TJERIVES, $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
“PROGRESS AND UVEPROVEMEISTr.” 
[SZNTQ-IjK no. six cents. 
VOL. XV. NO. 46.} 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1864. 
1 WHOLE NO. 774. 
MOORE’S RUSAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
CHARLES I». ItRAGIHIN, Aiooclotc Editor. 
HENRY 8. RAN D AT.T, LL. D„ 
Bettor Department of BAoep Hasbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORSI 
P. BARRY, C. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANGWORTHY. 
TUB Rural Nbw-Yorkbb is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety or Contents, and 
unique and beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes ids personal attention to the supervision of Its 
various departments, and earnestly labors to render 
the Rural an eminently Reliable Guide on 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 
I t Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining—being so 
conducte<I that It eau lie Bafely taken to the ironic* of 
people of Intelligence, taste and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate Engravings, than any other Journal,— 
rendering It the most complete Aobiceltural Litx- 
rary and FAsrn.Y Nkwsfapzr In America. 
gtitttUanaJ. 
CURRENT TOPICS DISCUSSED. 
Ventilation of Stables. 
How do you ventilate you stables? Has 
the farmer, who reads this, ever given his 
thought to this subject? If not, wbv not? 
Onoe, when burns and stables were neither 
clapboarded nor battened — when the siding 
was put on greer, nailed to girts, and allowed 
to season, shrinking, leaving cracks a half or 
three-quarters of an inch thick between, there 
was no need of agitating this subject of ventila¬ 
tion, Theu the farmer was smart who suc¬ 
ceeded in getting ilia stable Honrs cleared during 
the winter; but now' the other extreme is 
reached, and there arc many stables In which 
water does not freeze from November to May, 
if they are kept close. Many of these stables 
are unprovided with any means of ventilation, 
except, perhaps, the windows, which, if opened, 
admit cold currents of air directly upon the 
animals. Such a mode of supplying air is far 
from the best, though it is better so to supply 
them than that, they should breathe over ami over 
the vitiated air of a dose stable which contains 
from a score to throe-score head of cattle. It is 
no difficult matter to provide for the supply of 
pure air, and for the escape of the impure. The 
pure air should be admitted above, yet near the 
floor. This may be done by wooden tubes pass¬ 
ing through beneath the floor and to the open 
air. We have seen some stables which were 
supplied by such tubes connecting with au ad¬ 
joining carriage-room, or tool-room, which was 
frequently open, thus securing air of a some¬ 
what modified temperature. Hut, as a rule, we 
prefer direct communication with out-of-doors. 
The outlets for the escape of impure air should 
be near the celling, or through tubes passing 
out of the roof. No matter how, provide for its 
escape and for its replacement by pure air. Do 
not wait to build a new barn in order to inaugurate 
a “system of ventilation.” He human now and 
do a humane thing for your stock. 
Why do we urge this? Not because of auy 
pet theory of ours which we wish to propagate. 
Have you ever slept in a small, dose room, with¬ 
out any ingress uor egress for air? And did 
you rest well ? Did you fed well when you woke 
up? Did not your head crack and the air fas te 
bad? Didn’t you feel as if you had been stand¬ 
ing at tho mouth of a machine threshing smutty 
oaks all night? Didn’t you fed belter when 
you got out of doors? Oppressed, restless, and 
feeling badly, did you ever rise and pull down 
the upper sash of the window iu your sleeping- 
room and find relief? Did you not go to sleep 
and wako refreshed, elastic, cheerful? If so, 
you know xchy wo ask you to ventilate your 
stables—that, we urge it because your own inter¬ 
ests demand lb— beciuiso your cattle will winter 
better, enjoy better health, their food will do 
them more good, and it will do you more good 
to feed it to them. We are prompted to write 
tliia because it is not long since we went Into a 
fifteen hundred dollar barn, which the owner 
delighted to exhibit, and found no provision 
whatever for ventilation. We told him hia sta¬ 
bles were not fit to keep a stump-tail cow in, 
und ho wondered why! We let him wonder. 
When he sees this article he may cease to. 
wonder. 
Indian Corn—Maize—Zea mays. 
Do not let us, in our Thanksgiving tho 24th 
day of the present month, forget to thank God 
for Maize. You know^it has been established 
In this country, duriog^he last four years, that 
Corn has supplanted Cotton as Kipg. The Cot¬ 
ton lords have deserted the dominions of their 
master for the plenteous land of Corn. What¬ 
ever becomes of cotton, corn dodgers are a 
necessity—hoe-cake must vitalize the man if 
jeans are of any value ns a covering for him. 
Wo are now speaking of a specific corn. Corn, 
in its general application, is more than King—it 
enters into calculations of diplomatists, and gov¬ 
erns and controls the actions of all nations. 
Alttiongh indigenous, and potent as a com¬ 
mercial agent in regulating our exchanges, we 
have not utilized Maize, as we are bound to, 
within the next ten years—especially if this 
war continues. We sow it for forage for stock— 
for soiling, in its green state. We live upon its 
immature, luscious fruit, during the latter days 
of summer. We fatten our swine and beeves 
in early autumn by feeding its sugary stalks 
aud maturing graiu in bulk. We gather the 
golden ears for winter food and export- We 
cut and crush the stalks and foliage, steam it and 
it makes us milk and beef. We gather the 
husks for mattresses and piUows—for st intin g 
lounges aud chairs. 
But with all our intimacy with, and knowl¬ 
edge of, this plant and its product—with all our 
study of, and perfection in, the modes of culti¬ 
vating aud producing it, we have not yet spun 
the strong fiber of its husks Into oordage, nor 
woven it into cloth, nor are our paper-mills 
making paper from it for us. And yet it em¬ 
braces these capabilities. Tho husk not only 
furnishes the material for paper, but the process 
which obtains tho paper stock gets the fiber 
free for spinning purposes. The part used in 
the manufacture of paper is not used in the 
manufacture of cordage and cloth; and the pro¬ 
cess of separation of these distinct materials 
contained in the com husk, injures neither. 
We are not economizing the vast resources we 
have in this material, now largely wasted, on 
the prairies. Who will set about it? It has 
been demonstrated in Austria that this material 
may be economically used for these purposes. 
The experiments made there are not completed. 
Who among the thousand thoughtful and in¬ 
genious men of our country are at, or will set to, 
work to save this wasted fiber and paper stock 
to the producers of this country ? 
Do Yon Want Early Peasl 
If so, the ground should be prepared to re¬ 
ceive tho seed this fall. Au elevated, dry soil 
should be chosen and well plowed. It should 
be left in such a condition that tho water will 
readily drain 0 <f it, pr through and away from 
it. Then get tho seed on it as early as possible. 
We have known good crops grown in latitude 
40® when seed was sown the first of February. 
North of that the time of seeding will vary with 
the variation in climate and soil. On warm soils, 
in sheltered localities, peas may be sown earlier 
than on the colder soils iu the same latitude. 
But it is profitable, if near a market, to sow 
them much earlier than they are usually sown 
by tho majority of farmers. Ami then, in order 
•to get seed that is not buggy, tho second crop 
may be grown -the seed obtained from tho first 
crop may be sown, and sound, pure seed ob¬ 
tained. We know of no reason whatever why 
England should monopolize the business of sup¬ 
plying us with good seed peas. We acknowledge 
that her samples are excellent seed, always pure, 
clear, uniform and sound. But such peas may 
just as well be grown here if farmers will try. 
As food for stock, peas uro not properly ap¬ 
preciated; if they were there w ould be more of 
them grown and ground. We know of uo crop 
which can be undo so available for early feed¬ 
ing, at a time when old grain is scarce and high, 
ami there is no other new crop for a resource. 
For this purpose alone, an early crop of peas 
will pay. The haulm or pea vines are not valued 
as au article of forage as they deserve. Especially 
when the crop is gathered green for market, the 
viues may be cut in their green state and cured 
as clover is cured; and it is scarcely second to it 
as a food for stock. There Is no straw among the 
grain producing plants that is equal to it. 
There is one reason, we thiuk, why fanners 
fail to realize all they expect, or have a right to 
expect, from a crop of peas. In nine cases out 
of ten the seed is not half covered; and that 
which is, is not covered deep enough. Experi¬ 
ments seem to have established the fact that 
peas which are covered six to tight inches deep 
will produce a far bettor and greater crop than 
those which are merely covered hy the harrows 
in the ordinary way of putting in crops. We 
have seen the best results where h field crop was 
drilled in, with drills a foot apart, and then as 
soon as the peas were well out of the ground 
they were harrowed lengthwise the drills. We 
do not cultivate such crops enough. Our grain 
crops need to be cultivated—will pay for culture. 
Certainly peas will. If drilled ill they should be 
put in deeply. It is not a bad practice to plow 
them in, dropping the seed in th e farrow. Then 
harrow lengthwise the furrows after the plants 
appear. 
Menu Be sure to set apart a barrel of gypsum 
to the acre, and sow broadcast soon after culti¬ 
vating your crop. If you do not cultivate at all, 
sow the plaster. There is nothing with which 
you can top-dress them equal to it, 
Mixing Soil with Potatoes. 
A friend writes us:—“Have you ever 
practiced mixing dry soil with potatoes stored 
in the cellar? If so, do they keep better? I 
have been told that some people practice it suc- 
cetsl'uHy.” In response:—We once visited the 
cellar of a well-to-do Irishman, who had been 
boasting to us of the size and fairness of his 
potatoes. We found them stored in an un¬ 
lighted cellar, in bins, which apparently con¬ 
tained an large a bulk of soil as of roots. He 
dug from this soil the specimens he desired to 
show us. “Why,” said we, “you did not dig 
your potatoes this year, at al), did you?—you 
simply gathered the kiUs without stopping to 
dig them.” 
“ Dig them! av coorse I digged them! Ain’t 
they here as snug as iver potatees were put 
away ?—av coorse I digged ’em!” 
“ But isrihis the way you store potatoes—put 
them in soil when you put them in cellar ?” 
“ To be sure it is! Why it’s the way we al¬ 
ways do it in ould Ireland. It's t he way to keep 
’em good, and, be jabers, don’t Pat. know what 
a good potatee is 1’’ 
Confirming this statement of our Irish friend, 
we find, in response to an inquiry about housing 
potatoes, the following direction' by the Editor 
of the Irish Farmer’s Uasetit : — “Potatoes 
stored in the house, under proper conditions, 
may be heaped three feet deep, but should have 
some dry earth, sand, or turf-mold mixed with 
them, and covered four inches deep with any of 
the same materials, or a little straw, to save 
them from the influence of light.” 
We suppose the Editor’s directions relate to 
storing thernin lighted rooms, simply. Whether 
it is the practice to mix soil with them when 
storing in dark rooms we can not say, further 
than to give the testimony of the Irishman 
above quoted. We have never practiced mix¬ 
ing earth with the tubers when storing them. 
It has been our aim to put them in the cellar as 
clean as possible. But there is no doubt as to 
the advantage of keeping the light from them. 
If our readers have experience bearing on the 
above question, let them furnish it, 
Fall-Plowing Weedy Stubbles. 
Wis have seen some serious mistakes made 
in the mode of doing this work. There is not 
thought enough given to it on the part of those 
who do it. On many stubbles there are a great 
many weed-seeds, if tho farmer fall-plows for 
the purpose of turning the still subsoil to the 
surface he must plow deep of course. Then 
these seeds are out of the way of the next crop 
unless they are brought to the action of the sun 
in spring by deep plowing again. When the fall 
plowing is deep, the spring plowing should be 
shallow if the land is plowed ut. alL If it is 
desirable—as it almost always is,— to stir the 
soil the maximum depth, the surface plow, with 
its lightly turned lurrow for a seed lied, should 
be followed with a subsoil plow—loosening and 
lUtlng the soil but not stirring it. Hut if the 
surface soil is stiff enough, if stubble land is rich, 
aud it is not desirable to bring up the subsoil to 
the influence and action of thefo st, ami it. is the 
purpose to plow again iu the spring, we should 
plow shallow in the fall, subsoiling, and deeper 
in the spring, throwing the seeds of the weeds 
still farther beneath the surface. By giving this 
matter a little careful consideration, at the time 
of doing the work, there will be fewer tares 
among the wheat. 
ZDIT2ED BY HENRY 6. RANDALL. LL. D. 
TO CORubsuondents.—M r. Randall’S address ts 
Cortland Village, CorUaml Co., N. Y. AU communica¬ 
tions Intended for this Department, and all inquiries 
relating to sheep, should be addressed to him a? above. 
,__ 
SHEEP WORK IN NOVEMBER. 
The management of sheep in November is 
much as iu the preceding month, except that 
poor sheep require more fostering; and it would 
probably be better for all to be placed in clean, 
well ventilated stables at night, if convenient, 
during stormy weather. Dry hay at night would 
also be fed beneficially, where there is abund¬ 
ance of it on hand, as the grass which grows 
during such excessively wet weather as we 
have had for some time past, is watery and de¬ 
ficient in substance. Should snowfall, even in 
small quantities, we should consider hay or 
grain feeding particularly necessary. All the 
extra care above recommended is more neces¬ 
sary for lambs, or tegs, than for grown sheep. 
Most persons wiH put their ewes to ram this 
month. When the rams are common, cheap 
animals, they are allowed to run loose with the 
flock. But most persons are now attempting 
to improve their sheep by superior rams, and 
in such cases it is important to make each serve 
as many ewes as practicable. When this is an 
object, they should not, on any account, be suf¬ 
fered to run with the ewes, but put to each 
singly and but once. If running at large with 
the ewes, it requires a remarkably vigorous 
animal to serve a hundred. Put singly and 
properly managed, we have known several 
rams which have served four hundred ewes a 
year, and this within a period of but little over 
six weeks. The Tottenham ram did this for 
years in succession, and so we are informed did 
his sire and grand-sire. Almost any strong ram 
will serve two hundred or upwards in this way, 
without injury. 
As we have remarked in describing the sheep 
work of preceding months, a ram from which ex¬ 
tra service is to be required, should be fed grain 
a number of weeks preceding its commencement 
to harden and strengthen him for his work. A 
pint of oats a day was enough to commence on, 
and this (in the ease of a grown ram used to 
being thus fed) should have been gradually in¬ 
creased to a quart before the commencement of 
the conpling season. When this commences 
the feed may be graduaUy rendered a little 
moiu solid, should it appear to be necessary, by 
sprinkling in a small amount of peas, corn, or 
wheab-or a very little of each. It should in all 
cases be divided into a morning and afternoon 
feeding. Some very hearty and strong consti- 
tutioued old rams, long used to high keep at 
this season, are suffered to devour two quarts or 
more of grain a day. But when fed so high and 
worked correspondingly, they usually wear out 
and die in the course of three or four years, 
if not sooner. 
Rams coupled singly are treated in several 
different ways. When one ram is to serve the 
whole flock, it is driven into a barn once or 
twice a day. He (or a teaser for him) is suffered 
to select out ewes enough for the day. They 
are put by themselves, and he is allowed to 
serve one each hour. Some allow the ram to 
pick out and immediately serve half his daily 
allowance in the forenoon, aud repeat this in the 
afternoon—after the lapse of a number of hours. 
But this taxes the energies of the ram more 
than the preceding mode. Teu ewes a day 
ought to be the maximum for a ram which has 
a good deal of work before him—but that num¬ 
ber is often exceeded. 
If several rams are to be used in the same 
flock of ewes, the latter should be very carefully 
exau. ncd iu advance to determine by what ram 
each is to be served, and she should receive a 
mark expressive of that fact. As the great suc¬ 
cess breeding depends upon the proper adap¬ 
tation of the male to tlie female, too much cure 
and attention can not bo devoted to the selec¬ 
tion. The several rams are put in separate 
iuclosures in the same barn. The cw'es are. 
driven in twice a dai, and a properly approved 
aproned teaser is let loose among them. As fast 
as he finds owes, they are drawn out and put by 
themselves. They are then hourly taken to the 
pens of the rams for which they are marked. 
Served ewes are put into a field by themselves, 
and brought round again to be tried by the 
rams about the thirteenth day, and thence on for 
a number of days, or until they are served again. 
Few male animals are as sure as rams—but they 
sometimes fail altogether. Some fail frequently 
in the early part of the season and grow much 
surer toward the last—others exactly reverse 
this. They are all much surer when in perfect 
health and condition, and the same is true of 
the ewe. Ewes take the ram more readily 
when they are gaining in condition. An exces¬ 
sively fat ewe is not as likely to conceive as one 
in good, fair condition. An excessively lean 
ewe is not as likely to take the ram at all. 
Ram lambs, or tegs, are not usually, we think, 
as sure as older rams. We know several that 
were very unsure as tegs, but which proved 
sure afterwards. It is not expedient to use tegs 
as rams, where it can be avoided, unless it be to 
a few ewes, to test their qualities as stock get¬ 
ters. Much work is decidedly injurious to a teg. 
About ten or fifteen ewes ought to be the maxi¬ 
mum number—although we once knew a ram 
teg (bought by Loyal C. Wright of Corn¬ 
wall, Vermont, of Mr. Hammond,) which 
actually got a Uttle over a hundred lambs, and 
scarcely missed with a single ewel We have 
not traced him since, but make no doubt this 
excessive work ruined him. 
Is the stock of a ram teg as strong and vig¬ 
orous as that of an older ram? The facta we 
have observed and collected on this point, would 
go to show that it is—at least, where the sire is 
not overworked. Several of the most celebrated 
stock rams we ever knew, were the get of tegs. 
The same remarks are true of the stock of two 
year olds—though a two year old ought not to 
do more than half the work of an old ram, 
before the latter commences his decline. We 
would prefer the stock of a teg or a two year 
old to that of a superannuated and rapidly de¬ 
clining animal. The ram attains his full vigor 
at three, and usuaUy begins to decline at seven 
or eight. From eight to ten, the decline usually 
becomes rapid. 
We wiH state one fact now, as the coupling 
season may be over In many flocks before we 
shall be caUed upon to write on sheep work in 
December. Many persons keep up the fuU feed 
of the ram after the conpling season is finished, 
in order to produce a brag fleece on him. This 
is not expedient, for it puts him in so pampered 
a condition that it is more difficult to keep him 
up afterwards- He is apt to run down when he 
is turned out to grass. Continued pampering 
undermines the constitution. If the fuU feed is 
kept up after the coupling season, and the ram 
is kept dostiy confined, he is extremely likely 
to take sick and die. He should get the open 
air and a degree of exercise—and it is far safer 
to reduce his feed at least half. It would not 
be expedient or safe, however, to take it off 
entirely. 
We are often asked if Merino yearling ewes 
should be put to ram. It will do where they 
are uncommonly large and forward—and espe¬ 
cially, If the owner proposes to take off their 
lambs, and bring them up on foster dams. But 
where yearlings are ordinary sized or smallish, 
we regard it as highly inexpedient. The lambs 
are very liable to perish; and if they live, they 
are generally undersized, and they reduce the 
condition and gTeatly retard the growth of their 
dams: so that both of them are not worth so 
much as would have been the latter, if not suf¬ 
fered to breed at this immature age. We be- 
believe that many ewes which produce lambs at 
two years are not only temporarily but per¬ 
manently stunted in their growth* and that 
habitual breeding from two year old ewes (with 
ordinary keeping) tends to run down the size 
and perhaps otherwise depreciate the qualities 
of a flock. 
— - ■■ — - - — - 
DOGS AND DOG LAWS. 
by J. R. DODGK. 
Continued from page 85S, last No. 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
In 1S62 the Legislature levied a tax of one 
dollar on male and two dollars on female dogs. 
Trior to this the common law was the only 
protection eDjoyed by owners of flocks. 
Iu l$t>3 a law was enacted forfeiting double 
the amount of damage done by dogs, recovera¬ 
ble from the owner by an action of debt; or a 
complaint may be made to the selectmen of 
towus, who are required, upon proof made 
within thirty days, to draw an order upon the 
treasury, which is registered and made payable, 
^.,4L 
• • -rTe 
