TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
•'PROGRESS ANI) IMPROVEMENT. 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
YOL. IX, NO. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURDAY, OCTOBER %, 1858. 
i WHOLE NO. 458. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AH ABLE COUPS OP ASSISTANT EDITOI’.S. 
TnE Rural New-Yorker 13 designed to be unsurpassed in 
Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and unique aud 
bcantifol in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his personal atten¬ 
tion to the supervision of its various departments, and earnestly labors 
to render the Rural nn eminently Reliable Guide on the important 
Practical, Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected •with the 
business of those whose'tnterests 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 (lie most complete Agrscui.tu- 
ral, Literary and Family Journal in America. 
ITS*”All communications, and business letters, should be addressed 
to 1). D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. V. 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
THE RURAL AND ITS RURAL READERS. 
The subjoined article from a long-time reader 
and able correspondent, is worthy the special at¬ 
tention and profound consideration of those to 
whom it is chiefly addressed—the Practical Read¬ 
ers of the Rural. We have deferred its publica¬ 
tion for many weeks, in order to give it at a time 
when its arguments would be most likely to induce 
proper reflection and action on the p$rt of those 
en 8 a ged in Rural Pursuits — when the coming on 
apace of long evenings, and the season of compara¬ 
tive leisure for farmers, would enable the parties 
most interested to devote more thought to the 
subject discussed, in the confident behef that the 
suggestions of tho writer would thus lead to prac¬ 
tical, useful results. The article should be read 
and pondered by thousands of our readers — men 
of long experience ^n farming, possessing good 
sense and sound judgment, but who are too modest 
or indolent to give their just criticisms upon what 
may appear in the Rural, or communicate through 
its pages the results of their observation and 
experience for the information and benefit of 
its numerous readers throughout the country.— 
This is the class of men whose aid we have desir¬ 
ed and solicited from the commencement of the 
Rural, and hence we are glad to give the remarks 
of one who evidently appreciates our wants and 
knows by whom they can best be supplied. We 
are fully aware that “ the Rural is not what it 
ought to be ” — far from it — yet the fault is not 
alone attributable to the editor and his associates. 
We use the best material at our command—and if 
many communications given in these pages lack 
the sense, judgment and practical results which 
more experienced men could communicate, the 
reason is because the latter do not perform their 
duty to the Rural and its Readers, as we always 
give preference to practical articles from this class. 
As we have remarked on a former occasion, the 
primary object of this journal is to discuss and im¬ 
part information upon Practical and useful sub¬ 
jects — Agriculture, Horticulture, and kindred 
topics — to gather, arrange, condense and publish 
all the facts, results of observation, experience, &c., 
which comprise reliable knowledge or important 
suggestions for those engaged in Rural Pursuits. 
This has ever been and will continue to be our first 
endeavor; and we invite the aid and co-operation 
of all practical, experienced and scientific cultiva¬ 
tors in furtherance of an object so laudable, and of 
such vast consequence to the great mass of our 
large and constantly increasing parish of readers. 
We wish this class to manifest an interest in the 
Rural and the welfare of its readers—to give as 
well as receive useful and reliable knowledge_to 
write for as well as read its pages, and thus “teach 
one another.” As our correspondent suggests, the 
Rural has become a “National Institution.” It 
has tens of thousands of stockholders, all of whom, 
we trust, receive ample dividends annually —but 
these would be far greater and more satisfactory, 
were the large class now addressed to make proper 
investments, in the shape of contributions compris¬ 
ing the reliable results of their careful and accurate 
observation and experience in various branches 
of Culture and Husbandry. 
To the Readers of the Rural: —The present 
position of the Rural New-Yorker affords mate¬ 
rial for the soberest consideration of thinking men. 
This paper, since its first appearance, has risen 
rapidly into popularity and prosperity. From a 
local, it has passed into a National Institution, and 
now stands at the head of the Agricultural Jour¬ 
nalism of this Country. Its position demands that 
it not only be the promoter of our general and in¬ 
dividual interests, as farmers; but that it stand the 
true type and representative of the character, pro¬ 
gress and spirit of our Republic’s Agricultural 
Science and Industry. In the infancy of this paper, 
its welfare depended solely upon the editor and 
proprietor. He gave to the young enterprise the 
j aid of the best talent and skill he could command. 
He appealed justly to the wants of the farming 
community for support. At first it was looked 
upon as a pecuniary enterprise. By the attractions 
of a pleasing dress, and varied, genial and instruc¬ 
tive contents, it has attained its present high posi¬ 
tion. It was worth the subscription money, and 
people were satisfied. But now, such an estimate 
of this paper’s value, told in dollars and cents, 
would be regarded as short-sighted. Who does not 
attach to it a higher significance, a nobler mission? 
As the Rural has been elevated in station, its 
responsibilities have increased. And has not the 
change in its condition changed our relations with 
regard to it? 
Several practical questions suggest themselves, 
during the progress of such a train of thought. In 
the hope of arousing, here and there, some serious 
thought which may be the forerunner of action, 
the writer addresses the readers of the Rural at 
this time. By way of preface, I will say, that, tho’ 
the best of papers of the kind, the Rural is not 
what it ought to be. Where lies the fault, and 
where the remedy, I leave the reader to discern for 
himself. An agricultural paper may be aptly liken¬ 
ed to a bee-hive, and its editor to the queen bee.— 
The queen does not make all the honey, but all 
who, themselves or offspring, share in the gathered 
store, are expected to unite in the labor. Nor does 
the honey come from foreign fields, but from terri¬ 
tory of greater or less circuit about the hive. So 
the Rural hive is placed in a large, flowery field 
and the Ruralist bees are to gather the sweet ma¬ 
terials for'their queen. Dropping the figure, the 
Rural, in its wide circulation, comprises all varie¬ 
ties of soil and situation, aud its readers are pos¬ 
sessed of all kinds of talent, observation and expe¬ 
rience. And here the Rural must find its stock 
and its subscribers are duty bound to resolve them¬ 
selves' into a furnishing force. Now, a journal pro¬ 
motive of the interests of carpenters and architects 
has stores of scientific information at hand. There 
are books in abundance, treating of the science 
from its rudimentary principles to the most com¬ 
plicated and perfect achievements. Therein the 
carpenter of a barn and the architect of a cathe¬ 
dral may find complete directions. All that is 
required, is that the editor be a well-versed, scien¬ 
tific man. But the editor of an agricultural paper 
finds that his province is not that of theory. Math¬ 
ematics cannot demonstrate his problems. No 
library furnishes systems of Agriculture, where he 
can draw forth directions for his rustic disciples. 
More truth of this kind resides in the brains of liv¬ 
ing, observirg men, than was ever written. Farm¬ 
ing depends upon experiment and observation.— 
The fields are its laboratories—there the discoveries 
are made, and if ever this noblest of sciences, which 
is universally admitted to be in its veriest infancy, 
shall grow to vigorous manhood, it must be fed by 
those who are intimately conversant with the soil, 
and all the forms and circumstances of vegetation. 
The earth is neither miserly nor prodigal of her 
secrets. Every thinking, working man has wrung 
many precious truths from her, but men have to 
dig for them, for even the ancients had found out 
that “ truth resides in a well,” or a mine. 
We would have Rural subscribers feel that they 
are a mutual aid society,—that they are life-mem¬ 
bers of an agricultural association, whose motto is, 
“ Every man does his duty,”—and that the New- 
Yorker is their organ, containing their experien¬ 
ces and observations, and being ever their text-book 
of agricultural study. Is it too much to expect of 
every reader, that he shall contribute at least one 
truth, or one record of a new experiment, yearly? 
Does any farmer do his duty, if he lives on from 
year to year, without one carefal, earnest search 
for a new method of preserving or increasing his 
grains and fruits? Conclusions drawn from exper¬ 
iments are liable to be hasty, premature, sometimes 
quits ill-judged. There are so many accidents, so 
many varying circumstances, that a man might at¬ 
tribute an effect to a wrong agent Another man, 
trying the same experiment, might think he had 
found the producing cause in another object or 
circumstance. If they were dogmatists, they might 
each assert forever, that they were right—and both 
be wrong; or they might compare, and thus look 
upon both theories, as at least not proven. A bet¬ 
ter way would be to record in writing such experi¬ 
ment, and then modestly and qualifiedly append 
your own deduction drawn from the premises and 
send the statement to your paper. 0 thers who have 
engaged in a similar study will do likewise, and if 
the result is not the discovery of truth, it will at 
least narrow the limits which bound it, and make 
its attainment more easy and certain for another 
attempt It will do more; it will stir up investiga¬ 
tion among many who had never turned their at¬ 
tention in that direction. I have heard men criti¬ 
cise with great judgment, and utterly refute theo¬ 
ries and principles promulgated in our public 
prints, who never had written a line for the public 
benefit—men who, perhaps, with a sense of their 
ignorance thought themselves Incapable of teach¬ 
ing others; but should they not reflect that their 
fields and opportunities of observation, differ from 
all other men in some respects, and that conse¬ 
quently they ought to know some things unknown 
to others? 
If men would feel themselves so obligated—es¬ 
pecially the older class of men, by whose coversa- 
tion and judgment we are often made to feel our¬ 
selves great debtors—if they felt that they had an 
ownership in the Rural more valuable than any 
acre on their farm—if they would estimate its 
worth as an educator in their family circle, they 
would then be prepared to exert and enjoy a new 
and extended influence, and an impetus would 
ere long be given to Agriculture, which would give 
promise of soon turning farms into gardens, and 
agriculture into a synonym of all that is healthy, 
noble, and mind-expanding in human labor. 
A Reader. 
INDIAN CORN-HARVESTING. 
The comparative success of the corn crop this 
year, notwithstanding the many fears of its failure, 
will do much toward establishing it in the public 
favor, as the crop of the country—(if any thing was 
needed for that purpose)—and we shall see our 
best farmers giving It a greater share of their at¬ 
tention, hereafter. We believe that corn, properly 
cultivated, is “the sheet anchor of American Hus¬ 
bandry,” as turnips have been declared to be that of 
English farming; and if we employ this grain as 
our trans-Atlantic brethren do roots — feeding it 
out upon the farm—thus keeping more stock and 
making more manure — we shall find our farms 
constantly growing more productive, and better 
fitted for wheat and other grain crops. 
In speaking of this crop and its culture, less than 
three months ago, we remarked, that the yield per 
acre is almost uniformly in proportion with the 
attention given to the prepar ation of the soil—that 
less depended upon uniform!v favorable weather, 
blights, insects, and the like, than is the case with 
most other crops. If we have a rich soil, and time 
be given for maturing before heavy frosts, a good 
crop is as near a certainty as the farmer often 
finds himself in his agricultural operations. But 
it was our present purpose to speak more particu¬ 
larly of the corn harvest 
“Topping vs. Cutting up Corn,” was argued pro 
and con. some years since in these columns —we 
believe the latter “took the case.” Topping se¬ 
cures the better portion of the stalk before it is 
injured by frost; and, allowing free access of sun 
and air to the crop, may hasten its ripening. It 
requires leas labor, as less fodder is secured, and— 
but we must leave the advocacy of the practice to 
other pens—we always cut up our corn. And allow 
us here to state a fact, observed last winter. A 
neighbor, raising as much corn in proportion to 
his stock as we did, topped his corn—he began to 
feed bay Bix or eight weeks before we did, and kept 
his cattle in no better order. His top stalks were 
all gone, and his buts and husks left in the field, 
eaten or wasted, much sooner than they would have 
been under the cutting up system. 
When corn is fairly glazed, it is fit to cut up at 
the root, and thus all the fodder is secured—that 
portion “ only fit for manure” included, but it is in 
its place—the barn-yard—and of some value there, 
which can hardly be said of stalks left in the field 
to plow under. If a severe frost comes before com 
glazes, or if one is apprehended, the sooner it is 
cut up the better, but a slight frost often occurs, of 
little injury to the fodder, during the time of glaz¬ 
ing. We would cut up frosted green corn, to save 
it from that total drying out of juices, which seems 
to take place if allowed to remain as it grew, and 
which immediate cutting up prevents in greater or 
less degree. If not hurried by fear of frost, we 
should allow corn to stand until the husks began 
to loosen, to facilitate their removal in securing 
the crops. 
The implement used in cutting up corn, has been 
much improved and cheapened of late, and we now 
have them of fair character — light, efficient, and 
durable. Taking two rows at a time, about six 
hills are placed together for a bundle—tops to the 
left is most convenient. The binder follows with 
a small bundle of rye straw, from which he selects 
a band, and, stooping, ties the corn as it lies, if the 
cutter has taken the care he should to lay the stalks 
evenly in the bundle, otherwise they should be 
raised erect to bring them even and may be tied 
and left standing. Where one has small boys out 
of school, it is a convenience to the binder to have 
the bands carried, or dropped upon the bundles be¬ 
fore him, and we own to thus spending some days 
every year of our boyhood. The bundles should 
be placed in stooks of from six to ten bundles—set 
up firmly and bound with two bands, double, and a 
single one near t h e top. Th us stooked, they will 
cure in good order, and may~stand~for weeks, or 
even months without injury. 
Another method is to cut and set up some twen¬ 
ty-five or thirty hills around one, without binding 
into separate bundles. This saves time in cutting, 
but the Btalks are not as convenient, either to husk 
or feed out, as when bound in ths manner noticed 
DESIGN FOR A PIGGERY. 
Messrs. Eds.: —The most of my life (twenty years) 
has been devoted to mercantile business—The last few 
years, however, I have given some attention to the more 
pleasant duties of an agriculturist. I find your excellent 
paper an indispensable source of knowledge to a young 
farmer desirous of availing himself of all the recent im¬ 
provements in this noble science. I have noticed many 
excellent plans for Barns, Cottages, laying out of Grounds, 
&c., in the Rural, and some of them I have adopted. I 
am now preparing to erect a C©rn House and Hog Pen, 
designed for fattening as well as for store hogs. I do not 
recollect of seeing any plan of the kind in any paper. 
Can you give me one, and perhaps benefit Eiany of your 
other subscribers at the kme time?—D. 31. Fox, Li/ 0 . 10 , 
Ionia Co., Mich., 1858. 
In answer to the above, and several other in¬ 
quiries on the same subject, we give the accom¬ 
panying engravings and description of a Piggery, 
from Allen's Rural Architecture, which were pub¬ 
lished in the Rural leveral years since. If any of 
our readers can furnish a better or cheaper plan, 
we will give it a place in our columns, for we know 
many would like a good and convenient piggery 
at less cost: 
The design here given, is for a building 3G feet 
long, and 24 feet wide, with 12 feet posts; the 
lower, or living-room for the swine, 9 feet high, 
and a storage chamber above, for the grain and 
other food required for their keeping. The roof has 
a pitch of 40° from a horizontal line, spreading 
over the sides and gables at least twenty inches, 
and coarsely bracketed. The entrance front pro¬ 
jects G feet from the main building, by 12 feet in 
length. Over its main door, in the gable, ia a door 
with a hoisting beam and tackle above it, to take 
in the grain, and a floor over the whole area re¬ 
ceives it. A window is in each gable end. A 
ventilator passes up through this chamber and tbe 
roof, to let off the steam from the cooking vats 
below, and the foul air emitted by the swine, by 
the side of which is the furnace chimney, giving 
it, on the whole, as respectable an appearance as 
a pigsty need pretend to. 
Mil! 
r 
pm 
* l 
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT. 
At the left of the entrance is a flight of stairs, b, 
leading to the chamber above. On the right is a 
small area, a, with a window to light it. A door 
above. If any of the many husking machines are 
to be made use of, this would be the better mode, 
as they all take the stalks separate and unbound, 
and they can be bound after husking as easily as 
before. 
In husking corn by hand, a very convenient im¬ 
plement is a peg of hard wood about four inches 
long, sharp at one end, and fastened to the hand 
by a soft leather strap passing over the two middle 
fingers. The point comes up between the thumb 
and fingers, just right to use instead of the thumb¬ 
nail in tearing open the husk, aud out of the way 
in handling and breaking off the ear. It is of 
special use if the corn has been cut a little green 
from this leads into the main room, c, where stands 
a chimney, d, with a farnace to receive the fuel for 
cooking the food, for which are two kettles, or 
boilers, with wooden vats, on the top, if the extent 
of food demands them; these are secured with 
broad wooden covers, to keep in the steam when 
cooking. An iron valve is placed in the back flue 
of tbe furnace, which may fall upon either side, to 
shut off the fire from either of the kettles, around 
which the fire may revolve; or, the valve may 
stand in a perpendicular position, at will, if both 
kettlep Jm heated at. the same time. Over qacii 
kettle is a sliding door, with a short spout to slide 
the food into them, when wanted. On three sides 
of this room are feeding pens, e, and sleeping par¬ 
titions, f for the swine. These several apartments 
are accommodated with doors, which open into 
separate yards on the sides and in the rear. 
Construction. —The frame is of strong timber. 
The sills should be 8 inches square, the corner posts 
of the same size, and the intermediate posts 8 by G 
inches in diameter. In the centre of these posts, 
grooves should be made, 2 inches wide, and deep, 
to receive the plank sides, which should be 2 inches 
thick, and let in from the level of the chamber by 
a flush cutting for that purpose, out of the grooves 
inside, thus using no nails or spikes, and holding 
the planks tight in their place, that they may not 
be rooted out, or rubbed off by the hogs, and the 
inner projection of the main posts left to serve as 
rubbing posts for them. These planks, like the 
posts, should, particularly the lower ones, be of 
hard wood, that they may not be eaten off. Above 
the chamber floor, thinner planks may be used, but 
all should be well jointed, that they may lie snug, 
and shut out the weather. The centre post in ihe 
floor plan of the engraving is omitted, by mistake, 
but it should stand there, like the others. Inside 
posts at the corners, and in the sides of the parti- 
I tions, like the outside ones, should be also placed 
and grooved to receive the planking, four and a 
half feet high, and their upper ends be secured by 
tenons into mortices in the beams overhead. The 
troughs should then, if possible, be made of cast 
iron, or, in default of that, the hardest of white oak 
plank, strongly spiked on the floor and sides; and 
the apartment may then be called hog-proof—for a 
more unquiet, destructive creature to a building 
in which he is confined, does not live, than the hog. 
The slide, or spout to conduct the swill aud other 
feed from the feeding-room into the trough, should 
be inserted through the partition planks, with a 
steep slant the whole length of the trough, that the 
feed may be readily thrown into any or all parts of 
it This slide should be of two-inch white oak plank, 
and bound along the bottom by a strip of hoop- 
iron, to prevent the pigs from eating it off— a habit 
they are prone to; then, firmly spiked down to the 
partition planks, and through the ends, to the ad¬ 
joining studs, and the affair is complete. One to 
three hundred dollars, according to the price of 
material and labor, will build this piggery, besides 
fitting it up with furnace and boilers. 
and the husks are thick and tight. A “husking 
machine” equally simple, is a hand hatchet and a 
block of wood handy to sit or stand at. Hit each 
ear a blow as nigh the but as may be, and as it is 
done with more or less exactness, so will the ears 
fall out more or less competeJy husked—and, per¬ 
haps a little shortened if the hit was on the corn 
instead of the stalk, as it should be. 
But to return to our corn-stooks. After husking, 
re-place the bundles in larger stooks tban at first, 
until that portion of the work is completed. On a 
dry day draw and stack near the barn-yard, in 
small stacks—of not more than two loads each— 
and it is well to place a pole in the centre of each 
