TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[ SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
YOL YIIL NO. 46. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURDAY, NOVEMBER U, 1857. 
WHOLE NO. m 
..■; 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AIT ORIGINAL WKIKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORK, 
WITH AH ABLE CORPS OP ASSISTANT EDITORR 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS i 
PBOF. c. dewet, 
Ly. IS P. MAURY, 
Dk. ASA FITCH, 
T. & ARTHUR, 
T. 0. PETKR8, 
H. T BROOKS, 
EWD. WEBSTER, 
Mrs. N. J. HOLMES, 
LYMAN B LANGWORTHY. 
Th* Rural Nbw-Yorsxr Is designed to be nnsnrpBssed In 
Valne, Purity, Usefulness And Vnrlety of Contents, and aniqne 
and boautifnl to Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per- 
sooaI attention to the supervision of its various departments, 
nnd earnestly labors to render the Rural An eminently Reliable 
On Ido on the important Practical, Scientific nnd other Subjccte 
Intimately connected with the bnslness of those whose Interest* 
It tealously advocates II embracer more A^ricnUnral, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Mutter, 
Interspersed with, appropriate ami beautiful Engravings, than 
any other Jonrnal.—rendering It the most complete Agricultu¬ 
ral Literary ajid Family Journal to America. 
tir An eommunlcAilons, and business letters, should be 
Eddrosved to 1). I). T. MOORK, Rochester, N. Y. 
FOR Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
Ural ffofo-fflrkfr, 
THE SUN-FLOWER EXPERIMENT. 
BY LIEUT. M. F. MAURY. 
Copy of a letter from a physician, dated New 
Orleans, 24th August, 1857: 
«Lt. M.vrKY— Sir: The board of health of New Or. 
Icons, of which t am a member, having instructed me to 
prepare a ntaa for the drainage (dossecbemcot) of that 
city, I am .anxious to surround myself with all the infor¬ 
mation necessary in such an undertaking. A short time 
Binoe, I read in one of the newspapers that you have Indi¬ 
cat'd the Sun-Flower as a plant peculiarly fitted forabsorb- 
iug the miasms of marshy places, and 1 will he infinitely 
obliged to you. Sir, if yon will have the goodness to com¬ 
municate to me the results of your profound and valuable 
experience on this subject I nothing doubt but that the 
influence of yonr experience, and your name will hare 
great weight in the determinations of the hoard, I ven¬ 
ture to hope, Sir, that the interests of humanity, which 
have dictated this application to you, will excuse me id 
yonr eyes for the liberty I am taking in making this appeal 
to a source of information so justly appreciated in the 
scientific world. 
2 pray to reciprocate the assurance of my distinguished 
consideration." 
Extract of a letter from M. Yattemeke to Lt. 
Maury, dated Paris 20th of August, 1S57. 
“ I am requested by the Director of the Colonial De¬ 
partment, to ask you some account of your plantations of 
turn-sols, to get rid of fever and ague reigning about the 
Observatory," 
To these and other requests, written and unwrit¬ 
ten, I «sk leave to reply throngh the Rural New- 
Yorker, and in answer beg to submit the following 
Report: 
Experiments of this sort belong to that class 
whioh yields philosophical deductions satisfacto¬ 
rily only lifter a great many repetitions, nnd from 
experiments made under a variety of oireumstan- 
ee«. In this case a year is required for otic experi¬ 
ment, and the experimenter works in the dark; for 
he cannot know certainly what would have been 
the result by varying the experiment or had no 
experiment been made. The r aders of the Rural 
who should try the experiment are requested to 
state results and circumstances. I set them the 
example. 
A belt of gronnd about 45 feet broad, between 
the ivarshes and the Observatory buildings, was 
planted thickly with 8nn-Flowers fu the spring. 
This belt is semi-oircular, having the buildings for 
its centre, with a radius of fonr or five hundred 
feet. It is on the top of a hill ninety feet above 
the marshes, and from one-eighth to a mile or 
more distant from them. They are covered this 
year with an unusually rank growth of vegetation 
attributable to the fact that the marshes are in 
rapid process of formation, and tho area covered 
by tho water-grass grows larger and larger every 
year. The Sun Flower patch should be’well ma¬ 
nured. 
So far the watchmen about the grounds, who 
are the persons most exposed to the night air, and 
who usually suffer most from intermittent, have 
escaped, with bat a single exception, il— bad one 
slight chill the last of August. Before I com¬ 
menced the Snu-Flower experiment he suffered 
with them severely, but siuco these experiments 
were commenced, of which this is only the second, 
ho has had no return of them, except this one.— 
Tho other watchman, L—, baa como since the 
experiment was '^angnrated; he has had no at¬ 
tack and is now in . ii second season here. 
lo the 8. E. of tho i. hservatory, and just aerors 
the street from the bottom of the garden, is a 
house occupied by a family of four white persons. 
It is so situated that our Bun-Flower curtain did 
not screen it from tho marshes. Three of this 
family have already been quite ill from attacks of 
intermittent fever. Both houses are on the hill, 
both equi distant from the marshes on the South, 
though the Observatory is nearer to them ou the 
West. 
If the supposition be correct that intermittent 
fevers are for the most part caused by the decay 
of vegetable matter, then we apparently have 
grounds for the conjecture that the poison, be it 
gaseous, miasmatic or what not, which is set loose 
and pat afloat during the process of vegetable de¬ 
cay, might be re-absorbed by the growth of vege¬ 
tation. The ranker the growth the greater the 
absorption; such was the reasoning—and therefore 
it was that the preference was given to Son-Flow¬ 
ers for onr experiment Hops are rank of growth; 
they climb high, and they, if there be anything in 
such reasoning, and the conjecture suggested by 
it, should answer as well aa the Sun-Flowers—per 
haps better — because they continue in vigorous 
growth longer than the Sna-Flowera. 
Speaking upon thiB snfject during the summer 
with a very intelligent and observant gentleman,— 
a corn planter from the Roanoke bottoms in North 
Carolina, where intermittents are very prevalent,_ 
he said it was his rale never to leave his low-land 
home for the upper country until the Indian corn 
had finished its growth — that as long aa it was 
growing he did not consider that those who lived 
in honses under its lee, in any danger. At any 
rate it was a rule which he followed for himself 
and family, and it worked well. 
The experiment at the Observatory this year is 
not by any means a fair one—for the growth of the 
Sun-Flowers is now over. That it is over so early 
is in consequence of a violent hail-Btorm that 
occurred here Jure 21st. Some of the stones 
were nearly as large as hen's eggs. All the young 
trees about the Observatory bear marks of them: 
for they fell with force enough to knock the bark 
from stocks and branches of trees as largo aa one’s 
leg. This storm injured the first crop of Sun- 
Flowers and destroyed the second — so that now, 
before the sickly season is fairly over, no Sen- 
Fiower growth is going on; —indeed the stalks 
have just been pulled np, and the gardener is of 
opinion that if platted later than June they will 
not grow large or vigorously. 
I will not conclude this report till we have a 
white frost, simply that I may report any cases of 
intermittent that may occur during the Sun- Flower 
interregnum. 
Oct. 21st—Last night we bad the first frost of 
the season. It wag quite cold, and in the morning 
there was ice. Up to this time all the month of 
October has been unusually mil.!, rainless, clear 
and fine. The first rain daring the month wag on 
last Thursday. Since the Sun-Flowers ceased their 
growth, there have been fonr cases of chills and 
fever. The other watch mat), L—, has had a severe 
attack and has given np his place ip consequence 
of it. 
Notwithstanding the fact that during the fonr 
months while the Sun-Flowers were in growth, 
there was bat one slight os*e of chills — and that 
in the course of three weeks after they were burnt 
up, there have been four esses and three of them 
severe,— stUI wo are bound to admit that ihe ex 
periinent ia by no means satisfactory; consequent¬ 
ly unsatisfactory conclusions only can be drawn 
from the premises. The plants were very much 
irjured, stunted and crippled in their growth by 
the hail-storm of June. Nevertheless, though the 
experiment for this year has its drawbacks," there 
is in it nothing to discourage, except the circum¬ 
stance that the crop of Sun-Flowers was injured 
by the hail. I am now preparing for next year's 
crop, by manuring the ground, and such is my 
faith in the virtue ot this vegetable screen, that l 
shall remain at the Observatory next summer to 
subject my own person to the experiment; or if I 
leave my home and go to the mountains to keep 
clear of the disease, I shall not go till I get a warn¬ 
ing from the ague and fever to quit 
-«-4~*- 
THE. FARMER’S HOME. 
The business of the fanner is at home — his 
pleasures are home pleasures, and his enjoyments 
arc the enjoyments ot home. The merchant may 
get along without a home. He may spend his 
days in his othce or counting room, or in th" ex- 
oifing mints of commerce—his evenings iu con¬ 
triving new schemes, deep plans lor accumulating 
wealth, or averting anticipated loss. Too seldom 
arc tho hours or days he snatches from business 
cares for recreation devoted to quiet home pleas¬ 
ures—they do not satisfy the over-feverish brain 
that craves excitement, even in its repose. The 
watering place, the concert, the theatre, the con¬ 
vivial party, the wiuo-cup constitute, in too many 
cases, the pleasures of our men of wealth. It i* 
state d that a merchant who recently failed in busi¬ 
ness in one of our largo cities, on being asked 
what he intonded to do, replied that he should 
"first go home and get acquainted with his wife 
and childreu.” This, perhaps, was an extreme 
case; yet too many are strangers at homet How 
happy the man who feels that he has a true home 
— the temple of Mb household gods, where he 
reigns as patriarch, priest and king—a refuge from 
envy and malice, a shelter from the storms of life, 
that no loss of wealth, no change of circumstances 
can affect,—a rose without a thorn—a son that 
knows no setting. 
The farmer lives and labors at Inme, within 
sight of the smoke of his own chimney and the 
sound of his own dinner horn. If happy at home 
he is happy always, and if nnhappy there, he is 
" of all men most miserable." His wife is not only 
acquainted with his business, his successes and 
failures, his hopes and fears, but is a sharer in his 
toils and anxieties. The batter, the cheese, the 
poultry, the saving and drying of frnifs, and often 
the vegetable garden is under her especial control 
Harvest and threshin g affect her and her daughters 
and their labors, as much as the farmer himself.— 
The boys, too, plow, and hoe, and milk, and feed 
the catttle, and make themselves useful according 
to their ability. Every new acre added to the cul¬ 
tivated land, every important change in crops and 
in tie mode of cultivation, affect the whole family, 
to some extent. All plans, therefore, for the im 
provement and enjoyment of the coming winter, 
should embrace every member. The farmer’s 
family should be organized into a mutual improve¬ 
ment society, holding regular winter sessions — 
The fanner has to toil hard and endure heat and 
storms—he truly earns his bread by the sweat of 
his brow—yet he has a long season in the winter 
for repose of body and improvement of mind.— 
No other clae3 of men can command as much 
leisure time during the year, and If it is properly 
improved, be may become intelligent, useful and 
happy. There is no excuse now for ignorance:— 
th8 schoolmaster is everywhere abroad—the press 
is scattering its enlightening influence almost aa 
abundant aad free as water; so that he who runs 
may read. The man who remains ignorant, most 
do so deliberately and obstinately—he must shun 
the light and court darkness. Like Bunyan's 
Christian at Vanity Fair, he must pnt his fiugera 
in his ears and hurry on, determined to see nothing 
and know nothing of what is going on around 
him. It takes more pains and labor and vexation 
to remain ignorant than to gain knowledge. Let 
the farmer give his family all the b- n*fit to be de¬ 
sired from these silent instructors of the people, 
books ami papers. Those for himself, if he please, 
may be crammed full of knowledge—the solid 
meat; but the youth need works that afford both 
pleasure and instruction. Knowledge ia none the 
less useful because presented in a pleasing form.— 
l'he pursuit of knowledge should be made a pleas¬ 
ure and not a drudgery. Home should be made so 
attractive that children will leave it with regret, 
and return with joy. They shonid have no temp¬ 
tation to seek amusement abroad. The want of a 
pleasant home has driven thousands to ruin.— 
Many ways of accomplishing so desirable an ob¬ 
ject will suggest themselves to every intelligent 
reader, and its importance is sufficient to com¬ 
mand the attention of the wisest and beet in the 
land. Without designing to particularise, we 
would simply call attention to the happy effects 
of Music in the family. It induces amiability, 
soothes ’he turbulent spirit, and banishes bad pas¬ 
sions. That art whioh could drive the evil spirit 
from the troubled bosom of Saul, shonid be en¬ 
couraged in every family. Drawing is another 
innocent and useful amusement, loved by children 
of all agfs. 
The common schools are tbe universities where 
the farmer’s children are educated. See that, they 
are all they should be, that the teachers are faith¬ 
ful and intelligent, and receive proper sympathy 
and support, and that all the youth within yonr 
Influence attend promptly and regularly, so as to 
receive the full benefit of winter’s schooling.— 
the district library, too, may need replenishing.— 
NT w books of value are constantly making their 
appearance. There is no necessity of wasting 
funds appropriated to this purpose ia the purchase 
ol worthless works, t hat will remain ou the shelves 
unread, or those whose influence is of a doubtfal 
or evil tendency. Turn a deaf ear to (he solicita¬ 
tions of all agents, who desire to get your library 
money, until you arc folly satisfied aa to the pro¬ 
priety of the expenditure. 
The farmer can stand upon his own land, as a 
kiug among his subjects, the monarch of all 
around. The horses and the cattle come at hia 
ca’l aud do his bidding, and even the sheep 
'knoweth their owner’s voice." In closing this 
brief, bur, we hope, suggestive article, we would 
ask that the comfort of these patient and faithful 
subjects should uot be forgotten in the arrange¬ 
ments tor the winter. Interest and huiua-aity alike 
urge this subject upon the attention of all. No 
man with a good heart can enjoy himself during 
a cold winter’s storm, if bis cattle are suffering 
from either want or exposure. Then, what a sad 
example for the farmer to set his sons, who, in a 
tew years, will manage farms of Their own, and 
carry out the lessons they learn at home. This 
consideration, if no other, should induce every 
one with sons looking to them for instruction and 
example, to do everything in the best way and at 
the boat time. Then will the sons learn wisdom, 
and the hearts of the fathers be made glad. 
A COMPLETE STOCK BARN-ELEVATION. 
So many inquiries are made for good plans of 
Stock Barns, that we are induced to give engrav¬ 
ings and a condensed description of the barn and 
sheds erected by Lewis F. Allrn, on his Grand 
Island Farm, from the Annual Register of Rural 
Affairs. ThiB barn is the old one, which we have 
before described in the Rural, reconstructed, its 
convenience having been proved by twenty years' 
use. 
The body of the main barn is 100 feet long by 
50 feet wide, the posts 18 feet high above the sill, 
making 0 bents. The beams ere 14 feet above the 
sills, which is the height of the inner posts. The 
position of the floor and bays is readily under¬ 
stood from the plan. The floor, for a grain barn 
ia 14 feet wide, but may be contracted to 12 feet 
for one exclusively for hay. The area in front of 
the bays i3 occupied with a stationary hevse-power 
aud with machinery for various farm opera:ions, 
such as threshing, shelling corn, enttiog straw. 
Crashing grain, Ac., all of which is driven by 
bands from drums on the horizontal shaft over¬ 
head, which runs across the floor from the horse¬ 
power on the other side; this shaft being driven 
by a cog wheel on the perpendicular shaft round 
which the horses travel. 
A passage tour feet wide extends between the 
bays and tbe stableB, which occupy the two wings. 
This extends up to the top of the bays, down which 
the hay is thrown for feeding, which renders this 
work as easy and convenient as possible. 
better understood, we would suggest that the space 
on these cross poles be reserved for its deposit from 
the elevator from threshing grain, or until space 
is made for it in one of the bays. 
A one sided roof is given to the 3heds, (instead 
of a double-sided,) to throw all the water on the 
outside, in order to keep the interior of the yards 
dry. Eave-tronghs take the water from the roofs 
to cistern?. Ihe cisterns, if connected by an un¬ 
derground pipe, may be all drawn fru m by a single 
pump if necessary. The quantity of water thus 
afforded appears to be much under estimated in 
the article accompany ing the description, where 
it is stated to be fixe hogsheads per annnm from 
a roof of ten feet square. Now, instead ot this 
smalt amount, no less than thirty-sixe hogsheads are 
yielded by three feet of water, the average annual 
fall in the Northern and Middle States—as a com¬ 
putation will at once show. 
The whole roof of t...e buildings, of the size 
here given, has over 12,000 sqnare feet of surface, 
if we estimate correctly; this would give, ss a 
daily average, twelve hogsheads of water, or twen¬ 
ty-four barrels—enough to water nearly a hundred 
head of cattle the year through. But if the cis¬ 
tern water were only ased dnritig the drouth of 
summer, there would be enough for three times 
this number. But as tbe whole yearly amount 
would be over four thousand hogsheads, the cis¬ 
terns shonid hold at least a fifth of this quantity, 
it used constantly, or more than half th s amoont 
I SPARE room 
■ 0,, 
I HOSPITAL 
>■ SPARE BOHR 
•" on 
$ HOSPITAL 
> L . — 
Hr, I |F 
_O --1 
—I “0p;e 
t • B 
— u f:»EB 
^ PARN l 
to VACUUM, 
GROUND FLAN. 
The floor of the main barn is three feet higher 
than that of the stables. This will allow a cellar 
under it,if desired—or a deeper extension of the 
bays—and it allows storage lofts over the cattle, 
with sufficient slope ot roof. A short flight of 
steps at the ends of each passage, admits easy ac¬ 
cess from the level of the burn floor. 
The line of' mangers is two feet wide. A manure 
window is placed at every twelve feet. The stalls 
are double; that is, for two animals each, which 
are held to their places by a rope and cbaiD, at¬ 
tached to a staple and ring at each corner of the 
stall. This mode is preferred to securing by 
stanchions. A pole or scantling, placed over their 
heads, prevents them from climbing wirh their 
feet into the mangers, which they are otherwise 
very apt to do. 
The sheds, which extend on the three sides of 
the barn, and touch it at the rear end, are on a 
level with the stable?. An inclined plane, from the 
main floor through the middle of the back shed, 
forms a rear egress for wagons and carts, de¬ 
scending three feet from the floor. The two rooms, 
one on each side of this rear passage, 16 by 34 
feet, may be used for housing .sick animals, cows 
about to calve, or any other purpose required. The 
stables at the front ends of the sheds are conven¬ 
ient for teams of horses or oxen, or they may be 
fitted for wagon houses, tool houses, or other pur¬ 
poses. The rooms, 16 feet square, at tbe inner 
corners of the sheds, may he used for weak ewes, 
Limbs, or for a ball stable. 
R icks or angers may be fitted up in the open 
sheds for feeding sheep or young cattle, and yards 
may be built adjoining, on the rear, six or eight in 
uumber, into which they may ran and be keptsep- 
iirate. Barred partitions may separate the differ¬ 
ent flocks. Bars may also enclose the opening in 
front, or they may, if required, be boarded up 
tight. Step ladders are placed at convenient in¬ 
tervals, for ascending the shed lofts. 
A granary over the machine room is entered by 
a flight of stairs. Poles extending from bay to bay, 
over the floor, will admit the storage of much ad¬ 
ditional hay or grain. As straw cannot be well 
kept when exposed to the weather, and is at the 
same time becoming more valuable as its uses are 
if used only in sqmmer. Very few men wonld 
make them one-quarter the required capacity.— 
This is a thing singularly overlooked. 
An important advantage of placing tie stables 
in the wings of the barn is, that it. obviates the 
common objection that liquid manure from the 
stalls rots the sills—the stable sills being compar- 
tively easily replaced if not under the main barn. 
FALL MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 
Many who have the care and management of 
this variety of domestic animals, and those, too, 
who take pride in their flocks and herds, commit a 
very serious error in compelling or permiuing 
them to roam the pastures and fields late in the 
fall, depending upon their pickings for subsistence, 
especially when the grass has lest the greater por¬ 
tion of its nutritive qualities from the effects of 
frost. Such a course should meet with the "righte¬ 
ous indignation" of every shepherd. Although 
sheep do net exhibit a loss of condition as quickly 
as other animals, snch treatment rapidly tells upon 
them, and they are brought to the yard with 
decreased stamina. Such a process is not economy 
but the reverse; by it the entire gain from the sum¬ 
mer food is rapidiy absorbed—sheep that are 
yarded in a declining state will be weak and feeble 
throngh the winter—they will come out poorly in 
spring, the fleece inferior, and another summer 
will be lostin attaining the condition they possessed 
this fall. The shepherd who wishes to pnetice 
true economy; who desires to make his flock pro¬ 
fitable, must give to them the best of care at this 
period of the year, and not alone now, bnt all sea¬ 
sons keep them from deteriorating. 
Food is the first requisite at the hands of the 
farmer or shepherd in meeting the requirements 
of the animal economy. A light daily foddering 
of bright clean hay , or a sheaf of oats from the 
present time until the snow covers the gronnd, will 
keep them In good heart, and in uo other way can 
a similar amonnt of fodder be disposed of to the 
same advantange. Remember, we have written 
bright clean hay ,—not that which has been trodden 
under foot, or exposed to the weather until it is 
not only innntritious, bat absolutely nauseating.— 
