"aCP; ! CULT.UaeA 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. -FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1860, 
MOORE’S RORAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
While we have written this of farming in general, 
as at present carried on, we do not doubt that, if 
judiciously pursued, it might be made moderately 
remunerative. But this profit is not to be secured 
suddenly, or from the proceeds of one or more 
good crops, but rather in the improvement of the 
farm ita.dJ'—not merely in price, but in produc¬ 
tive capacity. Sometimes a comparatively small 
outlay will produce a large proportionate profit; 
and there are a great many ways in which this 
can be done. The increased annual profits result¬ 
ing from these impiovements, are really nothing 
less than the dividends of so much capital, added 
directly to the value of the farm. If, for instance, 
a farmer can, by planting fruit trees, or by drain¬ 
ing, or by a judicious purchase of manures, or by 
any other methods, make a yearly increase of 
thirty-five dollars in the value of his farm produce, 
he is then making a yearly addition to his produc¬ 
tive Capital of five hundred dollars, just, as certainly 
as though he had it in the bank. And this would 
generally be considered quite a respectable in¬ 
come. There are thousands of farms where this 
yearly increase could be made indefinitely, and 
at a comparatively trilling outlay. But if, on the 
contrary, he permitB his farm to “ run down,”—if 
it does not produce as much each succeeding 
year as formerly,—then it is hardly possible for 
any temporary profits to repay the loss which his 
farm and himself are suffering. So, then, the 
whole question, whether firming pays or not, de¬ 
pends upon wbother the farm is being improved 
or impoverished. We leave those thoughts with 
our readers, hoping to resume ere long the dis¬ 
cussion of the last subject broached. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
Thr Rusal Nsw-Yorkku is designed to be unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appeaiance. Its Conductor devotes 
his personal attention to the supervision of its various de¬ 
partments, aid earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Snbje.rta Intimately connected with the 
business of those whose interests it jealously advocates. 
As a Family JoroxAl. it is eminently Instructive and En¬ 
tertaining— being so conducted that it can be safely taken 
to the Hearts and Homes id people in intelligence, taste 
and discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate and beautiful Engravings, 
than anj other Journal, — rendering it the most complete 
Aoriopltcral, Literary and Family Newspaper in 
America. 
greener the tips are, the less it is lodged, the bet¬ 
ter can it be dried and brought in, the more nour¬ 
ishing it is. The fine stalk vetch straw is also 
very nutrition?, behind which stands somewhat 
the pea straw, with its thicker stalk. All straw 
of leguminous fruit is particularly a welcome 
fodder to sheep, on which account therefore it is 
greatly prized by many sheep-owners, and consid¬ 
ered equal to hay. 
Oat and barley straw is the straw for fodder of 
the cereal fruits. Oat stt.aw is most agreeable, 
and also most nutritious, on account of its pecu¬ 
liar haste, for all species of cattle, because on the 
tips of the panicles are usually fouud unripe 
grains, and oats are cut before they are fully ripe. 
Barley straw has, on account of its moisturo, and 
short period of vegetation, a high value as fod¬ 
der, and other things being equal, is as nutritions 
as oat straw, if it were not, as is the case, fully 
ripe before reaping. Yet it is more liable to in- 
jnre than oat straw, because it imbibes more 
moisture from the air and soil. 
Straw of summer wheal, summer speltz, and sum¬ 
mer rye, for fodder, stands alter oat and barley 
straw. 
The stalk of mane or Indian corn contains much 
sacchailue matter, and therefore is very nutri¬ 
tions, used fine, and agreeable to all kinds of cat¬ 
tle. The cobs, after the corn has been taken off, 
ground up, are likewise a very nutritious fodder, 
and the hard stalks may be chopped up for the 
purpose. Taking all these things into view, it 
stands next to the straw of summer rye in value 
as fodder. 
Millet straw has a hard stalk, but contains at, 
least as much nutriment as the wiuter straws. 
Buckwheat, on account of its quantity on a field 
of less fertility, and if of fine stalk, in which its 
value as fodder from its straw being rich with 
leaves, is enhanced, is as good as the straw of 
winter grain. 
Beun straw, in case its leaves have not fallen off 
or decayed, and the ends of the stalkB are green 
when it is cut, as many experiments have shown, 
is more valuable than generally supposed. 
Whether water was a necessity of the sheep 
during winter, was a mooted point for a long 
period, but it is now ranked among their wants. 
True, an animal will quench its thirst by eating 
snow, and man will satisfy nature’s cravings in 
the same manner, if comptdled; but where a 
choice is given to both, the tastes can bo readily 
discovered. Sheep will not over-drink where 
constant access to water may be had, and the ob¬ 
jection that the animal is robbed ot natural heat 
by these draughts in cold weather, is nullified if 
proper shelter has been provided. 
We have thus glanced at the essentials in the 
Winter Management of Sheep, and if the ttock 
are brought in good condition to the yard,—not 
suffered to roam over frost-bitten fields late in 
the fall seeking the wherewith to sustain life,— 
sheltered comfortably, fed regularly and in sufli- 
ill be rewarded in 
WOOD'S T> AA T’TTiTSr'T 1 "WILLOW IPEJKIjKIR 
resulted in the production of the machine above 
represented. This machine has been thoroughly 
tested, and we are assured is highly approved by 
all who have witnessed its operation. It is cheap, 
expeditions and durable, being mostly iron. For 
further information relative to the invention, Bee 
advertisement in this paper, or address Mr. Wood. 
Dprino the past year several inquiries have 
been made through the Ritraj, and other jout mils, 
for a cheap and expeditious machine for peeling 
willows. These inquiries, and the immediate 
necessity of one of his neighbors, induced Mr. 
John M. Wood, of Geneva, N. Y., to apply his 
inventive genins to supply the desideratum, which 
DOES FARMING PAY? 
The great majority of farmers in this country, 
as in every other, are practical business men, 
working their farms for profit, and dependent 
upon the proceeds for their living, a a well as for 
any surplus capital which they may accumulate. 
Very few are amatenrs, engaging in the business 
merely lor amusement and recreation, and having 
other sources of income on which to rely, 1 fence 
the question whether farming pays, and how it 
may be made to pay, are of great interest and im¬ 
portance to a large majority of oar readers. 
It is not to be doubted that, under favorable 
circumstances, persona owning good farms and 
free from debt, can ordinarily not only secure a 
good living, but lay aside yearly a considerable 
surplus—perhaps from two to five per cent on 
their capital; but this is not making money by 
farming, though it is generally so considered. It 
is really receiving a low rate of interest on bis 
capital. We doubt very much whether any man 
could take a farm at present prices, (varying in 
all the older States from forty to eighty dollars 
per acre,) and pay for it entirely from the proceeds, 
after paying for the help, stock and machinery 
necessary to carry it on properly. On the con¬ 
trary, we know many persons who have paid from 
one-third to one-half of the value of their farniB, 
who can barely raise the annual interest money 
on their debts, and in bad years not even that, 
after defraying all expenses of conducting then- 
farms. And these are not hy any means the worst 
of farmers. It is true that farmers who have large 
families of strong, healthy boys, can do better 
than this in farming, as their help costs them little 
or nothing, and this is the foundaiion of most of 
those cases of successful farming which have 
come under our notice; but as this is an advan¬ 
tage which is not assured to everybody, it is not 
worth while to reckon too strongly upon it So 
that after all, farming, us generally conducted, does 
not ordinarily—after paying for the labor, wear 
and tear of farm implements, and other incidental 
expenses—yield the legal rate of seven per cent, 
interest on value of farm, stock and farm imple¬ 
ments, often indeed not more than two or three 
per cent. 
There is, however, one advantage in having 
capital invested in lands—it is safe, and If Little 
profit is derived from it, it still commends itself 
to persons with great wealth, on account of the 
security which it affords. In fact, we are compelled 
to regard farming, as generally pursued, as a kind 
of luxury which a poor man cannot afford, but 
which properly belongs to those able to live on a 
small per cent, of their capital, and whose object 
is to secure its safety rather than its increase. 
But if a man is in debt for his farm, the shoe is 
on the other foot. He is giving other people all 
the security of real estate investments, while still 
pacing the seven per cent- allowed by law, and 
that too on property from which he will not ordi¬ 
narily realize half of that. And the man whose 
farm is mortgaged gets all thei/«advant<iges with 
none of the advantages of real estate investments. 
It is. therefore, the first duty of any farmer who 
is in debt, to get out of debt as quickly as possible, 
even (if no better means offer,) by the sale of a 
part of his farm, and generally with the increased 
proportionate capital which he can then com¬ 
mand, if he does not raise as much, he will make 
even more profits from a part than from tho whole. 
WINTERING SHEEP. 
A Rural subscriber in Michigan who has had 
“bud luck’’ in wintering sheep, and would guard 
againBt a recurrence of the disaster, wishes to 
know the reasons therefor, with the best mode of 
performing that branch of husbandry. We will 
endeavor to give the information desired in the 
closing portion of his query, and he can then 
draw his own conclusions as to the causes which 
have heretofore ended in failure. 
The leading want in the winter care of sheep iB 
shelter . Judging from what we have often wit¬ 
nessed, too many sheep-breeders have imbibed 
the idea that nature, in coating the animal with a 
good fleece of wool, has taken this care entirely 
off his hands. Here a great error is committed, 
for none other of oar domestic animals are so illy 
constituted to withstand the rigors of a severe 
climate. Long domestication has almost entirely 
changed its nature, and if it was ever able to en- 
dnre inclemencies of weather, the artificial beiug 
with which it is now endowed is not calculated to 
bear up the animal amid the raiuB and snows of 
oar northern winters. This has been demon¬ 
strated time and again, and yet each wiuter will 
renew the costly lessons, only to be forgotten 
amid the genial smiles and bland breezes of our 
summer months. Inattention to this necessity is 
a gigantic evil, and until a thorough reformation 
is completed, ill-success will inevitably attend the 
ellorts of such breeders as expose their flocks to 
extreme changes of temperature. 
As we have before said, if no higher motive 
than that of economy urges the shepherd to the 
performance of his duties in this respect, the 
arguments educed are substantial, for the follow¬ 
ing reasons:—First, It removes disease and pro¬ 
motes the general health of the flock. Second, It 
will increase the quantity, and. improve the qual¬ 
ity of the douce. Third, The beneficial results 
arising therdrom will be very perceptible at tho 
time of yeaning, 
and its owner, (who was unknown,) till one morn¬ 
ing it was found dead by the roadside; and upon 
examination a little spot of clotted blood was 
found on its side, and a hole,—rather suggestive 
of a bullet. No one approved the plan of shoot¬ 
ing it, but no one expressed any sympathy for its 
owner. Another man became “ short of pasture' 1 
and concluded to turn some forty or fifty fine 
sheep out. They were gone some six weeks, when 
he found them minus ten, and had the satisfac¬ 
tion of knowing that some of them were In anoth¬ 
er man’s flock, but his mark was too dim to prove 
them. His pasturing cost him at least fifteen 
dollars, and he could have hired them kept the 
same length of time for three or four dollars. I 
might give instances of animals being “ham¬ 
strung,”—one of a fine colt, one of a yoke of oxen, 
—dogged to death, pounded, and otherwise cruelly 
abused, when tho fault, for which they sullured 
was not thoir own, hut their masters. I have 
seen enough to convince me that the profit is 
very uncertain, and often “ comes out at tho little 
end of the horn.” There are cases, it is true, 
where a poor man, with one cow, would he sadly 
driven were he obliged to hire her pastured,— 
But these are not tho ones that do the mischief. 
It is the young cattle and horses, hy rubbing and 
scratching, break down the fence and let in the 
whole drove; or else it is done by scraping 
acquaintance with some on the other side. 
Romeo, Mioh, Aug. 26, 1H0CT. J. K. D. 
TURNING OUT” CATTLE. 
KANSAS,-CROFS, CLIMATE, &c, 
Eds. Rural Nkw-Yokkeu:—T he accounts I 
have seen in the papers of the drouth in Kansas 
are not exaggerations, taking the Territory as a 
whole, though there aro localities exempt, in some 
degree, from the general misfortune. Here, in 
the forks of the Missouri and Kansas rivers, out- 
corn will yield a full half crop—about forty bush¬ 
els to the acre—new ground more. Our gardens 
entirely failed. A small field of Hungarian grass 
yielded me three tuns to the acre. Potatoes, we 
shall have none—the vines look as well as 1 over 
saw them, but no tubers. I planted mine with 
Fourth, Warm and comforta¬ 
ble quarteis are equivalent to a certain amouutof 
food. During cold weather a considerable por¬ 
tion of the food consumed is taken up by the 
animal economy, U3ed for the purpose of supply¬ 
ing bodily heat, and the expenditure in this direc¬ 
tion is in exact ratio to the exposure which 
stock are compelled to undergo. These proposi¬ 
tions are founded upon the basis that everything 
furnished for the comfort of the animal must re¬ 
dound to tho healthiness of the system, and, con¬ 
sequently, to its product!venc-sa and perfection. 
While we are urging the demands of the sheep 
for shelter, this need must not he reduced to a 
system of confinement, else we fly from one defect 
in their management into another. They mast 
have Bulfieient latitude for exercise, and be judges 
of their own desires when they would seek the 
protection of a roof. 
In bringing up the flocks to their winter quar¬ 
ters they cannot he herded together indiscrimi¬ 
nately and, at the same time, attain their highest 
good. While we cannot lay down any rules for 
guidance, a few general principles may be stated, 
which, with the watchfulness of the flock-master, 
cient quantity, the shepherd w 
due season. 
An Excellent Use for Ifogs. 
An exchange says the most profitable use 
that nine-tenths of all the dogs In this country 
could 1m applied to, is to mix about five dogs 
with a barrel of lime and ten cart-loads of muck 
in a compost heap. A barrel of wood ashes may 
he added to help the decomposition of the bones. 
We believe that a dressing of this compost, ap¬ 
plied to sheep pastures, would greatly enhance 
the production of wool. 
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