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“PROGRESS AN T D IMPROVEMENT.’ 
[SINGLE NO. FOUR. CENTS. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THU LEAPING AMERICAN WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
CHAS. D. BRAG DON. Western Corresponding Editor. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unsurpassed in 
Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of 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 whose 
interests it zealously advocates. As a FAMILY JOURNAL it is 
eminently Instructive aud Entertaining— being so conducted 
that it can be safely taken to the Hearts and Homes of people of 
intelligence, taste ami discrimination It embraces more Agri¬ 
cultural. Horticultural. Scientific. Educational, Literary and 
New r s Matter, inteispersed with appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other journal,—rendering it the most 
complete Auricultural, Literary anj> Family Newspaper 
in America. _ 
t37~ For Terms and other particulars, pee last page. 
VOL. ML NO. 15.5 
ROCHESTER, N.Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1862. 
[WHOLE NO. 639. 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
That the farmer, in order to enjoy and success¬ 
fully follow the duties of rural life, should be an 
educated man, is a truth too obvious to need 
demonstration. Whether wc look at those countries 
where the agricultriets are the most intelligent, or 
whether we examine the nature of the subject to 
which the practical farmer must give his attention, 
we are alike led to the same conclusion. Wherc- 
ever a high degree of intelligence is associated 
with agriculture, there the agricultural resources of 
a country are most fully developed; and those who 
have studied most thoroughly the sciences involved 
in agricultural practice are most ready to admit that 
they are very ignoraut of much that it is of the 
highest importance for the farmer to know. 
These facts have given origin to the desire to 
(bund Agricultural Colleges, and various attempts 
have been made to found them all over the civilized 
world. Germany has taken the lead in this matter. 
Notwithstanding the fact that she has nearly fifty of 
the best Universities in the world, and is supplied 
with Polytechnic Schools, Industrial Schools, and 
Schools ot Mining and Engineering in abundance, 
yet all these could not afford the requisite education 
for her agriculturists, and she has founded, and now 
has is successful operation, over one hundred Agri¬ 
cultural Schools, Chairs, and Colleges of various 
grades: and, in addition, she has a large number of 
investigation stations , where salaried professors are 
making agricultural investigations upon the fatten¬ 
ing qualities of different kinds of food, the influence 
of various agents as manures, temperature, Ac., 
upon plants, and all other questions having a direct 
or indirect scientific bearing upon agricultural 
practice. Franco has three first, class Agricultural 
Colleges, in addition to over fifty smaller Agricul¬ 
tural Schools and several Veterinary Colleges. 
England, Ireland and Scotland all have Agricul¬ 
tural Schools, Colleges, and Agricultural Chairs, the 
most important of which is the Royal Agricultural 
College at Cirencester, in the south of England. 
Norway, Sweden, and even Russia, are inaugura¬ 
ting systems of agricultural education, so that he 
who is ignorant of the necessity for agricultural 
education is not only ignorant of what the civilized 
world is doing, but is, if an agriculturist, most 
deplorably ignorant of what he is doing himself. 
America has thus far shown her interest in agri¬ 
cultural education rather by what she has attempted 
to do than by what she has doqe. A number of 
attempts have been made to found Agricultural 
Colleges and Agricultural Departments in other 
Colleges, and yet very few have been so far success¬ 
ful as not to breakdown entirely under the pressure 
of events during the last four or live years. Com¬ 
mencing at the north-east we Ilqd the Agricultural 
Lectures at Yale College, which started so success¬ 
fully last year, have been suspended for the present. 
The agricultural interest of Massachusetts, although 
it has led to much talk about a State Agricultural 
College, has not yet developed one. Our own Stale 
Agricultural College, at Ovid, has temporarily 
suspended operations—its President, Gen. Pat kick, 
having taken up arms in defence aud maintenance 
of "the Union, the Constitution aud the Laws.” 
Though closed for the present, and a part of the 
Collage property offered lor sale, we trust the insti¬ 
tution will be re-opened — as is designed — at the 
close of the war, and the experiment fully tested. 
Surely il Agricultural Colleges are necessary and 
feasible in this country, the Empire State ought not 
to be behind in such an enterprise. 
The Michigan Agricultural College, at Lansing, 
established by act of Legislature, in 1855, after 
varied experiences, and encountering a great many 
difficulties, is still laboring under some disadvant¬ 
ages, we believe, though it is hoped it will prove an 
eminent success. Michigan is one of the best Agri¬ 
cultural States in the Union, and its farmers are 
sufficiently intelligent to appreciate such an institu¬ 
tion. We trust it is destined to endure long and 
accomplish much in behalf of Agricultural Educa¬ 
tion. Will not some cd our Michigan friends — say 
the Secretary of the State Agricultural Society — 
advise our readers as to the condition and prospects 
of the College? We have received no definite in¬ 
formation relative to the institution — not even a 
catalogue —for many mouths. 
The Iowa State Agricultural College and Farm 
is not yet iu a condition to admit students, and there 
is not much prospect of its making any more 
progress until the close of the present rebellion. 
We know little as to the details of Us plan or pro¬ 
posed management, yet should be pleased to receive 
and impart information on the subject. 
The Maryland Agricultural College, located ten 
miles from Washington, D. G\, is in successful 
operation, but its course of instruction does not 
essentially differ from that of ordinary Colleges — 
the classics forming the leading studies, and t,he 
sciences having a subordinate position , the students 
taking no part iu th o manual operations of the farm. 
In Pennsylvania the friends of agricultural educa¬ 
tion have been more successful. They have secured 
and judiciously expended about $200,000 upon a 
farm of 100 acres, and in erecting Farm and College 
buildings. The College buildings cover an area of 
over 10,000 square fee t, and are six stories high, allbrd- 
iug ample room lor over 3Q0 students. The course 
of study extends through four years, and students, 
on graduating, take the degree of Bachelor of 
Scientific and Practical Agriculture (B. S. A.) This 
College has recently entered upon its fourth annual 
session. From its last. Annual Catalogue, we learn 
some interesting facts relative to this institution, 
which is known as the Farmers High, School. Its 
terms ot admission are $100 for ten months, in¬ 
cluding board, washing and tuition. The students 
are required to perform three hours manual labor 
daily, and by means of this all the work on a farm 
of 400 acres, including a garden and nursery, is 
performed. The institution is located in Center 
County, near the geographical center of the State. 
The address of the President, Dr. Evan Pugh, is 
Farm School, Pa. 
fact—is all important in dairy management; for the 
least mustiness in milk vessels will taint the milk, 
and injure the butter. The churns must be thor¬ 
oughly scalded after each churning, and kept clean, 
sweet, and dry. 
Butter is made either solely from cream or from 
the whole milk; that is, the cream is not separated 
from the milk, in the latter as in the former case, 
but both are kept and churqpd together. There is 
a difference (jf opinion as to which mode produces 
most butter. We would remind those who are not 
accustomed to the latter method, that they must not 
attempt to churn the whole milk while it remains 
sweet, otherwise their labor will be lost, for it will 
yield no butter; the whole milk must be kept until 
it has become sour, when if all other points are 
equally attended to, as good butter will be produced 
as from cream alone. 
Supposing the cows to be all milked—and this 
must be thoroughly done, tor the last milk which 
can lie drawn from the udder is the richest—then 
the milk is poured through a milk sieve into the 
dishes, so as not to be more than two inches in 
depth; at the same time, four to six inches is move 
common. Cream will not. rise when there is a con¬ 
siderable depth of milk placed in the dish, and seme 
people do not allow it to exceed one inch. It also rises 
sooner iu warm weather than in cold, and for this 
reason it must be skimmed sooner when the weather 
is warmer than usual, in ordinary cases, the cream 
should be skimmed about 20 to 2-1 hours after the 
milk has been put into the dish; in warm weather 
taking it off somewhat sooner, and allowing it to 
remain a little longer in cold weather. As the 
cream is skimmed, it is put into an earthenware jar, 
the top of which is covered with a piece of muslin, 
in order to prevent flies or dust getting into the 
cream, while it admits air. As additions ot cream 
are made to that in the jar, the whole should be 
thoroughly stirred and intermixed together, and the 
contents should not be ;il'e,wed to remain longer 
than three or four days without being churned. 
When the whole milk is churned, it is strained, as 
— We have thus given a synoptical statement of milked, into milk dishes or coolers; but a greater 
the supposed present condition of the principal 
institutions for Agricultural Education in this 
country—subject, of course, to correction by parties 
interested, if any errors have been committed. Our 
article will, to some extent, answer the various 
inquiries we have received relative to the different 
institutions, and perhaps also prove of interest to 
agriculturists generally. 
THE MANUFACTURE 
BUTTER. 
quantity is put into each dish than is done when the 
cream is to be taken off. In the north of Ireland, 
where churning the whole milk is a prevalent prac¬ 
tice, the milk is strained into a jar or “crock,” suc¬ 
cessive milkings being added until the jar is full, 
but avoidiug putting in new milk just before churn¬ 
ing; that is, suppose the churning takes place in the 
course of the forenoon, the morning’s milk is not 
added to the contents of the crock which are to be 
churned, but put into a fresh creek, and becomes the 
beginning of another gathering. This system, how- 
Peuuaps there is no product of the farm injured ever > ' 3 no ® 30 g°ed as keeping each milking by 
so easily by a little mismanagement as butter, itself, so that the warm and cold milk is not. mixed 
Every thing may be of the best quality, yet a little together. The frequency ol the churning will partly 
want of care, or even the greatest care misapplied, depend on the weather, but the whole milk ought 
will not only depreciate the value of the product, u °t to be allowed to remain longer than three days 
but make that which in perfection is one of the 1,1 ordinary cases, or, perhaps, four, without being 
greatest luxuries we enjoy, offensive to al most every churned; and, in warm weather, it may lie churned 
sense. We will not undertake to make a calcnla- \ n tw0 ^ a Y 3 Lorn the time the first of it was taken 
tion. or even Lo guess how great a proportion of the ll0D1 ^e cows - 
butter produced in the State, or in the country, is In large, and even moderate-sized dairies, the 
utterly unlit for the table, but those who have to churns are driven by power, which is preferable to 
depend for their supply upon purchases in cities manual labor. Hot water is often added to milk 
and villages, know how difficult it is to obtain even or cream, to bring it up to the proper temperature 
a tolerable article. Although we have much butter for churning—say 52 or 53 degrees; but this is not 
of excellent quality manufactured in this State, we a good practice, and where an increase in the tem- 
have no doubt the value of the whole is depre- perature is necessary, it is better to acquire it by 
dated at least two cents per pound by the putting the churn containing the milk or cream into 
great quantity thrown upon the market of an a tub filled with a sufficient quantity of water to 
inferior quality, for the poor is often sold at bring the contents to a proper state. During the 
lour or five cents less than the market price of a process of churning, the temperature will rise to 5G 
good article. The census of 1860 shows about or 58 degrees; but it is requisite that attention be 
80,000,000 pounds of butter made in the State, paid, so that it may not rise much higher than that 
Supposing the quantity has not increased during the point, otherwise the butter will be injured. When 
last twelve years, if' our premises are correct, the whole milk is churned, it will stand, however, a 
loss resulting from the manufacture of poor butter higher temperature than cream. Rapid churning is 
to the State of New York is $1,600,000 each year, not desirable, and over-churning is equally bad; 
sufficient, it will be admitted, to make this matter but the best medium will be found when it takes an 
one of great importance to every friend of agricul- hour and a quarter of steady churning, in ordinary 
turn, to every lover of his country and good deli- weather, to produce butter. 
cious sweet butter. Perhaps no country in the - »»♦•»-« - 
world, of its capacity, produces as much good butter ESSAY ON UNDERDRAINING, 
as the world-renowned “green isle,” and we there- - 
fore give a very interesting article on Butter- [The following Essay was read by Mr. R. J. Ccllings, at a 
Making, from the Irish Farmer's Gazette, which we meeting of the Farmers’ Club of District No. 3, York, N. Y. 
know will be perused with profit: It met with such favor that a Special Committee was appointed 
~ - , . to request its publication in this journal, and iu so doing the 
The first essential, m either case, is a proper dairy Cl ,„ The t , Ulunnii practical , n anucr iu which 
or milk-house; and when we consider the abomina- thc sub j ect y presented-tho simple but forcible A u C style 
ble manner in which milk is frequently kept in 0 f the whole paper, of which we have too little in these mat- 
dwelling-houses, we cannot feel surprised that there tors—induced the Club to solicit a copy for publication iu the 
is so much good milk annually wasted in making Rural New-Yorker. H is hoped that it will bo convenient 
atrociously bad butter. The milk-house should be for - v0 " t0 t,ur dt ‘ sirc •" tllib ,uatter i and if so doin = 
sufficiently roomy, and fitted up so that it can be tt will be productive of good beyond wliat its author intended, 
easily kept dean, and perfectly dry. For tins pur- _ , „ 
pose, smooth stone is the best material. Ventilation Gentlemen OF the 1-armkRS Club: The stib- 
is likewise a necessary point in a dairy, and it must Y ou Lave selected and assigned to us loi an essay, 
be so arranged that the milk-room shall be cool in 
summer, and yet kept at a sufficiently high temper¬ 
ature duriug winter, which should never be below 
50 = p- The average temperature of Mr. Horsfall’s 
dairy is 52° to 56°; and he is now recognized as a 
standard authority on many points of dairy man¬ 
age men L 
Earthenware dishes are much better adapted than 
wooden ones for holding milk, because the latter 
require much more labor in keeping them clean, I 
and some dairy maids are apt to be negligent on 
this point. Cleanliness—extreme cleanliness, in 
CIRCULAR I-IOXJSEl, -A/F SOMERVILLE, MJYSS. 
In a round house a greater space may be 
inclosed by a given amount of wall than in any 
other form, and from this fact some have argued 
that, this is the most economical shape for a build¬ 
ing. This is not true, because circular is more 
difficult and expensive than square work, and a 
house built in this lorm will be found quite costly. 
inal in its plan, has recently been erected by Enoch 
Robinson, Esq., at Spring Hill, Somerville. No 
timber lias been used its construction. The walls 
are made of plank, sawed on a circle of forty feet, 
(the diameter ot the house.) and nailed together, one 
above the other, in regular courses. The windows 
are made of four large panes of glass, in a single 
sash, which slides up into the wall, entirely out of 
the way. The inside blinds are arranged in the 
same planner. 
The oval parlor is twenty-four feet long by fifteen 
feet wide. The circular library, opposite, is thirteen 
feet in diameter, leaving a fine front entry between 
these two curves. The kitchen, next the circular 
library, has a slate floor and walls of varnished 
white-wood. Between the kitchen and the large 
dining-room is the chimney, and the kitchen and 
| dining-room closets, so arranged as to occupy very 
little room. 
is one worthy of an abler mind and readier pen 
than we possess. To set forth the Advantages of 
Underdraining, to make apparent the great neces¬ 
sity for it, and, if possible, excite sucb an interest 
in it as to induce our farmers to take hold of the 
matter in earnest, would be a work worthy of all 
effort. But like all undertakings that require 
earnest effort and bard labor, especially if it can be 
put off lor a time, farmers are slow beginning, and 
imperfect of performance. 
In the consideration of the subject, we will pro¬ 
pose a few of the questions that would naturally 
GROUND PLAN. 
In the description of the subjoined perspective view 
and plans of a house built at Somerville, Massa¬ 
chusetts, which we take from “ A Manual of the 
House,” it is stated that the cost was much less than 
that of a square house built in the ordinary way, 
but we cannot see how the saving was made, unless 
in the item of labor and timber for framing, the 
walls being made of plank sawed on a circle of 
forty feet, the diameter of the house. V e have seen 
several octagon houses and one round house, and 
cannot say we are pleased with their appearance, as 
they lack that comfortable, cosy look, so desirable 
for a family home. Some, however, are much 
pleased with their effect, and all tastes should be 
accommodated as far as possible. 
This circular house, in many respects quite orig- 
arise in the mind of an intelligent inquirer, and 
endeavor to answer them by facts, ascertained by 
observation and experience. The first question 
will be— 
Is it necessary? 
In answer, we say, it certainly is. Our farms are 
Nature’s laboratory. YVe may with as good reason 
expect the chemist to perform his most delicate 
experiment with his laboratory submerged, as 
nature to produce a crop of wheat when the soil is 
filled with cold water. None of the grains we cul¬ 
tivate, will make any growth when the temperature 
of the soil is below 45=' Fahrenheit, nor will they 
send roots into the subsoil when its temperature is 
below this, however warm the soil may be above. 
No grain or grass will produce a top without roots; 
for this reason we conclude that until the tempera¬ 
ture is raised to the point at which growth com¬ 
mences, we can have no crop; but this cannot be 
easily done when the soil is tilled with water. It 
must bo admitted by all that our farms are more or 
less “wet,” Winter crops will freeze out; Spring 
grains will turn yellow in spots, and produce little 
or nothing on those parts of the field; the laud will 
heave and destroy the clover. 
The cause of this excessive moisture on the sur¬ 
face is this:—Nearly all of our cultivated land in 
this section rests upon a subsoil of clay, slate, or 
gravel hardpan, all of which are impervious by 
water; consequently the moisture which falls from 
the clouds or descends from higher land, that sinks 
below the surface, has to be removed from the soil 
by evaporation. It is true a large proportion can 
be prevented from sinking into the soil by water 
furrows, and other means of surface draining, but 
after the water has settled below the surface, evapo- 
SECOND FLOOR. 
On the second floor are seven chambers, two of 
them quite large, all opening into a pleasant 
rotunda, thirteen feet in diameter, beneath the cen¬ 
tral sky-light, 
ration has the main part of the work of removal to 
do. But it is a tedious process. It can only go on 
when there is an abundance of heat; and here a 
loss is sustained, for the heat which is expended in 
drying the soil, would germinate the seed or start 
the roots of the grass, if the soil could be dried by 
other means. Experience proves that underdrain¬ 
ing is the means to employ. 
2 . Will it pay to underdrain? 
We can answer this question more satisfactorily 
by ascertaining thc results it produces, and the 
expense necessary to do it. if it removes the sur¬ 
plus water, thereby drying the soil, it is a great 
advantage. A well-drained field has a growing sea¬ 
son two weeks longer than an undrained one, 
lying side by side. ~ Instead of waiting for the 
evaporating process, the first warm day of spring 
finds the soil Of a drained field in a condition to 
begin the operation of growth; and all through the 
summer, after a shower or wet spell, growth is 
immediate, whenever there is sufficient heat. Again, 
in the fall, grass will continue growing, or corn ripen, 
after the soil of an undrained field has become 
filled with water, and the temperature reduced so 
low that the growth of plants is stopped. 
If we can plow a field one week earlier than our 
neighbor can plow his, that gives us a week the 
start of him all through the working season; while 
he is plowing, we are sowing, and are ready for the 
next job in order so much the sooner. Having 
made a good start, we are able to drive our work, 
and do it well, instead of being continually driven 
by it, and for this reason unable to do justice to any¬ 
thing. It is a fact admitted by all farmers, that a 
crop put in when the land is in good order, is not 
only done with less work, but can be safely counted 
