Agriculture- 
rWHOLE NO. 599 
ROCHESTER, N. Y..-FOR TOE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JULY G, 1861 
examined, but there was no sign of life; not even at 
that critical point, the kuot, could I detect, by means 
of the microscope, any indication of vitality. The 
“foal's foot,” which runs down far into the sub¬ 
stratum, were many of them dead, though not all. 
In looking for the buttercup roots, also, scarcely any 
were to be found; and glad I was, for bother enough 
they had been to me. 
“ The land then received ono or two furrows to 
incorporate the salt thoroughly, and diffuse its power 
beneficially, so that it might invigorate everywhere, 
and yet not remain in snfilcientforce in any one place 
to endanger the seed which followed. 
“ At the proper season, and without any other 
preparation, the Mangel seed was sown, and speedily 
vegetated. There were hut, few weeks to hoe, for the 
salt had attacked the principal of vitality in the seed 
of the annual, as it lay secreted in the clod, as well 
as that of the Conch Crass, and the Mangels grew 
without let or himlcranco to he a finer crop than ever 
before nourished upon the same plot of land. The 
foliage was thoroughly vigorous, and tho bulbs werr 
remarkably well matured and sound. Tho weight 
per aero reached tuns, when before the maximum 
bad been 20 tuns—by the aid of several loads of dung 
and an immense amount of labor. 
“The following year, upon a field of the same 
character, 1 tried the same experiment, varyiog the 
course of management in some degree. I applied, 
in October, 12 cwt. of salt, upon tho upturned and 
weedy surface of that land destined for the root crop, 
and allowed it there to lie and do its silent work as 
before, until, in Febrnary, tho soil was dry enough 
to allow of being worked. Asia tho first instance, 
the result perfectly justified the means. Together 
with tHc frosts of winter, the salt had performed 
wonders in breaking down tho stubborn cludB and 
compressed, livery furrow slices. The soil was 
reduced to powder, and tho weedH wore generally 
dead, so that the Mangel, which was planted in a 
finely pulverized seed bed, find nothing to do bat to 
grow without the rivalry of weeds—neither shaded 
by them from the sun, nor rshbed by them of the 
nourishment purposely stored for their use. I said, 
however, that I introduced some change into my 
practice this second time. The change was as fol¬ 
lows: Just after the last furrow was turned, I sowed 
t cwt. more salt, which 1 harrowed in before the 
Beed was dibbled. The result proved the wisdom of 
the addition, I have reason to think — for the weeds 
were even fewer, the foliage of the Mangel was finer, 
and the bulbs were larger than in the former case, 
where the application of salt was merely made in 
the autumn. 
“ It strikes me that our Mangels are freed also from 
another enemy by the use of salt. I mean insects. 
Slugs and wire worm, both very destructive*doring 
certain seasons, are certainly banished by salt, if not 
killed.” 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEKKLY 
agricultural, literary and family journal. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
Tins Rural Nkw-Yorkkk is denpned to be unsurpassed in 
Valae, Parity, Usefulness and Variety nf Contents, and unique 
and beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of it* various departments, 
and earnestly labots to render the Rural an eminently 
Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects intimately connected with the business of 
those whose interests it tealously advocates. As a Family 
Jocrnil it is eminently Instructive and Kntertaining—being 
go conducted that it can be safely taken to tho Hearts and 
Homes of people of intelligence, taste and discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Educa- 
tional, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed with appropriate 
and beautiful KugravInfra, than any other journal,—rendering 
it the most complete Aoricxti.ttual, Literary AM) Famtly 
Newspaper in America, 
Illinois tfuitency is already in this, position—the 
whole of it. Our only circulating meditfm now is 
specie or its representative paper. Of course the 
withdrawal of so much money that lias been recog¬ 
nized as representing fixed values, at this time, lias 
prostrated hut not paralyzed business. With less to 
sell that must he consumed, and with our food to buy, 
such a blow as secession lias given to our currency 
would have bankrupted us. As it is, it will in tho 
end benefit, us, and now puts ns to comparatively 
little inconvenience. (Told and silver, and bills of 
specie paying banks, are becoming more plenty. 
Great caution should be observed, however, in 
accepting Eastern money; for it Is in no wise proba¬ 
ble that tho best money will be vent hither; and the 
Western reader is hereby can to look out that 
ho receives no “ Stumptail ,T from any Eastern 
locality. 
Wisconsin currency is secured (?) with indebted¬ 
ness instead of specie, and .>uj|ae, subject to 
the same disasters which have befallen Illinois Cur¬ 
rency. Great effort is being made to sustain a certain 
list of Wisconsin banks until the first of December 
next, when if the people approve, a new law will go 
into effect, making It the duty of all banka to redeem 
their circulation in Milwaukee or Madison at three- 
fourths of one per cent, discount,; to have a bona fide. 
casli capital of at least SI6,000; in nil cases an amount 
equal to one-third of its circulation before it issue 
anymore; the comptroller is prohibited from issuing 
circulation for more than ninety per cent, of the 
average value of stocks, (which nuatbe United Ktates 
or Wisconsin;) and the stockholders of a bank are 
made liable for its debts six months after any transfer. 
But what about the currency in use in Wisconsin 
to-day? Should farmers receive it at par for their 
products? Jt is being so renewed. An association 
of bankers throughout the State, the Milwaukee 
Chamber of Commerce and Merchants’ Association, 
have guarantied to receive it ai par until the first of 
December. The‘securities of -.he circulation of the 
hanks bo guarantied, (which Is $2,001,510,) are as 
follows: 
United States Stocks.$ 112,100 
Wisconsin Stocks and Bonds. 106,000 
Illinois Stocks. 381,600 
Stocks of other Northern States..- -. 648.100 
Specie . 23,628 
Total . $1,2*0,325 
Missouri Stocks...$ 517,000 
Kentucky Stocks.. 14.000 
Receded States Stocks.. 742,000 
Extk'ked according to act of Cowerens, in the year 1861, by 
1 1 . 1). T. MOORE, in the Office of tin? Clerk of the District 
Court for the Northern District of New York. 
ryOor only object in copyrighting this paper Is to secure 
wliftt every honorable journalist will freely i/rnint,—proper 
credit for articles selected from Its pnao*. Any and every 
journal U at liberty, and Invited, to copy freely, by crediting 
each original articLe or illustration to Rural New-Yorker. 
I DIM'S lMFHOVED SITJAA. W-LINKD HEE-HIVU 
SALT AS A WEED DESTROYER, 
mold. To obviate these evils is the object of the 
invention here illustrated. 
“ It consists essentially of a lining of straw between 
the walls of tho hive and the comb frames. A rep¬ 
resents the body of the hive, provided, as ustml, 
with spare honey boxes, It, placed above the comb 
frames C. Between fhe comb frames, C, and the 
external walls of the hive, there is a space all around 
the hive in which straw, l), is placed horizontally, 
so as to form a series of tubes, spaces being allowed 
both at tho inner aud outer sides of the Btraw, to 
admit of a circulation of air at each side of the 
straw as well as through it. Strips, «, with notches, 
as shown, allow the air to circulate freely between 
the Btraw lining and the outer walls of tho hive. 
“The hive Is perforated, as shown at c c c c. These 
holes are covered with wire cloth, and serve as venti¬ 
lators. 
“The straw, being naturally an absorbent, will 
imbibe tho moisture from the interior of the hive, 
aud this moisture will bo carried off by the air cir¬ 
culating through and around the straw. The straw, 
being also a slow conductor of beat, will keep the 
hive warm. Tims, by this arrangement, the bees 
are kept dry, warm and healthy.” 
cently patented by Mr. Haul'KI. Il>e, of Fast Shelby, 
Orleans Co., N. Y., will prove interesting to a large 
number of our readers. An examination of this 
hive, together with the testimony of eminent bee- 
keepdVs as to its value, assure us that it is well 
adapted to the main purpu.v intended tic pro 
tection of bees from cold and moisture during winter. 
Mr. I or informs us that over one hundred swarms 
were safely kept in this style oT hive last, winter, in 
his own neighborhood—uut one of them being in 
jured by the severe weather. The improvement is thus 
described in the Scientific American of the 15th ult.: 
“ Bees, as is well known to apiarists, keep them¬ 
selves warm in winter by collecting together in a 
mass within the hive, the animal heat being sufficient 
for the purpose. Tho moisture exhaled by the in¬ 
sects condenses in ill-ventilated hives, and if tho 
hives are thin and not protected from the cold, the 
moisture frequently freezes, killing the bees. If the 
hives are well protected from the cold, if they arc 
not well ventilated, the moisture collects, engender¬ 
ing disease among the bees and causing the comb to 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES 
SALUTATORY. 
Tax undersigned having been formally introduced 
to the readers of the Rural New-Yorker, begs leave 
to say that it will be his effort to contribute what ho 
may to their profit and pleasure by careful pen pho¬ 
tographs of Farm Life, (and co-operative interests,) 
in tho North-West, as he may bo able to see it. It may 
be proper to announce that he has engaged the ser¬ 
vices of his intimate frieud and companion, Lead 
Pencil, Esq., who will travel with aud assist him. 
It will enable him the better to accomplish the work 
allotted him by the Conductor of this paper, if 
its readers in the North-West will tako the trouble to 
notify him of the times and places of holding Agri¬ 
cultural and Horticultural Exhibitions, Stock Sales, 
Market Fairs, Implement Trials, or ether industrial 
gatherings. Any such information, addressed to him 
at P. O. Box 3907, Chicago, Illinois, will be duly 
acknowledged and appreciated. 
Most Respectfully, 
Chas. D. Bragdon. 
$1,273,000 
With this exhibit it seems hardly necessary to say 
that neither precedent nor good policy advise im¬ 
plicit faith in the agreement and effort of the Wis¬ 
consin bankers and other associations to sustain it. 
Already some of the banks included in this favored 
list, have closed their doors. It is a significant fact 
that a business based upon fictitious values has 
always proved disastrous to all parties concerned. 
The writer can see nothing to be gained by the Wis¬ 
consin farmer il' he sella hiB produce for this cur¬ 
rency, receiving it at from ten to fifty per cent, more 
than it is actually wot tli to exchange for gold, even 
although lie does get, nominally, a trifle more for his 
grain, than ho would receive iu specie. He should 
remember that it is safe to keep specie, but is far 
from safe to keep Buch currency. This much has 
been written because the industrial, tho producing 
populat ion, possess the power, if they choose to exert 
it, to drive out and consign to perdition these Wild 
Cat representatives and tools of a class of men who 
gain mucli and suffer little by their use. And tho 
people lose, always, by handling Bnch stuff; by 
receiving it in cxchiinge for their labor. It ia safe 
und sound to advise that it be let alone, or be received 
at its value if converted at once into specie; and if 
so received it is safer, these days, to convert it into 
specie at once. 
— But more on this subject, as needed. 
Total Southern Stocks 
CIRCULATING MEDIUM8. 
Homer Bays the armor of Diomede cost nine oxen; 
the cowries of the Africans supplied their wants in 
all matters of exchange, albeit they were only the 
9mall white Bea shells from the shore; the glittering 
baubles of civilization possess a value to the savage 
which gold does not, and become with him a circu¬ 
lating medium. Iron, brass, and copper have each, 
at different periods in the world’s history, and in 
different countries, been the exclusive medium of 
exchange—the representatives of fixed values. Gold 
and silver are now recognized In all civilized 
countries aa circulating mediums, whereby exchanges 
are effected with great facility. These different 
metals, with their relative fixed values, are the only 
legitimate and reliable base upon which exchanges 
can be safely made. 
It is true that any substance, even paper, may be 
made a circulating medium if consent is universal, and 
its value ia our locality is uniformly recognized in all 
others. But the moment it is distrusted in one 
locality it is depreciated in all. If, however, paper 
represents a certain value in gold or silver, there will 
be no fluctuation in its value aB a circulating medium 
beyond the coHt of converting it into gold or silver, 
which will, of course, depend upon the distance from 
the place of redemption and cost of transportation. 
But if paper aa a circulating medium represent# only 
the indebtedness of certain parties to certain Other par- 
liot appear to bo thinking of or noticing sublunary 
things when wo meet him in the street. 
But what is the Army Worm? Tho writer hUH at 
last, looked upon him—in his active eating condition, 
after he had gorged himself with food, and had 
buried himself in the ground, and in the condition 
of a mahogany, or brown or chestnut colored chrysa¬ 
lid. There can be little doubt that it is a Hpcciea of 
AgrotiS, The time of their appearance, their sizo, 
length, color, habits of eating, the manner in which 
they disappear, and the chrysalid lorn in which they 
are found immediately after their disappearance, 
render it a moral certainty that they are cut worms— 
not a described Hpecies in the books, bat cloaely re¬ 
lated. Although they seem to have appeared and 
ravaged portions of this Stale at di fib rent periods 
during the last quarter of a century, (for so old set¬ 
tlers tell us/, they have not attracted the attention of 
our naturalists—at leaat our agricultural publications 
do not afford us any description of the perfect insect. 
THE ARMY WORM. 
What is it? We are glad to see this question 
asked. It was asked us, by a member of the State 
Board of Agriculture — “Have you ever seen this 
“Army Worm, about which so much is said, B’ : ? 
“I think I Lave.” “Weill, what is it like”? It ia 
humiliating to confess tiiat we did not like, as an 
editor, to acknowledge 1 hat there was anything in 
Illinois that we had not se en. Hence we were at once 
impaled by the last quest on of our friend, and were 
forced to acknowledge thi it it was so long ago (!) we 
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