WW'lf'M'llVW'l/iWVj 
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
[ SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS, 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN ABLE CORPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS 
proportion of the insects of our country. The 
I manner also of collecting and preserving them,) 
though quite simple and easy, is known to but very 
few. Lettersare frequently addressed toruesolieit- 
ing instructions upon these topics. Under these 
circumstances I have thought I could not do the 
readers of the Rural New-Yorker a more ac¬ 
ceptable service than by presenting them in this 
and the succeeding article with full information 
upon the manner of preserving insects, and devo¬ 
ting a subsequent one to the modes of hunting 
and gathering them. Possessed of this informa¬ 
tion I doubt not there are several persons in dif¬ 
ferent sections of oar country who will enter upon 
this pursuit, and we shall thus be in the way of 
having this neglected but important class of ob¬ 
jects collected aud investigated. 
Every intelligent reader will be aware that it is 
only by knowing their economy and habits that we 
Bhali be able to devise suitable measures for pro¬ 
tecting ourselves from the depredations of those 
insects which are injurious. The combined labors 
of a host of observers is needed to obtain this 
knowledge, and to render our acquaintance with 
this branch of science so lull and exact as the 
wants of the present enlightened day require.— 
Some of the species are very local, occurring only 
in particular districts. Others 
SPECIAL OONTIU1H TOI£8t 
KWEY, T C. PETERS, 
mad BY, H T. BROOKS, 
A PITCH, KWI>. WEBSTER, 
ARTHUR, Sins. M. J. HOL1TES, 
LYSIAN B. LANGWORTHY. 
valuo, rnrity, Usefulness and Variety ol Contents, and unique 
and beantirul In Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of Ite various department*, 
and eamertly labors to reader the Rural an eminently Reliable 
Guide on the Important Practical, SctonUflC and other Subjects 
Intimately connected with the business of those whose interest* 
It MAloosly advocates. Il embraces more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, (scientific, Mechanical, Literary and Nows Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate and benmtfnl Engravings, than 
any other Journal,— rendering it the most complete Aobiodl- 
TURal, Literary and Family JoCRsal In America. 
tT" All communications, and busInesB letters, should be 
addressed to 1). I). T. MOOKK/Rnchestei, N. Y 
For Terms, and other particulars, see last page. 
are transitory, ap¬ 
pearing suddenly in great numbers over a particu¬ 
lar section of country, aud again disappearing «s 
suddenly. Thus it may happen, the coming sum¬ 
mer, that an insect will somewhere show itself un¬ 
der circumstances more favorable for learning its 
true character ttud habits than will occur again in 
many years. Aud it is ouly by noticing aud re- 
ENTOMOLOGY 
Fences will be an important and somewhat ex¬ 
pensive auxiliary of American farm husbandry, 
and intimately connected with the interest of every 
tiller of the soil, so long as our present, system of 
inclosures and divisions of farms and lots contin¬ 
ues. Uauv experiments have been instituted to 
render farm fences less expensive, such as the use 
ot wire, the growiug of hedges and the use of va¬ 
rious substitutes for the material in common use. 
Wire fences aro now among the things “that 
were;” hedges can only be grown after a lapse of 
some years, and the application of labor and care, 
with a prospect, from present experience, that in 
the hands of very many they will prove nearly if 
not quite a failure. Over a large extent of country 
stone fences are out of the question for want of 
material, and where built the frosts of our severe 
winters render relaying necessary so often as to de¬ 
tract very much from their cheapness and utility. 
This state of things has rendered the public mind 
more than usually active ou the subject of cheap 
fences, and resulted in furnishing quite a number 
of different methods for their construction.— 
Descriptions of several of these have heretofore 
been published in this paper, and to the list an¬ 
other improvement is now added in the fence 
illustrated above, which is thus described by the 
inventor: 
■'The patentee claims to have invented aDd con¬ 
structed, alter numerous trials and experiments, a 
tence without posts set in the ground, at a cost for 
material of only forty to fifty cents per rod, and 
which, for durability, simplicity and cheapness is 
believed to defy all competition. It is made in 
sections or panels in such a manner that it can be 
set upon the surface of the ground, and as well 
where the ground is rough and uneven, as where 
it is level. It is so constructed that there is no 
strain on the nails, and the boards are so bound 
and held by means of keys and battens that It is 
impossible for them to be torn off; Such is the 
perlect method of fastening the corners that it can 
he strained to the ground in so substantial a man¬ 
ner as to obviate the danger of its being blown 
down by the wind, as has heretofore been the case 
with portable fences. It can be readily opened at 
any panel, rendering gates unnecessary. It can 
easily be set up in circles or squares, forming excel¬ 
lent stock-pens, as well as temporary inclosures for 
sheep, Ac., and ns it is taken down and put up 
with little difficulty, must meet a very general 
want, and come into general use.” 
Samples of this fence, put op in good shape, 
(several rods of it in a straight line, and also a 
circle,) were exhibited at the Fair of the Wool 
Growers’ Association, last week, and attracted 
considerable attention and commendation. 
A patent was granted for this fence to Isaac D. 
Garlics, of Lyons, Wayne Co., X. Y., on the 5th 
of May, 1857, and Messrs. Garlick & Wilder, of 
the same place, are the proprietors. Particulars, 
and ail necessary information, can be obtained by 
addressing either the patentee or proprietors. 
articles which can scarcely fail of being interest* 
iug and instructive to the patrons of this paper 
and of permanent value to science. 
It is only in their perfect state, (which state may 
be known by the wings being developed, in ail 
those species which require wings,) that the names 
of insects can he determined, whilst it is in their 
worm, that is their larva or growing state, that 
many of them do the most injury. An unknown 
worm must therefore be watched until it has com¬ 
pleted it changes, before its name can be ascer¬ 
tained. And it is only specimens in this perfect 
state that, are commonly preserved in cabinets. 
Many insects vary more or less in their size 
colors and marks, and the two sexes are sometimes 
so uulike, (as in the instance of the common 
Peach-root borer,) that uo one would suspect them 
to be the same species, lienee, to describe an in¬ 
sect accurately,several specimens of it are always 
desirable for inspection. 
Small insects can most readily be transmitted 
by mail. They may be placed, alive or dead, in a 
goose quill or the quill of some smaller bird, and 
enclosed iu a letter or newspaper. The end of the 
quill should be closed with a wooden plug or stop¬ 
per, to prevent its being pressed together and its 
contents crushed in the mail bags, and a small slip 
of newspaper or other soft paper should be rolled 
around it and twisted at the ends to render its safe 
conveyance more Becure. Many insects are sent 
me in this manner, and they generally come to 
band quite perfect. 
Another simple mode by which all beetles, l 
insects which are mostly of a firm, hard consist¬ 
ence, their external covering being shell-like or 
crustaceons uud generally shiuing and of a black 
or dark brown color, may L.e preserved any length 
of time, is, dropping tit on as they are captured, 
mto avia! of common spirits or amixture of equal 
quantities of alcohol and water, and keeping the 
vial well corked, that the strength or the spirits 
may not evaporate. A large mouthed vial or a 
bury. Buckwheat belongs to a family far removed 
trout the cereals; butinthe compcsitionand proper¬ 
ties of its seed, it approximates to them closely.— 
Oue thousand pounds of the grain contain the fol¬ 
lowing constituents, organic and inorganic: 
Starch ..415 50 
Albumen,. 65 50 
CoAgti Uble nlbumeD,. 98 70 
Casein, .. 7 gg 
Wuteo,. 36.00 
Sugar ami txtraes,...... <5010 
Oil and tatty matter,. 4 70 
Dextrine and gum,. 16.00 
Fibre, .....140.90 
W * ter ... . 
Amount of organic bodies and water,. 964 tbs 
Silicic acid,. 072 
Sulphuric acid,. 0.57 
Phosphoric acid and Peroxide of iron,. 18.19 
Lime, .. j 77 
Magnesia,.... 5.67 
Potash,. 776 
Soda,. 0 86 
Chlorine, . 0.12 
Organic acids,.. 1.01 
Amount of inorganic bodies,.36 
Total, . 1000 . fbs 
The green stalks of buckwheat, as analyzed by 
Crome, exhibit the following result: 
Water,. 82.5 
Starch,. 4.7 
Woody Sbre,..10 0 
Albumen,.,,,.,.. 0.2 
Extractive matter and gum,. 2 6 
Total,. 100 fbs 
Buckwheat straw, well cured, is readily eaten by 
most domestic animals, and contains, as above 
shown, considerable nutritive matter. 
5. Soils and Culture. 
Almost any soil will produce buckwheat, but it 
seetns best suited with light, warm lands of mod¬ 
erate fertility. It Is as well adapted as any grain 
to low, moist lands, which dry off late in the 
spring, aud suffer from drouth daring the heats of 
summer, when early sown, grain requires most 
moisture. Itgerininatea quickly, and soon throws 
out sufficient roots and leaves to secure a supply i 
of water, both from the soil and atmosphere. The I 
cultivation usually is simply to plow the land, after to Retain moisture and give expansion to the roots 
green sward, early in the spring, then harrow or and the stock. Take some instrument (I recom- 
gang atthe time of sowing. This grain is often rneuded a pronged hoe or potato digger, or an 
sown on ground infested with weeds, which it is ” old hoe,”) and thoroughly mellow tlio soil—that 
desired to subdue; in that case more thorough is, stir it up about the corn where the cultivator 
1. Its Origin and History. 
Buckwheat, or literally 6<?«-A-wheat—so called 
from its seed resembling in shape the mast of the 
beech—is conceded by all writers to be a native 
of Central and Northern Asia, though the time of 
its introduction into Europe is differently stated. 
Some say it was brought by the Moors into Spain 
in the oighth century, others that it came with 
the Crusaders iu their return from the Holy War 
in the twellth; and, be that as it may, it is certain 
that has been cultivated in England only about 
two hundred aud fifty years. Iu triangular grain, 
arrow-shaped leuves, and fragraur, purplish white 
rowers are too well known to require more particu¬ 
lar description. 
2. Introduction and Product in the V. 8. 
It was first cultivated ia the United States by 
the Dutch on the iiudson and the Swedes on the 
Delaware. It is mentioned among the grain 
products of the former, as early as 1626; and 
Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, who visited this 
conutry in 1,48, speaks of it as found growing in 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. These 
States still produce a large share of the product 
of the country—in 1856, two thirds, or some 6,000,- 
000 of bushels. Iu cultivation, however, is rapid¬ 
ly extending through all the Northern and North 
Western States, and the national product for 1866, 
may be estimated at 15,000.000 of bushels, a large 
share of which is consumed by the producers and 
their immediate neighbors. 
3. Varieties of Buckwheat. 
Buckwheat belongs to the Persic aria tribe_ 
that commonly cultivated is botanically known as 
the Polygonum fagopyrum. Amoug its varieties 
are the blue or “Canadianbuckwheat,” very popu 
pruv.ueti in ii.eir native clime to check and re- 
strain their excessive multiplication. Thus the 
Hessian Fly, the Wheat Midge and the Apple Rark 
Louse,-insects which we have received from Eu- 
rope,—have been and are runniug a career in this 
country unparalleled by anything ever known of 
them upon the other side of the Atlantic. 
This, moreover, ia unquestionably the most in¬ 
teresting field in tho whole domain of nature._ 
The singular habits and remarkable instincts of 
some of these creatures render their history more 
wonderful than any fairy tale which the romancer 
has ever conceived. Others are so curiously 
Bhaped. so beautifully colored, so brilliantly gild¬ 
ed, that persons who are the most stolid and heed¬ 
less, pause to Inspect and admire them; and in 
museums of Natural History, the case containing 
insects is that before which moat visitors tarry the 
longest and scrutinize most attentively. 
lhus, as objects of mero curiosity, as well as 
from the economical importance which numbers 
of them possess, our attention is attracted to them. 
And there aro many persons who have been ex¬ 
tremely desirous of gathering and becoming ac¬ 
quainted with the insects of their own vicinity — 
But unfortunately, notwithstanding tho deep inter¬ 
est aud great importance which it possesses, this 
13 a branch of our Natural History which has been 
ut little investigated. These creatures are so 
mtrmte their species are so very numerous and in 
many instances so difficult to distinguish front 
each other, and the names of those which have 
been examined and described are scattered 
through such a multitude of publications, foreigu 
and domestic, many of which are inaccessible. 
>at our men of science have beeu disheartened 
from exploring a field so difficult and embarrass- 
g. Aud it thus happens that we us yet have not 
even namoa by which to designate a considerable 
INDIAN COHN.—ITS CULTURE 
.... 
