394 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
EARL SPENCER’S PRIZE SHORT-HORN OX, 
WITH REFERENCES ILLUSTRATING THE PRINCIPAL TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING CATTLE. 
Explanation. —A—Forehead. B—Face. C—Cheek. D —Muzzle. E —Neck. F—Neck vein. G—Shoulder point. 
H—Arm. I—Shank. J—Gambril or hock. K—Elbow. L—Brisket, bosom or breast. M—Shoulder. N—Crops. O—Loin, 
p—Hip. Q—Rump. R—Fin bone. S—Round bono, thurl or whirl. T—Buttock. U—Thigh, or gaskit. V—Flank. 
W—Plates. X—Back, or chine. Y—Throat. Z—Chest. 
COAL DUST AS A MANURE. 
wood, has not the vital energy of fully ma¬ 
tured wood, that has had no drafts upon it. 
From these premises many practical de¬ 
ductions may be made. Scions for grafting 
should be cut from healthy and strong 
growing trees, that have made rich deposits 
of concrete, and have not expended it in a 
second growth or late autumn growth. In 
cutting timber, with a view of having it 
sprout and produce a second growth, wo 
should cut in winter when the tree is as well 
filled as ever with concrete, and when the 
end of the stump will havo time to scar 
over or season to prevent a waste of sap 
when the concreto dissolves in spring. In 
cutting timber, brambles, or woods, to de¬ 
stroy them, it should be done when the troe 
has spent its strength in bringing out a new 
set of leaves, scions, and grain of wood, and 
beforo the now leaves have had time to 
elaborate a now supply of concreto. In 
cutting timber with an eye to durability, the 
less concrete it has, the better. 
AlJOIIID-ULrv Stokd. 
Ilinmanvillc, N. Y., 1852. 
DRILL, vs. BROADCAST SOWING. 
Editors New' Yorker :—There aro vari¬ 
ous opinions regarding the best mode of 
putting in wheat — somo think broad-cast 
sowing the best, while many are in favor of 
drilling. My first experience in drilling, 
two years ago, convinced mo that it was tho 
proper way. Others thought differently, 
and argued that our clay lands in this town 
did not require it. One year ago I sowed 
two parts broad-cast and drilled in one; the 
result was that my drilled wheat gave eigh¬ 
teen bushels to the acre and my broad¬ 
cast nine, on equally as good ground, — a 
loss of at least $50, or enough to have 
bought a drill. Henry Smith. 
Covent, Seneca Co., N. Y., Oct., 1852. 
Fall and Winter Plowing.— Correction. 
—In an article on this subject last week, a 
correspondent quoted an analysis of Ohio 
“ bottom land,” as made by Prof. Way and 
communicated to Silliman s Journal. Tho 
gentleman who made and communicated 
tho analysis referred to, is Mr. D. A. Wells, 
and not tho English Professor, as we find 
from examining the Journal. 
WINTER THE TIME TO THINK- 
Winter is the time for farmers to think 
—spring, summer, and fall, to work; and 
the three latter season’s labor will bo to lit¬ 
tle profit, if the time of the first shall have 
been misspent. All tho plans of tho next 
season’s operations should bo laid and well 
considered during winter. All improve¬ 
ments, all designs for new operations; all 
the ■work to be done, should thon be con¬ 
sidered and prepared for; so that, when the 
time for work arrives, he will havo nothing 
to do but to “ go ahead.” Then ho has no 
time to think ; but if he has been wiso dur¬ 
ing winter, he will havo no need of it. It 
is a pitiful sight to look at in the spring, 
when all nature is in an ecstacy of delight, 
to see a farmer Hying about “ like a hen 
with her head cut off,” trying to do a thou¬ 
sand things at once, not knowing which to 
do first, running hero and running thero in 
search of his rusty implements, some of 
which require repairs, somo can’t ho found, 
the plowing season passing away, the plant¬ 
ing season rapidly advancing, and he not 
prepared for anything. Oh ! it is pitiful.— 
Exchange. 
Composts. —When these are made to be 
used on sandy 6oils, clay should be mixed 
through them ; for it not only will contain 
the ammonia of the compost heap, but will 
improve the sandy soil when appliod to it. 
THE HORSE--WANT OF APPETITE. 
This sometimes arises from over exertion, | 
or immodorato work, which produces gen¬ 
eral debility, and of course tho whole func¬ 
tions are more or less disturbed, and tako 
on the morbid action. At other times, it is 
brought on by overloading the stomach and 
bowels; by standing in tho stable without 
exerciso, and eating immoderately of hay. 
Want of appetite may depend on a natural 
delicacy of the stomach, or on the bad qual¬ 
ity of the food. 
Bad hay is often eaten with little or no 
appetite, especially when it has been musty. 
When tho appetite fails, though tho food 
is good, aijd the horso has only moderate 
work, the diet should be changed ; a small 
quantity of straw cut up with what is called 
cut feed, would be serviceable; but if tho 
horse has been worked hard, rest, probably, 
is tho remedy necessary. Young horses 
sometimes refuse tho hay, or mangle it, from 
soreness in tho mouth in consequenco of 
changing their teeth. This is sometimes 
attributed to lampas, and the knife or firing 
iron is resorted to ; this is a barbarous and 
cruel practico, and should never he permit¬ 
ted. When a young horse is changing his 
teeth, the whole mouth is red and tender, 
which makes him fearful of eating hay or 
unground corn, from tho pain it gives him. 
In such cases, the horse should ho kept on 
scalded shorts or cut feed, until tho soreness 
of tho mouth is removed. In old horses, 
when the lampas are down to a level with 
the front nippers, the part should bo washed 
with a strong solution of burnt alum; or 
make a solution of powdered bloodroot, and 
wash the part night and morning. 
All serious internal disorders are attend¬ 
ed with loss of appetite. Weakness of ap¬ 
petite is often constitutional, and cannot be 
cured ; yet it may be palliated : when such 
a horso is wanted only for moderate work, 
his appetite may ho greatly improved by 
careful feeding and grooming, and a well 
ventilated stable. The food must bo of the 
best quality and tho water pure and not too 
cold or hard; he should have but little food 
at a timo, but more frequently. He should 
never havo moro, but rather less food put 
beforo him at a time than he is inclined to 
eat; and if at any time he is found to leave 
food in the manger, it should bo taken out, 
and, after keeping him without food for a 
short time, some fresh hay, oats, or shorts 
may be given. The rack, manger, and every 
part of the stall should bo kept clean; and 
when taken out for exercise or work should 
be well swept out, tho old litter spread out 
to dry, and that part unfit for use taken 
away. At night, somo clean fresh straw 
should be placed under him. A change of 
food is often useful, especially when green 
food or carrots can bo obtained. It is the 
custom in many stables to collect tho bed¬ 
ding, after it has been saturated with the 
excrement and urine, and place it under tho 
manger thus submitting the horse to the 
noxious vapors that arise from the filthy 
mass. Is it to be wondered at, that the 
poor animal should drag out such a misera¬ 
ble existence?— Exchange. 
SAVING MANURE. 
The Michigan Farmer gives the practico 
of a Scotch farmer, in the saving and man¬ 
agement of his manure, which we cannot 
but regard as eminently economical of its 
fertilizing qualities, and worthy of general 
adoption, except in the depth of winter, 
when it may bo delayed. To prevent dissi¬ 
pation by evaporation and washing, he draws 
it away as fast as it is thrown from tho sta¬ 
ble, piles it up in somo convenient place on 
tho farm, first placing a layer of fresh rna- 
nuro, to a depth of eight or ten inches, then 
a layer of common soil about four inches 
thick, which presses down the course of 
about tho same thickness, then another lay¬ 
er of manure, which in like manner is fol¬ 
lowed by another layer of earth, and so on 
till the pile is completed. In this way tho 
volatile portions aro preserved, and ho as¬ 
serts the manure is of double tho value to 
what it would have been lying in the yard. 
Very few farmers are aware of tho groat 
value of this article as a stimulant of vegeta¬ 
ble life. With many, tho question whether 
the ashes of anthracite coal have any percep- 
table fertilizing properties, or not, is a per¬ 
plexing one, no experiments of a reliable 
character having been instituted upon which 
any decisive or definite opininon can bo based. 
A writer in one of tho most noted papers of 
Pennsylvania, in an article on tho material 
properties of Coal Dust, says: 
“ I have never seen any notice of Coal 
Dust, as a manure, but tho finest and most 
luxuriant stalks of the Poke weed, (used 
and preferred here for early greens, because 
it is more tender and succulent,) are found 
growing among the heads of dirt around tho 
mouths of the coal mines. Its growth is 
most rapid and it blanches beautifully in 
such situations. Upon the heaps of coal 
dust upon the wharves of Philadelphia, fine 
crops of oats may bo seen growing, with ex¬ 
traordinary vigor, without any soil. I am 
not a farmer, but I can answer for its effica¬ 
cy on a garden mado in this region; and 
from the fact that fruit troos which suffer¬ 
ed from inbc-otc; in t.hn mnts Tor several sea¬ 
sons past, being very healthy this year, 
after removing tho soil, and covering the 
roots with coal dust. 
No ono who has not witnessed the power¬ 
ful effects of pulverised charcoal on culrnifo- 
rous and leguminous plants, can easily be 
induced to believe the extent to which the 
favorable action of the article is developed 
by the surprising and almost immediate ex¬ 
pansion of the vegetables to which it is ap¬ 
plied. 
The anthelmitic properties of tho dust 
are also a very powerful argument in its fa¬ 
vor, as well as the absolvent properties char¬ 
acterising it. The gaseous products offer- 
mentation, and tho aura resulting from tho 
oconomy and development of vegetable life, 
and which not only cumbers tho air in vast 
quantities, but acts, under favorablo circum¬ 
stances, as a most salutary, and, indeed, in¬ 
dispensable agent of vegetation, is attract¬ 
ed, absorbed and economised by this sub- 
stanco in surprising quantities. As a dress¬ 
ing for onion beds, it is perhaps unrivaled in 
the whole catalogue of manures. In Scot¬ 
land, a piece of land was shown, not long 
since, on which this vegotablo had been 
grown for upwards of seventy years consec¬ 
utively, and with no other material or stim¬ 
ulating agent long applied ! Tho produc¬ 
tiveness of the soil, and the quality of tho 
crop, steadily improved. On tho wheat 
lands of Pennsylvania, it is extensively used. 
It is also appliod to the corn crop, and in 
both cases with like success. A dressing of 
coal dust will last ten or fifteen years—char¬ 
coal being nearly indestructible in its value, 
when thus used, as is evinced by tho fact 
that part of limbs charred by burning of the 
primitive growth in clearings, aro often 
found many years after perfectly sound and 
undecayed, though buried beneath tho soil. 
— Me. Fanner and Artizan. 
Agriculture in Alabama. —Extract of a 
letter from a friend in Alabama: 
“ I have been most industriously engaged 
since 9th of August, moro than two months 
of the time absent from home, and iri thirty 
or more counties. In all, I observod an in¬ 
creased and increasing moral improvement, 
and in most a rapid progress in agricultural 
improvements, moans of transportation, in¬ 
ter communication. &c. 
The crops of corn, oats, wheat, potatoes, 
and other provisions, aro unusually abund¬ 
ant. In the poorer and less productive cot¬ 
ton regions tho crops aro good. In the 
prairies and other rich lime lands, the yield 
of cotton is from one-half to two-thirds that 
of last year.” 
Transplanting Evergreens. —Tho roots, 
while out of tho ground, should bo kept 
moist, and they should never, for a moment 
oven, become dried during the process of 
transplanting. Hence a rainy day is recom¬ 
mended, in all cases, and especially where 
the roots are denuded. 
ANIMAL HEAT,-HOW MAINTAINED. 
There is no fact perhaps, now moro thor¬ 
oughly established, than that certain por¬ 
tions of food are required for fuel in the 
system, to keep up tho warmth natural to 
the body of all warm-bloodod animals. It 
was for a long timo unknown, what was tho 
origin of the constant supply of this inter¬ 
nal warmth, and tho subject of tho origin 
and source of animal heat has been ono of 
the vexed questions of Physiology until a 
very few yeai's. 
The theory now is that a kind of combus¬ 
tion or burning as we say of a fire, is in con¬ 
tinual operation in the system. We all 
know that the burning of wood is chomical- 
ly but the rapid union of the oxygen of air 
with tho carbon of tho wood. In this pro¬ 
cess heat and flame are the result. Now a 
similar union takes place in tho animal body 
between tho oxygen of tho air taken into 
tho blood through tho modium of respira¬ 
tion and carried with tho blood to every 
part of the body, where it forms union with 
tho carbon of the animal tissue. During 
this process, too, hoat is produced. 
It is a singular fact determined by many 
experiments, that tho animal heat is main¬ 
tained in the several species of animals at 
about tho same temperature. That is, if 
tho temperature of a body is at 90 degrees, 
it is maintained at that temperature through 
very great changes of tho surrounding me¬ 
dia. As thero is cold weather much fuel 
is used to koep an equal and comfortable 
temperature in our rooms, so must much 
carbon bo consumed in the system of an 
animal to keep that at its uniform tempera¬ 
ture when all the enveloping air is at zero. 
Hoat passes off rapidly from tho body if 
it is exposed directly to the moving body of 
air. To secure this heat in tho winter from 
escaping, we adopt thick clothing, and that 
which is the poorest conductor of heat.— 
Wo do this because our comfort depends on 
tho sufficiency of this internal heat for our 
use. If that is deficient, no amount of 
warmth from firos can help us tho moment 
wo leave them. And hero wo may notice 
the philosophy of threshing tho arms or 
stamping tho feet when cold. This produ¬ 
ces an increased flow of blood to the parts 
—an increased supply of oxygen—a greater 
energy of combination between the oxygen 
and carbon, a bigger fire, and consequently 
moro heat. 
Tho source of the carbon that is burned 
in tho animal system is its food. It is a 
well settled question that much of food ta¬ 
ken into tho animal system is for this very 
purpose of supplying fuel. The amount of 
this portion of tho food would of course 
vary according to circumstances in which 
tho animal is placod. Fat moat contains a 
largo proportion of this fuel to tho system, 
and overy ono is conscious of a different ap¬ 
petite for every thing fat, in winter and in 
surnmor. It is on account of this domand 
of tho system of fuel, that tho Laplander 
will eat the fattest blubber of the whalo. 
and even drink oil. To tho inhabitants of 
tile torrid zone, ovory thing of that kind is 
disgusting and obnoxious. 
The problem then beforo us is this. Giv¬ 
en a certain number of animals and a cer¬ 
tain degreo of animal heat to maintain in 
them, to render thorn of tho greatest valuo 
to us. Now how shall this be done. We 
havo that it can be done by tho amount of 
food, alone, which is given. But every far¬ 
mer, we doubt not, has seen the difference 
in the amount his cattle would consume 
when left in tho yard during tho winter, 
than when kept in tho stall. It may rea¬ 
sonably bo doubted whether this is the most 
economical method of accomplishing the 
object. A second method may bo used, 
which will consist in bringing tho external 
circumstances to that condition best calcu¬ 
lated to aid in the preservation of tho heat 
produced in tho system. 
Koep animals externally warm, and one- 
third of tho food that would otherwise bo 
given them may be saved. We know of a 
gengteman, a distinguished grower of wool, 
w ho keeps perhaps fivo hundred sheep, who 
has satisfied himself that it is cheaper for 
him to supply an external heat to them.— 
On this plan ho has built or is about to build 
a sheep barn in which ho is to keep fire suf¬ 
ficient to take off the severest chill of tho 
winter. We havo no doubt that tho man 
who covers his horso with a warm blanket in 
winter, finds a large item to his credit in the 
fodder department. 
In this winter of approhending scarcity, 
much may bo done in saving feed by atten¬ 
tion to external warmth. Let tho stable be 
made tight and warm, all tho cracks being 
stopped. If tho stable opens into tho largo 
part of the barn, so that it cannot other¬ 
wise bo mado secure—let a partition be put 
up. which will confine the cattle to a smaller 
room. It may seem contrary to established 
usage to recommend that cattle and cows be 
blanketed. This, however, is done in many 
places, and we do not doubt that the saving 
of feed more than pays the cost. Cattle 
should bo kept cloan and have litter to lie 
upon. 
Lot it then bo remembered that any ar¬ 
rangement by which cattle are protected 
from continued exposuro to severe weather, 
and kept externally warm, is a saving in tho 
hay, meal, and root department. — Granite 
Farmer. 
Large vs. Small Farms. — Farming is 
like any other business, great or small in 
extent according to the capacity and capital 
of him who is engaged in it. Some men can 
as well, and as profitably husband five thou¬ 
sand acres as others can manage five; and 
he who understands his business, and owns 
his land, need never be at a loss to get 
along without selling his acres. If ho lack 
activo capital, and can make tho capital pay, 
ho can always got it; or by changing his 
mode of husbandry from cropping to stock 
breeding, grazing, or to letting his crops on 
shares, ho can still retain his land and do 
well. 
CULTIVATION OF TROUT IN FRANCE. 
The process employed by MM. Gehin and 
Remy, is of very simple and easy execution. 
It hardly differs at all from that adopted by 
M. Boccius, and is almost exactly that de¬ 
scribed by Jacobi, nearly a century ago. 
It is in November or the beginning of 
December that tho reproduction of trouts 
takes place. To obtain tho eggs intended 
for artificial fecundation, it suffices to press 
slightly, from the front towards the rear, 
when the moment for spawning has arrived, 
the abdomen of the female fish. The eggs 
which fall should bo received in a vessel of 
water; and upon them should bo poured tho 
milt or soft roe, obtained in an exactly simi¬ 
lar manner, by pressing it from tho abdomen 
of tho male fish into another vessel of wa¬ 
ter. If these products have not arrived at 
maturity when this operation is attempted, 
they will not flow out except under tho ap¬ 
plication of strong pressure. In such cases 
the fish should be kept soveral days longer 
before operating this sort of forced accouch- 
ment; for neither the eggs nor the sperm 
can bo profitably used in a state of imma¬ 
turity, and tho lives of the parent fishes 
would bo endangered by any violent proce¬ 
dures. Immediately upon contact with tho 
water into which tho sperm lias been eject¬ 
ed, tho eggs change .color. Prior to fecun¬ 
dation they are transparent, and of yellow¬ 
ish color. As soon as they aro fecundated, 
thoy become whitish, or rather opaline. A 
trout of the age of two years only, and 
weighing about 125 grammes, (4.40 ounces 
avoirdupois) may furnish say GOO eggs; a 
trout of three years, from 700 to 800 eggs. 
It is to be remarked that tho milt of ono 
male suffices to fecundate tho eggs supplied 
by half a dozen, or oven a greater number 
of females. 
MM. Gehin and Remy place tho eggs thus 
fecundated in a bed of gravel in tin boxes 
pierced with holes. These boxes are say six 
inches broad, and threo inches deep, and can 
contain about ono thousand eggs each.— 
They aro placed in somo little stream whoso 
waters are quick and clear, but not deep.— 
Thoy are partially interred in tho bed of 
tho stream, and so arranged that tho cur¬ 
rent will be perpetually renewing tho water 
which bathos tho eggs; for tho agitation of 
tho water is necessary not only to assure the 
respiration of tho embryos, but also to pre¬ 
vent t!*e formation of the byssus or hair- 
weed, ( conferees ) which would rapidly ap¬ 
pear and determine tho death of tho spawn 
if tho water were allowed to become stag¬ 
nant. The development of these embryos 
lasts about four months, and it is generally 
about the end of March or in April, that tho 
exclusion or hatching takes place. During 
the six first weeks, tho young trouts bear 
under tho belly tho umbilical or vitollino 
vesicle which contains the remains of the 
nutritive substance, analogous to tho yolk 
of tho eggs of birds ; and it is at first by 
the consumption of this substance that the 
fry is nourished, But when tho absorption 
of this is completed, the little fish requires 
other aliment; and be must then be mado 
to quit tho box which has served as his cra¬ 
dle, and allowed to swim about freely in tho 
steam or pond which it is intended to stock. 
Finally in order to supply these animals 
with an abundant aliment suited to their 
wants, it suffices to allow to remain or to 
introduce into tho stream or pond whero 
the fish are placed, a number of frogs. Tho 
spawn of those batrachians is a food which 
the fish seek with avidity; and the tadpoles 
constitute also an excellent aliment for tho 
trouts of a more advanced ago. 
When tho small trouts which have been 
bred in this way are destined to bo used for 
stocking a river, they should bo placed in 
tho brooks or small streams tributary to tho 
river; and those streams should bo selected 
in preference which How rapidly and noisily 
over a pebbly or rocky bed. In proportion 
as tho fish grow, they descend spontaneously 
to deeper waters, but do not reach them un¬ 
til they aro sufficiently active to escape by 
flight from the enemies they meet there.— 
Were they placed immediately in the midst 
of other voracious fish, very few would 
escapo destruction. When it is in ponds 
or nurseries that it is proposed to rear tho 
fish, care must bo taken to separate totally 
the products of each year; for the big trouts 
dovour the little ones, and to prevent this it 
is necessary to keep together in tho samo 
inclosure all that are of the samo ago. To 
get up. therefore, in regular style an enter¬ 
prise of this sort, ono should have at least 
threo ponds, from which tlie fish should bo 
gathered alternately three years respectively 
after each had been stocked, and new gen¬ 
erations placed in the pond just vacated. 
FATTENING CATTLE IN STALLS AND SHEDS. 
An experiment lias been made in Scotland to 
try the comparative value of those two modes of 
fattening cattle. Ten animals having been chosen 
were divided as equally as possible ; five were put 
in a sheltered court with plenty of shed room, and 
the others into boxes. At the beginning of Oct., 
it was soon found that those in the court eat 191 
pounds per day, while those in the boxes eat only 
112 lbs, or 22 lbs. less, thus proving that a cer¬ 
tain degree of warmth is equivalent to food.— 
After seven months, towards the end of April, 
they were all slaughtered, and the following 
results were found : 
Cattle fed in boxes: Beef, 3,262 lbs.; Tallow, 
6,678 lbs. Cattle fed in courts. Beef, 3,416 tbs.; 
Tallow, 6,054 lbs. 
These results show th superiority of feeding in 
boxes. It is thought that in a less mild winter 
they would have been more striking. In tho 
course of the experiment the thermometer rose to 
50 degrees, and tho cattle under cover seemed to 
suffer from being too warm. It was found a tri¬ 
lling expense to comb them regularly, which 
speedily produced a very markod improvement. 
Such suggestive facts as the above should bo 
duly considered by all graziers. 
