AGRJCULTURfT 
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MOOEE’S EHEAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
About Transplanting Tobacco. 
C. C. O. asks: — “How large ought the 
plants to be before being transplanted?” Op¬ 
portunely, we have just received an Essay* 
on this subject, recently published. This work 
purports to have been prepared by a prac¬ 
tical man, who says, about transplanting: — 
“ Taking up the plants for setting is done with 
any sharp instrument that will enter the ground 
easily. A common table fork, or a piece of ham 
wood whittled as a spade, will answer. Care 
should be used in taking up the plants that the 
roots are not broken off. The plants preferred 
for setting are those which have leaves about 
three inches in length; but it is better to set 
much smaller plants if the season is favorable, 
than to wait for the plant to grow larger. A 
small plant set early will do better than a largo 
plant set late. The plants when taken from 
tho bed, should be placed carefully in a basket 
to be carried to the held; they are then dropped 
upon the hills prepared for them, by a boy, who 
will precede the setters a few yards. Trans¬ 
planting should be done on a rainy or damp, 
misty day, to be most successful. This is 
always advisable when such days occur, but if 
the time of setting is getting late, ami the plants 
are large enough, setting may be done in dry 
weather by using water freely. It has been 
found best to water the ground before putting 
in the plants, in this way: — Make a hole in the 
center of the hill prepared for the plant, with 
the heel of the foot, and pour into it from half 
to a pint of water; let the water soak into the 
ground a little and then set the plants. Tills 
process will require more labor, and is no better 
than the damp days. To make the dry weather 
setting more safe, the plants may be covered for 
a few days, with a little grass or green leaves, 
which should be taken off as soon as the plant 
lias taken root and begins to grow. 
GLEANINGS IN READING. 
18-27 ;* in January below freezing point 23 12-21, 
below zero 1 17-21. f The mortality among 
sheep in this State was unusually large, but far 
less than in New Hampshire. 7t was very 
capricious in its theaters of visitation. In the 
same county and even in the same town, many 
flocks—perhaps about half of them—'lid as well 
as usual, while others in the same vicinity lost 
five, ten, or fifteen per cent, of their number. 
This was probably generally attributable to the 
difference in care and treatment. The sheep 
hay was generatly inferior. A severe spring 
drouth checked the growth of meadow grass. 
This was followed by almost constant rains 
which brought it forward with unnatural ra¬ 
pidity, so that however well cured, it lacked 
substance and nutritiousness. When, therefore, 
grain was not fed to sheep, and fed to them 
in time, the old and feeble ones perished and 
the tegs suffered severely. 
We have not received sufficient returns of the 
wintering of sheep in Pennsylvania, to make its 
December and January temperature a matter 
of much interest in this connection. Meager 
returns from the south-eastern portion of the 
Slate indicate, that in same localities, at least, 
the hay crop of the preceding summer was ren¬ 
dered light by drouth: that the lateness of the 
present Spring caused a great scarcity of fodder; 
and that consequently more sheep than usual 
were tost, and the survivors reached grass in a 
thin condition. 
At eighteen points of observation in Ohio, 
(College Hill at Wilson, Coliege Hill at Hammit, 
New Lisbon, Roekport, Welshfield, Austinburg, 
Westerville, Hillsborough, Portsmouth, Bow¬ 
ling Green, Cleveland, East Fairfield, Frbana, 
Kingston, Kelley Island, Cincinnati and Eaton.) 
the average number of days in which the mer¬ 
cury was below tbe freezing point was 1910-XS; 
j below zero. 1: in January, below freezing 
point 21 2-15, below zero 4 4-1-3. t Thus, ac¬ 
cording to these data, Ohio was colder than 
New York in January—which, we take it, is a 
very unusual circumstance. We have not heard 
very fully from Southern and South-Eastern 
I Ohio, but as far as our information extends, 
: sheep wintered in that State about as well as 
* usual. 
In all the North-Western State: 
Salt for Boot Crops.—'We notice that testi¬ 
mony accumulates in our Irish exchanges in 
favor of salt as a manure for root crops,— for 
carrots particularly. It is applied to the soil 
broadcast the year previous to cropping, at the 
rate of one thousand pounds per statute acre. 
Clover for Coics. —The JV. E Farmer states 
that Mr. John Day, of Boxford, Mass., who 
cuts large quantities of clover, feeds it out prin¬ 
cipally to his milch cows, and he finds that 
when the clover is exhausted, and he feeds 
timothy and red top, “twenty cows immediately 
shrink two cans of milk per day.’’ 
Hire-items in Loose Soil.—We see it asserted 
that wire-worms work first in loose soil, and that 
if the soil is packed by driving sheep over the 
ground, the worm will keep out of it. Why not 
use the roller on com land then? Unfortu¬ 
nately, we do not think the experience of a ma¬ 
jority of farmers will sustain the proposition. 
“ Cattle Melon." —The English and Irish agri¬ 
culturists are getting excited over what they 
call the “ Cattle Melon,” which, it seems, was 
introduced there from the IToosier State, Indi¬ 
ana. There seems to be a great demand for seed 
with but little supply. This “ Cattle Melon ” is 
known to botanists as Cucurbita Besso. Some of 
our readers may be acquainted with it. Its 
common name iu this country is written- 
Bumpkin! It is no* unfrequently fed to stock; 
aud humans do not dislike it if make into pies. 
The Best Feed for Poultry. — The Working 
Farmer -ays: — The cheapest and most advan¬ 
tageous food to use .'or fattening every descrip¬ 
tion of poultry is gmund outs. These must not 
be confounded with oatmeal, or with ordinary- 
ground oats: the whole of the grain is ground to 
a fine powder; nothing of any kind is taken from 
it. AYhen it is properly ground, one bushel of 
the meal will more effectually fatten poultry 
than a bushel and a half of any other meal. 
The greatest point in fattening poultry is to feed 
them at daybreak. 
Hungarian Crass for Sheep, —A correspondent 
of the Ohio Fanner tried the experiment of feed¬ 
ing one lot of his sheep with corn and fodder, and 
another with Hungarian grass. “Tho result 
was, those wintered on the Hungarian hay came 
through the winter much better tbau those 
fed on corn, Ac., and the hay is a great deal 
cheaper to raise than corn, and much easier fed; 
and oue acre of this hay will feed further than 
two acres of corn fed in the usual way.’’ He 
grew four acres of this grass which yielded four 
tuns to the acre, he asserts. 
Early Food for Bees.—Dr. Pennington, of 
Illinois, writing, in the Brairie Farmer, of the 
importance of producing pasture or food for 
bees at least two weeks before the early spring 
blossoms appear, says:—“There aro many that 
use flour, rye or wheat, (generally unbolted.) I 
hope such will give their experience as to its 
utility. Having used it myself, say from 50 to 
100 lbs. to 100 hives, daily for at least ten suc¬ 
cessive days, (such as the bees can work.) I can 
but report favorably, so far as 1 have been able 
to judge of its use. I noticed, however, about 
the tenth day. a floury discharge from the bees, 
after which 1 discontinued its me. This was 
about the time when the first flowers appeared. 
I think there is no question as to its utility iu 
preventing robbery and in supporting the young, 
but how much can be safely and profitably used 
is a question which those engaged iu bee culture 
should better understand.” 
The Royal Hairy House, — Chas. S. Flint, 
Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of 
Agriculture, describes the dairy-house erected 
by Queen Victoria’s late husband:—“Tbe 
milk-room is thirty -six. by twenty, and twenty 
feet high, the roof resting upon pillars. The 
shelves all around are marble, and the tables iu 
the middle ‘all marble.’ The pans and dishes 
are all porcelain, china or glass. The floor, the 
walls, the ceilings, are all porcelain, the floor 
and roof in the form of tiles, the latter having 
openings for ventilation. The porcelain on the 
walls is white. In the cornicing and other orna¬ 
mental parts it is embossed and eolored. Tho 
whole is perfect in form, coloring and lustre. 
The pans were full of the richest milk, covered 
with the yellowest coating of cream. The 
obliging maid gave us as much as we could 
drink. Around the walls, beautifully painted 
upon china, were likenesses of all the royal 
family, the children represented in the midst of 
the quiet, beautiful scenes of country life. The 
name of each was placed beneath.” 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
OH A RI.KS II. BRAODOM, AsHoelate Editor, 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D„ 
Editor Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS! 
P. BARRY, C. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANGWORTUY. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. — >Ir. RANDALL’S address Is 
Cortland Village, Cortland Co., N. Y. All communica¬ 
tions Intended for this Department, and all inquiries 
relating to sheep, should be addressed to him as above. 
The Rural New-Yorkrh is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed lu Value, Purity, and Variety oi Contents, and 
unique aud beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes Ills personal attention to the supervision of lu 
various departments, and earnestly lat«>rs to render 
the Rural an eminently Reliable Guide ou all the 
Important Practical, Scientific ami other Subjects Inti¬ 
mately connected with the business of those whose 
Interests It zealously advocates. As a Family Journal 
it Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining —being so 
conducted that it can be safely taken to the Homes oi 
pesple of Intelligence, taste and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate Engravings, than any other Journal,- 
renderlng It the most complete agricultural Lite¬ 
rary and Family Newspaper in America. 
HOW SHEEP HAVE WINTERED, 
The winter of 1863-4 was one of uncommon 
severity in the Western, ami uncommon mild¬ 
ness in the Eastern States. In the intermediate 
regions it more nearly approached the average 
temperature; though Ohio had considerably 
more and New York considerably less cold 
weather than usual. 
So far as we can leara, both extremes of tem¬ 
perature have been accompanied by an unusual 
loss of sheep. In the wool growing regions of 
New England, large numbers have perished— 
the mortality culminating in New Hampshire. 
Here, as elsewhere, the loss was not due to the 
weather alone—though it is considered a well 
settled fact among experienced American dock- 
masters, that no winter is more unfavorable to 
sheep than a very mild, open one, attended with 1 
frequent, rapid and brief changes to severe cold— | 
that sack weather is greatly more destructive 
than the intensest sternly cold. It appears from 
the Meteorological Report of the Smithsonian 
Institute,* that at four points of observation in • 
New Hampshire. (Claremont, Littleton. North 
Littleton and Stratford,) the average number of j 
days in the month of December at which the 
mercury in the thermometer was below the 
freezing point was 28, below zero Cf; in Jan¬ 
uary, below freezing point 29, below zero, same 
as preceding. There was a material deficiency 
The Lowest Subsciption Trice of the Rural is 
Two Dollars a Year. For particulars see last page. 
CURRENT TOPICS DISCUSSED, 
To Dissolve Bones. 
Josiaii Bailey writes us:— “T would like 
to learn, through your columns, how to dissolve 
bones; and about how long it would take to 
dissolve any given quantity.” There are vari¬ 
ous ways. If you have a* large kettle conven¬ 
ient to a steam engine, put your bones in it, and 
inject, into the kettle hot steam. It is the quick¬ 
est mode of dissolving bones we know of, and 
does it perfectly, making a very line paste of 
them in a very short space of time. 
Another way, where the above is not prac¬ 
ticable, is to break up the bones as fine as 
possible, aud pack alternate layers of the broken 
bones and strong, uuletiehed wood ashes in an 
old hogshead. Then keep wet, but not so wet 
as to leach, and all except the hardest will turn 
to paste in six or eight weeks. Some writers 
claim that nine to twelve months is necessary to 
dissolve bones by tills method; but we have 
seen most of them dissolved iu the time above 
named. The layers should each be four inehes 
thick. In order to fix tlie ammonia, add a small 
quantity of sulphuric acid occasionally, which 
will materially increase the value of the ma¬ 
nure. 
There is another excellent and quicker mode 
than that detailed last, given iu the English 
Journal of Agriculture in 1851, which will not 
be out of place here:- “Get a joiner to put 
together a rough box sav eight feet long by two 
feet six inehes or three feet high, aud three feet 
wide, dovetailed and Joined with white lead. 
The box prepared, put in the water of the prep¬ 
aration first, then tlie sulphuric acid, allowing 
one-half more bulk of water than acid, and one- 
half legs weight of acid than bones; that is. to a 
gallon of acid allow a gallon and a half of water, 
and to 100 pounds of bones, allow 50 pounds of 
acid. To the water and acid the bones must 
now bo added—finely broken up into half-inch 
fragments or less—mixing the whole intimately 
and equally. TJiis done, cover up the box with 
straw or old sacks laid on pieces of wood, or 
have a rough, wooden lid to the box, and allow 
the whole to stand untouched forty-eight hours. 
The process of manufacture will then bo com¬ 
plete, 
“In anticipation of its necessity 1 would 
recommend the careful accumulation of house 
ashes during tho year kept in some dry place. 
"hen the operation above detailed is completed, 
put the ashes in a heap in a convenient position 
relative to tho box; make there a basin at the 
lop ot the heap, aud lift the dissolved bones out 
of the box, placing them in the basin. Turn 
over the entire heap with shovels, two or three 
times till the whole is mixed, and the prepares 
is, with perhaps 
the exception of Michigan—viz., in Indiana, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa. Minnesota, 
Kansas and Nebraska — the weather was in¬ 
tensely inclement, and except in Indiana, the 
severe cold commenced in December. We have 
not space here for further meteorological records. 
The Western corn crop, it will be remembered, 
was greatly damaged last year by late frosts. 
This and the severity of the winter, rendered 
sheep feed scarce and high—and the ordinarily 
managed flocks in all those States, it is under¬ 
stood, have lost a considerable per eentage of 
their number. 
In California, the winter rains, which usually 
set iu a little before the first of December, were 
entirely Avanting until about the middle of 
March, so that the w inter grazing (solely relied 
on for the winter subsistence of sheep) was re¬ 
duced to famine limits. Cattle perished by 
thousands, particularly in the southern coun¬ 
ties. They were iu some instances driven fif¬ 
teen or twenty miles to water once or twice a 
week, and then driven back to their pastures on 
the shaded sides of the mountains. Sheep will 
bear the horrors of drouth vastly better than 
cattle, but it is not to be doubted that they too 
have suffered great losses. 
We have made earnest but ineffectual efforts 
to obtain more comprehensive aud more exact 
statistics of the wintering of our sheep. From 
those collected, it is obvious that the winter of 
1863-4 has been a peculiarly destructive one to 
these animals throughout immense portions of 
the United States. And those which survived, 
but which came into the Spring in poor condi¬ 
tion, may be expected to yield lighter fleeces 
than usual: so that, taking the whole country 
together, we anticipate a smaller yield of wool, 
in proportion to the number of sheep shorn, 
than in 1863. 
ROW THE PLANT SHOULD LOOK TRANSPLANTED. 
“ To set the plant, make a hole in the prepared 
hill with two lingers. Fold the outer leaves of 
the plant together over the center ones, or bud, 
then set it. Care should be taken that the roots 
extend the whole length into tho hole, and the 
earth well pressed about them, and press the 
loose earth lightly ahout tbe base of the leaves 
to keep them in an erect position. This plan of 
setting keeps the buds from the rays of the sun, 
and also secures more moisture about the roots. 
“The first week in .June is tho best time for 
setting iu New* York State; the time will not 
differ much in any of the Middle States; and 
from this time to tho 20th or 25th of the month 
plants may be set Plants set later than this 
w ill not be likely to attain so good a growth 
unless under very favorable circumstances. 
“After tho plants are set it will be found 
necessary to go over the ground again to fill up 
tho vacancies that nmv occur. Some of the 
plants may not live, and may lie destroyed by 
the grub worm [seo Rural, page 150, for rem¬ 
edy 1 after they have takeu root and begun to 
grow. * * * * * 
“ As a matter of convenience, it has been found 
best, when setting out the plants, to set every 
tenth hill with two plants, say >i v inches apart, 
from which plants vacancies can be supplied 
during the first hoeing, which is considered a 
good time to fill up where plants have failed; 
the plant, if a large one, can then be set with 
a hoe, after making a hole for it in its place by 
using tbe hoe as a spade, and taking up earth 
with tho plant, so as not to retard tho 
growth. If the weather is favorable for re¬ 
setting, do not wait till time of hoeing.” 
* That is, the mercury was at zero but 18 times 
during the month in 27 places In 20 places (if we 
include White Plains and Schenectady) it did uot 
touch zero during tho month. 
tin six of the places named (generally places of 
comparatively mild temperature) the record was uot 
kept, in January, and we have accordingly presented 
the average of only twenty-one places. 
7 The January returns are not full from four of the 
places mentioned, and they are not included in the 
average¬ 
’s For which we are indebted to the Bi Monthly Re¬ 
port of the Agricultural Department for March and 
April. 1S64. 
t There are no December records for White Plains 
and Schenectady, but this does not probably vary the 
average result. 
* Tobacco Culture, adapted to thenorthern section 
of the United States, aud the most improved method 
of managing a crop to lit it for market Published 
by Chas. W. Cornell, Syracuse, N. Y. 
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