TgRICULTURC 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 1862. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE LEADING AMERICAN WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
there are some that may read these brief hints with 
profit, and they can injure none. In fact, we often 
have to remind ourselves of these things, to keep us 
anything like correct in practice. We try to get 
along with too little labor, and when work crowds, 
something must be neglected. The better way is to 
secure help enough for a busy time, and when work 
is not pressing, employ leisure time in collecting 
muck, turf, Arc., from the fence corners, for making 
compost heaps, and in grubbing, extra hoeing, hand- 
weed-ing, draining. Arc., all of which will be found 
in the epd quite profitable. 
accompanies a small forehead and hereditary wild¬ 
ness, and when combined with small, drooping 
horns, nnd a chin with no loose skin hanging from 
it, is a very despicable animal indeed, weak in con¬ 
stitution, predisposed to lung disease, and sterile 
in fattening propensities. Animals with weakly 
formed heads, have always small loins, and the 
width of these parts will always be found in an 
exact ratio with the strength of the head. The nose, 
instead of being long and fine, as Virgil, Aristotle, 
and several other naturalists recommend it, ought, 
in my opinion, to be thick, strong, and near 
the ear as possible, if only in proportion to the size 
of the frame. Thickness of nose and thickness of 
chest are often twins, and so are thin, meager, 
irregular noses and consumption. Small, snipy 
noses oft sniff the air into frames of small capaci¬ 
ties, and are joined to mouths that can crop but 
very small morsels at. a time. These observations 
1 have found to he applicable to any of the kinds 
of cattle shown at Newcastle market. But besides 
the shapes of animals, the age and class must always 
have especial consideration, and be adapted accord¬ 
ing to food and situation; otherwise, the realization 
of remunerative profits will be uncertain.’’ 
waste. It is tedious to harvest it in any other way 
that I have discovered; and it is perfectly practica¬ 
ble and profitable to adopt the mode here recom¬ 
mended. 
[The foregoing was mislaid when received, and 
although rather unseasonable, it is “put on record'’ 
on account of hints which may prove of value in the 
uture to those who desire to test the system.— Ed.] 
and from thence, after being turned over a few 
times, to swell the grand compost heap in the barn¬ 
yard, or directly to the field, where it may be made 
useful. 
It will create a different atmosphere about the 
farmer’s house, if he will prepare such a place for 
such a purpose. Now that the hot weather is at 
hand, when the processes of decomposition are as 
active in dead matter as those of production 
are in vitalized nature, health may he insured, 
disease prevented or removed, by attention to this 
matter. Neighborhood filth accumulates more 
rapidly than the inattentive suppose, even on the 
farmer’s premises; and it is scarcely less important 
to himself and family, as a sanitary measure, than 
to the denizen of the city, that all such accumula¬ 
tions are removed, or absorbents applied to absorb 
the gases evolved by decomposition. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOBE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
CHAS. D, BRAGDON, Western Corresponding Editor. 
CUTTING TTF CORN. 
I am aware that it is early in the season to say 
anything on this subject. But because it is early, I 
broach the subject 1 was talking with a farmer the 
other day. who said he did not believe it was any 
benefit to the crop to cut it up,—that he found he 
could get from one to three bushels per acre more 
if the corn was allowed to ripen on the stalks 
before the latter were cut up. He thought he got 
more weight. 
In most cases, I have no doubt, he would do so. 
But that fact does not prove it is the best, practice. 
As the mass of farmers in the West cut up corn, 
it seems to me little better than a waste of time and 
la'ior. Pour-fifths of them—it may be that fraction 
is too large, but I think not—cut their stalks after 
the virtue haH gone out of them—after they have 
matured the corn, and the foliage has become dry 
and crisp, like busks. I seriously doubt if it pays 
the labor of cutting them. I have seen farmers 
actively engaged in cutting large fields long after 
every particle of foliage had been withered by the 
frost. That is not expending labor economically, 
unless a large herd is dependent upon that kind of 
fodder. The time to commence cutting up corn is 
as soon after the ears are glazed as it is possible to 
get at it. No matter if the foliage is as green as in 
mid-summer; so much the better—so much the more 
valuable will the fodder be; and the loss in the 
weight of the grain will be more than compensated 
by the increased value of the stalks. 
In cutting up corn when the stalks are so full of sap 
and the foliage so green, it is not good policy to set 
them up in the large shocks or sto'oks common in the 
West. It is better to set them up around an uncut 
hill—fifteen or twenty hills to the stook—and bind 
them well to it. It is not a difficult matter to make 
the corn stand erect in this way. Then it is easy to 
cut the hill with a hook when it is to be husked or 
removed from the field. Fields intended for winter 
grain can be easily cleared in this way, and in good 
season. The corn off, the stalks may be stacked 
securely, and the fodder preserved fresh and nutri¬ 
tious for horses and cattle. I have met farmers in 
the West who have adopted this practice, and who 
aver that it is the cheapest way they can winter 
stock. The amount of fodder wasted in the corn 
fields of the West, from this want of providence, 
would, if saved and fed, keep double the amount of 
stock now fed annually. 
I am glad to say that the ancient practice of top¬ 
ping corn does not obtain here to any great extent. 
That it is practiced anywhere, is only a striking 
proof of the want, as well as the value, of a more 
general knowledge of the laws of vegetable phy¬ 
siology. That portion of the stalk above the ear. 
with Ds foliage—and that is the part usually taken 
off in the process of topping—is as essential to the 
life of the plant and the development of the grain, 
as the head of a man is to the life of his body. Cut 
off the top ot your corn, and the ear ceases to grow 
—the grain ripens prematurely. There are hun¬ 
dreds of experiments that prove this,—some are on 
record. 
THB P.rRAL New-Yorker is designed to bo tmsurpai-sed in 
Value, Purity, Useful 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 sd 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 Jotknal it is 
eminently Instructive and Entertaining—beintr so conducted 
that it can be safely taken to the Hearts and Homes of people 
of intelligence, taste and discrimination. It embraces more 
Agricultural, Horticultural. Scientific. Educational. Literary 
and News Matter, interspersed with appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other journal,—rendering it the most 
complete Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper 
in America. 
Air-Tight Bins for Grain. 
A recent issue of the Lc Genie lndustriel con¬ 
tains a notice of a report lately made to the Society 
of Civil Engineers in Paris, by M. Doyere, in 
which that gentleman gives an account of a long 
series of investigations and experiments made by 
him in relation to the preservation of grain. M. 
Doyere comes to the conclusion that the very best 
mode ot preserving wheat and other grains is by 
inclosing them in air-tight boxes, which are burled 
in the earth, or deposited in cellars beneath the sui- 
face. He says that the best material for the boxes 
or bins is sheet iron in very thin plates, galvanized, 
or covered with zinc, and painted on the outside 
with bitumen. 
The principal purpose of M. Doyere's report is 
to give an account of five experiments on a grand 
scale, which have been made at Paris, Alger, Cher¬ 
bourg, Brest, and Toulon, from 1854 to 1861, to test 
this plan. The conclusion formulated in the docu¬ 
ments is, that the wheat, in all the eases, came from 
the bins the same as it went in, weight for weight, 
quality for quality. It was preserved without dete¬ 
rioration, without detriment, and without expense, 
in addition it is stated that the iron bins cost from 
one-half to three-fifths as much as ordinary granaries. 
THE GRAIN APHIS (Aphis Avenra.) 
Eds. Rural New-Yrrker:—S everal neighbor¬ 
ing farmers have called ray attention to the fact that 
their oat crop is infested and swarming with the 
aphids to an alarming degree, 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page, 
so much so that it is 
feared the yield will be very poor indeed. The 
numerous showers of rain, however, aided greatly 
iu supporting the plants against the depletion of 
these pests of vegetation, and in fields otherwise in 
good condition no serious loss need be apprehended. 
1 have examined numerous heads, well filled, and 
likely to mature, notwithstanding they were literal¬ 
ly encased with aphids, nad there been a long 
spell of dry weather, nn doubt, the entire crop would 
have proved a total failure—and this may yet be 
the case where fields are in the drag. 
I had prepared an article, with illustrations, for 
your valuable paper, but neglected to forward it; 
and now find, in your reply to D. Hilanps, of Per- 
rysville, Pa., (in the Rural of July 12t,h Inst.,) my 
article so well supplied that I concluded to say 
nothing further about them, only that in Lancaster 
county we find them (the aphids) on the oats 
(Arena sativa;) hence the name you give it Is 
correct —Aphis Avence —as is also the description. 
In regard to the means to be employed to rid the 
fields of this pest, a serious question is involved— 
one not easily answered. You say “slaked lime in 
powder has been recommended for dusting the 
wheat heads, as also chloride of lime.” Air-slaked 
lime, when it has been kept, in a dry place, contains 
sufficient pungency to destroy the tender carcasses 
of the aphids. If an east wind and then a West wind 
could bo gotten up for the occasion, and a huge dust¬ 
ing box, operated so as to carry the light powdered 
lime over the field, when moistened by the morning 
or evening dews, I have no doubt but the applica¬ 
tion on a large scale, would be of service over a ten- 
acre field; but as the wind “ bloweth where it list- 
etb," some ingenious inventor must get up a balloon 
fixing, or contrivance to effect that object. I, as his 
agent, (being in that line of business.) will help 
him to obtain letters patent. 
Isolated plants are often infested, and it may be 
well to mention the easiest method of ridding them 
of these disgusting creatures. Have a suitable ves¬ 
sel partly filled with strong and warm soap-suds; 
bend the branchlets infested into the vessel, and 
agitate them gently in the suds a few minutes. 
Afterwards they may be again immersed in clean 
water, to Temove the suds. This will Clean and 
enliven the plants. 
Havinggiven these creatures some attention, I have 
quite a collection of the various genera and species 
belonging to this family, in my picture gallery, but 
can not attempt a detailed notice of them here. 
However, being frequently asked where they come 
from, and where they go to, should you deem it 
worthy a space in your paper. 1 will simply state 
what has been stated by every writer on the sub¬ 
ject, adding a few remarks of my own. 
According to observers, aphids propagate 
twenty generations in a single year, without the 
intervention of a malel Reamer proves that in 
five generations a siDgle aphis will produce the 
astonishing family of 5,004.000,000 descendants. If 
there be four times five generations, and supposing 
one hundred to begin with, what would be the 
number? Any one curious enough may figure it 
out. I know that they produce their young alive, 
a fact of which any observer may be readily satis¬ 
fied by patiently inspecting their operations for 
five minutes at a time; but that they give birth to 
twenty-five during a single day, (as it is asserted,) 
I have reason to doubt, however prolific they prove 
to be. With regard to their eggs ,—which we are 
informed are like small grains of powder, affixed to 
the buds. Ac., of plants,—after diligent search I 
have found them, but when submitted to the micro¬ 
scope, and touched with a fine needle, they prove to 
be thin, black, glossy shells, enveloping the pup® 
of the next year's brood. If we could find and 
destroy these minute eggs , so to speak, it would be 
“nipping them in the bud;” but who has patience 
tor such a task? As to their sudden departure, this 
often arises during a protracted spell of cold rainy 
weather, or trom other local causes, such as reaping 
the fields. When the cut grain and dry haulms fail 
to yield them suction, (being like some old topers 
who live upon suction, “tobacco and grog,") they 
soon perish. Occasionally whole fields will take 
wing, in early autumn, and fill the air with dense 
clouds, as no doubt you and most of your readers 
The Turnip Fly. 
In England, where the turnip is an important 
crop, there have been many “ remedies” applied for 
that, destructive little insect, the turnip fly. At a 
late meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, Mr. 
Fisher Hours, a member, presented the two fol¬ 
lowing remedies, which he had used with great 
success: 
First Recipe .—Take one bushel of fresh white 
gas ashes, or fine wood ashes may be used instead 
of gas ashes; one bnsbel of fresh lime from the kiln: 
six pounds of sulphur: ten pounds of soot—to be 
well mixed together, and got to as fine a powder as 
possible, so that, it may adhere to the young plant. 
This is sufficient for two acres when drilled at 
twenty-seven inches, k> be applied early in the 
morning when the clew is on the leaf, with a broad¬ 
cast, machine, or sprinkled, with the hand carefully 
over the rows. If the (ly continues troublesome, 
the process should be repeated, always when the 
plant is damp. In light land it is best to make the 
drills on the flat, the ground being well prepared 
to receive the seed. 
Second Recipe.—Take fourteen pounds of sulphur; 
one bushel of fresh lime; two bushels of road-scra¬ 
pings, or a substance of mold whore road-scrapings 
cannot, be obtained, per acre. Mix together a few 
days before it is used. Apply very early in the 
morning or late at night, in the same manner as 
directed in No. 1, using the horse hoe immediately 
after. 
I.mulls “swallowing Wool. 
Lam ns very frequently swallow particles of 
wool, which, in playfulness, they suck and bite from 
their dams; to prevent which, says the frish 
Farmer's Gazette, the dams, when this occurs, 
should be smeared with a mixture of aloes and 
water, or assafuetida and water. When they swal¬ 
low the wool, and it gets mixed with curd in the 
stomach, it, forms hard balls that are indigestible: 
but the administration- of a teaspoonful of soda 
mixed in water, twice or thrice a day, dissolves and 
digests the curd, if not too far gone. Calves fre¬ 
quently die of the same disease, and the only 
remedy yet found is the soda. 
GOOD AND BAD CROPS 
It is the wise man that sees the end from the 
beginning—that trom the means used can judge 
pretty certainly what will be the result. In passing 
through the country, among the growing and rapidly 
maturing crops, no one can fail to observe the great 
difference in the yield of the same crops iu different 
fields, ranging from one-third to one-half, and even 
more. It makes a vast difference in the receipts, 
whether a field of wheat yields ten or twenty 
bushels to the acre, or potatoes one or two hundred 
bushels, or whether one or two tuns of hay are cut to 
the acre: and unless there is a very great saving in 
the cost of culture in favor of the lesser yield, he 
who produces it does so at a much less profit than 
that obtained by the other. Indeed, one would lie 
apt to judge that unless the profit on the large crop 
is very great, the small one must be made at an 
actual loss. This difference is always to bo observed, 
no matter what may he the character of the season, 
or the average yield ; and it may be well to observe 
that vegetable growth depends so much upon cir¬ 
cumstances often beyond man’s control, that we 
cannot expect the uniformity of result generally to 
be reached in mechanical and manufacturing opera¬ 
tions. As a general rule, however 
Benefits of the Aiigle-Worin. 
Tue present volume of the Rural has con¬ 
tained inquiries from several correspondents rela¬ 
tive to a mode by which the earth-worms in their 
gardens and fields might he destroyed, 
Some of 
the European Agriculturists maintain that the pres¬ 
ence of these worms is of great benefit to an estate, 
and we copy the following from the Scottish Farmer: 
Though the angle-worm yields a considerable 
amount of food to the birds and fish that grace the 
dinner table, it is much more beneficial to man as a 
fertilizer of the land. Subsisting on the earth 
through which it burrows, with an occasional meal 
from a decaying tuber or leaf its peculations from 
the husbandman are of the smallest nature; whereas 
it lightens the earth’s surface by its burrowings, and 
thereby aids the spreading of the roots of all cereals 
ami bulbs; and the burrows also carry down wafer 
after heavy rains, that but for them would often 
gather in surface pools, and thereby injure the 
crops; and they also admit the air to the soil to a 
depth which by natural means it could not reach. 
The earth ejected by them also tends to the improv¬ 
ing of the soil; and instances are known whereby 
these droppings, or •• worm-casts,” caused, in a few 
years, a considerable increase to the depth as well 
as the quality of the soil. Mr. Darwin, the Natu¬ 
ralist, gives an account of a case of this kind which 
he tested, and from experiments he clearly proved 
that, in an old pasture, a layer of cinders and lime 
had been covered within a lew years, to the depth 
of an inch, by the castings of worms. •• On carefully 
examining,” he also wrote,-between the blades of 
grass in the fields above described, I found scarcely 
a space of two inches square without a little heap of 
cylindrical castings of worms.” A week or two 
ago we chanced to walk through a very old pasture, 
and we were much struck by the number of the 
They were, we are certain, 
success in farm¬ 
ing, as in other tilings, is the result of well-directed 
effort. In any department of industry, extra care 
is always well repaid; but in farming this care 
always pays a greater proportionate benefit. It 
requires a great (leal of labor and expense to pro¬ 
duce a poor crop. There is the same expense, or 
nearly so, in each case, for plowing, seed-sowing, 
or planting; the same interest on the value of the 
land, wear and tear of implements, &c.; and if all 
these expenses have to be paid out of a small yield, 
the portion left to the farmer for his profit is small 
indeed. Now, after enough has been done to give 
a crop that will pay expenses, every additional 
bushel adds largely to the profits. When the farmer 
has done so much, let him remember that every par¬ 
ticle of manure applied, all extra attention given 
the crops, adds directly to the product, anil conse¬ 
quently to his own gains, and it is for this he labors. 
In fact, having done so much, he is constrained to 
do still more, in order that it may not be labor lost. 
If you have plowed thoroughly, you receive no 
compensation for this labor, unless you manure; 
and plowing and manuring are both lost labor, unless 
good seed is sown in the proper season, and in the 
best manner: and plowing and manuring and 
seeding all goes for nothing, unless the crop, when 
it comes up, receives the care it requires for its per¬ 
fection. In fact, every stage requires an additional 
investment, and makes it more necessary that every¬ 
thing should be done well, for there is more at stake. 
Harvesting is the last act, and here there is neces¬ 
sity (or promptness. No country in the world is 
more favored with good weather lor gathering the 
crops than our own; and yet we sometimes see a 
great part of the profits of a season destroyed by 
want of a little promptness and thoroughness at 
last. NY ho can tell how much our grass crop is 
depreciated every year in value by being allowed 
to stand so long that, much ot the sugar and starch 
becomes a tough, woody fiber? Our seasons are 
singular in this respect; haying and harvest crowd 
each other, and it is not often easy to decide whether 
the grass or grain should first be secured. Almost 
every season hundreds of bushels of potatoes are 
wasted, and some seasons thousands are injured in 
Western New York, because they are dug a week 
1 or so too late, and after sharp frosts; while the labor 
\ of digging and sorting is much increased. Corn, 
too, is olten injured by being left stacked in the 
j! fields through the latter part of fall, nnd even into 
winter, while costing more time and labor to husk 
I and secure then than if done at the right time. It 
a never costs more, and generally less, to harvest a 
i? crop at the right time than it does afterward. 
V Me have no disposition to complain at the course 
V; farmers are pursuing. We believe, as a class, they 
1 are industrious, enterprising, and successful. Still, 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES 
A PLACE FOR REFUSE. 
I like to quote Benjamin Franklin, there is 
so much of ihat uncommon article, common sense, 
in his writings. In one of his miscellaneous papers 
he says, “There seem to be but three ways for a 
nation to acquire wealth. The first-is by war, as 
the Romans did, by plundering their conquered 
neighbors. This is robbery. The second by com¬ 
merce, which is generally cheating. The third by 
agriculture, the only honest icay, wherein man 
receives a real increase of (ho seed thrown in the 
ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by 
the hand of Goo. in his favor, as a reward tor his 
innocent life and virtuous industry.” 
r quote this, in order to say that agriculture is not 
always an honest way, because the increase obtained 
is not always the result of the observance of the law 
of compensation on the part of the farmer. He often 
ga>hers where he has not strewn, and reaps where 
be has not sown. He does not always keep the 
principal good while receiving the increase. He 
exacts enormous usury of the soil. The result is 
often its ruin. Now, one of the modes of compensa¬ 
tion involves the necessity ot saving refuse. And it 
will astonish the careless farmer, when he discovers 
what he loses by not saving what lie has the power 
to save. 
There should be a convenient place appropriated 
for the receiving of all manner of refuse that can be 
gathered from the house, the out-buildings, the gar¬ 
den. the fence corners, the street, &c. Ac. The 
weeds ihat are pulled from the garden, or rooted out 
ot the field: the refuse lime, and bones, and ashes, 
and chip manure, and old wood, slops from the house 
that are not food lor swine, chamber lye, soap-suds, 
charcoal, worthless rags, decayed or decaying veg¬ 
etables, the droppings along the high way, the 
leaves and dried grass raked from the lawn, should 
all go to this penny-saving and pound-making place, 
CORN FOR SOILING 
Should be drilled in now. I find the value and 
iinportnuee of this crop, both as a reserve when the 
pastures are dry. ami for feeding about the time the 
frosts affect the pasturage in the fall, is under-esti¬ 
mated by dairymen especially It has been my 
observation that the earlier in July the crop is pul 
in the ground, the better. It should be put in thick 
in drills; and the kind, here in the West, should be 
the email yellow or Yankee corn. If sweet corn 
seed can be obtained, it is better for this purpose. 
It is a common thing, even among men who know 
its value, and who sow it, to neglect to cut and 
cure that portion of the crop that is left after the dry 
weather soiling. One reason, doubtless, is that if 
costs so much labor to cut and cure it. But one 
man can secure a greater weight of it per day than he 
can of timothy hay; and it. is of greater value if cut, 
well cured, and stacked before frost, than the timo¬ 
thy, especially for feeding milch cows. 
I have seen many modes of curing adopted; but 
the best way I have discovered is to cut the corn 
with a hook or corn cutter, bind it in small bundles 
as fast as cut, and set in medium sized shocks— 
binding the tops of the bundles firmly together, so 
that the shock may resist the wind. If this is done, 
as all work on the farm should be done, thoroughly, 
and then properly stacked during the fine weather 
in October or November, before the late rains begin 
to fall, it will be found vastly more profitable than 
cutting and securing even upland prairie grass. 
Snug is the word in performing this work. That 
is, it is not safe or profitable to cut down more in 
a day than can be bound up and set up snug the 
same day. There should be no gavels left unbound 
at night-fall. There is economy in the handling 
that compensates lor the heavy work of binding in 
bundles. It cures better, also, and there is less 
worm-casts it showed, 
nearly if not as numerous as those mentioned by 
Mr. Darwin, and they darkened the field so much, 
though the grass was growing, that they caused 
some parts of it to look as if newly top-dressed. 
Choice of Animals for Fattening. 
Mu. Hedley contributed the following valu¬ 
able hints on fattening cattle to the Newcastle Club, 
and we find them published in the London Agricul¬ 
tural Gazelle. He says: 
••Jn my close identification with fat cattle for 
several years, I have always found that the best 
animals have the most massive heads, most capa¬ 
cious chests, and the strongest spines. I have, 
therefore, evolved a few rules to go by in the pur¬ 
chase of lean ones, and scarcely with one exception 
I have found them to be applicable. The head of 
auy ol our bovine races ought to have the first con¬ 
sideration; this is the true index to the vital acumen, 
and even bodily construction, and will be found to 
foreshadow all good or bad that may be accom¬ 
plished. Thus an animal possessed of a broad, full, 
spacious skull, with strong, evenly-bent, deflective 
horns, will be found to have a thick neck at the 
base, wide thorax, and strong, nervous system; 
while one with long, narrow, contracted skull, and 
puny, abruptly bent horns, will bis characterized by 
weakness, wildness, and slowness to fatten. A 
small, dull, sunken eye betokens hardness of touch 
and inaptitude to fatten; and a bright, large, open, 
eye, vice versa. A staring, dark, fiery eye often 
% 
IRVING Chant Co N Y 
