TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR. 
PROGRESS AJSCD IMPROVEMENT.’ 
.SINGLE INTO. SIX CENTS. 
VOL. XV. NO. 4.5.1 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1864. 
{WHOLE NO. 773. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
CIIAHLES D. BKAGDON, Ajaoolate EdlU 
HENRY 8. RANDALI. LL. D, 
Sdltor Department of Bhoep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS I 
P. BARRY, C. DEWEY, LL. 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANGWORTHY. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed la Value, Purity, and Variety or Contents, and 
unique and beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes Ills personal attention to the supervision of its 
various departments, and earnestly labors to render 
the rural an eminently Sellable Guide on all the 
Important Practical, SclcntlHc and other Subjects Util¬ 
ization of producers and their united action in 
fixing the price of their own products, and meet¬ 
ing the action of commercial men with corres¬ 
ponding action looking to their otvn protection. 
We believe that each class should have a voice 
in making laws affecting its own interests. Com¬ 
mercial men arc so organized as to secure this 
voice. Other classes and interests have similar 
organizations lbr a simflar purpose. Farmers 
have no such organizations. Why not? Do 
they not need them? Is legislation always -mcli 
as to regard their wants and their rights? Do 
they allow their own interests to direct their 
votes at the ballot-box regardless of party, or 
influence their voices in the caucus which nomi¬ 
nates their representative? Rarely is this the 
case—so rarely that, as a class, they receive little 
attention and a good deal of unfeigned contempt 
mately connected with the business of uiose whose 1 when any legislation is asked ; : by them. 
Interests It zealously advocates. As a Family Journal 
it la eminently fastrucUve and Entertaining—being so 
conducted that It can be safely taken to the Homes of 
people of Intelligence, taste and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Mailer, interspersed 
with appropriate Engravings, than any other journal- 
rendering H the most complete agricultural Litk- 
RARY AND FAMUY Nkwspapkr In America, 
run Subsciuii.on Prick of the BuitAL is $3.00 per 
annum. For particulars as to Terms see last page. 
CURRENT TOPICS DISCUSSED. 
How to Keep Roots. 
A correspondent asks about the best 
method of storing roots so as to prevent their rot¬ 
ting. Says he has lost his crop two or three sea¬ 
sons when stored in his cellar. Terhaps his cellar 
is damp. It may be too warm; or it is possible he 
put his roots in the cellar damp and dirty, and 
in too large a bulk, without giving them the 
proper ventilation. Roots should not be allowed 
to freeze after they are stored, neither should 
they be allowed to heat. Roots should not be 
thrown in bulk uu the cellar bottom. Provision 
for the circulation of air underneath them and 
up through them should be made. If put in a 
bin the bottom of the bin should be elevated and 
open; and if it is large the practice of placing 
poles or scantlings upright through the bin as a 
means of ventilation is a good one. It is better 
to bury roots out-of-doors than put them in a 
ceUar which cannot be kept cool by ventilation, 
and which is not dry. Every farmer who feeds 
roots to stock should have a root cellar in con¬ 
nection with his barns. We have seen store¬ 
rooms for roots made in the center of a bay 
where they could be kept sufficiently warm and 
Vet dry. It is often the case that roots are dug 
too early in the season. The best time depends 
somewhat on the condition of the soil. If dry, 
elevated soil, we should risk them as late as pos¬ 
sible and not allow them to be injured by freez¬ 
ing; if wet and low, where water will stand, 
dig as soon as the water begins to stand on the 
surface, or before. Again, roots decay from 
being stored in a filthy condition. They will 
beep better if perfectly clean and dry when 
stored, and if not dug at a time wbeu the soU 
does not adhere to them, they should be washed, 
spread and dried before storing. If we had 
other roots for winter feeding vve should let the 
parsnips remain in the ground for spring feed¬ 
ing. And we may say here that we think the 
parsnip one of the most profitable roots to raise 
for feeding. 
Farmers' Organizations. 
We did not suppose, at this late day, that 
any one questioned the advantages of Associa¬ 
tion and Organization among farmers. But a 
correspondent writes to one of the editors of the 
Rural, “ I find that the merchants in our town 
is a good time now to organize, and inquire a 
directly into the character of the men who are i 
seeking to become your representative legis- c 
lators, and exact such pledges from them as 
your interests seem to demand. Don't let them 1 
be any evading the question on their [ art, 
the Tobacco Worm. 
J. X. T. G. of Chazy, N. Y., writes:—“ WiU ' 
you or some of your numerous contributors in- j 
form me the name of this ‘worm’ which I , 
send you ? Is it the * Horn Worm ’ spoken of in , 
Saxton’s Tobacco Manual? 1 was lucky enough ( 
to find the little scamp on a stalk of tobacco not , 
long ago. He appeared to be eating the plant, 
and I also noticed several other plants badly 
eaten. Whether this little depredator has done 
all the mischief or not I am not able to tell’’ 
The worm you send us is the tobacco worm— 
j probably the “ horn worm ” mentioned in Sax- 
ion’s work—which we do not happen to have 
before us—the larva of the moth known to 
naturalists as the Sphinx Carolina. It eats the 
plant very rapidly and must be vigilantly 
watched and destroyed or it will greatly injure 
if not destroy the crop. This worm resembles 
the potato worm— Sphinx quinquanaculaVas— 
which infests the potato as much as this does 
tobacco. In the tobacco .growing countries it is 
the practice to go over the vines daily during the 
period these worms work and destroy them— 
crush them in the hand or otherwise. They have 
a liking for the best leaves of the plants and 
quickly destroy them. 
The Autumn Leaves. 
What are you doing with them? Do you 
let the wind blow them hither and thither ? Do 
you not know they are weU worth gathering, 
saving and using? To-day, during a ride, we 
saw German women raking them up by the 
road-side and filling bags with them. A wagon 
stood near, and they were to be taken to the 
suburban garden to help make early and crisp 
vegetables for city-folks. The Germans are 
systematic economists. They know that these 
leaves contain inorganic matter necessary to 
plants—that it cannot be got so easily and 
abundantly in any other form—that for compost, 
litter for hog pens, horse stables, sheep sheds, 
etc., there is nothing better—that for use in hot¬ 
beds In spring they arc worth ten times the cost 
of gathering. And yet there are many farmers 
who wUl pay a great deal more for a foreign fer¬ 
tilizer which will not yield them so much real 
profit as the leaves that cover the ground and 
which may be had for the gathering. Gather, 
store, and use the Autumn leaves. 
“ Are Cows Profitable!” 
Julia, of Portage, writes thus:—“I saw this 
question asked in a recent 'number of the Rural, 
Sow the Fall-plowed Lands. 
We have often heard farmers urge as an 
objection to fall plowing that the winds of winter 
blow the best of the soil away, and in uneven 
sections the rains wash the land too much. 
There is a practice which meets this objection 
“ and more too ” — “ more too ” because it adds 
to the productiveness of the -oil the next season. 
We need not tell our readers how much benefit 
the action of frost is to deeply stirred stiff soils. 
Sow such plowed lands with winter grain—rye 
is best we think—and your soU will not wash 
nor blow away, and the green crop in spring, 
plowed under, will be both a mechanical benefit 
to the soil and a manuriai benefit to the crop. 
It is not too late now to so seed your faU*plowed 
lands, though, unless the fall continues open 
longer than we fear it wilt, the advantage of 
winter forage will not be realized. This is 
another important consideration in climates 
where little snow falls, and stock can graze 
during winter. 
Salting and Packing Pork. 
A correspondent of the American Agri¬ 
culturist gives his pruciice as follows:—" I wiU 
teU you my mode after an experience of forty 
years. I aUow the hogs to cool after killing; 
take out the bones (rib and spine); cut off the 
hams and shoulders; then cut the side pork into 
pieces of convenient width; put in a quantity of 
salt in the bottom of the cask; then pat in a 
course of meat, laying the pieces on the edges; 
then a covering oi salt; then another course of 
meat, and so on until the cask is full. The 
whole is earefuUy kept covered with brine as 
strong as salt and boiling water will make, skim¬ 
ming the boiling brine so long as anything rises. 
The brine is put on cold, and I am careful to 
know that there is always undissolved salt in 
the barrel. It is not found, necessary to scald 
the brine in spring. I sometimes use saltpetre, 
and sometimes not. Hams and shoulders are 
saited in separate casks.” 
Salting Stock 
'fcwp 
EDITED BY HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL. D. 
SELECTION OF RAMS. 
It is a well settled fact among Merino sheep 
breeders, that it is vastly easier to breed prime 
ewes than prime rams. In pure blood flocks, 
and those which have been steadily bred to a 
single standard through a number of genera¬ 
tions, the chance of obtaining choice rams is 
greater; but even in these, the per centage of 
them is much smaUer than would be naturally, 
and, one would think, reasonably expected. 
Ten prime Merino rams in a hundred would be 
a very large per centage; and even then the 
term "prime” would be only a relative one, 
not indicating the first class of excellence. The 
best five of the ten would be very visibly supe¬ 
rior to the other five: the best one of the best 
five would perhaps be worth more than the 
other four! And it would be most remarkable 
if the best animal of the whole hundred was not, 
in some one, if not more, particulars, below the 
highest standard of excellence. 
In selecting a ran? for breed:r.g purposes, few, 
then, can expect to obtain absolute excellence 
in all points. This being the case, the most 
skillful selection consists in procuring the ani¬ 
mal which has fewest faults, and whose good 
points are most likely to counteract the bail 
points of the dam in their progeny. Like pro¬ 
duces like. If sire and dam possess the same 
defective point, no improvement in that point 
can be reasonably expected to appear in the 
progeny. All observation shows that in such 
cases the fault is likely to be increased, or aggra¬ 
vated, in the progeny. In selecting rams, the 
greatest care, then, should be taken that they 
do not possess tee same defects with the ewes 
which they are to be coupled with. If, for ex¬ 
ample, the ewes are too long In the leg, or too 
flat in the rib, the ram should not exhibit the 
A correspondent of the Iowa Homestead sam e points: he should be short in the leg and 
has concluded not to give his cattle any more 
salt because it seems a waste of money, inas¬ 
much as his stock is quite as fat and sleek as 
when he fed salt. He is sure they wiU do quite 
as well without It and calls i: “ a consideration ” 
when the article is worth $4 per bbl., as it is 
with him. So it is; and It may be that the char¬ 
acter of the food this man’s stock gets is such as 
to render salt less necessary than with different 
food. We believe a moderate quantity of stilt, 
occasionally, promotive of the health and thrift 
of animals. That it is a direct agent in fatten¬ 
ing an animal, other than as it sharpens the ape- 
tite and makes him feed better, we do not be¬ 
lieve. It is well to experiment in this matter 
and obtain facts and figures. 
Storing Corn stalks. 
A farmer said to us the other day that he 
had been unable to keep well cured corn-stalks 
in a mow when he packed them away solid, but 
he had found no difficulty whatever in keeping 
them in excellent condition if he set them up on 
the buts, no matter how closely. They require 
ventilation, and it is easiest obtained In this way. 
It is his practice to cut hi> -talks and bind them 
in small bundles so that they can be easily 
handled w ith a fork, and then he finds no diffi¬ 
culty in storing them compactly> as above 
described, and having them in condition for cattle 
bo relish when they come to eat them. But he 
t.ays they cannot be saved stored horizontally. 
Sugar and Corpulence. 
Alderman Mev'hi relates experiments 
and facts proving that eating sugar produces 
which I will auswei by telling what I ha\e opulence, or at least increases it, and leaving 
done since tho first of Ast April from four cows 
—our best cow not coming in until the last of 
hold regular meetings at which they not only June,—and if yon think it worth noticing in 
fix tho prices they will ask for their goods but y° ur columns you can do so and let people judge 
also the amount they will pay for our products 10r themselves. I have sold four hundred 
wheu we oiler them. In this way they dictate to pounds of butter, made two hundred pounds of 
and rule us. Do you not think it would bean cheese, besides supplying a family averaging 
advantage for farmers to unite not only to dls- lour, with all the butter, cream and milk wished 
cuss matters relating to husbandry, but to deter- Iar » aiu * still making from twenty to twenty- 
mine what prices we shall ask for our products?” five pounds of butter a week. We have also 
Of course we do! We hr.ve repeatedly said so raised four calves and twenty-two pigs on the 
in those columns. It is all nonsense to talk of nril-k.” 
the impropriety of arraying class against class. —Will Julia please inform us what kind of 
They are so arrayed—if not openly and avowedly, feed her cows have had, and whether they 
really. >\ e do uot advise aggression, or the belong to any distinctive breed other than the 
losing sight of the fact that each class is depend- u milk breed ?’’ You do right in raising calves 
ent upon another, but we do advocate the organ- from such cows. 
off eating reduces it. The ready solubility of 
saccharine matter permits it to be absorbed im¬ 
mediately by the system. This suggestion 
should not be lost upon those who are fattening 
animals—the food containing the most saccha¬ 
rine matter should be selected. 
his ribs well arched. His faults, whatever 
they are, should be in those particulars where 
the ewes are most perfect. 
In carrying out this principle of offsetting 
opposite qualities, characteristics which might, 
in the abstract, be regarded as defects, some¬ 
times have the effect of exeeUencies. To illus¬ 
trate: a good share of yolkiness of fleece is 
regarded as a desideratum by Merino breeders. 
All breeders of sound judgment admit, however, 
that an excess of yolkiness is a defect. Now, if 
a ram, exhibiting excessive yolkiness, is coupled 
with ewes exhibiting excessive dryness of wool, 
and if the progeny is half icay between the 
parents in this particular, it wiU be nearer the 
right standard than would be a progeny half 
way between such ewes and a ram exhibiting 
just the proper amount of yolk. The same is 
true in coupling an excessively “ wrinkly’’ ram 
with ewes destitute of aU wrinkles, &c., &c. It 
Is very true that progeny rarely if ever thus 
make an exact mathematical division in inherit¬ 
ing a point or quality from ancestors—taking 
just half from each parent. But there is some 
division of this kind; each parent transmits a 
portion or degree of each of its own points or 
qualities to its offspring—so that the principle 
laid down holds good. 
There are certain general points of exceUence 
in a Merino ram which ought never to be dis¬ 
pensed with under any circumstances. The 
first point of all, in our judgment, is constitution. 
This is absolutely necessary to preserve life—to 
obviate the necessity of extra care and skiU in 
management—and to insure that vigorous dis¬ 
charge of the vital functions on which the 
copious and steady supply of animal products 
depends. The constitution is generally indi¬ 
cated by the form. Low, round, deep, compact 
McH: i sheep, fuU in the bosom, crops and 
twist, with short and thick necks and heads, 
and itood sized bones, possess the best constitu- 
tutious. The next point is fleece. It should 
I have that combination of length and thickness 
sity as it does the back. It should “block,” 
to use the common phrase of breeders, on the 
beUy—i. e., arrange itself into adhering “blocks” 
or masses, as it does on the back. The inside of 
the legs should be well covered—the naked sur¬ 
faces of those parts being only large enough to 
admit of freedom of movement. The beUy 
wool should run back to the base of the scrotum 
and unite with the wool on the iatter. The 
scrotum should be entirely covered with wool 
in front and rear, and if that wool is compact 
enough to “ block,” or to make a considerable 
approach toward “ blocking,” it is. a very fine 
point. The forehead should be eovered with 
dense, long “blocked” wool, descending from 
an inch and a half to two inches below the eyes 
and there terminating abruptly in long wool— 
not in wool gradually shortening down to a half 
or quarter inch, as is often seen, even on supe¬ 
rior animals. The space between the eyes and 
the roots of the horns should also be com¬ 
pletely fiUed with long, dense “blocked” wool. 
The fleece should fill up clcse under the chops 
and rise high enough on the cheeks to leave 
merely the front face uncovered. When the 
wool is at fuU length, the eye should be barely 
visible. Fashion now requires that the legs 
shall be well covered with wool down to the 
pasterns. 
1 The fleece should be exceedingly firm, or, 
:■ in barn-yard parlance, “ beard v,” (i. e., feel 
■ as firm as a board.) under the grasp cf the hand, 
I but it should not in mild weather (if ever) have 
l a hard, rough, or crusty feel. The wool should 
■ not be stuck together or hlccked in large masses 
: —nor, on the other hand, divided into little 
J round ones, ending in points, or in small, round, 
i or flattened masses of yolk. The former eondi- 
1 tion indicates harsh wool, the latter a fleece 
• Licking in density. Some block, indurated out- 
} side yolk on the back and side?, and more of it 
i under the neck, inside of the legs, and on the 
s scrotum, are generally preferred. But a deeply 
- penetrating, W3xy, or stiff crust of it—or great 
> globular masses of it adhering to the ends ot the 
e J wool, on the back and sides of the sheep, are 
I considered objectionable by the best breeders,— 
r unless the object, as already stated, is to cross 
e mch a ram with ewes very destitute of yolk. 
The wool should open "free” — !, e., not be 
g stuck together with yolk, or have a naturally 
t, tangled or interwoven arrangement of the 
;- fibers. When opened, it should have an oily, 
s- brilliant appearance—a mellow, silky touch— 
is and eight breeders out of ten now prefer that it 
?. should exhibit a bright, golden tint. The crimp 
r, should be fine, regular, and extend from root to 
if point. A high or strongly marked crimp is 
:d very showy, but it is not Indispensable. The 
1, quality should be even and good, but not quite 
le so fine as is wished in the ewes of the flock, 
le Hairs in the wool are objectionable even on the 
Jf “wrinkles.” They are very objectionable In 
ig other parts of the fleece, 
is The degree of “wrinkliness ” which a ram 
m should exhibit Is not exactly a settled point, but 
It the most eminent breeders of our acquaintance 
us eenerally prefer that he should have large folds 
it- on and especially under the neck—a deep, pen- 
ig dulous fold on the brisket—a short fold or two 
ae back of the elbow—some smaU folds on the 
a breech, which extend partly round the thighs— 
or and stiU smaUer ones on the flanks and taii, 
de giving to both a corrugated appearance, and to 
the latter much more than its natural breadth, 
ee No folds are desired on the back and sides, unless 
is- they are little “ wire wrinkles” of the si 2 e of a 
he goose quill, which are entirely soft to the touch, 
n. and which pifil out smooth under the shears, 
to Such, covering the whole body, are highly 
in prized, as they exhibit an excessive looseness of 
is- skin. As, however, many persons now pos- 
he sessing flocks almost wholly destitute of wrin- 
cts kies, desire excessively wrinkled rams — those 
dt- wrinkled all over their sides—they are in great 
net demand. 
,nd The best size of carcass depends somewhat 
ds. upon circumstances. Rich clover lands, like 
tu- those of Western New York, caU for a heavier 
uld sheep than bleak, sterile highlands. As a gen- 
ess eral thing the ram should represent relatively 
Keeping Cider. 
A Mr. Hillsboro -aid. a: tue Farmer's 
Club recently, that the iv-r barrel of cider he 
ever saw had a handful A alum put in it in 
November. It did not rein.tiu sweet, but the 
next summer was a most delicious drink. And 
mother gentleman recommended the use. of 
isinglass, both in the purification of cider and 
native wines. We have also seen flax-seed 
recommended. 
which indicates, or rather produces, the greatest the size of carcass which the breeder is seeking 
weighL This last is never attained with the to attain—for, usually, the ram has much more 
maximum of either those characteristics—ex- tc* do in influencing the siie of the posterity 
ccssively long wool a’.'vm* lacking thickness, than has the ewe. But when the ram is either 
and excessively thick wool always lacking smaller or larger than his own ancestors, he may 
length. The length of the heaviest Merino frequently be trusted to give their size to his 
rams' fleeces on record has, thus far, averaged offspring instead of his own. Extremes in size 
about two and a half inches. should generally be avoided. 
The wool of the ram should, if possible, cover We have already spoken generally of term, 
the bellv and legs with as much length and den- Some additional points may be added. The 
