TWO DOLLARS Ak YU!AYR.] 
“PROGRESS AND IlVn?KOYUUVUH3NT.” 
[SIHNTGTjE into, utouhr cents. 
YOL X. NO. 21. f 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-F0R THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1859. 
{WHOLE NO. 489. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND PARTLY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D, D, T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
Tm Rural New-Yorker ia designed to be unsurpassed 
In Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor de¬ 
votes his personal attention to the supervision of its various 
departments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with the 
business of those whose interests it zealously advocates. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Edu¬ 
cational, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with 
appropriate and beautiful Engravings, than any other jour¬ 
nal,—rendering it the most complete Agricultural, Lit¬ 
erary and Family Newspaper in America. 
All communications, and business letters, should be 
addressed to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
w ™F - l. - V n. 1 ... x : . -S ’ - .. 1 . 
WHAT IS THE USE? 
This i3 an exclamation we sometimes make, 
almost unconsciously; and last week, while ram¬ 
bling th roug h the country east of this city, in com- 
1 ^ a ’ » r. . . ., 1 ,..a UnnnmA o V, a n yV\ r* rl 
in reflections awakened by wbat our eyes behold. 
No doubt we were quite uncompanionable, for 
thought was too active to admit of words, so we 
passed on in silence. At length the silence was 
broken by the inquiry of our companion — “ What 
is the use of what? — you have been asking, ‘what 
is the use?’ half-a-dozen times within the last fif¬ 
teen minutes, and if I knew what you meant I 
would give you the Decessary information, so as to 
stop further inquiry.” 
Feeling a little chagrined that we had been think¬ 
ing aloud all this time, we explained that it was 
only a habit we had of unconsciously speaking our 
thoughts, when very much interested or a little 
excited—a habit, no doubt acquired by our custom 
of making such rambles alone. But we had to ex¬ 
plain the circumstances which caused such out¬ 
bursts, which we did somewhat as follows: 
Did you not see that long line of Osage Orange 
hedge back a mile or two. It must have been 
planted two or three years, long enough almost to 
make a hedge that would turn any animal. It 
looks as though it had been well planted; but is 
no nearer forming a hedge than when first set 
out, although the tall, straight shoots of last year, 
are four feet long. It has not been cut back, and 
the base is thin and open, the grass is thickly mat¬ 
ted about the stems and over the roots, and unless 
attended to soon, it will be ruined. The plants 
and planting must have cost somebody a good deal 
of money, and would have been a first rate invest¬ 
ment had it been cared for, but now it is likely to 
be a total loss, besides being a source of vexation 
and regret. What is the use of wasting money and 
labor in this way ? 
You recollect that boy in the field to the left, who 
was supporting himself with the hoe, and who sat 
so still and motionless that we could hardly tell 
whether he belonged to the genus homo or the 
genus scarecrow. No wonder he was discouraged 
in view of the hopeless task assigned him, of break¬ 
ing up those baked clods of clay. He may suc¬ 
ceed in pulverizing a few of the hard-heads on the 
surface, if he ever wakes up, but what will this 
avail, as the soil is as solid, even more so, than tho’ 
it had never been plowed. The object of plowing 
is to pulverize the soil; but this was not pulverized; 
it was only turned over and pressed together, mak¬ 
ing it into unburnt brick. What is the use of plow¬ 
ing clay land when it is so wet ? It will take years 
to overcome the injury thus done to the soil. Clay 
land should he quite dry when plowed, and a nar¬ 
row furrow should be turned so as to effect its 
division and pulverization as much as possible. 
The English understand and practice this rule, and 
even then they use a clod crusher with spikes or 
teeth that penetrate the soil, and break up the 
clods. Is it not enough to make one cry out, what 
w the use, to see such practices? 
Again, did you not see that fine farm-house on 
the right? It is tastefully built, looks convenient, 
is well painted, with good barns and out-houses. It 
must have cost several thousand dollars, and is 
really pretty, and worth the money, but its beauty 
is spoiled by the unsightly grounds in front. They 
sue low near the road, ard wet, and rushes and 
tufts of coarse swamp grass abound. This had 
been set on fire, and the door-yard, instead of pre¬ 
senting a cheerful aspect this pleasant spring 
weather, looked as black and desolate as a prairie 
after burning in the autumn. "What is the use of 
spending so much money for the purpose of pro¬ 
ducing a good effect, and having everything nice, 
and then spoiling the whole to save a week’s labor 
at filling, up and a few dollars in draining ? 
LINSEED CAKE IN ENGLAND. 
The amount of Linseed Cake used in England 
may be judged somewhat from the fact that the 
official returns show that in 1857 there were im¬ 
ported into the United Kingdom 8,800,000 bushels. 
The use of Linseed Cake has increased steadily and 
rapidly for the last twenty years. In 1842 less than 
three million bushels were imported, and in 1852 
about six millions. The total value of Linseed 
consumed annually in Great Britain is estimated to 
be about ten millions of dollars. Too little atten¬ 
tion is here given to this most valuable food for 
stock, or wo believe much more would be consumed 
at home aud less sent abroad. We remember when 
not one farmer in a hundred knew it was good for 
food, and the venerable John Johnston, of Geneva, 
was the school-master to many in this respect. 
But Linseed Cake, like every other good thing, 
must suffer adulteration, and the English public are 
becoming aroused on this subject, and are seeking 
to remedy the evil. The Linseed, as well as the 
Cake, is adulterated, generally with Wild Rape, 
Mustard, Millet, &c. A delegation of London deal¬ 
ers appointed for the purpose, called upon tliclead- 
ing Greek houses, who are the principal ones 
concerned in this fraud, to protest against the prac¬ 
tice of adulteration. Thev failed, however, in the 
~ showed that it wu» lbo com¬ 
petition among the English dealers and their 
anxiety to obtain cheap seed that caused the evil 
complained of. 
The Americans are accused of having a hand in 
this adulteration, and a writer in the Journal of 
the English Agricltural Society, says : — “ Our 
brethren across the Atlantic have studied the art 
of manufacturing Linseed Cake. What they pro¬ 
duce is faultless to the eye, and, if not always per¬ 
fection to the taste, it is thin, tender, flaky, and 
finds a ready sale in this country at the highest 
market price of the day, tho question of genuine¬ 
ness being left entirely for subsequent determina¬ 
tion. The Cake pleases the eye, and is always in 
good demand ; and what more is required ? Farm¬ 
ers have only themselves to blame in this respect. 
A considerable quantity of Cake is now used for 
feeding sheep, and for this purpose Cake of a ten¬ 
der kind, such as this, is preferred; it is produced 
by the addition of bran in its manufacture. Thus 
the farmer has to pay $50 or $55 per tun for Cake 
which pleases the eye in this country, but omits to 
consider that for this he has to pay dearly for the 
admixture of bran, which costs $20 or $25 per tun, 
and in the United States probably about half that 
price.” 
We cannot say whether this charge is true or not, 
but we do know that much of the seed brought to 
the oil mills in this country, and from which the 
Cake is made, generally contains much foul seed, 
and this is not designedly mixed, but is the result 
of careless culture on the part of our farmers. 
FORESTS AND SHADE TREES. 
I believe in 11 progress,” but I am inclined to 
think that our Creator arranged some things pretty 
well as long ago as when we were quite small.— 
Touching forest trees, it is generally conceded that 
He made a great mistake in cumbering the earth 
with so much useless shrubbery, subjecting us to 
unnecessary labor in “ clearing the ground.”— 
Some are willing to compromise the matter by tol¬ 
erating a few trees, provided always they can be 
kept out of sight in the rear of the farm. The 
general doctrine, expressed or understood, is, that 
forests are the enemies of civilization, barriers to 
progress, to be put out of the way as soon as pos¬ 
sible. Coal will do for fires; brick, stone and 
metals, answer for buildings and machinery; what 
special need of wood? 
After all, I wonder that some one having a pret¬ 
ty good opinion of Divine Providence has not ven¬ 
tured to inquire whether, really, trees “were made 
in vain” in whole ok in part! Should such in¬ 
quiry be made it would take us back to the early 
history of the race when men were few and trees 
were many. It would be seen that a sparse popu¬ 
lation could subsist on game and such fruits and 
vegetables as had a spontaneous growth. With 
the increase of population there would arise a ne¬ 
cessity for cultivating the ground, but there would 
be found uses for all the timber growing on the 
ground needed for cultivation. After buildings, 
implements, and inclosures, &c., were provided for, 
the balance of wood material might have been con¬ 
verted into charcoal, which, if judiciously used as 
an absorbent and applied to the soil, would, with 
other possible appliances, have kept the human 
race without famine or short allowances, on one- 
tenth of the area that has been denuded of forests, 
impoverished, polluted,— in short, “reduced to 
cultivation.” In other words — mankind have 
done their best to turn the forests to the least ac¬ 
count. Intent on exterminating them, they have 
neither inquired whether there was a real necessity 
for occupying the ground on which they stand, or 
whether there was a profitable use to which the 
timber they were removing could be applied. 
Forests were so prominent a feature of the earth 
when man took it in charge from its Maker it would 
seem as though the inquiry would have been often- 
er and more earnestly made, “ Would it not com¬ 
port with the Divine Arrangements to retain by 
systematic and enforced provisions, legislative and 
otherwise, a greater portion of the dress with 
which Omnipotence decked His creation?” A 
friend who has reared to his memory, many beau¬ 
tiful monuments, planted and protected by his own 
hands, has submitted to my consideration several 
reasons in behalf of shade trees, as follows: 
A single row of shade trees on the sides of the 
street, in a small village will make every $1,000 of 
real estate worth $1,100 in five years. A dozen 
trees, maples, horse-chestnuts, elms, with a half 
dozen untrimmed evergreens, judiciously arranged 
about a farm house, will add $5 per acre to the 
price of a hundred acre farm. A very ordinary 
house may be made very respectable by a neat 
yard, well stocked with trees. Many cords of fire 
wood may be saved by a grove of evergreens and 
other trees on the windward side of a house. I 
ascertained ■. experiment that a room 
shaded by a singDjP i 1 maples was coder »y r 
decrees in a hot another room similarly 
situated except the maples. In case of fires, green 
trees protect buildings from flames raging near by 
and also afford great shelter to the firemen. 
It may be late in the season to transplant trees, 
though it is early enough for evergreens, but it 
may not be too late to protect trees already planted 
from cattle, horses, Ac., and without protection 
they had better remain in the forest or nursery. 
Important as these considerations certainly are, 
in reference to shade and ornamental trees, there is 
the more significant inquiry, what are to become 
of our forests ? The failure of springs and streams, 
the terrible force of the winds, the unusual sever¬ 
ity of the winters, and in many places prospective 
barrenness, all in consequence of the loss of our 
forests, should induce efforts to stay the desolation. 
If farmers could be persuaded that they could pro¬ 
duce as much from fifty acres well tilled, as from a 
hundred indifferently managed, would they not be 
willing to till the fifty and devote the balance to 
trees ? 
In this matter our Government has something to 
do. Let it refrain from bringing lands prema¬ 
turely into market. No necessities of the National 
exchequer can justify the sacrifice of property that 
belongs not so much to us as to humanity. We 
have no business to desolate the earth, and unfit it 
for the purposes of human life. Save, then, ye 
men in power, the Western wilderness, its soil and 
its timber for generations that will succeed us.— 
Let them have the benefit of cheap lands, clothed 
with verdure by their Heavenly Father. Bring no 
lands into market till there is an absolute necessity. 
Will the President and Congress heed ? —h. t. b. 
THAT APIARIAN CONVENTION. 
In the whole round of farming operations there 
is no one point so much in the dark, or where there 
is so much presumptious conceit, so much preten¬ 
sion with so little knowlege to support it, so much 
contradictory teaching, as in Bee-Culture. Every 
man that has raised a half dozen stocks, presumes 
he has the whole secret of success, and forthwith 
issues his instructions through some newspaper 
whose editor is as ignorant as the writer, and can¬ 
not decide between ruinous and valuable teaching. 
The candid inquirer, desiring reliable information, 
is disgusted with the subject in the vain attempt 
to separate anything valuable from the mass. At 
present there seems to be no other way but for each 
one to investigate for himself. The experience of 
a quarter of a century with hundreds of stocks, is 
not distinguished from that of three jrears, and a 
half-dozen hives. If the inquiry is made as to who 
is reliable, but few can answer, because no proo 
or test is demanded by those whose duty it is to 
give a reply. 
Mr. Kirby, the only one we are sure was present 
at the “ Convention that met on the 5th day of Feb., 
1859,” (see Rural of April 23d,) has shown, in what 
he had to say, that lie is himself only in the rudi¬ 
ments of bee-culture; being ignorant of their 
natural habits, and deficient in practical experi¬ 
ence. That he is ignorant of one important point 
of natural history, can be proved by an extract 
KIRBY’S LITTLE BUFFALO HARVESTER, - AS A MOWER. 
Although mowing and reaping machines are 
becoming a necessity to every farmer who grows 
grain and grass to any extent—and who would 
keep pace with the age and successfully compete 
witl\ liig neighbors, — yet there ia one class of 
farmers (and a numerous class,) whoso wants have 
not hitherto been supplied, in consequence of 
which they have been placed on an unequal foot¬ 
ing, and labored under disadvantages. We refer 
to those whose farms are not large enough, or who 
do not grow a sufficient amount of grain or grass, 
to warrant them in purchasing the large and more 
expensive machines, and who frequently keep but 
one horse for such purposes. The machine above 
represented, intended to supply this desideratum, 
is thus described by the manufacturers: 
“ To meet the wants of a large class of farmers, 
the manufacturers offer the Little Buffalo Harves¬ 
ter, a one-horse Mower and Reaper, which has 
proved to be a perfect success. Kirby’s American 
Harvester having proved to be so successful in its 
work, and so light in draft—far excelling all other 
machines yet invented in this particular—it oc¬ 
curred to the manufacturers that the long-sought 
desideratum, a successful One-Horse Harvester, 
might be constructed upon the same principle.— 
They accordingly instituted experiments which 
resulted in the production of the Little Buffalo 
Harvester. They constructed patterns and built a 
few of these machines in the spring of 1858, and 
put them into the hands of practical farmers, with 
directions to test them as thoroughly as it was 
possible to do in all kinds of work throughout the 
season, and not to spare nor favor them in any man¬ 
ner. The result of the season’s test was a perfect 
triumph for the machine, and they now offer the 
Little Buffalo Harvester to the public as a thor¬ 
oughly successful machine, both in Mowing and 
Reaping, and the only One-Horse Combined Mower 
and Reaper that has yet proved successf ul, and the 
only one now in market. 
“Kirby’s Little Buffalo Harvester is constructed 
upon the same principle and possesses all the dis¬ 
tinguishing characteristics of Kirby’s American 
Harvester, illustrated and described in a late num¬ 
ber of the Rural. Like the American Harvester it 
is made mostly of iron ; has the same independent 
action of finger-bar, enabling it to work on rough 
ground, and permitting the cutters to be set at any 
height both for mowing and reaping; a lever at 
the driver’s side by which he can elevate the finger- 
bar to pass over cut grass or obstructions, or move 
from field to field; another lever in front of the 
driver to throw the cutters out and in gear; a bal¬ 
ance-wheel driving head; the driver’s seat so 
arranged that the driver’s weight ba’ances the 
weight of the frame and takes the pressure off the 
horse; freedom from side draft and clogging; 
light draft; low price;—all these desirable features 
are combined in the Little Buffalo Harvester. It 
cuts a swath but one foot narrower than the Ameri¬ 
can Harvester, and is capable of cutting from 8 to 
12 acres of grass, and from 10 to 15 acres of grain 
per day; and, although it performs as much work 
as most two-horse machines, it is easily handled by 
one horse. Both thills and pole are furnished with 
each machine, so that it can be used with a single 
horse, or a span of ponies, at pleasure. 
“ These machines are being extensively manufac¬ 
tured by the Buffalo Agricultural Machine Works, 
Buffalo, N. Y.,— D. M. Osborne & Co., Auburn, N. 
Y., and A. S. Clark, Bellows Falls, Vt., and are for 
sale by their Agents throughout the country. Every 
machine is warranted.” 
The Little Buffalo Harvester as a Reaper, will be 
illustrated in a future number. 
from what he said:—“The same Being has also 
taught them to deposit their honey at the top of 
their hives, and their bread and brood combs at 
the bottom. Conseqently we find that, during the 
winter, in a hive that stands in its usual position, 
the bees, after the cold weather sets in, collect in 
the upper part of the hive, where they have previ¬ 
ously provided and placed their food.” This is a 
serious blunder for one who criticises so boldly. 
The bees never voluntarily leave the brood combs 
and “ collect in the upper part of the hive where 
they have stored their honey.” If by any circum¬ 
stance a colony is forced to cluster among combs 
all filled with honey, it cannot be wintered in the 
open air, by Mr. Kirby or any one else—empty 
cells are all important. The old Indian’s story was 
“two-thirds true.” This one is half—the honey is 
in the upper part of the hive generally,—that the 
bees cluster there at the beginning of cold weather, 
is not true, as any one who presumes to teach the 
public ought to know, and might know if he had 
ever taken the trouble to examine. To say now 
that he did know, would only make it appear that 
what he said was in spite to me, and show him dis¬ 
honest—ignorauce is more readily excused than 
-. In all prosperous colonies the bees will con¬ 
tinue to rear brood till the honey fails in the flow¬ 
ers; as cold weather approaches, this brood ma¬ 
tures, and leaves a few thousand empty cells. If 
the rest of the combs are filled with honey, then 
among these empty cells is where the bees cluster 
for the cold weather. This thing is easily decided 
—let it be examined. 
All the twaddle about “perverting the laws of 
God,” amounts to nothing. There is hardly a man 
living but does it in a similar sense every day! It 
is done in ten thousand forms. Why does man 
cut down the forest? God made it. Why invert 
the soil ? He formed it as it is. Why so presump¬ 
tuous as to cut out the thick set branches of our 
fruit trees, letting in sunlight and air, making 
them comely in shape, and productive in good 
things, or pluck the weeds from his garden when 
God in his goodness has made them grow ? If Mr. 
Kirby is willing to take all things just as God has 
left them,—in a state of nature,—he would prefer 
the wheat in the kernel, the apple and peach bitter, 
sour, or poisonous, the potato as found wild, and 
trusting to Nature’s planting all these. Ifjman has 
nothing to do ?—if God has done all ?—why was it 
necessary for man to “ dress and keep the garden 
of Eden ? ”—or why have “ dominion” of all beasts, 
birds, &c.?—was it not for some purpose? When 
man brings from a southern clime, from Nature’s 
planting, either animal or vegetable to a cold 
region, he must take them under his fostering care, 
and bestow especial attention, or he fails. The 
conservatory exhibits the orange in all the beauty 
of its native clime, when protected from the rigor 
of our northern winter, yet God planted it in the 
open air; and the man who argues that it must be 
kept in this latitude in the same manner, on that 
account, must be a valuable instructor. The bee, 
located by Nature in the sunny south, is brought 
by man to a cold region, and with her, all her in- (, 
stincts, which, however well they may serve her in 
her own home, are found by experience to be una- 4 
vailable here. Hence the necessity of surrounding ) 
