- fVTsPG&r. ST 
TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
VOL. XVI. NO. 9.] 
MOOEE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ax or.iorsAi, weekly 
RURAL, LITERARY AND .FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
CIIAS. D. liRAODON, Associate Editor. 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D., 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS • 
P. BARRY, 0. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANGWOTHY, 
T. C. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
Thb Rubai Nbw-Yokkkk tg designed to be nnsur- 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful In Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes his personal attention to the supervision of Its 
various departments, and earnestly labors to render the 
Bvhax an eminently Reliable Guide on all the Important 
Practical, Scientific and other Subjects Ultimately 
connected with the business of those whoso interests It 
zealously advocates. As a Family Journal it is emi¬ 
nently Instructive and Entertaining—being so conducted 
that it can bo safely token 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 otlmr Journal,— rendering it far the most complete 
AdBicn.ru kal, Literary and Family Newspaper in 
America. 
CP” For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
‘PROGRESS aNJSTD IIVIPKOVEAIENT.” 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1865. 
[SI3STG-LE INTO. TEN dCaNTTS. 
{WHOLE NO. 789, 
ammonia the plant will receive. No man who 
has witnessed the reviving effects of such tin 
application to winter wheat in early spring, 
even when apparently half dead, will ever neg¬ 
lect to use it If it can bo obtained. 
There is another Item, whiclt occurs to us as 
we write, which it may be timely to suggest. If 
any farmer has manure which he designs to 
apply to soil this spring, let bitn not wait until 
the snow Is off to draw it, unless he intends to 
plow it in late on grass lauds lor com or pota¬ 
toes. And even then, we would not wait, bat 
draw out in heaps on the snow and spread os soon 
and 40 or 50 can he taken conveniently on a 
hand-sled, to go about tapping. They have all 
the advantages, with regard to keeping sweet, 
that iron spouts have over wooden ones. They 
need no overhauling, for the purpose of tighten¬ 
ing or replacing hoops, or soaking, to make 
them tight. No freezing of jA in the buckets 
will injure them, and the iec^Rjwaya loose and 
easily removed, before the V will start. No 
worm or dry weather will cMa them to leak. 
If, as often happens, there iw run of sap after 
a long term ol‘ warm weather, during which a 
little sap in the buckets 1ms become soured, they 
- * - - a i-LLMiac: auuruu, nicy 
as the snow disappears. It may be said that are made decently clcanhy rubbing a large hand- 
I II f* Cl^ ttf 1C frtn ilnin'i mm., 'll.*.. .. t i c < ... 
the snow is too deep. Perhaps it is in places, to 
use Elcds. We would not use sleds. Use the 
drag or “ stone-boat.” With the aid of stakes 
and boards a large load may be easily drawn—a 
team managing it in deep snow with very little 
effort comparatively. 
MAKING MAPLE SUGAR. 
I have long been a reader of the Rural, and 
have often observed your commendation of 
practical articles, bearing upon any of the great 
productive interests of our widely extended and 
vastly productive country. I propose to give 
you a briel sketch of my method of making 
maple sugar. 
Sugar is an article which, although its pro- 
ful of snow, which is always at, hand at such 
times, around the inside; but, if it. is desired to 
make them thoroughly clean and sweet, they are 
very easily collected, cleansed and re-distributed. 
And here, let me remark, though out of place, 
lies much of the secret cf making good sugar 
when many people make only “ wax.” 
At the close of the season they should be 
thoroughly washed, scalded and dried, so as to 
expel all moisture from seams, and stored in a 
perfectly dry place, as any good housewife 
knows tinware should ho cared for. No paint 
or grease can improve them, either when stored 
or in use. 
I have 350 of them that have been used from 
one to six seasons, and they show no perceptible 
and reducing it to sugar; but, before I had pro¬ 
ceeded far, my eye fell upon some remarks in 
your issue, Jan, 21, addressed to the man who 
prelers a ielt-hand plow; and I was induced 
to pay less attention to brevity and more to the 
reason of things. Therefore, if you think my 
remarks too long drawn, you will please divide 
the responsibility with me; and I will defer the 
remainder of the subject until I see whether 
this meets with your entire disapproval. 
Lewis County, N. Y., Feb., IStS 5 . c. s. 
Remarks.—O ur correspondent is assured that 
we like just such articles. Details and reasons, 
told concisely, are precisely what we want. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: —A correspondent 
wishes to have the profit on making maple sugar. 
I tap the trees with the ax and gouge and catch 
the sap in tin pails made for that purpose with¬ 
out bails, I have three 45-gallon kettles in one 
arch, built of common rough stone, with a 
chimney eight feet high. I burn any kind of rough 
wood. II wood is too dear, take any old logs, 
cut and pile them up the fall or summer before. 
They make as good wood for an arch as hard 
wood. 
It takes no more wood to drive three kettles 
than one. I have a shed built over the kettles. 
I store the sap in sugar hogsheads; draw it with 
a team. I run a small stream of cold sap into 
FIELD LESSONS. 
Tins is a grand old winter! — one promising 
a grand harvest thn onmjiw Bonsnn 
• is a fertilizer as well as a blanket, keeping the 
earth warm and the plants ready to grow as 
soon as their covering is removed. Such winters 
are called “hard winters” — we do not know 
why, for they arc blessed to the busbaudman. 
If the cattle eat more food, such seasons, they 
are in better condition in spring. And the grass 
springs np quicker, and is sweeter in the spring 
for the warmth of the winter robe and the 
atmospheric fertilizers transmitted to its roots 
by the melting snows. The soil is replenished 
with ammonia, by which the plant is supplied 
with nitrogen, through the agency of snow. 
But the amount of good derived from the 
snow, or by its agency, depends upon the 
mechanical condition of the soil. And, although 
foreign to our intention wheu wc commenced 
this article, we must say a word on this point, 
for it is an important one. The farmer whose 
lands are well drained will reap greater benefit 
from this winter covering than he whose 6oil is 
stiff and undrained. The temperature of the 
drained soil is higher, and it will be less affected 
by evaporation; for the melting snow will go 
down through it, instead of lying still on the sur¬ 
face to evaporate. And as the water passes 
through It, it leaves Its ammonia and other fer¬ 
tilizers, gathered from the atmosphere, in tho 
soil, to be taken up and used by the plant. If 
the water evaporate on tho surface tho ammonia 
is liberated In tho atmosphere and Is lost to the 
plaut for the time, and, perhaps, when it most 
needs it. 
But if the soil is drained, or is porous nat- 
rally, it does not follow that it will retain and 
use all these atmospheric fertilizers which may 
descend into it with the snow water. Clay soils 
will not, allow them to escape. Soils rich in 
vegetable matter will retain ammonia. But the 
most porous of all soils, sand, without prepara¬ 
tion, will retain less of these fertilizers. Sand is 
not an absorbent. Hence, with the sandy soils 
must be mixed inorganic matter—muck, char¬ 
coal and other vegetable substances—something 
to take up the gases and retain them for use. 
We have often seen the good results which fol¬ 
low this preparation of sandy soils in the fall, for 
the winter gathering of strength. A friend of 
ours drew muck upon his sand In Septemberaud 
plowed it in on ouu field. He drew It on another 
field later and did uot plow it in until spring. 
There was full ono-fourth difference In results at 
the harvest time, in favor of the fall covered 
muck. This wc regard mainly due to Hie ab¬ 
sorbing power of the muck, which took up the 
richness Horn the water percolating through the 
soil. Perhaps there are among our readers some 
who are watching for effects of this character. 
Some of our readers, perhaps, failed to top- 
dress their meadows, pastures and winter grain 
with gypsum last fall. Those who did not so 
fail will receive their reward; those who did 
should not neglect the application of U at an 
,arh J tUl(c - We would put it on before the 
snow is all gouo or very soou thereafter. The 
effect is to increase (we think) the amount of 
"“6“ "UWU, auuougn us pro- ---—. j a team. I run a small stream of cold san into , - ' ««««“ 
ductlon is confined to a limited portion of the wear > fta ^ m3n y of the oldest ones still have the eae h keltic hr.il rnn,.o-h m m ,v„ i ~ , breeders might dislike exceedingly to see their sheep 
country, i. nevcrtMese o.scntiul to tire welfare »PP«™ne„ of new tin. Two or three of then, “2 ° *h. • 
country, is nevertheless essential to the welfitre 
and comfort of every individual in the land; and 
consequently, its production, a matter of gen¬ 
eral interest. The production of maple su^ar is 
txttns .xiy negtccte-t ru veiy portions <3 tue 
country, and thoroughly ill-conducted In others, 
where it might, be made a source of profitable 
Income; and not that only; it would add largely 
to domestic comfort and enjoyment; for, being 
the production of one’s own industry, the free 
use of It Is not felt as a drain from tho purse, 
while it is enjoyed with a degree of relish, wliich 
no purchased commodity can impart. 
I may as well confess, what you will not fail to 
perceive, that I am a thorough Ruralist, and 
that I write for Ruralists. I do not offer my 
method of making sugar because I suppose it to 
bo the best that is practiced, but-1 do it, with the 
hope that it may furnish to some who practice 
an inferior method, some suggestions by which 
they may make Improvement, and of drawing 
out from others who may practice a better 
method, suggestions for my own aud the public 
benefit. It is not too early, aud I hope uot too 
late, for a timely discussion of the subject. 
Spouts. — I use cast iron spouIs, and consider 
them host. If properly eared for when stored, 
| they are always ready for use,—not requiring to 
be examined for stoppages which might prevent 
the tlow of sap, nor for bruises which might 
cause leakage, as is necessary with wooden ones 
frequently. They run earlier in tho morning, 
many times, than wooden ones, because the 
iron, being a good conductor of heat, assists to 
thaw the ico within, and the wood around them. 
They run later at night, because the orifice is 
large and not so soou closed by freezing sap. 
appearance of new tin. Two or three of them sugar , aQd then u si » p down „ to 
hav e slight bruises from »ue tree with sap or ice molasses, strain through a thick cloth while hot 
“ I * ^ settle over night, and then “sugatoff”’ 
EDITED BY HENRY S. RANDALL. LL. D. 
To Correspondents. — 3rr. Randall's address is 
Cortland Village, Cortland Co., N. Y. All communica¬ 
tions intended for this Department, and all inquiries 
relating to sheep, should be addressed to him as above. 
THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. 
The Editor of this print fFeb. 9,} retracts his state¬ 
ment, that at the Rochester State Fair we advocated 
a classification of Merinos :n prize lists, which we 
had denied having advocated in the same article on 
which he was commenting. It seems that, “ the Ru¬ 
ral was “ not at hand as” he "wrote, and the bear¬ 
ing of the article it contained, in this particular,” had 
” been overlooked at the time it appeared 1" 
The Editor says:—"Dr. Randall, in his remarks on 
the pedigree question, invites a controversy into 
which wc do not propose to enter.” Since the begin¬ 
ning of ISt-t, the Country Gentleman has. we think, 
contained more direct and indirect attacks on the im¬ 
proved American Merinos and their breeders, than all 
the other Agricultural Journals on our exchange list, 
put together. Recently (Jan. 12.) one of the editors of 
that paper, in language of studied contumely, as¬ 
saulted tho reputation of these sheep. Speaking of 
our proposed establishment of a class of "American 
Merinos” in prize lists, he declared that “careful 
breeders might dislike exceedingly to see their sheep 
jammed fiat by careless'' 1 foiling a tree upon it 
duty with the Others. ion ri.fo t,. «.h, 
duty with the others. niion this to show 
that they can endure grief. I have no hesitation 
in recommending those who are about to pro¬ 
cure buckets, to procure tin in preference to 
wood at half price, or at any price. Buckets I 
should not be made with smaller rings than I 
have mentioned; nor with holes punched under 
the wire in the top. 
lt - i so soft you can push your finger in the cake 
--j »!«. «, r v ., t Sl1 fV cakua in a fl oul - 
barrel, with .nriea bored in the latter, to drain. 
m I “ sugar off” 150 pounds at one batch, in one 
of the kettles, by letting the arch cool down a 
iim, , ftom to si, p„„ n * lhe 
Merinos’ and put among the. heterogeneous lots of 
courser-grade 1 Americans ,’ and, still more, voluntarily 
to enter them with the latter!" Wc could not believe- 
that these words were intended to mean what they 
so distinctly imply. Was it to be supposed that an 
,l-j< u Kjimr, hound by every proper considera- 
.ion to foster tho wont growing •ntertst of our co in- 
trv, would, if he understood the character of American 
Merinos —if he knew that they were the same sheep 
Tapping .—For tapping, I use a nine-sixteenth j 
inch bit, bore one to one and a half inches deep, 
and put one spout in a tree. I tap as early as the 
sap will flow, and when I find that the flow of 
sap can be increased bv it, r remove the spout 
aud rim Out the hole, using a bit, (curved lip,) | 
One man can boil 100 pounds per day, and cut 
his wood. In 1S58 it cost me three cents per 
j pound ; last spring it cost six cents, which left a 
one-eixteenth inch larger than was used before, I 
profit of fourteen ceuts per pound. I make 
from 500 to 1,000 pounds eaeh year and attend 
to my stock, with the help of one man. 
Tioga Co., Pa. William Francis. 
GLEANINGS FROM LETTERS AND PAPERS. 
thus making the cut fresh on all sides, and one 
or two turns deeper. Hi is operation I repeat, 
whenever required, to produce the best flow 
of sap. 
If, as often happens, the weather becomes 
favorable for a late run of sap, I sometimes 
insert a second spout; Or, if the first lias very 
nearly ceased to flow, remove it to some other 
side of the tree. I set my spouts in the most 
thrifty aud straight-grained place I can find, 
early in the season, on tho eastern or southern 
side of the tree; later in the season on the west¬ 
ern or northern side. Very large trees I tap on 
two sides, and think they fill two buckets just as 
quickly as one. 
1 ranging Rackets.— I hang my buckets on the 
spouts, and detest spikes for that purpose. 
- u/i vxittu purpose. 
They remain sweet when wooden ones become Many men are slow to believe that a sap snout 
Rniirinl hnnanan Id a .L-.» ...m. .. .it a a ... .... 
soured, because, lu a warm day, with a slight 
flow of sap, the warmth of the spout evaporates 
the sap, and the spout remains sweet, while a 
wooden spout absorbs it aud becomes soured. 
If they ever become soured, they arc perfectly 
restored by scalding, while wooden ones cannot 
be restored so that they will not sour more 
readily than new ones. 
If wooden spouts are to be used, the best only 
should be made; and the best I know of are 
made in this way: —Get out pieces of hard 
maple, any convenient length, seven-eighths inch 
square, as uicely as your fancy dictates. Place 
in a lathe aud turn the points, two together 
taking about two inches, leaving the shoulder 
square, and tapering nicely to about ono-elx- 
tcenth inch less than the size of bit to be used 
in tapping. Saw apart and boro through, from 
the point, with a five-sixteenth or three-eighth 
bit, (curved lip.) About four inches is a good 
length for spouts. 
Rackets.—I use tin buckets, aud consider them 
far superior to wood, for various reasons. They 
occupy but little space. 'Mine are made nine 
Inches deep,— bottom diameter nine, and top 
eleven inches, with a ring, one and three-eighths 
inch inside diameter, put on with a hinge. They 
hold twelve quarts, and when nested together, 
each bucket occupies about three-fourths ot an 
inch In height. They are ready for use at a 
moment’s notice, — 500 or 1,000 of them can be 
placed on a common sleigh in a few minutes, 
will hold a bucket of sap, unless driven so tight 
as to close the pores of the wood, thus prevent¬ 
ing, in a measure, the flow of sap. I, and many 
others know, that a spout, driven tight enough 
to be secure against leakage, will hold a much 
greater weight than a bucket of sap; and that, 
too, it tho bark has a fair thickness, without I 
touching tho wood. If any one is still incredu¬ 
lous, he can try it to his entire satisfaction, and 
then, if he is wise, he will discard spikes, with 
the waste of time in inserting and removing 
them, and the waste of 6ap from leakage, and 
hang his buckets on his spouts. If he has uot 
suitable spouts, that is, iron spouts with a horn, 
or wooden spouts with a shoulder, for holding 
the ring of the bucket, he will replace them with 
those that arc suitable; and, if his buckets are 
not furnished with suitable, rings, (or if wooden 
buckets with cord or wire,) he will furnish them, 
and no longer oomruit the folly of driving spikes 
into his trees. 
By the means and method which I have 
attempted to describe,, 1 believe that a better 
flow of gap eau be obtained, with less loss by 
Training Hops on Wire.—We see that it was 
asserted at the Farmer’s Club, N. Y. City, that a 
field of six acres of hops, trained ou wrires, was 
all killed by a single flash of lightning. ‘ We do 
uot know the authority for this statement. 
Storing Hag. — On page 205, last volume 
Rural, we published an article recommending 
lime in storing hay. An Ohio corespondent 
says he has tried it thoroughly tho past season, 
saving hay sweet by its use that he is sure would 
have been musty if stored in the ordinary man¬ 
ner. Has any one else been benefitted by the 
suggestion? Now is the time to tell of the 
effects of its use. 
To keep a horse's tongue in his head. — Back¬ 
woodsman, Crawford, Pa., writes the Rural: 
“Cover your bit with leather or doth, make it 
large,—say an inch in diameter if the horse is 
bad—let out the check straps so that the bit will 
drop about to the bridle tooth, or so that it will 
almost fall from the mouth. A constant exer¬ 
tion of tho tongue to recover the bit to its pro¬ 
per place has effectually cured every case I have 
ever tried iu a young horse.” 
Tlrt'foni Com Cultivators. —R. W. F., Niagara 
Co., N. Y., asks if we eau give the address of 
some of the manufacturers of the two-horse 
corn cultivators used in tho West Yes, aud if 
they were wise, they Would advertise iu the 
Rural, on Western as well as on Eastern 
in thejr owner's flock, and certainly not the best in the 
country, had easily beaten the Merinos of the world 
at Hamburg—would venture to convey the idea that 
rare fid breeders ’ wornd be ashamed to show sheep 
in tho samo class with them ! We give our contem¬ 
porary the benefit of the mildest explanation which 
his extraordinary declarations admitted of, viz., that 
he misunderstood •• the character of the sheep." He 
rejects this sheltering plea. He prefers to stand forth 
as the insulting denouncer of a breed of sheen which- 
are the pride of the great body of wool growers in cha 
United States —and which arc this day selling for 
vastly higher prices than any other breed in the United 
States, or in any other country in the world. 
The Editor of the Country Gentleman also (Jan. 12,) 
attacked the authenticity of the pedigrees of the lead¬ 
ing families of American Merinos as given by their 
breeders; and he made statements which if true 
would convict those breeders of intentional falsehood. 
As this appeared iu an article which commented on 
and made direct and sneering allusions to, our own 
counter statements, wc had & right to assume, and did 
assume, that it was intended for a public contradiction 
of and attack on the opinions we had expressed on 
the subject. Oar contemporary does not in reply 
tFeb. 9.) attempt to deny that we put a perfectly cor¬ 
rect construction on his expressions and meaning and 
intentions iu ail the above particulars. He docs not 
claim that we ever named him or his journal in con- 
neetiou With these pedigrees, before those aggres¬ 
sive statements were published. He ” cheerfully 
bears witness to the good will and respect" with 
which wo have uniformly treated him. But when 
railed upon to make good his gratuitous and injurious 
assertions by facts, he suddenly becomes mo 9 t pacif 
icaily amiable, and gently declines to enter into the" 
controversy to which wc invite him I We scarcely 
recollect such a case of pacific amiability siuce Mr. 
Dowler and Mr. Winki.e so unexpectedly encoun¬ 
tered each other in the coffee-room of The Bush tav¬ 
ern at Bristol. Neither of those gentlemen—nay, both 
of them put together—were not more averse to an 
encounter I 
Under these circumstances, we feel compelled reluc¬ 
tantly tu say that the opinions or statements, ou the 
topics under consideration, of a gentleman who has 
uot had a particle of experience in Merino sheep hits- 
— —m aucuuu soeep uua- 
account:- Hawkeye Corn Cultivator, manufac- bandry—who has, we will venture to say, never bred 
V... T\ — —P. n- X t Ml V. . .tnJ __ ___J _ _» I vr 
tured by Deere & Co., Moline, Ill.; Doak’s 
Cultivator, manufactured by H. A. Pitts oc Co., 
Chicago.; Stafford’s Cultivator, manufactured 
by Barber A Hawley, Decatur, III. 
Prqfite of Maple Sugar Making.— D. L. C., Ing¬ 
ham Co., Mich., gl.- s the Rural the results, in 
figures, of his efforts to make sugar, which we 
condense:—Tapped 800 trees with an ax or gouge; 
used sheet-iron spiles driven not quite through 
the bark; caught sap iu patent pails hung on 
leakage, tailing outside the buckets, and other nails driven into the tree so that the top of the 
Gi.m K , ♦_J v . .. * 
causes, than can be obtained by auy other 
method practiced iu this section of eouutry; 
ami this is my reason for ofl'eriug it to the 
public. 
I intended, when I commenced this article, to 
give, iu less space than I have alreudy occupied, 
a sketch of the whole process of obtaiuing sap, 
pail was four inches below the spile or spout. 
Boiled sap in two pans, each S by 5b, feet, 5 
inches deep, on an arch, the pan nearest the 
mouth of arch being a inches lower than the one 
and probably never owned a single Merino sheep—who 
a few mouths since, if we remember aright, disavowed 
all knowledge of the pedigrees of our American Meri¬ 
nos ho in his remarks of Jan. 12, gave convincing 
proof that he was uor even acquainted with the stand¬ 
ards of exoeltencc recognised by their breeders in 
respect to cue of the most important characteristics of 
the animal (viz., the proper fineness of its fleece)—and 
who has tho courage to attack people and their prop¬ 
erty, but is too amiable to annihilate them by showing 
his proofs-ought to derive no weight, and will not 
where these theta are known, derive any weight from 
the fact that he is one of the Editors of a highly 
respectable agricultural Journal, 
The attempt of our contemporary to shelter himself 
under onr example Is unfortunate. If, without proof 
or knowledge of the subject, we had made an attack 
-..uviui, M “JAmo ivmivi A lAiiAl LLU: ULUJ UUU IUiXUC till iUliluiv 
next the chimney. Made- 5fi0 lbs sugar; most of 011 tho veracity aud property of a large class of Amer- 
it sold at 10c, some at 20c per lb. Expenses of * A disavowal of this kiud appeared oditoriaiiv m Co. 
manufacturing, £50. Not much profit. Gout in answer to the imudnea of a correspondent. We 
*’ t " uu did not preserve, the paper containing it. 
