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TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
[ SINGLE NO. FIYE CENTS. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY JOURNAL, 
energies have been devoted to its fulfilment— 
and we therefore confidently submit the matter 
to a tribunal which we have ever found charita¬ 
ble as well as just and discriminating. 
Did time and space permit we would embrace 
the present moment, (and it is only a moment, 
for ere this paper is printed a great portion of 
the first number of our new volume must be in 
type,) while temporarily resting at the end of 
our seventh voyage, to recapitulate the history 
and progress of our good and fast-sailing craft. 
The Rural, —to recount how, notwithstanding 
the adverse predictions of seers of the “ Black 
Art,” and the fears of the few friends and pas¬ 
sengers who boarded her when first launched 
on the uncertain (and to many fatal) sea of 
public opinion, she from the first stemmed every 
opposing tide and current, and outrode every 
gale—visiting almost every port where there is 
a light-house (post-office) in this latitude, and 
continuously increasing her speed, usefulness 
and popularity, during each annual cruise 
throughout the best portions of the Western 
Continent. But, though the log-book of memo¬ 
ry vividly retains the prominent incidents of 
the cycle of seven arduous yet pleasant and 
successful voyages now completed, the super¬ 
cargo (who has ever been mindful to freight 
only with the most useful, valuable, appropriate 
and seasonable mental wares,) refrains from 
“ spinning a yarn ” the woof thereof, however 
truthfully woven, might savor of egotism or 
personal vain glory. Suffice it that, starting as 
an humble tender, our taut clipper has become, 
in the estimation of the public, the Flag-Ship 
of the Rural Squadron —albeit her commander 
does not, among so many experienced veterans 
as walk the quarter-decks of able and staunch 
vessels bearing similar freight and bound to 
like ports, assume the rank of Commodore I 
Before closing the labors of the year, and 
adding Finis to this volume, we may properly 
offer a few brief remarks relative to our arrange¬ 
ments and prospects for the Future. As al¬ 
ready announced, our arrangements and facili¬ 
ties for the ensuing year are very complete and 
extensive—sufficient at least to enable us to 
fully if not more than maintain the standing 
and reputation the Rural New-Yorker has 
achieved as the first of its class in Merit, Use¬ 
fulness and Popularity. Indeed, we have re¬ 
solved to be far more liberal than ever before in 
expenditures which shall add to the value of 
the Contents, and improve the Appearance, of 
the Rural. To secure this result, the Conduct¬ 
ing Editor has engaged corps of Assistants, 
Special Contributors and Correspondents une¬ 
qualled in number, practical, scientific and 
literary talent, and distinguished ability and 
reputation, by those ever before announced by 
this or any similar journal. In addition to 
Messrs. Kennedy, Bixby and White as Edito¬ 
rial Assistants, and such able Practical and 
Scientific gentlemen as Messrs. Dewey, Peters, 
Brooks and Langworthy as Special Contribu¬ 
tors, we have the pleasure of announcing that 
Lieut. M. F. Maury, the distinguished Super¬ 
intendent of the National Observatory at Wash¬ 
ington—who has become world-renowned for 
scientific researches and discoveries, and the 
benefits he has conferred upon mankind — has 
been engaged as a special contributor to our 
Eighth Volume. Lieut. M. will furnish at least 
one article a month on Meteorology for Farm¬ 
ers, a most important and interesting subject, 
and probably contribute papers on other and 
kindred topics. As stated last week, we have 
also engaged T. S. Arthur, Esq., one of the 
very best and most distinguished writers in 
this country, as a regular contributor to the 
Literary Department of the Rural —and we 
now have the pleasure of aeding the names of 
Mrs. Holmes, (the talented aithor of “ Tempest 
and Sunshine,” “ 'Lena Rivers,” etc.,) and 
Edward Webster, A. M., and Miss E. C. 
Huntington, both of whom are already favora¬ 
bly known to our readers. In a word, we have 
determined to improve and enrich each and all 
departments of the Rural, aid shall endeavor 
to render the performance eipial, at least, to the 
promise—for we dislike to draw upon the pub¬ 
lic except for a valuable consideration. 
— Finally, we tender grateful acknowledg¬ 
ments to the numerous zealius, active and in¬ 
fluential friends all over tie land, who have 
contributed in any manner to the eminent suc¬ 
cess of this journal, which closes its Seventh 
Year and Volume with a circulation several 
thousand greater than at the termination of any 
former one, and under the most favorable 
auspices and prospects for the future. 
ASHES AS A MAIM TIRE, 
PLOWS AND PLOWING. 
The attention of agriculiurists has, for some 
years, been turned to the availability of the 
ash-heap as furnishing certain constituents to 
aid in the growth of plants, and each season’s 
use and experiment has furnished undoubted 
proof of the value of an application of this ma¬ 
terial to the soil. Although analysis exhibits 
but a small portion of the components of this 
manure in the single plant, the annual exhaus¬ 
tion of salts from heavy crops of either grain, 
roots, or grass is from 180 to 250 pounds per 
acre, and a constant drain, it will be readily 
seen, must soon abstract all the elements of this 
nature contained by the soil. The ash produced 
from consumed vegetation consists of such ma¬ 
terial as is necessary to the full development of 
vegetable growth, and therefore it must be con¬ 
ceded that it will furnish such food as the plant 
demands. An agricultural writer on this sub¬ 
ject has left his testimony in their favor as fol¬ 
lows : —“ Ashes are to the ea thy parts what 
milk is to the animal system, or barn-yard ma¬ 
nures are to the entire crop ; ttey’contain every 
element, and generally in the right proportion, 
for insuring a full and rapid growth.” 
The general utility of this kind of manure is 
amply demonstrated by its appropriateness as 
an application to any variety of soil, whether 
loam, clay, or peat be the characteristic—the 
readiness with which its invigorating proper¬ 
ties are taken up by some species of vegetable 
growth and its permanent “ffects upon the soil. 
Its chemical constituents are silica, phosphate 
and carbonate of lime, alkaline sulphates, phos¬ 
phates and carbonates. The alkaline salts act 
favorably upon the silicates; they render insol¬ 
uble silica soluble, and are therefore valuable on 
uplands, while on peaty land, if it is not reten¬ 
tive of an excess of moisture, or is well diained, 
they will exert a very beneficial influence. On 
any variety of land on which vegetable matter 
may be inert, their action is of great value. 
The amount of potash contained in ashes 
varies very materially as regards the source 
from which it was obtained. A table, given by 
Sir Humphrey Davy in his lectures on Agricul¬ 
tural Chemistry, exhibits this difference in sev¬ 
eral kinds of trees and plants as follows : 
Parts of potash. 
10,000 parts of the Poplar produce 7 
c ‘ “ Beech “ 12 
“ “ Oak “ 15 
“ “ . Elm w 39 
“ “ Vine “ 55 
“ “ Thistle 4< 53 
“ “ Fern “ 62 
“ “ Bean « 200 
“ “ Wormwood “ 730 
Where stands and whence originated the 
Plow ? It ranks as the “ central implement of 
Agriculture”—the first invention of the tillers 
of the soil. Its origin has been said to be in 
the pick, and the earliest forms of the plow are 
in nowise different from it in form and size.— 
To apply the motive power, make the handle a 
beam for hitching on the team, and add a sup¬ 
plemental stick to guide it, and you have such 
a plow as is now in use in many barbarous 
countries. One acquainted with ancient agri¬ 
cultural literature, could easily trace up the 
improvements, step by step, to the present day. 
What is the object of plowing ? One object 
is the inversion of the sod, and the turning un¬ 
der of manure, and for these purposes probably 
no better implement could be invented. But 
this is but a small portion of what is required. 
Tt is not alone to kill the weeds and grass, to 
bury manures, or even to furnish a fresh-turned 
soil wherein to place the germs which shall 
grow into luxuriant crops, which constitutes the 
entirety of good plowing. Large plows, turning 
a wide and shallow furrow, will show a large 
day’s work, but that work fails in its full pur¬ 
pose, most materially. Plowing should thor¬ 
oughly pulverize and “ loosen the texture of the 
soil, and thus admit of a free circulation of air 
and moisture, which by chemical action, disin¬ 
tegrates or breaks down the mineral portions of 
the same, so that they may be the more readily 
dissolved and taken up by the roots of plants.” 
The full object of plowing is to prepare the soil 
for yielding its full store of nutriment for the 
best growth of the crops. 
In a soil perfectly plowed and fully prepared 
for yieldi ng its s up port t o vegetable life, as we 
have Before remarked, plants can appropriate, 
from far and near, the nutriment needed for 
their growth. It is dissolved and ready for 
their use—not hidden in unbroken clods or 
slumbering in an undisturbed subsoil—but 
awaits their action in a friable and penetrable 
state, where every hungry rootlet, sent out to 
gather nourishment for its parent plant, may 
find and appropriate it. It is truly wonderful 
how full of minute roots, the soil, when it pro¬ 
duces a luxuriant growth of grain or grass, be¬ 
comes, and the finer and deeper it is, the greater 
the number and extent of the fibres which per¬ 
meate and intersect it. This is true of all vege¬ 
table growth, and while the leaves and fruit 
depend so intimately on the vigor and extent of 
the roots, these facts should always be taken 
into consideration among the objects of plowing. 
Friability and depth of soil are requisite in 
order to receive the full benefit from the appli¬ 
cation of manures. It is not fertilizing sub¬ 
stances in their crude state that feed vegetation 
—they must first become intimately mixed 
with, or in fact a part of ’he soil. Barn yard 
mauure, especially, seems of little account 
while forming visible layers between the clods 
of a half plowed soil; it is often dry and coarse, 
and rather shunned than sought by the rootlets 
sent out to forage for suitable food. If a well 
prepared soil has any strength and virtue, it 
will readily yield the same to plants growing 
upon it, and poor land in good tilth is often 
more productive than better soils less perfectly 
prepared. ..The influences of air and moisture 
have freedom to work, and they are no laggards 
in gathering means to supply the wants of 
vegetation. 
Of the process of plowing, we shall not at¬ 
tempt to speak in ihis connection. Abler pens 
and more experienced hands, could find full 
scope and need for their employment. Some 
part of that which is sought in the use of the 
plow, can never be fully performed by the 
present implement. It lifts the surface soil by 
pressing against and hardening the subsoil, and 
it fails, more or less, in thoroughly loosening 
the texture of the soil, so that it may receive 
full mration and disintegration. Whether any 
better implement can be devised, which, by 
simple means, at a single process, shall fully 
prepare the soil for the seed, ik a problem for 
the inventive genius of the age, worthy its best 
endeavor at a solution. We throw out these 
hints on plows and plowing, believing the sub¬ 
ject one in need of better consideration by 
farmers, for in the present state of agricultural 
progress, and taking the country at large into 
account, perhaps plowing is more imperfect¬ 
ly performed than any other part of farm 
husbandry. 
Many farmers feed their sheep upon the 
ground, permitting them to tread upon their 
fodder and otherwise waste and destroy it. This 
is, to say the least of it, a very slovenly and 
uneconomical method, and it is never done by 
those who take any pains with their flocks.— 
Racks of various kinds are used and with great 
advantage, although some of them are much to 
be preferred over others. The following form 
used and highly approved of by Geo. Geddes, 
Esq., of Fairmont, N. Y., is illustrated as fol¬ 
lows, in Randall’s Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTJtIBUTORS: 
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 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, Me- 
ohanlcal, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with many 
appropriate and beautiful Engravings, than any other paper 
published in this Country,—rendering i a complete Agricul¬ 
tural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
The Terms op the Rural New-Yorker are —Single 
Copy, $2 a year ; Three Copies, $5 ; Five Copies, $8 ; Six 
Copies, (and one free to agent or getter up'of club,) $10 ; 
Ten Copies, (and one free,) $15, and any additional number 
at latter rate, (1,50 per copy payable in advance. No 
deviation from these terms. Any individual remitting the 
club price ($1,60 instead of $2) for a single copy—except as 
an addition to a club already formed, or as a present to a 
friend—will be credited for only nine months, in accord¬ 
ance with our terms of subscription. 
li# - All communications, and business letters, should be 
addressed to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y 
THE HOPPER-RACK. 
“ A piece of durable wood about 4 % feet long, 
6 or 8 inches deep, and 4 inches thick, has two 
notches, a, a, cut into it, and two troughs, made 
of inch boards, b, b, b, b, placed in these notches, 
and nailed fast, constitutes the foundation. If 
the rack is to be 14 feet long, three sills will be 
required. The ends of the rack are made by 
nailing against the side of the sill-boards that 
reach up as high as it is desired to have the 
rack, and nails driven through these end-boards 
into the ends of the side-boards f, f, secure 
them. The sides may be farther strengthened 
by pieces of board on the outside of them, and 
fitted into the trough. A roof may be put over 
all if desired. With a roof, the fodder is kept 
entirely from the weather, and no seeds or chaff 
can get into the wool.” 
CLOSE OP THE YEAH AND VOLUME, 
This number closes the Seventh Year and 
Volume of the Rural New-Yorker, termina¬ 
ting our engagements with the great majority 
of its subscribers, and bringing us and our 
readers to another mile-stone in life’s pilgrim¬ 
age. The year, like its six immediate prede¬ 
cessors, has been an exceedingly busy one with 
us, for during its days, weeks and months we 
have earnestly and almost uninterruptedly 
labored to promote the Prosperity and Happi¬ 
ness of the numerous auditory (comprising 
persons of all ages and various occupations,) 
which the long arms and far-reaching voice of 
the Rural have enabled us to reach and address. 
Not unmindful of the privileges and responsi¬ 
bilities of the position occupied, we have con¬ 
scientiously endeavored to discharge our duty 
to readers and community—seeking to Instruct, 
Entertain and Benefit all classes, yet studiously 
avoiding the utterance of a word or sentiment 
calculated to mislead the judgment, vitiate the 
heart, or prove repugnant to the good sense and 
correct taste of any individual. “To err is 
human,” but the errors we may have committed 
have assuredly been those of the head or judg¬ 
ment only, and we trust no critical or fastidious 
reader has found them mountainous. Be that 
as it may, we are confident the great mass of our 
readers will, if necessary, so exercise the Di¬ 
vine attribute of forgiveness that the Rural 
will continue to find favor in their sight, and 
long be regarded as an instructive and valuable 
visitor and companion. 
As we remarked at the conclusion of our last 
volume, the present occasion is one of no trifling 
interest to us, and awakens mingled emotions— 
regretful and pleasurable. The termination of 
a subscription year and volume is indeed an 
important era in the life cf an Editor, especially 
of a journal conducted upon the right plan—the 
cash system—for the reason that he takes at 
least temporary leave of the great majority of his 
readers, relying upou their good will and confi¬ 
dence, and the merit his work possesses, for a 
continuance of their support and encourage¬ 
ment. And the more widely circulated and 
influential the journal, the greater the interest 
and solicitude naturally experienced by the 
Editor and Publisher iu closing one and enter¬ 
ing upon another volume. It is a period for 
serious consideration—for a critical review of 
the manner and justice with which the various 
arduous and perplexing duties of his responsi¬ 
ble position have been discharged ; and, how¬ 
ever honest and indefatigable he may have been, 
the intelligent and conscientious journalist often 
fears that his labors will be weighed in the 
balance and found wanting by the more dis¬ 
criminating, members of the community whose 
interests and welfare he has faithfully endeav¬ 
ored to promote. Hence, the most just and 
independent journalists, must naturally feel 
, mo” ^ or less anxiety on an occasion so impor¬ 
tant to their interests and reputation. But our 
| readers and the public can and will best deter- 
I mine as to how well and faithfully our duty has 
been discharged during the past twelve-month 
—though none may realize with what earnest¬ 
ness and constancy our mental and physical 
One of the most convenient racks yet con¬ 
trived is shown in the above figure. With the 
dimensions added, the cut explains itself.— 
Width 26 inches ; height 40 inches, trough one 
foot from the ground; slats two inches wide, 
and three inches apart. They will pay for 
themselves in a month’s use, in the saving of 
fodder, as compared with feeding on the ground, 
besides “the looks of the thing.” 
993 
In Johnston’s Agricultural Chemistry we find 
the following table of the chemical constituents 
of various woods, according to Sprengel : 
Red Beech. Oak. Scotoh Fir. Pitch Pine 
Silica, 5.52 26.95 6.59 
Alumina, 2.33 
Oxide of Iron, 3 77 8.14 17 03 11 10 
Oxide of Manganese, 3.85 - - 2 75 
Lime, 25.00 17.38 23 18 13 60 
Magnesia, 5.00 144 5.02 4 35 
Potash, 2211 16.20 2.20 14 10 
Soda, 3 32 6.73 2 22 20Y5 
Sulphuric Acid, 7 64 3 36 2 23 3.45 
Phosphoric Acid, 5 62 1.92 2.75 0 90 
Chlorine, 184 2.41 2.30 
Carbonic Acid, 14 00 15.47 36.48 17 50 
Hot Water for House Plants. —A corres¬ 
pondent of the Boston Cultivator, writing of the 
management of house plants,says :—“The way 
to have healthy plants is to shorten in all strag¬ 
gling growth, and remove every leaf and flower 
as soon as least symptom of decay is perceiv¬ 
able, washing them occasionally with very warm 
water from the fine rose of a watering pot held 
high above them, thus giving them the benefit 
of a warm shower at any time or place. But 
the thing of all others the most important, is to 
water them with hot water at all times; yes, 
hot to the touch, even beyond what is supposed 
to be prudent until after experiment,—and it is 
only necessary to watch the result on the health 
and vigor of the plants, especially when in 
bloom, to be convinced of the value of this 
‘ grand specific.’ ” The writer says he has 
Fuchsias now in bloom, mere cuttings about six 
inches in height, not one failing out of seven or 
even more cuttings planted in a single pot and 
watered with hot water. 
A reference will show that the composition of 
the different kinds of ash is very unlike—the 
beech beiDg richer in potash, lime, sulphuric 
and phosphoric acids than any of the others.— 
The pitch-pine contains more potash and soda 
and less of lime and phosphoric acid than the 
fir. As the components of various kinds oi ash 
assimilate, the results therefrom may be looked 
for as similar, under like circumstances, but 
wheie they vary a diversity must be expected. 
Ashes can be used with advantage in the pro¬ 
duction of almost every crop,but as a dressing for 
grass, millet and Indian corn they are superior. 
Upon grass lands the action is toward expelling 
the mosses and promoting the growth of white 
clover. Fifteen to twenty bushels per acre is 
the amount usually applied. In England wood 
ashes are largely employed as a manure for 
turnips and almost invariably with good suc¬ 
cess. Fifteen bushels per acre is the quantity, 
mixed with an equal amount of ground bones, 
the whole being drilled in. 
Of the value of ashes, in a pecuniary point of 
view, each farmer must judge for himself— 
being guided,by the wants of his land, the dis¬ 
tance he has to draw, &c. It is hoped, howev¬ 
er, that those produced upon his own farm will 
be carefully preserved, and such use made 
thereof as will the best redound to the practi¬ 
cal and pecuniary benefit of the agriculturist. 
French Society of Acclimation. —This Soci¬ 
ety offers prizes for the introduction into France 
of new species or useful varieties of animals or 
vegetables ; improvement of the breeds of ani¬ 
mals, and the bettering of agriculture generally. 
They report that a new kind of silkworm has 
been introduced into Switzerland, and that in 
Cevennes a hectare of mulberry trees yields a 
revenue of from 25,000 to 30,000 francs a-year. 
The sorgho sucre is flourishing in the south of 
France and Algiers, and fully answers expec¬ 
tation by its produce of sugar, alcohol, and for¬ 
age. They have also a new yam from New 
Zealand. 
The merciful man is merciful lo his beast.' 
