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“ PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT." 
( SINGtIjE NO. FOUR CENTS. 
VOL. XU. NO. 5.5 
ROCHESTER, N. Y..-F0R THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1861. 
WHOLE NO. 577. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGIN At. -WEEKLY 
AO RI CULTURAL, LITERARY AND FA WILY JOURNAL. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Ahle Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
This Rural Nkw-Yorker is designed to lx? unsurpassed in 
Value. Furity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of its various departments, 
and earnestly labors to render the Kprai. an eminently 
Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, Scientific and | 
other Subject* intimately connected with the business ot 
those whoso interests It jealously advocates. As a Rashly 
Journal it is eminently Instructive. and Entertaining being 
so conducted that It cun he safely taken to the Heart* and 
Homes of people of iatoUifeuce, taste and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Educa¬ 
tional, Literary and News Matter, Intorapetnud with appropriate 
and beautiful Engravings, than any other journal,—rendering 
it the most complete Agricultural, Literary and i amily 
Newspaper in AtneHva. 
FOR TehmM and other particular?, see last page. 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 
J) [). T. MoohK, in The Ollier* of the Clerk, oi the District 
Court for the Northern District of New York 
t:«r Mur only object in copyrighting thin paper Is to secure 
what every honorable journalist will freely grant -proper 
credit for articles selected from its pages. Any and every 
journal is at liberty, and invited, to copy freely, by crediting 
each original article or illustration to Hurat A cut- Yorker . 
placing in the hill with sweet corn, cucumbers, 
melons, &c., and will give an excellent account of 
itself. If any portion is moist, it can be saved and 
used as liquid manure, by placing a few quarts in a 
barrel of water. It will then be just right for forcing 
forward young plants to get them out of the way ol 
insects. 
Planting tin: Same Crop in Succession. 
Ens. Re Hal New-'Yorker:— It is too late to say aught 
against the rotation of crops. As a general rule, it no doubt 
is altogether the best practice. But if the manure we put on 
| the soil contains all the elnmentsofthe plants grown upon it, 
I why cannot we continue to grow the same crop for a succes¬ 
sion of years? Sometimes it is very convenient to do this — 
| G, W. R., Genesee Falli r, A r . 1'., 1861. 
solve in water, so that it will wash down among the 
roots by the rains in the form of liquid manure. 
Then, I want it so that when it dries it will not cake 
like clay or cow manure, but will separate and crum¬ 
ble to a powder. After 7 apply this top-dressing to 
grass, if the weather is showery I do nothing, but as 
soon as it becomes dry, T pass over the Held with a 
brush drug, which divides it and spreads it as evenly 
over the soil us if sown by a machine. Now any 
farmer can make such a. compost, and can test its 
qualities in these respects before applying to the soil. 
As 1 have no favorite theories to inculcate, and only 
wish to present the truth, I will state that without 
care thcro is a great loss ol valuable elements when 
manure is allowed to ferment in the pile, and even 
a*-.: - ?..> A tssK'Hst 
—- ■ 
n 
Wk cannot say if all the elements needed by a plant w | lPn the greatest precautions are taken the loss is 
were furnished in the manure, it could not be grown 
in the same soil for a succession of years. This may 
lie true in theory, but it would be very unprofitable 
in practice, as any one’s experience will teach him. 
We cannot always say with conlidenoo that we have 
furnished in a manure all that a plant needs. Then, 
It is found by experience, that after a certain crop 
has been grown upon apiece of land for a year or 
two, although we may manure as freely as before, 
the result is not as good as at first; while with a 
change ef crop the most desirable results are witness- 
considerable. One hundred weight, of fresh manure 
when it is well rotted will weigh but fifty or sixty 
pounds. A good portion of this loss is water, but 
the loss of valuable matter which escapes in the form 
of gas is by no menus small. To prevent this escape, 
charcoal dost, common earth and swamp muck, are 
the most effectual. After mixing any or all of these 
materials with the manure in the heap, cover the 
whole with about six or eight inches of earth, lint, 
T think the farmer should so arrange things as to 
have every ounce of manure he possesses, old or new, 
l)E.S.l(iN IfOI{ 
Ill- 
Ill I ,Tj_S I I VJC CO'l'TAt >K. 
ed. Our nurserymen find that after growing# crop placed upon the land before planting in the spring. 
INQUIRIES AND NOTES. 
Farmers’ Insurance Companies. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: — I understand that in Europe 
farmers insure each other, or have mutual insui'auce com¬ 
panies for protection, not only against fire, but against hail 
and other destructive Btorms. They also insure cattte. Now, 
could not a simitar system be introduced here with great 
AftV> 4 llfts£Cf~ 1 . Vf- •?. 
Insurance Companies of a mutual character have 
been established among the farmers of England and 
the Continent as protection against fire, luiil, and the 
loss of cattle and horses by accident or disease. 
These have not. always been successful, and perhaps 
not sufficiently so to warrant their introduction to 
this country. Such institutions require to he managed 
with great care and ability, or confusion and loss is 
the result, involving members in difficulties from 
which they would gladly extricate themselves. In 
insuring against Iobs by hail, it was found that certain 
districts were very much subject to loss from this 
cause, while others were almost entirely exempt. 
Farmers residing in districts were the loss was apt 
to he great, were anxious to insure, but, those in the 
districts comparatively exempt could not be induced 
to unite with their less fortunate brethren. The 
result was severo losses for the members, which in a 
few years generally ended in the abandonment of the 
enterprise. The insuring of Oattlc was for a time 
more successful. It was Hie rule to pay three-fourths 
the value of any animal that died. It was, however, 
found that among cattle that were insured, losses 
were move frequent than among the uninsured, and 
it began to be pretty generally believed that when an 
insured animal became sick, the owner did not use 
proper care to secure its recovery. Again, farmers 
who took particular pains to keep their animals in a 
healthy condition, found that they were taxed to pay 
for the resnlts of the bad management of their care¬ 
less neighbors, aud this feeling did much to make 
cattle insuring associations unpopular. Then, when 
any epidemic, such as the pleura-pneumonia, oeeured 
in a certain district, the loss became so great,—call¬ 
ing for such heavy advances from the members of the 
company,—as to induce many to believo that the best 
course for them to pursue was to run their own risks 
and be their own insurers. We do not wish to dis¬ 
courage the trial of these institutions in our country, 
and present the facts only to insure caution. 
To Save Manure from the Hen-Yard. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker : —It is understood that hen 
manure is one of the richest manures we make on the farm; 
but much of it is wasted, no doubt. What is the beat way to 
keep it for nse in the spring? I? it good to mix with ashea, 
or any other material?—I.vuuiliRK, Wai/nr Co.. W. I". 
We cannot overvalue the manurial product of the 
hen-house, nor take too much care for its preserva¬ 
tion. The hen manure may bo mixed with the 
compost Leap and its value be preserved in this way, 
but we would advise a different course. Every 
farmer wants a little extra or fancy manure for 
special purposes, and where there is no guano the 
next best thing is fowl manure, so we advise that it 
be kept separate from all other manures. Another 
advantage of this course is that we are enabled to see 
its effects and thus form a proper estimate of its 
value. Keep an old hoe, broom and shovel in the 
fowl-house. Every day, along in the afternoon, when 
the droppings from the roost have become somewhat 
dry, scrape and sweep up all the manure, and place 
it in barrels. If you have many fowls, it is well to 
have several old barrels filling at the same time, so as 
of apple trees, no amount of manuring makes the 
laud in just the right condition for a second crop, 
but with ordinary enrichment a good crop of peaches, 
or other trees, may be grown. Plant# of a fine, 
delicate nature, may be grown in succession much 
better than those that are more gross. We have 
known wheat grown upon the same soil for fifteen 
years, hut he who tries potatoes, or turnips, or melons, 
or squashes, for three or four years, will become 
satisfied that lie is working agaiust nature. Homo 
have supposed that there is an excrement from plants 
which proves injurious, and finally poisonous, to all 
of the same variety, while it is not injurious, but, 
perhaps, beneficial to other plants. 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF FARMING. 
MANURE—SAVING AND COMPOSTING. 
In my last I spoke of the importance of the com¬ 
post heap, ami at the risk of repetition, I will remark 
that I consider manure tin: foundation of good farm¬ 
ing, and my experience has never taught me any 
economical method of making, saving, and using 
manure without composting. This I mean as a gen¬ 
eral rule, but to it there are exceptions. For in¬ 
stance, if I were planting corn ami had a quantity of 
fresh manure, I would apply it to the crops at once, 
and not think of composting it for a year. Again, I 
Often find it advantageous to draw fresh manure into 
the Held in the winter during sleighing, leaving it in 
convenient piles, and spreading as soon as the 
ground is dry enough to get upon it with comfort 
and without injury to the soil. When manure is in 
small piles, or spread during winter, it undergoes no 
fermentation and no change of any kind. Manure 
spread in the fall may be rukod together in the 
spring, when it will bogiu to ferment and heat, and 
be excellent for hot-beds, showing that no fermenta¬ 
tion took place during the winter. I know of no 
objection to this course except in sloping laud, 
where some of the valuable properties would be 
washed away. 1 believe the compost heap to be 
as important as the granary or the burn. It does not 
follow, however, that, because a farmer needs a gran¬ 
ary and barn, that everything must he stored before 
being used or disposed of. 
Suppose a farmer has a hog or an animal die, or 
shoots a sheep-killing dog, or loses a good many 
chickens with the croup — is it good economy to 
bury them? No, sir, put them in the proper store- 
ho’use of fertilizing materials, the compost heap, 
along with muck and scrapings, weeds and leaves, 
and in a little while they will make you a rich dish 
of which you will have reason to be proud. In this 
way you can turn them into excellent sweet corn and 
cabbage, or almost anything else yon may desire. 
Borne of my readers may think that I am pressing 
this matter rather more than its importance demands, 
but those who do not know should learn, and those 
who do know should remember, that the carcass of a 
Of stable manure I in ed not speak at length, and 
will only notice a few facts. Horse manure will fer¬ 
ment and become burned and worthless sooner than 
auy other, except, perhaps, that of sheep, and there 
is no manure quicker, or sooner, in its effect, if well 
saved. Cow manure contains a good deal of water 
and does not readily ferment, and if allowed to dry is 
not easily disintegmted and distributed. It is also 
slow in its operation, and consequently lasting. 
There is a mechanical difference in tlio manure of 
different animals, but as a general rule its value 
depends upon the food ,L animal receives. No cow 
f-u-i n:i':e / G B - straw Mack, and if a 
horse was fed from tne saifte straw pile, I think there 
would be very little difference in the quality of the 
manure. But feed the cow plenty of meal and her 
manure would be richer than that of the horse from 
the straw. We all know the manure of fowls is 
exceedingly valuable, and it is because they feed on 
grain aud animal matter which they obtain in the 
form of worms, insects, &c. Guano is the richest 
manure we have, because it is produced by birds that 
feed exclusively on lisli. Admitting this principle, 
which cannot be disputed, 1 ask every farmer to take 
especial cure of the richest manure produced on his 
farm. 
To save and gather manure usually considered of 
little account is an important matter. A ll the liquid 
manure should be preserved, and this is so important 
that it is worthy some labor and expense for its 
accomplishment. The slops from the bouse should 
be saved, and every farmer should provide some con¬ 
venient arrangement for doing this, otherwise it. will 
not be done. The muck from a swale or swamp is 
exceedingly valuable for mixing with manures, but I 
have never found great advantage from its use in a 
crude state. A noxious weed is as valuable when 
rotten as the most desirable plant. Those whose 
farms are situated near large villages or cities can 
obtain fertilizing materials cheap. Ashes from Soap 
factories I have drawn and used with very satisfac¬ 
tory results. The waste from woolen factories is 
exceedingly rich. It is estimated that twenty-two 
pounds of woolen rags are equal in value to one 
thousand pounds of stable manure. The common 
refuse from the factories is not as valuable. I never 
bought cheaper manure than I obtained several years 
ago from the button factories and comb-makers. It 
consists of turnings and scrapings of hom and bone. 
From the manufacturers of glue, a manure consisting 
of hair, bones, lime, pieces of hide, Ac,, can be ob¬ 
tained, and 1 have made arrangements to give this a 
trial another season. Every farmer who is on the 
Most of the plans wc have given for houses, of 
late, have been designed for level sites, but some of 
our readers may find it convenient, or necessary, to 
build on uneveu ground, or hill-sides, and for the 
benefit of such we present a plan for a Hill-Side 
Cottage, with some suggestions on the advantages 
of such sites, from Village and Farm Cottages, by 
Ci.it a v el a np A Backus. When judiciously selected 
and properly built upon, such sites have many advan¬ 
tages,— such as plenty of air, thorough drainage, 
elevation above the miasmas which often float over 
the lowlands, line views, and basements well lighted 
and vcnl.ila.ted. Basements, as they are usually made, 
more or Iosb beneath the surface of the ground, are 
our aversion. Too often they are damp, almost al¬ 
ways ill-ventilated. If city houses must have them, 
they should rank, and generally do l ink in the class 
of necessary evils. The man’s sanity might almost 
be doubted, who should put a basement to his house 
in tlio country. But it often happens that the form 
of surface and nature of the ground are such as allow 
the two sides or ends of a house to be of different 
depths, thus admitting entrance from without on two 
lloors. In some families, such a division of the house 
divides also its duties and labors to great advantage. 
To give such u story its highest value and avoid the 
needless use of stairs, it should contain all the rooms 
a nd appliances needed for the labor of the household. 
The apartments should be entirely above ground, 
well lighted and ventilated. The ground outside 
should be lower than the floor, and should descend 
from the house, not only for drainage, but to prevent 
the settling within of the denser gases and vapors. 
SR 
10.6 X 17 
p 
13/20 
GROUND 
The floor should be elevated somewhat above the 
ground, and the side walls should be “ furred off” 
look-out, can, in most sections, lind means to obtain with wooden strips to which the laths are to be nailed, 
good manure at a reasonable rate. 
Ceres. 
FEED THE STOCK WELL. 
Mr. Rural: —I notice that our friend, H. T. B., 
has not yet got it digested, that feeding cattle and 
hog weighing one hundred and seventy-five pounds sheep so that they keep improving the year round is 
contains about as much of the most important ferttl the true policy; aud be appears to fear lor trade ami 
izing elements a# two tons of good stable manure , commerce il the sheep and cuttle are fed so much 
and that of a cow weighing five hundred pounds grain as I propose. I have always supposed H. U. B, 
about as much as six tons of manure. Now, no sen- was only a farmer and a Major. .Now I say let lar- 
sible farmer would throw away this quantity of mere look out for themselves, and never mind trade 
stable manure, vet mv observation leads me to and commerce, as trade and commerce will only 
contains about as much of the most important lertil 
izing elements as two tons of good stable manure, 
and that of a cow weighing live hundred pounds 
about as much as six tons of manure. Now, no sen¬ 
sible farmer would throw' away this quantity of 
stable manure, yet my observation leads me to 
believe that very many farmers waste the richest 
manures produced on their premises. But the flesh 
of animals cannot be placed near the roots of plants 
without doing injury, nor can it be spread over a 
large surface. In this, and in-many other dilemmas 
in which tlio farmer finds himself placed, the com¬ 
post heap affords just the assistance needed. 
The compost heap, again, permits the fanner to 
prepare special manure for particular crops or soils. 
This matter is studied and understood by the gar- 
thus forming an air-chamber between the outside 
stone and the inside plastering. The cellar, back of 
the rooms, should be separated from thorn by an air¬ 
tight partition, and well ventilated, to prevent the 
intrusion into the house of its damp or impure air. 
A due regard to health demands the use of every 
precaution to secure dryness, to retain warmth, and 
to exclude those Insidious vapors, charged with dis¬ 
ease ami death, which are wout to gather in dark 
and low places. 
Such a story should be a real story, not a low, 
mean, back place, but a respectable portion of the 
bouse. Let the door he screened if necessary, and 
let the whole be made pleasing by the judicious 
disposition of flower and vine, and shrub and tree. 
Houses tints built cannot easily be regular in form 
and arrangement. Nor is it desirable that they should 
he. In placing such a structure, the surface, rather 
than boundary of the ground, should be consulted. 
The house must he fitted to the declivity, even though 
it do not conform exactly to the street. 
The hill-side plan shown in engraving, is meant 
for a position below the road. The principal front is 
therefore on the higher side. Gentles wells by 
some valley side, or on the outer margin ot a plain, 
often furnish sites well adapted to this plan. To 
make it harmonize with such a spot it is made broad 
and low. 
The internal arrangement, as shown by the plans, 
needs but little explanation. The windows opening 
on the veranda and on 
I® ® Hie small balcony at 
VC 1 iiro lon K> ari<l 
_ ' H are hung oii hinges. 
K InnnJI The basement has a 
■ iox .4 6 ~ 1 / fuel cellar, F, a vege- 
\ table cellar, V, c, a 
H 1 — q _p closet, c, and the im- 
j || 1 || portant rooms, l, k, 
■ and k. In the attic 
_ plan there are four 
F fl bedrooms and as many 
j .ft closets. These rooms 
are ten feet high in 
-- gfl the highest part, and 
12 14 I but two feet and nine 
_ B incites at the side; a 
~~jK~^H^HHBBBi result which is due to 
haskment plan, the lower pitched root. 
The stairs are of a compact form, and occupy but 
little space. The position of the uppper flight ot 
stairs determines that of the lower, and makes neces¬ 
sary the recess in the stone wall, as shown by the 
basement plan. Where so close a calculation is re¬ 
quired, as in this case, a small alteration in one part 
of a staircase, without, a corresponding change in 
some Other, may just wr 
spoil the whole tiling. \ / 1 \/l 
Indeed, few changes X | X| 
in a plan are sale, or ■ y Y| 
likely to be successful, 9 . 4 x 14 H PH™ - 7 l 
unless they are con- B | E / I 
sldcrcd with ininnte JI M 
and judicious refer- v f - 1 " ' 1 "‘ 
enee to their bearing I C c 
on every other part; I ” I c 
aud this is about equal 1 ^ J, i «■ 
s to original planning— 
i a thing more easily 
talked of than done. | 9.9*13 | 9.9s 13 
, The position, on the Iy ~7\ 1 FT 
|- whole, most eligible I \/ I \/ I 
for this house, is 00 c |/\ I /\| 
10.6x10.2 
9.9x13 
jii which its shaded 
ido should face the attiu plan. 
west, and its parlor windows look out upon the south. 
The road might wind round tlio southern end, with a 
sufficient space between for shrubbery and lawn, 
while the garden might stretcli down toward the vale. 
Upright hoarding is the proper covering for the 
sides of this building, though clapboards might be 
! used, if especially preferred. Height ot basement, 1 
' I'ect. Main story, 8 feet 11 inches. Lost, $1,375. 
gained on the average twenty-live pounds each, from 
17th October last until this day (17th January.) I 
to put only a little in each, and it will become quite dencr. He prepares the soil and manure necessary 
A dry by the next day, when an addition is made. In 
r this way the manure may be kept dry, and will 
■1 receive no injury and impart no bad smell; but if it 
p is put away wet, it ferments, loses some of its value, 
1 and becomes offensive. The barrels therefore should 
1 be kept in a dry place. In the spring this manure 
for each class of plants, having discovered that what 
is good for one, is poison for another. The farmer 
might give some attention to this subject with profit. 
To illustrate this point 1 will state my experience at 
top-dressing grass land. I have found that fresh 
manure is of comparatively little benefit for such a 
help the farmers so far as it is to the interest of those ---— 
engaged in trade and commerce. I don’t like to call and every farmer that lias tried knows, draining and gained on the average twenty-five pounds each, from 
H. T. B. a fogy, but I must say 1 think he is in the dung have the same effect here,—of largely inereas- 17th October last until this day (l.th January.) 
mist, else he would understand that by feeding stock j ug the products from the laud,—and that of every have last spring’s lambs that have gained over mx- 
better, so that they keep growing every clay as long thing the land produces. Drained and dunged land tceu and a hall pounds, each, in same time. e 
as they are kept by the farmer, they would noi only produces more grain, more milk, butter aud cheese, y<"b Major, it never paid me to kt-i-p sto< k on ess 
pay the farmer, but they would make a great deai more beef, mutton, and wool; in fact, more of every improved them, and ii you could learn me low o 
more manure and that of far richer quality, and in a thing. Guttle and sheep don’t lose more flesh from make mouey by keeping on straw, I mig 1 save .1 
few years the State would produce double the 15th November to 1st of December, than any month great deal of grain and oil cake, which wou K° '» 
quantity of corn, oats, barley, and bay, it now does* * IU tho year on drained and dunged land, as they do help trade and commerce. I u ° ‘ ()| dd |UN ^ 
Then the Major would not be alarmed for trade aud where the Major lives, where the cattle have to live fed five hundred tuns of oil cake men in t le a« 
commerce. on straw aud frosted com stalks. On drained and twenty-two years, which would hurt commerce a 
I would ask the Major what has so largely increased dunged land wc cut up our corn before the frost kills little, as no doubt had f not bought it, it won - 
the crops of grain and grass in England and Scoh the stalks. I am afraid it would give me the dys- been exported to ^nd. 
land for the last thirty years. Is it not draining and pepsia if I had nothing else to Iced my cattle but | o{ ^u^°or C Z^ higher manuring must be the 
will crumble up, and will be found excellent for purpose. For grass I want a compost that will dis- 
land for the last thirty years. Is it not draining and 
dung? Yes, it has been draining and dung that has 
done it, and nothing else. Now make the same 
applications to the land in this State (N. Y.) I know, 
pepsia it l fiao noming eise w 
straw and frosted corn stalks, 
I wish the Major 
ntiOiiV UUU li uovuu wvi a* .. • *- - a 
would come here immediately, and I will show him result; and don’t help trade and commerce until you 
what good keeping does. J have 146 sheep that have have helped your brother farmers to show what good 
•No 
