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VOLUME VI, NO. 34.) 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURPAY, AUGUST 25, 1855. 
{WHOLE NO. 294, 
Utomts |Umtl fttlu-^orlier. 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY, l FAMILY JOURNAL. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOEE. 
ASSOCIATK KD1T0R8 • 
J. H. BIXBY, T. 0. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
Special Contributors : 
T. E. Wctmokk. H. C. Whitk, H. T. Brooks, L. Wkthkrku,. 
Ladies’ Port-Folio by At, is. 
The Rural Nkw-Yorkfr Is designed to be unique azui 
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, interspersed with many appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other paper published in this 
Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Lith- 
suRYand Family Nkwspapkr. 
For Terms, and othor particulars, see News page. 
Hunt! fldu-flurkr. 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
NEW YORK AND OTHER STATE FAIRS. 
New York, at Elmira.Oct. 2, 3, 4, 5 
Ohio, at Columbus.Sept. 18, 19, 20,21 
Pennsylvania, at Harrisburgh.Sept. 25, 26, 27 
Michigan, at Detroit.Oct. 2, 3, 4, 5 
Illinois, at Chicago.Oct. 9, 10, 11,12 
Iowa, at Fairfield,.Oct. 10 
Missouri, at Boonvillo,..Oct. 2, 3, 4, 5 
Indiana, at Indianapolis.Oct. 16, 17, 18,19 
Vermont, at Rutland.Sept. 11,12,13 
New Hampshire, at Manchester,.Sept. 12, 13, 14 
Rhode Island, at Providence,.Sept. 11 to 15 
“ “ Horse and Cattle, do.Sept. 11 to 15 
New Jersey, at Camden.Sept. 19, 20, 21 
Connecticut, at Hartford.Oct. 9, 10, 11, 12 
Vi. ginla, ut Richmond.... 
do (Western) at Wheeling.Sept. 26, 27, 38 
Maryland, at Baltimore.'. .Oct., last week 
Georgia, at Atalanta.Sept. 10, 11, 12 
North Carolina, at Raleigh,.Oct. 16, 17, 18, 19 
Alabama, at Montgomery,.Oct. 23, 24, 25, 26 
Tennessee, at Nashville.Oct., first week 
do (East) at London.Oct. 23, 24, 26 
Canada East, at Sherbrooke.Sept. 11, 12, 13, 14 
Canada West, at Cobourg.Oct. 9,10, 11, 12 
As the Annual Exhibitions of the various 
State Agricultural Societies are soon to be 
held, we,publish a revised list, embracing 
times and places, thus conspicuously. Now 
that the busy season is past, and the haivest 
gathered, ruralists have a period of compara¬ 
tive leisure, and those interested can conven¬ 
iently consider and make due preparation for 
the “coming events” announced. Though 
not first in point of time, we place New York 
at the head of the list, its Show being of para¬ 
mount importance to a majority of our read¬ 
ers. That it will prove one of the best and 
mo6t successful Rural Jubilees ever held in 
the Union, there are many encouraging indi¬ 
cations. The people of Elmira and the sur¬ 
rounding country are imbued with the right 
spirit, and apparently determined to make a 
demonstration which shall prove to tho “ rest 
of mankind” that Progress, Improvement and 
Prosperity are prominent institutions in South¬ 
ern New York. A good feeling also pervades 
other portions of the State, and we can safely 
announce that the Central and Western sections 
will be well represented. The farmers of the 
North will not, we presume, fail to attend — 
especially as they may wish the compliment 
returned, at Watertown, the year following ! 
Next in importance to the readers of the 
Euhal, are the Shows of Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Mis¬ 
souri. The Societies in most of these States 
are in a flourishing condition, and extensive 
arrangements are being made for the ap¬ 
proaching exhibitions. In the four first nam¬ 
ed, especially, we have reason to believe the 
Shows will be unusually well attended, and it 
is apparent that a spirit is aroused which will 
tend to render them eminently successful.— 
Though wo hear less in regard to the doings 
of the Indiana, Iowa and Missouri Societies, 
we doubt not each will make a creditable 
demonstration. 
The old and new State Societies in the East 
are prepaiing for their Fairs with an energy 
and forethought characteristic of New Eng¬ 
land, and we anticipate favorable reports in 
regard to the management and success of each 
exhibition. Vermont always makes a grand 
show of stock—particularly Horses und Sheep 
—and will probably sustain her well-earned 
reputation. We are assured that New Hamp¬ 
shire and Connecticut will make good dis¬ 
plays in various departments,—w hile “ Little 
Rhody” and the “Jersey Blues” exhibit a 
creditable spirit of emulation. 
The Southern Societies — including several 
new organizations — are also making praise¬ 
worthy efforts in the right direction. Our 
Southern friends seem imbued with the true 
spirit of Improvement, and, if we mistake not, 
will this year manifest decided progress in 
their Rural Festivals. 
Last in our enumeration, yet not least in 
importance, are the Canadian Shows. While 
we have presumptive evidence that both ex¬ 
hibitions will be worthy of special note and 
observation, we think that of our immediate 
neighbors of the Upper Province will prove 
highly creditable to all interested. The pro¬ 
gressive spirit pervading community, (some 
of which may possibly have been “ annexed,” 
or obtained through the “reciprocity” influ¬ 
ence,) and the great prosperity of the Agri¬ 
cultural interest, very properly lead many to 
anticipate a superior exhibition. 
DIMENSIONS OE A PROFITABLE FARM, 
Tub amount of land necessary for a profita¬ 
ble farm depends very much upon its locality, 
and the facilities afforded for a market. In 
the neighborkooel of cities, where garden veg¬ 
etables find a ready sale at remunerative pri¬ 
ces, an active business man can employ his 
energies and capital profitably upon half a 
dozen acres, and give employment to a num¬ 
ber of men. Tho succulent and juicy roots 
and plants, which arc an item of great im¬ 
portance in the account of human food, can¬ 
not, for various reasons, he profitably culti¬ 
vated at a long distance from the market.— 
Their bulk and gravity — from seventy to 
eighty per cent, of their constituents being 
water—would render their transportation, ex- 
oept in riye instances, unprofitable ; and the 
necessity of having them fresh from the soil 
at the time of consumption, is a still greater 
obstacle to their distant cultivation. While 
fresh garden vegetables and fruits are in the 
highest degree palatable and conducive to 
health, there can be no question but that 
those fatal summer maladies, which at times 
rage so fearfully in our cities, and which pre¬ 
vail to a greater or less degree every season, 
are stimulated, if not superinduced, by the 
use of these vegetables and fruits in a crude, 
or a wilted and decayed state. While men of 
intelligence and means mjike choice selections 
of these articles at higher prices, the stalls are 
cleaned of the refuse by the ignorant and the 
poor, at a small pecuniary price, but at a 
heavy sacrifice of health and life. Hence, in 
addition to the cost of transportation, a dis¬ 
tant market gardener is obliged to sell at a 
lower price than one located near the place of 
sale. Another reason why a gardener near a 
city has the advantage over his more rural 
competitor, is the facilities afforded for pro¬ 
curing manure. The refuse of the stables can 
be obtained nearly at the cost of removal; 
street cleanings are furnished by the scaven¬ 
gers at a shilling the load, and householders 
are willing to pay high prices for the clearing 
away of night soil from their premises. Thus 
the manure, so necessary for successful gar¬ 
dening, is within reach of the suburban small 
farmer, while the owner of hundreds of acres 
at a distance cannot command it at living 
prices. The fruit garden, the nursery, the 
milk business, afford the owner of a few acres 
in the vicinity of the city profitable employ¬ 
ments, so that from five to fifty acres of land 
judiciously managed makes him an independ¬ 
ent man. 
But where grain and cattle raising are the 
chief employments, the farmer must of neces¬ 
sity possess a more extended field for opera¬ 
tions. A dozen acres will not do so for such 
a purpose, and the owner of that amount of 
laiul in the country is usually compelled to 
resort to some auxiliary employment in order 
to make a living. There are a good many 
mechanics in the country who are able, and 
who find it for their interest, to own a few 
acres of land, on which to cultivate their veg¬ 
etables, and furnish pasturage for a limited 
number of domestic animals ; but in a well- 
settled country, like that of Western New 
York for instance, a man who devotes his at¬ 
tention exclusively to agiiculture, requires 
from fifty to two hundred acres to pursue it 
profitably. 
Good busbar dry forbids a repeated use of 
the same field for any specific crop, nor does 
it admit of culture for long periods without 
any pause or season of rest; and hence, in 
order to provide for these contingencies, there 
must be sufficient room for change. Pasture 
PREMIUM SHORT HORN COW, RUBY II. 
Ruby 2d—Rich roan, bred by, and the prop¬ 
erty of S. P. Chapman, Mount Pleasant Farm, 
Clockville, Madison Co., N. Y.; calved May 27, 
1850 : got by Buena Vista, dam Ruby, by Sym¬ 
metry 16G, (12170)—g. d. Willey 3d,"by Mars— 
g. g. d. Young Willey, by York—g. g. g. d. 
Willey (imported.) 
and mowing lands are necessary in addition ; I 
for a farmer who does not provide manure to 
compensate for a deterioration produced by 
cropping, will prove anything but thrifty in 
the end. In order tc do this, a proportionate 
amount of stock must be kept upon the farm, 
and the necessary buildings and appurtenan¬ 
ces provided for its protection. The most 
successful and energetic farmers to be found 
in Western New York, and those whose fields 
and buildings are in the most admirable con¬ 
dition, are, as a general thing, the owners of 
farms ranging within the above-named limits. 
We have a few wealthy landholders among 
us, whose acres are counted by the thousand, 
and whose estates are leased out in parcels to 
tenants having only an immediate and tem¬ 
porary interest in the soil. The natural ca¬ 
pacities of these lands are equal to any others 
in the State, but the contrast in buildings, 
orchards, and everything that renders a farm¬ 
er’s life attractive and elevating, between 
these leased estates and the freehold farms of 
equal dimensions with the tenancies, is very 
striking and painful. 
In the frontier States of the West, where 
the natural richness of the soil does away 
with the necessity of manuring for years to 
come, and where it would not pay at present, 
even if it was necessary, where a man must 
put in grain by the hundred acres, or raise 
cattle and sheep by the thousand, in order to 
make the business profitable, a farm of two 
hundred, or even two thousand acres, is none 
too large. A wide range for animals, in order 
that they can provide for themselves with 
little labor on the part of the owners, is neces¬ 
sary under present circumstances ; but the 
time will come, as the country fills up with 
inhabitants, and the long-cultivated soil 
needs, and will pay for, renovation, when 
these large frontier farms can be advanta¬ 
geously subdivided. 
In France the continual division of the pa¬ 
ternal estates among all the children, has re¬ 
sulted disastrously to the agricultural interest, 
for the land is held in such minute portions 
as to render its profitable cultivation impossi¬ 
ble ; while in England, the laws of primogen¬ 
iture and entailment have tended to accumu¬ 
late the whole territory in the hands of a 
monopolizing few. The golden mean, such 
as generally exists in thiseountry, is the best: 
and while we have nothing to fear from too 
minute a subdivision, in consequence of the 
cheapness of lands and the room for expan¬ 
sion, the facilities afforded for the transfer 
and division of estates, remove, also, the dan¬ 
gers of too great accumulations in individual 
hands. An estate may increase for two or 
three generations ; but improvidence, imbe¬ 
cility, or misfortune comes at last, and scat¬ 
ters it to the four winds. Such a disaster 
may be a cause of individual regret, hut a 
score of thrifty farmers is much more benefi¬ 
cial to tho community, than one over-grown 
land-holder with a score of dependant tenant¬ 
ry following at his heels. 
Ruby second won the first prize at the show 
of the New York State Agricultural Society, 
held at Utica in 1852, as the best two-year-old 
Short-horn heifer. Her dam. Ruby, won the 
first prize at the Show of the same Society, held 
at Albany in 1850, in class of " Milch Cows,” 
competition open to all breeds. Her milk, for 
<Dur Spcial Contributors. 
UNIFORMITY IS BREEDING. 
Whatever virtues and excellencies Ameri¬ 
cans possess, as a nation, we have not greatly 
distinguished ourselves in the breeding of Do¬ 
mestic Animals. Stimulated to great activity 
by broad fields of enterprise, we have little 
time for careful observation and continued ex¬ 
periment. High attainments in the useful 
and ornamental arts, as in literature and 
science, do not belong to the infancy of any 
people. But we are getting old in our youth. 
It is legitimate for us now to turn our wealth, 
already accumulated in individual cases be¬ 
yond the good man’s prayer, to such purposes 
as will justify its accumulation. So, too, 
should our intellectual energies, often fitful and 
feverish without valuable results, lend their 
aid to the development of our physical re¬ 
sources. It requires no stooping to do this.— 
The “ Points of Excellence” in ahorse, a sheep, 
or a cow, have as much dignity and grandeur 
as those picturesque accompaniments that are 
woven into poetry and romance. 
Unless intelligent and thoughtful men de¬ 
vote themselves to it, the stock of the country 
will not be improved. It requires the nicest 
perception, united with a perfect mastery of 
principles and details, to fix a true standard 
and attain to it. The smallest errors should 
be corrected. Apparently slight causes, ope¬ 
rating during successive years, produce very 
marked results, and in the end change entire¬ 
ly the whole character and configuration.— 
With perhaps some partial exceptions, we 
have accomplished little in this country wor¬ 
thy of especial commendation, except by the 
introduction of foreign breeds. The Morgan 
and Black Hawk horses, originating in a cross 
of different breeds, have, to a certain extent, 
a specific and definable character—they belong 
to this country. So, also, we have sheep with 
American peculiarities , which are said to com¬ 
pare favorably with the parent stock ; hut in 
rearing them, there may be reason to fear that 
they have been subjected to too great pressure. 
Conceding all that can be reasonably claim¬ 
ed, it remains true that the mass of American 
Farm Stock is a jumble of all sorts, propagated 
without a purpose, and without a plan. Crosses 
are made as “ economy” or convenience sug¬ 
gests. The nearest or the cheapest stock ani¬ 
mal is used, careless of results. Leaving, for 
the present, various branches of the subject, 
we will conclude with some remarks upon uni¬ 
formity in breeding. 
There are more reasons than could be read¬ 
ily offered why the individuals composing a 
particular flock or herd should hear a close re¬ 
semblance to each other. No better evidence 
of skill and care in breeding can be given.— 
Any blundering operator may have occasion¬ 
ally a fine animal, but to breed even is the 
work of time and attention. It being known 
that a breeder has a certain description of 
one day, has yielded 2 8-16 pounds of butter, 
the cow having grass feed only. Ruby 2d prom¬ 
ises to nearly equal her dam in her superior 
milking qualities, and is a very fine and sym¬ 
metrical animal. The portrait is very well ex¬ 
ecuted—creditahlo to the delineator, Mr. Page, 
and evincing improvement in our engravers. 
animals, those wishing to purchase that class 
are advised where to go. A reputation is es¬ 
tablished. Competition among buyers will 
bring up the price. 
> Animals of extraordinary merit are often 
passed off with a lot of poor ones for about 
the price of the inferior grade. Wool worth 
fifty or sixty cents is frequently sold for thir¬ 
ty-five or forty cents. There is room for eve¬ 
ry quality and description, big and little, 
coarse and fine, tough and tender, fast and 
slow,—but one at a time, gentlemen. The 
rarest merit will be appreciated if it finds its 
proper distinction. A “ two-forty” horse — 
perhaps he would now be considered some¬ 
thing of a “ fogy”—a two-thirty horse should 
not be sent to the lumbermen of Pennsylva¬ 
nia, nor a delicious “ South-Down” to the 
“foreign population” on the whaif. The 
men of the “ Island ” or the “ Avenue,” will 
do justice to the one, and Astor or St. Nicho¬ 
las to the other. As there are a great variety 
of ends to he answered, and of tastes to be 
consulted, let a breeder suit himself in his 
selection, but having adopted a particular style 
or class of animals, let him adhere to his own 
standard, and aim at uniformity. 
Similarity of disposition, size, color and 
contour in working oxen and horses will be 
appreciated—“ matched” learns have a market 
value often expressed by very high figures. 
Uniformity should be local or sectional. Cer¬ 
tain districts should be known as the home of 
particular breeds. This is so in England and 
other countries: soil, climate, &c., should 
control the selection. This plan adopted, 
buyers and sellers will find it very convenient, 
but the great consideration remains to be sta¬ 
ted :— No man can breed with any certainty of fa¬ 
vorable residts without breeding in a definite way, 
following a particular model, and adhering to it 
through successive generations. A race of milkers 
can be obtained only by selections from milk¬ 
ing families, and by crossing them upon noth¬ 
ing deficient in milking qualities. Workers, 
and other varieties, follow the same law of 
hereditary descent. 
It is by no means necessary that we should 
select any prominent breeds to begin with.-*- 
We may select good models among grades and 
natives, and establish for them a deserved 
reputation,—hut great care should he taken 
to prevent good qualities from being neutral¬ 
ized by bad ones. If a stock animal proves 
himself right, retain him as long as the laws 
of consanguinity will admit; then he may be 
used by others in the same line of breeding. 
When a change is necessary, get an animal of 
the same general character with the herd it¬ 
self, having important points well developed, 
—thus, in the end, symmetry, as well as certain¬ 
ty, will be the result; symmetry comes from 
homogeneous unions. Some things almost lost 
sight of are worthy of especial atteirtion,— 
as, for instance, color. Black or bay homes 
could be obtained, in the room of the curious 
mixtures we now have, by careful selections. 
This wh ole subject demands investigation. 
