Agriculture 
ESTABLISHED IN 1S50, 
Feed Racks for Stock —Are indispensable arti 
cles of 11 k: furniture of the sheds and yards, 
We give a couple of cuts which may be suggest¬ 
ive to some of our readers. 
straw, ouo or two feet thick, Is spread on nml 
then another layer of clover, and so ou. It Is 
claimed that by this process the straw assumes 
the taste nud color of hay and Is greatly liked 
by cuttle. It requires from six to eight weeks 
to complete the ‘ heating.’ It is well authen¬ 
ticated that brown hay produces much more 
milk per acre than ordinary green hay.” 
Narrow Furrows nud Deep Plowing. 
ITf.re is a good hint about plowing from S. 
W. A., Cortland, III,: — “I bavo heard it stated 
that it takes no more power to run theplow ten 
Inches deep and si x Inches wide, than it does the 
reverse, ten inches wide and six Inches deep. I 
think this is not absolutely true, but certain it 
is that, u light team may plow land ten inches 
deep if we cut a very narrow furrow — say four 
t,o six inches wide. This kind of plowing leaves 
the soil much better pulverized and a smoother 
surface than would be obtained by cutting a 
wider furrow, and enables those who work but 
one team to plow their land in good order if 
they wish to do so.” 
mer to engage in this cultnre. What is gener¬ 
ally termed a good wheat soil is well adapted to 
their growth; It should be heavy rather than 
light. Wherever the common bull-thistle nour¬ 
ishes best it would be safe to plant Teasels. 
therefore moat in demand, and the “buttons” 
on the tiuer broadcloths. 
The average yield per acre is stated by experi¬ 
enced growers to be about 130,000. A few years 
ago one dollar per thousand was considered a 
good price; the crop of 1804 was sold for five 
dollars per thousand; since then the prlco has 
fallen off three dollars. The crop is quite prof¬ 
itable when the price per thousand equals the 
price per bushel of wheat. 
MOORE'S R0RAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WMKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. NOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL, D., 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
HON. T. C. PETERS, 
Date Prea’t IT. Y. State Ag. Soo’y, Southern Cor. Editor, 
The smaller one is designed especially for 
sheep. Its dimensions nre 80 inches high, 28 
wide, bottom formed by nailiug together four 
boards, 8 or 9 incheB wide, in the Bhape of two 
troughs, or the letter W, resting on the cross¬ 
piece B. The novel feature, perhaps, is the cant 
boards A, A, which are hinged, and then fastened 
by movable braces. These boards serve as par¬ 
tial shelter to sheep, both from storm and chaff 
from fodder, and by moving the braces they 
assume a vertical position, and thus keep out 
the sheep while one is filling in the grain. 
ABOUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES, 
Eds. Rural New-Yorkkk 
In your issue of 
the 17th inst. I observe an article on Agricultu¬ 
ral Colleges which demands a few words. It 
was apparently suggested by an article In the 
New England Farmer appended to Judge 
French’s letter resigning the Presidency of the 
Mass. AgM College. Now, your correspondent be¬ 
fore giving currency to the statements contained 
in his communication ought to have been very 
certain that they are well founded. The state¬ 
ments regarding the Peuua. Agricultural Col¬ 
lege were denied in toto In last, week’s Country 
Gentleman, and a week ago 1 received the Bos¬ 
ton Cultivator, which states that already a Pres¬ 
ident and several Professors have been appointed 
to till the vacancies in the Mass. Ag’l College, 
which certainly does not took much as if the 
Trustees were bo parallzed by divisions as not to 
bo able to get, along without Judge French. 
The appointment, of two able men—Prof. CnA d- 
bodrne of Amherst, as President, and Prof. 
Clarke, as Chemist — together with their en¬ 
trusting the management of their farm to an 
experienced and successful farmer, argues well 
for their common sense and honesty of purpose, 
and as they have promised us a reply to Judge 
FBENCH’S letter It may perhaps be as well to 
wait until we hear bot h sides before we decide. 
In regard to the Michigan College I am not 
thoroughly posted. I have taken mesaures to 
Inform myself, however, and if you will permit 
I will give you t he benefit of my investigations. 
Meanwhile, I doubt very much the assertion of 
your correspondent that it is in a languishing 
condition. If a sufficient amount of vitality 
remains to warrant the removal of the College 
to a better location there is hope for it yet. 
Bo far as our N. Y. State Ag’l College is con¬ 
cerned, your correspondent, if a New York 
man (as I judge ho is from his expression 
“this State,”) ought to know that the Cornell 
University Is not a “continuation” of that in¬ 
stitution. I have not space hero to enter into a 
minute history of the Ovid College, for, to 
quote Lord Byron, “ the tale were long and sad 
beside.” The College at Ovid is defunct and 
the building sold for other purposes. Its rival 
at Havana, the People’s College, is also dead — 
dead beyond resuscitation. What contributed 
to this end—the heavy charges which lie against 
our political and our eck-siaatlca^ organizations 
in this matter — will not always remain unpub¬ 
lished, and then It will perhaps be seen that the 
influences which have been brought to bear 
against the cause of popular education in prac¬ 
tical science have proceeded from rather unex¬ 
pected sources. 
The Cornell University, as I remarked, isnota 
continuation of the Ovid College. When it was 
proposed to give this institution < the Cornell 
University,) the Congressional appropriation, I, 
for one, was opposed to it, because 1 was afraid 
It, was in the hands of men who, though earnest 
and honest, did not appreciate the nature of 
their work, and wore too much inclined to leave 
oat of consideration many of the elements with 
which they would have to deal. In a word, I 
was afraid that Mr. Greklbt might forget that 
the young men with whom the Cornell Univer¬ 
sity would have to do were not all Gkeeleys in 
embryo. The great evil with our Agricultural 
Tun Rural Nkw-Yokkeb Is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety ot Contents. IU 
Conductor earnestly labors to render tho liuiiAL a Kell- 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
wboso Interests It zealously advocate*. As n Family 
Journal It l* eminently Instructive and Entertaining — 
being so conducted that It can be solely taken to the 
Home* ol people ot intelligence, taste and discrimination. 
It embrace* more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other Journal,— 
rendering It by far the most complete Agricultural, 
Utbuaby and Family Nrwspai'kb in America. 
PORK-QUANTITY AND PRICE 
The Keokuk Gate City, a paper located in a 
region where pork raising is a specialty, is of 
opinion, based on a pretty general knowledge 
of what the great West and Northwest are 
doing in the raising of hogs, that the yield this 
Season will exceed that oE the last one by at 
least twenty-three per cent., ami may reach 
lilty. Coupled with this fact is the certainty of 
an almost entire cessation of the foreign de¬ 
mand, since much of the pork that was sent, to 
Europe is being sent back to New York for con¬ 
sumption here, tending by so much to augment 
the stock to be thrown upon the market during 
the coming season. The demand for southern 
consumption may be somewhat increased, al¬ 
though the deficiency there is not as great as, 
from the exhaustion of those States during tbo 
war, it was supposed it would lie immediately 
following the close of the conflict The natural 
inference, from the facts supplied and those 
supposed to exist, is, that the price of pork 
which has ruled In the market for some time 
past must recede very considerably daring the 
coming winter, in spite of all and any efforts 
which may be made to hold them at or near the 
elevation of the last two years. Nothing but a 
very material expansion of the paper medium 
would seem competent to hold prices where 
they are, aud this Is not expected and would be 
of no real value to tbe producer even should it 
take place. Whether very high prices or very 
tow ones are best, suited to the moral and physi¬ 
cal well-being of the mass of mankind Is a point 
not necessary to discuss here, but it may be safe 
to assume that some diminution in prices would 
not prove a very deplorable occurrence. 
HINTS FOR THE MONTH 
Granaries .—Make these secure against mice 
and rats, or else contrive to trap or poison the 
vermin. Enough grain is destroyed in this way 
every winter to pay a largo interest on the value 
of the amount In the country. 
Harness. —This should be washed, repaired, 
and oiled. If you use new rope for halters or 
cattle ties, boil it In water for one hour, and 
when dry it becomes as pliable as when used a 
year. 
Sleighs .—You will find in these some broken 
bolts, loose nuts and shoes, spots where the 
paint is worn off. Three timely repairs save 
the cost of a new thing. 
Stock —Requires full care. Accustom all the 
young colts aud cattle to the halter and stable. 
It is a good plan to halter-break the heifer calves 
so they will lead well. It saves trouble when 
they become cows. 
Ram-Yards. — Make these comfortable for 
stock. They Bhould be dry and well littered. 
Don’t crowd a small yard full of different kinds 
of stock; if you do, some of them will soon be 
able to squeeze through a knot-hole, or spring 
over a ten-rail fence. Get material into the yard 
to absorb the liquids. 
Fuel. — The farmers wood-pile is an object 
of much attention the present month. Large 
dralts at sight are made on it, and there should 
be a good supply of seasoned material to meet 
these. If the stock of dry firewood is small, 
mix green wood with it. Coal in the sitting- 
room is advkable if the wood lot ___ T 
is small, oMhe timber in it valu- 1 \ (|] 
able for othier-purposes. Among ^ [ li 
the “king” teased. 
The seed, which is small, is planted or sown 
In drills about corn-planting time, the rows be¬ 
ing three and a half feet apart. The plants are 
hoed, cultivated, and If desirable a row of tur¬ 
nips or cabbages may bo grown in the interme¬ 
diate spaces. The first year the growth of the 
Teasel is near the ground, the leaves spreading 
out like the common field or bull-thistle. The 
plantB are not extremely hardy, and unless cov¬ 
ered with snow, or other protective material, 
are sometimes winter-killed quite extensively. 
The second year the crop requires hoeing in 
May, at which time the plants are thinned In the 
rows, leaving them from ten to twelve inches 
apart. Transplanting may be douo at this peri¬ 
od from the thickest to Ihe thinnest parts of the 
rows. The plant now shoots up rapidly, attain- 
ing a hlght of live or six feet, with branches 
springing out in all directions, bristling with 
Teasels which ripen in the month of August. 
The larger ent is of a rack designed to he 
placed against a building or wall, under cover. 
It may be adapted to any kind of stock, by 
placing it at the proper height. The cut plainly 
explains its construction. The trough below 
the slats may be used for feeding grain or 
roots. This rack is popular in Europe. 
TALKS WITH OUR CORRESPONDENTS, 
About Wood Ashes. 
Inquirer,” of Bridport, Vermont, suggests 
: “if some who have used ashes upon their 
In the Rural, stating the manner and season of 
application, also the kind of soil that has been 
most benefited by their use, such suggestions 
will be of value to him and doubtless toothers.” 
He further states that he has Eeen them sown ou 
meadows in the spring In the same quantity that, 
plaster is usually applied, and could not perceive 
that any benefit was derived therefrom. 
Ashes contain the mineral constituents of the 
wood from which they arc made. These are all 
drawn from the earth, and if returned to it again 
are all appropriated in time, aud In greater or 
less quantities, by growing vegetation. They 
are likewise absorbed and enter the growing 
THE TEASEL, 
A CORRRSI'ONDENT writing fromOakkiml Co., 
Mich., detires us to give him Information about 
the cultivation of the Teasel. From the tenor 
of several letters received we judge this subject 
interests many of our readers; we have there¬ 
fore prepared au article on the topic. 
The Teasel is used for raising the nap on all 
woolen cloths, from the coarsest, blanket to the 
finest piece of broadcloth. No substitute, either 
artificial or natural, has over been found that 
will perform on cloth the work of the curved, 
elastic, sharp hooks of the Tease! burr. When 
in use the burrs are attached to the periphery of 
a large, broad wheel, which is made to revolve 
so as to bring them in contact with the suface 
of the cloth. The Teasel of com acrce is a bien¬ 
nial plant of European origin and has doubtless 
been much Improved by cultivation. It lias a 
fleshy root; an erect, furrowed and prickly 
stem, which grows to the height of five or six 
feet and branches near the top. 
The cultivation of this product for market is 
nearly confined, in this country, to some por¬ 
tions of the New England States, aud two or 
Considerable i 
fuel is the beetle. We give a cut 
showing how to make one that 
will stand hard usage. Make the 
hole through the head square, aud 
largest on the lower side. Draw 
the handle in from that side, and 
it it fits well it will neither turn nor slip out. 
Many roads drift full of snow in the 
This can usually he 
Roads. 
winter and are impassible. " 
prevented by laying down the fence on the wind¬ 
ward side. It is less work to take down and 
put up a fence than to shovel snow banks all 
winter. 
Fanning Implements.— If your fall work is 
done—it tbe plowing Is all accomplished, and 
the harrows have performed their office for 
the season, do not leave them in the field 
where last used, hut put the plows and har¬ 
rows under shelter, where they can remain dry 
and clean till the operations of spring shall call 
them forth again. 
Poultry .—Farmers should make their fowls 
profitable in the wiuter time. To effect this 
they must be made entirely comfortable. Their 
quarters should be cleanly, and their food varied 
aud moderately abundant. Renovate the poul¬ 
try house now for the winter; supply lime, 
ashes, and gravel; have broad wiudows to 
Mixing .Straw and liny 
F. II. Gurwrrs, Clinton, Mich., 
, informs us 
that in his viciuity some farmers are in the habit 
of mixing straw with hay when the latter is put 
in the barn from the meadow. The hay may 
thus be put in greener—with less dry tog or cur¬ 
ing. Layers of hay aud straw are placed alter¬ 
nately, the amount of the latter usually being 
from one-half to one-fourth of the whole. It Is 
claimed that the straw when taken oat in the 
winter is nearly or quite as good as hay. Mr. G. 
promises to report to us how 6uch mows turn 
out this winter. The information would be 
valuable. 
In this connection wc would quote what Mr. 
Klifi>art gays of the method of making brown 
hay, as It is called, in Germany. Clover is cut 
in fair weather aud brought into the barn when 
the leaves and stalks are withered, but in their 
toughest state. “ It is unloaded in layers of six 
to ten feet deep, and in every area of ten feet 
square a man is placed to tramit down, and it 
is especially well tramped next to the walls. 
When well compacted a layer of bright, new 
THE “BUTTON” TEASED. - 
The crop is usually harvested by men and 
boys cutting the Teasels with hooked knives 
and gathered in baskets. Those growing on the 
top of the stalks arc called “kings” and arc- 
cut first; the “ ntidlings” grow on the ends of 
the branches and are cut next.; tbe “buttons" 
are produced on the sides of the main branches 
and are cut last. In cutting the labor of two or 
three men per acre is required. The crop is 
next placed on rails under cover, ana trequcntly 
handled with large wooden forks until cured, to 
prevent its heating. Stirring at this period also 
causes the seed to drop out. The Teasels arc 
then assorted and packed in boxes three or lour 
feet wide and ten foot long. Before using the 
spurs at the base of tbo Teasels and thu stems 
are clipped with shears at au additional cost of 
25 cents per thousand. The “kings” are used 
ou the heaviest and coarsest fabrics, the “ mid¬ 
dlings” on those of medium grade and are 
three counties in New York, 
quantities arc imported, however, and in view 
of this, and the increase of onr woolen 
manu¬ 
factories, there is yet room to the business of 
a few more,” But it would 
growing them for 
