TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
“PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT." 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
VOL IX. NO. fU 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.,-SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 1858. 
S WHOLE NO. m. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Iiitemry and Family Newspaper, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AH ABLH CORPS OP ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
Th3 Rural New-Yorker is designed to be nnKtn-passed n 
Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and unique and 
beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his personal atten¬ 
tion to the supervision of its various departments, and earnestly labors 
to render the Rural an eminently Reliable Guide on 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, Educational, Literary and 
News Matter, interspersed with appropriate and beautiful Engravings, 
than any other journal—rendering it the most complete Agricultu¬ 
ral Literary ani> Family Journal In America. 
SPECIAL CONTKIRUTOR 81 
Proy. C. DEWEY, 
T. C. PETERS, 
T. S ARTHUR, 
Kiss K. C. HUNTINGTON, 
I/T. M. F. MAURY, 
IL T. BROOKS, 
Mrs. M. J. HOLMES, 
Miss C. A. HOWARD. 
JENNY MARSH PARKER 
nr AH communications, and business letters, should be addressed 
to D, D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
CULTURE OF THE ONION. 
To the following inquiries on the culture of the 
onion we devote more space than usual in answer¬ 
ing such questions, as it is our desire to encourage, 
as much as possible the growth of a diversity of 
crops, for reasons stated in our last number. The 
questions, too, are numerous and important, em¬ 
bracing the whole subject, even the purchase of 
seed and the sale of the crop. 
Ens. Rural: — I wish to make soun inquiries abon' rais¬ 
ing Onions, as I design this spring to plant some fifteen or 
twenty acres. If you will answer the following inquiries 
you will do me a favor. 1. What soil is best adapted to 
their growth, and how should it bo prepared? 2. Does 
the onion seed do as well as the sets, where can the seed 
be obtained, how should each be planted, and what is the 
average yield per acre? 3. What time in the spring should 
the seed or sets be planted, when should the crop be 
gathered, and where is the best market, and what is the 
average price? Please answer at your convenience, 
tlirough the Rural.—J. A. Vjnnedgb, Indianapolis, Indi¬ 
ana, 1808. 
1. Soil. —If we could select a soil, we should 
choose a rich, mellow loam, with a dry subsoil.— 
The onion requires a rich soil, and it is useless to 
try to grow a crop on poor ground. We have seen 
good crops on very sandy soils, where plenty of 
manure was used — guano produces the most 
desirable results, and as it is free from weeds, the 
great pest of the onion beds, it will be found a 
cheap and valuable manure. Last season we were 
much surprised to see an extraordinary yield from 
a mucky soil, the remains of an old swamp that had 
been drained only a year or so before. The rich 
prairie soils of the West, when dry and properly 
cultivated, we are sure will grow enormous crops 
of onions, very cheap, as for many years manure 
will not be needed. The ground for the onion 
should be plowed deeply and harrowed thoroughly, 
and after this it is well to go over it with a hand 
rake, making the surface perfectly smooth, free 
from stones, and “ as fine as an onion bed.” 
2. Seed, Sets, Ac.—The potato onion is grown 
from the small bulbs, called sets. When the large 
potato onions are planted they produce clusters of 
small ones, near the surface of the ground, some¬ 
times only partially covered with earth. These 
small ones are taken up in the fall, and carefully dried 
on the barn floor if the weather is damp. They 
should then be stored away, in a dry place where 
they will not freeze. If put in bins or on shelves 
they must be in thin layers. We have kept them 
well in peach baskets, suspended to the rafters of 
the cellar, but if the cellar is damp they will rot, 
or become so much injured that but few will grow. 
The next spring these small onions are planted in 
drills about two inches deep, the drills about four¬ 
teen inches apart and the onions from four to five 
inches apart in the drills. In hoeing in the summer 
it is well to earth them up a little. After one sum¬ 
mer’s growth these become large, salable onions, 
and may be sold, or reserved for the purpose of 
raising sets the following summer. The advantages 
of raising the potato over the seed onion are, the 
crop is more certain, as every one planted is al¬ 
most sure to produce a good large bulb if the sets 
have been saved in good condition, and the labor 
of cultivation, weeding, thinning, &c., is much less. 
The disadvantages are the cost of sets (about $1 50 
per bushel) and the care required in drying and 
saving, as they are more liable to rot than seed 
onions. 
The onion growers of Connecticut and other 
places who make a business of raising this vegeta¬ 
ble, and who know how useless it is to try to raise 
a crop without heavy manuring and the most thor¬ 
ough culture, generally succeed in growing from 
400 to 700 bushels to the acre from the seed, but 
those who give but little attention to the matter 
often fail to grow enough to pay for seed and labor. 
By planting the seed in the ground in drills, (about 
three pounds to the acre,) so shallow that they are 
but just covered, and carefully weeding and thin¬ 
ning out, so that the onions will he about four 
inches apart, in the rows, and the rows some four¬ 
teen inches apart, a tolerable crop may be raised 
most seasons, if the ground is naturally very rich, 
or has been well manured. No apology for manur¬ 
ing will answer. If the season is very wet, they 
may show a disposition to form “scallions,” that 
is, grow up with a thick stem, and not head. In 
such a case, if the tops are bent down with the 
head of a wooden rake, it will check their growth 
and tend to make them form bulbs. Some garden¬ 
ers think that hoeing close to the roots, so as to 
cut them somewhat, aids in the formation of heads. 
Last summer being wet, we saw acres of onions in 
this neighborhood that were not worth the pulling. 
The weeding and thinning of seed onions is very 
laborious, as the greater part must be done by hand. 
If onr correspondent raises fifteen or twenty acres 
he will require an army of men or boys to keep 
the weeds down. The onion growers of Connect¬ 
icut, in weeding time hire boys from the emigrant 
office in New York, and in this way get their work 
done very cheaply. Seed can be obtained here, at 
$1 25 per pound. A correspondent in Niagara 
county thus reports his success in raising onions: 
Eds. Rural:—As I have some experience in the cul¬ 
ture of onions, I will give it for the benefit of those inter¬ 
ested. The first of last May, I sowed less than one fourth 
of an acre, (and one fourth of that—being dryer land 
than the rest—was so affected by the extreme drouth that 
it did not produce much,) from which I raised over one 
hundred bushels of as fine onions as are often seen, a 
sample of them were exhibited and took the premium at 
our County Fair at Lockport. In 1853 and 1854 I raised 
at the rate of from six to seven hundred bushels per acre, 
sow n from the first to the tenth of May. The varieties I 
raise aro the Red, Silver Skin, and White Portugal.—A. 
Smith, Haril and, li'iag. Co., IV. Y., 1858. 
Onions are much injured by being planted too 
deep. If the bulbs are covered with earth they are 
watery, do not ripen well, and are very liable to rot. 
In consequence of the labor attending the culti¬ 
vation of the onion, and the difficulty of obtaining 
a good crop every season, many growers raise 
small onions in a seed bed and transplant them to 
the field, as it is found that those transplanted al¬ 
ways form good heads. The seed is sown very 
thick in the open ground, and on any poor soil, in 
the Spring, and in July, when the onions are as 
large as peas, they are taken up, and stored away 
in a dry airy place, until the next spring. They 
are then planted out, and by fall will produce a 
good crop. If the sets are grown too large, in this 
climate, however, many will go to seed. This, 
Buist says, is the system pursued around Philadel¬ 
phia, where hundreds of acres are raised for ship¬ 
ment to the South, and must therefore be con¬ 
sidered the most economical method by the large 
and experienced growers of that section. Where 
early onions are wanted larger bulbs may be plant¬ 
ed, which in a short time will be fit for use. 
Another plan is to plant the seed in a hot-bed 
early in March. The seed should he sown very 
thick, say in drills about an inch wide, and the 
onions very thick in the drills, and the drills only 
one inch apart—just room enough to pass the fin¬ 
ger, or a stick, between the rows, and lighten the 
earth. Only a slight heat will he necessary, and in 
about a couple of weeks, when the young onions 
are up a few inches, the glass may be left off en¬ 
tirely, except in very rough weather. About the 
middle of April, or from that to the first of May, 
the young onions will he fit to plant in the open 
ground. They should be planted four inches apart 
in the rows, and the rows far enough to allow the 
free use of the hoe. Care must be taken not to plant 
the young onions too deep—just deep enough to 
hold them in their place is all that is needed. Then 
keep the weeds subdued, and the ground mellow, 
and every one will grow and produce a fine onion 
in the fall. This may seem a troublesome opera¬ 
tion, but is much approved of by our gardeners, 
and we think onions can be grown as cheap by this 
method, as any other. A very similar method is 
pursued in Portugal and Spain, where this bulb 
forms an important article of food, “ one of the 
common and universal supports of life.” There 
the seed is sown in the hot-beds in December, and 
no glass is used, but hoops are placed over the 
beds, and in severe weather mats are placed over 
these hoops. In the spring the young onions, when 
about the size of quills, are transplanted into the 
fields, nine inches apart each way. 
3. Time of Planting, Gathering, Ac. — The 
onion should be planted as soon as the ground can 
be got ready in the spring, so as to obtain as long 
a season as possible. In the fall, as soon as the 
tops become dry and the stalks shriveled, pull them 
up, and expose in the sun a few days to harden.— 
Then tie up in ropes, and hang up, or take them to 
a shed and spread them out thin. We cannot say 
where the best market is to he found. There is a 
good demand in all large cities. The price gener¬ 
ally ranges from fifty cents to $1 per busheL 
THE AREA OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE, j 
The agriculture of the United States has taken 
its peculiar character from the abundance of fer¬ 
tile land constantly urged upon our citizens at a 
mere nominal price. Laud being cheaper than 
labor, our national policy has been to raise crops 
with the least possible expenditure of money or 
work. It would not pay to manure land, for when 
your farm was worn you could push a little farther 
and find virgin soil—what use to exterminate weeds 
when you could go where they do not abound?— 
what profit to plow deep and subsoil in New York 
when you could drag in your wheat and oats in 
Wisconsin and get good crops? Why ditch, fence, 
put out fruit trees, and put up good buildings on 
the homestead, when manifest destiny has arranged 
for your departure to California or the moon, next 
year or the year after? 
All this must have an end, if Prof. Henry, Sec’y 
of the Smithsonian Institution, is right in the state¬ 
ment which follows:—“The time is at hand when 
scientific agriculture can no longer be neglected 
by us; for, however large our domain really is, and 
however inexhaustible it may have been repre¬ 
sented to be, a sober deduction from the facts 
which have accumulated during the last few years 
will show that we are nearer the confines of the 
healthy expansion of our agricultural operations 
over new ground than those who have not paid 
difinite attention to the subject could readily im¬ 
agine.” See Patent Office Report for 1850, page 457. 
Prof. Henry goes on to state, page 481, that 
while that portion of the United States, between 
the 98th meridian and the Atlantic ocean, is gene¬ 
rally of great fertility and well supplied with tim¬ 
ber, “ the whole space to the west, between the 
98th meridian and the Rocky Mountains, denomi¬ 
nated the Great American Plains, is a barren waste, 
over which the eye may roam to the extent of the 
visible horizon, with swx'q ly an object to break 
the monotony. From the Rocky Mountains to the 
Pacific, with the exception of the rich hut narrow 
belt along the ocean, the country may also be con¬ 
sidered, in comparison with other portions of the 
United States, a wilderness unfitted for the uses of 
the husbandman; although in some of the mountain 
valleys, as at Salt Lake, by means of irrigation, a 
precarious supply of food may bo obtained, suffi¬ 
cient to sustain a considerable population, provid¬ 
ed they can be induced to submit to privations 
from which American citizens generally would 
shrink. The portions of the mountain system, 
farther south, are equally inhospitable, though they 
have been represented to be of a different charac¬ 
ter. In traversing this region, whole days are fre¬ 
quently passed without meeting a rivulet or stream 
of water to slake the thirst of the weary traveler. 
Dr. Letiiekman, surgeon of the U. S. army, at Fort 
Defiance, describes the entire country, along the 
parallel of 35°, as consisting of a series of moun¬ 
tain ridges, Ac. * * * There is required for 
grazing and procuring hay for the consumption of 
animals at Fort Defiance, garrisoned by two com¬ 
panies, one of which is partly mounted, fifty square 
miles, and this is barely sufficient for the purpose. 
* * Dr. Antisell, geologist to one of the explor¬ 
ing expeditions, describes the country, along the 
parallel of 32° and 33°, as equally deficient in the 
essentials of support for an ordinary civilized com¬ 
munity. On the west, between these parallels, oc¬ 
curs the great Colorado Desert, extending to the 
river of the same name which empties into the 
Gulf of California, The entire district is hare of 
soil and vegetation, except a few varieties of cac¬ 
tus. Over the greater portion of the northern part 
of Sonora and the southern part of New Mexico, 
sterility reigns supreme. * * * A dry, parch¬ 
ed, disintegrated sand and gravel is the usual soil, 
completely destitute of vegetable matter, and not 
capable of retaining moisture. * * We have 
stated that the entire region west of the 98th de¬ 
gree of west longitude, with the exception of a 
small portion of Western Texas and the narrow 
border along the Pacific is a country of compara¬ 
tively little value to the agriculturist; and, perhaps, 
it will astonish the reader if we direct his attention 
to the fact that this line, which passes southward 
from Lake Wiunepeg to the Gulf of Mexico, will 
divide the whole surface of the United Stales into two 
nearly equal parts.' 1 ' 
Prof. Henry’s views, as stated above, are sup¬ 
ported by the testimony of travelers and explorers, 
generally, who have visited the regions described. 
See Capt Fremont’s narrative, page 158. These 
are very significant facts in our national history, 
and while they should prompt Government to a 
prudent management of “ the public domain,” they 
give assurance that the soil of our Atlantic coast, 
with all its advantages of position and productive¬ 
ness, will ere long attain a far higher estimate than 
it has at present. The tide of population flowing 
westward will abate, and a dense population must 
find dearer habitations, and seek in improved agri¬ 
culture the means of subsistence. There oan be 
no doubt that the most desirable portions of our 
domain are already appropriated, and have passed 
from government to private ownership. Whoever 
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DROWN’S PATENT PORTABLE STRAIGHT FENCE. 
When we gave an engraving and description of 
Watson’s “ No-Patent” Portable Farm Fence, two 
weeks ago, wo concluded that similar improve¬ 
ments would “rest” for awhile—or at least that the 
inventors of Wayne county, after furnishing four 
or five portable fences, would subside. But it 
seems we were mistaken—for, ere the number con¬ 
taining the “No-Patent”' arrangement had been 
fairly circulated, another champion of improved 
fences, hailing from Connecticut, Jr., (Wayne Co.,) 
presented himself with “documents” (fresh from 
the Patent Office) attesting his inventive genius.— 
This new competitor in the fence field—or in the 
line of improved portable field fences—is Mr. John 
Drown, of Huron, Wayne Co., N. Y., who has se¬ 
cured letters patent bearing date Feb. 16th, 1858, for 
an improvement which he denominates “Drown’s 
Patent Portable Straight and Picket Field Fence.” 
This new improvement has some novel features 
and advantages, which are described by the inven¬ 
tor, as follows: 
“ This Fence has been the subject of much study 
and we hope it will receive the approbation of the 
people. Our first claim for it is a great advantage 
over crooked or zig-zag fences—it being straight 
and hence requiring but a small space of ground. 
The sills occupy but two feet, and the fence requires 
only 32 feet of lumber per rod. Another advan¬ 
tage is its cheapness. Any man can make it—and 
the whole expense does not exceed 50 cents a rod. 
“Being aware that things of this kind are gene¬ 
rally overrated by interested parties, we prefer to 
say but little about it—believing that its merits are 
a sufficient recommendation. We will, however 
endeavor to give the reader (with the aid of the above 
engraving,) an idea of its manner of construction. 
The sections of the fence are made by nailing to 
rails, A, A, upright pickets, or in any ordinary 
manner. Additional pickets may also be nailed to 
the rails, opposite to the end pickets, to support 
the rails firmly on that side. The ends of the rails 
(A, A,) of adjacent sections, are halved together, so 
that they will present the uniform width of single 
rails. The ends of the lower rails, where joined 
together, rest in chairs or sills, B, B, of suitable 
length and size to serve as a firm foundation for 
the fence. 
“ A notch or mortice in the sill, to receive the 
lower rails, is made slightly flaring; and the joined 
ends of the lower rails, which are to rest thereon, 
would buy good land cheap, must buy it soon .— 
While, heretofore, nothing has been more plenty 
than land, hereafter, nothing will be more scarce, 
and nothing more desirable. The equilibrium of 
population will be established by emigration—so 
long as there is more room and more advantages 
here than in the other continent, people will come 
here to better their fortunes and swell our popu¬ 
lation. 
In deciding where to locate, there is one calcula¬ 
tion that we shall do well to make. If it should 
cost five dollars to carry the products of an acre 
of land from Minnesota to Buffalo, that five dollars 
would pay the interest, at ten per cent., on fifty dol¬ 
lars per acre; so you had better pay fifty dollars 
an acre for land in the vicinity of Buffalo than to 
have land given you in Minnesota. 
If the United States shall continue to raise a 
surplus of agricultural products, then the price at 
the sea board will regulate prices through the en¬ 
tire country. Commodities will be worth as much 
less in the interior than at New York, ps it will 
cost to transport them to that port, deduoting also 
the profits of dealers. 
For a few years, the difference in value, may not 
be sensibly felt by western farmers, because a vir¬ 
gin soil is eminently proactive, and being free 
from weeds is^easily tilled, but continued cultiva¬ 
tion will give short crops, which, with compara¬ 
tively low prices, will render farming at the west 
a very different thing from farming at the east 
are made beveled or wedging downward, so as to 
correspond with, and fit the notch in the sill or 
chair. The notch is made somewhat deeper than 
the thickness of the rails, leaving a space below 
them, so that said rails may be pressed further 
down into the notch, when necessary to wedge 
them together. The overlapping ends of the upper 
rails are also made suitably wedge-shaped or 
beveled, but upward instead of downward, so as to 
fit into a notch in a clamp, C, similar to that in the 
chair, B, but in the lower edge of the clamp.— 
When the ends of the upper and lower rails are 
thus together fitted into the chair, B, and the 
clamp or cap, C, the latter being parallel with the 
other, by drawing and holding the clamp tightly 
toward the chair vertically, the sections of the 
fence will be firmly and securely united. 
“For this purpose T make use of tension wires or 
wooden rods, D, which are tightly drawn vertically 
between both of the corresponding ends of the 
chair and clamp. They may he secured to said 
chair and clamp in any convenient manner. When 
the chair and clamp are thus connected, the con¬ 
necting rods extending from the chair to the 
clamp, in a direction perpendicular thereto, the 
distance between said chair and clamp is neces¬ 
sarily lessened if the fence is swayed in either 
direction sidewise, thereby wedging the ends of 
the rails more closely into the notches, and giving 
great firmness to the fence — so that the use of 
posts or stakes is dispensed with, the rods giving 
all the strength and firmness required to resist any 
ordinary force to which the fence may be subjected. 
“ If desirable, the lower rails may be locked per¬ 
manently in the chair by mailing the notch therein 
rectangular, or of dovetail form, and of sufficient 
size to admit a wedge or key, which will firmly re¬ 
tain the rails therein. The fence may he kept in 
its place by driving short stakes, E, provided with 
projecting heads, down upon the chairs or sills, B. 
The sills are two feet long and twelve feet apart, 
and the pickets are clear from the ground. The 
clamp or cap, C, is 13 inches long. The short 
panel, at the left end of the engraving, is a gate, 
which can easily be made at any place in the fence. 
“Further and more definite information relative 
} to this improvement and its modifications, can he 
obtained by addressing John Brown, Huron, Wayne 
Co., N. Y., or Daniel Rayford, Rose Valley, same 
county.” 
Such, however, are the limits of the productive 
soil of the world, that we may expect laud and its 
products to steadily rise in value, subject, of course, 
to temporary depressions.— n. t. b. 
THE CULTURE OF FLAX. 
Why do not the farmers grow more flax, now 
they cannot grow wheat? That it may he made 
profitable, as compared with other crops, does not 
admit of a doubt. It may be an exhausting crop. 
So is any crop exhausting if not well manured.— 
Flax should be well manured. Perhaps it requires 
higher manuring than almost any other crop, to 
become profitable. 
Every farmer will find a few bushels of the seed 
very useful in feeding his young stock during the 
winter, especially calves. It is claimed by some 
good feeders, that a table spoonful of crushed 
linseed mixed with a quart of corn meal, is abetter 
feed for a spring calf during its first winter, than 
two quarts of corn meal, or a quart of corn meal 
and a quart oil cake meal. Some farmers rather 
buy the flax see&than oil cake. 
If any method could he devised for harvesting 
flax properly by machinery, and a fair price ob¬ 
tained for the stalk, as well as the seed, it would 
soon become a leading crop. I think it can be 
harvested with ease by the reaper, and this is the 
way I intend to do it:—After the seed is sown, I 
1 shall put on my iron roller, and roll the ground 
