VOLUME V. NO. 44.j 
Stmt's gral gttto-gortti:: 
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. G. White, — T. E. Wetmore. 
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 aud 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. 
O'” For Terms, &c., see last page. 
Jural - jtorkr. 
Progress and Improvement. 
THE OHIO STATE FAIR, 
Ohio is fast becoming, if indeed it is not 
already, the “ Empire State” in Agricultural 
Products and Exhibitions. True, Western 
New V ork is far superior in soil, wealth, im¬ 
provements, markets, &c., combined, to any 
equal extent of territory in Ohio—yet, as a 
whole, the latter surpasses New York as an 
Agricultural State, having much more tillable 
and highly productive land in proportion to 
its aggregate area. This will be conceded by 
all conversant with the facts in the premises; 
and hence, though the farmers of Ohio. a« u 
mass, are # far from equaling ours in availing 
themselves of the advantages of improved 
culture and management, the leaven which is 
spreading among, and inciting them, will ere 
long render theirs emphatically the Agricultu¬ 
ral Commonwealth of the Union. Of late years 
the advantages aud productiveness of Ohio 
are becoming patent to “ the rest of mankind” 
—a development rapidly enhanced by the 
creditable Exhibitions of her noble State and 
numerous County Agricultural Associations. 
Herein the farmers of Ohio are manifesting a 
spirit of decided “ Progress and Improvement” 
—for no State is her equal iu the number, and 
perhaps perfectness, of organizations for the 
development and improvement of Agriculture. 
The recent Ohio State Pair—of which fa¬ 
vorable mention was made in our last, and con¬ 
cerning which we now purpose to speak more 
definitely—demonstrated, to a great extent, 
the capabilities of Ohio Soil, and the progress 
of its Cultivators. The Fair was, in most re¬ 
spects, highly creditable to the State and Peo¬ 
ple,—altogether surpassing, in some important 
departments, any similar exhibition we ever 
attended. The grounds, occupying a portion 
of ancient works, near Newark, were to many 
visitors a most attractive and interesting fea¬ 
ture. The centre of the grounds, containing 
about thirty acres, and embracing the horse 
and cattle rings, exhibition tents, &c., were 
surrounded by an ancient circular mound or 
embankment, with a ditch (like Gen. Pillow’s,) 
on the inside. The embankment forming the 
circle is still some twenty feet in height from 
the bottom of the ditch, and on the top is a 
promenade from five to eight feet in width, 
from which the entire enclosure can be view¬ 
ed—notwithstanding the grove of gigantic 
trees over and about the whole grounds. The 
diameter of this ancient enclosure is 1,250 by 
1,150 feet, being slightly in the form of an 
ellipse. Our impression is, that the recent 
one was not the Jirst Cattle Show on these 
grounds,—but that the Indians, or perhaps a 
preceding and superior race, occupied the same , 
for catching, herding, or perchance exhibiting, 
Buffalo! It is proper to add that the Indian 
traditions convey uo knowledge of the origin 
or purposes of these works. But to the Fair. 
The exhibition fully equaled our expecta¬ 
tions, though the display was limited in some 
departments. Some idea of the extent of the 
Show may be had from the number of entries 1 
in each class, or department, as follows:—Cat¬ 
tle, 270; Horses, 301; Sheep, 164; Hogs, 78; f 
Foultry, 115; Farm Implements, 165; Farm 
Products, 98; Household Fabrics, &c., 237; 
Machinery, &c., 132; Mechanical Department, 
58; Ceramic and Chemical Products, 27; 
Horticultural, 170. The number of entries, 
however, conveys no idea of the aggregate 
s number of animals and articles exhibited—for 
in many instances one entry embraced from 
ten to twenty head of stock, specimens of 
fruit, or other items. 
The show of Improved Stock was decided- 
>r ly superior—excelling, in both numbers and 
11 quality, and ; n each department, any we had 
. previously witnessed. Indeed, we doubt wheth- 
r , er the display in the four principal classes— 
Cattle, Horses, Sheep and Swine—has ever 
d been equaled in this country; and we certainly 
never saw, in either of the departments named, 
a superior exhibition. 
- In Cattle the show was exceedingly large 
and fine— the feature of the Fair. The best 
improved and native breeds were well aud 
' numerously represented. Of Short-Horns, or 
. Durhams, the show was extensive, and em¬ 
braced many superior animals. Among others 
- Messrs. Phillips aud Fullington of Wood- 
stock, J. G. Coulter & Co., of Sligo, J. O'B. 
Renick of Shadeville, W. D. Pierce of South 
L Charleston, H. Renick of Darbyville, D. Wil- 
1 son of Cincinnati, O. H. Wood of Hanover, 
1 J. Stedman of Oregon, aud E. Fassett of 
Granville, presented very fine representative 
animals—including imported and home-bred 
1 specimens. 
1 Of Devons the show was not so large, but it 
comprised many good animals. The herds of 
N. W. Smith of Lebanon, Gen. Barker of 
Greenwich, E. Matciiam of Pittsfield, John 
Hadley of Clarksville, and others, were cred- 
iiauly represented. 
The Ayr shires were also well represented. 
P. Melendy of Mt. Healthy, showed six head, 
including two very superior bulls, 2 and 3 years 
old, bred by W. H. Ladd of Richmond. N. 
W. Penny of Newark, and W. H. Ladd of 
Richmond, also made a creditable exhibition. 
The show of Herefords was quite limited, 
though Thos. Aston of Elyria, and Mr. 11cm- 
frey, had several handsome animals on exhi¬ 
bition. 
The Working Oxen and Fat Cattle included 
a number of noteworthy specimens, but we 
were unable to obtain names of owners—a 
difficulty, by the way, which we experienced iu 
all departments of the Fair, as the animals 
aud articles were only numbered. (It would 
redound to the benefit of parties interested, if 
the names of owners were given immediately 
after the passage or report of awarding com¬ 
mittees.) Thos. Mathews, of Etna, exhibited 
ten yoke of cattle which were very fine—the 
best we noticed on the ground. 
In Horses the exhibition indicated decided 
progress—the display being large, and many 
animals possessing all the substantial aud pop¬ 
ular requisites. The show of Stallions was 
particularly fine, fast and beautiful—including 
several superior blooded animals. Among - 
these “Flying Cloud,” a large aud beautiful 
black horse, sired by old “ Black Hawk,” was < 
conspicuous. A number of the best horses 
shown were Morgans, and of Vermont origin, i 
The show in all classes was very creditable.— ] 
The displays and trials of speed attracted t 
marked attention. t 
The exhibition of Female Equestrianism, 1 
on Friday, was witnessed by from forty to six- t 
ty thousand people, and deservedly created \ 
considerable enthusiasm and applause. f 
Of Sheep the show was far the largest and i 
best we ever saw,—and we were assured it f 
surpassed any previous exhibition in the State. 1 
The various breeds and crosses classed under 
the heads of Fine, Middle and Course-Jf'ooled { 
were numerously represented. Of Spanish i 
and French Merinos, many superior specimens v 
were shown. Batchelor & Howe and T. S. o 
Humrickhouse of Coshocton, H. S. Manon of 1 
Hebron, J. S. Gok of Tippecanoe, Pa, Kim- A 
ball & Campbell, A. Y. Stockwell aud li 
others of Vermont, and Joseph Mosher of c 
Morrow, presented very superior specimens. y 
Of Saxons and Silesians there was a much t 
larger and finer display than we anticipated— f 
Wm. II. Laud, of Richmond, making a superb s 
show. Geo. W. Pollock, of Gratiot, also had h 
a fine show of Saxons—as did others whose 
names we are unable to give. 
The Leicesters, South-Downs. Cotswolds, 
and their crosses and grades, were likewise 
largely represented—making altogether a very 
fine exhibition. G. W. Penny of Newark, 
showed a number of superior South-Downs. 
J. Chamberlain and Dr. Townsend of Avon, 
Wm. Alsdorf of Utica, T. Mathews of Etna, 
and others, made a fine display of Leicesters. 
The show of Swine greatly excelled, in all 
respects, any congregation of the genus Sus 
we ever before witnessed. The show of Suf- 
folks was very fine—and we think they alone 
outnumbered any entire display at any exhibi¬ 
tion ever held in this State. 
The display of Poultry was fine and attract¬ 
ed no little attention. Such a show is well 
calculated to render the fever epidemic. 
r ihe show ot Jacks and Mules,—as we 
ought to have said in the proper place,—was 
quite respectable. 
Of Farm Products, Fruits, Flowers, Vege¬ 
tables, <tc., the display was not large—owing 
to the unfavorable season, and the location.— 
The exhibition of Fruit, however, was very 
fine—of Apples particularly creditable. 
In Farm Implements, Machinery, &c., there 
was a good display, considering the location. 
The show comprised the usual variety, inclu¬ 
ding several items worthy of notice—and a 
great many which the inventors or manufac¬ 
turers assured us were perfect—each the ne 
plus vllra iu its line; all which we patiently i 
heard, but cannot conveniently advertise._j 
Among the Reapers, we noted Atkins' Auto¬ 
maton, Manny s, Mann’s and Hussey's.— 
Emery’s Improved Railroad Horse-Pc - v was 
exhibited iu (.Dmpotftfuu with all powers, and 
awarded first premium. There were several 
Giain Diills shown, among which Seymour’s, 
and Moore’s, were conspicuous. There were 
several matters, worthy of at least brief men¬ 
tion, in this and other departments, but we 
must omit or postpone additional particulars. 
— In conclusion, the Fair was exceedingly 
creditable to all interested—especially Mana¬ 
gers and Exhibitors. The arrangements were 
very complete, in most respects all that could 
be desired,— and we regard the members of 
the State Board entitled to particular credit 
for the successful issue of the exhibition.— 
the large display, fine weather, and numerous 
attendance, must have beeu gratifying to the 
officers aud all other friends of Improvement. 
grown with considerable profit; but this is 
owing to its selling for malting purposes for 
much more than it is worth as food for horses 
—and it is worth more as food for horses than 
any other animals. In other words, much 
more nutritious matter can be obtained for a 
given cost from a crop of Indian corn than 
from a crop of barley. But it will be said 
that corn is not such a healthy food for horses 
as oats or barley. We believe this is true 
and probably owing to its containing such a 
large quantity of available carbonaceous mat¬ 
ter, such as starch, oil, sugar, &c. If this be 
so, a highly nitrogenous food, such as peas or 
oil-cake, mixed in small quantity with the corn 
meal, would greatly improve it. The woody 
fibre, or chaffy matter of the oats or barley, 
could be well supplied by chaff and cut straw, 
mixed with the corn and pea or oil-cake meal. 
We feel sure, therefore, that while barley is 
an excellent food for horses, it is not “decidedly 
cheaper” than corn, and when corn is judi- 
iously fed, as we have suggested, it may be 
questioned whether it is “ better even.” 
WHEAT GROWING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
BARLEY AS A HORSE FOOD. 
Oxe of our best Western Agricultural pa¬ 
pers says: “Barley is au excellent food for 
horses, much better even than corn. It is de¬ 
cidedly cheaper That Barley is an excellent 
food for horses cannot be doubted. For a 
given weight, all things considered, it is per¬ 
haps the next best grain after oats. English 
farmers give their horses as much barley as 
oats. I'u fact, ou the light laud farms, the 
“work” horses seldom get a feed of oats,_ 
barley, bran, ruta bagas, &c., being used as a 
substitute. The barley is of course ground. 
It is now, however, becoming quite common 
there to boil the barley instead of crushing it. 
It should not be boiled too long, as, besides 
the risk of burning, the horses do not eat it so 
readily. An hour’s boiling, or till the barley 
begins to burst, is long enough. It should be 
taken from the boiler while hot and mixed 
with wheat chaff, cut straw, hay, &c., and the 
addition of a little salt makes'it more palate- 
able. AY e know of nothing that appears to 
fatten a horse quicker, or keep him in better 
health, than this food. 
But because boiled barley is a cheaper horse 
food than oats in England, does it follow that 
it is the best and cheapest food that tee can 
use? For the production of barley the long 
growing season and cool summer of the British 
Isles are superior to any other in the world.— 
We can raise much better wheat than the Eng¬ 
lish, but the best barley we ever saw in this 
country would be cousidered unfit for malting 
purposes iu England, while for Indian corn 
this climate is all that could be desired. In 
this climate, therefore, we believe it is impos¬ 
sible for barley to compete with Indian corn 
in furnishing nutritious food. It is at present 
, Wny wheat will not grow in Massachusetts, 
is a question we have frequently asked, but to 
which we have never yet received a satisfac- 
E tory answer. The JYew England Farmer 
. has an article on the subject, from which it 
, appears that twenty-five years ago “it was 
. well known that wheat could not be raised in 
. j Massachusetts,” the reason being, the “ land 
was too old.” The Farmer combats this as- 
, sertion by reference to the “Old Countries” 
, of Europe, where wheat has been grown for 
centuries. It says, too, that since the estab¬ 
lishment of Agricultural Societies, and the in¬ 
creased circulation of farming newspapers, 
some bold innovators have tried the experi¬ 
ment of growing wheat, and have found “ that 
wheat, though not considered so certain or so 
profitable a crop as corn, may, notwithstanding, 
be raised to advantage in the State.” It 
thinks that the average wheat crop of the best 
districts in this country falls far below that of 
the wheat crop of “ old ” England. As we have 
such a variety of climate in the wheat grow¬ 
ing districts, our short comings must be attrib¬ 
uted to one of two causes—soil or seed.— 
“ There are two principal requisites in soils for 
wheat. According to the opinion of most 
farmers, the soil should be rather a stiff, tena¬ 
cious, clayey soil, and not mellow, light, or 
loose. We think it should not be too rich 
also. In a mellow, light aud rich soil it makes 
straw at the expense of the grain. But the main 
requisite in the soil for aliment of the plant is 
phosphate of lime. To this condition, or to the 
seed, or to both, the greater success in Eng¬ 
land, in wheat growing, is to be attributed._ 
England is a limestone country, and the farm¬ 
ers use boue manure, which furnishes the phos¬ 
phate of lime on their fields. The most of 
the western wheat growing lands are in a lime¬ 
stone country, but the soil is too light and 
mellow, favoring straw too much.” We do 
not think the “greater success” of Euglish 
wheat growers is attributable to seed. Nor 
is the idea that it is owing to the increased 
proportion of phosphate of lime in the soil at 
all consistent with facts. It is true, English 
farmers “use bone manure” and super-phosphate 
lime, but it is exceedingly rare that they are 
; applied to wheat. In fact it is clearly indi¬ 
cated, not to say demonstrated, that in ordina¬ 
ry English agriculture an application of phos¬ 
phate of lime to wheat is attended with no 
benefit 
Indian corn contains quite as much phos¬ 
phate of lime as wheat, and if corn can obtain 
all the phosphate of lime it requires from the 
soils of New England, why caunot wheat?_ 
We are inclined to attribute the poor wheat 
crops of New England more to an imperfect 
mechanical condition of the soil, than to any 
deficiency iu the mineral elements of the wheat : 
plant AY ere the farms in Massachusetts ] 
thoroughly underdrained, sub-soiled, and plow- ; 
ed so as to well pulverize a few inches of the < 
surface soil, rather than flopping over a deep i 
wide furrow,—were more peas, roots and clover 1 
grown, and the land heavily stocked with sheep : 
so as to consolidate it as much as possible, as 1 
is is done on the light land farms of England, 
Dr we believe as large wheat crops might be 
ds grown in New England as on any farm in Old 
,n England on which artificial manures or cattle 
h foods are not used. 
a The Farmer cites a great many instances 
,n of immense English wheat crops. It is true 
d that the wheat crop in England is heavier than 
!S in this country, but it must also be remember- 
? ed that wheat, and especially meat, commands 
a a higher price than with us, enabling the 
■_ British farmer to use an immense quantity of 
e artificial manure, to grow an enormous quan- 
r tity of root crops, and to purchase largely of 
n American oil-cake, Egyptian beans, &c., which 
y being consumed on the farm by sheep and 
cattle tend greatly to its enrichment. No 
•, wonder that, under such circumstances, the 
.. yield of wheat is greater than .in this country, 
s where much of our land is never manured. 
- The Farmer thinks the quality of the 
. English wheat is superior to ours, and, after 
5 mentioning instances in which English wheat 
weighed from 62 to 64 lbs. per bushel, says:— 
“A\ r e think no wheat has ever been grown in 
this country at 64 lbs” Except in rare sea¬ 
sons, that of 2846 for instance, English wheat 
, is much lighter and inferior to our Genesee 
> wheat. AY hen cleaned a 3 well as English 
- farmers clean their wheat, our Genesee and 
• Canadian wheat is altogether superior to the 
; best English samples, and makes whiter flour. 
; AY e saw at the recent Michigan State Fair at 
i Detroit, better, drier and heavier samples of 
[ wheat thau we ever saw in Mark-Lane, or any 
. other grain market in Great Britain. 
■ CONYERSITreNS ON AGBiCliLTURE.—No. Til. 
BY HUGH T. BROOKS. 
ABOUT THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR. 
1 attended the late State Fair at New York; 
. were many things connected with it of 
permanent interest, and I take the first leisure 
time which I could command to notice them. 
There were present quite a number of mules of 
larger size, aud finer appearance than I had 
■ ever before seen. I saw eleven span attached 
to one wagon, all of which were from fourteen 
to seventeen hands high, and would weigh 12 
or 14 hundred; they belonged to a gentleman 
in New Jersey, who informed me that he 1 
works a farm of 3,000 acres with mules, and ! 
finds great advantage in so doing. He repre- 1 
sents them to be nearly or quite free from the ! 
ordinary diseases and defects of horses, and if, J 
perchance, anything should happen to them, < 
turn them out a while and they will get over ! 
it. They will do the same work as horses, on 1 
about half the grain. They will never refuse 
to work under the seductive influences of coax¬ 
ing and flattery, but like “ the rest of mankind,” 
they are a little “ mulish”, and prefer not to be 
kicked and cudgeled. I had no idea they ever 1 
attained the size and power they do. I saw two < 
span well broke and very manageable and do- ! 
cile, owned in the city of N. Y., which took 
the first premium; they would certainly come ) 
up to the greatest size and weight mentioned S 
above. Mules are coming into use very much \ 
in New York. A prominent business man of ) 
that city, Mr. AA'm. AYilmebding, informed me i 
that his son had a span which drive very hand- 5 
somely and make good time, performing a \ 
mile in less than 4 minutes with ease. Let ) 
Fashion and her colts look out for their lau- ) 
rels; the mules will be after tlum yet ) 
I am determined to embark in the breeding j 
of mules and I hope that every town that $ 
hasnt a jackass. 1 will at once get one_I ) 
mean one of the genuine, long-eared variety V 
—we must “conquer our prejudices”;—the an- ( 
imal has been damaged by unworthy associa- ) 
lions, and I think ought to be permitted to < 
call upon the courts for redress. d| 
I was told that a large jack with good pro- 
portions, would cost in Kentucky, $600 to < 
$800, and in some cases a thousand. Let us ) 
start right, even if it costs something. I be- v 
lieve our farm work can be done twenty-five ( 
per cent cheaper with mules than with horses j 
or oxen, and in this opinion I am sustained by ( j 
my neighbor, Mr. Morgan, who has worked d ij 
them in this State and in Ohio. Mvfriend AVil- ( J 
herding, of New York, triumphantly asked, 5 j! 
“ AYho ever saw or heard of a dead mule?”— Y n 
