ecuted as to grow large and varied crops, and 
dispose of them in such manner as to return 
the extracted elements of fertility to the soil. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1S30 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AH ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
rural, literary and family newspaper. 
FALL FLOWING FOE POTATOES, 
A. W. Harrison of Philadelphia, who pro¬ 
fesses to know how the potato should be man¬ 
aged to secure a good yield, says that land on 
which potatoes are to he cultivated should be 
plowed at least 20 Inches deep, with a sub-soil 
plow, in the fall; in early spring sab-soil across 
the old furrows, harrow and roll down. Then 
mark out, as for corn rows, about three feet each 
way,'to the depth of eight inches. At the inter¬ 
section of the angles drop a whole potato of the 
largest size yon have and spread upon it a hand¬ 
ful of the richest compost manure, containing 
eight parts of wood ashes, four of phosphate of 
lime, four of ground plaster, four of finely slaked 
lime and four of salt, or, in lieu of these, three 
ounces of an artificial fertilizer per MU. Cover 
in the seed, roll the ground and spread broad¬ 
cast a half a ton of a good fertilizer to th.e acre. 
Cultivate both ways; remove weeds nqar the 
hiU with the hoe, but in no case hill the growing 
plants, bnt leave the ground entirely flat about 
them. 
We believe this Is about right. Hilling, espe¬ 
cially in dry weather, is apt to let so much 
moisture escape from the ground as to seriously 
Impair the fecundity of the seed and hence a di¬ 
minished yield. In our opinion potatoes planted 
In this way in drills, and properly tiUed, would 
produce more, by one-eighth or a quarter per 
acre, than by the hilling prQcesB. It would he a 
good plan to test this matter by drilling in a 
section of a potato patch as an experiment. 
By this system of culture no rotation of crops 
is said to be required, as the ground gets back, 
each year, precisely the aliment needed for the 
production of the crop reqnired. The antumnal 
plowing is manifestly a good step taken towards 
success the ensuing year. 
The subject Is referred to thus early that farm¬ 
ers, who do not practice on this plan, can have 
time to think about it before the fall season and 
act upon the suggestions if deemed advisable. 
Those who practice this rnode'of preparation of 
course will need no incentive to action in this 
direction. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOKE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors, 
HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL, D., 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry, 
HON. T. C. PETERS, 
Late Pres’tN.Y. State Ag. Soe’y, Southern Cor. Editor, 
The Rural New-Toeexs Is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed in Value, Purity, and Variety ol Content*. It* 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Bubal a Reli¬ 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the butanes* of those 
whose interests It zealously advocates. As a Family 
Journal it 1* eminently Instructive and Entertaining- 
being so conducted that it can bo eaiely taken to the 
Homes ol people ot Intelligence, taste and discrimination. 
It embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other Jonrnul,— 
rendering it by far the most complete Ageictltveal, 
Lithkabt and Family Newspaj-ru In America. 
I* - Fob Teems and other particulars see last page 
DOES TEE SOIL NEED REST 1 
Our fathers in Agriculture quite generally held 
the opinion that summer-fallowing greatly ben¬ 
efited the soil by the rest which It gave. If the 
the land lay utterly idle through all the season 
of growth should It not recuperate its powers of 
production? They believed it would. And 
this opinion prevails to some extent at the pres¬ 
ent time among fanners. 
But absolute rest obvionsly adds nothing to 
the soil; no food for plants descends from the 
air above or rises from the subsoil below. No 
favorable chemical action is known to be in¬ 
duced by exposing a naked soil a long time to 
the elements; on the contrary It may be appre¬ 
hended that the washing of the rain, the parch¬ 
ing of the sun, the evaporation of the atmos¬ 
phere, remove some of the volatile substances 
which are found In a fertile soil. Rest does not 
impart fertility to the sands of the desert, nor 
are arable soils in a Etate of nature where they 
are increasing in fertility, ever permitted to he 
destitute ol vegetable covering. 
The soil then does not need rest — it requires 
cultivation. By cultivation we mean here those 
physical changes wMch may be made. It wants 
deep and thorough working so that the roots of 
plants can reach every particle of soil; it needs 
draining to draw off the stagnant water wMch is 
poison to the roots of our cereals and cultivated 
grasses. Deep, thorough and frequent pulver¬ 
ization of the soil, though it adds nothing to the 
amount of plant food, will, by making it all 
available to the crops, cause the land to be very 
productive. 
FRONT ELEVATION. SECTIONAL VIEW. 
Explanations of Sectional View—A, Passage. B, Lino showing height of penB. C, Doors. G, Feed Troughs 
ing can be either enlarged or diminished,) will 
obtain the necessary information from the 
accompanying Explanations and Specifications. 
Having examined thiB Swine House —as well as 
the goodly number of fine nnimals (mostly of 
the Cheshire breed,) being fattened therein—wc 
can confidently commend its plan as excellent, 
It has been highly approved by-others, and the 
Superintendent of the Detroit House of Correc¬ 
tion (Capt. Bkockwav,) is so impressed with its 
advantages that he Is having one built on the 
Eame plan. 
SPECIFICATIONS FOR HWIXE HOUSE. 
Size— 30 by 36 feet outside of frame. 
Height— Posts 10 feet high from bottom of sill to 
top of plate. The first story to be 8 feet between joists. 
Timbering— The building to be framed with three 
bents, exclusive of the two ends. Poets for outside 
4 + 0 inches, and those for Inside, under beams 4 + 4 
inches. Sills 0 + 8 inches, and Joists to be In 4 length*, 
14 feet each length, extending lengthwise of the 
building; tho*c in the first floor will be 2 +13 Inches, 
and in the second floor 2 -10 inches—all set 10 inches 
to centers and X bridged with one row to each length 
Plates 4 + 0 inches; girts 4+4 im hes; beams or cross 
plates for second floor 4 + 0 inches; braces 4 + 4 inches, 
all framed in and pinned: rafters 2 + 0 Inches, pat 2 feet 
to centers, notched on and spiked to plates, and to 
extend over plates i feet to torn cornice; collar beams 
1 + 8 inches, spiked to each pair of ratterE. 
Posts, studs and plate# for ventilator on roof 4 + 
in.; rafters for same 2+4 in.; to be coiled up vertical¬ 
ly on the outside with narrow inch planed and match¬ 
ed lumber. Blinds I +3 in. slats grooved in frame on 
an angle of 43 degrees. Ventilator to bo placed in 
the center of building, ami a box or channel 4;<j feet 
square of inch planed and matched lumber from the 
second floor to the roof, with a partition In the cen¬ 
ter, the full height. Opening framed in second floor 
the full size of channel. To bo a door 3 t 3 feet On 
one side to throw down straw from the loft. The or¬ 
nament. on top, will be of wood, turned, and the vane 
made of No. 16 galvanized Iron with Ijv. inch iron rod 
for same to turn on, all fitted complete. 
Flooring- In the first story to be be of 2 inch rough 
pine plank, well nailed to Joists. The floor, in the 
second story will be of Ijtf inch placed and matched 
lumber, blind nailed to each joist. 
Catering —The outside to bo ceiled up vertically, 
with 1 inch planed and matched pine, not to exceed 
6 inches wide, well nailed., There will be 4 - 4 studs 
on each side of doors and windowand two tier of 
2+4 inch girt#, cut in between posts and studs, on 
both sides and chd* t.o nail ceiling to, and the ceiling 
to extend to the bottom of the sills. 
Roof will be laid with inch boards, well nailed, and 
shingled over with best quality of dry pine sawed 
shingles, hud not over one-third their length to the 
weather. To put on 14 inch X tin gutters and two 8 
inch X tin pipes to ground, with elbows at bottom. 
Cornice to project 24 inches and famished with crown 
and bed mould, and the under dde of rafters, that 
project over the face of building, to be ceiled with 
inch planed and matched narrow lumber. 
Windows.— 1 There will be 11 windows in first story 
and 4 in second story— 2 in each end. Those^in first 
story 9 ^14, twelve lights, and the balance 9+ 12 lights; 
A MODEL SWINE HOUSE 
the suggestions of Levi S. Fulton, Esq., Super¬ 
intendent of the Monroe County Penitentiary, 
or House of Correction, on the premises of 
which it was erected nearly two years ago. It 
will accommodate from forty to fifty hogs. 
The great advantage in this plan, as will be 
readily seen, consists in the convenience with 
which the hogs can bo changed from one apart¬ 
ment to another—the arrangements being such, 
with slides and doors, that the animals can be 
easily transferred. Those who wish to build in the 
eame or a similar style (and the size of the build- 
At this season, many farmers arc inquiring 
for planB of Piggeries or Swine Houses, and we 
herewith give a plan and description of one 
which will meet the wants of those who, In vul¬ 
gar parlance, “go the whole hog” —i. e., want 
accommodations for a goodly number of speci¬ 
mens of the genus Bus. The house we illustrate 
and describe (more particularly in the specifica¬ 
tions,) was planned by Mr. A. .T. Warner, 
Architect of this city, at the request and with 
FATTENING HOGS. 
The editor of the Germantown Telegraph 
having made inquiries of a farmer as to 'the 
profitableness of pork raising and the best way 
to feed hogs, received a reply, the •■substance of 
which was;—1st. That feeding grain—especially 
corn — to hogs will pay better than would the 
same amount fed to any other kind of farm 
stock. But this is qualified as to the kind or 
breed of hogs fed and the manner of treating 
them. The breed should be the “ Chester 
White” — the nom deplume of the writer — and 
they should be fed in such a manner as to 
gain a pound a day. In other words the hog, 
at a year old, should weigh three hundred and 
sixty-five pounds. Greater weight than tMs 
could be produced but the increase would not 
pay the extra expense necessary to procure it. 
2d. One bushel of good shelled corn, made 
into meal and fed to the hogs regularly, in sutdi 
quantity as to prevent them from fretting for 
more, will produce from five to seven poundB 
of pork daring the months of October and No¬ 
vember. After this geason of the year more 
feed is reqnired and less pork produced accord¬ 
ing to the quantity fed. 
33. An important point is to keep the hogs 
growing all the time—not starving them to mere 
hog frames, during the summer, and then at¬ 
tempting to finish oil' quickly on the arrival of 
cold weather. 
4th. When put up in the fall — indeed during 
the entire season—a comfortable shelter should 
be provided so that the hogs may avail them¬ 
selves of it whenever a storm occurs, but when 
the autumnal storms commence the hogs should 
be penned for good till ready for slaughter. 
5th. With the pure “Chester White” stock 
of hogs, properly brought forward durlDg the 
spring and summer months, it is safe to feed 
eighty-five cent com on a basis of five cents per 
pound for the animal fed. This feed for October 
and November should be com meal, mixed with 
water to the consistency of a thick slop. 
Then, except during the brief pe¬ 
riod of this thorough working, the soil should 
he producing, for it is by the sole agency of 
what grows upon it that the farmer can hope to 
increase the amount of plant food in his land. 
But is not laud constantly producing crops, 
whether of grain or grass, exhausting itself? 
Yes, if those crops are removed from the soil 
and no remuneration made therefor; but if the 
whole produce of the ground is returned to it 
the amount of plant food is increased. The 
soil becomes richer for the reason that the sub¬ 
stance of the plant was only partly derived 
from the son, but largely from the atmosphere, 
and while the soil receives again what it gave, 
through the decomposition of the plant, it has 
in addition all that was drawn from other 
sources. This is the reason why the plowing 
under of clover, or other green crops, for ma¬ 
nure, em-ichc-6 the soil. The crops have drawn 
only part of their fertilizing components from 
the soil —they have gathered from the air like¬ 
wise—and it is precisely this which increases the 
(,] previous richness of the Eoil. And if all the 
H manure which crops will make by passing 
T through the animal system he returned to the 
J £ °U. its fertility will doubtless he maintained; 
-ri enough will be returned to replace the ash-eon- 
•J stituents of the plant vjhiek alone were derived 
4 from the earth. 
X We conclude, then, that the soil does not 
: -J need rest to render it fertile. It needs cultiva- 
§ rion and cropping. Not reckless, wasteful, uu- 
Yf methodical farming, but that so planned and ex- 
ground plan. 
Explanations—A, Slaughter Room, (used, except when wanted for slaughtering, for keei 
Breeding Pen. F P, Feeding Pens. S P, Sleeping Pens, each connected by a d 
pens. C C C C, Doors Irom main passage into pens. E, Boilers. D, Depres 
luruace. G G G, Troughs. 
Cattle and sheep have been so greatly reduced 
iai Canada, by the American demand, that good 
beef and mutton are very scarce at high prices. 
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