n 
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
“PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
Y0L. IX. NO. I5.| 
1 
ROCHESTER, N. Y„-SATURDAY, APRIL HI, 1858. 
1 1 
{WHOLE NO. 431. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Mterary niul Family Newspaper* 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AH ABLE COBPS OP ASSISTANT SDITOKS. 
Thb Rural New-Yorker is designed to be nnsnrpassed 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 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 Literart and Family Journal in America 
SPECIAL CONTHEBCTOIiS« 
Phot. C. DEWEY, I/r. M. F. MAURY, 
T. C. PETERS, H. T. BROOKS, 
T. a ARTHUR, Mas. M. J. HOLMES, 
Miss E. C. HUNTINGTON, Miss C. A HOWARD. 
JENNY MARSH PARKER 
cr All communications, and business letters, should be addressed 
to D, D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
For Terj& and other particulars, see last page. 
CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING. 
On no subject, perhaps, is information more 
needed than that of Cheese-making, and we are not 
surprised, therefore, at the receipt of several in¬ 
quiries on this important matter. A correspond¬ 
ent in Genesee county, Michigan, says Hamburg 
cheese is worth one-third more than the cheese 
made there, and asks if, with the same care and 
skill, the farmers and dairymen of that State cannot 
make as good cheese, and get as good prices as 
those of any other place. Good cheese is scarce 
and dear, poor cheese is abundant and dear at any 
price. The poor housekeeper in any of our cities, 
who unfortunately knows what a good cheese is, 
and can’t relish a poor, hard, white-oak affair, or 
worse yet, a soft watery thing, with a strong, putrid 
taste and smell, must make a long and diligent 
search before he can find an article which he con¬ 
siders eatable. When we have seen persons eat 
the poorest kind of an apology for cheese, with 
apparent relish, we have almost been led to say, 
" where ignorance is bliss ’tis folly to be wise.” 
The eating public—a very numerous class—arc 
beginning, however, to appreciate good cheese, as 
is very clearly shown by the high price which a 
good article commands, and the difficulty with 
which it is obtained. About a year ago, happening 
to he in a city west of this, we observed some fine 
looking cheese in a store, and thinking we might 
add to our stock of knowledge, if not to our store 
of provisions, we entered, inquired the price, place 
of manufacture, tested the quality, Ac. We soon 
learned that the best cheese we could not buy. It 
was sent to New York city, and was principally 
used in the first class hotels. 
Those who skim milk before curding, cannot 
expect to make a first rate article, and perhaps 
they receive a full equivalent in the butter for what 
they lose in the quality and price of the cheese; 
hut many use new milk—all the material necessary 
to make a cheese of the highest order, but for want 
of care or knowledge, or both, fail to produce an 
article that commands a fair and remunerative 
price. It is for the benefit of such that we desire 
to give reliable information from practical and 
successful cheese-makers. Should we attempt to 
show by figures, the amount lost to the farmers of 
this country by the manufacture of poor cheese, 
many would he startled at the result As we have 
not space to devote to this question, we will Kimjily 
state, that if, by increased attention to this subject 
and a better system of making, two cents per pound 
should be added to the value of the cheese manu¬ 
factured in the United States, it would put over 
two-and-a-half millions of dollars into the pockets 
of the farmers of the country every year. 
We are anxious to aid in the accomplishment of 
so desirable a result, and therefore call upon our 
readers who are competent to throw light on this 
subject to do so at once, through the pages of the 
Rural A subscriber at Dereham, Canada West, 
who exhibited some excellent cheese at the last 
Provincial Show, and took the first premium, 
promised us an article on the subject. Moses 
Eames, of Jefferson Co., is a good cheese-maker, 
as we have reason to know. A host of others 
among our friends, we might name, who should let 
their light shine. While waiting for these, we give 
the statement of Nelson Fry, of St Lawrence Co., 
furnished for the State Transactions. Mr. F. took 
the first Premium in 1S5G, and in 1857 exhibited 
ten superior cheeses, which arrived too late for 
competition, but which the Committee stated were 
equal to the best on exhibition. 
“I do not warm all the milk at any season, but I 
heat up about one-eighth part of the milk, as that 
mixed with the remaining seven-eighths, the whole 
will be warmed to 90°, Fahrenheit; 86° will do in 
very warm weather. In this state, i. e., the whole 
mass of milk being warmed to 90°, I add the ren¬ 
net. Early in the spring, and after cold weather 
sets in, I wish the mass of milk to be warmed fully 
to 90°, to do which requires the portion heated up 
to he made warmer than in hot weather. 
I use calves’ rennet I full salt and dry the ren¬ 
nets for use. I soak in cold water in a stone jar 
three rennets with a little salt, sage, cloves and 
cinnamon; to three rennets put, say three quarts 
of water. To make a 100 pounds of cheese I use 
nearly a pint of this liquid. I break the curd with 
a tin cheese cutter, into fine squares, and then mix 
intimately by hand; then let it stand until the whey 
rises and the curd settles, stirring occasionally and 
dipping off the whey as fast as it rises. As soon 
and fast as possible after dipping off the whey we 
heat it up, and as soon as it is hot enough we dip 
it back into the curd for scalding; this we do 
gradually, stirring constantly, and when the whole 
mass is at 105° and thoroughly mixed, we let it 
stand forty or fifty minutes, until the curd becomes 
crumbly and will be springy when squeezed in the 
hand, and will squeak when pulled between the 
teeth. Don’t vary the rule of scalding on account 
of the weather, except that in cold weather it will 
require more hot whey, or hotter whey, to bring 
the mass to 90°. 
We spread a strainer on a large sink, (prepared 
for the purpose) and the whey drains off of itself 
without any squeezing, and while lying in the sink, 
on the strainer, I salt it, without minding the 
temperature—salting as soon as the whey is drained 
off. To each 17 lbs. of cheese I use one teacupful 
of Onondaga salt, and apply as stated above — 
mixing very fine. I let the curd get cold, before 
putting to press; if put to press warm the cheese 
will stick to the strainer and will never have a 
smooth rind. I use a patent cheese press, called 
the selfpresser; I don’t know the amount of power; 
no danger of pressing to hard. I keep the cheese 
in press about 7 hours—then take it out of the 
hoop, turn it upside down, bandage it and put it 
to press for twelve or fourteen hours longer. 
I put no coloring matter in the cheese, hut I put 
in all the cream, which gives a rich, right color; 
outside we mix a very small quantity of annatto 
with whey butter, with this we rub the outside of 
the cheese, but I use only a very little coloring 
matter. I commence rubbing the outside ©f the 
cheese perhaps an hour after it is taken from the 
press; but not until the rind begins to dry off. I 
have never been troubled with flies when I pursue 
the old method, and rub every part of every cheese, 
every day with my hand. 
I never had cheese swell much. I think it is 
caused by—1st. Too little salt; 2d. Too much ren¬ 
net; 3d. If milk or curd was any part of it sour be¬ 
fore put in press, it might produce puffing; 4th. 
Want of cleanliness may induce a sour state in some 
parts of the elements of the cheese.” 
THE CLOVER CROP. 
The time is at hand for giving attention to sow¬ 
ing clover seed—a matter of more importance to 
the farmer than it is generally considered. It 
should he the rule upon most farms, that every 
acre of winter grain must he seeded down to clo¬ 
ver, to remain at least one, and not more than 
three years, in meadow or pasture. And spring 
grains should not he sown crop after crop—clover 
should follow, at least, after spring wheat and 
barley. 
In sowing clover seed in the spring upon winter 
wheat and rye, we find, probably, the best means 
of seeding down for the clover crop. With us, it 
has usually been more successful than seeding with 
any spring crop. And, we think, for the following 
reasons:—Wheat is generally sown upon a good 
soil—and one that suits the clover plant. The 
clover is sown early and thus gets some root be¬ 
fore the summer drouth comes oil Wheat and 
rye are both harvested early, which allows more 
time for growth of clover the remainder of the 
season. As a general thing, plaster is sown on 
clover thus situated, and benefits both crops. 
When clover is sown on barley, it will be more 
successful if the following precautions are observ¬ 
ed:—Let both be sown early, and the clover seed 
either harrowed in before rolling, which will 
give sufficient covering for seed so minute in size. 
When the clover appears above ground, sow on 
plaster — about one bushel per acre. The same 
course of treatment should be pursued in seeding 
with spring-wheat or oats, and it is thought that 
plaster is a material benefit to the latter crop. In 
our experience in seeding with barley, we sowed 
one crop after harrowing and without rolling—the 
“ catch” was a poor one, but the spring following 
we sowed in more seed, which did something to¬ 
ward supplying the deficiency. In another case 
we harrowed in the clover seed, and plastered the 
same, the “ catch” was a very good one, and when 
the barley was harvested (a heavy crop) the clover 
covered the ground very completely. The season, 
it should he remarked, was, in the first instance, 
one of drouth, in the second, a rather wet one; 
which, no doubt, influenced the result in both cases. 
Clover seed, more than one year old, does not 
vegetate as readily as fresh seed, unless the hard 
shell, with which it is enveloped, from favorable 
conditions of warmth and moisture, becomes soft¬ 
ened; aud this explains the reason why soaking 
seed in warm water and rolling it in plaster, some¬ 
times shows so favorably upon the crop—and also 
why old seed sometimes fails to vegetate until the 
second year. 
It is a mistaken economy which would give but 
a partial supply of seed when stocking to clover. 
Enough should he sown to fully cover the surface 
even when small—thus all foreign growth will be 
discouraged—many weeds will be destroyed, and 
the hay or pasture be of better quality. On soils, 
subject to heaving out, it is well to sow a mixture 
of grass seed—Timothy succeeds better here—the 
tap root of the clover making it peculiarly liable 
to be drawn out by the alternate action of freezing 
and thawing. Draining is the great want of such 
soils—a porous soil is never injured by this cause, 
it will not hold water enough to cause it, when 
frozen, to tear everything growing in it, into pieces. 
Fall seeding to clover is not usually practiced, 
though, sometime since, a correspondent gave 
some instances where it was successful. We 
should be glad to know more of this, and, indeed, 
all branches of the subject, and hope Rural readers 
will give us the benefit of their experience. 
Niagara Co., N. Y., 1858. B. 
SCIENTIFIC TERMS-THEIR NECESSITY. 
In the preceding papers I have given a sort of 
definition of some Scientific Terms, that any one 
may see both the necessi / and utility of them. It 
may be well to consider in what way we know 
things and can define them, so that one may under¬ 
stand or ascertain them. 
Things are known by their properties or qualities, 
often called their characters. These properties are 
exceedingly numerous and different. Somethings 
have many of them, some fewer, and several of the 
same properties are common to different things.— 
Those, therefore, must be selected, which are found 
in the particular thing, and characterize it, or exist 
in such a degree as to designate an appreciable 
difference. Bodies may be solid, liquid, or aeri¬ 
form or gaseous, three different states, which all 
know. Myriads of bodies are solid, and many are 
liquid—mere solidity or liquidity, then, will not be 
a distinguishing property. Others must be added, 
and the relative degree of the quality. Thus, dia¬ 
mond is the hardest substance, and that property 
would define it to you, if you could try it with all 
other quite hard bodies. But, as you cannot, take 
other properties for the purpose, as its relative 
lightness, its crystalline form, its transparency, its 
great power of refracting and reflecting light, and 
hence, its brilliancy, its brittleness and its being 
combustible, and you define it. No other precious 
stone has all these properties. 
Suppose a person does not know gold, how will 
you describe it, so that he may know it? Gold is 
a metal, solid, deep yellow, not hard, very heavy, 
malleable and ductile, and is the only pure metal 
of a deep yellow color. It is nineteen times heavier 
than water, and this relative weight defines it The. 
word comes to us from an old language, the Celtic 
probably, where it meant color or brightness. The 
Danish spell the word guld, from gul or yellow, and 
hence comes the pronunciation, often heard in 
olden English, goold or gould. 
Take the word, gas, now so common, and often 
so puzzling. This was derived from a word which 
means ghost or spirit, because life is continued by 
respiration or breathing of air. Clas then means 
the form of a body like that of air, or an aeriform 
matter. But the vapor of water and of some other 
bodies is aeriform, yet change back to liquid form 
when the temperature is lowered. A gas does not 
so change in the cold merely, and is commonly dis¬ 
tinguished from vapors by its being permanent in 
the ordinary changes of temperature. In the com¬ 
mon operations of nature the meaning of gas is a 
permanent, aeriform body. 
There are several gases, as oxygen, hydrogen, 
nitrogen, carbonic acid, hydro-carburet or illumi¬ 
nating gas. Now, some may ask, why not say oxy¬ 
gen air, hydrogen air, Ac., instead of oxygen gas ? 
Because air is used for the atmosphere around the 
earth, and a quart of oxygen is not the same as a 
quart of air; but being aeriform it is named gas, 
and not air, and the subject beesmes definite and 
clear. 
The properties of bodies affect our senses, and 
we thus get a knowledge of them. We have to 
make the experiment. If you never tasted any¬ 
thing sweet, no one can tell you what sweetness is, 
but you can learn it from a piece of sugar upon 
your tongue. The peculiar sweetness of honey 
cannot be learned from tasting sugar, or pepper¬ 
mints, but from tasting honey. Of many things, 
The above engraving is designed to represent 
Ketchum’s Combined Harvester, as improved 
for 1858, in operation as a Reaper. The inventor— 
who, as our readers will remember, was the pioneer 
in introducing the Mowing Machine—is confident 
that he has succeeded in perfecting such improve¬ 
ments as to render this Harvester the long-songht 
desideratum, combining, in one machine, all the 
essentials for both mowing and reaping in a very 
perfect manner. The machine, as now manufac¬ 
tured, is thus described by the inventor: 
“It will be observed that the frame has been dis¬ 
pensed with, and the gearing confined on one solid 
cast-iron {date, which must be very strong and du¬ 
rable; and, beside, there is no liability of the gear¬ 
ing getting out of mash.— That it has an expanding 
Reel, very simple, and so ingeniously arranged as 
to be readily attached (in changing the machine 
from a Mower to a Reaper,) and which is propelled 
by the main shaft.— That it has a new, strong and 
well-braced guard, which will not clog.—That it 
has an adjustable Roller with a lever (attached to 
the machine as a Mower — see figure 2,) by whicli 
the driver, while in his seat, can elevate the finger- 
bar and hold it in any desired position, for trans¬ 
portation, to pass over obstructions, and to aid in 
backing or turning corners.— And that it lias a 
Roller in the outer shoe, on which the finger-bar 
rests, which obviates all side draft and very much 
lessens the main draft. 
“The improvements, as represented and describ¬ 
ed on paper, cannot of course he so easily compre¬ 
hended as they would be by a sight and examination 
of the machine itself—yet the large engraving ex¬ 
hibits the main gearing, reel, roller in the outer 
shoe, and position of raker aud driver; while the 
small cut (representing the machine as a simple 
mower,) shows the adjustable roller, near the centre 
of the finger-bar, with lever attached, and within 
Fig. 2.—The Machine as a Mower. 
reach of the driver’s seat. But, as seeing is convin¬ 
cing and believing, we invite all interested to give 
our machine a personal examination, and decide 
in regard to its merits as improved. With the in¬ 
ventor’s constant attention, and a manufacturer 
who possesses both the ability and disposition to 
get up these machines in the most perfect and 
durable manner, using only the best materials and 
workmanship, we freely invite the closest and most 
critical examination and comparison of their merits 
and capacity.” 
— We may add that, having recently examined 
the Ketchuh Machine as now manufactured, we 
were much pleased with the decided improvements 
above described, and think they will greatly en¬ 
hance its value and popularity. 
there are not words to define them, and they must 
he seen or handled, Ac. So let the chemist show 
you the action of oxygen, hydrogen, Ac., and their 
relations, and you are no longer troubled by the 
words, gas, oxygen, Ac., and you can no longer 
talk without them. C. d. 
Rochester, March 26, 1858. 
PLAN FOR A HAY-RIGGING. 
Eds. Rural: — Some weeks since I noticed an 
inquiry for a plan for a hay-rigging to be placed 
upon the top of the wagon-box. I thought at the 
time that I would give a plan and also an opinion. 
Since then, some two or three have given the man 
what he did not ask for, and I expect you will have 
to describe every combination of poles, hoops, 
boards and scantling now in use for the purpose, 
before you have done with it Not to he last, I 
will give the inquirer the plan I have used when I 
thought it too much trouble to take the box off. 
Take two sticks of light, square stuff, of sufficient 
thickness to give the required strength, and also to 
bring the top of them, when laid across the wagon 
box, an inch above the hind wheels. These should 
be three feet longer than the box is wide. Lay 
one across the fore, and one across the hind end of 
the box. Bore two one-inch holes through each 
for pins to hold the whole rigging in place. These 
pins should be driven four inches through, and 
when properly placed will be exactly in each cor¬ 
ner of the box, and will leave an equal amount of 
timber projecting over each side. Procure a third 
stick of same length as the first two, but of half the 
thickness, and set it up edgewise across the middle 
of the box. Take two light inch boards, sixteen 
inches wide, and three feet longer than the box, — 
lay one on each side of the box even with the 
outer ends of the timber, letting the forward ends 
go as far ahead as possible without hitting the 
horses, — eighteen inches if it will admit. Lay 
across both fore and hind ends, boards ten or 
twelve inches wide. Now pin or bolt the boards 
together, and to the timbers, and it is done. 
If a single pin or bolt is used to each timber, the 
thing will shut up like a jack-knife, but the easiest 
way to handle it is to double pin the boards, and 
when taken off) drive along side a building or fence 
and slide it off, setting it upon its edge. With the 
materials on the spot it can be made in an hour, 
and it is strong, cheap, and durable. For light 
jobs of hauling it is very convenient, but for a 
heavy job, or even a day’s work, it is the meanest 
thing I ever worked with. Nevertheless it is almost 
as good as either of the kinds lately described in 
your paper. They have the advantage of being a 
few inches lower, but have the same fiat bed with 
no more chance to settle towards the centre. I 
have used them a good deal, but never liked them. 
Their liability to get out of repair, the danger of 
injury by falling through, and the ease with which 
their load “cants” to one side, renders them objec¬ 
tionable. And then their fantastic form! They 
look more like a hen-roost taking an airing than 
anything else. 
With your permission I will describe a rigging 
that I ha^e used for two years, and which is the 
best in every respect that I have yet seen where 
much service is required. It is light, strong, loads 
easily and holds its load, is of capacity for any 
team, handles easily and can be constructed by any 
person of ordinary mechanical genius. I will try 
to explain it so that every one can understand it 
It may be built of any length, but I will describe 
mine, which is fitted to a wagon three feet four 
inches between standards. The material consists 
of two pieces of pine plank, sixteen feet long, two 
by eight-inches — four pieces pine, four feet long, 
two by six inches — four pine boards sixteen feet 
long, six inches wide— one board sixteen feet 
long, and sixteen inches wide, and eight pieces of 
strong wood two inches thick, four inches wide at 
one end, two at the other end, and four feet long. 
Now, to construct it, take the two plank and make 
