5S3££ 
f Xg^JcUlt ur £ 
ESTABLISHED IN 1S50 
MILCH COWS - STABLING, 
superior to any others for laying. I have not 
the least doubt but that some of my hens have 
laid 800 eggs within the past year. This fall my 
pullets commenced laying about the 20th of 
October. Last winter I kept fourteen confined 
in my barn, and giving them all they would cat 
they consumed about six quarts of corn per 
week. Their mannre applied to the corn hold 
will increase its product sufficiently to Bupply 
their food. The profits from thepi have been 
nearly four dollars each.” 
A CONVENIENT TROUGH 
into close and warm quarters — especially cattle, 
as their breath seems to foul the air more than 
that of horses. A good way to convey pure air 
into the stable is to have tubes of boards a foot 
square connecting with the outside, and passing 
along the sides of the stable to the rear, in such 
manner that the air may be conveyed to the 
front of the stock. Cold currents will thus be 
avoided. Ohibl. 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WKKKLV 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
Mr. F. Ewer, Mendon, N. Y., sends us a 
drawing of a very convenient trough for feed¬ 
ing BWino. It is designed more especially for 
an out-door or field trough for summer and fall 
use. It is very desirable with many to feed their 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors, 
HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL, D., 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry, 
WIND-MILLS FOR FARM USE, 
HON. T. C. PETERS, 
Late Pres’t N. Y. State Ag. Soo'y, Southern Cor. Editor. 
Deep Plantlmr for Potatoes. 
W. Ii., Gaines, N. Y., writes that he has 
noticed “some correspondents complaining of 
losing the proflta of a crop of potatoes by fol¬ 
lowing the advice of others and planting deep. 
‘My policy’ would ‘swing’ in the direction of 
deep planting on sandy land. On a elay farm I 
had been accustomed to plant shallow, and it 
answered well. When I moved on to a sand 
farm 1 did the same and got poor crops ; but I 
observed that deep-rooted plants grew thrifty. 
Then I adopted the plan of digging holes, and 
putting the seed three or fonr inches below the 
surface with two inches of covering. The result 
for several years has been satisfactory. I also 
believe it beneficial to sandy land to plow it 
when pretty wet, as this tends to compact it.” 
A great deal of saudy land no doubt has a 
richer subsoil thuu top Boil. Deep plowing and 
growing clover are of great value on such lands. 
Seed will also bear deeper covering on light 
soils than on heavy. 
A Pennsylvania Pence. 
J. F. Coburn, N. Y., writes that a new kind 
of fence has been introduced in his vicinity, 
from the interior of Pennsylvania, which iB said 
to do well. “The rails arc cut eight feet and 
eight inches loDg, and split thin—about one and 
a half inches thick and fonr wide. 1’oBts are 
set as for a hoard fence, but with both sides 
Some of our subscribers at the west have 
addressed us inquiries about wind - mills for 
farm purposes. Many excellent plans have been 
published in former volumes of the Rural, some 
patented ami others not, and since these were 
given nothing new that we can lay before our 
readers has been brought, out on this subject. 
But the topic Is timely, and for the benefit of 
new subscribers wc recur to it again. 
A correspondent from this State sent, us the 
following plan of a wind-mill which is adapted 
to driving any kind of machinery used in farm 
buildings; it is not patented. 
Th* Rural Nrw-Yorkhs !« to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety ot Contents. Its 
Conductor earnestly Labors to render the Rural a Reli¬ 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business or those 
whose Interests It zealously advocates. As a Family 
Jopiwaj. It Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining— 
being so conducted that It can bo satcly taken to the 
Homes ol peopje ot Intelligence, taste und discrimination. 
It embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other Journal,— 
rendering It by fitr the most complete Aobjoultural, 
Litxkakt and Famtly Nrwsivapkr in America. 
swine outside of pens in those seasons, and 
every farmer is aware that it is almost a neces¬ 
sity to have the trough arranged to keep the 
swine away, both from the person who feeds 
them, and from the receptacle into which their 
food is placed while the latter is being prepared. 
The trough which we illustrate is adapted very 
perfectly to this purpose. It may form part of 
the fence, so that the Bwinc cannot come to the 
rear from which side the food is placed in it, and 
the additional advantage is the shelter of both 
trough and animals from storms. 
The cut requires little explanation. The cover 
is hung on pins, and fastened by a hook and 
Btaple on the rear side to keep it down. When 
food is to he placed in the trough the hook is 
unfastened and the cover lilted up in the posi¬ 
tion shown by the dotted lines. By this move¬ 
ment the swine are completely shut away, and it 
Js very convenient to place and mix their food. 
A slight effort brings the cover back to its place, 
and they can then “go lu." Perhaps sheep 
feeders might take a useful hint from this plan. 
Ml Fob Thumb and other particulars see last page, 
THE FENCE QUESTION 
Onb kind of work which farmers have been 
much accustomed to perform in winter time, 
hitherto, wub that of turning the proper timber 
into rails and stakes for fences. Doubtless mauy 
look with a feeling of sorrow and apprehension, 
at the present time, on their decaying fences, 
and wood-lot devoid of timber for rebuilding 
them, and wonder what another generation will 
do when the rails and rail timber are alike 
among the things of the past. 
Well, among other Important subjects which 
the farmer should carefully consider and dis¬ 
cuss, in his time of leisure, is this fence ques¬ 
tion. The rail fence has had its day; from 
necessity we must abandtm it when the present 
stock of rails is worn out and decayed. And 
with it will vanish a slovenly appendage to the 
farm—one of the chief harboring places of small 
vermin and foul weedB, and a too convenient 
receptacle of 6tone, stumps, or any loose rub¬ 
bish of the fields. If, then, the state of our 
farming is 6ueh that fences are a necessity, and 
are likely to so continue, we must adopt some¬ 
thing more readily accessible than timber, and 
more durable and tasty. On the vast, monoto¬ 
nous prairies, we think, is the most appropriate 
place for hedges; the fields are likely to be 
made large, and in the absence of hills and 
groves these lines of living green are needed to 
break the monotony of view, and snpply some 
shelter from the bleak winds. Uedge rows run¬ 
ning uorth and Bouth should he grown as tall ss 
possible. 
In New England, the Middle and Southern 
States, the sole use of a fence is to turn stock; 
and it is desirable to occupy as little land with 
it as possible. Where stone abound other ma¬ 
terial will be less required. In many places 
ditches with a sod and stone wall will answer 
TALKS WITH OUR CORRESPONDENTS, 
NOTES FROM THE FARM. 
STABLE FLOORS. 
Tiiese have been a source of great annoyance 
to me, and I believe they are generally so to a 
majority of farmers. Wooden floors soak water, 
and are nearly always damp, and therefore un¬ 
healthy; if constructed of strips fastened to the 
proper floor with spaces between to pass oil'the 
water, they are frequently getting out of repair 
and filling with mannre which defeats the object 
of drainage. Then hard wood plank floors are 
slippery, and soft woods are not durable. 
I constructed a floor in a basement stablo 
which has Btood the test of several years’ use 
satisfactorily — cattle having occupied it most 
of the time. Stone broken line were placed on 
the ground to the depth of one foot, and well 
settled with a heavy maul. This layer was for 
the purpose of affording perfect drainage, and 
preventing moisture from rising up from the 
ground. Six inche» depth of sand was next 
evenly laid on, into whieh paving stone were 
firmly settled, one by one, great care being used 
Of course. 
In order to keep this wheel face to the wind 
two circular plates are used — the lower one 
fixed to the frame-work, the upper—which car¬ 
ries the wheel—freely rotating on conical rollers 
fixed with their bearing surface a little above, 
and parallel to the plane of the lower plate. 
The upper plate projects, and is connected by 
bolts to the rim below, so as to prevent the 
plates belog separated. This rim, if geared in¬ 
ternally, and worked by a pinion and connect¬ 
ing shaft, affords a means for regulating the 
motion, and enables us to dispense with the 
vane usually employed to keep the wheel before 
the wind. The motion is communicated to an 
upright shaft by level gearing. The anchor is 
a sliding bur worked by a lever passing between 
the sails. As the rim of the wheel moves faster 
than the parts near the center the sails must he 
set at an angle of 00* at the hub and 80” at the rim. 
The best material for the sails is sheet iron riv¬ 
eted to a skeleton. A diameter of six feet, in a 
working breeze, will give about the power of a 
man; in enlarging the wheels the power in¬ 
creases nearly as the square of the diameter. 
When built expressly for pumping water the 
gearing may be dispensed with, and a crank 
Bubstltnted. A vane will then be necessary to 
keep the wheel to the wind as no person will be 
i n attendan ce. Perhaps for the latter purpose the 
plan below figured in Thomas’ Farm Implements 
will he found more convenient to make. 
farmers to consider thoughtfully. *‘ With equal 
quantities of manure will a crop of corn exhaust 
the soil more than a crop of potatoes V” 
After a careful consideration of the subject 
we conclude that a crop of Indian corn removes 
more ot the fertility of the soil, than does a 
crop of potatoes of a proportionate yield. Of 
inorganic substance, ail of which the plant con¬ 
tains it takes from the soil, the potato tuber 
shows but a trifle; ten thousand pounds as they 
are carried from the field yielding but about 
eighty-three pounds of ash. Then about seventy 
per cent, of the whole weight of fresh potatoes 
is water. Potato tops contain about three hun¬ 
dred and eighty pouuds of inorganic substance, 
or ash, in each ten thousand as brought from 
the field. Indian corn yields one hundred and 
fifty pounds of ash in each ten thousand ponnds 
of grain, and the stalks five hundred. Probably 
not more than twelve per cent, of com is water. 
Of organic substances com probably draws 
more than potatoes from the air, and also from 
the earth; it exhausts manure faster; if both 
crops were grown continuously on soil of equal 
richness the field planted with com would fail 
soonest. 
Thus to the field we consider corn the most 
exhausting crop, but to the whole farm it is more 
enriching than potatoes. With our present 
system of farming potatoes furnish no manure, 
excepting the vineB; corn and com stalks feed 
straightened. Each panel is then nailed on to 
the right hand side of the next, so that the ends 
of the rails do not meet on the posts. Some 
nail one panel on the right hand side at both 
ends, and the next one on the opposite side. 
Only one large nail at each end of a rail is used.” 
We have had a cut made which illustrates a 
section of the fence plainly to the eye. The low¬ 
er part of the cut shotvs an end view of the 
posts with boards attached. 
Rubbing Pouts lor Cattle. 
R. L. Gazley, Garrettsviile, N. Y., advises 
farmers to “ select the upper part of a hemlock 
tree full of branches nearly horizontal; cut them 
smoothly from five to fifteen inches long. Set 
as many in your bam yard and pastures as your 
stock needs, and the cattle will not be so prone 
to rub the fence corners and bar posts. Another 
way is to fasten one end of a pole to a post as 
high as the tallest animal, letting the other rest 
on the ground,” This latter we should name a 
back-scratcher. 
Rata Liiting UnrnCHg. 
A correspondent complains of the rats and 
mice eating his harness, after it had been freshly 
oiled, and asks for a remedy. Belts in machine 
to have each stone properly placet! 
all the interstices between the stone were filled 
with sand. The surface was then compacted 
with the maul, swept off lightly with a broom, 
and a thin mortar of water lime spread on. 
This floor has proved very dry, durable under 
the hoofs of cattle—in short, satisfactory. From 
some experience with horses in the same stable, 
I couclnde that their iron shoes would scale up 
the cement, but the paving stone would not be 
disturbed. In constructing a floor for horses, 
I would only alter the plan by letting in a heavy 
plank crosswise of the stalls for the fore feet to 
rest on; I think it would be better for the ani¬ 
mals as well as for the floor. The plank would 
last a long time in that position, and conld be 
easily replaced. Of course, the floor is made 
sloping, so that the forward part of the stall is 
never wet. Under this floor the earth can never 
become foul, nor rats and mice harbor. 
VBNTH4TION OF STABLES?. 
Tms is another very Important item in con¬ 
nection with all stables, and especially with 
warm and close basement rooms. In the first 
place a stable should be comfortably warm and 
not open to any strong currents of air. Nothing 
can he more uncomfortable, and perhaps un¬ 
healthy, to stock tied in a stall without any 
chance for exercise or change of position, than 
to be exposed to strong currents of cold air, 
coming through crevices or large openingp. 
But it is equally unhealthy to confine the stock 
Profitable Hens. 
This subject seems to be a very interesting 
one to many. We have several communications 
in reply to the inquiry, “ which fa the best kind 
of hens for laying?” Georor m. Curtis of 
Rochester, N. Y., writes:—“I have twenty hens 
of the Silver Pheasant variety, that have pro¬ 
duced this year from the first of January to the 
first of October, 3,880 eggs. No extra care was 
given them, but they were allowed full range, 
and had access to a 80 by 40 foot bam, with a 
basement which being warm and comfortable, 
induced them to begin laying early.” 
G. W. Cone, Stanley Comers, N. Y,, endorses 
the same breed thus .—“I am decidedly in favor 
of the Silver Pheasant, after having tried vari¬ 
ous breeds. The Pheasants are bad setters, but 
Cheap Paint far HulldlnK* 
L. A. M., Columbus, N. Y, 
says he used a 
paint made according to the recipe given in this 
journal of May 36 th with perfect success, hav¬ 
ing painted hfa house with it,—and he asserts 
that it would not wash or rub off, and looks as 
well as oil paint. Think about it, farmers of 
leisure; wouldn’t a new coat on some of your 
This cut needs little explanation. The vane 
B keeps the sails in the wind; the pump-rod J 
raises the water. Any good workman can con- 
