VOLUME 
Itffcrn’s Jral 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary, and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a.v able oorts or Assistant# and Contributors. 
N - Y ‘-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1854. 
WHOLE NO. 856. 
j vain to expect abundance of egg? next spring 
j if the liens are starved during winter. A few 
j hens well fed will always prove more profitable 
j than a large number half-starved during a few 
months of the year, even though they may 
have a superabundance of food at other times. 
The Rural Nkw-Yorkkr is designed to be unique and ; See, too > that the hen house is warm and dry. 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity I f fetlS, like sheep, Call Stand anything belter 
and Variety of Content.. Its conductors earnestly labor j than water . Lefc the hen honse be thoroughly 
to make it a Reliable Gmde on the important Practical i v 
Subjects connected with the business of those whose in- j cleaned out now and regularly supplied during 
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. 
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Jural Jteto-jflrfmr. 
Progress and Improvement. 
HINTS ON THE BREEDING OF FOWLS. 
If not already done, now is the time to look 
over your lots of fowls, and to carefully select 
out the hens and roosters designed to be kept 
for breeding next year. The fecundity of hens ! 
affords the breeder great facilities for improv- I, ... . 
x . . . , , ,, , , r , | latitudes, 
ing the breed, but how seldom does he take 
advantage of them. To make any decided 
improvement in a breed of horses, cattle, or 
sheep, requires more time than most go-ahead 
Americans — who are ever ready to pull up 
stakes, and sell out for a “ consideration” — are 
willing to bestow. In fact, the bare idea of 
winter with clean, dry straw, 
If you design to change one or more of 
j your roosters, now i^the time to do it They 
will thus have abundant time to get acquaint¬ 
ed with their partners before spring. In se¬ 
lecting a rooster we should not look so much 
to beauty of outline, as to a vigorous and val- 
j liant demeanor, strong, muscular thighs, full 
! breast, and plump, heavy body, having more 
| muscle than fat. Color is a mere matter of 
i fancy. White fowls are supposed by some to 
j be delicate; but this has not proved so in our 
! experience, though it is probable, as a general 
j thing, that colored fowls are the hardiest.— 
I White or bluish legged fowls are the favorites 
with some, from the whiteness and apparent 
delicacy of the meat; but it is admitted that 
the yellow legged are the richest and most 
highly flavored. 
j If a little flesh meat can be cheaply obtain- 
j ed during winter the fowls will be all the better 
j for it. It is a tolerably good substitute for 
the worms and insects they obtain in warmer 
Be very careful, however, not to 
| give them any salt meat, as it always proves 
! injurious and sometimes fatal. There can be 
i no doubt that salt is not required by fowls in 
| larger quantity than that obtained as a con- 
! stituent of their ordinary food. They must 
tamed 1G per cent of ammonia and 25 per¬ 
cent of phosphate of lime, a considerable por¬ 
tion of which would be soluble. Now in the 
above experiment the superphosphate gives as 
much increase as the guano, or, in other 
words, two per cent of ammonia and a certain 
quantity of phosphate of lime give as much 
increase as 16 per cent of ammonia and a cer¬ 
tain quanity of phosphate of lime. It follows, 
therefore, that the increase must be attributed 
principally to the phosphate of lime. Oh, for 
accurate experiments to determine whether 
this is so or not Why cannot some friend of 
scientific agriculture apply sulphate of ammo¬ 
nia on one acre ot corn, and pure superphos¬ 
phate of lime on another, sulphate of lime on 
another, and a mixture of the three in definite 
proportions on others, and determine the 
matter. 
JOHNNY-CAKE PHILOSOPHY. 
i have access to fresh water, and if they cannot 
r , ,. . e ,. . , | Bud enough food from the scatterings of the 
spending half a life-time in perfecting a breed , ? , , . , , 55 
p . , ,,, barn yard, must be fed.as the udgment of 
ot animals, would be enough to frighten them i,, r .. , J ° 
r TT ? „ , the farmer dictates, 
from the undertaking. Hence we shall proba- | 
bly continue to import the ‘ pure breeds of 
cattle originated by more plodding nations. — 
I _ 
American Agriculturist publishes. 
GUANO AND SUPERPHOSPHATE FOR CORN. 
But with fowls, the length of time required 
need not deter any one from attempting to im¬ 
prove the breed. By careful and judicious 
selection, any farmer — or, we would rather 
say, any farmer’s son — may, in two or three 
years, add a hundred per cent, to the good 
qualities, and correct most of the deficiencies, 
of his present breed of fowls — unless indeed, 
they are already much better bred than the 
ordinary fowls found in farmers’ yards in most 
parts of the country. 
In this country, and even still more so in 
Great Britain, fowls have been looked upon as 
beneath the serious consideration of the farm¬ 
er. But this is far from being the case. There 
is no other item on a farm that foots up more 
net profit than a good breed of properly kept 
fowls. This is a fact gradually taking posses¬ 
sion of the public mind, (thanks to the agri¬ 
cultural press and — though we do not frater¬ 
nize with them — the chicken speculators,) and 
we shall ere long witness a decided improve¬ 
ment in the common fowl of the country.— 
For, without taking into consideration the im¬ 
provement caused by the introduction of Asi¬ 
atic aud other foreign breeds, the stimulus of 
high prices and good profits has directed the 
attention of farmers to their common breeds, 
and it cannot be doubted that if they once take 
hold of the matter in earnest, greatly benefi¬ 
cial results must speedily follow, and that with¬ 
out the introduction of any foreign blood. 
Now is the time to take this matter in hand. 
Select out hens under, four rears of age, hav¬ 
ing reference particularly to a healthy and vig¬ 
orous constitution, large, well formed bodies, 
and rather small legs and feet, bright eyes and 
pendant combs. Early maturity aud good 
laying qualities must not be forgotten. The 
form is a good indication of the former, and 
also, to a certain extent, of the latter. If early 
maturity, beauty of form and refinement are 
carried too far, the tendency to lay eggs is 
supposed to be diminished. If a hen is known 
to be of an uneasy disposition, or a poor layer, 
on no account keep her. 
Having selected what hens you intend to 
keep for breeders, it will be advisable to sell 
off all the others now, so that the remainder 
may be better fed during the winter. It is 
from an anonymous correspondent, the results 
ol an experiment with artificial fertilizers on 
corn. The soil was a gravelly loam, sward, 
and plowed about the 20th of May. The 
quantity ot land allotted to each experiment 
is not stated. This is to be regretted. The 
fertilizers and crop are calculated, to the acre. 
The unmanured plot yielded 28 bushels per 
acre; that dressed with 1C loads stable manure, 
35 1 bushels; 500 ibs. superphosphate of lime, 
46 bushels; 600 lbs. guano, 50£ bushels; 300 
lbs. of superphosphate of lime and 640 lbs. 
guano, 58 bushels; 320 lbs. of guano and 640 
tbs. of dissolved bones, (bones decomposed by 
sulphuric acid,) 51 bushels; 1,040 lbs. guano and 
400 tbs. of superphosphate, 74bushels; 16 
tons stable manure and 640 tbs. of superphos¬ 
phate 49 i bushels. 
The effect of an application of a good su¬ 
perphosphate of lime on Indian corn, is what 
we have long desired to see, as much for scien¬ 
tific as for practical reasons. The above ex¬ 
periments lead us to hope that superphosphate 
at a reasonable price would prove a profitable 
fertilizer for corn in the New England States, 
where it generally sells for at least one dollar 
per bushel. Thus the retail price of a first 
class superphosphate in England is $30 per 
ton. Five hundred lbs. of superphosphate in 
the above experiment give an increase of 18 
bushels. We should get, therefore, an extra 
bushel ot corn tor 42 cents. We must not, 
however, allow ourselves to deduce too much 
from the result of a single experiment. The 
cost of the superphosphate here, however, is 
$50 per ton, and the 18 extra bushels cost 
$12 50, or 70 cents per bushels. The 690 lbs. 
of guano give an increase of 22J bushels. At 
$50 per ton, therefore, 77 cents worth of gua¬ 
no gives an extra bushel of corn. The ex¬ 
perimenter thinks that this will pay. Of course 
it depends on the price of corn. 
Assuming that the experiments are correct 
it becomes an interesting inquiry as to what 
particular ingredients of the manures the in¬ 
crease of corn is due. The superphosphate 
of lime used contained say two per cent of 
ammonia and 18 per cent soluble phosphate 
of lime. The guano, if a good article, con- 
Ihh Corn Croi\ —The only objection that 
can be legitimately urged against this crop, 
or that militates against its unlimited exten¬ 
sion, is the want of a market. It is not of 
near such universal use as wheat, in the econo¬ 
my of life for human subsistence, and, there- 
foie, i: the great wheat region should depend 
upon it as a paying production, the market 
would be glutted; but it might, and ought to 
be greatly extended as human food." It is 
more nutritious, more healthy, and easier, and 
with more certainty produced, than any other 
of the edible grains. 
W ho in traveling in a new country, where 
almost the only food raised is corn and pota¬ 
toes, has failedj to observe the iron sided, 
strong-sinewed men, and the ruddy and healthy 
women and children—barefooted and half 
clothed—defying the snow and winters’ blast, 
so redolent of health that it is painful for 
while bread and sweet-cake humanity to look 
upon them? 
Lhete are hundreds of families who grow 
this crop almost exclusively for the hogs. _ 
V/hat a profanation of the blessings of Provi¬ 
dence: W hat a loss of health, happiness, and 
money, especially in these times of the inflic¬ 
tion ot the weevil in wheat and the enormous 
price ol flour. W by is it that the Indian pud¬ 
ding both baked and boiled—the warm loaf of 
Indian or wheat and Indian bread—the Pone, 
the Johnny and Pan cake are almost banished 
from our farmers’ tables? 
Our food is now-a-days too concentrated_ 
too rich—too highly seasoned with too many j 
provocatives to over-eating. It over-tasks the j 
gastric economy of the stomach. Our meals ! 
lack bulk for the extension of the digestive or- ! 
gansand bowels. If our food was half saw j 
dust (Indian meal is better) we should be j 
gainers in health, strength and spirits. 
We have sometimes thought that the falling ! 
off in the use of meal as a food, was attributa- j 
ble to the house-wife. It requires more care { 
and forethought and perhaps more labor to 
get up its preparations than wheaten flour, as 
a larger batch of bread from that material can 
be made at one time, and last good for several 
days without any further care; while the other 
requires labor at every meal; but let the fault 
SOUTH DOWN SHEEP. 
The most celebrated breeds of the Down 
sheep are the Sussex, Hampshire and Shrop¬ 
shire. Our personal experience lies chiefly 
with the two latter breeds, and it is therefore 
not surprising that we prefer either of them 
to the Sussex down. We are bound to say, 
however, that we consider the Sussex the true 
South Down. By the persevering skill of that 
celebrated breeder Ei.lman, the Sussex l>o\\n 
has been placed at the head of every breed of 
sheep in Great Britain, it is probably the 
most perfect, the most refined, or elaborated 
breed of mutton sheep in existence. Sussex 
Down mutton commands the highest price in 
the London market. The Hampshire and 
Shropshire Downs are larger and coarser breeds 
than the Sussex, and as might be expected lay 
on more fat for the food consumed than the 
Sussex—at lea^t this has been demonstrated 
to be the case with the llampshires, and from 
considerable acquaintance with the breed, we 
have no doubt it is the case with the Shrop¬ 
shire. The Shropshire is a more symmetrical 
sheep than the Hampshire; indeed, compared 
with the Sussex, the Hampshire is far from 
beautiful, the head especially is often large 
| and coarse—and the head in all animals affords 
! the best index to character. Nevertheless, 
As an admirer of South Downs, and a lover 
of South Down mutton, we cannot close our 
eyes to the fact that the Leicesters, Teeswater, 
Cotswoldg, and other long-wooled and coarse 
mutton sheep, are evidently becoming the 
greatest favorites with the farmers of the 
States and Canadas. (We refer, of course, 
only to mutton sheep.) Lawes’ experiments 
throw some light on the cause of this. He 
found that for die food consumed the large 
and coarse Cotswold yielded more mutton and 
wool than the Leicesters, the Leicesters more 
than the Hampshire Downs, and the Hamp¬ 
shire Downs more than the Sussex Downs.— 
But the price of their mutton iiL^ondon is 
exactly in an inverse ratio to their fattening 
properties,—the Sussex mutton commanding 
the highest price, the Hampshire next, then 
Leicester, and lastly Cotswold, which is sold 
for at least three cents per pound less than 
the Sussex Down mutton. In England, there¬ 
fore, the higher price obtained for the mutton 
counterbalances the deficiency in rapid fatten¬ 
ing qualities. But in this country it is not so. 
The carcasses of Cotswoldg, Leicesters, Tcos- 
waters, llampshires, and their crosses, under 
the name of South Down mutton, sell for aa 
much per pound as the best Sussex. It is 
and yield more mutton aud wool than the 
Sussex. 
three times, and warm Indian bread or cakes 
every morning for breakfast, and thereby defy 
the“foul fiend and all her train of dyspepsia, di¬ 
arrheas, headaches, foul stomachs, and other 
ills that flesh is heir to—you must eat corn 
corn but not drink it. So says the 
prompter. 
CURE FOR THE POTATO DISEASE. 
It is certainly amusing to look over the 
back volumes of any of our agricultural peri- 
lie u luic it may, it will not be disputed that ■ oc p ca ] s aud observe the multitudinous “reme- 
we do not use m our families m this region, one j dies for tbe p ota to Disease.” Many of them 
na. t.a quantity that euny prudential consid- ( are f ouude d on accidental experiments, while 
oration would indicate. I by far the grcater nuruber are deduced from 
fanciful speculations in regard to the cause of 
If farmers are determined not to incur the 
name of corn-fed, why so be it, yet why the 
mechanic, the laborer and the destitute, do 
not increase the use, when subsistence can be 
obtained for half the money, is most surprising. 
Economy is as important a virtue as industry. 
Look to the meal stores and mills in towns 
and you will see squalid women and children, 
buying their three and four pounds of superior 
flour at an expense quadruple that of meal.— 
Many of this class will say they do not like it 
for bread. It is a mere habit and easily con¬ 
quered, as it was in Ireland during the great 
famine, when it was with the utmost difficulty 
it could be introduced; while now in easy times 
it is one of the staples of our export; only hist 
year every bushel in N. Y. was taken up for 
Europe. Now, unprejudiced’’ reader, if you 
think with ns, insist on mush and milk twice a 
week, and baked Indian pudding for dinner 
the “ Mysterious Dispensation.” One observes 
that the potatoes under trees, or on the shady 
side of a wall, are not infected, and concludes 
that shade is a certain cure. Another thinks 
that his potatoes in the shade were more dis¬ 
eased than those in the sunshine, and recom¬ 
mends an open southern exposure. Cutting 
off the tops one has found effectual, while an¬ 
other who tried this remedy thinks the pota¬ 
toes so treated were much worse than those 
let alone. Ashes scattered at intervals on tho 
growing plants during summer is another fa¬ 
vorite remedy; others think lime a certain 
cure; while charcoal dust scattered in the rows 
at the time of planting, according to many 
sanguine observers, bus always prevented tho 
rot and produced a large crop of most excel¬ 
lent potatoes. A learned Doctor who for years 
has been crying aloud that our system of agri- 1 
attention of our readers the accompanying 
engraving of a beautiful South Down Sheep. 
culture is all wrong, and that we are exhaust¬ 
ing our virgin soil at a fearful rapidity, espe¬ 
cially of its potash, appears to find satisfaction 
in the potato disease as a confirmation of his 
gloomy forebodings. The ash of the potato 
says he is one-half potash, and as you have 
been insanely removing all the potash from 
the soil, can you wonder that potatoes grown 
on a soil exhausted of its potash should bo 
diseased? Certainly this is not to be wonder¬ 
ed at. The only wonder is that the potatoes 
would grow at all, and that all soils, new and 
old, in Europe and .America, should happen 
to become exhausted of potash all in the same 
year. And it is surprising, too, that soil des¬ 
titute of potash could produce good crops of 
turnips (which contain as much potash as po¬ 
tatoes) or of wheat, corn, clover and timothy. 
The wonder with us is that, under such cir¬ 
cumstances, these were not all diseased at tho 
same time. 
But all these various hypotheses are wrong. 
The real cause and remedy for the potato dis¬ 
ease has at length been discovered by a com¬ 
mittee of the New Hampshire State Agricul¬ 
tural Society. “There is little doubt in our 
mind,” says the report, “that the potato can be 
saved from disease by proper cultivation.”— 
This is encouraging. But what has induced 
the deterioration of the potato plant? “Main¬ 
ly using cut and small potatoes for seed, and 
dressing them with animal manure. * * 
The best cultivators in England always select 
the fairest and best shaped potatoes for seed, 
and plant them whole.” We cannot say what 
the best English farmers do, but we know that 
! the Hampshire is a greater favorite with the ! plain, therefore, that the finer breeds of mut- 
! great mass of farmers than the Sussex. We j ton sheep in this country at present stand a 
j are rather surprised that this breed has not j poor chance in competition with the coarse 
i been more extensively introduced into this j and more rapidly fattening breeds. But we 
country or the Canadas. We are satisfied that, j are digressing sadly from the object of our 
! unless too finely bred, it would prove hardier i writing, which was simply to introduce to the 
