similar business at Honeoye Falls 
in this county, upon the subject; and these 
gentlemen state, that a perfectly constructed 
engine and boiler, mounted on trucks and I 
weighing when empty of water about one ton, 
can be manufactured for one hundred dollars 
the horse-power ; one of five horse power, there- : 
fore, being furnished for five hundred dollars, j 
The usual form of construction is as follows : 
a small sized, broad wheeled truck is provided, 
upon the axles of which is mounted a boiler 
standing upon legs something like those of a 
stove. The fire box is in one end of the boiler 
reaching, say half way through ; the balance of 
the distance being taken up by short fire tubes, 
like those of a locomotive. Around these and 
the fire box is another set of fire tubes, which 
reach through the boiler from end to end, and 
on the front is placed the smoke pipe. Suppose 
now, a fire to be kindled in the boiler. The 
flame passes through the short tubes to the front 
where it is collected in a smoke box, and is j 
thence returned again through the long tubes to j 
the front of the boiler and escapes up the smoke I 
pipe. The cylinder,is placed upon the top of 
the engine towards the front, and the crank 
shaft on which are fastened the fly wheel and 
band pully towards the rear. 
To use the engine, hitch a team to the pole of 
the truck and draw it to any place desired, con¬ 
nect the hand wheel with any machinery to be 
driven, fill the boiler with water,raise the steam, 
and put the engine in motion. One-quarter of 
a cord of well seasoned, well prepared hard 
wood full is sufficient to drive a five horse power 
engine for a day. The exhaust steam, after it 
has passed the engine, can easily be employed 
to heat water, cook food for cattle, or other 
similar purposes. By carrying up the smoke 
funnel to a moderate height and throwing the 
exhaust steam through it, all danger of fire will 
be avoided. 
We have no doubt but portable steam engines 
will, ere many years, be reckoned among the 
most economical and valuable farm machinery, 
and as such be extensively employed by intel¬ 
ligent owners of even moderate sized farms.— 
Such a prediction may appear ill-founded, but 
not more so than a similar one concerning seed 
drills and wheel cultivators, gang plows and 
reaping machines, would have been a few years 
ABOUT THE FLOW. 
From the simplicity of the present almost 
perfect plow, it is hardly conceivable what a 
rude implement prevailed for the first 1700 
years of the Christian era.» Even the bull plow 
of the early part of the present century, would 
now be looked upon as a relic of the dark ages. 
We well remember the interest one of these 
plows, in good preservation excited, particular¬ 
ly among the younger farmers, Avhich was ex¬ 
hibited at one of the State Fairs some years 
ago. They" thought they had found “ the ele¬ 
phant” and in fact they had, for it was as unique 
and unwieldy. It attracted a constant jam from 
morning till night, and was the subject of some 
queer remarks, as it was a one-handled-one. 
Fifty years ago, such a thing as a two-handled i 
plow was rarely if ever seen. At the introduc- ! 
tion of the iron plow, they began to obtain j 
precedence ; but there were thousands of our 
old and good farmers, who utterly eschewed 
them, as a foolish innovation, inducing laziness, 
and entirely useless and injurious to the science 
of good plowing ; and they could not be induced 
to even try them, so fixed were they in their 
views and habits. But the world changes and so 
do men. Now a one-handled plow is unknown, 1 
and how any person of common sense could 
prefer them is astonishing. 
The present form of the plow, with a guide 
roller and movable clevis, will never he great¬ 
ly improved for the use of this country. The 
English plow is nearly as long again from the 
point to the heel of the mould-board, conse- | 
quently the twist is less sudden, it handles the 
furrow slice more carefully and turns it over 
more completely, and probably superior to ours \ 
for green sward, but they are very inferior for j 
cross plowing, as taking up earth and carefully j 
turning it over a thousand times, is not the pro¬ 
cess required. The mould-hoard, for all land 
but green sward, should be sufficiently blunt, or ! 
obtuse as to mix, break and pulverize the fur¬ 
row slice. 
The introduction of the iron plow, conferred a 
greater benefit on the world, than any other dis- J 
covery except the magnetic needle. Railroads, j 
canals, telegraphs were playthings, compared 
with it—and yet how simple. It is the only j 
true “ philosophers’ stone,” so long and labori¬ 
ously sought after by the alchemists, that turns 
all it touches into gold. Jethro Wood of Cayuga 
Co., in this State, if not the original inventor, 
is entitled to the credit of perfecting and in¬ 
troducing it to the public. It has been proven 
in Court, that a country carpenter made the 
first iron plow in this country. It was a rude 
and imperfect affair ; Wood saw it, and being 
a mechanical genius, at once gave it near its 
present *duipe and form. He mismanaged his 
patent.nind died before he realized the profit 
that should have accrued to him, for this all- 
important article. One per cent on the saving 
alone, of the time and labor to the farmers of 
these United States, would have given him a 
fortune painful to endure, it would have been 
so immense. 
As “ the thaw” progresses, look to your wheat j 
fields and meadows, and keep the drains clear, 
so that the water may readily pass away, nor 
stand to injure the crop. 
ENTIRE HORSE, “ARABIAN EAGLE.” 
' This fine Stallion is the property of S. B. j 
Emery, Trivoli, Ill. His color is a very dark | 
dapple gray ; he is fifteen hands and three | 
inches high, and weighs 1,260 lbs. The pedi- ! 
gree of Arabian Eagle, as furnished by his 
owner, is as follows :—“Foaled May 10th, 1849; 
bred by Abner H. Smith, of Elmwood, Ill.— 
Sired by Shark, he by the Arabian Shark, and 
he by the imported Shark — all Arabian blood- 
Communications. ! 
WESTWARD HO! 
SUGGESTIONS ABOUT EMIGRATION. 
W estward ho ! is now-a-days the cry of many. 
Having just returned from a long western tour, 
and having gained some knowledge of that re¬ 
gion by previous jourueyings and residence 
there, a few words of suggestion and advice on 
the emigration question may not be amiss. I 
give simply my own views good readers:— 
(more than a hundred thousand of you. What a 
host!) judge for yourselves, only hearing in 
mind that I “ testify of what I have seen.” 
As a general rule farmers well fixed, in West¬ 
ern New York for instance, especially if past 
middle age, had best “ let well enough alone,” 
and stay where they are. Traveling in a stage 
in Michigan some time time since, among the 
passengers was a farmer from Orleans county 
looking for a western farm. He was all enthu¬ 
siasm at the prospect of good fortune before him. 
I asked what was his situation at home. He 
replied that he had sixty acres of excellent land, 
good buildings, a thousand dollars or more at 
interest, and but two children. I said, “ friend, 
my advice costs nothing, but I should say—go 
back contented to the old farm in New' York.” 
He saw I was not a farmer and gave no great 
heed to the remark. A man who had been lis¬ 
tening, soon said to him, “ I am a Michigan 
farmer, an emigrant years ago from your section. 
I~have done well, had little sickness, and am 
well off—better than the average. But I should 
say, go back and till the old farm well and be 
wise.” 
This quite astonished our land seeker and 
cooled his zeal a good deal. This incident 
covers the whole ground “ go back and till the 
old farm well” is wise advice to such. A farmer 
has a crop fail. Instead of looking into the 
causes of failure or using some ingenuity to raise 
some other crop, he pulls up stakes for the West, 
and the loss of time and expense of moving is 
often greater than would be the cost of chang¬ 
ing, if necessary, the whole system of crops at 
home and raising some new product that would 
pay better than the uncertain grass, wheat, or 
whatever bad been raised before. Western men 
do the same thing. I knew a Wisconsin farmer 
who had poor wheat crops several years. He 
left and moved to Michigan. The next two 
yeais the tables turned, wheat was heavy in 
Wisconsin, light in Michigan, so now he is going 
to Illinois, to be followed perhaps by the same 
fortune. 
■ Farmers as a general rule, use hands and mus¬ 
cles enough—often too much, breaking down by 
j His dam was sired by the Gray Eagle, of Ken- 
j tucky—his grand dam by Old Diomede.” 
Arabian Eagle was awarded the first premi- 
I um at the Fair- of-he Illinois State Agricultural 
Society, held at Springfield, Oct., 1854 ; also 
the first premium of the Peoria County Agri¬ 
cultural Society - , 1854. His compactness of form, 
remarkable muscle, and perfect docility, receive 
the marked attention of all visitors. 
J over work. But they don’t use their brains 
j enough, forgetting that the skilled brain is the 
wise governor guiding hands aright, and that 
without it, hands are like blind giants, striking 
hard perhaps, but not making the blows tell.— 
Merchants and speculators change their trade to 
meet shifts in supply, demand, <fec., keeping a 
wise look out. Farmers in their noble call¬ 
ing need to do likewise. Let those on good 
farms till them well and they need not go West. 
There is land enough here, with good farming, 
labor-saving machines, and perhaps a greater 
variety of crops, fruits, ifcc., to sustain in wealth 
a farming population much larger than we have. 
Men are like trees too—they don’t bear trans¬ 
planting well when old. The change of life 
and climate, the breaking up old associations, 
affect body and mind more than in the young 
who have a larger fund of elastic life to draw on. 
True, a farmer with a good property can of¬ 
ten (not always remember) get rich faster west 
than here. But there is risk in changing loca¬ 
tion, and the giving up of the enjoyments and 
advantages of a home around which are kindred 
and friends, is a sacrifice men will make or not 
—just as they estimate dollars, or health, culture 
and social enjoyment most. The young or mid¬ 
dle aged man of small means can often go west, 
buy land lower than here, place himself in a 
more independent position, and provide better 
for his children. A young man with no proper¬ 
ty will usually do as well or better to stay here, 
earn something, and then, if he chooses, go west 
to invest and locate. 
Let those who begin to have the “ western 
fever” remember that every section has its goods 
and ills. The West, with its ample scope and 
rich soil, holds out strong inducements — appre¬ 
ciate them justly, but at the same time look at 
the advantages of the old home and let reason 
and judgment govern the choice. Don’t expect 
Paradise west—only a good farming country.— 
The same general remarks apply to mechanics. 
Those fixed in business had better remain.— 
Those of small means and with no run of cus¬ 
tom gained can do well west. Only let all re¬ 
member that a shiftless man keeps poor every¬ 
where —energy and industry are indispensable 
there as well as here. 
It is a sad truth that needs to be told that 
family and neighborhood jars and dispute, de¬ 
stroying the harmony of many a home and social 
circle, drive many to the west, preferring the 
peaceful quiet of forest or prairie to the bicker¬ 
ing strife of kindred, clique, or sect at home.— 
A more tender care of the sacred joys of fami¬ 
ly, wiser and more heartfelt efforts to make the 
home circle attractive, a more truly Catholic 
charity touching differences of opinion, and 
arising above the paltry disputes that disgrace 
