VOLUME VI. NO. 10.} 
unfaithfulness, here, cloys the appetite at once ; 
and makes one perfectly willing to eat his 
bread alone, rather than entertain a doubt 
whether he is taking into his mouth what 
properly belongs to the scavenger. 
Closely connected with this, is the absence 
of all foreign taste in butter. Many house¬ 
wives, not justly chargeable with want of neat¬ 
ness, suffer it to go from under their hands 
sadly intermixed with substances quite foreign 
to the pure article. Salt is one of Ihese, and 
though necessary in certain proportions, there 
can be too much of a good thing. Another 
grand defect, is that cream is kept too long, 
especially in the summer season, before it is 
churned. Few are aware, perhaps, how soon 
putrifaction takes place in milk, in the hottest 
weather in summer, undoubtedly the most 
satisfactory results are obtained, where the 
churning is performed every day. This is not 
practicable in many of our small dairies ; but, 
where a tolerable article is expected, it should 
be done as often as two or three times a week. 
Butter seems to possess, in a remarkable degree, 
the power of appropriating to itself the flavor 
of substances with which it is in near contact. 
One of the Committee, anxious to protect his 
butter from the fine dust, which is apt to settle 
upon it while on exhibition, procured a box 
which was to be covered with glass, but for 
want of other material, made of some sort of 
pine wood. In order to ascertain whether the 
butter would take any taste from the wood, a 
small lump was put upon a plate and placed 
in the box. In twelve hours, it had imbibed 
so much of the pine flavor, as to become strong 
and acrid, even to the taste. The quality of 
the cream, also, is sometimes materially dam¬ 
aged by being kept in a close vessel.. This is 
probably in consequence of the confinement of 
certain gases, which operate injuriously, and 
which would escape if there were opportunity. 
Another of our requisites is color and density. 
The color, common consent declares, should be 
yellow. It is granted, that this is not a mat¬ 
ter wholly within the dairywoman’s power ; but 
then, if she has a husband, and knows how to 
manage him, she may not find it so very diffi¬ 
cult to induce him to make a trial of his cows 
and keep only such as shall, by the aid of her 
facile hands, crown his board with a production 
as pleasing to the eye, as it is tempting to the 
appetite. 
whole State has been thoroughly explored, and 
the insects examined, collected, and their habits 
exposed. 
There is not a farmer nor gardener who 
does not suffer by insects in some form or 
other. Their ravages in the wheat fields 
last year, can only be estimated by millions of 
dollars ; and the suffering of many a starving 
family can be traced to the destructive power 
of the wheat midge, an insect so frail that 
to appearance a breath would destroy it. 
The grub and wire worm annually destroy 
the labor of the farmer to the amount of hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of dollars, if not, indeed, 
millions. 
Ultrott’s |uiral ftflo-govlier: 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY, & FAMILY JOURNAL. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
ASSOCIATE EDITORS : 
J. H. BIXBY, T. C. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
Special Contributors : 
T. E. Wktmokh, H. C. White, H. T. Brooks, L. WumKRKLL. 
Ladies’ Port-Folio by Azile. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unique and 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
and Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical 
Subjects connected with the business of those whose 
interests it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, 
Horticultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News 
Matter, interspersod with many appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other paper published in this 
Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Literary 
and Family Newspaper. 
For Terms, and other particulars, see last page. 
investigation of the 
habits of these insects, has shown that there 
are other species which prey upon them, and 
thus prevent their increasing to such an extent 
as to depopulate the country. It is important 
to know our friends from our enemies. There 
is a class of insects that are very useful to man 
in destroying other classes that are injurious. 
Thus the order Coleoptera, which embraces the 
beetles, has in its subdivisions very many fam¬ 
ilies that are carniverous; that is, they feed 
upon other insects which feed upon plants. 
The Cicindelidce, sometimes known as the 
tiger beetle, subsists solely upon other insects. 
This species is generally easily distinguished.- 
Tlieir colors are usually green or gray, com¬ 
bined with a brassy or bronzed tint, with 
whitish spots for ornament, in combination 
with brindle spots. They are among the most 
elegant of the beetle tribe, and should be pre¬ 
served, as they are the farmer’s friends. 
The Carabidcc is another family of the same 
tribe equally useful. But there are also fami¬ 
lies, as the Elate ridee, that are very destructive 
to the farmer, and among them is found the 
black snapping beetle, which propagates the 
wire worm, and in the Phytophaga, the little 
insect that destroys cabbages and turnips.— 
There is also in the order Hymenoptera, several 
families that are very destructive to other in¬ 
sects, that feed upon plants. • The Ichnumons 
are particularly so. In this family is found 
the enemy of the wheat midge, which, though 
common in England, has not as yet been ob¬ 
served in this country. So useful have they 
been found in checking the ravages of the 
INSECTS INJURIOUS TO AGRICULTURE, 
The last volume of Prof. Emmons, on the 
Natural History of the State, and the 19th of 
the series, proposing to give the insects of this 
State, is very deficient in the detail of those 
facts most important for the farmer. It is a 
creditable performance, however, and perhaps 
proper for its place. It is important because 
Brahmas differ from the other varieties of 
Asiatic Fowls, in being much better for eat¬ 
ing purposes than those with longer legs and 
necks, and also in consuming less food in pro¬ 
portion to their real value for the table. In 
this respect they follow the same law as other 
domestic animals—clean limbed, close jointed 
oxen, sheep, and swine, are smaller feeders, and 
furnish a better quality of meat than their 
opposites. The Brahmas are very good layers, 
and are easily reared, and, on the whole, we 
think them one of the best of the oriental 
varieties. 
Above we give a representation of a fine 
Brahma Pootra Hen, owned by one of the 
principal poultry-fanciers of this city, Mr. D. | 
F. Newell. Though the “chicken fever,” 
so prevalent, if not expensive, of late years, j 
has subsided to such ah extent that it is devoid j 
of a malignant type, the more valuable results ] 
of the epidemic are apparent in the improved 
varieties and crosses of domestic fowls now 
existing in many sections of the country.— 
The portly and motherly specimen here por¬ 
trayed is a creditable representative of a val¬ 
uable and still popular Asiatic variety. The 
GUANO FOR SPRING CROPS. 
We are asked, “ If guano is a profitable ma¬ 
nure for spring crops—wheat, barley and oats, 
corn and potatoes ?” That its use is beneficial 
to these crops, may be safely averred, though 
we are unable at this moment to refer to ex- 
We know of no 
In a timbered country beginners at farming 
have to submit to the inconvenience of stumps 
and their roots, and it is no small trial of one’s 
patience to attempt the plowing of land where 
they abound. It is generally considered the 
easiest as well as the most economical way, to 
seed newly cleared fields and let them lay in 
grass and pasture till all the smaller stumps— 
in fact until the greater portion of all the 
stumps—have so far decayed as to he readily 
removed. Plowing is then done with more 
ease and economy, while the rotting of the 
smaller roots in the ground tend in some 
measure to enrich it. But one’s necessities 
cannot always wait for the slow decay that 
time works, and the plow must turn up what 
soil it may, that corn, wheat, &c., may be 
planted and sown for the sustenance of the 
farmer’s family. 
The decaying process is hastened or retarded 
to some extent by the time at which the trunk 
is severed from the stump. Thus the tree 
which is cut in the winter or early in spring, 
leaves behind it a stamp whose roots at the 
time are dormant, and which, at the invigor¬ 
ating call of spring, put forth their energies 
as usual to supply the wants of their nature, 
and the result is often that the stump shoots 
forth a crop of young boughs. As, a conse¬ 
quence, the stump is a long while yielding to 
decay. Cut at midsummer, or when the roots 
have nearly or quite exhausted their energies 
for the season, they have not the power to 
throw out a second growth. So when one has 
not the means, or the machines for extracting 
stumps, he may materially hasten the time 
when he may enjoy unobstructed fields, by ob¬ 
serving, so far as circumstances will admit, the 
proper time for chopping fallows. 
To the good farmer stumps are a continual 
and he will leave no 
its use in their production. That is, the in¬ 
crease in the crop at these prices caused direct¬ 
ly by this manure, will pay all the expense of 
its application, and leave a profit beside. 
Quantity and manner of application are the 
subjects of the secoud query. From 150 to 
300 lbs. per acre may be used, according to the 
quality of the soil. In applying it broadcast, 
it was formerly the practice to mix with it 
about one quarter its weight of plaster, and, 
pulverizing the whole finely, to sow it evenly 
and then harrow, cultivate or plow it in, as 
soon as possible. This should be done imme¬ 
diately before sowing. At present it is gener¬ 
ally recommended to pulverize and sow without 
any mixture of plaster. The great fertilizing 
principles of guano, are the phosphate of lime 
and ammonia, the latter very volatile in its 
nature. Hence the necessity of applying it 
unchanged to the soil, to give forth to the grow¬ 
ing plant, and not to the passing winds, its val¬ 
uable properties. In applying it to corn and 
potatoes, it is generally planted with the seed, 
but great care should be taken that it does not 
come in contact, or it will destroy its vitality, 
otherwise it could be dropped with a machine 
at the same time with the corn, as our corres¬ 
pondent proposes. Ashes or lime should 
never be mixed with guano before its applica¬ 
tion to the soil. 
“ Where and at what price it can be obtain¬ 
ed ?” will be answered by consulting the ad¬ 
vertising department of almost any number 
of the paper. We believe the price at present 
is about $55 per ton. In conclusion, allow us 
to remark that we shall be glad to publish ac¬ 
counts of experiments in the use of guano on 
any of the crops mentioned above, particularly 
if they furnish data for calculating the profits • source of annoyance, 
periments upon them all. 
trial being made with guano on spring wheat, I 
but there is abundant evidence of its value for 
winter wheat, which amounts to the same 
thing. Nor have we observed any upon bar¬ 
ley—still it must be a good manure for that 
grain. It has been tried upon oats, and with 
good success. In this section of the Union 
more experiments have been made with this 
manure upon corn, than anything else. Most 
of them have been satisfactory in some re¬ 
spects—though improper methods of applica¬ 
tion have often detracted from the results.— 
An account of a very successful application of 
guano to the potato crop, appeared in our last 
volume, showing as great a return as from any 
use of guano often noted. 
As to the profit of the use of guano, several 
preliminaries are to be taken into considera¬ 
tion. Its cost compared with other manures, 
the character of the soil to which it is to be 
applied, and the prices commanded by the 
article to be produced, will decide this ques¬ 
tion. When good barn-yard manure is readily 
available, an amount expended in its application 
will probably give a return more profitable 
REQUISITES TO GOOD BUTTER, 
The Transactions of the “ Hampshire 
(Mass.) Agricultural Society for 1854,” con¬ 
tain a Report on Butter, from the Committee 
having that subject in charge, which gives 
some valuable suggestions to all who would 
make a prime article. We condense that part 
referring to the requisite qualifications for 
premium butter. 
The first requisite should be cleanliness.— 
This is necessary through the whole process, 
from the milking of the cow to the finishing 
stroke of the butter paddle. Any suspicion of 
