RURAL LIFg 
ICULTUftc 
wo give an engraving, Morton says is tho hardiest 
of all the white sorts. The bulbs are not so large, 
grow deeper in the ground, and are consequently 
better able to resist frost In shape it is more 
uniformly round than the common White Globe; 
and the skin is rougher, and sometimes marked 
with little scars. 
It is well known that our climate is not as 
favorable as that of England for the cultivation 
of the turnip—our hot, dry weather often making 
it a partial failure, and yet we have seen many 
crops in this State, and still more In Canada, rival¬ 
ing the best that England ever produced. It lia3 
often occurred to us that in the Kqnr.-UARt wo 
have a plant that is peculiarly suited to our cli¬ 
mate, and that may provo as valuable to the 
farmers and stock growers of this country as tho 
turnip is to those of England. Even iu England 
it is somewhat taking the place of the turnip for 
heavy lands, and is found to succeed much better 
in dry summers. At the fairs and exhibitions 
last autumn it was noticed by all tho English 
Agricultural Journals, as far excelling the Ruta 
Bagas. Morton says, " Kohl rabi is tho bulb for 
dry summers—heat and drouth arc congenial to 
it, and the plant grows, prospers, and yields an 
enormous crop under circumstances wherein 
white turnips and Swedes could barely exist. It 
is extraordinary that so few farmers avail them¬ 
selves of a plant that, in the driest season, if prop¬ 
erly treated, will rarely foil to bring the largest 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAM ILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
The Rural New-Yorker in rfeslgned to be onmirpaesed 
in Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and 
unique ami beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes 
his personal attention to tlio supervision of its various de¬ 
partment*, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subject* intimately connected with the 
butinesn of those whose interest* it iteaJoosly advocates. 
As a KiNJLY JorRNAL it is eminently Instructive and 
Entertaining-being so conducted that it can bo safely 
taken to tlie TtenrU and Itomcs of people of intelligence, 
taste and discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, 
Horticultural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News 
Matter, interspersed with appropriate and benutifni En¬ 
gravings, than any other journal,- rendering it the most 
complete Agricultural, Literary and Family News¬ 
paper in America. 
not doubting but the statements there made will 
prove of much value. 
One member, whose stock is always in good 
order, said that he fed closer now than formerly,— 
that he fed little and often.—that his ent feed 
principally consisted of oat straw and corn stalks 
— that ho fed each full grown cow \ quarts of 
grain daily, using grain for economy,—that ho 
moistened his feed with cold water in mild 
weather, and hot water in cold weather,— that ho 
kept las cattle eating about two hours after the 
morning’s milking,—that they were let ont into 
the yard usually from 11 A. M. to 1 1*. M.,— and 
that they were then shut up, and fed as in the 
morning, linisbing oil' at night with long hay. 
Another member chaffs straw, corn stalks and 
coarse hay, and puts on meal, for his stock. lie 
thinks this the most economical way of feeding. 
The bare catting of the feed, he said, did not Im¬ 
prove it, but its admixture with meal and other 
grasses. The benefit of cutting poor hoy is to get. 
cattle to eat it. well, and it was thought there was 
no danger of chaffing poor hay and stalks too fine. 
Another member, of such close observation ns 
to merit the title of Philosopher of the Harvest 
Club, Baid he had triod various methods of feed¬ 
ing,«nd still was not satisfied. He believed that 
horses wanted longer hay than cattle. Fine cut 
hay will always give horses sore months. Long 
cut hay lies up lighter in the manger than that cut 
short, and therefore is more agreeable to the 
animal. Stalks and straw perhaps could not be 
chaffed too fine. He did not like to see animals 
eat in a hurry, as they were apt to, where feed is 
very short. 
Another member, who cutr his feed by horse¬ 
power, says that three men have cut a tnu of 
stalks in his barn, with a self-sharpening cutting 
that he cuts enough at a 
cost became a necessity. Times, however, have 
changed. Our farms are cleared and paid for, 
and most farmers have some capital to invest; 
the lamia are becoming impoverished, produce 
always sells at a remunerative, and often at a high 
price;labor is cheaper and more abundant than 
formerly, and laud is dear. A crop now put 
in and cultivated on onr old farms as was done 
thirty years ago on ne\$ land, would not produce 
enough to pay for seed, labor and interest on the 
value of tho ground. Wo are c‘>rnpelled, there¬ 
fore, to take a step in advance, to strive for a 
Bystem that will give us larger products on a 
smaller surface. 
Drainage and subsoiling are the foundation of 
all improvement. There may be cases where 
drainage is not necessary, but these are the excep¬ 
tions, and our experience and observation teaches 
ua that they arc few. The importance of this 
matter we have always urged upon onr readers, 
and have given them the experience and opinions 
of the best cultivators in this country and Europe. 
We will not, therefore, dwell upon this patt of, 
onr subject, but proceed to glance at those crops 
which furnish the greatest amount of food for 
stock, and consequently the greatest amount of 
manure for the soil. 
Corn la an important crop. It is truly Ameri¬ 
can, and wc are glad to know that while it is 
believed that, other crops are decreasing iti this 
State, corn is receiving more attention than ever, 
and tho product has more than doubled during 
the last ten years. If every farmer would sow an 
acre every year for fodder wao mid hear of no 
more suffering on account •». ..mkort :n>p of hay. 
SKIRVING’S IMPROVED PURPLE TOP SWEDE. 
ties of being a very free grower, coming early 
to maturity, and keeps well when stored. It 
is a good variety to sow in Bhallow or hard clay 
soils. In the former ease, it produces a better 
crop than any of the other varieties of Swedes, 
inconsequence of the slight bold it requires of 
the ground ; and in tho latter, it swells out on 
the surface, and when lifted there is not such an 
adhesion of earth as with the deeper seated sorts. 
In a wet season, however, this is a very great 
advantage. 
THE ART OF FEEDING. 
machine, in an hour 
time to last about a week; that be never feeds 
corn stalks to his stock unlesB chopped and mixed 
with meal. This gentleman has a feed box on 
wheels. He fills it with stover twice a day for 22 
cows and 25 calves, yearlings and other neat stock. 
He puts ou about two barrels of water to wet it. 
His feed absorbs double the quantity of hot water 
that it will of cold. After the water is in, he 
spreads his meal on top about an inch thick, or two 
bushels of cob-corn meal and a peck of oil meal 
for the mass, and lets it steam three or four hours. 
The meal keeps heat and moisture in, and the feed 
box needs no other covering. The thicker the 
cover, the better for the cattle. After the feed 
has steamed sufficiently in tiiis way, it is shoveled 
over, thoroughly mixed, and distributed to the 
cattle in baskets. Each mature animal gets about 
a bushel of this mixture after milking, the quan¬ 
tity varying with their size and product. The 
quantity of meal is slightly increased iu very 
cold weather. Three times as much stock it was 
thought could be kept, on an acre of grass. About 
noon the animals are turned out to drink, and 
while out, the stables are put in order, and uncut 
turnips, at the rate of half a bushel each, or its 
equivalent in long bay, are placed in the mangers. 
This is all the feed the cattle get till the evening 
meal. Animals thus fed need little drink, and 
ho thinks he has one yearling that has not drank 
water this winter. 
— Experience is a dear teacher, but possesses, 
also, the reputation of being a good one, (which 
cannot be truthfully 6aid of all costly instructors,) 
and it is to be hoped that tho lessons received at 
her hands will be carefully treasured up and acted 
upon by our formers. Then will the sad teachings 
of the past winter prove to be, what a merciful 
Providence doubtless intended they should,— 
blessings in disguise. 
which alone places the “crowning work of crea¬ 
tion” above the varied forms of animal life with 
which our world abounds. As an instance of the 
extent to which this is carried, we have credible 
information that the chef de mis me of a Parisian 
cafe will present an egg in more than two hundred 
appetizing forms; while the skill displayed in the 
cooking and transformation of meats, etc., is 
equally wonderful. The denizens of this Repub¬ 
lican land have not yet attained this elevated 
position in the scale of sociality, probably be¬ 
cause we are not—like the more fortunate subjects 
of Nap. III.,—possessed of a mentor pointing out 
the true path leading to their possession. If we 
except the vagaries of a metropolitan journal, 
which recently enlightened its readers in a series 
of articles upon “ Country Cooking the preBS of 
the land have not made u single effort to resaue 
the masses from the error of their ways, and 
instil those principles upon which the sensuality 
of appetite may be appeased. Notwithstanding 
this great want, Young America-seems deter¬ 
mined to solve the problem, and, amid other 
baneful plants of a foreign growth, we are foBt 
introducing the mode of living adopted by Euro¬ 
pean gourmands,—fast leaving the plain, simple, 
healthful habits of the fathers, among the old fogy 
notions and exploded ideas of the past. 
It was not our intention, however, to wrhe a 
gastronomic essay for the benefit of the “lords of 
creation ” wheu we took np the pen, but rather to 
review the incidents of the past yc-ar, and see 
what we arc doing for the care of those animals 
over which Deity has given ns dominion. 
Last season was very unfavorable, throughout 
a great portion of onr country, to the production 
of such provender as the American former has 
usually depended upon for the care of his stock; 
and it was imperative that the amount procured 
should be fed ont with a sparing hand, and in the 
most advantageous manner, if we would avoid 
witnessing the disastrous effects arising from the 
prevailing scarcity. To aid in the accomplishment 
of this end, the Agricultural Journals of the 
country spread before the people such knowledge 
as was obtainable,— cattle owners were driven by 
necessity to experiment,— the subject became a 
standard topio of Farmers' Clubs, and in the dis¬ 
cussions thereupon, mind came in contact with 
mind, and much valuable information brought out 
for the use of all interested. Material heretofore 
considered almost worthless, was suddenly in¬ 
vested with new and genuine value,— if properly 
prepared for consumption,— and those who had no 
faith in hook-farming, cutting-boxes, steaming 
apparatus, or any of the “new-fangled” adjuncts 
of an intellectual system of culture, gave favora¬ 
ble indications of conversion to the new light by 
which they found themselves surrounded. 
We find in the Springfield Republican a full report 
of the meeting held by the “Harvest Club,” at which 
Feeding was the theme of conversation, and we 
purpose condensing a portion of it for our readers, 
and swine. According to Le Couteur the weight 
of a good crop varies from Lt to 27 tuns per acre. 
When l’arsnips are given to mil eh cows, with a 
l ittle hay, in the winter season, the butter is found 
to be of as fine a color and excellent flavor as 
when the animals tiro feeding in the best pastures. 
As Parsnips contain (1 per cent more mucilage 
than Carrots, the difference may he sufficient to 
account for the superior fattening, as well as 
butter-making quality of the Parsnip. In the 
fattening of cattle the Parsnip is found superior 
to the Carrot, performing the business with more 
expedition, and affording meat of exquisite flavor, 
and of a highly juicy llavor; the animals eat it 
with much greediness. The result of experiment 
has shown, that not only in neat cattle, but in the 
fattening of hogs and poultry, the animals become 
fat much sooner, and are more healthy than when 
fed with any other root or vegetable; and that., 
besides the meat is more sweet and delicious. 
Tho Parsnip leaves being more bulky than those 
of Carrots, may be mown off - before taking the 
roots, and given to oxen, cows, or horses, by 
which they will bo greedily eaten. Another thing 
in favor of Parsnips lor this country, is that 
the frost does not injure them. They may remain 
in the ground nntil spring, when they make 
splendid spring feed, at a time every other kind of 
root or green thing is scarce, or they may he 
slightly buried, tyhere they can bo obtained 
almost any time during the winter. On account 
of their rapid growth when young, the weeding 
is less trouble than weeding Carrots. 
It is acknowledged by all that the Turnip has 
worked a revolution in English Agriculture—that 
this simple plant has added millions of wealth to 
the country, given her agriculturists property 
and independence—and led the teeming millions 
of her people. We may not look for such a result 
iu this country, but still we may derive much 
benefit from attention to the Turnip. 
Among the Turnips the Ruta llagas or Su-.edes 
are most desirable. Skirving’s Improved Purple 
Top does exceedingly well in this State and 
Canada, and we know of one establishment here 
which has raised very large quantities, equal to 
the average of English Swedes. The appearance 
of the bulb and leaf are shown in tho engraving. 
It is a good grower, coming early to maturity, 
and keeping well when stored. Morton says:— 
It differs from the other “purple-tops” in the 
more oblong shape of the bulb, having a longer 
neck, standing more out of the ground, and 
consequently not keeping so well when allowed 
to remain in the ground all winter. It is also 
more liable to run to seed in autumn. To coun¬ 
terbalance these defects, it possesses the proper- 
laing’s improved purple top swede. 
I.aing’s Improved Purple Top Swede is auother 
favorite variety, In Lawson’s Agriculturists’ 
Manual, the author says of this turnip, “that it 
differs from all hitherto known varieties of Swed¬ 
ish turnips, in having large, entire cabbage-Iikc 
leaves, which, by their horizontal growth, form a 
thick covering to the soil, thereby materially 
checking the vigor of autumnal weeds.” This 
peculiarity of shape will be seen in the engraving, 
where both the leaves and bulb are seen in their 
natural condition; and by comparing the leaf of 
this turnip with that of Bkirving’s Swede, the 
difference of formation is very apparent. In point 
of shape, hardiness, and quality, it is represented 
superior to all varieties of turnips whatsoever. 
IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 
SOMETHING MUST EE DONE. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: —nowever unwilling 
the eulogists of tho Western Country may be to 
admit the fact, it has become evident that some¬ 
thing must be done to renovate tho older portions 
of western faming lands. Although it was com¬ 
mon, a few years ago, to hear persons boldly 
assert that the prairie soil would never “wear 
out,”—that the supplies of vegetable nutrition 
possessed l>y these lands were perfectly inex¬ 
haustible,— a man would have to travel for, and 
interrogate closely, to fiud an individual who 
preaches this doctrine at the present day. 
Any one acquainted with the prodnets of west¬ 
ern soil for the past fifteen or twenty years, cannot 
fail to see that, In the yield of every kind of crop 
susceptible of cultivation here, there is a falling 
off of at least one-third. Twenty years ago, a 
piece of land in this county, comprising ten acres, 
produced, to my certain knowledge, an aggregate 
of five hundred and twenty bushels of winter 
j wheat. For the past five years, or more, the 
| same field has not produced an average of twelve 
In what direction must we now look for im¬ 
provement in our agriculture, is a question that 
occupies the thoughts of all thinking, observing 
formers, and one which a subscriber wishes us to 
answer. To do this satisfactorily would require 
more space than we can now devote to it We 
will, however, give a few hints on this point, which 
we hope will be both interesting and profitable. 
We look for improvement by means of thorough 
drainage and deep plowing, and the cultivation 
of thoBC crops that will furnish the greatest 
amount of food lor stock on the least quantity of 
land. American farmers have doubtless donp as 
well, and wc believe even better than any other 
class of men under the same circumstances. 
With new farms to be cleared and paid for, taxes 
to be met, with labor dear, and in many cases not 
to be obtained at any price, land and produce 
cheap, it could not be expected that our farmers 
could engage in any expensive or laborious 
system of improvement To obtain as much 
white stone globe turnip. 
Of the Common Turnips the While Flat, or 
Norfolk, is the most grown in this country, and it 
i3 the best for new or low soils. The Scotch Yel¬ 
low, or Aberdeen, is a favorite variety for drier 
and older soils. The White Stone Globe, of which 
