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RURAL L1F 
AGRICULTURE 
“ I’liOCrlilCSS AjNTD IMPROVEMENl 1 , 
WHOLE NO. 5G1 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.EOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1800 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEKKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPATER, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
of good results. They aicn not only to increase 
the compensation for labor, but, by Introducing 
the custom of working fewer hours in a day, more 
workmen are expected to find empolyment, as 
more will ha required to do a given amount of 
work. 
An ardent labor “reformer” of our acquaint¬ 
ance signified his intention of abandoning the 
“ten hour system” and agitating in favor of “five 
hours for a day’s work,” asserting that “if no 
man would consent to work moro than five hours 
in a duy, every body would be employed at good 
prices.” Let us bo thankful that our extended 
territory offers ns yet nn ample field for all our 
laborers, and that capital cannot govern labor 
here as absolutely is in the “ old countries;' 1 still 
these questions have their significance hero. Yon 
that are young and strong, use all diligence to 
gain a competence — make, if need be, an agoniz¬ 
ing effort for pecuniary iudcpemlnnce, and bo 
settle the 
Thu Rcrat. Nkw-Yokkkk is tlesijneil to ho nnsnrpiuised 
in Value, Purity, It*,.fulness iui'1 Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appearauce. Its Conductor Unvotes 
his personal attention to the supervision of ita various de¬ 
partments, aad enrtiHHtly labors to render th« IU'hal an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the Important Practical, 
Scientrlio and other Subjects intimately connected with the 
bnaimoa of those whose Interests It nenloualy advocaten. 
As a Family Journal tt la eminently Inntructivo nud En- 
tertainiii- —being m conducted that it can bo unfitly taken 
to the Hearts and Homes of people or intelligence, taste 
and discrimination- It emhrnc.es more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientltic, Educational, literary and N«wa Matter, 
Interspersed with appropriate and beautiful Engravings, 
than any other journal, — rendering it the moat complete 
Agricultural, Litkrary and Family Nkwhuauisb in 
America. 
Fob Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
to ub at the meeting at Elmira; for there seemed 
to bo considerable feeling as to the choice Ot 
Subjects. 
On Wednesday evening, Sheep nud Wool¬ 
growing occupied the attention of the meeting, 
and we give notes of the discussion. 
WOOL AN1) MUTTON SHEEP. 
Wade, of Port Hope, C. W.—Canadian farmers 
prefer the long-wooled mutton sheep, as a general 
thing, because they cun make more money by 
keeping them than the flnc-wooled. They are 
more healthy, and thongh the woo! sells for less 
per pound, the larger lleece brings a higher price 
to the farmer. 
Pkteiis. —How do you feed? 
Wade.— Feed well, winter and summer. Grow 
great quantities of roots, and find them almost In 
dispensable in sheep keeping, but give anything 
they relish and all they will eat. Tt is nouBcnHC 
to keep any animal poor. In winter principally 
feed turnip! 1 , hay arid a few oats. The fleece 
averages eight pounds each, when well washed. 
Prefer the Leicester crossed with the Cotawold. 
The Cotawold has a heavier carcass and better 
constitution. The sheep, howuv«r, that we now 
hove are modifications of the old breeds whose 
name they bear. The Leicesters were much 
modified and improved by Bakkwkll, who bred 
in-and-in for the purpose of improving the form, 
which he accomplished, but in doing so sacrificed 
the constitution to a certain extent. It is there¬ 
fore well for the grower of long-wooled sheep to 
gain constitution in the way I have mentioned. 
John 8. Pettisonb, Vermont.—t have always 
recommended the farmer who hu3 only land 
enough for fifty or one hundred sheep, to keep 
those best for mutton. But, under o her dream 
stances, flnc-wooled aro most profitable. I com¬ 
menced raising Merinos forty years ago, aud have 
continued to this time without admixture or 
cross. The greatest difllculty with sheep-raisers 
is that they let their flocks run down in October 
Unless a person is a 
with mauling rails, —ham and eggs with loading 
manure,—while peaches nud cream, pudding and 
milk, soup and salsify, may follow the teams and 
trim the orchards. 
Inordinate and irregular eating kills more men 
than pestilence and war. 
People who hav’nt an appetite for breakfast, 
sometimes require ft lunch; it is worthy of lemark, 
however, that any person with ft poor appetite at 
the proper meal time, is either sick or deserves 
to be; there Is a broken law somewhere. Appe¬ 
tite is ft good guide when not perverted by bad 
practices. Meals should neither bo too frequent 
nor too fur apart—we should strive to be regular 
and right Good constitutions and good habits 
will prevent extreme delicacy with regard to 
food. 
The largest amount of work is not always ac¬ 
complished by working Ibc most hours. 
Men lose their elasticity and energy by over¬ 
exertion, and induce lasting disease. 
When hard, heavy work is on hand, especially 
if the weather is hot, the hours of labor should 
be reduced, or light work substituted for a part of 
the day. 
Never give your help reason to think that you 
require too much. 
Thousands who “ drag their slow length along” 
would have accomplished more had they at¬ 
tempted less. The mind and the body Bhould 
always he elastic and vigorous,—never dispirited 
labor question” for .yourselves—there 
is yet a chance. 
The fiicnd who proposed the question that we 
are discoursing upon, did not contemplate any 
radical changes; he doubtless expected us to view 
it in the light of convenience and expedience. 
He will pardon some allusions to points that men 
of leisure and taste in that direction may pursue 
with profit. 
It is well known that agricultural laborers are 
required, as a universal rule, to labor from sunrise 
to sundown — varying, according to circum¬ 
stances, from “daylight to dark”—that no recess 
is allowed, except sufficient for a rapid absorption 
of food, and in exceptional eases a nooning of an 
hour, and very rarely an ho or and a half or two 
hours. Except during the long and hot days of 
summer, “ noonings ” are not often allowed. It is 
well knosvn that the majority of farmers working 
for themselves observe the some rule, laboring 
not uul'requentiy harder and longer than their 
men. 
This exclusive devotion to labor during the day, 
unsuits ns for mental effort and social enjoyment 
during the evenings, making farming repugnant 
to mindB that might be an ornament to agricul¬ 
ture. We shall not compromise our dignity by 
asking, recommending or expecting an impracti¬ 
cable thing — we recommend the mass of men to 
do what they are determined to do. We take this 
FARM LABORERS: 
nouns FOR EATING AND WORKING. 
A Canadian friend asks oar opinion upon 
several points of great interest to farmers; wo 
have room this week for but one of the queried: 
“ What arc the proper hours of eating and work¬ 
ing for agricultural laborers and their teams?” 
We thank oar friend for the question. It is 
important in its economical bearings; in its 
moral, intellectual, social, and sanitary aspects it 
is doubly so. It opens a wider field than is the 
province of our journal to occupy, and is sug¬ 
gestive of considerations that philosophy canuot 
master in tho present state of human develope- 
ment. It brings ua back to the Catechism:— 
“ What is the chief end of man?” 
The prominence always given to manual labor, 
absorbing as it does almost our entire waking 
hours, is in part a necessity imposed by physical 
wants and in part an over-estimate of material 
things, a3 compared with intellectual and moial. 
A large majority of persona devoted to agricul¬ 
ture evidently regard all time as "tost” that 
is not specially spent in promoting material 
interests. 
While we have no sympathy with the emascu¬ 
lated philosophy that repines at the rough edges 
of life, we cannot avoid seeing that mind is the 
lawful master of matter—that humanity oweB ita 
improvements to thought, and that thought de¬ 
mands opportunity and encouragement — a time 
for investigation and reflection. It is lit, then, 
that we should consider in all seriousness: what 
are the proper hours for working on the farm? 
and is there time for any thing else ? 
Here a difficulty meets us at the outset — neces¬ 
sity is law , emergencies continually occur in 
farming not put down in the programme. More 
perhaps than any other pursuit, farming is subject 
to contingencies of weather and the pressure of 
times and seasons, when a large amount of work 
must be accomplished in a short time to prevent 
waste or the entiic loss of crops. 
If we could strike the intangible balance be¬ 
tween mind and matter, between mftn and money, 
and in our domestic and business arrangements 
remember that we have souls, and, remembering 
this, give the immortal member a portion of our 
care, culture aud regards, a shower or a froBt 
would make an “exception” in our order of ex- 
wben the pastures get poor, 
good judge ho cannot tell when his sheep aro 
losing flesb, aud thus many are deceived and 
their flocks get in low condition before they are 
aware of it. No one can jndgo of the value of a 
sheep when the wool is oil. Once 1 selected two 
ewes which 1 considered as near alike as possible, 
but at shearing time one gave five pounds of wool 
Always examine them in 
ewe with long, soft, 
and the other three. 
January, and when I find a 
thick wool, I mark it for myself, and no one can 
buy it. 
A Faumbr— Do Vermont sheep-raisers grease 
their sheep? 
Pbttip.onk —I have no doubt there is ft good 
deal of fraud piacticed, but I never greased a 
sheep in my life. Merino wool will be somewhat 
grea-y, bat there is a great difference in this re¬ 
spect. 1 know a gentleman who had a ewe which 
sheared thirteen pounds of very greasy wool 
One of mine sheared five pounds, and yot, when 
cleaned, my five-pound fleece was one pound the 
heaviest. Those sheep with extremely greasy 
fleeces, should he discarded, ns the wool becomes 
cold, and the sheep chilled. They will freeze al- 
most as qui' k as a cabbage plant, and need blank¬ 
eting in the barn. By a careful selection ol owes 
I am enabled to get a hundred good lambs from 
a hundred and one owes, and can do this every 
year. A pen 40 feet in length by 15 in width, is 
room enough for a hundred sheep in winter, and 
win <i» better than where moro room is 
DISCUSSIONS AT NEW YORK STATE FAIR. 
Tiik evening discussions at the New York State 
Fair are becoming an important feature in these 
annual gatherings. If properly conducted, wo 
think the time iB not far distant when they will 
become even far more important and profitable 
than at present. To see what the soil has been 
made to produce in grains, and fruits, and veget- 
; to what perfection skillful breeding has 
ables 
brougbtthe domestic animals; to see the triumphs 
of genius, which have made the mechanical 
powers, and even the elements, subservient to 
man; is of no Bmull interest But,to sec the men 
who by untiring and well directed toil have ac¬ 
complished all this, to hear them relate their 
failures and their triumphs, is a treat which all 
can appreciate and eDjoy. 
Thousands of farmers attend these Fairs, every 
one of whom has some important information 
of benefit to others, which he can impart It is 
always interesting to us to hear in these meetings 
reports from the different parts of the State, from 
the grazing lands, the limestone districts, the 
hills and the valleys, and to learn the diflerent 
systems of farming adapted to each. These prac¬ 
tices sometimes seem contradictory, but we are 
often compelled to acknowledge that experience 
is the great teacher and guide. 
At the present meeting at Elmira, the accom¬ 
modations provided were poor indeed, and many 
