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VOLUME III. NO. 51 . 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1852. 
■i WHOLE NO. 155. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
A WEEKLY HOME NEWSPAPER, 
Designed for both Country and Town Residents. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASSISTED BY 
J. H. EIXBY, L. WETHEKELL, AND II. C. WHITE, 
With a numerous corps of able Contributors and 
Correspondents. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unique and 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
and A ariety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical Sub- 
jects connected with the business of those whose interests 
it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter — 
interspersed with many appropriate and handsome engrav¬ 
ings—than any other paper published in this Country. 
For Terms, &c., see last page. .JpJt 
fgrinilfural Icpnrtmttii 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVE3IENT. 
AGRICULTURE OF NEW ENGLAND. 
Those of our readers who cultivate the 
| broad and fertile prairies, or rich bottom 
lands and valleys of the great West, would 
consider the agricultural resources of New 
l England as of the most limited character, 
j Farmers who have been accustomed to the 
j productive soil upon which is grown the 
crops of wheat, that supply this staple to a 
j largo portion of the Union, would lightly 
esteem the broad acres of a Down-east 
farmer. Most of tho arable land in the 
Eastern Statos, is a gravelly loam, strongly 
I mixed with sand, though in many places, 
particularly in Vermont, clay abounds._ 
Much of tho soil is made up of the debris 
O: granite and other hard rocks, which every 
where abound. Rich, calcareous and allu¬ 
vial soils are not frequent, whilo the absence 
of lime, in any considorablo quantities, de¬ 
prives the land of this most valuable ingre- 
diont of our host soils. The forests, if we 
except the pine lands, are mostly composed 
of small treos, and thoso in general denote a 
soil far from tho most desirablo. 
Notwithstanding these obstacles, tho New 
England farmer, by well directed labor and 
skill, not only draws from tho bosom of 
mother earth enough for all his wants, but 
is often enabled to look upon a competence 
—tho result of his industrious toil. The 
New England system of tillage and manur¬ 
ing is far tho host. As only a small part of 
the land is suitable for the - plow, that little 
is made all the more productive, by such 
means as are to ho most easily obtained.— 
Perhaps it would bo a departure from truth 
to characterize tho Yankee farmer as more 
a devotee to scientific farming, than aro the 
farmers of the Empire State, though wo aro 
persuaded tho former has more method and 
science combined in tho daily routine of 
farm labor. Much more attention is given 
to the saving and application of manure, 
since without its uso there would be little 
probability of reaping much of a harvest 
fiom tho well tilled field. Occupying less 
land, it is better cultivated, yielding good 
crops of wheat, corn, oats and other farm 
products, notwithstanding tho length and 
severity of eastern winters, and of conso- 
quenco, short summers in which to mature. 
We have seen as good wheat in Piscata¬ 
quis Co., Maine, as is often grown in Wost- 
em New York. They aro growing good 
crops of what is known as tho “ Banner” 
wheat, in many parts of that Stato. Tho 
same is true in some parts of New Hamp- , 
shire and Massachusetts. Oats, peas, and \ 
other coarse grains flourish well. In tho j 
vicinity of Boston, the farms for product¬ 
iveness compare with tho best to bo found ] 
at tho west. Meadows, with an occasional £ 
top dressing of fino manure, yield a good j 
crop of hay. T ho hills furnish a largo range } 
for pasture. Stock breeding and wool grow¬ 
ing havo long been prominent sources of f 
wealth in most of tho Now England States. t 
In this respect Vermont outstrips tho others a 
the farmers of that Stato having made for- j 
tunos from fine horses, cattle, and particu- T 
larly fino sheep, before other States became t 
aware of tho importance of thoso branches 
of profitable trado. Tho dairy has not been ^ 
neglected. Vast quantities of butter and 
cheese aro annually marketed from all parts 
of tho Eastern States, much of it of a very 
excellent quality. It is questionable whether 
tho pastures furnish as rich feed, or the but¬ 
ter and cheese partakes so much of richness, 
or fatness, and high flavor, as that made in 
tho best dairy districts of our own State. 
Fruit is grown in all thoso States with 
little difficulty. Apples, plums, cherries and 
pears are tho principal fruits, the peach and 
others, less hardy, receiving very little at¬ 
tention. Tho crops are not as certain as in 
tho West, being more exposed to lato spring 
frosts. Very little of any of tho fruit has 
tho high flavor, or is as crisp and juicy as 
tho same varieties grown in the vicinity of 
Rochester. In tho vicinity of Boston, pears 
and strawberries aro receiving much atten¬ 
tion with flattering success, though their 
specimens, particularly of pears, are inferior 
to thoso ot Western New York, as most con¬ 
clusively shown at tho late State Fair at 
Utica. As an agricultural district, New 
England ranks well, but its great pro-emi¬ 
nence is duo to its manufactures and conse¬ 
quent commerce. Of thoso, it will bo 
convenient to speak hereafter. With a 
population that is no where equalled for in¬ 
dustry, intelligence and good morals — 
abounding in good works, tho disadvantage 
of location, soil, and climate, are all sur¬ 
mounted, and no where will you find more 
lefmement, comfort and indopendcnco'than 
in tho humble homo of the New England 
farmer. 
WILL WHEAT CHANGE TO CHESS ? 
HILLING AND SUCXERING CORN. 
j Allow mo to communicato through vour 
_ paper a few thoughts on tho culture of corn, 
j Hoeing or hilling corn. In a former 
- number of the Rural, I road an article on 
. this subject, in which tho writer objected to 
i *-ho practice of “ hilling,’’ and furnished sev- 
[ G1 al i easons against it. I havo always been 
, in tho practice of hilling my corn, but the 
past season I allowed myself to boinfluenc- 
od somewhat by tho reasonings of the wri¬ 
ter above referred to, and have come to the 
. conclusion that, although in some seasons, 
and in some places it may bo safe, and even 
preferable to deviate from the old way; yet 
in this windy district, tho old is the better 
way. My corn, (I raise but little and that 
. in tho garden.) has twice boon prostrated 
and considerably injured during tho past 
summer, tor want ot being properly sup¬ 
ported. 
-d. Suckering corn, or rather remov¬ 
ing the suckers. The objection to the re¬ 
moval of the suckers, viz., that it prevents 
tho completo filling-up, or filling-out of the 
cais, I hai o not found to bo true, in an ex¬ 
periment tried tho past season. I removed 
theso apparently superfluous appendages 
from most of my corn, after they had at¬ 
tained considerable size, and so far as tho 
experiment goes, it tends to provo the fol- j 
lowing positions : 
1st. That tho removal promotes tho per¬ 
fection of a greater number of ears on a 
stalk. Seldom, until this year, have I been 
ablo to obtain more than ono good ear from 
a stalk, and that not always abovo medium 
size. This year I have had two from most 
of them, (three from a few) and thoso gen¬ 
erally abovo medium size, some of them 
unusually largo, filled out even to tho point 
and terminating in a singlo grain. 
2d. that it allows a greater number of 
stalks in a hill, (if this were desirablo,) al¬ 
though I would not advise this, as it inter¬ 
feres with tho perfection of all the ears. 
Should I live to try tho experiment again, 
I would remove all tho suckers and all tho 
sets ti om the stalk, except the threo upper¬ 
most, unless there were but few stalks in a 
hill. 
In regard to tho production of an ear 
from every set, I do not think it possible, 
unless tho hills be not less than lour feet 
apart, in a rich soil, and with a single stalk 
in a hill, and porhaps not oven then. It 
was my intention to make an experiment on 
this subject, but circumsfancos havo thus far 
pic\ented. Perhaps I mav do it hereafter. 
Down East, Oct., 1852. H 
,y If appears by some lato numbers of the 
)r Rural, that this voxod question is notsatis- 
factorily settled in tho minds of all—that 
, there is yet a class not fully satisfied upon 
^ the subject, but aro still calling for more 
light. But they aro no doubt aware that 
^ what would bo considered light by ono in- # 
^ dividual on this subject, would bo considered 
^ darkness by another. What ono considers 
satisfactory evidence that wheat will not 
change to chess, another advances as posi- 
1 tive proof that it will.* 
3 As this subject has claimed my particular 
attention for tho last sixteen years, and as 
’ a great amount of labor has been expended 
in that time in trying to eradicate chess, 1 
3 will give briefly my experience in tho mat¬ 
ter, and the result thus far obtained. (With¬ 
out bringing it forward as proof either way, 
I would remark that like efforts made by 
others, havo invariably produced the same 
' results.) From various causes, which it is 
unnecessary to mention, few years elapsed 
after wheat growing was began in this part 
of the State, before our fields were overrun 
with chess. Not so much where the wheat 
grew, as our fertile soil generally caused tho 
wheat to outgrow everything else, but in 
land seeded to grass, vacant places, fence 
corners, around stumps, &£. In bad sea¬ 
sons, we sometimes grew as much chess as 
wheat; still we made but little effort to rid 
ourselves of it by cleaning the seed or oth¬ 
erwise, believing that it proceeded from tho 
roots of wheat and oats. 
In 183G, the editor of tho Genesco Far- 1 
mcr undertook to prove what I then thought , 
any of we ‘'frock and trowsers men,” could 
easily disprove, viz., that wheat would not ( 
turn to chess. I was, however, convinced } 
by his reasoning, that some of the chess t 
might possibly come from the seed. I then i 
resolved, in order to test the matter fully, s 
to sow no more chess. Tho various moth- ( 
ods that havo boon adopted to carry out ' 
that resolvo, it is not necessary to mention 
here. Suffico it to say, that a course has j 
been steadily pursued to destroy what grew 
before it went to seed, and to clean the £ 
wheat used for seed from that time to this, t 
But tho end is not yot—tho critter is not £ 
yot exterminated. But as some progress 1 
has been made towards the attainment of s 
an object so desirable, I am still encouraged ‘ 
to persevere. Tho amount of chess grown „ 
has gradually diminished from year to year 
—and tho amount grown for several years i 
past, I confidently believe, will not amount \ 
to ono ounce to 500 bushels of wheat. No \ 
choss now grows on the low ground where f 
it used to grow in abundance, even if tho c 
wheat should be killed by water, or other- ^ 
wise. But all that is now grown, grows on ' 
land whero tho remains of old stumps have 0 
recently been extracted, or from where old 1 
fences have boon removed—from land that { - 
has never beforo boon tilled by tho white p 
man. Now tho question arises, Does tho c 
seed that has remained in tho soil for more c 
than sixteen years, vegetate, or does this b 
now soil possess some property that will n 
change wheat to choss ? 
I now propose to those who wish to sat- a 
isfy their own minds in this matter, (for ^ 
they will satisfy nobody else but themselves,) 0 
that they select on ground prepared for f 
wheat, a small piece where chess generally v 
grows, and sow it with picked seed. Then c , 
on a pieco of tho same size, adjoining, sow 0 
no seed whatever. Try this for two or threo 
years, and carefully noto tho rosulfc. Have T 
also, two other pieces preparod as abovo, 
and destroy tho wheat in the various ways P 
that it is supposed will change the plants tl 
from wheat to chess, and noto the result e ’ 
also; and if tho experimenter does not dis 
cover a faint ray of light breaking upon his p 
mind, his experiments will terminate differ- ir 
ently from somo tried by his humble servant, ai 
Troy, Mich., Nor. 30, 1852. Lints Cone. n, 
PORTRAIT OF A HEREFORD COW. 
HEREFORD CATTLE. 
“The editor of the Michigan Farmer some time since in 
a labored effort to prove that wheat would change to chess, 
brought forward as one of his main proofs, the fact that 
as one farmer raised comparatively clean wheat whilst an¬ 
other grew a large amount of chess, that the one that 
grew chess must have had his wheat by some process 
changed 1 
* The Herefords are a distinct breed of neat cattle 
’ and have long been bred to a considerable extent 
in England, where they are held in high estima- 
; tion, especially for grazing. Their introduction 
and dissemination in this country has been com- 
; parativelv slow, and hence they are yet little 
known in many sections. Of late years, however, 
they appear to have gained more rapidly in public 
favor, and now rank as a most beautiful and 
profitable breed. 
Marshall gives the foHowing description of 
the Herefords : — “ The countenancs pleasant, 
cheerful, open ; the forehead broad ; eye full and 
lively ; horns bright, taper, and spreading ; head 
smaU; chap lean ; neck long and tapering; chest 
deep; bosom broad, and projecting forward ; 
shoulder-bone thin, fiat, no way protuberant in 
bone, but full and mellow in flesh; chest full; 
loin broad ; hips standing wiclo, and lpvel with the 
chine; quarters long, and wide at the neck ; rump 
even with the level of the back, and not drooping 
nor standing high and sharp above the quarters; 
tailrtdeuder and neatly haired ; barrel round and 
roomy; the carcass throughout deep and well 
spread ; ribs broad, standing fiat and close on the 
outer surface, forming a smooth, even barrel, the 
hindmost large and full of length; round-bone 
small, snug, and not prominent; thigh clean, and 
regularly tapering; legs upright and short ; bone 
below the knee and hock small; feet of middle 
size ; flank large ; fleslAjevery where mellow, soft, 
and yielding pleasantly to the touch, especially on 
the chine, the shoulder, and the ribs; hide mellow, 
supple, of a middle thickness, aud loose on the 
neck and huckle ; coat neatly haired, bright and 
silky ; color, a middle red, with a bald face, char¬ 
acteristic of the true Herefordshire breed.” 
Youatt further describes them as fofiows :— 
“ They are usually of a darker red ; some of them 
are brown, and even yellow, and a few are brindled; 
but they are principaUy distinguished by their 
white faces, throats and bellies. In a few the 
white extends to the shoulders. The old Here¬ 
fords were brown or red-brown, with not a spot 
of white about them. It is only within the last 
fifty or sixty years that it has been the fashion to 
breed for white faces. Whatever may be thought 
of the change of color, the present breed is cer¬ 
tainly far superior to the old one. The hide is 
considerably thicker than that of the Devon, and 
the beasts are more hardy. Compared with the 
Devons, they are shorter m the leg, and also in the 
carcass; higher, and broader, and heavier in the 
chine; rounder and wider across the hips, and 
better covered with fat; the thigh fuller and more 
muscular, and the shoulders larger and coarser. 
They are not now much used for husbandry, 
although their form adapts them for the heavier 
work; and they have all the honesty and docility 
of the Devon ox, and greater strength, if not his 
activity. The Herefordshire ox fattens speedily 
at a very early age, and it is therefore more ad¬ 
vantageous to the farmer, and perhaps to the 
country, that he should go to market at three years 
old, than be kept longer as a beast of draught. 
They are not as good milkers as the Devons.— 
This is so generally acknowledged, that while 
there are many dairies of Devon cows in various 
parts of the country, a daily of Herefords is rarely 
to he found. To compensate for this, they are 
even more kindly feeders than the Devons. Their 
beef may he objected to by some as being occa¬ 
sionally a little too large in the bone, and the 
fore-quarters being coarse and heavy; but the 
meat of the best pieces is often very fine-grained 
aud beautifully marbled. There are few cattle 
more prized in the market than the genuine 
Herefords.” 
Allen’s Domestic Animals, published in 1850, 
quotes Youatt’s description, and adds :—“There 
have been several importations of the Herefords 
into the United States, which by crossing with 
our native cattle, have done great good; but with 
the exception of a few fine animals at the South, 
we are not aware of their being kept in a state of 
purity, till the importation of the splendid herd, 
within the last six years, by Messrs. Corning and 
Sox ham. These Herefords are among the very 
best which England can produce, and come up 
fuUy to the description of the choicest of the 
breed. Mr. Sotham, after an experience of several 
years, is satisfied with the cows for the dairy; and 
he has given very favorable published statements 
of the results of their milking qualities, from 
which it may be properly inferred, that Youatt 
drew his estimates from some herds which were 
quite indifferent in this property. They are pe¬ 
culiarly the grazier’s animal, as they improve 
rapidly and mature early on medium feed. They 
are excelled for the yoke, if at all only by the 
Devons, which, in some features, they strongly 
resemble. Both are probably divergent branches 
of the same original stock.” 
There .ire several large and fine herds of Here¬ 
fords in this and adjoining States. We believe 
the most prominent in our own State are those of 
W. II. Sotham, Piffard, Livingston county; E. 
Corning, Jr., Albany, and Geo. Clark, Spring- 
field Otsego county. The breed was exceedingly 
well represented at the late Fair of our State Ag. 
Society. Relative to the exhibition on that occa¬ 
sion, we may here repeat a few sentences published 
in our October number, as follows :— The Here¬ 
fords showed bravely. It is evident to any one 
who understands the “signs of the times,” that 
this breed is becoming more and more esteemed, 
as its intrinsic value is known. It seems to have 
overcome, in a great measure the bitter prejudice 
and rival jealousy which for some time beset its 
progress in this country. Comparing the different 
classes of cattle as they were exhibited on this 
occasion, a fair verdict must certainly give the 
Herefords a rank as to character and quality, not 
surpassed by any other breed.— Wool Grower and 
Stock Register for December. 
A PROFITABLE COW. 
Eds. Rural:— \our paper being more 
especially designed for the edification of 
farmers, and as it is of interest to this class 
to know tho profit to be derived from tho 
different departments, I will make a state¬ 
ment of tho product of my cow during the 
past seven months, commencing tho first 
day of May, and ending tho first day of 
December. Her feed was grass only, ex¬ 
cepting the month of November, in which 
she was fed a mess of pumpkins daily. 
As somo people do not understand the 
value ol sour milk, I will make a particular 
statement on that point. In May I pur¬ 
chased two pigs for which I paid $2,75. I 
fed them on sour milk until the first of 
October, and sold them for $15. I fed my 
calf on sour milk until 12 weeks old, and 
sold it for $5. 
Increased value on pics,.812 25 
“ “ calf,. m ’ m 5 oq 
90 qts. new milk used in family, 3 cts. per qt.,.... 2 70 
301 lbs of butter, average price la cts. per lb.,.... 45 15 
Amount,.865 10 
We weighed each churning after it was 
worked fit for packing, so that there is no 
mistake about the amount, the average of 
which is 10 lbs. per week for seven months. 
She is now making 8£ lbs. per week. If any 
brother farmer has her match, let us hear 
from him. We use tho barrel churn, and I 
will say for the information of those who 
do not know, that if they will insert a tin 
tube half an inch in diameter and 8 inches 
long into a hole in tho churn covor, they 
will not bo much troubled by tho spattering 
of croam in churning. H. D. Benjamin. 
Barre, N- Y., Dec., 1S52. 
