TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.J 
“PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS.'T 
YOLUME YI1I. NO. O.j 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. -SATURDAY, FEBRUARY U, 1857. 
1 WHOLE NO. 373. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
IX ORIGIXAL WEKKLY 
AORICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY ‘JOURNAL, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN ABLE COBPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
SPECIAL COJiT IUHUTOIIS i 
Trot C. DEWEY. 
Dr. M. F. MAURY. 
Dr ASA FITCH. 
T. S ARTHUR 
T. C PETERS. 
H. T. BROOKS. 
EDW. WEBSTER 
Mrs. M. J. HOLMES. 
LYMAN B LANUWORTUY. 
Tub Rural Niw-Yorkrr in designed to lie unsurpassed In 
Value, Purity, Usefnlness and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and betintifu! in appearance. Ha Conductor devotee hi* personal 
attention to tbo supervision of ita various department*, and 
earnestly labors to render the Rural an eminently Reliable 
On!do on the important Practical, Scientific and other Subjects 
intimately Connected with the business of those whose interests 
it reatonsly advocates It embraces more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical. I .itersnr and New* Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate and beautiful Engraving's than 
any other Journal.—rendering it the most complete Agricultu¬ 
ral.. l.iTkKAKV and Fawilv Nzwsfapir in America. 
*3*“ All coicranidcntions, and business letters, should be 
addrwsod to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester. N Y. 
For Terms, and other particnlars, see last page. 
“ABOUT WHEAT AND CHESS” 
This subject has not appeared in the Bubal for 
a good while, till these two or three weeks. To me 
it seems desirable that it should he excluded for 
several years at n time, because the discussion 
avails nothing. Your friends and patrons mean 
only good by introducing it, and your readers will 
give them all due Credit for that. Why then ex¬ 
clude move “ about Wheat and Chess?” Bee an*•• 
V\b same views arc over exhibit?! on both rides.— • 
Let us first hear the views of both parties. 
The one relies upon the growth of chess in a 
wheat field where it ought not to be, unless it is 
changed wheat. The last clause is a mere beggiDg 
of the question. For, seeds lie in the earth one 
year, five, leu, fifty years, and yet vegetate when 
cultivation of the soil puts them in the proper 
condition. Where is the proof that the seed of 
chess have not lain long in the ground? 
But, we sow good wheat,, and there springs up 
chess among it. True; hut who knows tl\g chess 
seeds were not already there? We cut down Pine 
forests, and there grow up Oak, and vice versa. 
But, tlio wheat grows well on the dry and most 
favorable ground, anil on the low, chess, where 
the wheat is winter-killed. True; low and wet 
ground is the favorite soil of chess, for there it 
grows luxuriantly if the seed is there; but if the 
wheat is killed, whether summer or winter killed, 
how can it produce chess? besides, 1 have seen 
wheat In lower grounds really killed by the winter, 
and no chess followed the killing of it; no chess 
sprung up. I supposed this was because there was 
no chess seed in these places. Besides, why is the 
opinion so common among the best farmers, that 
the pnrer is the seed wheat, the less chess is found 
among the crop? 
These facts uud reasonings are not satisfactory 
to the one side, nor the replies to the other, how¬ 
ever much they ought to be. The debate goes on. 
Look at the form of a head of wheat, and then 
of the chess; see how different. Wheat has a long 
dense spike, like that of Timothy grass, with little 
sessile spikelets of five flowers; while chess grows, 
in tho manuer of Oats, in a loose spreading pani¬ 
cle, the long diverging stems bearing two-ranked 
spikelcts of ten flowers. Now these two forms de¬ 
pend upon the forces with which the Creator has 
endowed the plants, in the one case producing a 
long close head, and iu the other, a diffuso pani¬ 
cle. Now the embryo plant is in tho seed, and 
can be shown there, but it can scarcely be held 
that the embryo, whose forms will produce wheat, 
will also produce chess. The embryo must be 
altered to do this; the sessile part must become a 
’ long stent, nud the five (lowers in the little spikelet 
must become tin in the spikelet of the chess; and 
the seed, which in one case is wheat, must he 
changed into the poor miserable Heed of chess. 
To illustrate this; take a bean and apoaj.swell 
each a little In water; split each lengthwise care¬ 
fully, and there lies the embryo in full view; each 
embryo baa root, stem, and leaves; and the leaves 
in tho embryo of the bean have the form of the 
after leaves on the bean plant, and of the pea, those 
afterwards found on the pern Now, for tho bean 
to be'elianged iuto tho pen, this embryo must be 
wholly changed, or you will have the leaves of the 
one on the other and vico versa, the pods, and 
seeds, Ac.; and winter-killing is to make the 
change, even alter the very constitution of the 
plank Who can believe this? Yes, who can bo- 
lieve so much as this. 
Besides, you need not wait for tho dowering of 
the plants to find tho difference. As soon as tho 
tip of the pauiole of tho chess or of tlio wheat 
head comes out of tho sheathing leaf tmd even 
diverse, the spike and panicle. Indeed, you may 
detect the difference in this way, long before the 
flower appears. 
Again; why does not chess turn back to wheat, 
or sometimes produce wheat? No one pretends 
that it does. It is curious such supposed changes 
should he always for bad, and not for good, or the 
benefit of man. 
The real fact doubtless, is, that plants are con¬ 
stituted to bring forth fruit whose seed is in itself, 
after its kind. It is not probable that this law is 
ever violated. 
But, is there no possible proof of the change? 
Yes; let a stem of wheat grow with one. of chess 
from the same root, or heads of chess on a wheat 
head. Either of these would be adequate proof, if 
no grafting or inoculating is possible in the case. 
Of the*first, some cases have been presented, but 
on examination the roots have been found to have 
no actual connection. Of the second, I have known 
three apparent Instances, in which heads of chess 
hung by their proper stem from wheat heads as if 
they grew from the wheat. In these cases the 
chess stem had become entangled and made fast 
in the spikelets of wheat, bnt grew not to the wheat 
head or wheat stem. Two of these cases were ex¬ 
amined and shown up by the editor of the Rural; 
and the other I had the pleasure of detecting and 
clearly exhibiting to the gentlemen who presented 
it, all of whom were fully satisfied that the chess 
stem did not grow from or on the wheat. 
The existence of a particular embryo in the seed 
of different plants seems to form a strong objec¬ 
tion to the tran-iimtaiiuu of wheat into chi ss, so 
great is the difference between the two plantain 
their inflorescence, in the shape of the seed, and 
in the matter produced in the seed. Add too, the 
consideration, that we have no knowledge of any 
reason why the cold of winter, or winter-killing, 
shoo’d or could per ate such a trensmutation, and 
all we know of plauts is opposed to the belief of 
such operation. It certainly is a change more 
resembling miracle than any that is known to ns. 
February, 1S57. C. D. 
-♦-*.—-- 
A VISIT TO THE BARON. 
The CoL took me into his sleigh after breakfast 
and drove about the village. He was one of the 
original proprietors of the land upon which it bad 
grown up, and had lived there from the com¬ 
mencement, Numerous were the anecdotes of the 
GROUP OF ENGLISH PREMIUM SHANGHAI FOWLS. 
Now that the fowl excitement is over, and the 
“ chicken fever" come to an end, the merits as well 
as the faults of the wkq.- tribe of Shanghais will 
begin to be understood. People will learn that 
though they were not all that speculators claimed 
them to be, yet with cat ■■ in breeding and crossing 
they will do a greut neat to improve Our common 
fowls, increasing their -ize, improving their form, 
and their laying qualities. We have always 
thought that with proper crossing a fowl could be 
raised far superior to the comrnou fmvl for the 
farmer—one that would weigh four or live pounds 
dressed, at five mouths old. To do this, of course’ 
good judgment must be used in selecting to breed 
from, and the long-leggeo, no-breasted birds be 
discarded, whether of native or foreign stock. 
During the year we shall give some engravings of 
fowls, as well as designs for Poultry Houses, &e. 
letter from a correspondent now before us on the 
suiijeoi, from which we make the following extract: 
"I wish, while writing on other subjects, to call 
your attention to Poultry. The fact is, T have, by 
crossing the best of these Shanghais with the. best 
of our common low’s, succeeded in raising a lot 
of fowls that I am proud of, and not without rea¬ 
son, 1 think. They are short legged, full breasted, 
heavy bodied, and in every way veiy respectable 
and geuteel birds. I think my common fowls that 
l bred from had some of the Dorking blood in 
them. 1 killed lots of these last fall, ’spring 
chickens,' that weighed, dressed, nearly five 
pounds, and some tew over. I bad one of them 
for dinner on Christmas day, and all thought 
they were eating turkey, until some one making a 
remark about the turkey, I informed them they 
were eating • spring chicken.' I find, too, they lay 
able to walk— many beiug unable’to get upon the 
roost, although it is not, a toot high. 
■‘I don’t know about the quantity of food they 
consume, as they run in the barn-yard and pick up 
a good deal fit’ their living, though I have no 
reason to thiuo. they eat more than common fowls 
would of tho same size. I kuow, however, that 
they are by no means as troublesome as the old 
sort, having very little disposition to get into mis¬ 
chief! fly over fences, or wander away. If you can 
find room in some comer of your paper, you can 
say this much for me in behalf of the abused 
Shanghais, wno seem now to have few friends, and 
those who flattered them in their prosperity, now 
turn round and give them a kick.” 
Our correspondent tells a pretty good story 
about his fowls, hut not more than the truth, as 
we have some reason to know. They are well 
people connected with its progress, and almost The eugraving we now present to our readers is well, especially when young, but when they get worthy of praise, but no better than any one may 
_ . .. tuL’ou Tv» f bn f EL 1 f. L. . J * .1 .1 _ i . . v v ... . .i . a. . TLrt nnLinnf io nroll 
every corner had its peculiar history. 
There is nothing better to stir the blood than an 
hour's ride behind a splendidly going team of 
horses over a tine snow road. And thus we spent 
an hour coursing about the streets of Corniug, a 
town I had never before visited, h is much more 
of a place than I expected to fiud. and has one of 
the finest canal harbors in the Stutc. The feeder 
to the Chemung canal commences on the hank of 
tho river below the town, at which point a dam is 
erected that raises the water high enough to enter 
the canal. By this means a large, natural basin is 
created by the rise of the river for nearly or quite 
a mile iu front of the village. The bank nearest the 
town is very substantially wharfed up, an J furnish¬ 
es ample means for loading canal boats with the 
coal or lumber which is brought hither by the 
river or railroads. Should the project to establish 
a large rolling mill at this point be carried out,up¬ 
on the scale at present intended, there will be a 
large addition to its inhabitants aud wealth, as 
well as to its importance. No place iu thatregion 
combines greater advantages for a large manufac¬ 
turing town; lew equal it 
The Col. aud Mrs. B. had arranged the evening 
before that we should go out to the Baron’s to din¬ 
ner. It was scarcely 9 o’clock, when, placing us 
in a very snug sleigh, with an amplitude of buffalo 
robes, the Col. drove out of the village and took 
the road up the glen. I know, my dear reader, you 
are wondering who the Baron is—whether there is 
among us a live member of the aristocracy of 
England, or any other kingly land where the sov¬ 
ereign gives titles to those who have distinguished 
themselves lighting for their country, or some¬ 
times, though rarely, who have conferred great 
good upon their fellow men by discoveries in the 
arts or sciences, or in tho cultivation of the soil. 
It Is well that these things should be done by the 
sovereign, for thereby others are stimulated to new 
exertions, and it were still better if these honors 
were more liberally bestowed upon those who, by 
their perseverance aud energy, open up new sources 
Of wealth by a mure thorough and systematic cul¬ 
tivation of the laud, peaceful and unobtrusive 
though the employment be. Ho who permanently 
improves the breeds of domestic animals, who 
subdues an uncongenial soil, aud makes a barren 
waste to “ blossom as the rose," who increases the 
productiveness of the country, or adds to the com¬ 
forts and enjoyments of the people by the example 
he sets, is more worthy ot a title of nobility than 
the war-worn veteran ortho suocesatul soldier or 
sailor. Vet In all times past, glorious renown has 
taken from the London Fanner's Magazine, and 
exhibits a group of Premium Fowls. We have a 
dom takes off its hat to any but those who have 
come reeking before it in the red blood of the 
battle field, where 
“ Thousands fall to deck some single name.” 
Even iu this land of universal sovereigns, those 
who attain the highest honors and best offices are 
uot often taken from the farm or the workshop, al¬ 
beit, men as capable and as trusty could be found 
therein. “Knowledge is power,” and herein great 
injustice is done, both by the farmer and the me¬ 
chanic, that they do not give to their children a 
higher 3nd more extensive education than has 
hitherto been their custom. If we are to have 
farmers and mechanics for Governors and f resi¬ 
dents, we must give them an education commen¬ 
surate with the position they are to occupy. 
Our Baron is one of Nature’s Noblemen, and has 
well merited the title for services rendered to his 
fellow’ men. He has fought many a battle, and so 
well has he managed that ho has always been vic¬ 
torious. His early victories wore followed by the 
extermination of his enemy, though he has uot yet 
been able to entirely destroy their remains. It is 
true his victories ha\e been bloodless, yet they 
have only been won by the most patient and per¬ 
severing labor, which for days aud weeks, nay for 
two years old and over, they are very poor layers, as j s fiow with the same care, 
the hens become so fat, at this age, as to be hardly worthy of attention. 
The subject is well 
America. His friend advised him to go out of his ed his first field ot wheat. And he will also tell 
way and make the Baron a visit. He did so, and you how he has conquered the very elements, and 
so well was he pleased with what he saw and heard, made his lands produce good crops when all 
that, after visiting the West, he came back the around him failed on account of dry or wet, co 
second time; aud he acknowledged that he had or 9eas<)n -- Al1 'leathers aic a i t to am, 
learned lessons which he should put in practice s0 l ^ e reasons bet come in tien regu ar or er. 
when he got home—and that the information thus He tna ^ es ^ 1 ’ y a u ° ant " 1 ® 
obtained would be of great service not only to others complain he w oi s, an . s e sows an 
himself but to the whole English farming public, plants, so in due time e urvtsts an - 13 
Our road followed for the most part a ravine, complaining neig ois git ig it i urns. ’= are 
and was through or alongside of a forest. As we heaped up aud running over. - or - any o is 
. , , . success due to accident- It is the result of a pa- 
emerged from it, and came out upon the open, u . , , A „ 
, , r, , . , .T tient experience, the accumulated wisdom ot a 
cleared-up fields, the Col. remarked—“Here we UBUl ‘ ’ , . . . , 
, . . , , , . _ remarkably acute aud observing mind. The 
come upon his premises; he has hereabouts some [KCU “ rB ‘* u -’ , . . . , . , 
, ,, . ... . nhenomena of cultivation, wmch are but little ob- 
four or five thousand acres ot land. His home F u<;u ‘ ' . . . 
farm consists of nine hundred acres, and that and senec * hv the gnat mass o armers, ‘ «o 
all the cleared land you see around us was a dense Vmg an ''' minute y investigate y im, 
forest thirty years ago when he took possession of f«ta of great practical importance thereby estab- 
a modest little lot that has expanded from a single Dshed. , 
, , , . . . , „ „ ,,, . n r ivins into the yard, he gave us a most cordial 
hundred acres into thousands. ’ Few, except the ‘ J ° ... 
. . . , ... . . , , rec^ntjon and hearty welcome to his castle, which 
early pioneers, have any adequate idea of the hard ‘ J 
’ , r , . , . „ is on v a plain but comfortable two-story house, 
labor which must be performed in clearing up the !S BU -.> t ..... t 
, . . , . . . ° surrounded with a multitude of out-buildings, giv- 
forest—chopping down the trees, cutting them up, --*r‘ , - UUL ‘ c 
- f , ,, . ,, . . ins* the eronp at a little distance the appearance 
then drawing into heaps and burning, all requiring i“a> *- ", . ... 
, , , p . , . . - i of a small hamlet. There was no attempt at dis- 
. Mr .it'll I.iLmf P r,iv TU*a*iO'i ppmiiuQ. WJ - -• 5*****-* 1 ** LUia “'- * 
mouths aud years, has wrung the sweat from his the country; still I am not going to tell how, when 
brow. If any man in any land is entitled to a pa* a mere child, 1 was brought into the woods, aud 
tent of nobility, it is the one who, with no worldly lived many years in a log house—how all around 
severe labor. Some of mv pleasantest reminis- oi a wkmi uauucu - — 
cences are connected with‘-he early settlement of &*** evorytliing was fitted for ^ place or 
the country; still I am not going to tell how, when business appertairung to l - ° in S 0 1L ' Uc - 
J 7 ^ ^ * .* __: m *- fL.-.«ivh *T thin L' tv A ilnl Qi^A 
wealth beyond his willing heart and stout hands, 
marches boldly into the forest and commences 
clearing it away to make room for rich fields of 
grain, aud for flocks and herds and pleasant abodes 
for men enjoying the comforts and luxuries of civ¬ 
ilization. Such a man is- our Baron, and for this, 
and for the many, the very many thiugs ho has 
done, and is doing, for agricultural progress, I, be¬ 
iug one of the sovereigns of this broad land, have 
given him his patent of nobility. 
Perhaps,my dear friend, y on would liketo know his 
name. Thai is my secret. BeaidesifI were to tellyou 
it I could not well say the things I have said, because 
l might infriugo upon the laws of hospitality and 
the privacy of the domestic circle. I do not blame 
you for wanting to kuow the Baron, for, take him 
all in all, 1 do not believe there is his superior 
among all tho fanners of the Union. There arc 
few, very few, who cannot be instructed by him, 
and who would uot ho amply repaid for a visit to 
his farm in the season of active operation. 
An English gentleman, who was traveling 
was a dense forest, which has long since been 
cleared away—how large old trees were growing 
upon the very spot where 1 am now writing—nor 
how 1 steadied the young apple trees in the hole 
while my father filled it up. Its an old orchard 
now, though I well remember wondering when 
holding the little stick if I should ever live to see 
apples upon it. It seemed a long way off then, 
but looking back upon it now the time seems shorn 
Nor am I going to take up your time, my patient 
reader, by telling you what nice frolics the old 
people used to have in their one-room log houses, 
and how they used to go out to their visits with 
ox teams and sleds—and that the first coldness 
which came among the people in our settlement 
was when one of the families moved iuto a frame 
house. These things are all kuowu to those who 
first settled this Western New York, aud those who 
business appertaining to it Nothing of the fancy 
farming wits in sight, though 1 think we did see 
one of his men as we came up the road digging 
out the snow in a field to get a watering place for 
quite a number of cattle and horses. 
The fences were all in prime order, and his stone 
wall is a model for farmers anywhere who have 
the material for making it- The plan he adopts is 
to plow a ridge where his fence is to be made, 
turning op the loose earth with the shovel, aud 
making a ditch on each side, so that when the 
bank has well settled it will be about three feet 
from the top to the bottom. On this in due time 
the wall is laid, and is never affected by the frost, 
nor is it easily approached by the animals on either 
side of it. 
The leading maxim with the Baron is whatever 
he does to do it as well as lie knows how, to do 
the very best he can, and this is visible all about 
him. His opponents in the Legislative Halls, or in 
the political arena, can bear ample testimony to 
have never experienced them cannot know the this peculiar trait, and his triends all know«uh 
< a- .1 _a_ 1 _•__ . 1 , n.kl UO. 
great enjoyment of such as still occupy the very 
farms which they assisted in clearing up from the 
forest. The Baron can talk to yon by the hour, and 
before,strip down the loaf carefully, and there you rarely come to those whose lives have been spent through the country last season, remarked to an j show you the very place where he made his first 
Bee the forms of the two—are wholly diatiuot and in the peaceful walks of life. The great world sel- acquaintance that he had seen no good tanning iu log heap, planted his first hill of corn, or harvest- 
what heartiness he sets about rendering them as¬ 
sistance when he can be of service to them. 
But I have loitered upon the way so long that 
I have no room to finish my visit Perad venture, 
if you like it, reader, we may meet again.— p. 
* ^^————^—.— IM—M ^^^^——,—■—^j ■ -* - W 
