RURAL LIFE 
WHOLE NO. 535. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGINAL WF.KKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
and be well, mixed with the soil. The corres¬ 
pondent at whose suggestion we write this article, 
wishes us to state how many bushels he should 
apply to the acre. We can only recommend 
experiment, commencing with say twenty bush¬ 
els, though in most cases a much larger quantity 
might bo beneficial. On no subject is there more 
dilTerence of opinion,than on tho benefits derived 
from the use of lime. Some will, doubtless, con¬ 
tend that on limestone soils its application would 
be of no advantage, yet on tho chalk hinds of 
England lime Is found very beneficial. A few 
years since wo applied lime to part, of a field 
used for corn, and underlaid with limestone, in 
some places within two feet of the surface, and 
with very evident advantage to the crop. John¬ 
ston truly says, “the quantity of lime which 
ought to he given the soil is dependent upon so 
many circumstances, that it is impossible to give 
any general rule by which the practical man may 
safely regulate his procedure." 
From what we have said, it will be seen that 
liming is an exhausting process,—in the main a 
rapid using up of the materials In the soil. Its 
use dates back for centuries, and wa3 continued 
because it was found to increase crops, but the 
why and the wherefore was not understood. The 
best English farmers now make use of lime with 
some caution. We huve no idea that it will 
become a popular manure in this country, or that 
it could be generally need with advantage. 
Woon Ashes, of Course, contain the mineral 
elements of tho tree, those necessary to the 
growth of wood, and most of those required for 
the growth of cereals and other plants. Leached 
ashes have lost moat of their potash, but much 
valuable material, particularly the phosphates, 
remaim. They are valuable on light lands. Fif¬ 
teen or twenty bushels of unleached ashes we 
judge would be a good dressing for an acre. 
We once applied about double this quantity to 
land used for potatoes, and found the tubers 
injured by coming in contact with tho caustic 
ashes. Leached ashes are bought in this city, 
carried to Long Island and New Jersey by boats, 
then taken by railroad thirty or forty miles, after 
which farmers draw them in wagons to their 
land. We have seen Rochester-made ashes ap¬ 
plied to land in the center of Long Island, and 
talked with the farmers and gardeners there- 
regarding their nse, and all agreed that at the 
high prices paid they were a cheap manure. It 
must lie remembered, however, that stable manni’e 
was scarce and dear, and the land poor. Farmers 
in this section can, if they will, make better 
manure much cheaper. 
Cu.u, Ashes contain lime and sulphuric acid, 
valuable as manure, and alumina and oxide of 
iron, and maybe used for mixing with uigbt-soil, 
and will, in a great measure, remove offensive 
smell. We have known coal ashes applied to 
grass in the spring, and the reports are very 
favorable; bat we know of no well-tried experi¬ 
ments, so that we could say how much a farmer 
could afford to pay a bushel, or how far he could 
afford to draw them could they be obtained with¬ 
out cost. 
The Culture ©r Tobacco. 
The growing and curing of tobacco, like the 
raising of hops, flax, and sugar from the Chinese 
cane, is somewhat of a manufacturing operation, 
requiring skill and experience, and the necessary 
fixtures and conveniences tor curing and packing. 
Hence, many who engage in these operations will 
fail. Indeed, nearly all will bo likely to fail in a 
great measure, in the first attempt; for however 
well the theory may be studied, much must be 
learned by experience. The extent of our expe¬ 
rience in the business, has been confined to a tew 
plants in the garden, but we have watched very 
carefully the operations of the largest and best 
growers in this section of the country, and the 
facts we have learned are cheerfully given. If 
what we say shall in anyway differ from the expe¬ 
rience of practical growers, we hope they will 
give as the facts. 
Tobacco will succeed in any climate where corn 
will ripen, and any good corn land is suitable for 
tobacco. The tobacco grown at the north is most 
valuable when fit for cigar wrappers, and for this 
purpose a large, broad leaf, thin, of a silky texture, 
tough, and with small veins, is desirable. The 
Connecticut Seed Leaf is the variety most prized 
and generally sown. The tobacco, when cured, is 
assorted into two or three sorts, the best being 
composed of large, tine leaves, without holes, and 
of good color. These are used entirely for eigar 
wrappers, and sell for about $10 per hundred 
pounds. The second quality is made up of smaller 
and broken leaves, and the best of these are used 
for wrappers, and the balance for filling. The 
third quality, made up of leaves very much 
broken and discolored, Ac., are used for filling for 
the commonest cigars, cutting for smok¬ 
ing, Ac., and sells at a low price. 
Sued Beds. — Seed can bo obtained at . 
most of onr seed stores, at about $4 per //' 
pound, but an ounce or so will produce w \ 
plants enough for a couple of acres.— f 
About the first of April, select some dry, B L ^ 
warm, sheltered spot, make nicely pre- I <( 
pared narrow beds for convenience in ■ 
weeding, and sow the seed. It is very 
fine, and may be mixed with sand, as in VV 
this way it can be more evenly sown.— 
As soon as tho plants make their appear- 
ance, a vigorous war must, be kept up 
against the weeds, for if they get the start 
it will be almost impossible to eradi- " _ 
cate them without destroying the plants. 
Some burn brush over their seed beds 
just before sowing, for the purpose of de- 
strojing the seeds of the weeds. 
Soil and Planting. —To grow a good 
crop, coming near to a tun an acre, re¬ 
quires very rich land. Well rotted Btable, 
or bog manure, should be used in abund¬ 
ance, and the ground bo well prepared 
by plowing and dragging. From the first 
to the fifteenth of June the plants will ho ready 
to set in the field, and this work should be 
done on a damp day, if possible. In taking np 
the plants, care should he exercised so as to injure 
the roots as little as possible. A few should be 
reserved in the seed bed to replace those plants 
that may not grow, or be killed by the grub. Tho 
best distance, perhaps, is tu>o feet in the rows, and 
the rows three feet apart, so as to admit of the use 
of the cultivator one way. 
Culture, Topping, and Cutting.— The after¬ 
culture is similar to com — keeping the 
ground light, and the weeds destroyed. The hill, 
if any, around the plant, roust be low, or It will 
interfere with the lower leaves. The tobacco 
worm sometimes makes its appearance about the 
time of the second hoeing, eating boles in the 
leaves, and must be searched for on the under 
sides of the leaves and destroyed. 
As soon as the flower buds appear, the tops 
must bo broken off three leaves below the buds, 
which will increase the growth of the lower 
leaves. ThiB topping causes shoots to start out at 
the tuise of each leaf, and these shoots must be 
broken off in about eight days after the topping, 
or they, too, will injure the growth of the leaves, 
aod still further injure them in curing. 
The time for cutting the crop is from the 5th of 
September to the 15th, in about I‘2 or 15 days after 
topping. The plant should be cut with a hatchet 
between the lower leaves and the ground, and be 
allowed to lay on the ground long enough to wilt 
the leaves, so that they may be handled without, 
breaking, but not exposed to the noon-day sun, or 
they will become scorched and worthless. It is 
nocessary, therefore, to cut early in the morning 
or the evening, and in either case it should be 
housed before noon. In all the operations, care 
must be taken not to tear or injure the leaves. 
Curing. —This operation requires great cure. 
As soon as gathered, it must he bung on poles in 
a tobacco house or shed, the butts being fastened 
to the poles, and the points hanging downward. 
The plants are fastened to the poles with twine, 
about six inches apart, and the poles about one 
foot apart. It will be necessary to have a circu¬ 
lation of air through the building, but when the 
wind is high, unless the building is closed, the 
leaves will be injured. As soon as sufficiently 
cured, it may be taken down and the leaves 
stripped from the stalks. It will generally be in 
this state about the first of December. If, on a 
dry day, the leaf stalk will break from near the 
butt, it is sufficiently cured to take down and 
atrip. The tobacco grower, while stripping, as¬ 
sorts into different grades, the largest, soundest, 
and best colored leaves being put in the first 
class, and the narrow, tom, and light-colored 
leaves, make the second class. Some growers 
make three grades. There is a good deal of differ¬ 
ence in the value, the price ranging from five 
to twelve cents a pound. After the leaves ate 
assorted, they are made into “hands," by taking 
a large handful, with the butts even,and bindinga 
leaf around, so as to hold them together. These 
“hands" are then packed away in a stack, with 
the butts and the points of the leaves over¬ 
lapping each other, and in this way the leaves 
will be kept soft and pliable, and the butts be 
more thoroughly cured. Tobacco should not be 
handled when it is dry and harsh, and all hand¬ 
ling is better done on a damp day. 
Sweating.— The last and most important ope¬ 
ration is sweating. This operation is thus per¬ 
formed:—Boxes are made about two feet four 
inches by three feet six inches. Into these boxes 
the “hands” of tobacco are placed, lengthwise of 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
The Rural Nkw Yorkkii is designed .to ho unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity, Octal ness and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and bouuliful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes 
his personal attention to the supervision of its various de¬ 
partments, amt earnestly labors to render the Rukal an 
e minently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific ami other Subject, intimately connected with the 
I'lisinepg of ‘bone whonO interests it zealously advocates. 
As » Family Jocrval it is eminently Instructive and En¬ 
tertaining- beina: Ho Conducted that it can be safely taken 
to the IleartH and Homos of people of intelligence, taste 
and discrimination. It embraces more AyrieuIturaJ, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate and beautiful Engravings, 
than any oilier journal, rendering it the most complete 
\GRICrLTCltAL, LlTEItAKY AND FAMILY N'eWSI’APKR ill 
America. 
For Tjgimm and other particulars, see last page. 
I/' / 
ILROWN’S IMPROVED WAY K)N HRAKK 
Ouu engraving is intended to illustrate a Wagon 
Brake, patented in December last, by Robert D, 
Bhown, of Prattsbnrgb, Steuben Co., N. Y, Hav¬ 
ing examined the model of this invention, we are 
satisfied that it will prove a very useful and valu¬ 
able improvement, it is cheap, aolf-acting, and 
efficient,—just what farmers and teamsters have 
long needed,—and so simple withal, that we are 
surprised no one has before hit npon the same 
contrivance. The inventor furnishes us this de¬ 
scription of tho Brake as above illustrated: 
“ The rubbers, a a, are attached to the levers, 
0 b, which are pivoted to the crossbar, /•. The 
inner ends of the levers, b b, aro connected 
with the levers, e by mcanB of the rods 
d d. The levers, e e, are pivoted to the coup¬ 
ling rod, F, of the wagon, and have their lower 
ends secured by a bolt to tho rod, G. The king¬ 
bolt secures the rod, F, to the forward axle, by 
passing through an elongated hole or slot, which 
permits a motion backward and forward of the 
forward axle, carrying with it the rod, G, which, 
it will be seen, presses the brakes against the 
wheels whenever the wngou runs forward by its 
owu gravity. A roller, h, supports the. end of the 
bed over the forward bolster, to diminish the 
friction as the axle works back and forth under 
the bed. The rubbers, a u, are attached to the 
levors, b b, by means of long slots, which allow 
the rubbers to slide upward when the wagon is 
pushed backward, reversing the direction in the 
motion of the wheels, thus relieving the wheels 
from the friction of the brakes.” 
In noticing thin improvement, the Scientific 
American Bays:—“ While it is apparently as simple 
as any brake can be, it is perfectly self-acting, 
coming into operation whenever the descent is 
sufficient to cause thiMvagun to run forward of its 
own accord, and requiring no attention whatever 
from the driver.” The inventor (who is, we be¬ 
lieve, a worthy mechanic,) may be addressed as 
above, by those wishing further information. 
INQUIRIES AND NOTES 
Inquiries in reference to practical matters, and 
requiring immediate answers to be of any value 
the present season, have so crowded upon us the 
past few weeks, that wc find it impossible to 
answer tnem In the usual way, and therefore 
devote a few extra columns to the purpose, Some 
of these inquiries we cannot satisfactorily answer 
in a few lines, for such brief remarks would con¬ 
vey bat little information, and call out a host of 
further inquiries on the same subject. 
Lime and Ashe*. 
Lime has not generally been used in this 
country as a manure, but in Europe it has been 
used for centuries, and it lias always been under¬ 
stood that largo crops could not be produced 
without its application. Some English tenant 
farmers, with a long lease, spend at the outset 
thousands of dollars for lime, applying from two 
to four hundred bushels to the acre, and the effect 
of this is seen for twelve or fifteen years, and 
thought to bo quite sufficient for that length of 
time. Others apply leHS quantities more fre¬ 
quently, but in most leases the application of 
lime is required of the tenant in stated quantities 
and periods. There has been much discussion, 
both among writers and practical men, whether 
lime was valuable only as a stimulant, for con¬ 
verting inert vegetable matter into proper food 
for plants, or whether it was itself a necessary 
part of this food. It is doubtless valuable in 
both respects, but particularly so in converting 
unavailable vegetable matter, such as roots, fibers, 
stems, Ac., into active manure. 
Lime is found to be of little value on audrained 
soils. Drain first and lime afterward, is an 
English maxim. It is particularly valuable on 
new land, abounding in roots, Ac., and its effects 
are the most extraordinary when applied to 
drained swamp land, or any peaty soil. Frequent 
applications of lime will impoverish the soil, 
unless it is liberally manured with stable manure, 
as lime forces the -Boil to yield np to the plants 
growing upon it a larger amount of its available 
resources, in a much shorter time than it would 
without this application. Hence, it is an old 
maxim that “lime enriches the father, but beg¬ 
gars the son." The mechanical effect of lime in 
mellowing a stubborn soil, is very great- The 
light land farmer, Morton says, “is not less ben¬ 
efited, for while the use of lime may act in some 
degree injuriously on the texture of his soil, by 
increasing its looseness, still this evil, which can 
only be called such as regards the growth of 
wheat, is more than counterbalanced by its 
greater cleanliness, the care with which it can 
be kept clean, and the great increase obtained 
in the cropB of grass, turnips, and barley, which 
are the special and natural products of such 
soils.” It is on the light and poor soils of this 
country that lime has been used with the most 
favorable results. 
preacher, statesmen, merchant, Ac., from the 
scenes of their labors and their fame, to end their 
days together amid the quiet strife and the calm 
delights of agriculture. 
If there be one employment especially calcu¬ 
lated to develop tbo poetical element in man, it is 
the cultivation of tl»o earth. In no other relation 
does man live so near to nature, as when, to gain 
Lis bread, be commits the germs of food to the 
great seed-bed she provides, and takes back with 
Lis own hand wherewith to support bis life. Tho 
bird that, follows in the wake of his plow, to pick 
up the worm it uncovers, lives not In more direct 
and intimate dependence on the kindness of 
Mother Nature. Tho rain, the dew, uud the sun¬ 
shine, visit the farmer with special grace and 
favor. The weather is liis peculiar interest.— 
Landscape beauty, with its endless diversification 
of forest, meadow, mountain, rock, stream, fallow, 
grain-field, pasture, orchard, and garden, is all hi 3 
own. lie changes and improves the picture, year 
by year, till, after ageB of cultivation, is realized 
what Emerson says of English fields, that “they 
have been combed and rolled till they appear to 
have been finished with a pencil instead of a 
plow.” 
The delicate traits and processes of nature, 
which the citizen goes out to study for a holiday 
treat, are the farmer’s every-day business. They 
meet him at every turn. No need for him to 
read pastoral poetry; the sights and sounds of his 
common life, his industry and its results, are the 
materials out of which such poetry Is made. And 
he ia wiser in nature’s learning than any mere Yerse 
maker; for his hands have gnided, for long days, 
the plow that cleaved the award, while he snuffed 
the smell of the fresh, upturned earth; he has 
scattered the seed that spraug up again, a miracle 
of life and beauty; ho has tended, and fed, and 
housed the animals that serve him, andhas swung 
the axe, whose strokes have brought down the 
tree at whose foot the nimble squirrel burrowed, 
while birds gossiped and sung in its branches.— 
Glibly as the poet talks of nature, he has compar¬ 
atively but an outside, surface acquaintance with 
her; untaught by the farmer, he could scarcely 
make her infinite resources avail for the support 
of his Bingle life. 
Look into the shops of artisans, and see into 
what carious shapes woods and metals, and the 
skins of animals, are being wrought for the farm¬ 
er’s use aud convenience. Invention is constantly 
on the stretch, to fashion the products of mining, 
and the vegetable growth of ages, to greater 
efficiency in agricultural service. Science is 
the box, the butts at the end. In this way the box 
is filled. A heavy “follower” of two-inch plank, 
just made to fit the inside of the box, is then 
pressed upon it with a lever or screw. Tho top 
or “follower” ia then removed, and more tobaeeo 
put in and pressed, and so on until the case is full 
of pressed tobacco, and these cases will generally 
contain from three to lour hundred pounds. A (ter 
tho box is full the “follower” is removed, and the 
cover nailed on, and the cases packed away in a 
dry, close building, where they must remain dur¬ 
ing the next, summer, until fall, when tho tobacco 
is fit for market. When packed for sweating, the 
tobacco should be soft and pliable without being 
wet or sticky. Any that appears too damp may 
be packed at tlie top or sides of the box, or dried. 
The profits to be derived from tho culture of 
tobacco depend entirely upon the management. 
Farmers who grow an acre or so, will, as a gene¬ 
ral thing, find more trouble than profit from its 
culture, as it will interfere very much with other 
work, and in consequence be noglected at somo 
critical point which will very much lessen its 
value; or the injury done by neglect of other 
cropB will destroy more than the profits realized 
from the tobacco. Without a suitable building, 
one erected for the purpose, it is almost impossi¬ 
ble to cure it properly. This is an expense that u 
small business will not warrant. Those who 
engage largely in tobaeeo raising, take pains to 
learn all that they can from the experience of 
others, and erect suitable buildings, if they are 
careful, enterprising men, and not discouraged, 
though at first they fail, will no doubt find it a 
very profitable business. 
POETRY OF AGRICULTURE. 
The feeling that farming is a coarse, vulgar, 
hum-drum employment, fit only for the rough and 
uneducated; that its instruments and aids are re¬ 
pulsive, and its processes tedious and uninterest¬ 
ing; that it lacks tbe variety and the excitement 
belonging to professional, commercial, and offi¬ 
cial life; that it discourages intellectual improve¬ 
ment, thus forbidding its followers to aspire to tbe 
society of tbe cultivated classes, is fast losing 
strength before the fact that farmers are becom¬ 
ing fully equal to any other class of men, in point 
of general intelligence, and that their ranks are 
being constantly recruited by the addition of 
names of men eminent in trade, politics, litera¬ 
ture, and the arts and professions. Oue can easily 
believe it must be something pleasant that thus 
attracts men of such diverse pursuits as the 
The application of lime is by 
many considered the first step in the improve¬ 
ment of the worn-out lands of the South. 
On peaty soils, and on all soils abounding in 
crude vegetable matter, it is recommended to 
a PPly lime in a caustic state, but in older soils, to 
which marure is applied, perhaps the better way 
is to lay tbe lime in small beap9 until slaked. In 
•lI cases it should be applied in a powdered form, 
IRVING. N v 
