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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
as original weekly 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. flflOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
Tnv Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unsurpassed 
In Value. Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes 
bis persona) attention to the supervision of its various de¬ 
partments, 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 zealouslv advocates - 
It embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed with 
appropriate and beautiful Engravings, than any other jour- 
na ^' rendering it tiie most complete Agricultural, Lit- 
erary and I<amily Newspaper in America. 
All communications, and business letters, should be 
addressed to D. I). T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26 , 1859 . 
{WHOLE NO. 516. 
Quite a good machine is made by several manu¬ 
facturers of agricultural implements, called the 
Vegetable Cutter , and is sold by many of the dealers 
throughout the country, at $12. The engravirg 
above will give a very good idea of its appearance"! 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
ROTARY ROOT-CUTTER. 
The large wheel shown, is the cutting wheel, made 
of cast iron and faced on one side, through which 
is inserted three knives, like plant-irons. Toese 
cut the vegetables into thin slices with great 
rapidity, and then by cross-knives they are cut 
into strips of convenient form and size for cattle 
or sheep to eat. It is said to cut sixty bushels in 
an hour. 
INQUIRIES AND NOTES. 
^Potatoes Changing in the ITill. 
(Last Spring i cut three potables Into thirty sots 
and planted them. ’Qfie potatoes were r*/l and 'Vote 
To-day I dug them. About half are red and white, the 
rest are all white. On one stalk there were red and 
white potatoes and some all white. Can you explain 
the cause.—W. M. Beauchamp, Skaneateles , 2f. Y 
Oct. 29, 1859. ■’ 
_ Parti-colored potatoes, as white and red, some¬ 
times grow almost, or entirely, of one color. The 
White Peach Blow, for instance, we have grown 
this season with scarcely a shade of red, while 
other specimens are almost entirely of this color, 
with only a faint show of white. If they are alike 
in other respects, this cannot be called a change. 
With a change in the hill further than this, or a 
mixing of varieties in the hill, we have no expe¬ 
rience, having never seen the like, nor do we pre¬ 
tend to account for some strange statements 
which we have seen. They are beyond our com 
prehension. 
Hoot Critters. 
Some of the farmers in this section, myself among 
the rest, are beginning to learn the value of roots as a 
help in winter feeding. What we want now is some 
simple and cheap machine for cutting them up. If 
something that farmers could make themselves, all the 
better.— T. S., Orleans Co., JY. Y., 1S59. 
The simplest arrangement for a root-cutter, is 
to fasten a knife in a block of wood, and attach a 
handle, which will be like a heavy clothes-pounder 
—the knife inserted in the lower end. The roots 
must be placed in a strong trough for chopping. 
This is rather slow work, but where only a few are 
needed every day, it can easily be done during the 
leisure time of winter, when work is scarce and 
time not very precious. The next most simple 
form is the arrangement of knives, so that they 
can be operated by a lever, somewhat in the fash 
ion of a nut-cracker. 
LEVER ROOT-CUTTER. 
The above shows a lever cutter in use in En¬ 
gland. One cheek is an open “ harp” of edges 
arranged in a cup-shapen manner, and the other a 
block fitting those edges, so that anything placed 
between the two is forced by the former through 
the latter. But one root at a time is cut, and is 
delivered in slices below. The most approved 
cutters now in use in England are called pulpers, 
and they coarsely grind the roots into a pulp, 
and this is the favorite form for feeding. Advan¬ 
tage is said to be derived from the evaporation of 
moisture, which takes place rapidly when the 
roots are in this condition, and also from the con¬ 
venience of mixing with meal, shorts, Ac. j 
Tlie Way to Approach a Bee-Hive. 
A multitude of your subscribers will be everlast¬ 
ingly obliged to any apiarians who will give us a lesson 
or two upi.n the right and safe way to approach a bee¬ 
hive when you desire to inspect it, or take honey from 
the boxes. It is Dot enough with our bees to put on a 
V/oId ix out, and pretend to be at home ard fearless, for 
wo find a sentinel alwajs armed to the teeth ready to 
report; without waiting for fhe countersign, ap¬ 
proach of any one. It is a fact that some individuals, 
for some unexplainable reason, can handle bees with 
impunity, while others, for some reason, cannot. 
Singing masters say all can sing; patent bee-hivo 
venders say all can handle bees, if they only think so. 
But facts, stubborn facts, upset each theory. We are 
told, “disturb the bees and they will fld themselves 
with honey, and when so filled, they are good-na'ured 
and not disposed to sdng ” Wei), if this is necessary,’ 
how shall we do it -with a long pole, at a safe distance, 
or otherwise? Let us, Messrs. Editors, have the A, B, 
C, of the matter, commencing at least tico rods from 
the hive. Or say plainly, you probably are not a favor¬ 
ite with the bees, and might as well give them up -J 
B., Batavia, Kane Co., III., l$G9. 
It is said that some persons are so offensive to 
bees, that they will never allow them to approach 
their hives, and will sting them whenever they 
get a chance; but such cases, if they exist, are 
rare, and if our correspondent finds himself one 
of these rare exceptions, he had better keep as far 
from the bees as possible, and obtain the sweets 
of life from some other source. As a general 
thing, the hives may be approached and handled 
sufficiently to remove the surplus honey boxes, 
without the least danger. All that is necessary is 
to be careful, slow, and gracef ul in all your mo¬ 
tions. Any jarring or blundering work of any 
kind around the hive, will cause a commotion 
among the bees. A clumsy, careless, slovenly, 
bungliDg man will never make a successful bee! 
keeper, unless he turns over an entirely new leaf. 
These are the kind of folks, we rather suspect, to 
which the bees show such aversion. 
the morning, when the bees are quiet. If you 
wish to examine the condition of the bees and the 
comb, and use a L angst both hive, which gives 
tbe keeper almost as much control o?erhi 3 bees 
as he lias over his chickens, then roll up apiece 
of old cotton cloth, and light it so that it will 
make a good smoke. Take off the top of the hive, 
and blow a little smoke among the bees, and they 
will become quiet. Then go to work, and if at 
any time during the operation the bees show signs 
ot discontent or auger, give them a little more 
smoke, and all »viH oequ. t, the bees becoming as 
harmless as flies. Your coufidence must be real, 
and not assumed, which is somewhat difficult for 
the beginner. As a sure protection against the 
sting of the bee, get a pmee of wire cloth, such 
as the bottoms of seives are made of, eighteen 
inches wide and three feet L ~g; fasten this together 
in the form of a large hat, so that it will cover 
the head and rest upon the shoulders. The top 
may be of cloth or a thin piece of board. On the 
bottom edge sew a piece of cloth one foot in width, 
something like a frill. Tut on tbe hat, tuck the 
frill under your coat, and button it up, and then 
put on a pair of India rubber gloves, and no bee 
can possibly inflict a sting. These can be used 
until you gain confidence, but you will soon throw 
ofi the gloves, and use the hat only occasionally 
when performing some important operation, like 
changing bees from one hive to another. The 
fact is, bees seldom sting unless pinched, or hurt 
in some way, unless they get among the hair, in 
which case they almost invariably use their stiDgs. 
Bees filled with honey seldom sting. A sprink¬ 
ling of sirup from a wbtrU, - pot will quiet, in a 
minute, th 
GROUP OF SI Li PC SI-/YIN Ml EUR, INTO SHEEU?. 
EntorEA 
CULTURE. 
But, our correspondent says, “it is not enough 
with our bees to put on a bold front, and pretend 
to be at home and fearless.” When tbe coward 
puts on airs and pretends to be bold and fearles« 
he generally makes very bad work of it, and 
shows his fears more than though he had not 
attempted to appear in a false character So our 
correspondent, we fear, when he pretends to be 
“at home and fearless,” is watching narrowly 
every bee, expecting every moment to have his 
mortal body pierced with a poisonous dart. IIow 
seldom are children stung with bees, even though 
they play around and among the hives. Their 
confidences not pretended. The present summer 
a child about fifteen months old wandered from 
its mother, anil made directly to one of our hives. 
Placing himself at the front he commenced play¬ 
ing with the bees, as they crawled over his hands 
and was engaged in this play for some time 
uninjured, betore his mother discovered his dan¬ 
gerous situation, when she rushed to the rescue. 
The A, B, C of Bee Culture is just what we need 
at this day, for most of the recent writings on the 
subject have been more curious than useful. But 
there is no use in commencing two rods from the 
hive, nor will J. B. find that distance any safer 
than two feet from it. The bees are long-sighted, 
and we have often noticed that if any one is'stunt! 
during any operation with the hive, it is some 
fearful man who is standing “at least two rods 
from the hive,” so as to be out of danger. If you 
are very much afraid, don’t assume a confidence 
you do not feel, but attend to your surplus honey 
boxes in the cool of the evening, or very early in 
Change of Seed Wheat— Early Ripening , dc. 
—During the present y ear the Rural New-Yorker 
has contained a considerable number of articles 
upon Wheat, its Cultivation and Characteristics, 
and, among the subjects discussed, the advantages 
to be derived from a change of seed, have had a 
full share of notice. Our brethren across the 
water are agitating the question, and we may be 
able to draw something of benefit from their con¬ 
clusions. In the London Agricultural Gazette, of 
October 1st, a correspondent wants a change of 
seed. lie has asked advice from one of his neigh¬ 
bors, who recommends him to go to the north Tnd 
obtain from a colder climate the change he needs • 
he has asked another of his neighbors, and by him 
he is recommended to go to the southern counties 
and obtain his seed where the harvest is three 
weeks earlier than it is in Scotland. Now, whose 
recommendation is he to adopt? 
This is the query, and the editor replies as 
follows :—“ Let it, in the first place, be admitted, 
that a healthy grown, thoroughly ripenend seed i! 
perfect of its kind, and that, these conditions 
being fulfilled, it matters nothing whether it be 
grown on chalk, or clay, or sand. A ‘change’ 
from one geological formation to another, or from 
one farm to another, is not, as some seem to think 
it, necessarily an advantage. But you can obtain 
healthily grown and thoroughly ripened wheat in 
any county in the kingdom, and if, having it, you 
have that which is perfect of its ‘kind’ it is plain 
that you need not travel for a ‘change.’ The 
question, however, is-what of the character of a 
grain is involved in this term ‘kind;’ and the 
answer we presume to be-all that it inherited or 
can transmit. Now nothing is more certain in 
agricultural experience than that, besides those 
characters of plants which botanists admit as the 
permanent distinctions of species, there are other 
habits or features, of greater or less permanence, 
which plants acquire by the constant treatment of 
the cultivator or the constant influence of habitat 
and climate, and which, though capable of altera¬ 
tion and ultimate extinction by other treatment, 
are yet not altogether transient, but will re-appear 
in subsequent seasons in greater or less degree 
according as the circumsttnces of the locality or 
season are favorable or othtrwise. Thus we doubt 
not that a ‘kind’ distinguished for several years 
Our engraviDg represents a group of Silesian 
Sheep, owned by Mr. George Campbell, of West 
M estminster, Vermont, who has the reputation of 
being a good shephered and honorable man. Tho’ 
the first importation of Silesians into this country 
was made within the past ten years, they have 
been somewhat wide : y disseminated, and there 
are now many fine flecks in this State, Verm on), 
Ohio, and elsewhere! These have principal)! 
sprung from the importations of Messrs. Sanford 
& Campbell, of Vermont, Wm. Chamberlain, of 
Dutchess Co., N. Y., and Wm. H. Ladd, of Jeffer¬ 
son Co., Ohio. Perhaps we cannot better give the 
history and characteristics of this breed of sheep, 
than by copying the following paragraph from 
an excellent series of articles written by Sanford 
Howard, and published in a former volume of the 
Rural New-Yoeker: 
2 he Silesian Jtferino. —This breed was derived 
from one hundred ewes and four rams taken from 
the Infantado Negretti flock in Spain, and carried 
to Prussian Silesia, in 1811. Such, at least, was 
the origin of those.which have been introduced 
to have encouraged, and as it were imprinted. Is 
hardiness and ability to withstand severity of win¬ 
ter and spring especially desired, then seed from 
the northern county will probably be preferred. 
Is earliness of ripening desired, then though this 
is probably a less certain character than the other, 
yet it is more likely to be found in grain from 
Sussex than in that from Aberdeen. It is proba¬ 
ble that the latter is generally in this country the 
most valuable character of the two, aud that if our 
correspondent cannot get what be wants at hand 
he had better apply to some wheat grower in the 
South.” 
under good cultivation for extraordinary produc¬ 
tiveness will be more likely than one of inferior 
character in this respect to yield well under infe¬ 
rior cultivation. And the advice which we should 
offer to our correspondent would be, simply to 
look out for seed of a sort which has been known 
tor many years to yield rnrst bushels per acre of 
good grain. If he can get it from his neighbor 
then he will be saved the trouble of sending to 
either end of the island for it. 
‘There are, however, characters which grain 
from Sussex and from Aberdeen respectively are 
likely to briDg with them in addition to the quan¬ 
tity or quality of the produce; and if a choice 
must be made between the two it must hinge upon 
the relative value of those characteristics which 
the respective climates of those counties are likely 
Cinders for Pigs. —J. J. Mechi, of Triptree 
Hall, England, has been publishing his experience 
in fattening swine, and, among other thiogs, he has 
learned the fact “that_pigs are very fond of coal 
ashes or cinders, and that you can hardly fat pigs 
properly on boarded floors without giving them a 
moderate supply daily, or occasionally.” He says: 
“In the absence of coal ashes, burned clay or 
brick-dust is a good substitute. If you do not 
supply ashes they will gnaw or eat the brick walls 
of their sheds. I leave to science to explain the 
cause of this want. It is notorious that coal deal¬ 
ers, where pigs have access to the coals, are gene¬ 
rally successful pig feeders. Those who find that 
theix pigs, when shut up, do not progress favora¬ 
bly will do well to try this plan; a neighbor of 
mine found that a score of fat pigs consume quite 
a basket of burned clay ashes daily; we know that 
there is an abundance of alkali in ashes. I wish 
some of your practical correspondents would com¬ 
municate their experience on this matter, and I 
also want them to state how many pounds of barley 
meal it takes to make 1 stone (14 pounds) of 
pork, not dead weight.” 
Cultivating Hops. — A valuable discovery in 
the cultivation of hops, has just been communi¬ 
cated to the French Academy. Like some agricul¬ 
tural improvements, it has been the result of 
observations made by a laboring peasant. It 
consists in making the plant run in a horizontal 
direction, instead of climbing up the pole. This 
is managed by means of a low trellis-work of the 
simplest construction. The advantages of this 
mode of culture are numerous. In the first place, 
t enables the grower to investigate the plant 
iwhile growing, and cleanse it from the numerous 
insects which injure it to so vast an extent; then 
it is protected from the sun, which always destroys 
the upper shoots; it obviates the great destruction 
of hops in very stormy weather, when the wind 
lays low whole hop grounds from the height 
of the poles; aud, most of all, it enables the 
gathering of the cones to take place without 
uprooting the plant, besides permitting the selec¬ 
tion of the ripest ones at first, and preventing the 
great loss which arises from the necessity of tear¬ 
ing down the whole plant to get at the ripest 
blossoms. 
Growing the Same Crop too Often. —It has 
been a practice on many of the light or mixed 
soils of England, to follow what is called the 
four course rotation —that is,—1st, turnips; 2d, 
barley; 8d, red clover; 4th, wheat. It will at 
once be seen that this system required heavy 
manuring, and is one of the most profitable 
courses adopted in Great Britain. At a late meet¬ 
ing of the Farmers’ Club of London, the subject 
was brought under discussion, as it had been 
found by a loDg experience that the frequent 
return of the turnip crop had rendered the land 
unable to produce this crop, even with the most 
liberal aid of artificial manures. The crop grew, 
but it was not healtby; the turnips were diseased. 
Some of the speakers recommended an application 
of common salt and guano. On the light soils, tbe 
salt was found very beneficial; it had a marked 
effect in stiffening the straw of the grain crops. 
On clay land it was found to make the soil more 
adhesive, and was therefore considered to operate 
injuriously. 
WINTERING STOCK. 
How to Winter Stock on a short supplv of forage, 
seems just now an important question." I can tell 
how a very intimate friend of the Colonel’s did 
last winter, and perhaps somebody may be the 
better for it. 
This gentleman had a pretty good pile of corn¬ 
stalks, well saved. His stock consisted of cows, 
and his team of horses, but he had little straw and 
less hay. He’s a great believer in the virtues of 
cornstalks, and thinks he knows how to feed them. 
The first thffig be did was to buy of Fowler & Day 
of Fowlerville, one of their straw-cutters and get 
it home. Then he fixed some tubs, by sawing 
good stout barrels in two, and made a good warm 
stable for his cattle. 
into the United States under this name. Tbe first 
were imported by Wm. R. Sanford, and Geo. 
Campbell, of Y ermont, in 1851. Other importa- 
j tions have since been .made by Messrs. Chamber- 
I lain, Campbell A Ladd. It is yet too early to 
'i pronounce, positively, as to what these Silesian 
| Merinos will do in the country, geuerally, but so 
! far as experience with them has gone, we beiieve 
; it to be highly in their favor. The sheep appear 
j to excel in the following points:—1st, the thick- 
! ness of the wool as it stands on tbe skin, growing 
j to an unusual extent on the belly, and covering 
i nearl Y every part, giving an uncommon weight 
! of fleece in proportion to the size of the carcass; 
j fineness of the staple considered in refer¬ 
ence to the weight of fleece; 3d, the uniform 
character of the fleece, the wool on the belly and 
thighs approximating, to a remarkable degree, 
the quality of that on the back; 4th, the fullness' 
evenness, and elasticity of staple. They have 
rather small bones, and the body is symmetrical. 
The different animals are quite uniform in their 
appearance and properties. 
naavan 
