VOLUME V. NO. 15. 
ROCHESTER, K Y.- SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1854. 
WHOLE NO. m. 
fjpjm’j $ttnl 
A QUARTO WEEKX.Y 
Agricultural, Literary, and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
ASSISTED BY 
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. Wetmoek. 
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 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. 
flj?” For Terms, &c., see last page. < JF $ 
Progress and Improvement. 
SEED-TIME AND ITS LABORS. — No. I. 
The icy hand of winter has at length been 
forced to unloose its iron gripe ; joyous spring 
and genial weather vivifying the bare, dreary 
landscape, and clothing it with living green 
and a beauty which neither Indies know, have 
at length arrived. But it is not a poetical 
season to the farmer. It is his seed-time; as 
he plows, harrows, rolls, manures and sows now, 
so shall he also reap. We are not in favor of 
wide furrows, but the shortness of our sowing 
season renders it necessary to turn over con¬ 
siderable land in a day. Nevertheless, many 
of our best farmers begin to think it is better 
to plow less, and do the work well, than to put 
in a large bieadth of laud in a half-worked con¬ 
dition. In a new country, with very rich land, 
worth only four or live dollars per acre, this 
skimming system, perhaps, is the only one prac¬ 
tical or profitable. But where land, as here, 
ranges in price from $50 to $150 per acre, we 
are well satisfied that the only way to farm 
profitably, is to sow less land and put on more 
labor, making up in increased acreage yield 
what you lose in having fewer acres sown. 
The object of plowing, is principally to pul¬ 
verize the soil, to render the particles of the 
soil as fine as possible, thus increasing their 
solubility and furnishing what Father Tull 
quaintly termed “ a good pasture for plants. - ’ 
One of the most practically valuable results of 
soil analysis, is that of Dr. Wells, who found 
that the soils of the Sciota Valley, in Ohio, of 
unsurpassed fertility, were nearly identical in 
ultimate chemical composition, with the sterile 
soils of Massachusetts,— the only difference 
being in the fineness of the particles. We 
should take a lesson from this fact, and pulver¬ 
ize our soils, especially for spring crops, as 
much as possible. It is for this reason we so 
earnestly urge our implement makers to manu¬ 
facture a clod crusher, somewhat similar to the 
celebrated English “ Croskill’s Patent Clod- 
Crusher,” as figured in the Rural of January 
21st, current volume. 
We plow much deeper and much wider than 
the best Scotch aud English farmers. Indeed, 
in their climate it would be impossible to get 
such furrows to pieces as we are in the habit 
of turning over. But, though we possess a 
much superior climate for the melioration and 
pulverization of soil than British farmers, we 
are not sure but we are in danger of plowing 
too deep and too wide. Would it not be bet¬ 
ter to subsoil rather than plow so deep? It is 
better to plow six inches deep, and have it well 
pulverized, than to plow twelve inches and 
leave it in a half-worked state! But the ad¬ 
vocates of deep plowing (and we claim to be 
one of them,) will say, would it not be better 
to plow and well pulverize twelve inches? It 
would; but do you, can you do it? 
After barley, of which we wrote last week, 
the next crop to be sown is oats. They will 
grow on all soils, from a stiff clay to a black 
muck. The heavy land yields the heaviest oats, 
while the rich mucky soil, abounding in organic 
matter, produces the most straw, but which 
frequently falls down, and the crop is much 
damaged. Two bushels per acre is the usual 
quantity sown here. As a general thing, we 
prefer three bushels'. 
Clover is sometimes sown with oats, but it is 
a bad practice, as the oats grow so thick at the 
bottom that the clover seldom takes well. We 
prefer to sow clover with wheat, early in the 
spring, but, if the soil is clean, it does well 
sown with barley. The barley ground should 
be well dragged before sowing the clover seed, 
which may be covered with a light harrow or 
roller. Be^ careful not to cover the seed too 
deeply. Much seed is lost from this cause.— 
Raise your own clover seed and do not spare 
it. Twelve pounds per acre is none too much. 
On a wheat farm you cannot sow L o much 
clover. We admit, the direct profit is rather 
small, but the ultimate gain is considerable.— 
At least one-fourth of the arable land should 
be sown with clover each year. 
Harrowing wheat on heavy soils, with a 
light drag, as soon as the ground is dry enough, 
has frequently been recommended. It is quite 
a common practice in many parts of England, 
and is attended with good results. It must be 
done before, or at the time of sowing clover 
seed, as it would injure young clover plants.— 
Many think it would injure the wheat, but it 
does not. We have seen hundreds of acres of 
wheat harrowed without any material injury to 
the wheat plants, but with great benefit to the 
crop. It is the next best thing to hoeing 
wheat. Try a portion of a field, and report 
the result. 
If cattle and sheep have been allowed to 
run in the meadows or clover fields, which you 
intend to mow, they should be immediately ta¬ 
ken out. If you have not already done so, 
sow a bushel of plaster per acre on the clovers 
and on dry upland meadows. 
The preparation of ground for carrots and 
other root crops, must not be forgotten, and of 
which we will speak next week. 
THE WINTER, &c,, IN KENT CO., MICH. 
Our winter has been a most excellent one 
for all kinds of business, especially for those 
engaged in lumbering. Our greatest depth of 
snow was about oue foot, aud good sleighing 
from the 20th of December to the last of Feb¬ 
ruary. January, for once, passed over with¬ 
out a thaw worthy the name, and when it 
came at last, the snow wasted away so gradu¬ 
ally under the genial weather, that the streams 
did not rise to their ordinary freshet limits.— 
Soon after our first permanent fall of snow, a 
light crust was given to it by a freezing rain, 
which insured a line covering to the fields from 
the effects of winds, &c. The consequence is, 
the wheat crop comes out looking more than 
usually fresh and vigorous. The clover plants 
also present a better look than usual at this 
time of the year. 
The average temperature of December was 
29° 3' with a range of the thermometer from 
1° to 53°. This is 2° lower than the average 
temperature of the previous December, and 4° 
higher than December, 1851. The fall of rain 
aud melted snow is 1.95 inches. Fair days 6J> 
cloudy without storm 17 days, of which li 
were foggy—rainy 1, and snowy 6i. Prevail¬ 
ing winds light and S. W. 
January averaged 21° 73' with a range of 
1G° below zero to 50°. This is 8° lower than 
in 1853, and 1J° lower than in 1852. The 
coldest day was the 28th, when in the morning 
the thermometer was —16°, which is 6° lower 
than it was in 1852, which was the lowest I 
had observed it here. The day averaged 
4° 33'. In ’52 the coldest day averaged 2° 66 ' 
below zero. The fall of rain and melted snow 
is 2.14 inches Fair days 4J; cloudy with¬ 
out storm 17; rain and sleet 21,; snowy 7.— 
Prevailing winds light, S. E. and S. W. 
February averaged 25° 94' with a range of 
8° below zero to 56°. This is one degree 
lower than in ’53, and nearly two lower than 
in ’52. The amount of rain and melted snow 
is 79-100 of an inch. Fair days 11 J; cloudy 
without storm 12; rainy 1, snowy 3$. Pre¬ 
vailing winds light and moderate S. W. and 
S. 10. A robin made his appearance on the 
1st day of this month, but the poor bird was 
quite too premature in his arrival. 
There were observed in the above months 3 
Lunar halos, 6 Solar halos and 4 Parhelia. 
March lias thus far been very fine—but two 
days of storm. Thermometer ranging from 
16° to 68°. The first thunder and lightning 
of the season was on the evening of the 8th.— 
Blue-birds appeared on the 4th, and since then 
robins, sparrows, larks, &c., are making the 
fields and groves vocal with their vernal songs. 
The snow has all disappeared, the roads are 
getting dry, and in many places dusty, and our 
fighter soils are in fine condition for the plow. 
The writer started the plow in sucli soil 3 days 
since, and has already planted out some of the 
earlier and hardier vegetables, &c. But we 
cannot expect that spring is really coming 
upon us thus early. We fear we shall have a 
draw-back upon it in April or May. At the 
present writing, the air is bland, aud with that 
smoky-like aspect peculiar to the Indian sum¬ 
mer, the sky cloudless, and the “signs” indi¬ 
cative of an indefinite continuance. 
la all respects, the winter now passed has 
been decidedly the best the writer has seeu in 
the four years he has resided here, and in many 
respects our winters are preferable to those 
usually witnessed in Western New York. 
To the young man in the east, or him with 
small means,—iu fact to all that propose to try 
the west-seeking to better their condition, the 
valley of the Grand River holds out, the wri¬ 
ter believes, as good inducements for invest¬ 
ment, as any portion of the west. A railroad 
communication is soon to be completed across 
this portion of the State, which will open this 
region more effectually to the rest of the world. 
The only bed of Gypsum known north-west of 
Lake Erie is found at Grand Rapids. The 
plaster manufactured from it has no superior 
in the country, and the quantity is enough to 
supply the vL.de* Tinted s ;V l.atf aid*" 
nite period of time. Lime and other minerals 
abound. Mills, both grist aud saw, are of fre¬ 
quent occurrence. Lumber plenty and cheap, 
and the privileges of a good community, in 
fact superior to many situations in an older 
country. Any taste can be suited in soil, tim¬ 
ber or location; for ail the varieties abound, 
from the heaviest timbered and clay soils to 
plains and light sand. A few miles north, a 
large supply of government land still lays iu 
its richness for the hai dy pioneer. Let those 
who wish for a new home iu a new country, 
look at these lands and this region before lo¬ 
cating, for they may easily go farther and fare 
much worse. t. e. w. 
North Ciinnou, Mich., March 17, 1S54. 
WOOLEN R.lfiS AS MANURE. 
Old woolen rags are extensively used in 
England as a manure for hops, and also on 
heavy lands as a manure for wheat. Th y con¬ 
tain about 17 per cent, of nitrogen, aud are 
therefore a more valuable fertilizer in this re¬ 
spect, than the best Peruvian guano. But 
they are decomposed with great difficulty, and 
hence their immediate benefit is not so great as 
from guano. If they were torn to pieces and 
ground quite fine, they would decompose more 
readily, and therefore be more effective and 
valuable. Soaking them in the wash of the 
barn-yard, also aids decomposition. We pre¬ 
fer to make them into a compost with soil 
from old headlands, horse manure, etc., water¬ 
ing it as it may require with the wash of the 
stables, &c. Lime and ashes have been rec¬ 
ommended, but as they drive off the ammonia 
thev should on no ac ;ount be used. 
“Duke of Devon,” — Owned by F. V. Smith, Goldwater, Mich. 
DEVON CATTLE AT THE WEST. 
One of the most distinguishing characteris¬ 
tics of the “universal Yankee nation,” is the 
rapidity with which everything valuable is dif¬ 
fused throughout the length and breadth of 
this vast continent. Is a labor-saving imple¬ 
ment invented — in a few weeks, by the aid of 
cuts, diagrams, descriptions, and the press, it is 
known from Maine to California. Does a new 
seedling prove valuable—in a few years it is in 
the garden or field of every intelligent horti¬ 
culturist and farmer in the land. And so it is 
with improved stock. They are confined to no 
particular locality or State. Durhams are not 
now found only ih the county of Durham, or 
Devons confined to Devonshire, Ayrshires to 
the county of Ayr, or Herefords to Hereford¬ 
shire, as was-the case f:. the good c)tl times, in 
the good old country we feel proud to call our 
fatherland. There is hardly a State in the 
Union, scarcely a county, in which these im¬ 
proved breeds of cattle, in greater or less pu¬ 
rity and perfection, are not to be found. The 
good folk “out west” are already in possession 
of large numbers of animals of all the improv¬ 
ed breeds, and what speaks still louder in praise 
of their enterprise and liberality, is the fact that 
| they are making strenuous efforts, by purchas¬ 
ing the best that money will buy, and by judi¬ 
cious and careful breeding, to still more improve 
their stock, tiil it shall be second to none iu the 
world. 
Except in rich grazing valleys, where cattle 
are kept solely for beef, the Devons are the fa¬ 
vorite breed of the West. Our engravings 
represent, iu some degree, what Michigan is 
doing in this line. The bull, “Duke of Devon,' 
is five years old this spring, and was imported 
from England in 1851. The engraving is a 
pretty correct portrait of him, and it will there¬ 
fore be seen that he is a very superior animal. 
The cow, “ Duchess,” is also five years old this 
: spring, ami was imported in 1850. Sl.e was 
: awarded the first premium by the New York 
I 8tate Agricultural Society, in 1851, as the best 
j Devon calf; and also the first premium by the 
l Michigan State Soc'y as the best two year old 
j Devon heifer. In our opinion, the engraving 
hardly does her justice. They are the proper- 
! ty of Mr. F. Y. Smith, of Goldwater, Branch 
Go., Michigan. 
“Duchess,"—Owned by F. V. Smith, Go', r- water, Mich. 
THE PROGRESS OF INCUBATION. 
CORN AND THE WIRE-WORM. 
A correspondent of the Michigan Farmer 
I speaks highly of the practice of placing corn 
! cobs in the hill of corn as a preventive of the 
j injuries of wire-worms, as given in the Rural, 
j of April 1st. The worms eat iuto the cob and 
j leave the young corn alone. The editor has 
found this remedy an excellent one, aud sug- 
I gests that, at the time of hoeing, one of the 
| boys gather up the eobs and burn them, wire- 
j worms and all. If loft in the cob they would 
| wax fat, and increase there just as rapidly as 
i they would if left alone altogether. It would 
| be some trouble to stick corn cobs round 
! each hill of corn in a large field, but where 
j wire-worms are destructive, if it prove as cer- 
' tain a preventive of injury as is claimed, it 
I would pay. Try it and report the result. 
The progress of the incubation of the chick- 
! en in the natural way, is a subject curious and 
interesting. The hen has scarcely set on the 
egg twelve hours before some liueaments of the 
head aud body of the chicken appear. The 
heart may be seen to beat at the end of the 
second day; it has, at. that time, somewhat the 
form of a horse-shoe, but no blood yet appears. 
At the end of two days, two vesicles of blood 
are to be distinguished, the pulsation of which 
is very visible; one of them is the left ventricle 
and the other the great artery. At the fiftieth 
hour, the auricle of the heart appears, resembling 
a noose folded down upon itself. The beating 
of the heart is first observed in the auricle, and 
afterwards in the ventricle. At the end of 
seventy hours the wings are distinguishable; 
and on the head two bubbles are seen for the 
brain, one for the bill, and two others for the 
fore and hind part of the head. Towards the 
end of the fourth day, the two auricles, already 
visible, draw nearer to the heart than before. 
The liver appears towards the fifth day. At 
the end of a hundred and thirty-one hours, the 
first voluntary motion is observed. At the end 
of seven hours more the lungs and stem eh 
become visible; and four hours after this the 
intestines, the loins, and the upper jaw. A t i he 
hundred and forty-fourth hour, two ventri 'es 
are visible, and two drops ot blood instead ; t 
the single one which was seen be foie. The 
seventh day the brain begins to have some con¬ 
sistency. At the hundred and ninetieth hour 
of incubation, the bill opens, and the flesh ap¬ 
pears on the breast; in four hours more the 
breast-bone i> seen; and in six hours after this, 
the ribs appear forming from the back, and the 
bill is very visible, as well as the gall-bladder. 
The bill becomes green at the end of two hun¬ 
dred and thirty-six hours: and if the chicken 
be taken out of its covering, it evidently moves 
itself. The feathers begin to shoot out towards 
the two hundred and fortieth hour, and the 
skull becomes gritty. At the two hundred and 
sixty-fourth hour the eyes appear. At the two 
hundred am] eighty-eighth, the ribs are perfect. 
At the three hundred and thirty-first the spleen 
draws over ike stomach and the lungs to the 
chest At the end of three hundred and fifty- 
five hours the bill frequently opens and shuts; 
and at the or I of the eighteenth day, the first 
cry of the chk ken is heard. It afterwards gets 
more etn :.<rh and grows continually, till at 
length It is ema : :d to set itself free from its 
confinement. 
In the whole of this process, we must remark 
that every pav: appears exactly at its proper 
time: if, for >. the liver is formed on the 
fifth day. it is founded on the preceding situa¬ 
tion of the h' 'ken, and on the changes that 
were to follow No part of the body could 
possibly appear seouer or later, without the 
