TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
VOL. IX. NO. m 
ROCHESTER, N. Y„—SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1858. 
1 WHOLE NO. m. 
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 
SKELETON OP A LEICESTER SIIEEP. 
TIIK IIEAD. 
1, The intermaxillary bone. 
2, The nasal bones. 
3, The upper jaw. 
4, The union of the nasal 
and upper jaw bones. 
5, Tho union of the molar 
and lachrymal bones. 
(1, The orbits of the eye. 
7, The frontal bone. 
9, The lower jaw. 
10, The incisor-teeth or nip¬ 
pers. 
11, The molars or grinders. 
THE THUNK. 
1,1, The ligament of the 
neck supporting tho head. 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 0, 7, Tho 7 verte¬ 
bra;, or bones of tho neck. 
1-13, Tho thirteen vertebrae, 
or bones of the back. 
1-6, The six vertebra of the 
loins. 
7, The sacral hone. 
8, The bones of the tail, vary¬ 
ing in different breeds 
from twelve to twenty- 
one. 
9, The haunch and pelvis. 
1-8, The eight truo ribs, with 
their cartilages. 
9-13, The five false ribs, or 
those that are not attach¬ 
ed to the breast bone. 
14, The breast hone. 
TIIK PORE-LEU. 
1, Th' sc ipuiaa or shoulder 
blade. 
2, The humerus bone of the 
arm, or lower part of the 
shoulder. 
3, The radius, or bono of tho 
fore-arm. 
4, The ulna, or elbow. 
5, The knee, with its differ¬ 
ent bones. 
6, Tho metacarpal, or shank 
bones—tho larger bones 
of the leg. 
7, A rudiment of the smaller 
metacarpal. 
8, One of the sessamoid 
hones. 
9, The first two bones of tho 
foot—the pasterns. 
10, Tho proper bonf s of the 
foot. 
run UlNO-l.BG. 
1, The thigh bone. 
2, The stillo joint and its 
hone—the patella. 
3, The tibia, or bone of the 
upper part of the leg. 
4, The point of the hock. 
5, The other bones of the 
hock. 
0, The metatarsal bones, or 
bone of the hind-leg. 
7, Rudiment of the small 
metatarsal. 
8, A seBsamoid bone. 
9, The first two bones of the 
foot—the pasterns. 
10, Tho proper hone of the 
foot. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WUBKLY 
Agricultural, literary and Family Newspaper* 
CONDUCTED BY D, D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN A33U3 CORPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
Thb Rural Nkw-Vorker Is designed to be unsurpassed n 
Value, Parity, 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 tho important 
Practical, Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with tho 
business of those whose Interests it sealously 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 roost complete Agricultu¬ 
ral Litkraky and Family Journal in America 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS! 
Pkoy. C. DEWEY, Lt. M. F. MAURY, 
T. C. PETERS, n. T. BROOKS, 
T. S ARTHUR, Mrs. M. J. HOLMKa 
Miss EL a HUNTINGTON, Miss C. A HOWARD. 
JENNY MARSH PARKER 
C3 P~ AH communications, ami bnstnoss loiters, should be addressed 
to D, D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
HEDGES FOR FENCING. 
Has the cultivation of hedges proved unsuccess¬ 
ful and been abandoned in this country? asks a 
correspondent who states that ho has seen nothing 
on the subject in the Rural for a long time. The 
growing of hedges for protection has not been 
abandoned, nor do we think it ever will be. Revo¬ 
lutions in the agricultural world, like those in the 
moral and political, never go backwards. The 
substitution of beautiful, strong, living, growing, 
ever-lasting hedges for our tumble-down worm 
fences, or our expensive ever-decaying board 
fences is a step too far in advance, an aim too high, 
to be given up for temporary failures or slight dis¬ 
couragements. The introduction and the growth 
of all things valuable is slow, and the attention of 
the farmers of this country has not been called to 
a subject of more importance within tho last half 
century, than this question of live fences. It pro¬ 
poses, and would do much towards effecting a 
revolution not only in our system of fencing hut 
in our farm management, and in the habits and 
thoughts of our people. The hedge fence is suited 
to a high state of agriculture and to a permanent, 
abiding people. They can only exist, as a general 
thing, with a love of home, an attachment to lo¬ 
cality that was never characteristic of our people, 
or, perhaps, of any people in a new country. 
He who plants hedgeB for the necessary sub¬ 
divisions of his farm, must design to make it his 
permanent home, for from six to ten years of care, 
pruning and good culture will be necessary before 
these hedges are of any avail as a protection 
against cattle. Will he who is thinking of emi¬ 
grating to a new home in the West, or he who is 
ever ready to sell his farm at the first good offer, 
subject himself to the large expense and the con¬ 
stant care necessary to make good hedges? Then, 
after a farm is once supplied with good hedge- 
fences, substantial walls of living green, what sane 
man would think of disposing of such a paradise? 
What money would tempt him to make, or compen¬ 
sate him for an exchange? This would induce a 
love of the old home, an attachment to the soil, 
which is essential to proper advancement in agri¬ 
culture. The sensible man who expects to gain 
his livelihood from the same soil for many years 
will adopt a proper system of rotation of crops, 
aiming at the improvement of his land, while he 
who considers himself only a temporary occupant, 
seeks to obtain the most from the soil with the 
least outlay of labor and means, regardless of the 
injury done to him who follows. 
In answer to this it may be said that hundreds 
and thousands of acres on the Western prairies 
have been enclosed with Osage Orange by the own¬ 
ers, as a matter of speculation, and solely for the 
purpose of adding to the value of the land when 
sold. To this fact, which we admit, we add, that we 
have seen miles of this hedge planted that will be 
a total failure. Indeed, perhaps, not one rod in a 
hundred of the many thousands that we saw at the 
West will ever make a hedge worth the having.— 
Some are planted and neglected ever after. Others 
are cultivated and pruned for the first year or two, 
and then left to take their course. Others are 
tolerably well cultivated, but never pruned thor¬ 
oughly. A few are well treated and will make in¬ 
valuable hedges, and these are owned by intelli¬ 
gent farmers who live on their land and take care 
of them. They will reap their reward in due time. 
Care, thought, and prompt attention is necessary 
to make a good hedge, and therefore a poor, thrift¬ 
less farmer will never make one, and the attempt 
would be a failure. Patience, too, on the part of 
the cultivator i3 essential to a good hedge. It is 
no use to attempt to grow a hedge in two, three, or 
four years. It must be kept cut back so close, in 
order to secure a good bottom, that many who look 
at it after pruning will think it is spoiled. The 
Osage Orange will make a good hedge, with decent 
treatment Those who fail, do so from want of 
knowledge or care, or both. We have heard of some 
failures at the West on account of cold, hut we 
saw a good live hedge in Illinois in the summer of 
1850 around an apple orchard of dead trees, every 
one being killed to the ground by the severity of 
the previous winter. This and other facts con¬ 
vinced us that the Osage Orange is as hardy a plant 
as we will be likely to find, and possesses almost 
all other desirable qualities. 
GOOD BUTTER-HOW NOT TO DO IT. 
A great many good-natured people have tried 
to tell how to make good butter. None have given 
any information directly to the point how not to 
make it. A large quantity of very poor butter finds 
its way to market every year, and is paid for and 
eateD, and a good deal of grumbling is occasioned 
thereby — the consumer at the condition of the 
miserable stuff, and the producer that it brought so 
contemptible a price. 
Few people know what real good butter is, tho’ 
a great many think their knowledge perfect There 
are so many conditions requisite to produce it in 
the highest degree of perfection, that it is no cause 
of wonder so few are successful. The first step to 
be taken is, of course, to get your cows. If you 
purchase in the spring, get those which have been 
so badly wintered that they can hardly get up alone. 
If you have to help them up by the tail, all the 
better. Tf you winter them yourself, be cautions 
not to give them any shelter, no matter how bad 
the weather may be. If possible, don’t give them 
a chance to get on the warm side of the barn or 
shed during snow storms, or cold storms of rain 
and snow. A little comfortable care might be in¬ 
jurious when they come to be milked in the spring. 
Keep them on musty, boggy hay, or rotten straw, 
and fodder when most convenient, only not too 
often. If this system is faithfully adhered to, and 
the cow is fool enough to live through and have a 
calf, the milk will be innocent of anything but a 
weak thin cream. 
Having obtained the milk, there are various ways 
forgetting the cream. Tho most approved is to 
put it through a strainer that will stop a good sized 
potato, as by that means you secure such an ad¬ 
mixture of foreign substances, as will insure the 
adhesion of the particles, upon the same principle, 
I suppose, that masons mix hair with their mortar 
for plastering. If the weather be warm, set the 
milk in some warm room, and, if possible, near the 
sink or some other highly scented locality. As 
cream is very sensitive to the odor around it, this 
will secure the transfer to the butter of the strongest 
in circulation—an important point. Do not skim 
the milk, if you can help it, until the cream gets 
mouldy and slightly rancid. The stronger it gets, 
the stronger will he the butter. After skimming, 
let the cream stand several days in a warm room. 
This will help the flavor of the butter very ranch, 
and go far toward producing the desired taste and 
smell. 
After the cream is churned, and the butter 
“ come,” take it out of the churn with your hands. 
If they do not happen to be exactly clean at the 
moment, do not stop to wash them, as butter-milk 
is capital to whiten the hands, and make them look 
clean and delicate. Besides, soap and water are apt 
sometimes to make one's hands chap, and look 
rough. Work the butter by hand, especially if soft 
and oily, and put in a good supply of coarse salt, 
as salt is cheap, and if you are not so stupid as to 
work it out in the butter-milk, it will help the 
butter weigh, and keep it from being eaten too 
rapidly when it gets upon the table. 
Pack the butter in tubs, as fast as you can make 
it; put a cloth over the tub, and let it stand in a 
damp, musty cellar. If the keg or tub gets pretty 
dirty outside, it will help the sale. 
In the summer, it will be important to let the 
cows run in a scanty pasture, and by all means 
compel them to drink from stagnant pools or 
ponds. You will be in great danger of losing all 
your labor, if they have good feed, and plenty of 
pure water,—though, if my previous instructions 
be faithfully followed, the danger from the good 
feed and water will not be so great. 
There are many little matters, more or less 
essential to success, to which I have not alluded,— 
such as not working out the butter-milk, a waste of 
labor, as it tends to destroy the mottled appearance 
of the butter, and prevents its becoming thorough¬ 
ly rancid, as soon as it otherwise might do. Any 
one bent on making an article to sell, will soon 
discover the points omitted, and practice upon 
them. Still any person who faithfully follows my 
directions, may be morally certain of achieving 
complete success, and furnishing the market with 
an article in the butter line, that a human man 
would not grease his cart with. If there be any 
doubters, let them try it—r. 
Our last article on this subject terminated with 
a description of the formation and peculiar func¬ 
tions of the ribs, and we take up at the present, as 
intimately connected therewith, the loin. This 
portion of the body is formed by six bones in the 
horse, and by five in the ox and sheep. (Letter C, 
in skeleton of horse and ox.) These hones bear a 
very strong resemblance to those of tho back, but 
instead of springing from tho sides, as do the ribs, 
they are fixed, bony processes, several inches in 
length, and their peculiar duty is to afford protec¬ 
tion to the abdomen. They are the timbers that 
support the roof, or covering, of this part of the 
system. In a well-formed animal these should he 
long and horizontal. 
Next in position to the loin oomes the sacrum,— 
D, in skeletons referred to,—which is formed in 
young animals of separate bones, but at maturity 
is consolidated into one. At this point the passage 
for the spinal cord becomes very much diminished, 
and, at the end of the bone, terminates in several 
nerves, which continue their course into the tail. 
The bone3 of the latter are numerous, but not 
perforated. 
The spine of animals, which wo have thus glanced 
over, is composed of a large number of short, 
strong bones, connected by an elastic cartilage, or 
gristle, and to this cartilage and its union with the 
bones of the back, is to be attributed whatever 
flexibility that portion of the animal possessea This 
is much less in the domestic animals than in the 
human form, were it not so, the horse and ox would 
be utterly unfitted for carrying burdens or for 
drawing heavy loa<is. 
We pass now to the limbs, and find that tiie 
number of joints are the same in the horse, ox and 
sheep, but in the latter animals, at the fetlock, these 
become divided, and tho four bones beneath it are 
thus doubled. The scapula, (II, in skeletons,) or 
shoulder-blade, has a ridge down the centre for tho 
attachment of the muscles, both in the horse and 
the ox. It is shorter, in proportion to width, in 
tho latter than in the former, in other respects it is 
similar. The blade is attached to the ribs with a 
powerful muscular substance, and thus the body 
is suspended between the fore-legs. In the ox, the 
ribs, being rounder than in the horse, separate the 
blades more widely, particularly at the lower por¬ 
tion of the body, and tho limbs spread at a greater 
angle, and this change is accomplished only at a 
loss of tho powers of speed. This peculiarity of 
form is very distinctly observable in the sheep, and 
causes that rolling gait so utterly opposed to a 
swift forward movement. 
Connected with the blade bones, and immediately 
below, we find the humerus, (I, skeletons,) or should¬ 
er bone, cylindrical and Btrong, forming with the 
blade-bone, the shoulder joint The action of this 
joint, together with that of the elbow, still further 
down, possesses much moto freedom in the horse 
than in the ox or sheep. 
Next in order is the radius. (K, reference as be¬ 
fore.) This is the bono o 1 the fore-arm—is strong, 
and in shape clylindricaL 1 n the horse, and, in fact, 
in all animals of which speed is a characteristic, 
this bone will be found lou a —where power to move 
is sluggish, or not req i al, short. 
The bone which forms to elbow,— ulna —(L, in 
engraving)—does not support much of the weight 
of the animal, but serves to attach the powerful 
muscles, so noticeable i t bones, with good fore¬ 
arms. The attachment f the ulna to the radius 
forms a lever. The vim rises above the joint of 
the elbow, forming a I ick for it, but does not 
extend downwards to tin -nee. 
The carpus, or kiu ed of seven distinct 
bones, placed in two rows. The 
upper row articulates with the 
radius; bo lower with the can¬ 
non or metacarpus, as represent¬ 
ed in ' ro- annexed engraving.— 
These bones are also plainly 
giv en i i the plate of the skeleton, 
letter AL They are thus de¬ 
scribed:— a, the humerus; b, the 
inet:u i -pus, or large metacarpal 
bono l- tho external small met¬ 
acarpal bone; d, the internal 
small ictacarpal bone; e, e, the 
bones of the knee firmly bound 
togetLer by ligaments, and yet 
so disposed as to admit of three 
distinct articulations. 
In connection with tb keieton of a Leicester 
sheep, we give an eng:-a. ag of two of the New 
Leicester, or I bike well v : 1 the N. Y. State 
Fair, held in this ciiy in 1 .1, thosu represented by 
onr illustration took rhe : • premium, as the best 
“buck and ewe of long v> bed 8b88p on exhibition.” 
The unimproved or “old” '■ ter was a large, 
heavy, coarse wooled l n <1 < i beep, inhabiting 
the midland conntie s of K- gk.nd. It is described 
as having been a “ slow fasde i ., and its flesh coarse¬ 
grained, and with little flavor.” Size and weight 
of fleece seemed to be the great object with the 
breeders of that period. Mr. Bakkwell was the 
first to institute experiments, and adopt a system 
calculated to end in improvement. After a series 
of trials, the new breed was introduced, and the 
results of the manner of breeding adopted by Mr. 
B. were regarded as wonderful. It was unrivalled 
for its fattening properties, and in England,—where 
mutton is generally eaten by the laboring classes, 
its meat was in great demand. The wool of the 
New Leicester is, after the first shearing, about six 
inches in length, and the weight of the fleece 
averages about six pounds. The wool is coarse, 
and is seldom used for the manufacture of cloth; 
but for a combing wool stands among the first.— 
As regards its fitness for the American breeder, 
Randall’s fcheep Husbandry remarks :—“ Our long, 
cold winters, but more especially our dry, scorch¬ 
ing summers, when it is often difficult to obtain 
the rich, green, tender feed in which the Leicester 
delights — the general want of green feed in the 
winter, robs it of its early maturity, and even of the 
ultimate size which it attains in England. Its 
mutton is too fat, and the fat and lean are too little 
intermixed, to suit American taste. Its wool is not 
very salable, from the much to bo regretted dearth 
of worsted manufactories in our country. But, 
notwithstanding all these disadvantages, on rich 
lowland farms, in the vicinities of considerable 
markets, it will generally make a profitable return.” 
The desirable characteristics of the New Leices- 
ters, are thus described by Mr. Youatt :—“The 
head should be hornless, long, small, tapering 
WINTER MANAGEMENT OF MANURE. 
THE “ WHEEL-BARRO (V SYSTEM.” 
“Wiiew! The ‘wheel-barrow system’ of manag¬ 
ing manure ! What next shall we see in these Ag¬ 
ricultural papers?” 
Thus, possibly, exclaims some reader of the 
Rural. But hold, my friend. If a farmer, let me 
inquire, do you own a wheel-barrow ? If not, invest 
$5 in a good one, r - ight off. You will find it ex¬ 
tremely useful, though you should not adopt the 
“ Wheel-barrow System.” When you drew out 
your manure, last spring, did you find it of best 
toward the muzzle, and projecting horizontally 
forward. The eye3 prominent, but with a quiet 
expression. The ears thin, rather long, and direct¬ 
ed backward. The neck full and broad at its base, 
where it proceeds from the chest, so that there is, 
with the slightest possible deviation, one continued 
horizontal line from the rump to the poll. The 
breast broad and full; the shoulders also broad 
and round, and no uneven or angular formation 
where the shoulders join either the neck or tho 
back—particularly no rising of the withers, or 
hollows behind the situations of these bones. The 
arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even 
down to the lcneo. The bones of the leg small, 
standing wide apart; no looseness of skin about 
them, and comparatively bare of wool. The chest 
and barrel at once deep and round; the ribs form¬ 
ing a considerable arch from the spine, so as in 
some cases, and especially when the animal is in 
good condition, to make the apparent width of the 
chest even greater than the depth. The barrel 
ribbed well home; no irregularity of line on the 
back or belly, but on Hie sides; the carcass very 
gradually diminishing in width toward the rump. 
The quarters long and full, and, as with the fore 
legs, the muscles extending down to the hock; the 
thighs also wide and full. The legs of a moderate 
length; the pelt also moderately thin, hut soft and 
elastic, and covered with a good quantity of white 
wool — not so long as in some breeds, but consid- 
! erably finer.” 
quality? Do you Bay, “Don’t know—didn’t ob¬ 
serve particularly; got it all out though, and 
plowed it under for corn and potatoes!” Right 
cnongb, so far, but let us tell you, what you might 
have observed, as to quality ,—what we have noticed 
when drawing out manure. 
“ You!”yes ,personal experience in the barn-yard! 
It is an axiom in hydrostatics that “water runs 
down hill.” It certainly does so in the barn-yard. 
And, let the yard be as level as it may, there is al¬ 
ways a “ lowest place,” and in spring time, that 
place is full, to running over, of water. It is a dark, 
colored fluid, and flows away, it is to be hoped 
