KfDJRE. 
• • AGRICULTURE - 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING S. 
1TURMY, FEBRUARY 18, 1865. 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
an original weekly 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
CIIAS. D. BRAGDON, Associate Editor. 
mbred with night soil, ashes, Ac. We urged 
that the rakings of the yard, slops from the 
house, manure from the pig pens, all be added 
to this heap, and thoroughly mixed with muck, 
leaves, or chip manure. That is the way we 
make a compost heap. 
neighbor always gathers his seed corn from the 
stalks bearing two or more ears. 
“All gammon!" 
Well, you may probably think, so, but I happen 
to know better; for by that means I hare added 
nearly or quite one-quarter to my crop. Each 
year, when I attended to it, I can see an im¬ 
provement the next. 
“Plant in the moon Pi 
No, sir, plant in the ground, aud get that in 
the best possible order. Plow and manure well, 
and plant the moment the ground is warm 
enough for the corn to vegetate quick, and make 
a rapid growth. Begin cultivating the moment 
the corn is up an inch, and do not stop till it’s 
too high to work among safely. Mark your 
rows as straight as possible, aud yon will find 
much comfort, in after-culture. 
I used a Share’s harrow last year, by taking 
ofi the front teeth and reversing the next one 
on each side, pur on two horses, and it did 
spleudid work; but it’s rather clumsy to handle 
when turning. I understand they have a better 
article up in Illinois; why don't they let us see 
one here?—p. 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D., 
Editor of tho Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL COSmUBUTOHS: 
P. BARKY, C. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANOWOTHY, 
T. C. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
lo Correspondents. —Mr. Randall’s address is 
Cortland Village, Cortland Co., N. Y. All communica¬ 
tions intended for this Department, and all inquiries 
relating to slieop. should be addressed to him as above. 
PURE STABLE MANURE 
WASHING SHEEP, 
Tub Rural New-Yorker la designed to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents,, aud 
unique and beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes life personal atteutlon to the supervision of its 
various departments, and eoruustlr labors to render the 
Rural an eminently Reliable Guide ou aH the Important 
Practical, Sclentldc and other Subjects Intimately 
connected with the business of those whose interests it. 
zealously advocates. As a Family .Journal It Is emi¬ 
nently Instructive and Entertaining—being so conducted 
that it cau be saioly l iken to the Homes of people of 
Intelligence, taste and discrimination. It embraces more 
Horticultural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News 
Matter, Interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than 
any other Journal,-rendering It far the most complete 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper In 
America. 
current oi «aier switlly descending from a spout 
or trough connecting with a dam. Mr. W. says: 
‘‘A minute's time, with a plunger of suitable 
form to agitate the water thoroughly, will suffice 
to cleanse the wool perfectly. Let. the basket 
be then lifted from the tub,—the water will 
immediately run through the meshes and the 
fleece can be placed uponraiis, elevated afoot or 
so Irom the ground, to dry. It can thus be done 
as expeditiously and with much more comfort 
than it can by the old method. The wool will 
be better cleansed—buyers will pav a higher price 
for it thus treated —and all the ill'effects of 
plunging the sheep into water is avoided.” 
This is the ay tern of washing wool, practiced 
in Spain and some other countries, except that, 
in them, it is placed in vats in larger quantities, 
and subjected to additional processes which 
give t he wool somewhat of a “ cleansing," in the 
mannfacturer’s sense of the term—which Mr. 
Wood’s process, very fortunately for himself, 
docs not and cannot do, conducted as expedi¬ 
tiously as he describes. That the wool, however, 
can thus be rendered cleaner than nineteen- 
twentieths of tho “washed” wools sold in our 
markets, we have no doubt. And the effects, 
whatever they are, of plunging sheep into water 
are avoided. * 
The last is really the only gain of this mode- 
over the ordinary one of washing 
DAIRYING IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 
On page G, current volume of the Rural, wc 
published an article with the above head. Our 
new type had been delayed most vexat ionsly, and 
we were compelled to employ a large additional 
force in order to get the paper out on time. As 
a consequence errors occurred which louid not 
have escaped notice ordinarily. Oi»was the 
omission of tho closing portion of P... article 
referred y>, in whirl, thg civd’f .mHft-cfits of 
the business were left out. When uncovered, 
neither the copy nor proof could be (fund, and 
we were compelled to “let it go.” Tac author 
of the article, Mr. J. P. Jones, Cherry Valley, 
Ill., has kindly supplied the missing portion, 
and we now give bis figures to prove Ids asser¬ 
tion that “there is no branch of husbandry, all 
things considered, more remunerative than dairy - 
THE OBJECTS OF ASSOCIATION 
iu ue one oi incse. aneep ot sound, vigorous 
constitution are not, under such circumstances, 
ia the least harmed by brook washing. A sheep 
immersed long enough to wash it, in water in 
which a man can stand up to his middle for an 
hour without particular suffering, does not, in 
our judgment, run so great a risk of injury 
as it would exposed to a two or three hours’ raiu 
of the same t '■mperatnre with the brook water. 
But on farms where the flocks are large aud all 
or a portion of them cannot be conveniently 
brought temporarily under shelter after being 
turned out ou their pastures, sheep are not only 
exposed to such rains before shearing, but to 
cold rains of hours' continuance. Sometimes 
these cold rains rapidly follow each other for days 
together, and are accompanied by cold, windy 
weather. These exposures are not, doubtless, 
favorable to sheep. The poor and the feeble 
ones arc liable to sink under them. Yet strong, 
healthy Merinos, used to being turned out to 
pasture as soon as there is enough grass to sus¬ 
tain them, and used to remaining on their pas¬ 
tures until taken up again for winter, encounter 
sueh exposures without apparent injury. How 
idle, then, to talk of injuring (locks which are 
treated as common farmers treat their sheep, by 
plunging them for a couple of minutes iu water 
of a moderate temperature and then restoring 
them to an atmosphere of moderate or mild 
temperature! 
As long as the manufacturer enforces his 
unjust one-third rule, the wool grower, to con¬ 
sult his own interest, must do one of two 
things. He must either, like the breeder, shel¬ 
ter his sheep from nil storms, so as to preserve 
all the natural yolk in the wool (and breed from 
“greasy” rams into the bargain!) or he must 
brook-wash his wool on the backs of the sheep, 
and then allow the yolk again to start out to a 
reasonable extent before shearing. 
ciatiou. We do not recommend dairymen, 
sheep breeders, wool growers, fruit growers, 
tobacco growers, and *11 men yf other distinct 
industries to associate together for aggressive 
purpose's, nor yet for defensive, purposes merely. 
The chief aim should be to make progress. We 
should unite in order to gain strength. Our 
strength should not only be greater because 
united, but should increase with greater rapidity 
because of the united facility for getting and giv¬ 
ing information. No class of men should ignore 
the fact that all other classes arc as essential iu 
the grand system of society as itself—have 
rights, objects and spheres co-equal and co¬ 
operative with itself. 
Then let no limner think to become indepen¬ 
dent when ho associates with other farmers 
engaged in the same department of industry as 
himself. Let him so connect himself with others, 
but with the higher object of uniting his strength 
with theirs to lift, the class higher in usefulness, 
intelligence and influence. This is why we urge 
association—this the object wc urge as primary, 
And no neighborhood of farmers should exist 
wherein there is not this association for purposes 
of common interest. 
on the back. 
On the other hand, time is lost and a portion of 
what universal custom makes part of the legiti¬ 
mate weight of the fleece is also lost. Mr. W. is 
unquestionably mistaken in supposing that this 
basket washing would not occasion a very mate¬ 
rial additional expenditure of time. Does he tie 
up his fleeces when ho shears and theu untie 
them when he washes ? If he does not do the 
former, his clip is in a confused mass, and the 
fleeces must be all brokeu up pell mell together. 
If he docs not do the latter, (untie his fleeces at 
washing) he cannot wash them even approxi¬ 
mately clean in ten times the period required to 
wash on the back, even if he can do so at all. If 
he ties them at shearing, aud uuties them at 
washing, still the wool must be mixed after 
washing unless each fleece is dried separately on 
the rails and again tied up, or ^ept separate by 
some other means. It is the custom of the 
country to market sheared wool in separate 
fleeces, and other things being equal, it is uot. 
probable that mixed masses of untied wool 
would be found as salable. Besides, it would 
require a most unnecessary amount of storage 
room. 
Loss in “ legitimate weight ” would occur in 
this wise. It is held bv buyers as well as sellers 
HOW MUCH CORN ON AN ACRE ? 
Kind reader have you any definite notion how 
mauy bushels of corn are usually grown upon 
an acre ot laud in tliis State ? Grown sixty. 
Perhaps you have, and then perhaps you have 
not. I don’t believe there is an average of one 
farmer to a county who has grown thirty bushels 
of shelled corn, measured in February, for three 
consecutive years in thJs State during the last 
twenty-five years. Nor do I believe there arc 
live farmers in the State who grow twenty acres 
iu each year, that yields fifty bushels. As for SO 
or 100 bushels of corn to the acre, measured as 
1 said, in February, I think It’s about as prob¬ 
able as that Barnl m has obtained a part of the 
North Pole, and is showing it in his museum. 
Aud vut, 0! most wondering reader, do uot un¬ 
derstand me that the tiling enunot be done. But 
do you know how much corn shrinks from the 
time it is harvested till thoroughly cured, say in 
February or March ? Well, I will tell you; it is 
one-quarter. 
With Western corn it is possible to raise one 
hundred bushels of shelled eoru unon an acre 
AMOUNT RECEIVED. 
One hundred cows, 485 lbs. cheese each, 14c. 
per lb . ^0,700 00 
One hundred calves 4 days old. loo qq 
Whey of 100 cows for hogs. 200 qq 
Total receipts.$7,000 00 
Deducting expenses. 2,085 00 
Leaves net profits.$ 5,005 00 
In this article Mr. Jones has not given his 
processes, and sueh praerieal hints as .ire much 
needed in the West, but wo shall hope to hear 
from him on such topics as he may think of 
practical importance to Western dairy 
A COMPOST HEAP. 
iiat is a compost heap?” asked a farmer 
ot us, a lew weeks since, as he was showing us 
bia arrangement for getting rid of the house- 
slops. The slops were poured into a sink-hole, 
in the back kitchen, and thence eonveved in an 
under-drain far away from the bouse into a pool, 
whore they were allowed to evaporate. We ob¬ 
jected to the waste, for it was evident that the 
soap-suds, dish-water, claimber-lye, Ac., all went 
this way. What would we do with it? Pour it 
on the compost Heap. But he knew nothing of 
compost heaps, although lie was in the habit of 
drawing muck from the swamp and spreading it 
on bis soil. The night soil in his vaults inufre- 
cctved no absorbents at all; nor had the vaults 
been cleaned out for years. The ashes had been 
thrown from the leach, and l.ad laid where they 
were thrown, unused, accumulating as each year 
passed. The chip manure, about the back door 
was several feet thick, and he Lad never used a 
men, 
FARM FOOT-BRIDGES. 
B. B., Superior, Wis., tells us how he makes 
foot bridges, cheaply, for crossing small streams: 
"1 take two sticks of timber, threa by four 
inches, or larger if necessary, lay them down on 
their narrow sides, six, eight, or ten inches 
apart, as desired, then take a pine slab, if con¬ 
venient, and lay on the top and nail with three 
or four nails to each timber; theu turn the 
whole over and put a slab ou the other side, and 
fasten in the same manner, mul the bridge is 
done. These are convenient for crossing small 
streams on the farm or road. In layiig them 
down, I turn a furrow each way with jhe plow 
and clean out in the center, and am ^ireful to 
SHEEP EATING TOBACCO, 
In the winter of 1SC4 wc stated the seemingly 
wonderful and anomalous fact that several flocks 
of Merino sheep had been found to be fond of 
eating the small or damaged dry leaves left on 
tobacco stalks, aud of peeling off, and eating 
the dry bark or external skin, from those stalks. 
In the cases related, the sheep were not impelled 
by hunger, nor did they acquire it as a trick or 
habit, from any incidental cause. No; even 
more spontaneously than a Boicery-boy, they 
took to “the weed” at sight! We suppose 
that even Meiner Dutchman the first time he 
took a pull at a meerschaum, felt some qualms , 
and that his first quid turned out to be a quul 
pro guo/ Not so with Don Merino. The vice 
comes to him without teaching or practice. We 
do actually and seriously find that the eases we 
gave are the rule and not, the exception —that it 
is a serious fact that cM Merino flocks (so far as 
we have heard of its being 
lay down in sueh a manner that the slate will be 
at the bottom and top; turn back tht furrow 
and cover up.” 
RIGHT vs, 
LEFT-HAND PL0VS, 
tried,) will thus eat 
tobacco thrown out to them in winter. They 
commence nibbling it at once, and soon consume 
it habitually and quite freely. We have received 
this statement from numerous reliable tobacco 
growers. Perhaps other breeds of sheep would 
feed upon it as freely, but our informants have 
all been Merino floekmasters. Not the least 
injury appears to aeerne to sheep from actually 
eating this powerful vegetable narcotic which 
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