VOLUME VI. 10. 16.} 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURDAY, APRIL fl, i§ 55 ~ 
'WHOLE NO, 276, 
| Slew’s lliintl fttfo-fraitr. 
j|| A QUARTO WEEKLY 
I AGRICULTURAL, LIT ERARY, & FAMILY JOURNAL. 
3 CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOSE. 
I C | ASSOCIATE EDITORS : 
||| J. a. BIX BY, T. C. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
| 5 | Special Contributors : 
||| T. R Wctmorjs, H. C. Wnm?, H. T. Brooks, L. Wethxrell. 
| | | Ladies’ Port-Folio by Azilk. 
Ill The Rural Nkw-Vorker is designod to be unique and 
| beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
| i | and Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
| to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical 
| a | Subjects connected with the businoss of thoso whose 
I a I ' nterests advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, 
| § | Hort >°ultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and Nows 
I | Matter, interspersed with many appropriate and beautiful 
| Engravings, than any other paper published in this 
| 6 | Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Literary 
| £ and Family Newspaper. 
| | | For Terms, and other particulars, boo Nows page. 
j $trd |lelii-fckfr. 
| PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. | 
I | rVW\aW(/WVWii'WVWW' l ;VWVV\/>u I 
I HOW MUCH SEED DO WE WASTE? 
| Among the unsatisfactory results in seeking I 
| after facts, none are more empty than those in 
| I relation to the quantity of seed really neces- 
| sary upon an acre. It is very difficult to find 
5 any two who agree upon the subject, while 
| the difference between the extremes of thick 
| and thin sowing amounts to bushels. Many 
£ experiments have been tried, but still no re- 
\ liable data has been established, and it is 
| hardly probable that in any location, any five 
% farmers can be found who would l>e agreed as i 
| to the quantity to be used. Some of this con- i 
5 fusion is due to the diversity of soil, some ] 
* I again to the season of sowing, and a great i 
£ J deal more to the lack of carelul observation 
| so common to farmers, the very men of all ( 
? others who need it the most. j 
3 I It is evident by examining the various census e 
| returns, that the average produce of wheat per a 
s acre in the Union is under twenty bushels. The 3 
| common and prevailing practice is to sow two s 
| bushels of seed to the acre. This, then, gives j 
| the rather unprofitable looking fact that one- b 
J tenth of the product goes for sded. The same b 
5 holds true as to barley and oats. If, then, it p 
[ can be established that one tenth or more of b 
j I the seed may be saved without diminishing b 
j I the crop, then it follows that a sensible amount _ 
| may be added to the profits of the farmer. | a 
1 But there are a multitude of contingencies I ^ 
j to be considered and studied. Thus in sow- a( 
; iDg wheat, it is important to know whether V( 
I the seed was threshed by a machine or by ljl 
hand, for it will require nearly or quite one- 
j quarter more if threshed by a machine, as any 
one may satisfy themselves by making the ex¬ 
periment. Then again it depends upon the 
I condition of the land and the time of sowing, w , 
I whether late or early. More seed is required { ] r 
iu late than early sown, light land requiring Wj 
I less seed than heavy, as the surface may not £ b 
be so finely pulverized in the one case as in 
tlie other. More seed is required when sown Qu 
broadcast than when sown with a drill. All j t 
these contingencies help to make the confusion. ^ 
Our own experience upon a gravelly, slaty im 
I loam, has been thus far in favor of thin sow- 0 f 
ing, calling two bushels and over, thick. Four bu 
years ago a part of a thirty acre lot was acci- 
| dentally seeded with only one and a half bush- bc 
els of flail threshed wheat. The harvest 
showed the thiu sown as fully equal iu yield <1U 
to that sown with two bushels. A similar ^ 
accident the next year reduced to one bushel ^ 
and one peck, and still we saw no difference, 
1 or, if any, it was in favor of the thinly sown. ^ 
We now drill in one bushel, and sow broad- tQ 
cast one and a half, and the result is satisfac- ,°j 
tory. The seeding is done from the first to tb 
the tenth of September. If later we add ,j 
more seed. A greater amount of seed has in 
some instances produced more grain, but 
usually there is more straw and less grain. 
It is said, and probably truly, that a bushel u 
of wheat contains not far from seven hundred 
thousand grains; a bushel of barley about I 
five hundred and fifiy thousand grains; a tot 
bushel of oats about eight hundred thousand has 
grains ; and a bushel of common yellow corn exti 
one hundred and twenty thousand grains.— alio 
Rje at the same weight rather more than I stea 
wheat. With these facts it will be very easy 
for any farmer to examine and judge for him¬ 
self. To aid still more, we give below a table 
of the number of grains upon a square foot 
and yard at certain rates to the acre, and we 
hope the coming year will bring us the result 
of experiments made from the data here fur¬ 
nished : 
WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE, 
Grains. 
4 per sqr. ft. 
8 1 * 
1 12 (i iC u 
16 “ « “ 
32 “ “ 
48 “ “ « 
64 “ 
80 “ “ “ 
Grains. Grains per acre. 
S8 per sqr. y’d 174,240—1 p’k per acre. 
i2 “ “ “ 348,480—2 “ “ 
108 “ “ “ 522,720—3 “ “ 
144 “ << u 696,960—1 bush. “ 
288 11 “ “ 1,:;93,620—2 “ “ 
432 l; “ “ 2,090,880—3 << « 
576 “ “ “ 2,787,840—4 “ “ 
720 “ “ “ 3,428,800—5 “ “ 
Let any farmer measure off a square foot 
upon his table or newspaper, and then place 
thereon the number of grains indicated in the 
above table for the several quantities per acre, 
and he will be satisfied that by some means or 
other he looses a good deal of seed every year. 
If, for instance, he take the quantity indicated 
at one bushel per acre, which is sixteen grains 
to the square foot, he will be satisfied that 
there is no ground in his wheat field covered so 
densely as that would make it, it each grain 
grew. He would be pretty well satisfied that 
his field did not mature the plants from eight 
grains to the square foot, which would only 
require two pecks of seed to the acre. What, 
then, becomes of the balance of the seed ? Is 
it not lost or wasted by defective cultivation ? 
Who will enlighten us on the subject ?— not 
by guess, but by actual examination and ex¬ 
periment. 
Apropos to this subject as above presented, 
e we copy some extracts from a letter by Rev. 
is Geo. Wilkins— inventor of a drill, and in- 
I teiested in the cultivation of a large farm near 
ie London, Eng.,—to Jas. S. Gould, Esq., of 
u C ayuga Co., IN. Y. lie says : 
n “ This year I have drilled just two pecks 
II of "heat an acre, the acre being 4,840 square 
yards. From some imperfect seed being mix- 
3 ed with it, it may not turn out more than one 
1 and a half pecks, but I recommend two pecks. 
e My plan is never to deposit two seeds in the 
9 same place, and this I cousider is the true 
3 principle whatever quantity of seed be used, 
- but in this country farmers deposit from six 
3 to twenty grains in one hole or place; and 
t this they do to produce not more than ten or 
J twelve fold, and frequently less than that. I 
> have, by my plan on the same land, for four 
' years together, grown 88 fold, or 44 bushels 
an acre, from two pecks of seed, and I have 
! from single grains grown 2,000 fold with no 
' additional trouble, except planting the grains 
very far apart, and in well cultivated land ; 
but 88 fold, year after year, I have grown on 
the same land, the seed being put iu by my 
drill, 
‘“I raised 63 bushels of barley from a little 
over two pecks of seed, drilled in the same 
way, and the quality was unusually fine. I 
drill in all other crops in the same way, al¬ 
ways thin, and have always fine crops. By 
thin seeding you do not exhaust your land; 
but you may crop, and crop, and crop with¬ 
out your land feeling it, or beiDgthe worse for 
it, but by over seeding, as is proved by farm¬ 
ers, or by their practice, every crop of cereals 
impoverishes the soil by the immense quantity 
of straw that is grown, though the grain is 
but little. 
“ But by whatever system, great stress must - 
be laid on cultivation, and wherever it is re- , 
quired the land must be deeply drained; all 
my land is drained from three and a quarter to • 
six feet deep. ] 
“ This year I raised 53 bushels of wheat 
and 63 bushels of barley to the acre. Mr. 
Norton, of the Agricultural Gazette, came 
to see it, and thought it would be very light 1 
before threshing. The length of head, with 1 
the heft of the grain, is what makes the yield.” s 
This system requires, it will be seen, a large T 
amount of labor and land in the highest state ^ 
of cultivation, yet that we may in part apply * 
it very beneficially here, there can be uo t 
question. e 
Farmers should now give especial attention 
to their working oxen and horses. If but little 
has been required of them through the winter, 
extra care and light day’s works should be 
allotted, until they become accustomed to 
steady, every-day labor. 
ible ^ ERY farmer ought to make it a principle 
foot ^ action, at least for the coming season, to 
we P ut in ^ many acres of grain as it is possible 
;ult f° r him to do well. The unprecedented prices 
fur- w hich he has obtained for two years past, will 
not abate to their former standard for at least 
a j ear to come ; and it behooves him to take 
cr0 ‘ advantage of the spring tide before it has ebbed 
away. The price of produce, like all other 
things in nature, has no stability, and is sub¬ 
ject to periodical fluctuations which make and 
unmake the fortunes of men. Causes which 
)ot produced these fluctuations cease, but the con- 
ice sequences of the cessation do not follow in¬ 
die stantaneously. An upward or a downward 
re, tendency continues after the impulsive power 
or has ceased to act, and hence we ma}’ conclude, 
ir. that even if all causes which have produced 
ed the present state of things were to end to-mor- 
n 3 i04v, the next crop is sure of a remunerative 
at market. If the next steamer should bring 
so news ol a protocol ol peace ; if the energies of 
in grain-gtowing Russia and the Danubian prov- 
at inces were to be turned this spring into their 
ht original and legitimate channels ; if England 
ly and France should unman and disarm their 
,t, navies, and turn their ships-of- 4 var into trading 
Is vessels ; if the temple of Janus were to be shut 
. ? to-morrow throughout the whole world, and 
it every sword be beaten into a plowshare, and 
i- every spear into a pruning-hook; if all the 
grain now sown were to yield the most ample • 
harvest, (lew or none of which contingencies i 
B are at all likely to happen,) still the consequen- ■ 
T • ces would not be felt for a considerable time I 
l ~ at least. The wheat-fields of Europe are for a : 
r great part unsown, especially those of the 
^ grain-growing nrovinces of Russia and Tur¬ 
key, 4vhence the western powers have usually 
s drawn immense supplies. Their lands are laid | 
e waste, their peaceful energies prostrated, and 
" the whole country, so far as exports are con- 
3 cerued, no better than an absolute desert. This u 
• deficiency must be supplied, and America must s 
3 do it. There is no other field from whence the v 
3 necessary amount can be obtained, and that a 
> under the most favorable aspects of foreign pro- 
: ductiou ; but when we add to this the chances a 
* of a continuance of the war, of the drafting of gl 
immense numbers of the producing classes a 
into the armies, and thus turning them into b 
consumers instead, the probabilities are still 
1 more favorable to the farmers of this country. ' 
1 Under no possible state of the case can they lie 0 
losers ; under every probable one they will be q 
gainers by an especial outlay at this time in w 
active labor and capital. 
But it may be asked what grain or other 3 . 
crops will be likely to pay the most remunera- w 
tive prices ? We 4 vouId ans 4 ver to this, that tc 
any one adapted to the soil and season will 
pay ; but first, perhaps, 4vhere a good yield s ,. 
may reasonably be counted upon, spring 4vheat m 
is the most promising, inasmuch as it will come 
in for the fall markets, and will not, like winter w . 
wheat, have to await the hazard of a whole Iie 
year’s revolution in prices. AY heat and flour gc 
are Ihe great staple of export to Europe, and w , 
above all other grain has the advantage of a ^ 
steady foreign as well as a home demand. But ac 
corn will pay ; oats, barley, peas, or any other a j 
crop will pay. If distilled spirits are not to tb 
be drank, or malt liquors bre4ved under the t ]; ( 
Maine Law, hogs and cattle will eat corn and 
barley, and fatten on them for the market. . 
Bacon and lard, beef and tallow, are exported ^ 
in large quantities, and at profitable prices ; ■ 
and the manure produced, is no mean item to 
be taken into the account. 
at 
What we urged in the outset, we urge again „. r( 
upon the farming community—to sow largely to 
this spring if they desire to make money them- the 
selves and do a deed of charity and mercy to the per 
world. A man's profits and his benevolence Th 
do not always run in the same channel; bat aft 
the farmer need not fear, if he raises a few ex- pla 
tra bushels of grain this year, that he will be lan 
either impoverishing himself or injuring man- the 
kind. nw 
GREEN MOUNTAIN BLACK TIAWK. 
This fine stallion is ihe property of F. V. 
Smith and J. B. Crippen, of Coldwater, 
Mich., and is now four years old. He weighs 
over 1,100 lbs., and is a fast trotter. When 
three years old, he trotted for a premium at 
the Middlebury, ( YU.) Horse Sho 4 v, winning 
with ease and making the mile in 3 minutes, 
10 seconds. He was awarded the sweep- 
Caramintitatiaiis. 
UNDEIiDEAISING AXD SUBS01T.IXG.~No. 3. 
The sno 4 v drifts have at last disappeared, 
and the sun again fairly and fully shines upon 
mother earth! While the fences are going up, 
and the plows dcun, don’t forget the various 
lesser items of spring work. 
Eds. Rural :— I shall noxv conclude the 
3 account of my experience in draining and sub- 
k soiling. One acre adjoining and south of the 
3 xvheat, was cultivated and sown to barley soon 
t after the 4 vheat was sown. This acre we judge 
yielded 50 bushels. It was very heavy. Sold 
5 at $1 per bushel—$50. You'may say the 
^ subsoil plow added $10 to this crop. This 
! acre was ploAved immediately after the barley 
1 harvest, beam deep; harrowed and plowed 
again, and sowed to winter wheat—two bushels 
of seed. During the winter I put on t 4 vo loads 
1 of leached ashes—30 bushels to the load. In 
the spring seeded with clover and timothy, 
which took well. In May soxved on one bushel 
of plaster and two bushels of lime. It yielded 
34 bushels ; price of xvheat now, $2.50 ; crop 
worth $85. You may credit the subsoil plow 
to at least $25 in this crop. 
I sowed three acres to barley north of the 
spring wheat, at the same time and in the same 
manner with that described above. The wet¬ 
test part of this piece was ditched. This crop 
xvas not as good as the other, owing to niy 
neighbor’s hens, which got all the seed within 
scratching distance, probably one-third. This 
was harvested and threshed with the other.— 
YVhole yield 160 bushels—40 bushels to the 
acre. Ditching and subsoil plows must have 
added 10 bushels to the acre here. Some of 
this lot was so wet the year before that corn 
did not groxv—here the barley was the stoutest. 
North of this last piece of barley the land 
is low, and has but little descent. Soil a rich 
black vegetable mould, fifteen to eighteen 
inches deep, below which it is dark, coarse 
sand and fine gravel, to the depth of three feet 
at least, or as low as the tile are layed. This 
ground is thoroughly ditched. It is a novelty 
to see the amount of water discharged from 
these ditches ; when digging them, the water 
poured in like large springs from all directions. 
This ground can now be worked in a few hours 
after a heavy rain. One year ago last spring I 
planted 1 % acres of the wettest part of this 
land to corn, on a quarter of an acre of which 
there xvas not much of any corn the year before, ( 
owing to its being so wet 
This piece was plowed and subsoiled sixteen I 
inches deep, and cross-plowed beam deep.— i 
The corn xvas planted on the 9 th day of June, ( 
part to 8 -rowed yellow, and a part to 8 -rowed c 
white ; rows both ways, 3 feet 4 inches apart; 1 
cultivated once both ways and heed, and plow- t 
j stakes premium at the last Michigan State 
j Fair, open for all horses to compete. His 
I pedigree is as follows:—Bred by Mr. Myp.ick 
j of Bridport, Vt; sired by Sherman Black 
j Hawk, dam a Morgan mare, by Gifford Mor- 
! £ an ’ s- d. a Ylorgan mare, supposed by Sherman 
j Morgan. The blood of Sherman Black Hawk 
xvas Messenger, Leonidas, and Bellfounder. 
ed twice both ways (with two gang plows—a 
right and left hand ploxv, set In a cultivator 
irame the best implement I ever used in the 
cornfield or nursery) and hoed twice more; 
i harvested 2 1 5 bushels of ears of sound corn. 
Many of the ears were thirteen to fourteen 
inches long, filled well to the ends; average 
crop per acre, 157 bushels; worth three shil¬ 
lings per bushel—equal to $65.62jj per acre, 
ihis crop was probably eighty bushels more 
per acre than the previous one. We can safely 
say that this yield was eighty bushels an acre 
more than it would have been without ditch¬ 
ing and subsoiling, which gives $30 an acre 
lieie to place to the credit of subsoiling and 
ditching — saying nothing about tire extra 
amount of fodder, xvhich is at least $5 per 
acre more. 
Last winter I put twenty loads of long ma¬ 
nure on one acre, lacking four rods of the same 
ground. In the spring plowed it in beam deep, 
and planted it again to corn—(you may say 
this is bad farming.) Planted the first of June 
same distance as before and same kinds of corn! 
YY hen up a few inches, put on each hill one 
Landiul of plaster, lime and nnleached ashes, 
mixed in equal proportions. Cultivated and 
hoed twice. The corn was sown too heavy to 
go through the third time. The land, however, 
remained clean and mellow. The drouth had 
but little effect upon it. Harvested 148 bush¬ 
els. It was good and sound, but not filled as 
well as the previous year, fc'talks very large 
and tall. YVe may safely say that Lhe tile and 
subsoil plow added eighty bushels to the acre 
this year, which is worth at forty-two cents a 
bushel the clever sum of $33.60 ; whole crop 
of corn worth $62.16; stalks $ 12 —equal to 
$74.16 from one acre, lacking four rods. 
From these facts you can judge what I ought 
to think of the benefits of draining and sub¬ 
soiling to every agriculturist. I would that 
every farmer in the country would try them 
thoroughly, fit their ground well, put in their 
crops at the right time, and then mark the re¬ 
sult. I think it would universally confirm the 
above facts. Let every reader take hold of 
subsoiling and blind ditching without mittens 
in the fall, and follow it through Lhe winter and 
spiing, as there is but a small portion of the 
xvinter but what all this can be done. It is 
eveD the best time when the ground is soft. A 
man can ditch twice as fast in the winter when 
the giound is soft, as he can in the summer 
xvhen dry and hard ; besides, the subsoil plow 
can be used most of the winter, either in sod 
or stubbie. My men have ditched more or 
less all winter, for three years. One is ditching 
tc-day, the iMof January. Another drawing 
