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VOLUME VI. NO. 32.} 
Poore’s ^kral lcta-|orIitr. 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY, & FAMILY JOURNAL. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOBJE. 
associate editors ■ 
J. H. BIXBY, T. C. PETERS, EDWARD WF.B3TER. 
Special Contributors : 
T. E. Wetmork, H. C. White, H. T. Brooks. L. Wfthkrkll, 
Ladies’ Port-Folio by Azile. 
Tin! Rural New-Yorkkr 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 oonnocted with the business of those whose 
interests it advocates. It ombrace3 more Agricultural, 
Horticultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News 
Matter, interspersed with many appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other paper published in this 
Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Lite¬ 
rary and Family Newspaper. 
For Terms, and other particulars, see News page. 
Jkntl fleto-ffftier. 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
FLOUR FROM SPROUTED WHEAT. 
vjwriSP 
jg llp as 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1855. 
{WHOLE NO. 
The extensive misfortune which has over¬ 
taken our wheat crop, by the germination ot i 
the grain, renders it finite certain that much 1 
of our bread and pastry for the year to come i 
must be made from the flour of grown wheat. 1 
Under these circumstances, it becomes a ques- i 
tion of vital importance, first, how we can de¬ 
termine whether or not we are purchasing an 
inferior article of flour ; and secondly, wheth¬ 
er such inferior article when purchased is del- < 
eterious to health. In England, where the 
atmosphere is humid, and bright, clear weath¬ 
er for harvesting so precarious, grown wheat 
is no uncommon thing; and besides, the im¬ 
ports of Continental grain heretofore made 
from the Danubian provinces and the coast of 
the Black Sea, is not unfrequently so damaged 
and sprouted by the heath: gs and casualties 
of the voyage, as to render it ultimately an 
inferior grain. It is transported on the ri\ ers 
from the interior of the country to the sea 
coast in open boats, exposed to all the changes 
of the weather, and by the time it reaches the 
shipping ports, is not unfrequently so grown 
and matted on the surface of the cargo, as to 
require breaking up w T ith sharp instruments. 
“Of course, in such cases, the superficial por¬ 
tions of the cargo are entirely worthless for 
human food ; and the remainder cannot be 
otherwise than much deteriorated. 
In our country, however, through the favor¬ 
able influences of a clear sky and an uncloud¬ 
ed sun, the harvest is usually gathered with no 
damage from excess of moisture, and the 
owner of broad acres of golden wheat slashes 
it down with the utmost confidence and free¬ 
dom from fear of any such calamity. The 
question with him is, at what precise moment 
his own convenience and the perfect state of 
the grain will render it desirable to stack or 
house; and not, as in some other countries, 
when will it by possibility answer to secure, 
leaning at the same time to the doubtful side 
of its fitness, rather than to leave it another 
moment to the risks and casualties of foul 
weather in the field. 
But the present season with us has been 
extraordinary. No degree of vigilance, ac¬ 
tivity, or foresight could have secured our 
grain; for the rains came ou just at that 
crisis which rendered the farmer utterly una¬ 
ble to prevent the calamity. But Kttle of 
the earlier grain which bad been cut was 
cured, and the remainder standing in the field 
had advanced just so far in the process of 
ripening as to render it peculiarly susceptible 
to the influences of germination. The conse¬ 
quence is, both the harvested grain and that 
standing in the field have sprouted day by day, 
while the owners stood by with heavy hearts, 
alike powerless to avert or to overceme the 
misfortune. But it is upon us, and now' what 
its consequences to health and comfort are to 
be is a matter of absorbing interest to nearly 
all classes of community. 
A number of experienced millers and for¬ 
warders of this city, who have for years kre® 
engaged in the trade in this garden of the 
world for prime wheat and flour, assure the 
writer that unless the grain is mildewed or - 
damaged otherwise than simply by germina¬ 
tion, the flour produced therefrom is just as 
white and just as fair in appearance to the 
eye as though it had been manufactured out 
of the most perfect grain. There is a loss of E 
from ten to fifteen pounds of flour to the bar- I 
rel, that is to say, sprouted wheat sufficient to 
make a barrel of flour would have produced, o 
if the grain had been perfect, ten or fifteen t 
pounds over that amount; so that if the mil- 1 
ler could sell the product at the same price, he r 
could not afford to pay as much for sprouted * 
as for unsprouted wheat. But he cannot sell 1 
it for so much, unless he practices a deception 1 
upon the purchaser, such as no reputable 1 
dealer is willing to do. Instances more than 1 
one are known to us of flour manufacturers f 
who called themselves reputable, and whose ! 
brand both in New York and Boston was ( 
known on chaDge to be unsurpassed, have 
workedjup poor wheat into so called “ Extra ! 
Genesee ; ” but the barrels were branded with ‘ 
an unknown, fictitious, or irresponsible name. 
The miller would no more have put his own 1 
brand on such an article, than he would have 1 
sunk his fortune in the bottom of the lake. 
One safeguard, then, against a purchase of 
inferior for first class flour is to obtain a well 
known and responsible brand, such an one as 
may be depended upon ; for the manufacturer 
knows whether or not he is working up per¬ 
fect wheat, and can brand it accordingly.— 
The flour of grown wheat is deficient in glu¬ 
ten, which, in the process of germination, has 
to a certain extent undergone a chemical 
change and disappeared. It assumes a new 
form under the name-of diastase —possessing 
new properties, and is endowed with new func¬ 
tions. It dissolves in tepid water, and at a 
temperature of 120° to 140° Fahrenheit it 
converts the starch of the flour into grape 
sugar. Hence arises the peculiar but not un¬ 
pleasant sweet taste of bread made from such 
flour. If, therefore, the flour be analyzed, a 
deficiency of gluten will be observed, and its 
absence will indicate at once an imperfect ar¬ 
ticle. The amount of gluten iu good flour is 
about ten per cent. 
But the best test of the flour yet known is 
in the making of bread. Under the ordinary 
1 process of sponging and raising the dough of 
flour manufactured from sprouted wheat, the 
• bubbles of carbonic acid generated by the 
' fermentation break through the sponge and 
! escape, causing the paste to sink into a 
heavy mass. The bread when baked is not 
■ unpalatable, indeed many people prefer its 
- taste to that made from the best flour; and 
) probably the great of majority of consumers 
i would relish it as well if the product could be 
i made equally as light. 
Aside from the difficulty which the digestive 
i organs have to encounter in a mass of clammy 
t food, there is no positive unhealthiness con- 
f nected with the use of this kind of flour. It 
r may not be quite so well adapted to the pro- 
duction of muscular fibre, since the gluten of the 
s, pure wheat is one of the best vegetable pro- 
e ductions for this purpose known ; but among 
r our people, where so much animal food is con- 
1 sumed, this deficiency is abundantly obviated. 
The resulting products of sprouted grain, viz., 
a diastase, gum, grape sugar, &c., are all nutri- 
y tious, even medicinal; and the consumer can 
r eat his bread without fear of any ill conse- 
t quences. Judicious management in the house- 
t- hold, and experience iu the cooking can par- 
>f tially obviate the defects, such as they are, of 
s this kind of flour ; and while we are perfectly 
j certain of its health and strength-giving prop- 
>f erties, an abundance even of this kind of food 
o is sufficient canse for thanksgiving and grati- 
tude to God. 
@itr Spraal (Sknrfrtlratas. 
ABOUT FENCES. 
“ Proud ships may hold both silver and gold, 
The wealth of a distant strand ; 
But ships would rot, and be valued not. 
Were there none to till the land. 
The widest heath, and the wildest brake 
Are rich as the richest fleet, 
For they gladden the wild birds when they wake, 
And give them food to eat. 
And with willing hands, and spade and plow. 
The glad ning hour shall come, 
When that which is eal’ed the “ waste laud ” now, 
SliaH ring with the 1 Harvest Home.’ ” 
Beyond doubt, the aggregate cost of our la 
fences is “ past finding out.” Slight improve- fe: 
ments are not to be neglected. In a late qt 
Rural I find this very sensible remark 
“ Many farms require deep, open ditches, in hi 
order to carry off the water and render their j< 
heavy, wet soils fit for profitable cultivation, gt 
These ditches, if judiciously laid out, may be b 
rendered available for fence. 1 ' lAit me amplify E 
a little. The first thing to l,. considered is, al 
whether a fence is needed ai all. I might s j 
have saved hundreds of dollars in the course of t< 
my farming if I had always duly considered p 
that question. Every year’s experience has d 
strengthened the conviction that I have too a 
many fences, and I have been from the firsu s 
constantly engaged in abating the nuisance, fi 
I know it is quite desirable to be able to shift a 
stock from one pasture to another, which 
seems to render more divisions necessary.— ^ 
This may be partially obviated by putting ^ 
stock up nights, and feeding them with hay, a 
straw, roots, grain, green clover, and above ^ 
all, corn stalks raised for the purpose. The { 
manure is thus in good part left where it can ^ 
be taken care of, and the rambling propensity r 
of the animal kept in check. Animals, if t 
they have good fresh feed, will generally eat t 
awhile in a quiet manner after being lurned 
out. , f 
The practice of yarding nights should in 
all cases be adopted till the spring is well ad¬ 
vanced, and commenced again early in the 
fall. As civilization advances, we shall more 
and more get into the practice >f keeping our 
cattle up, in which cast fenres, with the ex- 1 
ception of occasional walls, ditches, or hedges, J 
will become obsolete. When I have had a ' 
little meadow land in a cultivated field, I for- 1 
merly made great haste to fence it off for the ’ 
benefit of the ‘fall feed,” but I have found ■ 
out that it is just as well to let the fall feed 1 
alone, as I am quite sure to get it in the next 
hay crop. It is more than a matter of doubt, 1 
whether a field that bears a wheat crop every 
other year should be ted at all. Of course it 
will be seeded with clover in the spring before 
the wheat is harvested; the following sum¬ 
mer and fall the young plant wants every op¬ 
portunity to expand and strengthen itself for 
the succeeding winter, which it cannot do if 
! eat off or trampled down. The next summer 
it is to be “ turned under,” and should make 
' all the growth possible. The prevailing prac- 
■ tice may throw light on many failures of the 
1 wheat crop. 
■ if the above premises are cornet, is there 
1 any essential necessity for all our divisioji 
) fences ? Our entire wheat land, portions of 
our meadow land, with whatever is kept in 
! constant cultivation, may be thrown into one 
r field on the broadest “ community” principle. 
' A fence taken for granted, the Rural’s sug- 
^ gestion is “ in order.’ I have done it thus : 
' Dig a ditch zig-zag, like the common or Vir- 
3 ginia fence, two or three feet deep ; throw the 
' dirt all on one side, into a ridge corresponding 
I with the ditch, and about a foot removed 
' from it; place your fence on the ridge or em- 
* bankment: from three to five rails, staked and 
> capped with flat stones or blocks under the 
• corners, will turn anything with hoofs or 
1 horns, except old-k. I have tried it.— 
This ditch and embankment saves half the 
" rails, which, at the market price here, are 
“ worth more than the ditch costs; and the 
>f ditch on most land will pay for itself, and for 
y keeping it open, for draining purposes. Where 
H a very deep ditch is wanted for drainage, it 
d may make a fence of itself, or with a short 
post and a board, or perhaps a pole or two, 
in which case the ditch may be made straight: 
but I am entirely in favor, in ordinary cases, 
of having a crooked fence; it can stand up 
alone, and don’t require constant watching 
and repairs. It may be Btaked with short or 
broken rails, and capped with wire, put on 
without hewing or shaving the stakes, which 
need not go into the ground at all, or if they 
do, a hole may be dug, as it is injurious to 
sharpen them. Wood is a good thing in its 
place, but it belongs above ground. Wooden 
fence posts cannot be afforded for field fences ; 
they perish, as a general rule, in from five to 
fifteen years, and in the perishing there is a sort 
of interregnum between a fence and a scare¬ 
crow, with a constant leaning towards the 
latter. Stakes, to support a board or rail 
fence, are still worse ; being smaller they rot 
quicker. 4 
Roll in some big rocks or stones, if you 
have got them, where you want a fence, if you 
don't choose to ditch, and build a good sub¬ 
stantial rail fence on a good underpinning. 
Black Ash, Chesnut, White Oak, and Rock 
Elm raife will probably last your life-time, 
and save you from constant anxiety and occa¬ 
sional loss. “ It is a crying sin” for farmers 
to use up all their rail timber while they are 
plowing, dragging and hoeing among “boul¬ 
ders” that seem to be patiently waiting for 
another food to take them out of the way. A 
stone underpinning once well made, will last 
forever. Americans, like other migratory 
animals, do everything “/or the present.” 
The “ laying out” of a farm is a matter for 
deliberate and very careful consideration.— 
We should consider well where we would have 
a fence, and then build it for posterity. In 
doiDg this, I think we should in general make 
the lower part of earth or stone. Two loads 
of earth dropped under each length, with a 
row of stones put on top, would save two or 
three rails, and cost little if any more than 
the rails would. 
I trust the experiment of hedges will be 
fairly tried. h. t. b. 
CHARCOAL AS A FERTILIZER. 
There is too much reason to suppose that £ 
mankind are making some great mistakes.— 
Death and disease, wide spread, farnish the ev- r 
idence. We are not respectful enough to Om- { 
nipotence. We do not pay sufficient regard i 
to the Divine arrangements. Our forests, tor j 
instance, are considered the great enemy of ^ 
civilization and settlement, the pest that the 1 
pioneer has for years to contend with, and ac- j 
cordingly they are dismissed with as little cer- , 
emony as possible. A sounder theology would 
teach us that God does not make blunders of 
that sort. 
So important a feature as our forests, must 
have an important agency in the world’s af¬ 
fairs. Among the diversified uses to which 
they may be applied, there is one which has 
by no means received the attention it deserves. 
I refer to charcoal as a fertilizer. I have used 
it with very beneficent results upon nearly all 
kinds of crops. Last winter I mixed it with 
my barn-yard manure at regular intervals, and 
where I applied it to my corn crop the result 
is very marked indeed. A great number of 
persons have seen the corn, and without excep¬ 
tion, so far as I know, pronounce it the best 
they have seen. It w T as pretty well hoed and 
cultivated. Portions of the field not so ma- 
nuredare far inferior. 
Two or three years ago, I applied charcoal 
dust from a coal pit bottom to young apple 
trees, mixing a bushel of the dust with the top 
soil and filling the hole with the mixture. The 
trees so managed have outstripped all others 
in the orchard; the foliage is a dark green, 
and the trees look every way much better than 
othere that had as good treatment in all re¬ 
spects except charcoal. 
I have no doubt that the free use of char¬ 
coal would correct many of the numerous mal¬ 
adies to which animals and vegetables are now 
subject. I believe it the great medicine of the 
soil. Powerful in itself, it is an important 
auxiliary, if not entirely indispensable, to 
other fertilizers. Beyond any available sub¬ 
stance it is effectual to “fx” those gaseous 
materials that poison the air, but are the life 
of plants. 
It is greatly to be deprecated, that Ameri- 
i cans, without half cultivating their cleared 
■ land, are desperately bent upou sweeping -oft 
• the timber from the remainder. 1 would say 
i to all who have timber that can be spared for 
i the purpose, convert it into charcoal. If called 
• upon to tell how we are to get our fertilizers 
> in future, I would answer through the agency 
• of charcoal. Let every u sink of iniquity” 
t i be strewed with it. h. t. b. 
CflmmtuiuatiDjis. • ji 
THE WILLOW AND ITS USES, ![ 
Of the willow, there are, according to the ] 1 
classification of naturalists, from one hundred 1 [ 
and forty, to two hundred and fifty-four spe- i 1 
cies. It is probable, however, that there are j i 
but two or three distinct classes from which i J 
have sprung all the varieties. The White, or [ i 
Timber-Willow, the Ornamental, or Weeping, 1 , 
and the Osier are types towards which all oth- i [ 
era approximate, and these grow from one |i 
hundred feet in height down to mere shrubs. ij 
The willows are generally natives of the i 
colder parts of the temperate regions in the \ 
northern hemisphere. A few species are found 1 
in China, Armenia, Northern India, North , 
Africa, Japan, and Central America. In ] 
Europe it seems to have attained the standard i 
of perfection, and in the United States, where J 
attention has been given to its thorough cul- 1 
ture, the product is fully equal. 
The diversity of uses to which the willow is 
applied is remarkable. In France the young 
shoots of one species, both green and cured, 
are given to cattle, and are said to be very 
nourishing. In some places the horse, from 
the end of August till November, is fed en- J 
tirely on them. In both Sweden and in Ros- \ 
sia the twigs are very generally used for the pur- ( 
poses of thatching, the manufacture of house- \ 
hold utensils, harness, &c.—so much, so, that i 
a traveler in those countries states he has rid¬ 
den with a willow bridle, fished with willow 
tackle, and lain all night at anchor with a ca¬ 
ble made of the same material. The bark 
also has its purposes of utility. In Sweden 
and Norway the under portion is dried, 
ground and mixed with the food of the people. 
The bark of the youDg shoots is woven and 
from the product uppers of shoes are obtained, 
while the outer or heavy bark of the tree fur¬ 
nishes the sole. In Tartary the inner bark is 
soaked in water, its fibrous properties separa¬ 
ted and woven into cloth. Both bark and 
leaves are astringent—the former is often used 
for tanning and dyeing. 
1 As a timber, the wood of the large, White 
Willow, has its peculiar adaptations. It is 
usually easily worked, capable of fine finish, 
: very light, and combines elasticity, durability, 
' and toughness ; when not exposed to the action 
1 of the weather, for flooring, rafters, and in- 
5 side work for houses, it has been known to 
• last for more than a century. For imitation 
1 of costly timber it has few equals, — but 
1 in this particular department is seldom used 
1 except for ebony, which in appearance it resem- 
1 bles minutely. For the interior of wagon or 
t cart boxes it would supercede all other kinds, 
f for reasons given, and in connection, on ac- 
- count of its softness, not being liable to splin- 
t ter from contact with rough angular substan- 
I ces. For the wood-work of light agricultural 
<- implements, as handles to hoes, rakes, hay- 
rakes, racks for feeding cattle, cradles, &c., in 
,1 fact for all the lesser wooden machinery, of 
e the farm this timber is most useful, 
p Another species, the Red-Wood, is much 
e used in Europe for the construction of small 
•s ships and fast sailing sloops. Mr. Mosher, a 
l, celebrated architect, in a treatise on “ naval 
n timber,” thus speaks of it:—“ Formerly, be- 
3- fore the introduction of iron bands for wagon 
wheels, the external rim or felloe, was made 
r . of thin willow ; and when new, the wagon was 
1 _ drawn along a road covered with hard, small 
w gravel, angular in shape, by which means the 
lc felloe shod itself with stone, and thus became 
it capable of enduring the friction of the road 
,o for a long time, the toughness and elasticity 
> of the willow retaining the gravel until the 
is stone was worn completely away.” 
fe After having subserved the interests of man 
in every respect, it at last can be converted 
*i- into coal—in which shape it also has its pecu- 
ed liar* value. In the manufacture of gunpowder 
}ff the willow plays a part of importance. Char- 
iy coal from the Willow and Poplar only is used 
or and the finest or best made from the Willow 
ed alone. Our powder manufactories have large 
irs plantations for the production of this ingredi- 
cy ent of their explosives. 
y>> The WeepiDg Willow is a native of the Le- 
! vant It thrives well in this country, pr> 
