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agriculture 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1861 
WHOLE NO. 501 
You see that he is handsome, and grave, and wise; 
he is also musical and polite. He might not suit a 
dandy, hut better men than you or I have rode on 
him, and may again. His relative, the mute, is not 
unRnown to fame—many a man lias found a grave 
who never would have lived to get one, If the hardy 
mule had not defied hunger, and cold, and weariness. 
When it becomes a question of life or death, on 
Western plains, and amid Alpine snows, men put 
their trust in mules — not horses. Their powers of 
endurance are well known. If, as is stated, a mule 
will perform the labor of a horse on one-third less 
food than the horse, the advantage of the mule is 
very manifest. 
The raising of horses is very questionable just now, 
if profits are considered an object. 1 have heard 
that mules pay better, and would be glad if deliuito 
information on that point, could he furnished by your¬ 
self or any of your correspondents. A neighbor, Mr. 
C. H. Walker, of Pearl Crock, Wyoming Co., has 
just brought in several jacks, and many are seeking 
information ns to the policy of using them. — u. t. b. 
vent the loss of the most volatile and valuable parts 
of the more highly concentrated of these manures; 
also to bring them to a condition to be conveniently 
used, and in a state lit for the food of plants. 
4th. This question we cannot answer. Those who 
manufacture such things should keep the public 
informed of their doings. 
disease very plainly. The solid excrements are small 
and hard, urine highly colored, the animal languid, 
and t,l\o appetite poor. Where the horse has suffered 
for a considerable time without relief, ho becomes 
dull, heavy, and stupid. Youtt says that a lame¬ 
ness of the right fore leg, similar to that exhibited in 
the shoulder of a human being when the liver is dis¬ 
eased, is a characteristic. 
Causes and Treat meat. — Jaundice is sometimes 
caused by sympathy of the liver with some other dis¬ 
eased pert, and the removal of that disease will work 
the necessary cure. SVOonek remarks that it very 
seldom occurs unconnected with inflammation of the 
liver; and if there be no other apparent disease, an 
endeavor to restore the natural passage of the bile by 
pnrgatives may be tried, given in small doses until the 
bowels are fairly opened. Yopatt 
recommends bleeding, regulated ac¬ 
cording to the degree of inflamma¬ 
tion, and the occasional stupor of 
the animal. Plenty of water, slightly 
warmed, or thin gruel, should be 
given. The horse should be warmly .... ; - 
clothed, and the stable well ventilated, 
but not cold. Carrots, or other green 
food, will prove beneficial. If the 
purging, when once excited, should Stf 
he violent, unless the horse is very 
weak, or inflammation is exhibited 
in connection, it need not bo hastily /fit' 
stopped. When recovering from jann- ^ 
dice, a few simple tonics may be given { u 
With good results. 
Ur. jjWNiKGs thinks this disease 
depends upon an obstruction of the , 
biliary excretions, causing a yellow jl 
discoloration of the mucous mem- , £ 
brane, fat, ligaments, and other tis- ^ 
Rues of the body; and it will be 
found in connection witlwber dis- <= 
eases, than distinct am! , j^^ciiiient s 
of them, although it does occasion¬ 
ally exist in a pure or unmixed form, 
the symptoms of which are not at 
first observed by the horseman on 
account of their obscurity. Iu the 
treatment of this disease, Ur. J. says 
the principal reliance is upon cal¬ 
omel; two drachms of which made 
into a bolus with flax seed meal 
and molasses should be given, fol¬ 
lowed in twenty-four hours by ft purging ball. The 
animal should have moderate exercise daily; his body 
should be kept warm; and if there be pain iu the right 
side, apply a blister; if necessary, the calomel may be 
repeated iu scruple doses once a week. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY JOURNAL 
provement of permanent pastures, a series of experi¬ 
ments were tried on land that had been laid down, 
and that had become almost worthless. Lime, farm¬ 
yard dung, Peruvian guano, nitrate of soda, sulphate 
of ammonia, superphosphate of lime, sulphate of 
potash, wore tried, each aero receiving a dressing of 
manure of the value of about $10. The Peruvian 
guano and the sulphate of ammonia were the only 
manures that caused an increase of crop the first year 
sufficient to pay cost. The extreme dry season was 
unfavorable to the experiment. Mr. P. says: 
“On some of the plots the extra produce of hay 
will do little more than pay the cost, while iu others 
the prieo of the manures is nearly altogether lost. It 
must also be borne in mind that the soil is good, and 
well sheltered from the drouth; otherwise the re¬ 
sults might have been still worse than they are. The 
saline manures, it is to be expected, will do little, if 
any, good next year. The second crop of grass looks 
a little more fresh after them, but they have done 
little indeed in extirpating the moss. The dung and 
the compost vyiII, no doubt, be more permanent: the 
latter, in particular, appears to have already done a 
good deal in destroying the moss. The lime was 
against, rather than in favor of the hay crop; but at 
present (20th October) its good effects upon the pas¬ 
ture are becoming qaite apparent—the moss is con¬ 
siderably decayed, and the surface already feels much 
firmer to the foot; the white clover is beginning to 
sprout up thickly, and the whole surface appears 
greener and feels firmer than that of any of the other 
plots. The effects, it is to bo expected, will gradually 
become more visible as the lime sinks into the soil; 
and I have little doubt that, in the course of a year 
or two, its beneficial effects will bo far more apparent. 
For this description of pasture land, particularly 
where the soil is rich in vegetable matter, and in¬ 
clined to clay, powdered lime has the most powerful 
effect in renovating the grass, of any substance ( have 
ever tried. 11 atonce cleans the surface, kills insects, 
decomposes decaying vegetable matter, and raises a 
close sward of sweet, nutritive grasses, iucUullug 
considerable quantities of white clover, anti cattle 
will prefer the grass growing on the limed land. 
Light dressings, and repeated when necessary, is, 
perhaps, the best way to apply lime. I found two 
tuns au acre to be perfectly sufficient; and the autumn 
or winter months will, no doubt, bo the best time for 
applying it to the land. •• Where the land is much in¬ 
fested with moss, it will not, perhaps, extirpate it 
entirely, but it destroys it more than any other 
manure I have tried, and thereby prevents its choking 
the grasses—at least for a good many years after. 
It is quite, clear that mossy pastures should be well 
torn on the surface before spreading on manures of 
any description, which would allow them to be better 
covered from the action of the weather, and give 
them a much better chance of destroying the moss, 5 ’ 
The plots experimented with were harrowed before 
the application of the manures, but a better machine 
than the common harrow, for scraping grasB land, is 
much needed, and the attention of manufacturers of 
agricultural implements is called to this want. The 
results of the experiments are thus summed up: 
1. On strong soils on lauds under cultivation, 
guano, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, and 
soot ure the best, and they will prove remunerative 
if the weather is not too dry. 
2. On light soils in alternate husbandry, composts 
of earth, bone dust, cattle urine, salt, sea-weed, and 
fish refuse are the most suitable. 
3. For old grass on strong soils, powdered lime is 
the most effectual dressing that can be applied. 
4. For old grass on light gravelly soils, clayey com¬ 
post, mixed with quicklime, bone dust, aud salt, 
makes a good dressing, and peat and wood ashes 
produce an excellent effect. Should all these fail to 
make good pasturage, then certainly it ought to be 
plowed up. 
We are told by Professor Johnston that the bones 
of the sheep contain 70 per cent, phosphate of lime; 
and that a milch cow carries off' annually 30 pounds 
of bone dust from the land; and if this waste is to be 
supplied, as it certaiuly ought, there can be no better 
way of doing it than by adding bones, lime, and 
other phosphatic manures to the land. Let our graz¬ 
ing lands, then, be liberally dressed, where necessary, 
with these manures, and we shall have abundance of 
grass. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
Tin? Rpral New-Yorker is designed to ho unsurpassed in 
Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
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and earnestly tabors to render the Rural an eminently 
Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, Scientific and 
oilier Subjects intimately connected with, the business of 
those whose interests it zealously advocates- As a Family 
Journal It i* eminently Instructive and Kntert*ln,ng —being; 
so Nindueted that it can be safely taken to the Hearts and 
Homes af people of intelligence, taste and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Eduoo- 
tiona!, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with appropriate 
aud beautiful Kucravings, than atiy other jourual,— rendering 
it the most complete Agricultural, Literary and Family 
Newspaper in America, 
Kohl-Rubi for Slock. 
F,ns, Rural New-Yorker:—T here is now soma talk 
about a vegetable, new to us, us being valuable for stock, as 
good or better than the turnip, more sure of a crop, aud 
more easily grown. What is your opinion about it, and 
where cud the seed be obtained?—T. II. H., Urbona, III. 
Omt correspondent will find au article on this 
subject in the last number. We have for several 
years spoken favorably of this root, believing that it 
Entered according to act of Congress, iu the year 1881, by 
D. I>. T. MooKs. in the Office of the Clerk of the District 
Court for the Northern District of New York. 
t"jy“ Our only object in copyrighting this paper is to secure 
what every honorable journalist will freely grant,—proper 
credit Ibr articles selected from its pages. Any and every 
jourual is at liberty, and invited, to copy freely, by crediting 
each original article or illustration to Rural jVeto- Yorker. 
INDIAN CORN,-WHEAT,-MANURE, &c, 
In the Transactions of the Highland Horticultural 
Society of Scotland, we find an interesting article on 
the top-dressing and general management of pastures, 
by James Porter, which we have perused with satis¬ 
faction, and now give the substance to our readers. 
It is an important subject to American farmers,—one 
Yvhicli we lut'd before urged upon their attention, 
and notwithstanding difference in climate, Ac., the 
experience of this Scotch farmer cannot be studied 
and tested without profit, 
“ ^ laud under cultivation is in a high state of 
fertility, and Is carefully sown with a full and well- 
selected mixture of grass seeds, it will often produce 
good grass for several years without any additional 
manure. This is so far fortunate for the cnltivator 
of the land; for if the wide extent of arable land in 
pastures bad to be regularly top-dressed in rotation, 
the system would be very laborious and costly. 1 do 
not wish it to be understood, however, that manure 
will not pay on this description of land; on the eou 
trary, when soil and climate and other circumstances 
arc favorable, I have found a good dressing of light 
manures to the first and second year’s grass prove 
very remunerative. After varied and numerous trials, 
for many years, ofn great variety of artificial manures, 
I have come to the conclusion that guano, sulphate of 
ammonia, nitrate of soda, and soot, are the best light 
dressings for new grass that can he applied. The 
large proportion of nitrogen which these contain in 
a state easily assimilated by plants, by its great power 
iu developing the blade, makes Bueh manures pecu¬ 
liarly suitable for the growth of young grass. To 
render these manures fully efficient, however, it is 
very desirable that they be sown in rainy weather. 
It is needless to add that if the manures be not quite 
genuine, a partial failure must be the result. 
“On light land, with a gravelly subsoil, I consider 
it a mistake to use these manures as a top-dressing to 
grass, for when applied to snob I have seldom seen 
them do much good; and in an unusually dry season, 
1 think they can by no means be beneficial. For 
such soils I would prefer well-made compost of bones, 
urine, vegetable mold, and 3alt. When near the 
sea, I have used a compost of sea-weed and fiish refuse, 
Ac., in the following proportions:—Say 12 loads of 
mold, 4 loads of sea-weed, 1 load of fish refuse, and 
2 tuns of cattle urine. This makes au excellent and 
substantial dressing for one acre of light land. When 
it is laid on during the winter months, its good effects 
on the grass in spring are all but, certain; and within 
a short distance of the sea-coast it may be supplied 
for about 28s an acre. ’ 
“So much for the manuring. I shall now state a 
few facts which I believe to be important regarding 
the management of these pastures. Heavy rolling iu 
autumn and spring, when the land is moderately 
damp, does much good; for, besides rnuking a 
smooth surface, it paek3 the soil about the plants, 
and tends to make them spread laterally, aud form a 
closer sward. Frequently changing or shifting the 
stock on the grass, and having it well eaten down at 
proper periods, but not too bare, are the best means 
of keeping the pasture in a good and growing state. 
It is always bad management to allow the grass to 
run to seed, seting that it weakens the vigor of the 
roots, and tends much to exhaust the soil. It is, in 
particular, absolutely necessary that all weeds be cut 
early in the season. Whenever, indeed, they show 
their tops above the ground, they should be cut a little 
under the surface of the grass with a sharp tool, by 
which process the sap vessels of the plant are left 
open, so as to bleed profusely, and aL^o admit the 
rains, which all tend considerably to destroy the 
roots. It is, at the same time, desirable to keep the 
suriuce smooth, by spreading the mole-heaps and 
droppings of the cattle; for by attention to these 
simple operations, the luxuriance of grass lands is 
always ranch increased.” 
r or the destruction of moss and the general im¬ 
ROHL-RABT. 
is much better adapted to our country than the 
tnrnip; indeed, we consider it exactly suited to our 
extremely hot and dry seasons. It will bear trans¬ 
planting better than a cabbage,—In fact, there is 
scarcely a weed less affected by removal, and as 
insects trouble it very little, and with us have never 
injured it- in the least, while turnips in the adjoining 
lot have been destroyed, wc consider a crop certain. 
We arc anxious that farmers should give the Kohl- 
Ruhr a trial. The seed is cheap, and can be obtained 
at the seed stores in Rochester, and we presume at 
most other places. The plant when growing looks 
something like a cross between a cabbage and a tur¬ 
nip. Our engraving will give a very good idea of its 
appearance. 
Treatment, nnd Applieaiion of Manure. 
Eds. Rural New Yorker:—W ill some of your corres¬ 
pondents please to answer tie following questions, and 
oblige a friend of Progress and Improvement: 
1st, Is it best to draw out manure as fast as it is made 
through the winter, or keep it till just before sowing? Is it 
true, as stated by I.iKnio, that manure, by being bauted out 
in the fields aud exposed to the rains, loses its most valuable 
properties? Does uot the soil catch and retain them? 
2d. What is the best way of saving the urine of the stables, 
Would it be best to collect it in vats, or absorb 
swinery, &c.f 
It io muck, sawdust, Ac.? 
3d. Where several kinds of manure arn to bo applied to a 
piece of land, should they be thoroughly mixed and com¬ 
posted, aud allowed to rot before applying, or would it be as 
well to put them on separately, and mix them iu the soil? 
4th. Where can a machine be obtained for making drain 
tile?— Qcbrjbt. 
1st. Manure hauled on the field in the winter, and 
placed in small piles convenient for spreading, will 
receive bat little injury, as fermentation will not 
progress during cold weather. In, some situations, 
as on a hill side, a portion would be washed away 
during heavy rains. 
2d. Making of vats is expensive, and the applica¬ 
tion of liquid manure is troublesome unless the 
proper conveniences are prepared for the purpose. 
That it would pay in the end for the farmer to 
expend the necessary means for liquid manure carts, 
Ac., we fully believe, and the system will be gradu¬ 
ally adopted. Farmers should begin to try it on a 
small scale, and note the results. On this and some 
other matters, we are all prepared to learn, while 
few are prepared to teach. But most of our liquid 
manure can be saved by the use of mack, sawdust, 
and other absorbents, and applied to the land without 
expense. ■ 
3d. As a general rule, the mixture of manures is 
best, as it makes our manure more uniform in qual¬ 
ity. Strong and rapidly fermenting manures are also 
preserved from decay aud loss by being mixed with 
that which is of slow decomposition, while the latter 
is benelitted, and its decomposition hastened by the 
warmer and more active manure. No one should 
keep over manure all the summer for the.sake of 
mixing or fermenting. Hive all to the Boil at plant¬ 
ing time, and then start fair for a big pile in the 
autumn. Much manure is Injured and about 
destroyed by composting, especially during the sum 
mer. Stable manure placed in holes will lose its 
most valuable properties by fermentation, and will 
in many cases be burnt up, unless large quantities of 
muck, earth, or other substances, be mixed with it to 
retard decomposition. By putting two or three 
kinds of manure together, or earth with manure, we 
create nothing. Each contains all the elements of 
fertility separate that they have when united. The 
object of the union it must be remembered is to pre- 
ASBE8, MULES, AND OTHER CATTLE 
In China, farm labor is performed mainly by men, 
because teams consume too much food. It is calcu¬ 
lated that one horse will require as much food as ten 
men. Men being plenty in China, horses are at a 
discount. 
The enormous consumption of food by the teams of 
this country, is a subject for serious apprehension. 
I know many men who live on a short allowance, 
and devote their energies of body and mind to the 
feeding of a pair of horses. Many who raise large 
crops of corn, oats, and hay, find a market more 
strictly “ domestic. ” than even a “protectionist” 
would insist upon. VVhat can he done to lighten the 
burdens which we not the teams — have to carry? 
Steam, 1 ajjprehend, belongs to the distant future,— 
“ Cruiser ” obeys, but no Harry has yet coaxed steam 
into the diversified labors of the farm! The spade 
and the whcclburrow may do for China aud for 
Britain,—we have not too many men, especially 
during the war, — so brnte work must be done by 
brutes. 
INQUIRIES AND NOTES 
Juandice in Horses. 
Eos. Rural New-Yorker:—A s your paper is tbo fount 
of knowledge to apply to when in trouble, I come for a 
share. 
I have a two year old colt, and two weeks since, on 
going to the barn, found it could not get up, and has uot got 
up since that time without help. Its hind legs were swelled 
from the hock down to the fetlock, but the swelling has 
pretty much disappeared. It in very dull and stupid; when 
lying down, frequently stretches its legs out, and reams in 
some considerable pain. It eats well. 1 think it a ease of 
jaundice, but don’t know. Now, the query is, what ails my 
colt, and what will cure it?—II. MuK., Tioga Valley. Ta. 
Certain of the symptoms indicated attend an 
attack of jaundice, while there are others mentioned, 
(more especially the fact that the colt eats well,; 
which do not usually accompany that complaint. 
We will give a description of the appearance of a 
horse laboring under this disease, and our inquirer 
cun then fully determine whether he is right in his 
views relative to the nature of the difficulty. 
Symptoms .— Yellowness of the eyes, mouth, and of 
the skin where it is not coated with hair, mark this 
Allow me to speak a word for my friend, the jackass 
— 1 have a great many friends of that sort. I speak 
now for the genuine article, that has suffered, it must 
be confessed, by being associated in men’s minds 
with ull sorts of lackadaisical people. I send you 
herewith a drawing of my friend, omitting the sub¬ 
ordinate and immaterial parts. 
■A 
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