RURAL LJFf 
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ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY. MARCH 
I WHOLE‘NO. 529 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AM OKIOINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FA MILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
Thk Rural New- Yorker jg ilosiirueil to bo nusurpawKit] 
in Value, Parity, Usefulness anil Variety of Contents, aud 
for having fine texture. Most soils arc deficient 
mechanically rather than chemically. There ia 
great store of plant-food, but not tinely enough 
divided. A field, therefore, which, in a certain 
state of pulverization, will produce 15 bushels of 
wheat, would, or should, yield 30 If worked up 
twice as fine. Why V Because there is twice the 
amount of surface of particles exposed to the ac¬ 
tion of heat, and cold, and rain, and therefore 
twice as much plant food set free. Take your 
multiplication table, and figure up this idea ns far 
ns you like, and then you will see the use of sub 
soil plows, and clod-crushers, uml good harrows, 
and deep plowing, aud all these modern contriv- 
attentJou of farmers, if only as food for stock. 
We know that bind is cheap, and labor dear, 
in this Country, and that meadows, which 
yield less per acre of food for stock, than al¬ 
most any other crop which the farmer can 
| raise, arc still adhered to, because of the 
comparatively trilling labor needed to man¬ 
age them. But we think that where land is 
from forty to one hundred dollars per acre, 
farmers can winter stock most profitably, by 
making something else than hey their main 
dependence. And, indeed, everywhere, ws 
think, tanners cun profitably Gcvoto some 
portion of their present meadow lands to 
corn, root crops, or sorghum, ns food for 
stock. And it is possible that the present 
high prices of liny, may prove In the end a 
blessing, (iwy much disguised non however,) 
by showing farmers how well they can sub¬ 
stitute Other feed. .2 
About pasture lands, and soiling cattle, we 
are not so sure. The gain in Buying of land §1 
by using green clover, corn, and other sum- H 
mcr crops, carried to cuttle, instead of al- 
lowing them to run over a large portion of 
the farm as pasture, is even greater than 
that of other crops over hay; but then it 
involves a large extra amount of labor.— 
Josiait QuinCy, in his recent work on the 
8oiling of Cattle, states thut he kept the 
sumo number of cattle on seventeen acres, which 
had formerly required fifty by the old system of 
pasturage. This is a large saving of land, aud we 
think that near large cities, It is the only 
profltaNle way of keeping nek. in fact, we 
think that oil onr 1's.rm.n 4 \y\, \ -« might. . v i 
vantageomiy drill in two fo three acres of 
corn, to be used as green feed in August, 
aud September, at which time pastures are 
often dried up and cattle often suffer from 
insufficient food. We do not think that pas¬ 
tures or meadows are to be abandoned, just 
yet, nor would it be advisable; but as a means of 
increasing the stock in the country, and oonse- 
unique aud beautiful Jn Appearance. Its Conductor devotes 
his personal attention to the supervision of its various de¬ 
partments, and earnestly In hors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subject* intimately connected with the 
business of those whose interests it. zealously advocates. 
As a Family Journal it is eminently Instructive and 
Entertaining—being so conducted that it can be safely 
tiken to the Hour Pi nnd f lobieu of people of Intelligence, 
taste and discrimination. It embrace* morn Agricultural, 
Horticultural, Scientific, Educational, Literary aud News 
Matter, Interspersed with appropriate and beautiful F.n- 
gravimrs, than any other journal —rendering It the most 
complete Agricultural, Literary aNo Family News¬ 
paper in America, 
&PR I MI- 
PASTURES, MEADOWS, AND KEEPING STOCK 
OF K. tt. ltocivM'KlJ 
The amount of manure made, and jndiodously 
applied, on any farm, is about the surest index to 
its fertility, and the good management of its 
owner. And a general increase of manure, which 
must form the basis in every effort, for farm im¬ 
provement, can only be. scoured by an incr-tuio nf 
the stock to produce it. Special manures may be 
profitably applied to some crops, in times of high 
prices, and on lands near largo cities, when most 
of the produce is sold, instead of being consumed 
on the farm; hut, as a general rule, the manure ne¬ 
cessary to retain und enhance the fertility of the 
soil, (and no farmer Hliould be satisfied if his 
lands arc not constantly improving ,) must he made 
on the farm where it is to be used. 
limn to keep an increased amount of stock, 
must be the great question with every farmer._ 
We have been looking over the U. 8. census of 
I860, and find that of the 9(1,000,000 acres of im¬ 
proved and cultivated land in the country, 33,000,- 
000, or more than one-third, are devoted to pas¬ 
tures und meadows. A larger proportion could 
hardly be spared for such purpose, without ex¬ 
cluding a proper und profitable area to grain, cot¬ 
ton, and other products. Thus more than one- 
tliiid nl our improved land is exclusively devoted 
to stock raising and keeping, without taking any 
account of the great area of waste and unimproved 
lands used for the same purpose, or of all the 
AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 
bled to present a view which alone teaches an im¬ 
portant lesson. In a private letter, accompanying 
the engraving, Mr. Rockwell writes: 
“ 1 would like to do something to stimulate a 
desire for improvement not only, with Downing, 
m Rural Architecture alone,but in the laying out 
ot "Pleasure Grounds, 7 ’ as they are by that la¬ 
mented author appropriately named. My grounds 
are some twenty rods square, and the house is 
nine rods from the iron fence in front, of it. The 
large number of deciduous and evergreen trees 
in the grounds, render them in summer at once 
beautiful and inviting. The out-buildings aro 
tastefully ornamented, and with flower and fruit 
gardens and nicely-graveled walks leading to 
different parts of the grounds, I confess they 
alford me a full cup of pleasure every twenty-four 
hours. 1 he secret, silent influence of one or two 
nicely-arranged pleasure grounds In a town or 
neighborhood, works a reform in the minds of 
those who have any taste for the beautiful. For 
instance, last spring a gentleman residing some 
six miles from ‘Spring-Side,’ was about to build 
him a very elegant bouse. Do also intended to 
place it only one rod from the road, and in near 
proximity to bis burns and piggeries, and when 
completed, ience up a 7 by 9 door-yard and till it 
with briers and brushwood, and have the impu¬ 
dence to pronounce it elegant, tasteful, beautiful. 
He visited ‘Spring-Side’ ero ho began, and weut 
home and pushed away from the stench of his 
barns and the dust of the highway, and put his 
house in the center of a plat of ground some 
eighteen rods square. Ho has christened his 
place ‘ Farmingdaie,’ and within a few years liis 
grounds, when filled with fruit and ornamental 
trees, will lie an object of attraction, aud demand 
and obtain the eulogies of every passer-by. ♦ * 
O, how beautiful might the whole country become 
if the tastes of farmers were properly educated in 
that direction! But the public inind is partially 
aroused and awakened in New England, to strike 
a blow at that old system which makes thousands 
of homes in the country look more like crows’ 
nests than human habitations. A change is coin¬ 
ing over the minds of men In this respect, and 
Otra limited space will not permit us to give 
even brief sketches of the many Agricultural 
Lectures delivered at New Haven, the past few 
weeks. Frrm ten to twenty, P ick v> 1, • «. „ . 
abundance that we cannot use, or perhaps, appre¬ 
ciate, and of which, even the daily press fail to 
give an intelligible outline. Unless, therefore, 
some means are taken to publish the Yale Lec¬ 
tures in a volume, we fear most of the wise and 
unwise things there said, will be lost to tlic world. 
However this may be, wo shall occasionally 
rescue a (bought from oblivion, for some are too 
good, and others too bad, to be lost. 
J. Stanton Gould, of Columbia connty, in this 
State, who was honored above most, of his com¬ 
rades, by being announced for three or four lec¬ 
tures, we had the pleasure of hearing in Albany, 
on Manures, as applied, to the Grasses. In this 
Lecture, Mr. Gould gave very ingenious plans for 
preparation of manures heap* for different crops, 
giving to one a little nitrate of soda, to another 
magnesia, Ac., &c., all very puzzling if not very 
useful to the farmers present, no doubt, not one 
of whuin will attempt io carry these notions into 
practice. But, what seemed to us one of the 
greatest bldnders of the lecture, was the declara¬ 
tion thut an analysis of the soil was essential, be¬ 
fore anything could bo done in the way of im¬ 
provement—that this was, in fact, the very first 
step in improvement Tin's was emphatically 
stated and repeated. 
In our notes of the Lecture, we had marked this 
passage, for a few comments at our leisure, but in 
the report of the Lecture of Prof. Johnson, at 
New Haven, we find some very sensible remaiks 
on this subject, which we prefer to anything we 
might say, as showing how "doctors disagree," 
to every farmer the partial substitution of other 
and more productive crops in place of hay—and 
a small piece of ground each year for soiling 
purposes—selecting therefore those crops which 
will prove most productive with least labor. 
In the meantime, take extra painB with your 
pastures and meadows. Plow up and seed down 
oltcn, and with no sparing hand, especially with 
clover. Spread u coat of manure over your 
meadows as often as you can spare it, and sow 
plaster on your clover;—It will always pay there, 
if nowhere else. And above all, do not turn 
your cuttle out too early in the spring, to trample 
the ground and destroy the roots for the rest of 
that season. You can keep one tenth more stock 
on your land if you do not turn them out till the 
first of May, and about one-quarter more than if 
you let them have the “run of the lots," as some 
do, all winter. See to it that the finer grasses do 
not get "run out,” especially in your pastures, 
and their place filled by coarse, sour herbage, 
which cattle will not oat, till they aro almost 
starved. It is a certain sign of stagnant water. 
If you cannot drain such land, do the next best 
thing—plow up und reseed with clover, and then, 
in a year or two, plow under a good crop of 
clover. This will keep the land light for three 
or four years, almost as well as drains. Finally, 
by making the most of your meadows and pas¬ 
tures, you can keep more stock, make more 
manure, raise more grain, hay, and other produce; 
and this again will enable you to increase your 
stock, and go on repeating the above process to 
the end of the chapter. 
SOILING AND STEAMING -AGAIN. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: —Since I ventured 
to write an article under the above heading, pub¬ 
lished iu your issue of Dec. I7th, I have been 
reminded by private letters, as well as through 
your correspondent, iu a late number, that I am 
expected to go more into detail. This I will do 
very cheerfully, as the subject appears to me to 
load to the “gold diggings" upon every man’s 
faim and no class more need to know where the 
“ nuggets” are, than the farmers. 
There are several methods of feeding cattle in 
summer in the open field, in the yard or open 
shed, and in the stable. I prefer the stable, well 
ventilated, to Iced in. Feed the animals in the 
same position, winter and summer. Once a day 
let the animals out for air and exercise. Let 
them take such exercise as they choose. Give 
them a small field, or a lane, to run in. Being 
always fed at the stable, they will be there at the 
appointed time. They should be fed with perfect 
regularity. Some would say twice, others three 
times a day—and three times will answer, but I 
should prefer at least four, properly divided, say 
at six and ten A. M., and at two and six P. M., 
giving air and exercise between ten and two. 
But, however many or f.*w times they may be fed, 
let it be at precisely the same hour each clay. 
There are strong arguments for numerous feed¬ 
ings. Leas will be fed at a time, and the food will 
be fresh. A good feeder will give no more each time 
than the animal cats up clean, and with a relish. 
Too much at a time tends to cloy the animal, and 
impair easy digestion. The experienced feeder 
well knows that it is better to give less than the 
appetite craves, than more. It is especially 
necessary to be prudent in this particular in sum¬ 
mer, as animals are more easily cloyed in warm 
than cold weather. The food should be slightly 
grain. 
’-IA W <WUj 
two and a half or three tuns, it is evident that the 
manure will not go far in covering the ground 
from which the feed was produced, or will huve 
to be spread very thin. But if the same ground 
were planted with corn, and well tended through 
the season, the stalks alone would be worth, if 
carefully taken cure of, nearly twice as much, as 
food for stock, as the hay, with the addition of 
thirty, fifty, or sixty bushels of corn. Root cropB 
are also valuable, as giving a large amount of 
food for stock, on a small quantity of ground, but 
they require too much labor for most of our farm¬ 
ers,—(not so much, however, as many suppose, 
provided it is given at the right time.) And even 
the much - abused Sorghum is well worthy the 
aMai, now snail tuc animals be arranged for 
feeding? This will vary according to the idea of 
order und convenient arrangement entertained by 
the feeder. Perhaps the method of fastening in 
stanchions, so generally used, ia the best for hold¬ 
ing the ftiumal to its position, and is not found to 
be injurious to the hetilth. They should bo so 
arranged as to feed conveniently from the barn 
door. And where ;i l.irgo number of animals are 
kept, there should be a stable on each side of the 
floor, so that a one-horse curt may be used to 
bring the Bummer food. By this method, there is 
but little more labor ia feeding fifty than twenty- 
five animals iu the ordinary way. Then there 
should he a convenient arrancenientfor watei-imr 
B i fi 
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