mmmm 
tr*"flGRl CULTURE 
for which it was designed. Bulky food will be 
found necessary to the health of all ruminating 
animals. All the nutritive matter required by the 
system of any animal may be given in a concentra¬ 
ted form, as in oil-cake, corn-meal, etc., but the 
result will be far from satisfactory, and if continued 
for a great length of time, no doubt induce disease. 
The same amount of nutrition given in part in a 
bulky form, as in bay, roots, straw, corn-stalks, etc., 
would produce much better results. It is. however, 
possible to give the stomach too much to do to obtain 
necessary nutriment, and this is no uncommon error 
—lor some seem to think that anything that an ani¬ 
mal can be forced to eat, and that will till the stom¬ 
ach. is good food. With these facts kept in mind we 
are prepared to consider the comparative value of 
different articles of food, and Ibis we will attempt 
to do in the next number. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE LEADING AMERICAN WEEKLY 
RUSAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
the latter, he hurled it from him, exclaiming, “I 
will never again use tobacco in any form, so help 
me God!” The good wife w «3 astonished, fright¬ 
ened. s- Why, husband, what do you mean? You 
do not know what you say. It is profanity. You 
can't do without tobacco; you had better take that 
back as soon as you call. You will die if you leave 
oil' the uso of tobacco, after having used it so long.” 
Live or die, wife, I shall keep that vow. Look 
at those tigures! More money for tobacco, annually, 
than all my tuxes amount to!—all for a vile, noxious, 
nasty weed. I’m through with it.” 
•And, said Mr. B. to the writer, ‘‘I have kept 
that vow; and 1 am satisfied l have added many 
years to my life by doing so, to say nothing of tire 
money 1 have been able to employ very much bet¬ 
ter than by the purchase of tobacco, it is one of 
many benefits I have derived from keeping ac¬ 
counts.” 
‘•But 1 have no time to bother with accounts," 
says Dave Stavkahead ; “ I can make more 
money by minding my own business and keeping 
at work.” Perhaps you cau. Let us see. Yonder 
is a field of corn, which you have cultivated thor¬ 
oughly the past season. Your neighbor over the 
way told me that his figures demonstrated that his 
corn cost him, on an average, seventy-five cents to 
one dollar per bushel, as he cultivates if, Y'ou 
expend as much labor on au acre as he does. You 
continue to cultivate corn largely; he has aban¬ 
doned it, and keeps sheep. You grow corn and sell 
it at a loss; he has abandoned an unprofitable busi¬ 
ness, and is making money. You hire money; he 
has it to loan. He Is a good business man; you are 
not. He knows what, he is doing; you do not. 
That is the difference between keeping accounts 
and not keeping them. One continues to.pursue a 
losiug business because he knows no better; the 
other quickly learns irom bis ligur, * the result Of 
his operations, and is governed accordingly. 
There is another reason urged by many farmers, 
why they do not keep farm accounts. It is that they 
do not know how. This is at least an honest rea¬ 
son, and uiay lie regarded a sufficient one; but such 
should set themselves about learning bow; or if not, 
they should see that their children are taught what 
they themselves so much need. This is a very im 
portaut matter: and it may be the fact that the 
knowledge may be made available to the farmer 
sooner by being taught the child, than if sought for 
by himself. 
This subject of the farmer’s education, and of the 
education of his children, and the creation of busi¬ 
ness habits, is one on which much may, and ought 
to, be written; but I must dismiss it here. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
CHAS. D. BHAGDON, Western Correspondinsc Editor. 
The Rural New-Yorker is dt'sijrued to bo tuisurpassed in 
Value, Purity. Usefnlnew and Variety of Contents, ami unique 
and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of its various departments, 
and earnestly labors to Tender the Rural an emi mm tly Reliable 
Guide on all the important Practical, Sciontilic ami other 
Subjects intimately connected with the business of those whose 
interests it zealously advocates As a Family Journal it is 
eminently Instructive and Entertaining —bein? 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. Scieutilie, Educational, Literary 
and News Matter, interspersed with appropdate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other journal.—rendering it the most 
complete Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper 
in America. 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES 
l -£>~ For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
VALUE OP POOD—ITS NUTRITION 
At this season of the year, when every pound of 
food consumed by animals is the product of our 
labor and skill and means, and generally has a 
market price, it is important that we should know 
their comparative value. In fact, this knowledge 
should be the guide, not. only in feeding but, in the 
choice of crops, and all’oct the whole farm opera¬ 
tions. When wheat or oats or other products are 
sold in the market, of course their real value for 
food iu indicated by the nutrition they contain, is a 
matter of little consequence ; unless, as is sometimes 
the case, the proper knowledge taught the farmer 
that ho might make more money by feeding out 
grain and selling pork and beefl AH farmers raise 
some stock for the benefit of the soil, and to consume 
articles that are perishable or not saleable. And 
this branch of rural industry is increasing in import¬ 
ance rapidly. Every enterprising agriculturist is 
surrounded with a goodly family of horses, cows, 
pigs, etc., that look to him lor their daily food ; and 
how he can obtaiu maintenance lor them in the best 
and cheapest way is, therefore, u matter of no small 
moment. There is need ot more light on the subject 
and this light must be gained by experiments, tried 
carefully and thoroughly. But tew reliable ex¬ 
periments have yet been made in this country, and 
we have to derive our knowledge ou the subject at 
present from European sources. Who, among all 
our American farmers, will honor themselves and 
their country by instituting a series of experiments 
so thorough and convincing as to become unques* 
tionable authority on the subject. 
For the present we will pass over some thoughts 
on the adaptation of food to different objects, and 
that most suitable for animals in different conditions, 
as working, fattening, milking, etc., and proceed at 
once to the consideration of the value ot food as 
determined by the best authorities. There are two 
ways of estimating the nutritive value of food — 
first, by the amount of nitrogen it. contaius, as shown 
by analysis ; and second, by carefully conducted 
experiments, the animals and food being regularly 
weighed, and such changes being made as will test 
their comparative effect in keeping an animal in 
good condition, or in obtaining a proportionate in¬ 
crease. One is theoretical, and perhaps not always 
reliable ; the other is practical, and yet circumstan¬ 
ces und conditions are often such that the result 
may mislead, unless the experiment is made with 
great care and often repeated. The union of the 
two plans, the one serving as a chock upon the 
other, is undoubtedly the safest and best, and this 
was first attempted, wo believe, by Bocssinuault, 
who made a table of the value of different kinds of' 
food as shown by analysis, and then instituted the 
most rigid experiments to test its correctness in 
practice—comparing also his own experiments with 
those of others, in doing this he often found his 
experiments at variance with theory, and came to 
the conclusion that the amount of nitrogen in a 
substance should be regarded as one important 
evidence of its value, though uot. infallible. 
There are several ways in which the difference 
between analysis and practice may be accounted 
for, and we will mention one or two points that 
may be of some practical value. 01 course, in esti¬ 
mating the value of any variety of food, no allow¬ 
ance is made for difference in digestibility, yet some 
kinds are easily digested, while others being more 
difficult, a great portion passes tliroiurh thfianim.il 
For description of this Ilivo, see article entitled “Bees and Bee-Hives ,' 1 given below 
dairy business—it was the best paying business, and 
he must go into it. Would my friend sell bis tine 
dairy and fixtures? Yes, he would sell if he could 
get enough tor his cows. He of course got enough 
—all he asked, and people wondered how he could 
be so foolish as to go out of the dairy business when 
everybody else was going into it, 
1 asked him, 11 Why?” 
“ Why!” ho answered, “ It. is plain enough. Why, 
I sell my sheep, which I had previously purchased 
at low figures, at the highest market, price for them¬ 
selves and products, making a good rouiid sum on 
their first cost to me, after having received the 
essential advantage resulting from the appreciation 
of wool. Then I buy cows and dairy fixtures far 
below cost—at a loss really to the parties of whom 
I purchased, reap the advantages resulting from the 
abandonment of this business—the decrease of dairy 
products, rfell my cows and dairy fixtures at a 
handsome profit, and am ready to take advantage of 
the blindness or folly of others and purchase sheep 
again at a low figure, just when everybody is going 
out of the sheep business, aud it is going to be pro¬ 
fitable. Du you see the point? It is a rule 1 have 
adopted with profit—to go out of auy business the 
moment 1 see the tide is turning into it, and prices 
have reached the highest figure. It, pays to go into 
something else then.” 
It is a rule among good business men in all 
departments of trade, l believe, to buy as lightly as 
possible when prices are high, and invest heavily 
when figures are low on any staple article. This 
rule may often be profitably applied by the farmer 
in his business. 
the character of this hive, and the inventor’s des- 
cri ption: 
By the peculiar arrangement of this hive, air, 
without light, is admitted into the hive, so that the 
bees are well supplied with the necessary material 
for respiration; and by being kept in the dark, they 
are continually in repose, and require less food for 
their sustenance than it they were in a state of 
activity. This economizes their winter's store, and 
saves the lives of many bees who would otherwise 
die of starvation, and prevents the ravages of neigh¬ 
boring bees. Fig. 1, in our illustrations, is a per¬ 
spective view, and Fig. 2, a section of this hive; and 
by reference to them, the construction will be un¬ 
derstood. 
A is the inclined bottom-board of the fifth cham¬ 
ber. It is elevated above the bottom of the hive, so 
as to form a chamber, by means of which the ad¬ 
mission ot air and light is graduated according to 
the requirement of the bees at different seasons of 
the year. 
B is the graduating chamber for the admission of 
air and light into the hive. C is a curtain, which 
can be raised to admit, more or less light, as may be 
required, aud, when lowered, serves for throwing a 
shade about the air-space, thereby proventing the 
entrance of light into the working chamber, with¬ 
out, interfering with the ventilation of the same, and 
which serves to keep the bees in a state of repose a 
greater part of the time whenunable to collect honey, 
or during windy and cold weather at any season. 
D is the cross-piece to which the curtain is attached. 
It is secured to the inclined bottom-board, A, at 
such a distance from the door as to allow a space for 
the admission of air and light to the hive. E is the 
passage for the admission of air and light to the 
hive, aud F is a movable cross-piece, provided with 
two wire 
EVERYBODY IS GOING INTO SHEEP. 
My pleasant companion, Mr. Bno 
wn, having left 
the train, an enterprising young farmer from Cay¬ 
uga county—an old schoolmate—became my com¬ 
panion, and gave me the above text, lie hud been 
attending the State Fair, and was returning home. 
Said he had intended to buy him a good Spanish 
Merino Buck, but they cost too much. He wanted 
to improve his flock, but sheep were getting so high 
—“everybody is going into sheep”—he couldn’t see 
the money in them that some seemed to see. 
While it seems as if the wool business could 
scarcely be overdone so long us the rebellion con¬ 
tinues to prosper, and the price of cotton is where 
it is, I am always reminded of the advice of an old 
and respected friend to mo once, when I see farmers 
all rushing into a business in which there seems to 
be money. Although the substance of what follows 
has before been published, it will bear repeating—it 
has a practical value and pertinence just now, and 
in this connection. I had noticed that he often 
changed his husbandry — that when everybody 
seemed crazy with the sheep fever and were going 
into sheep, all over, he took the opportunity to sell 
his flock at point of culmination in prices, and it 
the dairy business was at. low ebb, and cows cheap, 
he proceeded promptly to invest his money in all 
the cows he could keep. Scarcely had he got his 
dairy in operation before the prices of Wool and of 
sheep would begin to depreciate, and dairy products 
and dairy stock appreciate proportionately. For a 
series ol years he would reap the reward of his 
sagacity, by selling all the butter and cheese he 
could make at good prices, considerably more than 
paying the interest of the money invested in dairy 
stock at low figures; while Ihoso excitable individ¬ 
uals, who were greedy enough to pay big prices for 
sheep about the lime the wool speculation began to 
culminate, were mourning over the fall of wool and 
consequent fall of prices of sheep. They could not, 
get their money back. Wool was scarcely paying 
the interest on the investment. The changes they 
had made had involved Other expenses incidental to 
the adaptation of larm buildings, fields. &c., to the 
new order of things. But the money did uot come 
back. The sheep men soon became disgusted with 
the sheep business. Flocks were neglected. Sheep 
died. Many were killed lor their hides and tallow. 
The speculator was glad to get out of it at any rate. 
Dairy products were high. Dairymen were getting 
rich. Sheep men discovered that the dairy business 
had alwuys been good. lie would get lid of his 
sheep at any price, and go into cows. The sheep 
were sacrificed. Sheep man wanted to buy cows— 
was bound to buy cows—must have cows—would 
pay a good price—everybody was going into the 
BEES AND BEE-HIVES 
That the farmers are giving much greater atten¬ 
tion than ever before to the production of honey we 
have abundant, evidence, and that, too, of a very 
positive character. Our markets are now much 
better supplied with good eatable honey than they 
were a few years since, when we were compelled to 
depend almost entirely upon a poor Southern arti¬ 
cle. We can now obtain good white box honey at 
almost any ot the stores in our cities aud villages, 
and at very moderate prices, People are begin¬ 
ning to realize that Providence has provided, in 
almost every district of country where man can 
live, honey-bearing flowers in sufficient abundance 
to furnish to every family all the honey they need. 
This valuable sweet, like the manna of the Israel¬ 
ites, is free for all who choose to gather. But more 
than this, we are supplied from the same beneficent 
source with earnest workers—models of industry 
the world over—that will gather and store this 
honey for us, and furnish their owu vessels for stor¬ 
age, without money and without price, if we will 
only permit them to do so. All they need of us is a 
little encouragement—acheap yet convenient house 
where they can do our work. They do not ask us 
even for food, for they will work tor nothing and 
board themselves, it, is not strange, therefore, that 
in these days of intelligent, enterprise, ihe honey¬ 
bee is receiving marked attention. 
One evidence of this fact we have is the great 
number of hives brought to public notice, particu¬ 
larly at our State Fairs, attended by those who 
arc not only ready to enlighten their auditors 
ou the nature of the honey-bee, but also to prove 
that each one is the very best Unit exists, both for 
the bee and his keeper. On exhibition at the New 
York State Fair, recently held in this city, was one 
known as llurbisou’s Patent. It was exhibited by 
the Agent, A. F. Moon, of Paw-Paw, Michigan, 
who also made a splendid show of honey, very 
tastefully arranged. We give engravings showing 
screens, G, for the purpose ot admitting 
air and light, which ascend through the passage. E. 
II is an adjustable slide, which fits loosely in 
grooves ou the rides of the hives, and provided with 
a wedge, l, for the purpose of tightening or loosen¬ 
ing tho same, said slide, H, being removed to admit 
the discharge of any impurities which may have 
collected on the inclined bottom-board, A. J is a 
cross-piece, mortised to admit the lower end of the 
sectional comb-frames; K, which has a tenon cut on 
its lower end, and which tits into the mortise cut in 
the cross-piece, J. and also has a projection on its 
upper part which fits into a slot, a, cut on the inner 
part of the hive; by this means it is secured in its 
right position in the hive, the lower part of the sec¬ 
tional comb- frame, K, being adjustable up and 
down, by means of holes aud pins, for adjusting it 
to the different sized comlw. By removing the 
honey-boxes, and bearing on tho upper part ol the 
sectional comb-frame. K, it can lie elevated out of 
the slot, a, and the apiarian is thus enabled to re¬ 
move or replace it with ease aud facility, without 
molesting the other bees, or in any way injuring the 
combs in the adjoining frames. 
The sectional comb-frame, K, is provided with six 
or more flexible metal clamps, b b, secured to its 
upper and lower ends, which serve to retain the 
comb in the sectional comb-frame; and by raising 
the flexible metal clamps, b b, on one side of the 
frame, ihe apiarian can remove or replace a'comb 
with facility and dispatch. 
I, is the platform supporting the honey-boxes, and 
resting on the tops of the sectional comb-franiH-. K, 
of such a width as to allow a passage for the Lees 
to the honey-box. The platform, L, is provided 
with a flexible back-angular damp, and a flexible 
fruut-augular hinged elamp, both of which serve to 
brace the honey-boxes; e e e e are the honey boxes 
resting on the platform. L; / is the upper coupling- 
strap, fitting under the angles of the flexible angu- 
TWO DOLLARS A. YEAR.] 
“PROGRESS ANTD IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGI.E NTO. FOUR CENTS. 
YOL. xm. NO. 44.1 
1 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1862. 
\ WHOLE NO. 668. 
IUVING Chaut Co 
