TERMS, S3.00 PEIi YEAR.] 
'PROGRESS -AJNT) IIN ( PROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
VOL XVI. NO. 43.! 
MOORE'S RURAL HEW-YORKER, 
AS ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
CONDUCTED,BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL, D., 
Editor of the Department of Bhecp Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS! 
P. BARKY, 
H. T. BROOKS, 
T. 0. PETERS, 
0. DEWEY, LL, D., 
L. B. LANGWORTHY, 
EDWARD WEBSTER. 
The Rural Nrw-Yoekkr Is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beantllUl In Appeuriuice. Its Conductor 
devotes nia personal attention to the nnpnrvlglon of Its 
various departments, and earnestly labors to render the 
Ritual an eminently Reliable Guide on all the Important 
Practical, Scientific and other Subjects Intimately con¬ 
nected with the business of those whose interests It 
jealously advocates. As a Family Journal It Is emi¬ 
nently Instructive and Entertaining—being so conducted 
that It can be safely tatien to the Romes of people of 
Intelligence, taste and discrimination. It embraces more 
Horticultural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News 
Matter, Interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than 
any otter Journal,—rendering It far the most complete 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper 
In America. 
138r For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
CLOSE UP THE FALL WORK. 
In one scdbc a farmer’s work, like a woman’s, 
is never done. He may, at times, drive the 
labor of raising and securing the crops ahead of 
the season, but until his farm is brought to per¬ 
fection in the way of buildings, fences, ditches, 
and is thoroughly cleared of stones, stumps 
and foul productions, he can find enough prof¬ 
itable work to perform. And it may, indeed, 
be doubted if, under the most favorable circum¬ 
stances, he can afford to let his farm operations 
come to a stand stilL 
But we counsel farmers to secure their fall 
crops as soon as possible^ It is bettor, for 
several reason?, to have them all gathered by the 
first of November than later. It is good econo¬ 
my to plan for 6ueh a result, and to employ 
sufficient labor to attain it. We are not certain 
of good weather after that period, and outstand¬ 
ing crops must take the risk of losses from 
storms and frosts. Then the days grow shorter, 
while prices of labor seldom fall, so that It is 
more expensive to hire, and one cannot get so 
much corn husked, or as many potatoes dug and 
picked up, on a cold, windy, disagreeably day— 
one of the skirmishers from the advanced lines 
of winter—as when the weather is plcusant. 
And the farmer actually needs the last fall month 
to finish up “ odd jobs,” to prepare for winter, 
and to advance his spring work. 
Of “odd jobs” there are always plenty. 
While the profits of the orchard are heavily felt 
in the pocket, it is well to bestow some care on 
it. Scrape the bodies of the trees, and wash 
them with a solution to destroy any insect eggs 
that may be deposited there. Take away sorno 
of the dirt that lies close to the foot of the tree, 
and put some ashes )n its place, and it you in¬ 
tend to manure the orchard it will reach the 
roots quicker if put on in the tall. Missing 
tivcs in the rows can be replaced, and even new 
orchards put out or additions made to old ones 
safely, if the work is carefully done, November 
is, likewise, a good month to trim the forest. 
And tlio time has come when it pays to do that. 
Not exactly as you would fruit trees, but rather 
Ihln out, and use for fuel that part of the growth 
which does not promise to be valuable. It is 
surprising how much one will find that had bet¬ 
ter be out than left standlug. Some kinds ot 
trees wilt never grow large or be worth tiny 
thing for timber; some are bent or twisted or 
knotty; some stand too close together; and 
others have passed their prime, and are decay¬ 
ing. All such but cumber t he ground. Remove 
them and other timber will have a bettor chance 
lor growth, ami they make a very fair sort ol 
fuel. This work can bo done to best advantage 
wheu there is no snow on the ground, and the 
trees are bare of leaves. 
Stock requires, and well repays, considerable 
attention during the last month ot autumn. 
Grass is apt to be scant, and, also, unnutritious, 
and we are negligent In supplying the deficiency 
with other food. It does not pay to let store 
cattle and sheep fall awuy at this season. Even 
if they ouly txyin to go down hill, it takes good 
care for the first month of winter to turn them 
round again. To be negligent with fatting 
ROCHESTER N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1865. 
I WHOLE NO. 823. 
stoek, and allow it to be stinted in food, is still 
more unprofitable. At no time of the year does 
it pay better to feed grain liberally, than in the 
month of November. If the grass is good in 
addition, so much the better. A bushel of grain 
will make more fat than in the winter, and it is 
far easier and cheaper to keep the tb-sh we mike 
in the fall, than it Is to make it in cold weather. 
In fattening sheep we would commence feeding 
grain in October, get them middling fat by win¬ 
ter, and then keep them Improving with a 
smaller quantity of grain than it would take if 
we commenced later. Hogs, at this season, 
should be pushed ahead as fast as possible, and 
with the present prospect in view for high 
prices for pork, and In fact, any kind of meat, 
the farmer should not hesitate to use his coarse 
grain in making all he can. 
But while we would push our fattening stock 
as rapidly as possible we should understand that 
it cannot be done by simply giving them the 
greatest abundance of food. Too mnch is as 
bad as not quite enough—even worse. A fat¬ 
tening animal ehonld always have a good appe¬ 
tite. If it habitually has so mnch food placed 
before it as to pick it, and reject the coarser 
part, it will grow dainty. It is a nice thing to 
feed just right—the proper amount that the 
animal system can nse and not be burdened; 
and much experience and close observation are 
the best teachers. Besides, wo should remem¬ 
ber that care saves food, and therefore money. 
Good stables In cold weather, warm, clean bed¬ 
ding, pure water, quiet, gentle handling, and 
regularity In feeding, are all requisite. 
If his crops are secured the farmer can do 
mnch during the month of November to advance 
his spring work. He can plow. He can gather 
manure from every nook and corner on his 
premises where it can he found, and spread it 
on the lot he intends to plant with corn. Un¬ 
less it is on a steep hill side, so that melting 
snows and heavy rains will wash it, there ts no 
danger of its wasting from exposure during tho 
winter. The abundant moisture of winter and 
spring will dissolve the manure to carry it into 
the earth, and wo think there is little waste lu 
manure from exposure to the elements on the 
surface of the ground, unless it ferments, which, 
of course, it will not do in winter. 
Lots that are intended for mowing another 
season, should be cleared of stones in the 
autumn. When the land gets dry enough in the 
spring to bear up a team It is diflleult to find 
time to do such work. Getting in grain is first 
in order then, and soon tho gross grows above 
many of tho stones. If the ground is wet in 
the fall it will not injure it so much to drive on 
It as it will in tho spring. 
It is a good time, likewise, to repair fences 
and build new ones, and set things generally lu 
order about the premises. Manure and plow 
tho garden, and prepare beds for very early 
planting. Don’t fall to bo sociable with your 
brother farmers and gain and impart all the 
knowledge of the Art of Farming possible. 
After the summer’s toil there is rest and relief 
to the mind and body when the harvest is gath¬ 
ered ; and the “odd jobs” we can finish then, 
while waiting for grim Winter, are works of 
genuine satisfaction and profit. 
WHAT WE WASTE. 
To waste and to decay is a law of material 
things. Nature exerts her energies to produce, 
but wheu her work is completed she gives over 
the Individual thing to tho operation of the 
agencies of destruction. She is careful only of 
tho species, and for tho perpetuation of these 
her arrangements are beyond tho wisdom of 
men. When the monarch of the forest, tho 
stately onk that for a thousand years has drawn 
strength from the earth, and for centuries been 
a prominent object on the landscape, ceases to 
grow and dies, from that moment decay begins, 
and it will surely crumble and mould, till the 
eye cannot trace tho faintest outline of its pros¬ 
trate form along the earth. But the species is 
not extinct. While the parent is decaying a 
forest of young trees, sprung from the seed of 
his most vigorous ;*riuie, shed their leaves, in 
dutiful compassion, as it were, on his moulder¬ 
ing form. 
The farmer, the tiller of the soil, who deals 
first with the productions of the earth, should 
be constantly watchful of this tendency to 
decay, and secure everything before loss is 
sustained from this cause. With the most im¬ 
portant crops ho is, Indeed, watchful and ener¬ 
getic. When his fields are white with the 
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GROUP OF FINE - WOOLED SHEEP OWNED BY J. H. THOMAS, ORWELL, VT. 
harvest be hastens wi+k ’ v MY f orces to seenro 
it, knowing that the genial surfer and sunshine 
that helped it on to maturity will work hence¬ 
forth but mischief. With what satisfaction he 
sees the rain fall iu the spring-time when the 
grass begins to shoot! How his countenance 
darkens, as the sky, when the gloom of the 
shower overspreads his cured hay in the field. 
The elements work together to ripen the fruit 
on the tree, but when it is perfected they nnite 
to destroy it. To gain a generous reward, then, 
for his labor in planting and cultivating, the 
husbandman must be active and vigilant in 
securing his crops when they arrive at full 
maturity. This is well understood, and our ob¬ 
ject is to direct attention to some “little things” 
which we have observed are often wasted, but 
which we think it would be profitable to save. 
A great deal of grass i$ annually wasted, 
especially on grain farms. The pastures are 
sometimes allowed to get too much growth be¬ 
fore stock Is turned iuto them, so that a great 
deal of the grass ripens atd dries up. Stock 
will not eat it when they can get fresh herbage, 
either from spots on t lie field or from the bottom 
of the dried-up grass, and it likewise prevents 
the feed from shooting up abundantly and 
qnickly. In a severe drouth such grass is 
better than none at all, but it would be a better 
practice to change the stock from one field to 
another often enough to give them always a 
good bite and keep it fresh. Grass is wasted by 
keeping one kind of stock, for Instance cattle, 
during the whole season in one field. They will 
reject portions of the feed; some of it maybe 
rank or there may bo weeds and shrubs that 
they dislike. One or two Mieep to the acre will 
grow fat in a pasture that Is fully stocked with 
cattle, and not diminish the feed perceptibly for 
the latter, ami at the same time keep the pasture 
in better condition. 
Grain farmers are apt to be flush in feed, and 
let it waste in the autumn. Their pastures and 
meadows and new seeded fields give them con¬ 
siderable area of grass, while their stock does 
not increase unless by purchase. Of course, it 
is not a good practice to feed new seeded fields 
and meadows too close, yet if they were prop¬ 
erly stocked a great, deal of beef and mutton 
I might profitably be made without any detriment 
to the land or grass. Many think the grass de¬ 
caying on the land enriches it more than it 
would if consumed by stock. But we should 
prefer to have a heavy fall rrowth of grass on a 
meadow fed off moderately by sheep. On grain 
farms, too, the grass that grows iu fence corners 
is apt to be wasted. We have sometimes thus set n 
enough to winter one or two cows This, too, is 
utter waste. It fosters weeds, thistles and briars 
that have a partiality for G nee corners, and the 
decaying grass enriches and invigorates them. 
Impoverish the fence corneis if you can, “ run” 
them by all means, and yonr farms will bo the 
better for it. We hope to see the time, in this 
country, when fence corners will be among the 
things talked about but not seen. 
Often farmers fail to reap as much profit from 
their land as they should, and thus they waste 
the use of it. 8uppose a tarnier has a certaiu 
grass field that he intends to plant to corn. He 
has. likewise, a certain amount of manure to 
put ou it. If he bestows his manure and labor 
on half the field, the crop from that, together 
with the yield of grass, might produce more 
profit than if the whole field were planted, and 
the manuring and cultivation not so high and 
good. When system and rotation are neglected 
the products of some fields cannot always be 
turned to good profit. There may bo an over¬ 
plus of coarse fodder and of hay, and the proper 
stock to comumc it may be lacking; or these 
articles mayiflafl short, and thus the farmer may 
be compelled to buy or sell stock to a disad¬ 
vantage. 
The watchful farmer will observe many things 
around his premises that have a tendency to 
waste. Fruit decays that should be sold, apples 
that should go early to the cider mill rot on the 
ground. Fallen timber iu his forest is growing 
more worthless as it lies unused. Buildings and 
yard and garden fences decay from want of 
paint. Rats and mice waste a great deal of 
grain for want of proper granaries. We are ex¬ 
tremely wasteful of manure; rich sources of it 
arouud the house are neglected, and we allow 
rains to waste the richest part of our barn-yards 
into streams, or on to unused land. And we 
are wasteful, likewise, of that which cannot be 
replaced, and which in the end we prize the 
most— Time. The proper use of that lies at the 
foundation of ail reform, and he who makes the 
best of it is prospered most in all things that 
combine to make a contented life. 
http Ipusljiuidrg. 
EDITED BY HENRY s. RANDALL. LL D. 
MR, THOMAS’ SHEEP. 
Mr. J. H. Thomas of Orwell, Addison Co., 
Vt , writes to us : — “I first started my flock by 
purchasing Irom time to time of J. T. cc V. 
Rich twenty-six Pauiar ewes of their breeding, 
and l have no others, except those I have bred 
myself from that stock. I have bred a few ewes 
to In font ado rams, as experiments, but as a rule 
I have bred to Pauiar rams. 
“The Ram teg of which Mr. Page took the 
drawiug, (the cut of which accompanies this,! 
was got by Mr. Hammond's ‘Gold Drop’ out 
of a ewe bred by the Messrs. Rich and got by 
the ‘ Tottiugham Ram.’ The four-year old ewe 
(iu the rear) is a pure Rich ewe, and so is the 
ewe teg (in front) got by the ‘ Tottiugham Ram.’ ” 
*-■ ■ ♦ . 
AUSTRALIAN SHEEP. 
Herman Compton, Wells’ Corners, Erie Co., 
Pa., asks ns : — “ Why do you not publish some 
portraits of the import'd Australian sheep? I 
have no doubt there .uv thousands beside myself 
who would like to see them.” 
The owner of these sheep, Dr. Kknworthy, 
has been traveling most of the time since his 
arrival from Australia— and we do not know what 
his views are on the subject of having portraits 
of his sheep engraved. They still remain on 
oar farm. They have been kept by themselves, 
in an orchard, where the grass is mostly shaded, 
weedy and sour. Four of the ewes have dropped 
late (ram) lambs. The sheep have remained 
fleshy and continued to grow all summer; and, 
considering their age, they are as large aa 
the largest American Merinos. Everything 
about them indicates remarkable easiness of 
keep and vigor of constitution. And they are 
excellent mothers and nurses. 
They look very differently from American 
Merinos. They are taller; have no folds or 
wrinkles in the skin on any part; and having 
been exposed to the weather, they are, with ons 
exception, quite white. But they have well 
arched ribs, are thick through the hips and 
shoulders, possess full, well spread boeoms, have 
well set on and perfectly round necks, and fine, 
beautiful heads. They lack the breadth of the 
South Downs; but they, especially the two 
prize Learmonth ewes, approach the South 
Down form much more nearly than they do the 
exaggerated specimens of American Merinos in 
vogue with some extremists. 
Their wool is extremely long for its age, and 
set on quite thickly, indeed, we cannot hut 
fauev they will make pretty formidable competi¬ 
tors in a scouring test—especially if the quality 
and value of the scoured product were to be 
taken into consideration. Iu a word, we believe 
these will make very valuable sheep, for wool 
growing purposes, where choice wool brings 
remunerating prices. If housed summer and 
winter, they would probably become as dark 
colored as other Merinos — though their yoik is, 
doubtless, (like that of most of the other fins 
varieties of the Merino) more soluble in watejr 
than that of some of the American families. 
GOITRE.-WEAK LAMBS. 
If, according to the most commonly received 
opinion, the weak aud diseased condition in 
which so heavy a per centage of lambs are bom 
at the present day, is owing to the winter treat¬ 
ment of their dams, the proper time of year has 
arrived to take the subject into grave considera¬ 
tion, to the end that the best practicable arrange¬ 
ments may Do made by every sheep farmer to 
avert the calamity from his own flock. Our 
own views in respect to the causes of diseased 
and imperfect lambs, were fully set forth in the 
Country Gentleman iu 1863, after the destructive 
ravages of the epizootic of that year; and they 
are repeated in different parts of the Practical 
Shopherd, and particularly under the head of 
“Confining Sheep in Yards and to Dry Feed,” 
at page 231. These views are strongly corrobo¬ 
rated by the experience of the intelligent corre¬ 
spondent whose communication is given below. 
His letter was received by us some months since, 
but we preferred to postpone its publication to 
a period when the usual arraugetneuts for win¬ 
tering sheep were about being entered upon,. 
(We have other valuable deferred communica*- 
tions on tiiis and kimired topics.) 
South Dansvill*, N. Y., Feb, 10, 1S65. 
Dbar Mr. Randall : — 8otne time in Decem¬ 
ber I saw an article iu the Rural relative to tho 
proper manner of wintering breeding ewes, i 
