TWO DOLLARS A TEAR.] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.’ 
[ SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
YOEUME YIL NO. 40.} 
ROGHESTER, N. Y. -SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1856. 
I WHOLE NO. 361. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY ANI) FAMILY JOURNAL, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN ABLE COBPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS! 
H. T. BROOKS, Prof. C. DEWEY, 
T. C. PETERS, L. B LANGWORTHY. 
HIRAM C. WHITE. 
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 laborto make it 
a Reliable Guide on the importantPractical Subjects connected 
with the business of those whose interests it advocates. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Me¬ 
chanical, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with many 
appropriate and beautiful Engravings, than any other paper 
published in this Country,—rendering it a complete Agricul¬ 
tural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
£3?" All communications, and business letters, should be 
addressed to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y 
For Terms, and other particulars, see last page. 
WATER FOR FARM ANIMALS. 
As the season of the year is approaching when 
cattle often suffer from the want of water, and 
while, for those possessing stock who are in¬ 
clined lo make the requisite preparation, there 
still is opportunity for so doing, we propose to 
hint the necessity of adopting such measures as 
will the most readily and best promote the ob¬ 
ject in view, and at the same time redound to 
the health and comfort of the animals in their 
keeping. 
All farm stock should have the facilities for 
obtaining water as nature prompts. For this 
purpose the receptacle containing it should be 
as contiguous to their yard or shed as possible. 
When situated at a distance therefrom, they 
are apt to abstain for loDg periods, and when 
compelled to supply their wants frequently 
drink to excess, which inevitably results in de¬ 
preciation of the animal heat. The means for 
replenishing the system should be easy of ac¬ 
cess. The farmer should avoid driving stock 
down steep banks to pond holes— accidents 
often cost much more than thorough prepara¬ 
tion. Again, the water should be fresh— stag¬ 
nant pools are not the choice of stock, but are 
sought out and partaken of through compulsion. 
Milch cows should not only be provided with 
a sufficiency of water—but it is equally neces¬ 
sary that itshould be pure. Many dairymen are 
possessed of what would be termed “ rather nice 
notions” by the masses, and yet the care and 
attention bestowed meets with a sure reward. 
If cows are accustomed to drink from a trough 
or other vessel, it ought to be kept clean. The 
Farmers’ and Graziers' Complete Guide has the 
following on this subject :—“ Dr. Jennee, who 
conferred that great blessing on mankind—the 
cow-pock inoculation — considered that giving 
pure water to cows was of more importance 
than persons are generally aware. There were 
farmers in his neighborhood whose cows while 
they drank the pond water were rarely free 
from red-water or swelled udders; and the 
losses they sustained from these causes, together 
with the numerous abortions their cows suffer¬ 
ed, increased to an alarming extent. One of 
them at length, supposing that the water they 
drank had something to do with producing their 
disorders, sank wells upon his farm and pumped 
the water therefrom into troughs for his cattle. 
His success was gratifying; the red-water soon 
ceased, and the swellings iD the udder subsided; 
and the produce of the renovated animals in¬ 
creased both in quantity and quality. Other 
farmers followed the same practice; and in less 
than six months not a case of red-water, swollen 
udder, or abortion, was heard of in the neigh¬ 
borhood.” Giving water in a tepid state is 
thought to increase the secretion of milk,— in¬ 
stances are on record where water thus prepar¬ 
ed has been also furnished to horses and all 
grades of neat cattle with marked beneficial re¬ 
sults. 
To your flock of sheep water is an object of 
paramount importance. Many farmers seem to 
think that all the moisture necessary for their 
support can be derived from the snow eaten by 
them—other recognize the want, but contend 
that the animal is so likely to over-drink, so 
apt to fill the stomach with cold water, as to 
very much depreciate the amount of natural 
heat necessary for their well-doing. There is 
no just foundation for the latter cause of com¬ 
plaint where the animal can at all times gratify 
the desire for water, and even should the flock 
be possessed of such a tendency, good shelter 
will, in a great measure, overcome such defect. 
Many experiments have been made, and in all 
cases where sheep have been supplied with a 
sufficiency of water, they have been found 
healthier, the amount of fleece greater and pos¬ 
sessing more elasticity, softness, and soundness, 
qualities to be sought for in its production. It 
cannot be expected that the wool fluids will be 
found abundant in sheep that are deprived of 
water except a latge proportion of their food 
should be composed of roots. When such is the 
case, they will seldom drink unless after hav¬ 
ing used an excess of salt. 
Among the various modes for procuring a 
supply of this element, the one most advanta¬ 
geously to be pursued at the present season of 
the year is the construction of cisterns. There 
are but few barns in the country the roofs of 
which will not shed an average of at least two 
barrels per day through the year,— one 30 by 
40 feet will do this and more — while the ma¬ 
jority of such buildings, sheds, tfec., will much 
increase this amount. Nor are these alone val¬ 
uable for the mere purpose of watering stock.— 
A well can but seldom be sunk in the vicinity 
of the barn-yard without daDger of impure 
water, and if made at a distance to avoid such 
result, carrying to and fro whenever demands 
are made for the liquid, soon becomes laborious. 
In addition thereto the use of pure soft water is 
much to be preferred. Wooden cisterns seem 
to have the preference with most stock growers. 
An excellent plan is to first conduct the water 
from the roofs to a hogshead in which is con¬ 
structed a filter. The impurities are here col¬ 
lected and the fluid passes thence to the cistern 
clear. By this means cisterns seldom want 
cleaning—when the filter becomes imperfect 
is readily got at and repaired, and much labor 
that would otherwise fall upon the stock grower 
is avoided. 
NUTRITION AND GROWTH OF PLANTS. 
“ Of what do plants consist,” is a question 
which has already received our attention ; let us 
next consider the inquiry, Whence do plants ob¬ 
tain their constituent elements ? They can ab¬ 
sorb their nutriment only through the pores of 
their root fibres and leaves. These pores are so 
minute as to be altogether invisible to the 
naked eye, hence everything which can contrib¬ 
ute to nourish a plant must be either liquid or 
ceriform, for solid bodies cannot possibly pene¬ 
trate into their structure. 
Oxygen aud Hydrogen are supplied to plants 
in water —without which, with trifling excep¬ 
tion, vegetable life cannot exist. Water is also 
indispensable as supplying a medium for dis¬ 
solving all those nutritive ingredients which 
cannot of themselves become fluid or aeriform. 
Moreover it occasions the formation of the solid 
vegetable parts ; for it is from the juice made 
liquid by the water, that all the solid constitu¬ 
ents of plants are produced or elaborated. 
Carbon is absorbed by plants in the form of 
carbonic acid, an unfailing constituent of atmos¬ 
pheric air and spring water, and found in every 
soil containing humus, or vegetable mould.— 
This acid is a kind of air, generated in extra¬ 
ordinary quantities by the three most common 
chemical processes going on in nature, viz., the 
respiration of men and animals, the combustion 
of wood, coal, etc., and the putrefaction or dec ly 
of animal and vegetable matter. It is aiso 
evolved in fermentation, and lastly streams from 
crevices in many regions of the earth of volcanic 
formation. 
All the carbonic acid generated by these dif¬ 
ferent processes is taken up into the air. If 
there were no compensating process, the atmos¬ 
phere would become charged and unfit for res¬ 
piration, more especially as in breathing, com¬ 
bustion and decay, free oxygen or vital air is 
removed from it. But this is not the case. The 
vegetable world discharges the function, not 
only of a supporter, but also of a protector of 
animal life. It provides the whole animal 
kingdom with nourishment^ and restores again 
to the air the oxygen abstracted by the for¬ 
mer. For plants by their roots and leaves ab¬ 
sorb carbonic acid as their most important arti¬ 
cle of nourishment, and by their green or her¬ 
baceous parts again exhale its oxygen during 
the light of day. On the other hand, they 
firmly retain the carbon of the carbonic acid, 
and appropriate it to the construction of their 
leaves, blossoms, seeds, and the proximate con¬ 
stituents which these contain. 
Wherever plants are produced and decay, 
carbonic acid is generated in the soil. The 
leaves fall—the plant dies—stem, root and foli¬ 
age become the subjects of conuption and de¬ 
cay—their carbon is again converted into car¬ 
bonic acid. Vegetable mould or humus is the 
name given to such decomposed organic sub¬ 
stances. Under the action of air and moisture 
it undergoes still further decomposition, and 
therefore furnishes fresh supplies of carbonic 
acid to the roots of plants as nutriment. At 
the same time the azotised and mineral sub¬ 
stances which it contains become soluble—often 
by the aid of this carbonic acid—and capable 
of being received as food by plants, and are 
thus in like manner appropriated to their nour¬ 
ishment. 
Farmers have, in all ages, attributed au es¬ 
pecially beneficial influence upon the growth 
of plants to humus or vegetable mould, and very 
correctly too. By its means, principally, they 
make the soil at once looser, warmer, and bet¬ 
ter suited to the absorption and distribution of 
moisture, as well as richer in the power of at¬ 
tracting the nutritive materials existing in the 
air. But the addition of such substances as 
have especially the power to produce humus— 
(straw manure for instance) is not the only way 
of enriehing the land in vegetable mould. This 
end can be indirectly attained, and frequently 
with far greater pecuniary advantage, by a ju¬ 
dicious rotation of crops, and likewise by the 
application of powerful manures, though con¬ 
taining but little humus, such as grass, etc.— 
These effect a more vigorous growth of plants, 
the roots and leaves become larger, and in their 
decay supply more material for the formation 
of humus than could be by any other equally 
economical process. 
Other sources of the constituent elements of 
plants will be mentioned in our next number. 
POSITION. 
There is much, every way, in position. So 
thinks the church sleeper, as, with a devout, 
meditative air, he shifts a little to one side, and 
re-adjusts his handkerchief under his forehead, 
all the while profoundly grateful for religious 
privileges. “I must re-define my position,” 
says the politician who sees a black cloud com¬ 
ing up from the North or the South to which he 
thinks best to pay a prudent regard. “I have 
lost my position,” says the street loafer—late 
the gentlemanly millionaire. “ Really, there is 
everything in position,” exclaims the gay lady 
who has bought a fashionable hat, and by some 
strange necromancy induces it to follow her 
home. 
Position —dying of labor and vexation in the 
public service. Position, position, position, 
chime in the drill-sergeants, the elocutionists, 
and the dancing masters. Position, —yes there 
is great virtue in position, thought I, as I sunned 
myself on the south side of a barn—there is 
frost on the other side, and here it is summer 
weather. This is the kind of “ position” that I 
was trying all the while to get at—a position of 
comfort for cattle, for instance. Why not think 
of this when you select a place for your build¬ 
ings, particularly your barns. You have a 
grove—you ought to have — get to the leeward 
of it: a south-eastern slope—all the better for 
that—now arrange your buildings and fences 
so as to concentrate the greatest possible 
amount of sunshine upon your cattle yards. 
There is a world of happiness and health, in 
sunshine. You can never get too much of it in 
this latitude in the winter time. Animals 
flourish best when they are comfortable, but 
comfort in the sunshine is a different thing 
from comfort secured by warm stables. The one 
is pure and unadulterated—the other is forced 
aud unnatural. The one is the growth of the 
fields, the other of the “hot bed.” Fresh air 
and comfort can’t be over prized. Look at that 
cow, in a sunny place, chewing her cud after 
eating a good breakfast in December. Gentle¬ 
men are respectfully referred to her. 
It ain’t everybody that knows how much 
warmth can be got up by “ circumstances,” as 
Gen. Cass would say. I’ll tell a story on that. 
I had occasion, last winter, to take a short ride 
with my friend Capt. John B. Crosby. The 
sun shone, but the thermometer refused to get 
above three degrees below zero. A steady 
western r breeze made traveling “Maine Law” 
men look like brandy drinkers. We met Juds;e 
Sprague, who quietly observed to me iu pass¬ 
ing, “ a man must be hard pressed to turn out 
such a day.” The Judge had been after his 
“7'ribune he is always ready to die in such a 
cause. We rode on and presently turned into 
the woods, which my provident father had the 
good sense to leave as a western barricade to 
our farm. It grew warm at once, and I ob- 
MORGAN GENERAL. 
The work on “ Morgan Horses,” just issued 
by Saxton <fe Co., and briefly noticed in the last 
number of the Rural, contains well executed 
portraits of many of the best representatives of 
this celebrated breed of horses. Among the 
most prominent and beautiful is that of “ Mor¬ 
gan General,” whose pedigree, description, &c., 
is thus gi ven : 
“ Morgan General was foaled in 1845, the 
property of Lowell Spencer, of Concord, Yt. 
Sired by B'lly Boot; g sire, Sherman ; g g sire, 
Justin Morgan. Dam, a very large mare, fast 
for her size, sired by Black Prince, dam still 
living, 26 years old. General weighs 1,200 lbs., 
is 15hands high, and chestnut color. He is 
a very bold looking horse, fine style, and good 
action for a horse of his size; very compact, 
limbs excellent, but have some long hair on 
them. Is a good horse. He is now owned by 
Wm. Hill, Oregon city, Ill.” 
served, “ I’ll bet we will find it thawing on the 
back side of the house when we get home.” 
The Capt. looked at me scrutinizingly, to see if 
he could detect any further evidence of insanity. 
We were soon home, and in a moment more at 
the back door. “ There," said I, pointing ex- 
ultingly at the smoking eaves of the wood-shed, 
“do you see that?” looking down to the melt¬ 
ing snow on the door step. The Capt. brushed 
off the ice from his whiskers and “ owned up.” 
It was the peculiar “position” of the woods and 
the buildings;—there was sunshine enough 
that cold day to burn us to ashes, if it had been 
all gathered up. 
Where did those delicious grapes grow ? Iu 
what sheltered spot did those peaches struggle 
through last year’s frosts into life and being ? 
Where did you find that apple, with peculiar 
richness of color and of flavor? Verily, there 
is mi ch in position. You may laugh like a 
silly goose at the politician who happens to 
find himself “on the fence,” deliberating as a 
pro ound philosopher should, which side tie cau 
flourish best on, but if you will go to my friends 
Ellwanger <fc Barry, of Mt. Hope, they will 
ell you frankly that in all their horticultural 
arrangements they have a sharp look out for the 
s’des. 
As a farmer it is not too much for me to ad¬ 
mit that our class, being emphatically workers, 
are less observant of conditions than are our 
friends of kindred pursuits, who appreciate 
more fully the necessity for exact and extensive 
information on all points connected with their 
business. I heard some one observe last spring 
that the winter wheat in Wisconsin was very 
much killed except where it had the protection 
of the woods. Had those beautiful forests Ciat 
have fallen before the Vandalism of modern 
times, been kept till all the cleared lan was 
properly improved and cultivated, the winter 
winds would have a smaller play ground. If 
the trees that have escaped the “vengeance of 
their pursuers” stood iu the right places, their 
cooling shade in the summer, and their pro¬ 
tective branches in the winter would be emi¬ 
nently grateful lo man and to beast. Good 
heavens ! is it because you are ashamed of those 
maples, oaks and elms that you have huddled 
them to the back part of your premises out of 
sight, as you do your ragged, dirty children 
when visitors come unexpectedly ? 
It may take three generations to correct the 
mischief, but begin at once, and get up an ample 
grove about your hoi se. You can plant a hun¬ 
dred small forest trees in a day, on mellow, 
well-prepared land. They will grow while 
you sleep, and while you are begging pardon 
on your knees of God and of man for cutting 
down the magnificent originals. If it is too 
late to save a woods border on the windward 
side of your farm, supply it if you can ; and 
let all who have new farms, reflect on these 
things. So much am I impressed with the ne¬ 
cessity of forests to prevent universal barren¬ 
ness and desolation, that I anticipate the ap¬ 
pointment of Commissioners on the part of the 
State—topographical engineers, empowered to 
locate and establish these tree “battlements” 
at such places as a knowledge of the general 
surface and character of the country shall sug¬ 
gest. Modern warfare is to be against adverse 
influences, with the “plowshare and pruning 
hook” for its weapons. Did you ever see the 
snow banks blackened with dirt ? The cream, 
the very life of the neighboring field was there^ 
and had passed on, and will continue to pass 
till the deserts of Africa are reproduced. Ex¬ 
posed to these raking winds, the soil freezes to 
a much greater depth, and especially so as the 
snow is blown away—jts kind mantle being 
reserved for those fields that are treated with 
some decent deference to Divine arrangements. 
If I lived on a western prairie, as often as 1 
planted a hill of corn I would plant a tree ! A 
tiee. never grew that was not wanted. If there 
is no other use for it, convert it into charcoal, 
aud it makes the best and most enduring of all 
manures—it attracts the most subtle and the 
most valuable elements, and holds them for the 
plant; it ought always to be mixed with ani¬ 
mal manures to prevent their wasting. So it 
will pay to raise timber. 
If our railroad companies could secure a strip 
of land along their track and plant it with 
trees, making a thick hedge at the bottom, they 
might regulate their “ drifts ” very advanta¬ 
geously to themselves. Their fences are now 
admirably arranged for making snow stacks on 
their roads. The same is true of the common 
highway ?. The whole matter of drifting may 
be controlled—a shield to the traveler in the 
winter and 8 grateful shade in the summer se¬ 
cured by the judicious arrangement of trees 
and shrubbery. 
Eden and the Millenium are both, I confess, 
intimately associated in my mind with trees. 
H. T. B. 
Cows for Work. — A farmer in California 
plowed seventy-five acres with a cow team, and 
at the same time milked them every day. 
