VOLUME V., NO. 30. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.- SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1854. 
I WHOLE NO. 2-38. 
Stan's fatal gltto-§<rr!titr. 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary, and Family Newspaper 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOHE, 
ASSISTED BY 
i JOSEPH HARRIS, in the Practical Departments: 
EDWARD WEBSTER, in the Literary and News Dep’ts. 
Corresponding Editors: 
J. H. BiruY,—H. G. White, —T. E. Wetmore. 
The Rural Nkw-Yorkkk 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 engraw- 
ings, than any other paper published in this Country,— 
rendering it a complete Agricultural, Literary and 
Family Newspaper. 
tir For Terms, &c., see last paor. j£3 
Progress and Improvement. 
The Agricultural Press of America is 
becoming powerful and popular, and undoubt¬ 
edly accomplishing a vast amount of good— 
directly benefiting the people and the country. 
Its weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly is- 
Bues, are extensively circulated amo lgtiie most 
enterprising and intelligent fanners in all culti¬ 
vated portions of the Union. Nearly every 
State aud Territory has at least one paper pri¬ 
marily devoted to the Agricultural Interest, 
while from New York, Massachusetts, and 
Ohio, emanate several Agricultural and Hor¬ 
ticultural journals which circulate generally— 
a number of them having what may be termed 
a National sphere aud influence, their readers 
and correspondents extending from Maine to 
Minnesota, and from Canada to California. 
’The utility of judiciously-conducted periodi¬ 
cals devoted to the promotion of Rural Inter¬ 
ests, is no longer doubted ; for the great mass 
of farmers who formerly ridiculed the idea of 
“ book-farming,’’ so called, have either become 
convinced of their folly, or sleep with those 
whose practices were their chief guide—their 
fathers. Throughout the land, the young and 
middle aged, and even the venerable men now 
on the stage of action, very generally concede 
the necessity and value of the Agricultural 
Press, and cordially lend it substantial support 
and warm encouragement. Many a fanner who, 
only a few years since, could not be induced 
to subscribe for a periodical devoted to bis 
own business, now takes, pays for, and reads 
from two to ten agricultural papers, and con¬ 
siders the expense a good investment But the 
best and most numerous supporters and advo¬ 
cates of Rural Literature, are the Young Men 
—those who have commenced farming for 
themselves within five or ten years—and it is to 
this class that, more than any or all others, the 
Ag. Press is indebted for its elevated position, 
and present and prospective prosperity. 
But we designed to speak of the character 
and influence of Agricultural Journalism, rath¬ 
er than of its supporters. And in these re¬ 
spects, we conceive honor to be due our con¬ 
temporaries all over the land,—for, as a gencr- 
ul rule, our journals are able, practical, and 
high toned. As a whole, though compara¬ 
tively young in years, the Agricultural Press of 
America will suffer nothing by comparison 
with the organs of any other interest or pro¬ 
fession—Religious, Political, Literary or Sci¬ 
entific. Indeed, we do not believe there is an 
agricultural paper published in this country, 
that is not worth far more than its subscription 
price to any discriminating farmer—and rarely 
one which would not be both safe aud valua 
ble as a family instructor on many important 
subjects. Their practical und useful charac¬ 
ter is especially worthy of consideration, and 
affords a marked contrast with papeis de¬ 
voted principally to political topics and ephe¬ 
meral reading,—and instead of ranking next 
to political or literary journals, they ought 
(on the principle that the useful should be 
preferred to the ornamental, and business 
precede pleasure,) to take precedence in the 
estimation of every husbaudman. 
The mission of the Ag. Journal is to inform, 
advise and instruct the farmer, and his family, 
on essentials of every-day concernment, includ¬ 
ing questions and practices, the elucidation 
and discussion of which require experience j 
observation and good judgment It should be 
the medium of communication between the 
best and most experienced cultivators, observ¬ 
ers and investigators, and the great mass of 
agriculturists. Earnestly aiming to promote 
the best interests of community, it should ever 
avoid and expose error and deception in every 
form. A desire to benefit their fellow men— 
to enhance improvement, and enrich the peo¬ 
ple and the country—should be, as we trust it 
generally is, the paramount object of Agricul¬ 
tural Editors. With such a purpose, and an 
energy and zeal commensurate to the work, 
any and every man connected with the Rural 
Press of the counry, can exercise a lasting in¬ 
fluence upon the welfare of community. The 
teachings of such men as Buel, Fessenden, 
Skinner, Gaylord, Downing, and others, did 
not cease with tneir departure from earth— 
their “gO'.d deeds live after them,” and will 
continue to benefit mankind for centuries.— 
May their surviving contemporaries aud suc¬ 
cessors prove equally useful to their fellow men 
and the country—each striving to excel in pro¬ 
moting the good cause of Rural and Mental 
Progress and Improvement 
CULTIVATION OF WHEAT.—NO. II. 
The chemistry of vegetable physiology has 
made rapid progress during the last quarter 
century; but it is still in its infancy, and we 
can take scarce a single step without treading 
on doubtful: ground. In the case of wheat, 
although we know more respecting its require¬ 
ments than we do of any other of the cereals, 
yet the little light we have only serves to show 
a still more extended circumference of darkness. 
Thus, by supplying a given quantity of ammo¬ 
nia, phosphoric and sulphuric acid, alkalies and 
alkalien earths, we are enabled annually to ob¬ 
tain large crops of wheat, but wesoou attain the 
point beyond which an increased supply of these 
fertilizers proves injurious rather than benefi¬ 
cial. In Mr. Lawks’ wheat experiments, the 
most skillful and scientific combination of ferti¬ 
lizers did not produce more than 40 bushels 
per acre. - It is true that, it is something to 
know how to obtain, on the same soil, from 35 
to 40 bushels of wheat per acre every year, but 
when we know that there are well authenticated 
instances where 50, GO, 70, and even 80 bush¬ 
els have been obtained per acre, it is sufficient¬ 
ly plain that there are conditions of soil, and 
combinations of substances required to produce 
a maximum crop of wheat, of which we are 
totally ingnorant. We may term these im¬ 
mense yields “ chance crops,” depending as they 
do on a variety of combinations, which we 
have not sufficient skill and knowledge to imi¬ 
tate. But style them what we may, the fact 
remains that, at present, we obtain, by accident, 
crops which we cannot equal by a combina¬ 
tion of all known means of increasing the 
wheat crop. We believe that had the time 
and money spent in soil and other analyses, 
been devoted to inductive investigation, we 
should not at this day have been compelled to 
acknowledge our inability to- produce, by arti¬ 
ficial means, crops which the most illiterate 
cultivator occasionally raises by accident. 
Chemists frequently tell us that by supplying 
the required “ amendments,” or the organic and 
inorganic constituants of plants, we may grow 
just as large a crop as we please, but they ap¬ 
pear to forget that we do not know in what 
way these substances are taken up, und wheth¬ 
er or not the food of plants has to be cooked, 
masticated, and digested before it can be as¬ 
similated. We believe it needs to undergo 
some kind of preparation, but of what charac¬ 
ter, and by what agencies it is brought about, 
we can only surmise. 
Wheat and oats frequently fall down on 
rich alluvial soils, and some learned Professor 
cuts short all discussion and experiment on the 
matter, by telling the suffering farmer that it 
falls down because it lacked silica in the straw, 
and therefore had not strength to stand,—the 
cause of all this being that the soil is deficient 
of silica. To remedy this, an application of 
lime is confidently recommended, on the ground 
: that it will render the silica of the soil availa¬ 
ble to the plant, and thus prevent its being 
laid. This is all very well as a suggestion-, but 
why speak so confidently when nothing is really 
known on the subject? Even if lime does stif¬ 
fen the straw, that is not proof that it is owing 
to its supplying the plant with silica. To our 
mind there is one formidable objection to this 
theory of a deficiency of silica, &c. It is well 
known that on these very soils immense crops 
of Indian corn are raised; and it is equally well 
known that an average crop of Indian corn 
contains much more silica than an average crop 
of wheat. If, therefore, during its shorter 
period of growth, Indian corn can obtain all 
the silica it requires, why is it that the wheat 
plant cannot obtain even a much smaller 
quantity? The same question may be asked 
in regard to phosporic and sulphuric acid 3 , 
lime, magnesia, potash, soda, and indeed of all 
elements of the wheat plant, for all of them Are 
required in greater quantity by a crop of Indian 
corn, than they are by a crop of wheat 
A certain class of writers tell us that the 
New England States, the eastern counties of 
this State, and many other parts, formerly 
produced excellent crops of wheat, but that, 
from the exhaustion of the mineral elements 
of plants, the wheat crop cannot now be 
g own. If we are rightly informed, these soils 1 
still produce excellent crops of Indian corn, 
which, as we have before said, contains more of 
all the elements of the wheat plant than does a 
crop of wheat If the maize plant can obtain 
all the substances it requires, why cannot the 
wheat plant? We have thought much on this 
subject, but can come to no satisfactory con- 
j cl .talon; and are convinced that nothing but a 
systematic series of field experiments can clear 
up the difficulty. It is not. very improbable 
that the maize plant takes up its food, although 
of the same kind,’in a different form or combi¬ 
nation to what the wheat plant requires,—and 
if so, it is not impossible but that the double 
silicates referred to by Prof. Vay, may be re¬ 
quired by the wheat plant, and not by the maize 
plant 
FAMING AS AN OCCUPATION. 
Throughout the entire country, farming is 
an employment which, properly conducted, is 
sure to pay. The vicissitudes, revulsions and 
revolutions, that like epidemics visit oeriodieal- 
ly nearly every other branch of industry, fall 
comparatively harmless upon the agricultural 
community. Unexampled success and pecuni¬ 
ary ruin.come alternately upon the merchant, 
the manufacturer, the miller, the speculator;— 
at one time elevating them upon the crest-wave 
of fortune, and then again plunging them into 
the vortex of irretrievable bankruptcy. 
In some cases, a merchant continues to 
amass a fortune even to old age, and then some 
unforseen event, or some disastrous adventure, 
sweeps away the accumulations of years. How 
many instances can be mentioned where millers 
have made fortunes and lost them again. The 
profits which the farmer made by raising 
wheat, the miller four times doubled in its 
manufacture and sale; and the first-named has 
sometimes, perhaps, been a little envious of 
the latter’s prosperity; but in a single season 
thereafter, the miller’s entire fortune is swal¬ 
lowed up in losses, while the farmer, if he does 
not increase his substance that year by reason 
of a hard market, at least lives through it, and 
saves his previous accumulations. 
All farmers, however, do not make money 
commensurate with their labors. There is no 
employment where economy, intelligent man¬ 
agement, activity, a wise forethought, and a 
vigilant supervision, are more necessary to suc¬ 
cess. A load of .debt, expensive habits, too 
much fancy farming, too little attention to the 
main poiuts, viz., good tillage, drainage, ma¬ 
nuring, rotation in crops, early seeding, and 
proper harvesting, will inevitably keep the 
cultivator of the soil under the teeth of a 
worse harrow than the one used to break up 
the clods of his own fallow. No absolute set 
of rules can be laid down for general guidance, 
but the above vade m’ecuin is well worthy of 
being conued. 
A farmer must not owe too much money 
If he is able to pay, or if competent near’y 
to pay, for a farm in the Valley of the Gene¬ 
see, or any other equally valuable farming lo¬ 
cality, then he may be sure, with proper man¬ 
agement, of doubling his money within a few 
years; but as a general thing, it is folly for 
one possessing only a few hundred dollars, es¬ 
pecially if he be young, to think- of buying 
land in such a region. He may expect to la¬ 
bor like a slave for the benefit of his creditors, 
an 1 be ground out at last in the mill of some 
ruthless money-shaver. Let such a man push 
off West, and select a farm judiciously, improve 
it as rapidly as is consistent with his means, 
and he will be sure to secure a competence 
within a few years. If every dollar he obtains 
above the ordinary and proper expenses of his 
family, be for years expended upon the farm in 
clearing off the necessary fields, draining out 
wet places, putting on good buildings and 
fences, setting out fruit trees, accumulating 
first class farming implements and utensils, ob¬ 
taining and rearing the best domestic animals, 
the money could not possibly be more safely 
and profitably invested. 
As a general thing, the farmer should not 
base his income upon a single brandh of agri¬ 
cultural production. Setting aside the neces¬ 
sity of a rotation in crops for the good condi¬ 
tion of his fields, there are other considerations 
equally important. The wheat crop might in 
one year prove a failure, or the ruarKC-t be low, 
when beef, and pork, and wool, would sell 
readily, and at remunerating prices, or vice 
versa. Root crops sometimes yield well and 
profitably, and at others do not pay for the 
seed. The profits oa fruit some seasons will 
line a man’s pockets with the needful, while oc¬ 
casionally it barely brings any return to the 
producer, it is scarcely j. ussiblc, uo..cver, to 
miss a market on some crop, if the farmer has 
an ordinary and proper variety, while still 
more frequently all will pay. 
Intelligence and mental culture are as im¬ 
portant to the agriculturist as to any other 
class of men. Hence, good schools and good 
opportunities for acquiring knowledge, should 
be early established. Every man who adver¬ 
tises bis farm for sale, understands the enhanc¬ 
ed value by reason of such advantages; be¬ 
sides, it gives him an opportunity to educate 
his children, and place them in a position to 
do honor to themselves and their countrv.— 
Book and newspapers should be obtained and 
read in every farmer’s family; and above all, 
next to the Bible, those treating upon agricul¬ 
ture and its cognate subjects, should be care¬ 
fully, thoughtfully, and regularly perused. The 
American agriculturist has a great mission to 
perform, aud it is a solemn responsibility rest¬ 
ing upon him to see that he performs it right¬ 
ly. His position is a happy as well as an im¬ 
portant one, and he who cultivates his own 
ground, aud eats the fruits thereof under his 
own vine and fig-tree, has no occasion to envy 
the lot of any other mortal. 
RANCID BUTTER. — IMPURE SALT. 
A Recipe, credited to a “ French Scientific 
Journal,” has “ been the rounds” of the papers, 
which stated that rancid butter could be made 
sweet and good by working it over in water 
mixed with chloride of lime. Appended to it 
was another “said to be” effectual mode, which 
was to churn the old butter over with milk 
until the old salt aud bad taste are removed, 
and then work and salt afresh. 
Now these and many other proposed meth¬ 
ods of making rancid butter sweet, will be 
found, on trial, utterly ineffectual We do not 
believe it can be rendered fit for eating by any 
process, and should advise (as others have 
done) that it be put along with the soap 
grease. Good butter, salted with pure salt, 
and properly packed, can be kept sweet for 
years, and there is no need of so much foul 
stuff coming into market There is little need 
of its being made, if its causes were properly 
understood by those-who make it 
Impure salt is too often used in the manu¬ 
facture of butter. Analyses of-the salt made 
at the Onondaga brine springs have repeatedly 
been published, showing its purity; but they 
were generally made by those interested in its 
manufacture, and do not agree with those 
made in other localities of salt bearing the 
Syracuse brand. There is not the least doubt 
that good and pure salt can be made there, 
but it is to be feared that the “ daily salt” has 
often been adulterated, or manufactured with¬ 
out sufficient attention to its purity, for it is 
often found showing, on the application of the 
appropriate tests, the presence of lime, mag¬ 
nesia and sulphuric acid—a combination with 
which it is impossible to make sweet butter. 
Liverpool salt is no better, if as good. 
A simple test for the purity of salt, is found 
in the following process:—Take distilled water, 
or, if it cannot be easily procured, rainwater 
caught in a clean vessel under the open sky, 
and dissolve a portion of the salt. To half a 
gill of the solution, add three or four tea-spoon¬ 
fuls of carbonate of soda, and boil in a glass 
dish or well-tinned vessel, and then pour into a 
tumbler. If the solution become milky aud a 
white sediment form, the presence of lime or 
magnesia, or both, is certain. Into a wine¬ 
glass of another portion of the fluid put, drop 
by drop, a solution of chloride of barium, and 
if the liquid become milky, aud a white pre¬ 
cipitate form, the presence of sulphuric acid is 
certain. If the milky tinge in either case is 
but slight, the salt will answer for butter; but 
if not, it is unfit for daily use. This test is 
given by a writer in ihe Providence Journal, 
who is also our authority for the rejection of 
the recipes above named. a. n. y. 
FARM Cr &. fi. T. MORE, WATERVLIET. 
A sew days since, in company with Mr. 
Waeszn, of -be Country Gentleman, we visit¬ 
ed the farm of Mr. D. I). T. More, of Water- 
vliet. near Albany, N. Y. This farm may be 
a good specimen of muck of the 
so-called “exhausted soil ” of New England, 
the Middle States, and the eastern counties of 
this State. When Mr. More purchased it, 
the farm had been in the hands of a tenant 
farmer for sixteen years, and was perfectly- 
worn out, so much so, that though the rent 
was merely nominal, ($100 for 160 acres,) it 
was at length impossible to raise enough to 
pay it. Much of the soil was a blowing sand, 
an attempt to cultivate which the oldest in¬ 
habitants pronounced perfect infatuation. The 
buildings and fences had nearly all rotted 
down. J\'ow, it is one of the best farms in the 
United States, and what is still more praise¬ 
worthy, Mr. More made out of the soil all the 
money he has invested in improvements. The 
farm-house, buildings, fences, <fce., are of a first- 
class order. There are 1,800 young and vigor¬ 
ously-growing apple trees, principally Rhode 
Island Greening and Baldwin: 5 acres of peach 
trees, thrifty, healthy and productive; 1| acres 
of strawberries; an acre of asparagus and car¬ 
rots, gooseberries, and other fruit in like pro¬ 
portion. 
How this farm has been transformed from a 
sterile sand to highly profitable productiveness, 
is an interesting question, either in a scientific 
or practical view. Growing large quantities 
of red clover, and plowing it in, lies at the 
foundation of the improvement. We have so 
often given our views of the rationale of the 
action of red clover and other leguminous 
plants, that it will be unnecessary at this time 
to recur to them. It is plain, whether our 
views of the destruction of ammonia by the 
cereals, and of its retention by leguminous 
plants, are correct or not, that in this case 
nothing could have been added to the soil, by 
growing and plowing in clover, but organic 
matter derived from the atmosphere. How- 
far this organic matter, or, in other words, the 
clover, helped to render the inorganic matter 
of the soil available, we will not now examine. 
It is evident to our mind, that the poverty of 
the soil was in consequence of a deficiency of 
organic or atmospheric, rather than inorganic 
or earthly constituents of plants. Mr. More’s 
results in this respect are similar to the result 
of the introduction of extensive turnip-culture 
on the sterile sand of the County of Norfolk, 
in England, formerly the poorest, as it is now 
the richest, agricultural district in England.— 
The turnips introduced nothing on to the land 
but organic matter. In Virginia and other 
Southern States, it is found that the cultivation 
of peas affords one of the best means ot reno¬ 
vating their worn-out soils. In this case, like¬ 
wise, nothing but organic matter is introduced 
