TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
PROGRESS ATS TX> IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE NO. B’OTJR CENTS. 
V01. XIII. NO. 8.! 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE LEAPING AMERICAN WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
CHAS. D. BRAGDON, Western Corresponding Editor. 
The Rural New-Yorkkr is designed to be unsurpassed in 
Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor derotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision or its various departments, 
and earnestly labors to render the Rural an eminently Reliable 
Guide on all the important Practical. Scientific and other 
Subjects intimately connected with the business of those whoso 
interests it zealously advocates As a Family Journal it is 
eminently Instructive and Entertaining — being so conducted 
that it can be safely taken to the IP-arts and Homes of people of 
intelligence, taste and discrimination. It embraces more Agri¬ 
cultural, Horticultural. Scientific, Educational, Literary and 
News Hatter, interspersed with appropriate Rnd beautiful 
Engravings, than any other journal,—rendering it the most 
complete Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper 
in America. 
t3T“ For Terms, and other particulars, see last page. 
THOROUGH TILLAGE. 
Having lately treated of drainage and deep 
culture as a means of farm improvement, we 
now purpose to call attention to another mechanical 
requirement of the soil—pulverization. On this 
point there can be hut little difference of opinion. 
Whatever may be the doubts in regard to other sys¬ 
tems, every one acknowledges, both in theory and 
practice, the necessity of thorough comminution of 
the soil. For this purpose the farmer plows, and 
drags, and one-half of the labor on most farms is 
devoted 10 this work alone. Some years ago, one of 
the most celebrated Agricultural Chemists ot the 
world received two specimens of soils for examina¬ 
tion, one from the Miami Valley, and remarkable 
for its exceeding fertility; another, an ordinary soil, 
and far less fertile; yet he could detect no other dif¬ 
ference between the two than that the particles of 
the Miami soil were much finer than the other; and 
to this, no doubt, must be attributed its remarkable 
fertility. During the latter part of the last century, 
Jkthro Tui.i,, who, perhaps, did as much as any 
other individual for the improvement of Agricul¬ 
ture, adopted the theory that the roots of'plants live 
upon minute particles of soil , and that repeated and 
almost constant tillage is necessary to secure a 
large crop, and nothing else is required. He 
believed manure to be valuable; but only lor its 
mechanical effects as a divider and disintegrator of 
the soil, which, kept properly pulverized, would 
supply all the requirements of vegetable growth. 
This theory, though erroneous, did much to call 
attention to thorough culture, and the success of 
Tull was such as to induce, for a time, a pretty 
general indorsement of his theory. Latcriuvestiga- 
tions have elicited the truth, but have not lessened 
in the opinions of good cultivators the importance of 
obtaining and keeping up during the life of the 
plant the Iinest possible tilth. 
A heavy clay soil will hold more moisture than a 
loamy or sandy soil; yet die clay will be the first to 
suffer from drouth, because in ordinary practice it is 
never kept in us line condition. If the soil is well 
pulverized to a good depth, crops will not suffer by 
drouth once in ten years; yet with ordinary culture 
the product of almost every crop is much lessened 
almost every season in consequence of lack of mois¬ 
ture. Where the particles are fine, water constantly 
arises by capillary attraction during the day, only 
an inch or so of the surface becoming dry, and this 
is effectually moistened by the dews of night. Let 
any person examine a deep, fine soil in the heat of 
the day, even during one of our dvyest times, and it 
will be found moist and warm, producing all the 
requisites for a rapid growth of plants white a hard, 
lumpy, half pulverized soil will lie found dry, often 
to the depth of a foot or eighteen inches. For some 
time it was a matter of surprise to us that crops of 
corn could be grown on the prairies without cul¬ 
ture. especially in hot, dry seasons; but an exami¬ 
nation of the character of the soil, fine as powder to 
a great depth, and full of decaying vegetable mat¬ 
ter, made the cause plain. 
The farmer may learn from the gardener many 
useful hints. Let a hot-bed be started early in the 
spring, and we will say planted with cucumbers. 
In a little while the plants are up, have their rough 
leaves, and are making rapid progress. Here we 
have most of the conditions favorable to growth, a 
deep, mellow soil, warmth and moisture: but select 
one plant and allow it to take its course without 
stirring the soil, or only occasionally, and in a short 
time it w ill become stunted, make but little growth, 
and never become a vigorous, strong plant. Give 
the others a different course of treatment, lighten the 
earth around them every day. or every other day. 
with the fingers, and draw the iresh earth to the 
steins, and the difference in growth will be such as 
to convince every observer of the necessity of 
frequent stirring of the soil to obtain for plants a 
rapid growth and full development Another and a 
very pleasing test is to sow in the garden a little 
patch of any of our common farm plants, as oats or 
wheat; let a part be sown broadcast in the ordinary 
way and receive no culture; the remainder he drilled 
and the soil kept well cultivated during the season. 
In the latter case the plants will attain double the 
size of the others, and the product will be from two 
to three-fold greater, furnishing a lesson that will 
need no repetition. 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES. 
HUNGARIAN GRASS. 
On page 110, current volume of the EukAL, I 
notice an inquiry about Hungarian grass, to w T hicb 
I reply as follows: 
1. When to Soic. —Sow any time in June. If you 
want two crops, sow from the middle of May to the 
middle of June. 
2. Hour much per acre. —If you grow it for the 
seed, from onc-fburth to one-third of a bushel per 
acre will be enough—Ihe amount must depend upon 
the strength or condition of the land. If the object 
is to get bay, feeding the seed and all without 
thrashing, a halt bushel of seed is not too much per 
acre. 
3. Kind of Soil. —A good corn or clover soil is 
best suited to its production. It does not like or dp 
well on wet land. 
4. Time of Chitting and Chiring. —If the object is 
simply to get the seed, separate from the hay, it 
should be cut when the seed is full formed, and 
before il will shell out; hut if it is designed to feed 
the hay without thrashing, it should be cut soon 
after the plant goes out of bloom and the seed begins 
to form,—at least os soon as the seed is in the milk. 
It is cured in the same way as timothy. 
5. Average yield per acre. —Cannot say. Have 
seen four tuns taken from an acre, iu one season, at 
two cuttings. On good soils, a larger crop has been 
harvested. I think three inns per acre may tie 
safely regarded us an average crop, on good soil, 
with the seed put in when the ground is in good 
tilth. The above weight of Ihe product, ot course, 
includes the seed. It weighs (with the seed) much 
heavier than the sanio bulk of timothy. Twenty to 
thirty bushels of seed may be grown per acre. 
6. Value of tlic Hay for Stock. —Compared with 
timothy, there are few feeders who do not prefer the 
same weight, of the latter—timothy. Of its relative 
value, there is some dispute. Cut as above directed 
for hay, it has been the sole feed for working teams 
during the Spring season, when the work is heavi¬ 
est. I know Illinois and Iowa farmers who grow it 
for this purpose, asserting that it is a better and 
Cheaper food than com and timothy at ordinary 
prices. The hay and seed combined, make a heavy 
feed. By some it is asserted to be injurious to 
horses. But so far as I have been able to learn, 
this injury has resulted from feeding fully matured 
seed, together with un additional feed of com, or 
other grain. There has been so rnucb testimony to 
the injurious effects of this food when the matured 
seed has been fed, that there is doubtless some cause 
for it; but so far as I know, the hay and seed cured 
as above, and fed alone, has been preferred to other 
food. Most kinds of stock like it, and will thrive on 
it. But other grain should not bo given in addition 
when the seed is fed. 
7. Crops in One Season. —If sown early, two crops 
are often secured. 
F. What it Requires. —It will riot pay to put it on 
poor land, or on land that is not thoroughly pre¬ 
pared. The ground should be thoroughly pulver¬ 
ized before seeding, and roiled afterward. 
REVIEW.* 
BY AO VALOREM. 
JUST RIGHT EOH FARMERS. 
The editor grows indignant at the use of this term 
applied to whatever requires little care and will 
endure much hardship. There are one or two as¬ 
sertions to be made here. 
1. We hear this kind of talk in every Horticultu¬ 
ral and I may say Agricultural assembly from 
Maine to Minnesota. 
2. W e would not hear it if there were no cause 
for it. 
3. There is cause for it—a. great, big, bouncing 
cause. And being a farmer, I blush to own it. 
Therefore, it is natural to ask What is the cause ? 
And without, professing to be wiser than some other 
people, 1 will undertake to answer the question, in 
part, at least. I pray, have patience. 
1. Four-fifths of the. agriculturists undertake to 
do too much. They misapply labor. They spread 
it too thin. They have not the labor,—nor capital 
to purchase il,— necessary to do well what they 
undertake to do — what might profitably be done. 
They put too many irons in the lire at once. They 
do not. regulate their cultivated crops so that atten¬ 
tion may be given them successively, and therefore 
surely. Hence the annual grains receive attention 
because they must bo cultivated. The perennial 
plants, shrubs, and trees, which, if hardy, bear liuit 
without attention, sometimes, are neglected first; 
and their product, it any results, is clear gain, inas¬ 
much as it is produced without labor. Hence the 
popularity of the hardy fruit trees, shrubs, and 
vines among this large proportion ot agriculturists. ( 
They are “just right” for this class of fanners: be- 
— 
* Of Rural New-Yorker, No. 3, Yol. XIII. 
cause they are better than nothing; for nothing 
requiring culture and care would be grown, 1 fear. 
2. It is true that the more intelligent horticul¬ 
turists are responsible for this condition of things— 
in a measure, at least. Why? Because they have 
encouraged it. by catering to the wants of Ibis class— 
by seeking to supply them with such material as 
would contribute to and confirm their habits of 
neglect. 
Telia child that ho is a fool —that he knows 
nothing, and never will, and persist in this kind of 
instruction, and you will make a fool of him. Treat 
a man as a brute and he will become brutish. So 
this long continued treatment of fanners, by which 
they are taught that there is something complex, 
mysterious, inscrutable (to them) in the treatment 
and management of a certain class of plants, trees 
and shrubs, has produced its natural and legitimate 
result. They believe it; and like all other classes 
of men, hesitate to buy for use what they have no 
ability to use. 
Let these learned gentlemen cease this kind of 
talk, treat the farmer as an equal in comprehensive 
power and good taste, employ their time in effort 
to instruct him how to use what is most, valuable to 
him, rather than to secure for him what shall 
encourage him to remain indolent and ignorant, and 
there will be a revolution. Lift him up; do not. suf¬ 
focate him. Teach him that effort, is necessary, and 
he will make effort. Lull him to sleep with idle 
hopes and he will never waken. 
Li is altogether too common to recommend lor 
culture, grains, plants, &e>, which require least 
care. It. is ordained of Gon, that the fruit which 
costs the most effort is the sweetest and most, palata¬ 
ble to the producer. Gon always rewards Industry 
—He helps those who help themselves. The culti¬ 
vator must remember this, if he would possess a 
Rtinmlrnt superior to all others. 
PRE8ENT DUTIES. 
He is a happy man who is more anxious to deter¬ 
mine what his present duty is than what may be in 
the future for him — who is prompt to do what he 
may find to do, now, leaving the result and the 
future with the great arbiter of all things. 
Present duties! Why, sir, wo waste time fum¬ 
ing and fretting over the future, which we can 
neither fathom nor comprehend, which, if employed 
iri doing to-day, this moment , what lies on our right 
hand and on our left, before us and every where, 
for us to do, would mold that future according to 
our desires. 
We look a great way ahead — far, far away into 
the future—for the good time cotuiug; and it never 
comes. Our ideal life is never realized. We grope 
and feel and reach over and beyond all present 
objects after future good. We ignore the lools of to¬ 
day, and reach after the weapons of to-morrow. We 
neglect, to use the one and fail to reach the other; 
and when to-morrow cornea, we are still grasping 
and using nothing. Thus life wears away arid 
nothing is accomplished. 
Present duties! My good friend, toe have no 
others! The past is lost, the future cannot he 
reached. We have no other time than now! Let 
the farmer determine his life and his duty with this 
knowledge, and it will be well spent, without doubt. 
I am aware that this is a hackneyed text; but the 
causes which render a repetition of the sermon 
necessary are ever recurring. 
A PARTING LEGACY. 
There are many good things said iu Dr. Kenni- 
cott’s parting address. But there is one sentence 
which alone ought to sufiico.as “a parting legacy,” 
which, it the last words of ’Webster, would have 
added much to bis fame. I refer to it here as the 
key, not only to the entire address, but to a great 
system of ethics. It is u text upon which a long 
rural sermon might be based. But I simply call 
attention to it and leave the reader to drop the 
paper, lean back in his chair, shut his eyes, and 
think of it just half an hour. “ ‘ Truth is mighty 
and will prevail,' but it can't go cdone !" 
OBJECTIONS TO BEE CULTURE. 
Whatever may be the objections to bee culture, 
there are strong reasons why they should bo over¬ 
ruled to-day. Patriotic self-reliance demands that 
all our economic resources should be developed. 
During a conversation the other day with an intelli¬ 
gent farmer, the price of sugar was referred to. 
Said he. “ I make my own sugar.” 
Indeed! How? 
a 1 have fifteen swarms of bees, and their increase 
and product annually buys all my sugar and sirups, 
and affords all the honey my family can use beside. 
They are wonderful workers, sir. and as interesting 
as they are wonderful. My wife claims the care of 
them. They do not tax my own time at all.” 
A TILE DRAINING EXPERIMENT. 
1 must indorse the Michigan man. My neighbor 
A. B. f who has drained a large area of land which 
was regarded dry by his neighbors, is reaping a 
rich harvest therefor. We shake some with the 
fever and ague hereabouts; but since said neighbor 
has drained his land, the water in his well has fallen 
three aud a half feet, is of better quality, and his 
family have no ague and fever. This fact is open¬ 
ing our eyes, and there will he a demand lor tile 
hereabouts. No man can say too much in lavor of 
the thorough draining of all cultivated land. 
BEST FORM FOR AN APPLE THEE. 
Mr. Hooker says, “Fanners cannot use forks and 
spades in cultivating their orchards — they must 
depend upon horses.” 
Why not, pray, Mr. II? If it will pay to cultivate 
an orchard at all, it will pay to cultivate it in Ihe 
best manner. Teach farmers that it is as profitable 
to cultivate orchards as corn or potatoes; and tell 
them the best way, and they will do it. It is just 
such talk aR Mr. H. indulges in that misleads and 
discourages orchard I-Is. They are taught to expose 
the trunks and the roots of trees in order that they 
may drive under them. They therefore “ trim up,” 
leaving five or six feet of trunk bare, exposed to all 
the changes of climate, and death ensues. “This is 
not a fruit country” is the settled conviction. 
It is better for the cause Of horticullure, and tho 
interests of fruit-needing humanity, Mr. IT., that, you 
teach Hie oilier extreme—that you say to the farmer 
don't touch a knife to your tree. Let them spread. 
If practice is to bo based upon tho theory that far¬ 
mers will only buy trees that they can most neglect, 
this latter recommendation is by far the best — is it 
not? 
It is an imaginary bugaboo that orchards will not 
produce and cannot be cultivated with the base 
limbs of trees lying on the ground. They will bear 
move fruit if entirely neglected, except to take off 
insects, than nine-tenths of the high-headed “culti¬ 
vated” orchards. There is no mistake about it 
And there is another fact. The, tree will bear earlier 
in nine cases (rut of ten — theory to the contrary not¬ 
withstanding.—[ Wonder if I, eviewer don’t raise a 
hubbub by that assertion.] 
Let me assert, that, there are few localities south 
« 
of the 43d degree of latitude, in the loyal States, 
where fruit trees will not grow and produce better 
by shortening in at the top, and letting the limbs 
branch from the base up. 
Let me urge the reader who may be an orchardist 
to read again the remarks of Mr. Barry under this 
head. His is a sound gospel for you. 
4 ■ ♦ - 
THE BARLEY AND WHEAT PLANTS. 
It is important that farmers should understand 
the nature and habits of the plants they cultivate. 
Without this knowledge there can be no really 
intelligent culture. A man may follow the practice 
which the experience of others for a century, as 
well as bis dwn, has proved to he successful. an>l 
in the main he will be right; but how iuuch 
better is it to ascertain, if possible, the reason 
why. Every experienced grower of barley knows 
that the barley plant thrives best in a light, friable 
soil, and is much benefited by thorough culture; 
but the reason why, is not so well understood. 
grower of barley that the roots lie near the sur¬ 
face, and that, it is important to encourage this 
natural superficial growth by providing a fria¬ 
ble surface soil. To the wheat grower it. says, pro¬ 
vide for your wheat crop a deep soil, where the 
roots can follow their natural bent, and go down 
deep in search of necessary food. 
BARLEY. 
The roots of barley are short, and confined to a few 
inches around the crown of the plant, while the 
roots of wheat penetrate to a great depth. We give 
two engravings—one of wheat and another of barley- 
grown in pots, by one of the most careful of English 
agricultural experimentalists. From ihis a very 
good idea ol’ the nature of the roots of both may be 
obtained. Only one fibrile root of the barley found 
its way through the bottom of the pot, while the 
greater part ot the space in the pot was unoccupied; 
but the wheat occupied tho whole of the space iu 
the put, and passing through the hole left for drain¬ 
age, filled the dish in which the pot was set with a 
thick network of roots. This should teach the 
WHEAT FROM THE GRAIN TILL IT BRANCHES. 
A. The grain of wheat deposited six inches beneath the 
surface of the earth, where it sprouts and throws out roots 
and two leaves, which are called its seminal leaves and roots, 
and a central thread denominated caudex. 
15. A bulb formed on the caudex, being an effort of nature 
to form branches and roots at that place; but being too far 
out of the influence of the air, goes on to within two inches 
of the surface. 
D. The coronal roots and branches, formed two inches 
below the sur&ce, having now readied within the influence 
of atmospheric air. 
e c. Tlic two seminal or first leaves, dead when the wheat 
has branched on the surface, and are hardly discernible with¬ 
out the aid of a magnifying lens. 
del. The seminal roots also dead after the coronal roots 
appear, and then are no longer useful to the plant. 
E. The surface of the ground. 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Dotted lines marking the number of inches 
beneath the surface at E. 
Some time since a very intelligent farmer in this 
county, wlm was much in favor of plowing iu wheat 
deep, aud who had invented a drilling apparatus 
which lie attached to his plow, wishing to convince 
us of the advantage of plowing in wheat at. least six 
inches deep, brought us specimens of plants with 
two sets of roots, as shown in the above engrav¬ 
ing. This he argued gave the plant additional 
strength and good anchorage, preventing the throw¬ 
ing out by frost- We objected to his conclusions, 
because we knew the lower roots would die out as 
soon as the upper were well formed; and that the 
whole operation was but a provision of nature to 
prevent the entire destruction of the grain in its 
unfavorable position; that time was lost, and most 
likely a portion of the strength of the plant, in the 
long and laborious effort to reach the surface. The 
following; by Wm. Mkrriwetukr, on this subject, 
is both interesting and instructive, and deserves 
attentive perusal: 
“If a grain of wheat is placed six inches benbath 
tho surface, it will vegetate and throw out two 
leaves, which arc generally called seminal leaves, 
and corresponding roots, (sec the delineation, A, cc, 
and dd,) then a thread is thrown out, which, as soon 
as il reaches near enough to the surface so as to 
come in contact with atmospheric air, it there forms 
a knob or enlarged point, which is the part from 
whence a new set of branches and roots are thrown 
out, which, in the autumn, is about an inch and a 
half, or two inches beneath the surface (as in the 
delineation marked D.) After this period, the semi¬ 
nal leaves, root, and the thread, denominated caudex, 
dies and becomes useless to the plant; above which 
it has a new set of roots, branches, Ac. On examin¬ 
ing many roots of wheat, some had a knob between 
the seminal and coronal roots, Ac., appearing to be 
an effort of nature which proved abortive, being not 
near enough the surface to obtain air. If the seed is 
placed anywhere between six Inches and two from 
the surface, there will be a set of coronal and semi¬ 
nal roots aud branches; but if the seed lx) placed 
anywhere between the surface and two inches be¬ 
low, there will be only one set of roots and branches, 
and those immediately progressing in their different 
directions from the seed. 1 have said the stem or 
thread arises from the seminal roots to within two 
inches of tho surface iu the autumn; but this 
depends on the dryness and porosity of the soil at 
the time of vegetating; for, after the soil has settled 
by rains, and according to the tenacity and specific 
I gravity of the soil, also its moisture, which increases 
ROCHESTER, N.Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1862. 
! WHOLE NO. 632. 
