•PM 
m 
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
MOORE’S RURAL UEW-YORKER, 
question, how can the farmer make corn, wheat, 
meat, batter, cheese, Sec., at the least cost, is yet 
open for argument, and particularly for those stub¬ 
born things, facts. Every farmer can do something 
towards solving thi3 problem. By keeping the ne¬ 
cessary accounts he can tell how much it costs him 
per bushel to produce the different grains, &c., un¬ 
der different systems of cultivation, and which, 
under all circumstances, is best fer the farmer and 
the farm. It is such facts as these, derived from 
actual experience, that we are anxious to lay be¬ 
fore our readers. 
In the Rural of February 20th and 27th, we gave 
an article on the comparative nutrition of food, to 
which we call the attention of our correspondent, 
as we there gave the value of the most common 
articles of food, as shown both by experiments and 
analyses. Th9 present season we hope to add to 
our stock of knowledge on this question. The 
great difficulty with experiments made here lias 
been their unreliable nature, in consequence of the 
carelessness of those who made them. Our cor¬ 
respondent can learn something for himself, and 
soon be prepared to add his mite to the stock of 
general knowledge. One reliable fact is worth a 
hundred doubtful statements. 
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
In our last issue we gave brief descriptions of the 
external portions of the foot of the horse, and now 
direct the attention of Rural readers to the beauti¬ 
ful complications existing in its internal structure. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be nnsurpafleed in 
Value, Parity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and unique and 
beautiful in Appearance Its Conductor devotee bis 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 benntiful Engravings, 
than any other journal,— rendering it the most complete Agricultu¬ 
ral Literary and Family Jourxal in America 
All communications, and business letters, should ke addressed 
to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
tront and back view ox tub bones ox xnu foot. 
Nearly one-half of the cavity of the hoof is occu¬ 
pied by the coffin bone, c, c, and it resembles the 
hoof which surrounds it in shape. A large number 
of vascular and fibrous plates—passing between the 
corresponding horny plates, arranged on the inner 
surface of the crust, — act as the connecting links, 
and securely attach the coffin bone and hoof. Upon 
this union depends the supporting power of the 
body. This bone is a curious formation, being 
pierced with a large number of holes, and through 
these the nerves and arteries pass and are thus pre¬ 
served from iDjury. The back part of this bone is 
mostly taken np by a soft, elastic substance and 
cartilage. The back portions, or wings, as they are 
termed, contain within them the navicular, a bone 
of diminutive size lying lengthwise across the foot 
The navicular bone, d, lies partly behind and a 
little on the coffin bone, and transversely between 
the wings. This bom; presents three articulating 
(jointing) surfaces, and, 'on its uppermost part, is 
rough. The entire back portion of this bone is a 
jointing surface, corresponding with the flexor 
tendon, which glides over it, as though on a pully, 
just before it is inserted underneath. 
The small pastern, b, b, is a short, thick bone, 
partly lying within hut mostly above the horny 
cavity of the foot. “ ‘ 
THE PARSNIP 
A, Spring; B, B, Water- 
F, Pipe used to conduct wab 
■course; C, Fountain 
er from roof of Barn. 
D, Fen-stock and Trough; E, S, Sections of Pipe 
We wish to call the attention of our readers to a 
valuable root, too much neglected in this country, 
the Parsnip. No root is better, and we think 
hardly as good, for fattening hogs, or cattle, or for 
feeding to milch cows. Pigs will leave almost any 
other food for the parsnip, as any of our readers 
may learn by trying the experiment In Europe 
many thousands of hogs are fattened every year 
entirely on this vegetable, particularly on the Islands 
of Jersey and Guernsey. The English think the pars¬ 
nip makes sweeter pork than any other feed, but pre- 
ier to give ground peas or barley! for a couple of 
weeks before killing, to harden the meat Butter 
made in the winter from the milk of cows fed on 
paisnips is said to be of as fine a color and as ex¬ 
cellent flavor as when the animals are feeding on 
the best pastures. 
We quote the following statements from the best 
English authority:—“As parsnips contain six per 
cent more mucilage than carrots, the difference 
may be sufficient to account for the superior fatten¬ 
ing, as well as butter-making quality of the parsnip. 
In the fattening of cattle the parsnip is found su¬ 
perior to the carrot, performing the business with 
as much expedition, and affording meat of exqui¬ 
site flavor, and of a highly juicy quality; the ani¬ 
mals eats with much greediness. It is reckoned 
that thirty perches, where the crop is good, will 
I fatten an ox three or four years old, in ordinary 
store condition, in the course of three months._ 
The parsnips are given in the proportion of about 
thirty pounds weight, morning, noon, and night; 
the large ones being split into three or four pieces^ 
and a little hay snpplied in the intervals of these 
periods. The result of experiment has showD, that 
not only in neat cattle, but in the fattening of hogs 
and poultry, the animals become fat much sooner, 
and are more healthy than when fed with any other 
root or vegetable; and that, besides, the meat is 
more sweet and delicious. The parsnip leaves 
being more bulky than those of carrots, may be 
mown off before taking the roots, and given to 
oxen, cows, or horses, by which they will be 
greedily eaten.” 
Now, if this is the true character of the parsnip 
WATER WORKS FOR FARMERS. 
The great convenience and value of a constant 
supply of running water at and near farm build¬ 
ings, ought to induce more attention to the matter. 
Many farmers, who might readily and cheaply ob¬ 
tain spring water for house, stock, irrigation, Ac., 
suffer continuous vexation and inconvenience, if 
not positive loss, by neglecting to take advantage 
of the facilities within their reach, and adopting 
the improved methods of elevating and conveying 
water. By means of the water-ram and pipe, water 
may be elevated a considerable distance from a 
spring or stream where a small fall can be obtained, 
and conveyed almost any distance ordinarily re¬ 
quired by farmers. And where a spring is elevated, 
the water, as is well known, can he conveyed 
through wooden or other pipes to any part of the 
fanner’s or manufacturer’s premises. Without 
wishing to specially advertise any one’s wares—for 
this article is designed to benefit readers who can 
adopt its suggestions advantageously—we will 
briefly illustrate what may be done by those located 
near an elevated spring or stream of water. 
The above engraving is intended to represent 
a farm honse and grounds supplied with w r ater 
by means of the improved Wooden Water-Pipe 
manufactured by I. S. IIobbik & Co., of thiB city.— 
The water is brought from a spring in the distance 
to the honse, where it is used for a fountain (as 
shown in the engraving,) but may be conducted to 
any part of the house or grounds at pleasure.— 
From the dwelling it is carried to the barn-yard 
and discharged through a penstock into a trough 
for the use of farm stock. Overflowing the trough 
it crosses the yard in a rivulet and forms a pond 
wherein ducks, geese, Ac., may sport in their favor¬ 
ite element. 
The pipe above alluded to is a superior article, 
and its extreme cheapness places it within the 
reach of persons of moderate means. Any farmer 
having access to a spring of the proper elevation 
on or near his premises, can, by the use of this or 
similar pipe, arrange very convenient “water 
works,” thus securing the advantages of a running 
stream. We are decidedly in favor of this kind of 
“pipe laying”—thinking it far more useful and 
commendable than that used by politicians.— 
Hence, we advise those of our readers who are fa¬ 
vorably situated—i. e., such as can obtain water at 
a proper elevation—to construct water works on 
their premises. The pipe named, or other kinds, 
can he obtained in most sections of the country at 
a small expense, and if properly put down (below 
the reach of frost,) will last many years and pay 
good dividends. 
This bone is usually one and 
one-half inches in length, two inches wide, and one 
inch thick. The pasterns, small and large, (the 
latter designated by letters a, a,) together with‘the 
coffin hones, are the most common seats of the 
ossific disease known as ring-bone. Percival, in 
the examination of one hundred and fifty speci¬ 
mens of the kind, found five of complete anchylosis 
of the fetlock joint; forty of the pastern joint, arid 
eighteen of the coflin joint “The others,” he re¬ 
marks, “were either simply incrusted, more par¬ 
ticularly around their extremities, with layers of 
new bone, or are variously deformed by exostosis 
of different shapes, many of which are very large, 
and several of them confined to one side. Upon 
one of the pastern bones a complete osseous ring 
was formed, the result of ossification of the flexor 
perforata.t tendon. In nearly all, the disease ap¬ 
pears to have taken rise at and to have spread 
from, the pastern joint; there being but few speci¬ 
mens in which some osseous secretion is not ob¬ 
served around the lower end of the pastern bone 
and the upper one of the coronet bone, which is 
the kind of deposition that gives rise to ring-bone.” 
The small pastern articulates with the large one, 
behind which latter is a rough border which 
receives the perforatus tendon. 
11 me question was simply how to raise large 
crops, we could answer it very easily. Manure and 
labor, if rightly used, will grow crops to almost an 
unlimited extent The great question is, how to 
obtain the one the cheapest and how to use 
both to the best advantage. The farmer may 
grow seventy bushels of wheat to the acre, and ob¬ 
tain the first premium—a gold medal, or a diploma 
—for the largest crop grown in the State or Nation, 
and the wonderful performance be heralded through 
all the papers in the land; yet, if this large crop 
cost more for manure, labor, Ac., than it would 
bring in the market, what has been gained, and 
who would like to follow such an example? The 
farmer that raised twenty-five bushels at a cost that 
would allow him a good profit would be far more 
worthy of a premium—supposing, of course, that 
he had not robbed his soil of its fertility, for in 
that case it might cost mor© to repair the injury 
done to the soil than the profit on the crop. 
The farmer, like the merchant, the mechanic, or 
the professional man, pursues his business to earn 
a livelihood for himself and family, and to accu¬ 
mulate a small store against a day of adversity—of 
sickness or old ago. No merchant or mechanic 
would boast of his large sales, or think he was do¬ 
ing a business that he had any reason to be proud 
of, if to secure this business he had to sell at cost, 
or less. So, while it is well for the farmer to strive 
to raise large crops and the merchant to do a large 
business, as, other things being equal, the larger the 
business and crops, the more satisfactory the re¬ 
sults—the main point is the profit. . 
The farm is truly a manufactory where is made 
bread and meat, and all the necessaries of life._ 
M e might be able to get along without manufac¬ 
tories for silk, cotton, or even woolen goods, but 
let the factories that make our bread and meat 
t, The extensor tendon. 
j, The suspensory ligament, k, 
Ic, The capsular ligament enclosing l, The fetlock joint.— 
m, The pastern joint, n, The coflin joint, o, The horny 
crust, p, p, The horny sole, q, The frog, r, The sensi¬ 
ble lamina;, e, The sensible sole, t, The sensible frog.— 
u, The cushion, v, The navicular joint. 
The sesamoid bones, e, are double in the horse, 
and are placed back of the fetlock. These bones 
are held by the suspensory ligament, and are half 
conical, half triangular in shape — nearly three- 
fourths of an inch in length; half an inch in 
breadth, and present, in the front, an articulating 
surface to the metacarpal hone. 
In passing upwards from the foot we find that 
the leg, or shank, is formed by the cannon or large 
metacarpal bone, and the two small matacarpal 
bones. On its upper surface the large metacarpal 
articulates with the lower row of the bones of the 
knee, and on the lower surface with the upper head 
of the large pastern. The fetlock joint is formed 
by these and the two small bones at the back, the 
ossa sesamoidea, described in preceding paragraph. 
The tendons compose a very important portion 
of the anatomy and physiology of the foot, but as 
they do not properly belong to osseous formation 
we can but mention them in this connection.— 
There are only four of any consequence below the 
knee—the flexor pedis perforatus, p, p, originating 
from the lower part of the humerus, passing down 
the back part of the radius, and sheathing itself a 
little above the fetlock joint,—the perforans tendon, 
S’ S< S’ closely blended with tho former in its ori¬ 
gin, bat continuing fleshy somewhat longer — the 
1 extensor pedis, rising from the outer portion of the 
radius, and becoming tendinous a little above the 
knee—and the extensor suffraginis, a smaller muscle 
than the last, rising from the upper and outer por¬ 
tion of the radius and ulna. 
We have thus dissected, and again placed in po¬ 
sition the osseous structure of our domestic animals, 
giving to each portion “a local habitation and a 
name.” Those of our readers who are in posses¬ 
sion of stock, and are, therefore, interested in its 
health and well-being, will find the study of Com¬ 
parative Anatomy one worthy the highest powers 
of mind. In this department of knowledge, we are, 
comparatively speakin; 
nishing to each other facts which are the result of 
close observation and practical experience. No 
other field presents a more beautiful range for 
thought and action. Diseases are multiplying—the 
brute creation needs the fostering care of man—the 
system of cruelties, fit only for a state of barbarism, 
must be exorcised — and Veterinary Science will 
furnish the remedies for the first, the kindly care 
of the second, and write for the last tho edict of 
banishment. 
ESSAY ON THE POTATO ROT: 
ITS CAUSE, AND BEST MEANS OF PREVENTION. 
BY EDWARD MASON. 
Editors Rural:—So many of your subscribers 
have made inquiries concerning the real naturo of 
the Potato Rot, and the best means of preventing 
it, that I am induced to lay my views on these 
subjects before your readers. Three years ago the 
Michigan State Agricultural Society offered a prize 
of $100, for the discovery of the cause of the Rot 
and a remedy for it Among others, I competed 
for the prize. The Executive Committee did not 
| award the premium to any of the essays, but they 
[ acknowledged that my views were the most natural, 
and they returned me a vote of thanks, in the 
following words: 
“Moved, by W. S. H. Welton, Esq., of Grand 
Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan, that the thanks of this 
Society are due, and are hereby rendered, to Ed¬ 
ward Mason, Esq., of Detroit, Mich., for his inter¬ 
esting and able essay on the Potato Rot; that they 
consider it worthy a prominent place in their 
Transactiens, and therefore request a copy for 
publication.” 
I am particular in calling attention to the fore- 
going resolution, for the purpose of showing that 
the agriculturists of Michigan approve of my opin¬ 
ions; and that their practice is correct, is evident 
from the fact, that Michigan now exports large 
quantiles of polaloesfo New York, Ohio, and several 
other Slates, and if you allow us to he the carvers, 
we will appropriate a considerable portion of the 
merit of this state of things to ourselves. I have 
been very extensively engaged in the cultivation 
of potatoes; and have made the rot, or potato 
Extirpation of Moss from Meadows. —In the 
Journal of the Agricultural Society of Hanover, 
salt is recommended for this purpose. It is stated 
to have proved efficacious during several year's 
trial. This salt is sown broadcast, and in a few 
weeks after its application the moss (and heath) 
begins to wither, and shortly is destroyed; in its 
place sweet grasses and nutritious plants make 
their appearance, and the herbage on the salted 
spots is greatly relished by cattle. It is warned 
not to use too much salt, else the grass itself is in¬ 
jured; the proper quantity is (in English measure) 
VERTICAL SECTION OF THK FOOT AJ«D FART OF THB LEG. 
a. The large metacarpal or cannon bone, b, The os 
suffraginis, or large pastern bone, e, One of the sesa¬ 
moid bones in which the suspensory ligament is inserted. 
it. The os corona: or small pastern hone, e, The navicu¬ 
lar bone, f, The os pedis or coflin bone, g, g, g, The 
flexor perforans tendoD, passing down the leg, and inserted 
.nto the coffin bone, h, A, The flexor perforatus tendon. 
in the dark, yet we can all 
in building up the Art Veterinarian by fur- 
