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nrjGPICULTURr 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
Id a word, do everything in its season, and do 
it well, and there will be little danger of loss 
from short crops. 
It is one thing, and a good one, to raite a 
heavy crop, but this Ls not all the secret of suc¬ 
cess, tiB a farmer. It is equally important to sate 
for use and market what the earth has kindly 
supplied as a reward of our labors. Do careful 
to save as well as produce , and there is no haz¬ 
ard in asserting that a farmer will have no 
cause to complain of the recompense accorded 
to his capital and labor.*' 
VISIT TO JOHN JOHNSTON-DRAINAGE 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL, D., 
Editor of tho Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS t 
P. BARRY, C. DEWEY, IX, D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. 11. LANGWORTHY, 
•r. C. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
Tub Rural New-Yobkkk Is .dcsifmcd to bu unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful lu Appearance, lu Conductor 
devotes hi* personal attention to the supervision of lu 
various departments, mu! earnestly labors to render the 
Rural an eminently Reliable. Guide on all tho Important 
Practical, Sclentltic and other Subjects Intimately con- 
nocted with the business or those whoso Interests it 
zealously advocates. A.< a Family Journal It Is emi¬ 
nently Instructive and BnteUAliilng—being so conducted 
that It van t>c safely taJen to the Homes of people Oj 
intelligence, Ust$ and (llscrlinluatlon. Tt embrace \ mere 
HoctlQul^dPal,8ulttntlfic, KducaUonuI, Literary and. News 
Matter, |nter»pened with appropriate Emrravtopi, man 
any other journal, - rendering it far the r.ioat complete 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY ANT) FaSIILY HEWSPAPER 
In America. 
REPAIRING ROADS, 
Among th« h W d?b« thrown upon the popula- Uentlen!aD ’ T Jud S e tbU9 9 P eali9 01 bi8 
tiou of rural dhUlfcts is the yearly or semi-yearly vislt at Mr ’ JonjiSTO? ' 3: 
repaying bf roads or highways. It is a work in "Mr, Johnston, as* everybody knows, is a 
which ait farmers are interested, as well as Scotchman of more than three score years and 
the strangers who may have occasion to pass ten, but bright and active as a youth, and as 
through the country. Each year the path- cheerful as a May morning, and if ever he has 
master is around with a book in which the name his photograph taaen with his littlegreat-grand- 
of each owner or occupant cf land is inserted, 30u 011 Lis knee, I bespink a copy. I passed a 
and against that name is placed a certain amount a night at his house, and walked over his drained 
of work to he done on the highway. This is Lelds, and we talked of drainage, possibly with 
all as it should be. Roads ought to be repaired ; “9 much zeal as our friends “over yon” hud 
hut the way the work Is generally done results talked of Short-Homs. Mr. 8wan’s farm of 
in little improvement to the roads, and in cor- 800 acres, known as “Rosedale,” adjoins Mr. 
respondingly small benefit to those from whom Johnston's, which contained SCO before he sold a 
the labor is exacted or the public at large. part. None of this tract was wbat we call 
The customarv method of repairing Is to plow swam P or evcn wel - il a r ° nin S cla y 9oil 
along the sides of the roadway and scrape the u P OQ a hard P an ’ like 
loosened soil upon it, thus making a pike com- most ot ' tbe land border. ,g on the Central Rail- 
posed of equal parts of loam and sod. During rc ’ ad lram Geneva MRA .v&porL Until Mr. 
the dry Weather of summer and early autumn, Johnston began t. f fW mbody believed draiu- 
tliia nroeess answers verv well. hut. when the ,B 5 wou,d at aU ben * fit * be luud " 11 was dr J 
CLAUDA. 
E. E. BROWS S EWE, 
dam “ Black Rose ” by 11 Sweepstakes; ” g. dam 
Rose by “Long Wool;” g g. dam “Twin” of 
“Little Lawrence Ewe” by Wooster; g. g. g. 
dam “First Choice of Old Ewep.” Mr. Ham¬ 
mond refused $3,000 for Black Rose last winter. 
Dr. R’s " Sun lord” wits bred by W. R. Sanford. 
I merely know that he was got by “ Comet,” and 
that he is own brother of the Sanford ram shown 
by Mr. Campbell at the World's Fair at Ham¬ 
burgh, and also of the ewe ot Mr Sanford’s, a 
cut of which was published in the Report of tbe 
TJ. 3. Commissioner of Agriculture last year. 
Yon can furnish details.* The pedigree of 
Capt. Cossit’s "‘Wrinkly 3d,” is given in Prac¬ 
tical Shepherd, p. 415. 1 sent one ewe to “Gold 
Drop.” 
My entire flock of ewes averaged, the present 
season, 8 pounds 1 ounce of wool per head — the 
fleeces being a little under a year old, and all 
washed hut five. 
*It is hardly necessary here.—[E ds. 
For Terms and oilier particulars, see last page. 
To Correspondents. — Mr. Randall’s address is 
Cortland Village, Cortland Co.,N. Y. AU communica¬ 
tions Intended Tor this Department, and all inquiries 
relating to sheep, should be addressed to him as above. 
A CHAT ON FARM MANAGEMENT 
MR. BROWN’8 MERINO SHEEP 
Two farmers and their families were, ou a 
certain occasion, spending a social evening 
together. The conversation of tbe men, natu- 
rulVy enough, turned upon subjects embraced in 
their experience in husbandry. After awhile 
Mr, H- propounded this question to hialricnd 
Mr. D-. 
“ How is it that, with less land than I have, 
you manage to produce more graiu, hay, cattle, 
sheep and every other farm product, than I do l” 
“ Do you kuow, for a fact, that my farm pro¬ 
ducts are greater than yours,” pleasantly asked 
Mr. D. 
“ To be sure I do,” responded Mr. H.; " I can 
see the results of both farms, and you kuow, as 
well as I do, that what I state is true.” 
“ Well,” said D., “ I believe the fact is as you 
state it to be. Nor is there any mystery about 
it It is owing entirely to our different modes 
of farming. You till or farm more ground than 
I do, aud expend more in the business, without 
corresponding results. You do not pay atten¬ 
tion enough to the character of the different 
portions of your farm or sufficiently study the 
kind of product to which they are severally the 
best adapted. Another thing is Important. It 
is not sufficient, to Insure a good crop of any 
kind, to put seed in the grouud. The soil wauts 
preparation and suatcnauco to start the crop, 
and good tillage to iusure a paying yield at har¬ 
vest If old logs or half decayed trees, heaps of 
stones edged with briars and buahea, are allowed 
to cumber a Held or meadow it is impossible 
that the product, of a given number of aeres of 
such land should equal that from which all such 
encumbrances have been carefully removed. 
Then, again, there is a lo^s from cultivating low 
pieces of ground submurged, as it were, much 
of the season essential to the growth and per¬ 
fection of the crop. Those sections of a farm— 
they are found scattered over most of those of 
any considerable dimensions — with me are pre¬ 
pared by trenching and tilling in of the scat¬ 
tered or refuse stones found about the place aud 
the earth thrown back upon them and thus 
made productive. 
Laud, to yield remuneratively, must bo led or 
stimulated by manure; hence nothing about a 
place, which will aid la making a compost, 
should be allowed to waste its fertilizing prop¬ 
erties ‘on tbe desert air.’ 
PROPER AMOUNT OF YOLK, 
received the first premium for the best ewe of Mb. J. McD. Glenn, Noblestown, Alleghany 
any age on the ground. Her fleece (being then Co., Pa., asks us the following question:—“ Is 
13 months and 4 days old) weighed IS lbs. 7 it expedient to breed sheep secretingthe greatest 
ounces, and her carcass 49 pounds. amount of yolk, at tbe expense of quality aud 
My flock of full blood Merinos, nownumberitg style, particularly now when public attention 
50 ewes, was established as follows: —In April, is becoming directed to tbe weight of scoured 
1853, 1 bought six ewe tegs of David Cutting fleeces, and cour-equently to the shrinkage of 
of Vl (For pedigree of his dock, see Rural very yolky fleeces lu scouring?” 
New-Yorkeh, March 87.) I had my choice out There is no first class Merino breeder within 
of thirty of that age. Four of them were got by the circle of onr personal knowledge who does, 
the ram afterwards sold to Peck & Leach of or who has, within a number of years, bred or 
this State, got by “Wooster." Two of them attempted to breed sheep “secreting the great- 
wero got by a Hammond ram. est amount of yolk.” Perhaps our correspond- 
Jh September following, I bought a ewe of ent is already familiar with the most noted 
D. Cutting, got by tbe “Old Robinson ram,” stock rams of Vermont, New York and Ohio, 
and another of German Cutting. In 1854 I ! and has seen more or less of those celebrated 
bought a ewe teg of Reed Burrit of N. Y., got ewes which have been sold, the past winter, for 
by “ Old Greasy,” dam got by Young Match- two or three thousand dollars a head. Not one 
less, and bred by W. R. Sanford of Vt. This of all of these exhibits the yolkiest description 
was a very superior ewe. I bred seven ewes of fleece, or as much yolk as is often seen on 
and two rams from her. I subsequently pur- third and fourth rate animals, 
chased her dam of Mr. Cutting. In February, To a person unfamiliar with tbe modern style 
most of them, 
of Improved American Merinos, 
it is true, would appear very yolky fleeced. 
They are undoubtedly considerably more so 
than were the average of Merinos twenty years 
since; and the apparent is much greater than 
the real increase of yolk, owing to the Bummer 
shelter and higher keep of the preseut day. 
The best breeders object to an escape ot yolk 
for other reasons than those named by Mr. 
Glenn. To begin with the most selfish ones' 
these are: 
1. Generally speaking an excess of yolk, 
within any limils which leave wool decently 
marketable, ia uot compatible with tho greatest 
production of wool. It is raivly, if ever, com¬ 
bined with tbe maximum of length and thickness 
in the fleece, and this maximum of length and 
thickness, combined with a.« much yolkinesa its is 
compatible therewith, produces the greatest aggre¬ 
gate weight. 
2. Excessively yolky fleeced Meriuos suffer 
more from cold in winter than others; they are 
not generally as easy keepers; aud they possess 
less vigor of constitution. 
3. If excessively yolky fleeced rams and ewes 
are bred together, the above defects increase, 
and there is a steady tendency towards degene¬ 
ration. 
4. Excessively yolky wool is les3 marketable 
aud sells for less prices. 
5. If an excessive amouut of yolk was com¬ 
patible with the maximum weight of fleece, still 
it would bo uubreeder-like and unbuslness-Uke 
to give the preference to such fleeces, because 
THE CANADA THISTLE 
Among tho ills denounced against Adam, os a 
recompense lor his easy yielding to tempta'ion, 
the thistle occupies a prominent place. This 
was undoubtedly the Canada thistle, and to cul¬ 
tivators of tho soil, as Adam and his posterity 
were to become, a judgment of no common 
severity. This thistle was unknown on this 
Continent at the time of its discovery, but was 
indigenous to many seel ions of the Eastern one. 
It is, perhaps, the most pestiferous plant with 
which the farmer has to contend. It is remark¬ 
ably tenacious of life; exclusive in its habits, 
crowding out all other vegetable productions 
within it a reach. It did not appear in Western 
New York till the opening of tho Erie Canal, 
hut since that time its encroachments have beeu 
gradual ami persistent. It is now grouped along 
tho railroads and canals, and has invaded the 
farms more or less extensively throughout their 
entire length. This thistle Is almost death to 
any cereal crop, and no attempt should bo made 
to grow any such on ground infected with It till 
killed out by the plow and the hoe. With corn 
and potatoes this pest can bo met and filially ex¬ 
pelled. But it will require labor and persever¬ 
ance to do It. In the mean time, to check tho 
spread of tho evil, lands along the canals and 
railroad tracks and public highways where this 
plague appears, shbuhl be regularly mowed as 
soon us the stage of blossoming is reached, thus 
prcvoutlng further propagation by seed. The 
time for mowing tbe thistle is now at hand. * 
ABOUT BINDING GRAIN 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— Having noticed 
a few remarks oil grai^ blndingin your paper of 
July 1st, 1 thought 1 wbuld give you my method 
of binding, and the tieth >d mostly practiced 
in tho West. It ia tlik> for binding utter the 
reaper, lor the cradle ^ no more used here eu 
our Western prairies f- Approach the gavel on 
the left-hand side, witi tbe heads to you take 
material for the band fi|m the top with the right 
baud, clasp it near the Center, (this is for siugle 
bluds,) pass the right hand over the gavel and 
the left under it, raiju it up, pass tho bind 
under, clasp it with till left, leaving the thumb 
and Tory Huger free; <Ut\v the bead cud of the 
baud between the first iud secoud fingers of the 
left-baud, leaving the other three under the 
band; twist with rltbt hand; place your lett 
thumb ou the twist, < d the right baud under 
the head end of the 'Leaf, turn it over the left, 
tuck with the left tuunb, iud draw out your 
lingers as you throw down the sheaf. 1 do this 
while walking from one gtvel to auother. For 
double binds I donb|e the same as described in 
the Rural of July, and proceed as described 
above. 
If you think this will be of any benefit to your 
Eastern farmers, please publish it. 
Western Farmer. 
To prepare this, the 
floors of stables, sty es, aud the like, should be 
occasionally taken up, and the accumulations 
under them used as a portion of the cumpo-t 
heap, or applied directly to the land when suit¬ 
able lor use. Iu tills way a farmer’s out build¬ 
ings are rendered hcalthtul, Ibeir decay retarded, 
while the vigor of the growing crops la much 
increased. These, singly considered, tnuy be 
regarded, by many, us small matters, but the 
farmer who neglects them will fail to derive that 
remuneration from his farm which an observ¬ 
ance ol' them would certainly produce. 
Much is also lost by doing things out of sea¬ 
son, If seeding bo done too early, replanting 
m °y be ucecssary, which detracts bo much f rom 
Iho value of the crop. If too late, an entire 
tailurc or Immature yield is the consequence. 
I 
ILL 
n r® 
