VOLUME 
NO. 
ROCHESTER,- N. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1854. 
I WHOLE 
243. 
Itjnrt’s Ural gjto-gBrttr: 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary, and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED ET 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. Wetmork. 
The Rural New-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. 
For Terms, &c., see last pace. 
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Progress and Improvement. 
WESTERN NEW YORK AGRICULTURE—NO. II. 
While you in “Merrie Old England ” are 
being deluged with rain, and prognosticating 
the destruction of the wheat crop from lack of 
sunshine, we here, at a temperature of 100°, 
have seen no other clouds than “clouds of 
dust” for the past two months. We believe 
the drouth is unparalleled in this country. So 
that, last week, on informing some of our good 
friends in the town of Sweden, in this county, 
that we were come to solicit a few lessons in 
practical agriculture, and to ascertain how far 
the many encomiums we had heard of Swedish 
farming were deserved, they replied, with some 
degree of plausibility, “Nay, but to see the na¬ 
kedness of the land ye are come.” However, we 
received a most hearty welcome, and many 
kind attentions. 
The first gentleman we, visited was Mr. A. 
Pinney, ot Clarkson. He devotes 28 acres 
his farm to fruit culture. We found him in 
the peach orchard gathering a splendid crop of 
Early York peaches. lie has in all 3,000 
peach trees of 128 varieties, most of which ar< 
loaded to excess with exceedingly fine fruit. 1 1 
has, too, 2,700 pear trees grafted on the quince 
stock, which, as you know, dwarfs the tree, 
and causes it to bear the first or second year 
after it is set out. Most of these trees have 
been set out three years. They are exceeding¬ 
ly thrifty and healthy, many of this year’s 
though so much better for wheat, is not so well 
adapted for barley as the moist, long-growing 
season of the British Isles. On an average, it 
does not weigh more than 45 tbs. per bushel. 
When we consider that it is frequently harvest¬ 
ed in two months from the time of sowing, 
this is not to be wondered at. The practice 
of growing corn, barley and wheat, three cere¬ 
al crops, in succession, must be very exhaust¬ 
ing, and the soil which produces, for any length 
of time, good crops, under such a “system of 
rotation,’’ is of no ordinary natural fertility.— 
Mr. R. says his wheat is generally good after 
barley, but this year it was injured more by the 
weevil than that after summer fallow. We do 
not know if this is a general result. His wheat 
crop this year averaged twenty bushels per 
acre. The soil iu this vicinity is dry, warm, 
and active, and the weevil has done much less 
damage than iu many adjoining towns. We 
have heard of many instances where, with 
straw enough for 30 bushels, the crop did not 
exceed five bushels per acre. 
The farm of the President of our County 
Ag. Society, F. P. Root, Esq., deserves a much 
more extended notice than our space allows.— 
This is somewhat less to be regretted since we 
gave some description of it in the Rural of 
March 11,1854. He owns and manages some 
700 acres; but we shall confine our remarks to 
the “home farm,” containing 430 acres. Of 
this, 65 acres are in woods and roads, and 45 
acres in permanent meadow. He keeps four 
span of horses, and four yoke of oxen, and fifty 
head of horned cattle, with a few sheep. He 
sows 100 acres of wheat each year, and about 
40 acres of corn. Barley he considers an un¬ 
certain crop, and sows but little. Oats only 
sufficient for his own use. lie sows clover on 
all the wheat in the spring. Tho clover seed 
is grown on the farm. lie has this year 15 
acres, which, notwithstanding the drouth, bids 
fair for a good crop, say four bushels per acre. 
In the early part of the summer, this field was 
mown, and turned ofl' about 2£ tons of good 
timothy and clover hay per acre. Much of 
the land, is sown with wheat every other year. 
The preparation is as follows: Sometime in 
June the field is plowed about ten inches deep, 
turning under as much clover as the stock can 
spare. During the summer, it is gone over two 
or three times with a broad-tined cultivator, 
which cuts up the thistles and other weeds, 
and, by the aid of rolling and harrowing, cleans 
and pulverizes the ground much more effectu¬ 
ally than three or four plowings and as many 
rollings and harrowings would do in England 
LIME AND ASHES FOR WHEAT. 
shoots being from four to five feet long.— j Mr. Root’s “fallows,”"treated in this way, offer 
Much of the fruit was removed as soon as set, \ w hat Tui.l termed a “ pasture for plants,” deep- 
to ore vent ininrv tlu> trep frr>m m-orAo.,,. , . 
to pii injury to the tree from over-bear-1 er, mellower, finer, and more pulverulent than 
ing. Most of the trees, nevertheless, are load¬ 
ed with fine pears. The Louise bonne de Jer¬ 
sey, Bartlett and Virgalieu are remarkably 
fine. There were a few blighted trees, but on 
the whole they present a healthy appears 
The land is a rich calcareous loam. It v a.-, 
subsoiled previous to planting the trees, and 
heavily manured with barn-yard dung compost¬ 
ed with muck. It is plowed spring and fall, 
and kept very mellow by cultivation. No 
crops are sown on it. The peach orchard is 
sometimes planted with beans—Mr. Pinney 
preferring them to any other crop—but this 
year it is fallow. We question if there is a 
finer orchard of peaches and dwarf pears in 
the world. 
The cultivation of fruit is a noteworthy fea¬ 
ture of American ^igvi-cultnre. On the next 
farm we visited, that of Mr. Dudley Root, 
we found his son-in-law, Mr. Colby, engaged 
in growing apple trees for the western nurse¬ 
ries. The apple seeds are sown in the fall, and 
the next spring twelve months, the seedling's 
are root-grafted, and sent to various nurseries 
in Michigan and Wisconsin, where they are 
set out and allowed to remain till sufficiently 
large for ultimate planting. In this way, they 
are acclimated, and are considered better for 
the west than trees grown in the eastern nur¬ 
series. This spring Mr. Colby grafted and 
sent to the west 110,000. He has now grow¬ 
ing, and will graft next spring, as many more. 
Mr. I). Root was plowing up a barley stub- 
klo for wheat The barley was sown after In¬ 
dian corn, and yielded 40 bushels per acre, 
weighing 50 lbs. per bushel. This climate, al- 
any long or summer fallow we saw iu England. 
This is doubtless to be attributed to the disin¬ 
tegrating effects of the intense cold and heat of 
our climate. The wheat is cultivated, harrow¬ 
ed, and rolled iu—not drilled, as with you. 
Last year, 1853, the total expenses of this j 
430 acre farm was $2,086. The 100 acres of I 
wheat yielded 3,500 bushels, which, .deducting 
that for seed and family use, sold for $6,342 ; 
300 bushels of barley, $189; 200 lbs. of wool, 
$105; fat cattle and other stock, $1,323; mis¬ 
cellaneous items, $112. Total, $8,071. 
This leaves a net profit of $5,985, or $16.40 
per acre on the cleared land; and this besides 
the household expenses of the family. It is 
true that wheat sold for an unusually high 
price last year, but we judge that Mr. Root 
has found furming a profitable business other 
years, for when he commenced farming he was 
worth, all told, $1,500. We do not know 
what he is worth now, all told, but he has 700 
acres of land, as productive as the figures we 
have given indicate, all paid for. This has 
been made by farming alone, and is of itself a 
nice little fortune for a man not yet 40 years old. 
There is on the farm upwards of five miles 
of stone fence, the greater part of it five feet 
high, costing about $1.50 per rod. Mr. R. 
has six tenant houses, occupied by the farm la¬ 
borers, and keeps but one man in his house.— 
In looking over this fine section of country, 
abounding in all the luxuries and appurtenan¬ 
ces of the highest state of civilization, it is 
difficult to imagine that 36 years ago it was 
covered with primeval forest; yet such is the 
case. 
Several Western New York farmers have 
recently asked our opinion respecting the ap¬ 
plication of lime or unleached ashes to wheat. 
As a general thing we should not expect much 
immediate increase of wheat from the applica¬ 
tion of either lime or ashes to the soil of West¬ 
ern New York. They would be more likely to 
benefit Indian corn or barley. These crop.3 
require very active, mellow land, and, if we may 
be allowed the expression, lime and ashes have 
a tendency to vivify any soil to which thc-y are 
applied. 
We believe the beneficial effect of lime is 
not so much owing to its supplying an actual 
constituent of the plant, as to its decomposing 
influence on the organic matter of the soil.— 
We should expect, therefore, that the greatest 
benefit would be derived from its application 
to mucky soils, in which there is a deficiency of 
mineral matter—which lime and sshjs would 
supply— and a large amount of inert organic 
matter, which the lime would render available. 
Such land, however, should always be under¬ 
drained before liming, for, like subsoil plowing, 
lime docs little good on laud saturated with 
stagnant water eight months of the year. Un¬ 
derdraining, to a certain extent, is equivalent 
to liming; by the removal of stagnant water 
and the admission of atmospheric air, it greatly 
accelerates decomposition and disintegration 
of the soil. 
Where limestone i3 abundant, as on most 
farms in Western New York, it would seem to 
be an easy matter for each farmer to satisfy 
himself whether lime does much good on his 
soil or not. lie could burn a few hundred 
bushels readily and cheaply, and by an appli¬ 
cation to tLo diffurc-nt Crops," MOerteia In a 
year or two how far the practice might be prof, 
itably extended. Lime was formerly used to 
an immense extent as manure in England, but 
it is now very generally superseded by fertil¬ 
izers supplying organic matter. It has been 
found more profitable after land has been limed 
once or twice, to apply organic matter directly 
to the soil than to apply lime, which furnishes 
organic matter by accelerating the decomposi¬ 
tion of the inert matter of the soil itself. It is 
the opinion, however, of many of the advocates 
of the old regime, that many of the insects, 
blight, and other ills that plants are subject to 
in modern times, are owing to the introduction 
of organic manures, and the disuse of lime._ 
There may be some truth in this opinion. It 
appears to be certain that plants are healthier 
when grown on a soil abounding in lime and 
other mineral matter, than when there is rather 
an excess of organic matter. An application 
of lime and other mineral manures may there¬ 
fore, be some safeguard against the fearful rav¬ 
ages of the weevil, ani is certainly worth the 
trial. 
We observed a few days since that Mr. J. 
B. Reed, of Sweden, was using lime on his 
land. We shoull be pleased to have his ex¬ 
perience or thatof others on this subject 
At the outlet of this meadow (we must con¬ 
dense more closely) there was fall sufficient, 
but very rocky,—they must dig four or five 
feet to get the advantage of it. To do this 
they were compelled to make a dam to keep 
back the water. This they did by fulling a 
tree across the brook, and setting slabs against 
it, and then filling the chinks with swingle tow. 
They took this up every night, letting the wa¬ 
ter flow until morning; and he says, this use of 
tow proved to his workmen the truth of the 
Dutch proverb, which say of things which seem 
of but little value, “That something is always 
good for something.” He proceeds: 
“ When the weather grew sufficiently warm, 
and the meadow a little settled, we began to 
ditch. 1 cut a ditch on each side and one in 
the middle, and as far as we went it soon ren¬ 
dered the meadow firm and dry. I then pro¬ 
ceeded to sow grass seed, such as red clover, 
foul meadow grass, English spear grass, and 
herds grass, but of all the sorts, none seemed to 
take hold and come up as well as red clover; 
this I found to be the boldest and most hardy 
grass. Where the sward was strong, although 
the clover came up well, the toughness of the 
ground and the overtopping growth of the 
wild grass, hindered its progress until the fall 
of the year and then it mended Considerably. 
But where there happened to be no sward to 
hinder it, the clover grew to the height of mid 
dator is a winged, flying insect, filling the air 
with its presence over the whole surface. A 
single stook of wheat on the embankment of a 
railroad, in a forest, more than a mile from a 
field of wheat, was found with over seventy 
larva in a single head. 
Allowing that salt was a cure for the evil, 
nothing short of sowing from “ five to ten 
bushels” per acre over the whole surface of the 
“ State of Genesee,” as the English papers 
have got it, and upon what little land joins it» 
would be of the slightest use, as they possess 
the power of locomotion at the rate of some 
fifteen miles per year, which is about the rate 
they advance. 
The wheat fly attacks all the cereals, more 
or less, except oats, and nothing short of the 
entire suspension of the production of those 
grains, from the want of a proper nidus to de¬ 
posit its ova, would rid the country of its pres¬ 
ence; and it is believed that there is nothing in 
the whole vegetable kingdom it cpuld resort 
to as a succeedaneum for that purpose. On 
suggesting this view to a gentleman of much 
and close observation, he stated that the com¬ 
mon mullein (Verbascum thapsus) was full of 
this insect, and which, upon observation, ap¬ 
peared at first sight to be true; but their active 
movements induced a suspicion that it might 
be a mistake, and on examination with the 
microscope, they were found to have six legs, 
thigh, and produced ripe seed the first season, which the larva of the wheat fly have not 
The other grasses came up poorly; I suppose j befog only a maggot with annular muscles, or 
the land was too new and tough for them.” 
Mr. Eliot plowed up portions of the marsh 
during the summer, and found that “ the mead¬ 
ow rotted more in October than in all the sum¬ 
mer beside.” He tried turnips on some of it in 
July—they grew but very little until late in 
the season, and then were good and sweet. It 
was his opinion and experience that such 
drained land must have one summer to ferment 
and rot so as to become proper soil, before it 
would be fit for every sort of grain and grass. 
If he had sown only clover instead of other 
rings, allowing them a very slight motion. 
It is the well-settled opinion of observers in 
those regions where it has prevailed, that noth¬ 
ing short of a total suspension of wheat and 
its kindred crops, will effect its obliteration 
from the country, unless they might be affected 
by some extraordinary change of our seasons, 
as some severe drouth, excessive cold and open 
winter, or great soaking rains at the period of 
their transformation in the spring. 
Such is the experience of observers in all 
those locations in which the midge obtained a 
THE WEEVIL OR WHEAT MIDGE. 
CLEARING AND IMPROVING MARSHES. 
Although we added “ concluding remarks ” 
to our second article on this subject, we are 
tempted to resume it again, to give our read¬ 
ers some account of an experiment, made by 
Jared Eliot, A. M., in 1747, and by him giv¬ 
en to the public in a pamphlet “ Essay upon 
Field-Husbandry in New England as it is or 
may be Ordered,” published in New London 
the following year. It is quaintly but sensibly 
written, and contains information of value even 
at the present day. His third trial of draining 
(with some omission of its quaintnesses iu style 
and spelling) is thus described: 
“ I began last March to drain another mead¬ 
ow of forty acres up in Guilford woods. This 
was a shaking or cranberry marsh—a man 
standing upon it, might shake the ground for 
several rods around him. It seemed to be 
only a strong sward of grass roots laid over a 
soft mud, of the consistence of pau-cake bat¬ 
ter. There was not abuudance of bushes in it, 
but many cranberry vines, and a great burthen 
of poor wild grass; the meadow was deemed 
so poor that none would take it up. I was 
pitied as being about to waste a great deal of 
money; but they are now of a different opinion.” 
sorts of grass, he would have saved £5 in seed. : fast hold—a category that will materially affect 
These lands he found to give 60 or 70 bushels ! the value of real estate, and the prospects and 
of Indian com, per acre; they would produce I prosperity of the country, and even the whole 
good crops of flax, and he intended to try the i bread-consuming world. l. b. l. 
production of hemp, which he wished to make -» »•*- ■ »-- 
one of the staple products of New England, j A Slight Mistake.— The Granite Farmer 
History shows that this project was unsuccess- publishes S. AV. Johnson’s analyses of “ Mapes 
ful. —b. _ : in:; oved Superphosphate of Lime,” and gives 
21 j os the percentage of ammonia. Instead of 
finding 21 J, Mr. Johnson found only 2J per 
cent, of ammonia. Of course the error is ac¬ 
cidental, and though the Farmer has strongly 
censured us for writing disparagingly of Mapes’ 
Superphosphate, it will be glad to correct the 
mistake, though the figures thus corrected an¬ 
nihilate Mr. Mapes’ claim to having invented 
an “ improved ” superphosphate, or a manure 
which cannot “be manufactured in England 
for $100 per ton,” &c. The correct figures 
are as follows: 
Water and sand.....20 per cent. 
Plaster (salphate of lime).37 “ 
Insoluble phosphate of lime. . ..21 “ 
Superphosphate of lime.16 “ 
Free sulphuric acid. .6 “ 
Ammonia. 2>£ “ 
Mr. Moore: —An article in your last num¬ 
ber, from the JV. Y. Tribune, ou the subject of 
ihe weevil, is generally correct as to the natur¬ 
al history of that insect, which is to become a 
terrible scourge to all wheat growing countries. 
The term weevil, as stated, is a misnomer, as 
that insect is a moth in the perfect state, and 
its larva only attacks the ripe grain. The 
Wheat Fly, or Midge, is an entirely different 
insect, and is, apparently, quite a contemptible 
creature, physically; but from its ability to 
multiply, and restricting its ravages to the in¬ 
cipient and infant state of the berry, it possesses 
the potentiality of destructiveness iu an alarm¬ 
ing degree—even to the entire annihilation of 
the whole cereal crop, at least until a variety 
shall be discovered, whose early ripening shall 
put the berry in advance of the necessity that 
nature has imposed ou the insect, as to the period 
it must deposit the ova of its future progeny. 
A variety of wheat ripening a week or ten 
days earlier than the earliest now known, 
would escape its ravages. The Mediterranean 
wheat comes the nearest to that desideratum, 
when sown early, on warm and well-drained 
land; the Soule, and bearded Hutchinson, next 
AA'hether the old hardy and prolific Red Chaff, 
which has been abandoned many years on ac¬ 
count of its lateness and liability to rust, would 
be forward enough for the necessities of the 
Midge, has not, as far as we are advised, as yet 
been tried. Spring wheat sown in June es¬ 
caped, but it is subject to many other casual¬ 
ties equally destructive. 
Early sowing of early varieties, on goo^ up¬ 
land soils and with perfect drainage, are the 
only concomitants of any value in avoiding 
this pest No faith can be placed in fumiga¬ 
tion, or in the use of salt, or any other destruc¬ 
tive application as a top-dressing. The depre¬ 
Draining Swamps—Throwing up Muck, See. 
The present dry weather affords an excellent 
opportunity for draining swamps, throwing up 
peat or muck for winter use in composting 
manure, &c. There are thousands of acres of 
low swampy lands, producing, at present, noth¬ 
ing of any value, which by a little judicious 
ditching and draining might be made the most 
productive land on the farm. The labor of 
doing this will be much lighter now when such 
lands are comparatively dry, than when satu¬ 
rated with moisture. Few realize the amount 
of water peat or muck absorbs, and the extra 
labor of digging or carting it in a wet, instead 
of in a dry state. For use iu the stables, barn¬ 
yard, composting, &c., peat or muck should be 
thrown up and allowed to dry before carting; 
in this way much labor will be saved, and nou> 
is the time to do it. 
Posts last a vast deal longer in wet soils 
than in dry, sandy loams—longer in clay than 
in the richest soil. In peat meadows, the bot¬ 
tom of the posts hold out longer than the tops 
and the rails. 
