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VOLUME V. MO. 8.1 
ROCHESTER, M. Y. — SATURDAY, FEBRUARY U, 1854. 
WHOLE MO. 
ITcron’s gitntl UUu-Jorlur: 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary, and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASSISTED IIT 
JOSEPH HARRIS, in the Practical Departments: 
EDWARD WEBSTER, in the Literary and News Dep’ts. 
Corresponding Editors: 
J. H. Bixby, —H. C. White, —T. E. Wetmobe. 
Thk Rural Nbw-Yorker is designed to he 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 in¬ 
terests it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with many appropriate and handsome engrav¬ 
ings, than any other paper published in this Country,— 
rendering it a complete Agricultural, Literary and 
Family Newspaper. 
rw For Terms, Ac., see last page. 
Progress apcl Improvement. 
MAPLE SUGAR MAKING. 
The business of converting maple sap into 
sugar, is not only profitable, but it has many 
associations that tend to make it a pleasing 
pastime. To the juveniles, at least, it is a mer¬ 
ry-making time. The labor is at a season of 
the year when most kinds of farm work cannot 
be forwarded at so good advantage, and hence 
it may be made to (ill up a vacancy as it were. 
By most palates the flavor of this kind of sugar 
is preferred to that from the cane. It certain¬ 
ly is as healthy, whilst the syrup is second only 
to honey. The quality, however, depends upon 
the method of its manufacture. It mat in- 
worthless, or it may be quite equal to the best 
of refined sugars — just as slovenly or neat 
habits prevail with those who superintend the 
business. 
It is no small item in the agricultural pro¬ 
ductions of the United States. The census 
figures of 18.10, put it down at 32,759,263 lbs. 
Now, if this was all manufactured properly, 
and so was of good quality, the value of this 
product would be above two and a half mill¬ 
ions of dollars. At eight cents the pound, 
which- is a fair valuation for good maple sugar, 
the amount would be $2,620,741. In this 
account no estimate is made of the syrup and 
molasses, which would swell the amount con¬ 
siderably. New York ranks the highest, pro¬ 
ducing 10,310,764 lbs. The next is Vermont, 
yielding 5,159,641 lbs. Ohio is third, giving 
4,521,643 lbs. Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and 
Pennsylvania follow in order, ranging between 
two and three million pounds each. There are 
five States reported as producing no sugar— 
Rhode Island, Delaware, Florida, Arkansas and 
California. There is therefore the greatest 
need that its manufacture be conducted in the 
best manner, as a slight loss will, iij the aggre¬ 
gate, make a great difference in the total value. 
Much time and labor may be saved by ju¬ 
diciously locating the “works,” and making the 
arrangements in the most economical manner. 
The sugar house, or boiling place, should be 
located in a central, but convenient part of the 
bush, and where descending ground can be 
had, arrangements may be readily made to 
discharge the gathered sap into the holder, and 
thence to the evaporator, without labor. The 
bush should be cleared of logs and brush. A 
sled Is taken, on which is attached a hogshead 
with an opening large enough to readily receive 
a pail; at the bottom or oue end have a plug 
or faucet. With this apparatus and a team, 
the sap is quickly gathered, and at the expense 
of but little toil. Then if the receiver is prop¬ 
erly placed, the team and sled is driven on the 
the upper hill-side of it, the spout placed and 
faucet turned, when the hogshead soon empties 
itself. 
The tapping should lie considered, for in this 
there is also a best way. The gash with the 
axe and gouge is thought by many to injure 
the tree less than boring, though the latter is 
preferable for cleanliness, as it excludes the 
air and saves the necessity of re-hacking. A 
“spile” to lit the hole is driven tightly in, but 
it should be tight only at the outer edge, else 
the flow of sap may be retarded. A passage 
through the shaft permits the escape of the 
liquid. If the bucket is provided with a wire 
ear, as it should be, it is readily attached to 
the spile, close at the tree, and thus all danger 
of upsetting, and the catching of dirt avoided. 
Tin buckets are decidedly preferable, for light¬ 
ness, durability and cleanliness. They arc- 
much more easily scoured and cleaned, whilst 
they will not take into their substance nor re¬ 
tain any sourness or bad odor, as will wooden 
vessels. Among woods, pine and cedar are to 
be preferred. When the season is passed, or 
as soon as sugar making is ended, the buckets 
should be gathered, thoroughly scalded and 
cleaned, then safely housed, and again well 
scalded when taken out for use in the spring. 
Troughs ought not to be tolerated, unless one 
is utterly unable to do otherwise. They are 
complete catch-alls for leaves, dirt and dead 
things, and, when used, the sugar Cannot be 
made of lirst quality. 
Good, well-seasoned wood is another requi¬ 
site in the profitable manufacture of good sugar. 
It should be cut the year before, well prepared, 
and, if practicable, secured under cover. 
Sheet iron pans, set in arches, are by the best 
judges conceded to be superior to kettles. As 
they present a larger surface to the heat, they 
evaporate faster and better; besides they are 
cheaper, lighter, and are more easily managed. 
They are made of any size, by riveting togeth¬ 
er sheets of Russia iron. The edges are t urned 
up a few inches, and to which is frequently at¬ 
tached a wooden frame with handles, for the 
greater convenience of moving when necessary. 
The fire passing only under the bottom, there 
is no danger of burning the wood, nor does the I 
sap burn to the sides its is too often the case 
where kettles are u-.-.l, and by which the syrup 
is darkened in color and embittered in taste.— 
The receiver should be placed above the arch. 
Then a stream of the sap can be kept steadily 
flowing to the pan through a pipe, and so 
graduated as to exactly balance the evapora¬ 
tion. By this means the beat is kept 
and the evaporation goes on regularly and rap¬ 
idly. If the sap can be conducted first to a 
warming pan, and thence to the evaporator, so 
much the better. 
Care and neatness, scrupulously exercised 
from the tree to the evaporator, will insure a 
syrup of first quality. But care and ; atne.-^ 
must not stop here. When enough has been 
evaporated for a batch of syrup, the boiling of 
it to a proper consistence should be done 1 v ith 
caution. It should while yet hot be strained 
through flannel cloth, and then set to cool in 
tin pans. A fine sediment will be deposited.— 
The clear liquor should be carefully poured off, 
and again filtered through, thick flannel cloth. 
It is then ready to be placed in brass or iron 
kettles, and to each four or live gallons of syrup 
should be added a pint of milk and four or five 
eggs well beaten. This is to bring the impu¬ 
rities yet held in solution, to the surface in the 
form of scum. It is now placed over the fire 
and gradually wanned, ami the tilth removed 
with a skimmer as fast as it gathers, after which : 
it is boiled with a gentle fire till it will grain, i 
which is a-certaiued by cooling some in a i 
spoon, or by taking a little on a knife, when if J 
it will string down in tine hairs it will answer, j 
Another method, is to drop a little in a tumbler 
of cold water, and if it fall to the bottom and 
take the appearance of soft wax, it is ready to 
be placed in pans to cool. But before it is 
cold, it should be transferred to conical boxes 
—the largest part being uppermost—with a 
hole iu the bottom for the escape of the molas¬ 
ses. On the surface of the sugar keep a wet 
but clean flannel cloth. This should be washed 
daily in cold water, to remove the coloring 
matter that may be absorbed. By this pro¬ 
cess, sugar of pure whiteness and of excellent 
quality may be obtained. Another method is, 
when it has somewhat cooled to stir it briskly. 
The more thoroughly and longer it is stirred, 
the finer will be the grain and the whiter the 
sugar. Still another way is to pour it while 
warm into a tub, and when several batches 
have accumulated, or as much as is desired, 
the plugs are removed and the molasses drained 
away. This, too, may be clarified by the same 
process as above, but in so large a quantity 
the process is ’Hastened by draining water thro’ 
the mass. 
When it is desired to make the sugar into 
hard and solid cakes, the syrup requires mor: 
boiling. r l’in pans, or other vessels, are then 
slightly greased, and the sugar poured in while 
warm, having been previously stirred to assist 
the grain in setting. The coloringanafter can be 
extracted from the cakes by wet flannel as above. 
The methods sketched in this article have 
heretofore secured the premium sugar at our 
fairs, and they will, if properly followed out, 
secure the product of the maple in the best 
possible condition. t. e. w. 
THE OBJECT OF PLOWING. 
The object of plowing is not fully under¬ 
stood and considered by the majority of those 
who perform the work: if it were-, it would be 
done more faithfully and thoroughly. It is not 
alone to kill the weeds and grass, nor even to 
furnish a seed-bed of fresh-turned soil for plant¬ 
ing or sowing—nor anything which looks mere¬ 
ly to the inversion of the sod,—which consti¬ 
tutes good plowing. Large plows, turning a 
wide and shallow furrow, will show a large 
day’s work—but the work is very imperfectly 
accomplished, when the true object of plowing 
is considered. The chief value of jflowing is 
the preparation it gives the soil for producing 
vegetation—for .giving to the plants sown or 
planted, the elements of growth and fruitful¬ 
ness. It should thoroughly pulverize and 
“loosen the texture of the soil, and thus admit 
a free circulation of air and moisture, which, 
by chemical action, disintegrates or breaks 
down the stony or mineral portions of the same, 
so that they may bo more rea iily dissolved and 
taken up by the roots.” 
In a soil thus plowed — thu 3 prepared for 
yielding its support to vegetable life — plants 
can appropriate from far and near, the nutri- 
nujpt needed for their growth. It is dissolved 
and ready for their use—not hidden in unbro¬ 
ken clods or slumbering iu an undisturbed sub¬ 
soil—but awaits their action in a triable and 
penetrable state, where every hungry rootlet, 
sent out to gather nourishment for its parent 
plant, may find and appropriate it. It is truly 
wonderful how full of minute roots the soil of 
a corn-field becomes, and if that soil is fine and 
deep, the deeper and closer together will the 
fibres permeate and intersect it. This is truc t 
of ail other crops, and while the leaves and 
fruit depend so intimately on the vigor ami 
extent of the roots, these facts should always 
be taken into consideration among the objects || 
of Plowing. 
i- ineuess aud depth of soil are requisite in i 
re-dcr lo receive the full benefit of the manures 
applied. It is not fertilizing food in its crude 
state which assists vegetation—it must first be¬ 
come intimately mixed with, or iu fact, a part 
of the soil. Barn-yard manure especially, 
seems of little worth, while forming visible 
layers between the clods of a half plowed soil 
—it is often dry and coarse—and rather shun¬ 
ned than sought by the roots sent out to forage 
for suitable food. If a weii prepared soil has 
any strength and virtue, it will yield it readily; 
and poor land in good tilth is often more pro- 
due ■ I I. -s perfectly prepared. 
Th influences of air and moisture, have free¬ 
dom to work, ... aids in 
gathering means to supply th< wants of vege¬ 
tation. 
With these hints on IB.; obi ' >f Plowing 
we might connect of -—the 
best means of accomp . —but 
prefer to leave it for other , it our 
practical farmers, who haw it gin tad ex¬ 
perimented upon the su!fleet V; ts what plow, 
and what depth and width oi .arrow, taking 
also soil, season, team, and i sm in > • ".^der¬ 
ation, most thoroughly lo ;-v n . d > - and 
inverts the soil? This i ..bran m would i»e 
of much value to every f a e; n is esjK dally 
needed in the present stai • of a. ricuituiai pro¬ 
gress—for taking the cot.: a lam tic- 
count, Plowing is more imp tl\ llv performed 
than any other part of farm ' — 
The action of frost on p- t a ms and o V 
vegetables is not clearly und > tod. h ... ar¬ 
ranges the particles of mat ur and .i m - 
.speedy fermentation. The ' now: -tor 
acts on the starch and con . . sugar 
similarly to the action of m* Hence the 
sweet taste of dozen potatoes. 
THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYED. 
NUMBER II. 
The “ Hired Man” has duties to fulfil, as well 
as his employer. The gist of the burden does 
not by any means lie upon one’s shoulders.— 
Because John has engaged with Farmer A. 
for a specified period, it does not follow that 
his obligation binds him morally to do just a 
given amount of labor, performed without any 
thought as to what the ends of that labor are 
to be; performed in fact, just to “pass away 
the time,” satisfy the letter of the bond, and 
so secure the few stipulated, dollars. When 
John engages to labor for Farmer A, whether 
the thing is mentioned or not, he is in all honor 
bound to make the interests of Farmer A. his 
interests, to so serve and labor for him that his 
welfare and interests shall be promoted there¬ 
by. His reasonable services are engaged, 
stipulated for—and if John neglects them, or 
so performs his labor that but half the good 
shall arise from it that might otherwise, he is 
recreant to his trusls and has broken the spirit 
of his bond. He is not ODly unjust to his em¬ 
ployer, but more unjust to himself. The wise 
man has said that a diligent man shall stand 
before kings. But he who is not diligent to 
his trusts, implied or otherwise, proves he lacks 
that great element of success which will raise 
him to high stations, or to greatness of renown. 
By no means would we argue that a man must 
drudge out his hours in mere toil, like an in¬ 
sensate machine. That is not it. No honora¬ 
ble employer will require it. He has no right 
to demand it. But he has a right to demand 
that your care and foresight shall be exercised 
Ins behalf. He has a right to expect that 
on will be regular in your habits, punctual to 
your duties, humane to his creatures, urbane 
and gentlemanly in your deportment, and with 
a laudable ambition to improve and excel in 
your employment. 
' hat you labor for another—thanks to the 
. i ins of our country,—is no badge of serviii- 
v. The day-laborer is as much of a king as 
ho from whom he receives his daily wages— 
may even be the greater gentleman. Beneath 
his patched vest may throb a heart, far greater 
in all the noble impulses of manhood. Every 
avenue to honor and profit is open to the 
humblest in the land. Many who now stand 
on pinnacles of greatness, have reached the 
altitudes of their fame from the depths of 
poverty and privation. These things are full 
of hope to the young and ardent, and should 
incite them to unremitting efforts to improve 
every spare moment to the best advantage, in 
laying that mental and moral ground-work upon 
which they can make themselves great in some 
noble occupation or work. By all means, then, 
serve your employers faithfully—look out sharp 
for their interests—not in petty acts, but iu 
doing what you do in the best manner and in 
the most expeditious way. Improve every 
moment that you can claim from your labors, 
for the improvement of your mind; and iu all 
that you do, strive to excel. 
Too often there is not a proper understand¬ 
ing iu the beginning betweeu the employer and 
employed. The matter is perhaps loosely 
talked over, a verbal agreement struck, and 
the parties go on. Too soon there is dissatis¬ 
faction, misunderstanding and altercation.— 
There should be order in this as in every thing 
else. A minute understanding should be had, 
which should be reduced to writing and signed 
by the parties. Such a course impresses the 
matter more favorably, the obligations are felt 
more binding, and tend to strengthen the good 
desires of either in the direction of right doing. 
Since we commenced these articles, our eye has 
rested on a form of Agreement in the Yol. of 
the N. Y. S. Ag. Soc. Trans, for 1848, which 
seems to suggest so much that may be used to 
profit, that we quote it here for the benefit of 
whom may be disposed. Particularly would 
we commend the instructions and maxims at- 
j tached as all worthy of especial consideration, 
1 not only by the laborers themselves but by the 
I employers and those who do not hire. 
Let them paste them in their day-book, or 
i better perhaps, on the door-post, and read and 
m upon them 'daily until their observance, be¬ 
come. a fixed habit. Doing so, we are sure 
that order and thrift would smile from many 
a gateway where now disorder and want ate 
quite too rampant. 
FORM OF AGREEMENT. 
It is hereby agreed between A. B., of-, 
and C. D., of-, as follows, viz: For and 
in consideration of the sums of money herein¬ 
after named, to be paid by the said A. B. to 
the said C. D.,—the said C. D., hereby promis¬ 
es and agrees, on his part, well and faithfully 
to labor for the said A. B., for and during the 
full term of-from the date hereof and to 
do and perform all and every such work and 
services as the said A. B., may at any time re¬ 
quire during the period aforesaid, and to per¬ 
form und do all such work with fidelity and 
with a view at all times to promote and main¬ 
tain the comfort, interest, and welfare of the 
said A. B., and his family, and for the full pro¬ 
tection of his property and effects. 
And the said A. B. hereby promises and 
agrees to pay the said C. D., for the work, 
services aud duties faithfully done and per¬ 
formed by him as aforesaid, the sum of- 
dollars for the term above named, in sums and 
at times as follow-; and the said A. B. 
agrees to employ the said C. D., for the said 
term of-. And the said C. D. further 
agrees strictly to conform to the rules and 
regulations and maxims of the farm, as here¬ 
unto annexed and by him signed.. 
In witness whereof, we have hereunto affixed 
our hands and —day of-,185— 
In presence oi A. B. 
E. F. C. D. 
G. H. 
It is expected that all persons employed on 
the farm, of - will carefully attend to the 
following system: 
Regularity of hours. 
Punctuality in cleaning and putting away 
implements. 
Humanity to all the animals. 
Neatness and cleanliness in persoual appear¬ 
ance. 
Decency in deportment and conversation. 
Implicit obedience to the proprietor or his 
foreman. 
Ambition to learn and excel in farming. 
No-liquor or strong drink of any kind allowed. 
MAXIMS OF ORDER AND NEATNESS. 
1 Perform every operation in the proper 
season. 
2. Perform every operation in the best 
manner. 
3. Complete every part of an operation as 
you proceed. 
4. Finish one job before you begin another. 
5. Secure your work aud tools in an order¬ 
ly manner. 
6. Clean every tool when you leave off work. 
7. Return every tool and implement to its 
place at night C. D. 
This form, &e., can be altered to suit circum¬ 
stances, and many may find it of service as a 
guide. t. e. w. 
DOUBTS FOR FARMERS, 
It is questionable whether the practice of 
selling oft' the hay and grain from a farm with¬ 
out any return of manure in some shape, comes 
under the head of good farming. To ’keep 
up the fertility of the land, these articles should 
be consumed, as far as may be, upon it and 
the refuse and manure be carefully saved and 
returned to the soil. 
It is doubtful if a farmer can find any better 
investmentfor his money, above what is required 
for the support, education, &c., of his family 
than to expend it upon his farm, in the im¬ 
provement of his stock, in planting trees,— 
in draining, improving and omamentiug the 
place he has chosen as the scene of his labors 
and the centre of his comforts.—n. 
To Prevent Potatoes from Rotting. —In 
a recent conversation with John O. Mo Yean, 
of Scottsville, N. Y., he informed us, that last 
fall at the time of harvesting the potatoes, he 
put two heaps in the cellar, dusting one of the 
heaps with quick lime as they were thrown in 
from the wagon. The potatoes in this heap 
kept well, while those in the other, not limed, 
nearly all rotted. IVe published a similar 
statement some weeks since, and have observed 
many experiments recorded, giving like results. 
