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VOLUME V. NO. 38.1 
ROCHESTER; N. Y. — SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1854. 
{WHOLE NO. 
|pm’j garni gSito-girrttn 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
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. Wet more. 
Thk 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 embracos 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 page. JEM 
A single glance down the last column, giv¬ 
ing the increase in live weight, shows that 
Iran is a very poor pig food. Pens 1), 10, and 
11, with bran ad lib., increased less than one- 
half as much as the average of the other pens. 
Bean and lentil meal alone, pen 1, gives a 
much higher increase than Indian corn alone, 
pen 5; but it will be seen that much more food 
is consumed. Thus, the three pigs eat 1,512 
lbs. of bean and lentil meal, and only 1,08G lbs. 
of Indian meal. So that when we calculate 
the quantity of food consumed to produce a 
given increase, we find that pen 1 consumed 
499 ths. of bean and lentil meal to produce 100 
lbs. increase in live weight, while pen 5 con¬ 
sumed only 491 lbs. of Indian meal, or 8 lbs. less. 
It is necessary to observe that two of the 
pigs in pen 5, with Indian meal alone, were ta¬ 
ken sick the third week of the experiment; 
their breathing became labored, and they had 
large swellings on the side of their necks.— 
They were allowed a mixture of 20 lbs. finely- 
sifted coal ashes, 4 lbs. common salt, and 1 lb. 
superphosphate of lime. This they eat with 
evident relish, and soon recovered, and when 
killed were found to be remarkably well fatted. 
Indeed, “ a dealer with a practiced eye, selected 
and purchased the carcass of one of these pigs 
which had been diseased from among the whole 
36, after they had been killed and hung up.” 
Mr. Lawes appears to think that Indian corn 
docs not contain sufficient mineral matter, and 
that this mixture supplied the deficiency. We 
would mention for Mr. Lawes’ consideration, 
that it is the common practice in this country, 
when feeding pigs on Indian corn, in the pen, 
to put within their reach charcoal or thorough¬ 
ly decayed wood. Ashes or other mineral 
substances may also be used for this purpose, 
but it is not a general practice. 
Comparing pens 5 and 6, it is seen that the 
addition of 2 tbs. bean and lentil meal per pig per 
day, gives 77 lbs. more increase of animal; and 
the addition of 2 fbs. of bran per pig per day— 
pen 7—gives agreater increase over Indian meal 
alone by 88 lbs.; and an addition of 2 lbs. bean 
and lentil meal, and 2 lbs. of bran per pig per 
day—pen 8—give an increase over Indian meal 
alone of 126 lbs. In fact this pen gives a 
higher increase than any other in this series, 
and consumes the least food to produce 100 
lbs. increased live weight, viz., 449 lbs. Fen 
7 consumes the next least quantity of food— 
463 lbs—to produce 100 lbs. increase; and 
pen 6 the next—‘170 lbs; pen 2 the next—171 
lbs.; Indian corn alone—pen 5—coming next, 
491 lbs. The good result in pen 8 confirms 
the common opinion that a variety of food is 
the most fattening and profitable. 
Our space forbids further reference to the 
results of this series. It has long been a dis¬ 
puted point as to whether the highly nitroge¬ 
nous seeds of the leguminous plants, peas, 
beans, lentils, &c., were more nutritious than 
the less nitrogenous grains of the cereals, maize, 
barley, oats, wheat, &c. Looking at these re¬ 
sults as a whole, we should say that Indian 
corn, for pigs at least, is more fattening than 
peas, beans, lentils, &c. But it is evident that 
a mixed diet is the most fattening, and that 
where Indian corn forms the principal food of 
hogs, a small quantity of peas or bran may be 
added with decided advantage. 
But will it pay to fat hogs at all. With In¬ 
dian meal alone (pen 5), 491 lbs.—say 8 bush¬ 
els—of corn, was consumed to produce 100 
lbs. increase of live weight; and in pen 8, 
which consumed the least food of any pen in 
this series to produce 100 lbs. of increase, 194 
lbs. of bean and lentil meal and bran, and 255 
lbs. of Indian meal, are required. If we con¬ 
sider this least quantity consumed equal to 7 
bushels of corn, and take it as the basis of cal¬ 
culation, it is evident that corn must be cheap 
to render its conversion into pork a very lucra¬ 
tive business. On this point, however, we shall 
have more to say. 
NAPAU1 BARLEY. 
Mention is made of this Barley in a late 
number of the Rural, under the name of Hin¬ 
doo Barley. The writer received a sample per 
mail from Mr. J. B. Garber of Columbia, 
Lancaster Co., Pa., the lust winter. Mr. G. 
accompanied it with the following remarks: 
“During the winter of 1850 and ’51 it was 
first sent to this country, to a gentleman of 
Georgia, from the interior of Hindoostan, and 
is undoubtedly the first of its kind ever seen 
in the United States. The grain looks very 
much like the ‘ Emour,’ or wheat barley, which 
has beards like all other barleys, whilst the 
Nupaul is smooth headed. It is also different 
in its inflorescence, grows vigorously, tillers 
well, and from one year’s trial, 1 judge it to 
suit our climate quite as well as the common 
kinds of Spring Barley. Sow in spring as 
soon ns the ground is in good farming order.” 
The most of the sample received was planted 
on the 13th of March, during a warm spring¬ 
like “spell of weather,” but most severe winter 
weather coming after, effectually destroyed it 
when the seeds had vegetated but not appear¬ 
ed. The balance I planted May 6th. This 
grew vigorously and tillered remarkably well. 
The leaves were very much broader than or¬ 
dinary barleys, avaraging an inch in width; 
many that I measured gave 1J inches width.— 
The heads were large, almost square-shaped, 
and longer than other barley, but from some 
cause they blighted very much, or at least but 
a few seeds were perfected. These were ripe 
July 27 th. 
The reason of its blighting may be ascribed 
perhaps to its late planting, or to its being 
somewhat shaded. If it shall prove worthy of 
cultivation it will most certainly be a very 
great acquisition to the country, as the beards 
are not very pleasaut accompaniments of Bailey 
harvest. 
In a recent letter from Mr. Garber, he 
speaks of good success with it this season, 
which goes to confirm more strongly the favor¬ 
able impressions he had formed of it. Further 
and more extensive trials will decide its merits. 
At present it can be pronounced a promis¬ 
ing addition to the variety to our grains. 
t. e. w. 
FARMS IMPROVED BY KEEPING SHEEP. 
Sheep Husbandry has been found not only 
profitable from its legitimate results, but from 
its tendency to improve and enrich ihe land for 
all agricultural purposes. It does this by the 
consumption of food refused by other animals 
—turning waste vegetation to use, and giving 
rough and bushy pastures a smoother appear¬ 
ance—as well as by the manufacture of consid¬ 
erable quantities of valuable manure. No 
grazing farm should be without at least a small 
flock of sheep—for it has been fou- i that as 
large a number of cattle and horses can be j 
kept with as without them, and without any 
injury to the value of the farm for other pur¬ 
poses. Wg say a small flock—and perhaps six 
or eight to each cow. or horse would be the 
proper number. Upon this point (and others 
also,) perhaps some of our readers will give the 
suggestions of their own experience. 
For rough and rocky farms sheep husbandry 
is well calculated, both from its succeeding 
better than anything else, and its improvement 
of the land by eradicating weeds and bushes, 
so that good grasses and white clover may take 
their place. This is conclusively shown by the 
farm of Richard S. Fay, of Lynn, Mass., an 
account of which we find in the Boston Culti¬ 
vator of June 28. Mr. F. has several hun¬ 
dred acres of land, most of it rocky and un¬ 
even, and but a few years since covered with 
bushes, briers, aud wood-wax. Th^ latter 
plant is one of very difficult eradication, and 
on land inaccessible to the plow is commonly 
left in undisturbed possession. It came from 
the garden at first, but being a hardy perennial, 
has spread over wide tracts of country. 
“On this land,” says Mr. Howard, “Mr. F. 
commenced keeping sheep in 1852, and now 
has about three hundred pasturing on two 
hundred acres. That we might see exactly 
what the sheep have done, Mr. Fay first show¬ 
ed us land that is still in the condition it was 
when he first purchased it—a hundred acres of 
which would not afford a living for a cow—aud 
next that on which the sheep are grazing for 
the third year. The contrast was striking. On 
the parts most closely fed, the wild roses, 
blackberry, and whortleberry bushes, and wood¬ 
wax are almost entirely killed, and there is a 
very good sward of blue grass, red-top, and 
white clover. There is no longer a question 
that the sheep will bring the whole tract into 
good pasturage, thus enabling the owner to de¬ 
rive a handsome income from land which was 
before totally unprofitable. The sheep, also, 
have thriven well.” 
In a letter to Mr. II., Mr. Fay gives some 
further account of his management. His 
sheep are folded at night on account of the at¬ 
tacks of dogs, a boy thirteen years old having 
taken the entire charge of them the past sum¬ 
mer,—and ho thinks dogs might be profitably 
employed to assist in the operation. Any dog 
can be accustomed to tend and drive sheep, 
and to keep off other dogs. His sheep are all 
kept under cover during the winter, he having 
a large barn with cellar underneath, to receive 
the manure, and a yard attached with shells and 
racks, where they can move about and be fed 
in good weather. In this way he keeps be¬ 
tween two and three hundred sheep in good 
condition. Last season he cut a quantity of 
the wood-wax when in flower, and prepared it 
like hay; and for four months the sheep were 
fed upon this alone, and throve well. lie re¬ 
serves his roots, &c., until they commence 
lambing. He says—“It is bad economy to al¬ 
low a sheep insufficient food, and I watched 
them carefully to sec that what they had to eat 
kept them in good heart.” By so doing, he 
has suffered but slightly from losses usually oc¬ 
curring in all the flocks in the spring. 
As to results, Mr. Fay remarks:—“Last 
year the wool and manure more than paid the 
expenses; and the sale of lambs, increase of 
flock, and improvement to land, which I dare 
not put in figures, for fear of its being thought 
an exaggeration, quite satisfies me with the re¬ 
sult of my experiment.” Mr. F. has been the 
first to introduce the Oxfordshire Downs, anew 
variety, which we shall yet hear more of, into 
this country.— e. 
ABOUT A FARM IN NIAGARA CO. 
The following letter was not written for 
publication, but merely to gratify a friend.— 
On reading it over, our associate pronounced 
it, if used as originally intended alone, so much 
“ copy ” ivasted, so as we have a horror of 
waste, it has a place in the Rural. The farm 
is the same described in “A November day at 
Uncle Joun’s” in the last volume.— b. 
My Dear G-:—Bearing in mind your re¬ 
quest, you shall ramble with me over the farm, 
this pleasant August morning. And first, as 
it comes first, let us take a glance at the or¬ 
chard It contains some two hundred trees* 
one-th : rd of them, perhaps, set some thirty-five 
years ago, and,—I remember to have heard— 
brought from a distant nursery, on the backs 
of the old farmer and his sou. One half or 
more of the trees are grafted, and some of 
those which bear the seedling fruit, produce 
very good varieties of apples. This year the 
orchard is in meadow, and, like all the orchards 
in this vicinity, will yield but a small crop of 
fruit. Have you noticed that the Greenings 
are among the greatest bearers, in poor sea¬ 
sons? They are so here, and wherever I have 
observed them. 
The farm buildings are very pleasantly situ¬ 
ated, but we will not linger about them. A 
lane leads through the fields, let us follow it 
leisurely. On the right hand is a ten-acre clo¬ 
ver meadow, which gave some 16 tons of hay 
the present year—the most of it being quite 
heavy. On the left is a pasture of the same 
size. It was in wheat last year, and gave some 
340 bushels, of fine quality. It was seeded to 
clover as usual, but owing to the delay in sow¬ 
ing plaster, the wheat was so large that the 
job was a difficult one, and only half the lot 
was sown. This made a marked difference in 
the “catching” of the clover, as well as in its 
appearance the present year, and—no such 
neglect will be likely to occur again. Both 
these fields are part sandy and part gravelly 
loam. 
Next is a five-acre lot—one acre in potatoes, 
which promise very well. Last year an acre 
with like manuring and culture, gave 230 bush¬ 
els. The variety grown most, is the old flesh- 
colored, though Mexicans, Mercers, and West¬ 
ern Reds, are also planted. The remainder of 
the field is in corn, which promises a fair crop. 
The lot has been in pasture three years, it was 
manured at about 20 wagon loads to the acre, 
and plowed early in May, seven inches deep* 
with much cave and neatness. After harrow¬ 
ing,—but not to disturb the sod—it was mark¬ 
ed out and planted,—say the last week in May. 
The corn was well cultivated and hoed, and a 
handful of ashes applied to each hill, and this 
has been all the culture given or needed. 
This last may be thought a bold assertion, 
but there is not a field of corn in town in bet¬ 
ter order, so far as weeds and mellow soil are 
concerned. And, are you troubled with wire 
or witch grass in Old Steuben? It is the worst 
stuffto kill I ever knew,—turn it under in the sum¬ 
mer fallow, and it will grow up through the sod, 
dig it up and it will again take root,—it has 
always been here a regular “live-for-ever.”— 
But this early spring plowing has subdued it, 
in this field, at least, and it is intended to give 
the plan further trial, as other parts of the 
farm are troubled in like manner. By the way, 
there were two or three small patches of G’ar. 
ada thistles on the lot, and in June one could 
tell their location as far as they could see the 
rows, by the ranker growth of corn—and a 
closer inspection showed that the soil was much 
deeper and more mellow where they grew.— 
So the thistles have one commendation, as a 
‘set off” to the general objurgations. 
On the other side of the lane is a field of 
oats. This is part of a cranberry marsh, with 
an alder and willow border, drained some 
twenty-five or thirty years ago. It has borne 
many good crops of spring grains and grass, 
and some poor ones. The oats look well, but 
the grain is always lighter than that sown on 
upland. The whole marsh contains some 35 
acres. About half of it is cleared, and is in 
meadow, pasture and grain, the remainder has 
grown up to wood rapidly. In a few years it 
would be an elm and soft maple woods, with 
plenty of underbrush. Some five or six acres 
will be added to the clearing this season, spare 
time and odd days having been devoted to 
this work since the year commenced. 
We are now at the end of the lane and come 
to the wheat-stubble. It is on a ridge between 
the marsh and the wood lot, and was not very 
promising, but the weevil put the finishing 
touch to it. On 18 acres, where 12 or 15 
bushels per acre was expected, it is hoped that 
there may be five. Here is a loss of $300, 
from an insignificant insect, but the loss on this 
farm is a small one compared with that of the 
town, or with many single farmers, even. Peo¬ 
ple who have threshed in the neighborhood 
get from 4 to 9 bushels per acre, but there 
were fields in town not at all injured. 
The wood lot before spoken of, contains 
some twenty acres, about equally divided be¬ 
tween maple and beech upland, and ash and 
elm swamp. It has not been pastured for some 
years, and a fine undergrowth of trees fill all 
the openings. Bessie and I went a blackber- 
rying here yesterday, with very tolerable suc¬ 
cess. 
On that cleared portion of the swamp you 
see another out field. The product satisfies oue 
man as to the profit of sowing oats on sod 
ground. The lot contains some six acres, and 
has been in meadow some twenty years. Part 
of it was plowed last fall—the rest this spring 
—both alike produce poor oats. I have no 
doubt that another year, if sown again to oats, 
and the season proved favorable, the field 
would give from two to three times its present 
crop. Twenty years ago, part of the field was 
in white turnips, and they came up in consid¬ 
erable numbers among the oats the present 
year. 
The summer fallow is between this field and 
the clover pasture, first mentioned. It contains 
nine acres, and is in good order. Pains have 
been taken to get out all the stones of any 
size within reach of the plow—a very com¬ 
mendable practice. Some five acres of this 
field has been manured. 
The “lay of the land” is rather undulating, 
but no hills of any size, as 1 presume there is 
not over 30 feet difference in the highest and 
lowest level. The water from one side of the 
farm reaches Lake Ontario, some thirty or for¬ 
ty miles distant from that on the other, and 
those low, blue clouds you see to the south¬ 
east, are the oak openings of Old Genesee.— 
There is a large variety of soil,—sand and 
gravel, gravelly, sandy, and clayey loam, blue, 
red, and yellow clay, muck and springy swale 
_but all are productive in favorable seasons, 
and with additional draining, the farm would 
be, for its extent, as good as could be desired 
for “ mixed husbandry”—grain, dairy and sheep. 
There are 132 acres of the whole, giving plen¬ 
ty of room for the eapital of the owner, and 
in cannot be better applied than in making im¬ 
provements on this hastily-described farm. 
Sowing Wheat. —This should be attended to 
immediately, for fear of wet weather coming on, 
making the work more difficult. Wheat sown 
in wet weather is also more likely to be affect¬ 
ed by smut 
