r, aaRICULTURF ^ 
1 
[ SINX3\Li3C NO. FIVE CENTS.'-) 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1863 
WHOLE NO. 678 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AS ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
reap no fit lino; reward for their industry. Their 
crops are wasted, and, living in this abundance 
which is wanted everywhere else, they are poor, 
and need the comforts and luxuries of life, Sin¬ 
gle-handed, they cannot remedy this evil. For 
aid they must look to the national resources. 
The work is of national importance, and must 
add immensely to the national wealth. 
At the close, Mr. Osborn urges the import¬ 
ance and propriety of memorializing Congress, 
and urging upon our Senators the importance of 
the enlargement of the Erie Canal. 
my stock out of the road. You don’t do so, 
I am sorry to say. Your cows run in the 
road the year around, much to your neighbors’ 
annoyance, and with no earthly profit to yourself. 
I can't open a gate ten minutes without tiaviug 
to chase your cows from my fields, or employ 
some one to watch tlie gate and prevent their en¬ 
tering. My (lower garden and fruit, orchard is in 
constant danger of destruction from your cows. 
Only a day or two since they got inside my horse- 
barn, chewed up a nice whip-lash, besmeared the 
buffalo robes, wasted all the grain they could get 
to, and put things out of order generally. Then 
it was neighbor A. that I made up my mind that 
1 wouldn't stand that sort of thing any longer, 
And 1 determined not to quarrel with you about 
it cither. Accordingly, I just fixed lip this part 
of the stable here, and tied them up and have fed 
them well, and had thfin curried down once a 
day. They seem contented, and ( don’t think 
they lose any flesh. And I toll you, I don't have 
any tears about tny crops, or whip-lashes, or buf¬ 
falo robes now. They are as safe as need be, and 
1 sleep well every night, knowing that my neigh¬ 
bors’ cows are not exposed to the oldll- night air, 
nor suffering for want of plenty of good food, aud 
that all is safe on the farm. And now neighbor 
A., there are the cows. You can drive them 
home if you choose in welcome. But that is the 
way I am going to take care of them every time 
they trespass on my premises; and hereafter L 
shall charge you with the cost of keeping them, 
including labor and food, which you will have to 
pay mo before you get j-Yur stock again. But 
there are no charges now, Mr. A. You arc wel¬ 
come to thorn. Ditto about the hogs and colts. 
And, Huartcus, if that process docs not keep 
your neighbors’ stock .u Voiuo, and your neigh¬ 
bors’ good natured, their good nature is uot worth 
cultivating. It is a process that 1 have tried and 
that others have practiced with the most satisfac¬ 
tory success, ft is rarely the case that a neighbor 
will allow your kind attentions to his stock a third 
time. Tf he is a man the first hint will he all- 
sufficient 
J. O. BUBACH‘3 CEMENT DRAIN. 
Some weeks ago, I met the above named gen¬ 
tleman, of Princeton, Illinois, who spoke highly 
of his success with cement drains. The following 
are my notes of hLs process, as it was hastily 
giveu me by Mr. B uracil The ditch is dug 
as deep as wanted, with as little fall as will 
answer the purpose, and is carefully graded. 
Make a pole ton feet long of a diameter 
according to the size of the drain desired.— 
Mr. Bubaou finds an inch and a half, or an inch 
and three-quarters sufficiently large for lateral 
drains of not more than eighty rods in length, in 
localities where only the water which falls on the 
surface drained, is to bo carried off. 
The pole should be smooth aud tapered slightly, 
with a handle in the larger end, with which to 
turn it after the cement is in place, and by which 
to draw it out. Each end of the pole should be 
beveled so as to present no angles which shall 
prevent its removal without disturbing the 
cement. When the ditch is dug and graded, and 
smooth appearance or finish. The loose soil 
from the sides of the ditch is then carefully 
thrown upon the cement until it is covered. 
Then the soil is trodden down carefully, com¬ 
mencing at the sides of the ditch and finishing on 
the top of the cement. The soil is filled in and 
trodden down in this manner to the depth of eight 
to twelve inches before the pole on which the 
cement lies is drawn out. The pole is first care¬ 
fully turned around in its position by the handle 
in the large end. to loosen it; then a rope six or 
eight feet in length is attached to the handle, and 
taking hold of the end of the rope the pole is 
careftilly withdrawn from its bed to a mark pre¬ 
viously made npon it, within a foot of its small 
end. This portion of the pole is left in the lower 
end of the orifice that the men may not, by uuy 
mischance, tread back of it afterwards. 
The cement used is made of three parts of 
coarse sand to one of dry water lime, lie 
usually mixes abqul a pailful of lime and three 
pailfuls of sand as a batch. 
Where mole drains are impracticable and tile 
is high, Mr. Buiucir thinks this kind of drain 
will prove profitable and popular. He thinks it 
quite as likely to be efficient us tile, and equally 
lasting. Unfortunately I was unable (for want 
of time,) to get figures interesting in this connec¬ 
tion—giving cost and age of drains, soils in 
which located, Ac. But the gentleman was em¬ 
phatic in commending them. Perhaps he will 
let the Rural's readers hear more about it 
wu prefer oily rnc.-it, Htrungly odoml fat, to speckled trout, 
quail*, aud prairie thickens from the North und West, at 
a k'ivcti Cost, or pound for pound V The preference has so 
long been the other way, that the question need not bo 
asked to elicit an answer, hut merely to remind uh of a 
fact The foremost advocates of unnatural flitting, will ho 
found practically repudiating his own theories, by person¬ 
ally and in Ids own family choosing, and even taking es¬ 
pecial pains to select, ban turkey, wild deer, prairie game, 
and other sorts of lean, nat urally fed and wholesome meat, 
by preference, however celebrated tlio hreodors or high- 
priced the animal whose meat is too fat. * * * The 
standard of excellence is always awarded to lean, natural¬ 
ly fed meat both by palate and consilience. ” 
Those who do themselves the honor to think 
upon thin subject, will admit the grave import¬ 
ance of ft question so seriously affecting the health 
and happiness of the whole people; they will 
welcome any olforta to correct errors in theory 
and practice, and if by any reasonable exertion 
the quality of our food can be improved, they 
will demand that such effort be made. 
Theyirst consideration is that unhealthy ani¬ 
mals cannot furnish healthy food. Their meal 
will be just as had as their treatment has been. 
Confinement, bad air, and improper food wilt 
VITIATE THE FRESH OF ANIMALS, to the Same 
extent that their vital powers are, enfeebled, their 
irn/or lessened, and their tjmoral health impaired. 
What, shall we say, then, of the flesh of creatures 
that have been stanchioned, stuffed, and stenuhed 
till they can scarce bear their own weight- whose 
lungs are diseased, blood sluggish and impure, 
and vital energies prostrate? And yet these are 
the very animals that are popular in our markets, 
and are everywhere slaughtered for the consump¬ 
tion uf the people. When eating, us a science, is 
better understood, we shall discriminate among 
breeds, and select such as are best for the table. 
Says the authority ftliove quoted: 
“In England the small Kyloe cattle of the Scotch bills 
urnl lugliJiuitD, arc preferred, before any larger or more 
oleaginous bovine*, by London epicures. Thu small cat¬ 
tle of Wales come next. Then the Horefords, that are 
principally, as to their substance as well as their numbers, 
made cm grass feed The small mountain sheep of both 
Scotland and Wales sell readily for two cents per pound 
more than the force-fed, heavy mutton breeds, for the use 
of epicures in general. * * Whilu the larger breeds 
lay their fat on the outside, (lie Southdown is remarkable 
for storing its fat, more than other sheep'about the kid 
neys. With a larger inside proportion in the venal cavi¬ 
ties they have less on the outside ; hence they have more 
vigorous cutaneous action, und perform the excretive or 
purifying functions of the skin more vigorously than they 
could with more outside fat. The sheep being smaller, 
consumes more air by its greater activity, which also is 
important in an excretory and sweetening point of view.” 
Rich food, without much exercise, will develop 
large, fat animalH, hut will they promote the 
health and vigor of the nation? The Mark Lane 
Express, the most influential Agricultural journal 
in the world, condemns in decided terms the use 
of oil meal, or other gross food, in the fattening 
of animals. It is assumed that the original pro¬ 
perties of food are not changed by digestion, but 
are merely assimilated or changed to the animal 
form of fabric. Oil-cake beef or mutton is sim¬ 
ply concentrated oil-cake, and still-fed or uffal- 
made pork condensed still-feed and offal. Can 
we gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. 
Much that we do in life is of no great conse¬ 
quence—building up a fortune, or a paioce-of-a- 
hoiisc, or a name—but when we feed hogs, or 
beef cattle, we should thoughtfully lay it to 
heart, for our destiny may be in the tub.—u. t. b. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors. 
C. I». RkAPnO.X, Western Correspondtne Editor, 
Ttiv. Rural Nkw-Yokkku is designed to be unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity and Variety of Contents, and unique and 
beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of its various depart¬ 
ments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
.Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with 
the business or those whose interests it zealously advo¬ 
cates, Asa Family fop r_vai, it is eminently Instructive 
and Entertaining—being so conducted that it can be Bafel.v 
taken to the Homes of people of intelligence, taste and 
discrimination. It embraces mure Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Educational, Literary aud News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than any other 
journal, rendering it the most complete AautOtTLTPRAiu 
I.itkrary and Family Nkwbi'APBR in America. 
SORGHUM CONVENTION AT ROCKFORD, ELL. 
Thu results iif this Convention of two days, so 
fur as they relate to the public, may be condensed 
into a very small space. 
1. 77 ie »S !eed to plant. —Under this head nothing 
new was elicited. Home of the earlier varieties 
of Imphee had granulated more sugar than had 
the Sorghum — at least they laid granulated with 
greater facility. It was asserted that the cane 
deteriorates, but no one hurl the hardihood to 
confirm the remarkable discovery made last year, 
that it hybridizes with maize. 
Some of the varieties of Imphee are hardier and 
grow stronger when the plant is young, and hence 
they are preferred by cultivators to the Sorghum 
which is a slow, weak-growing plant at the start 
2. Soil, and mode of preparation. - The best soil 
is the high, dry, sand or clay soils. The quantity 
of sirup that may be produced on such soils is no 
greater, if as great, as can be grown upon the 
darker prairie soils; but the quality is much 
bettor. Manuring and cultivating iu coni, the 
year previous, was recommended as a good prep¬ 
aration. Then cover the ground with straw in 
the fall aud burn it; plow in the fall, aud harrow 
aud pulverize in the spring, ft was conceded by 
more than one gentleman, that ashes are an 
excellent dressing for the sorghum crop, affecting 
the quantity of the product favorably. Ridging 
before planting, and planting thick were recom¬ 
mended, as they have been before. 
3. Afade of Cultivation .—But little was said ou 
this subject. One gentleman soaks Ms seed in a 
solution of chloride of lime and vitriol, (propor¬ 
tions not given,) puts in a bag and covers in 
warm ground till it sprouts through the bag. 
Never fails to get a good stand. This process 
(except the soaking iu the solution, which it is 
safe to omit,) was given in the Rural more than 
a year ago, and is a safe and sure way to insure 
a good stand. There was some testimony given 
against stripping the foliage off the cane long 
before it is to be cut and worked. Good corn 
culture is the culture it needs. 
4. Machinery used in its manufacture .—The 
Convention gave itself up to listen to the claims 
of the respective Evaporators, as presented by 
inventors and agents. What they said that is new, 
or of especial public interest, or value, has not 
been reported. 
LET ME TELL •* RU8TICU3 •• HOW. 
If I bad too much loving-kindness and not 
enough back-bone to do myself justice, and my 
neighbors good service, by applying law to their 
trespassing brutes, 1 would adopt another way of 
effecting the same object, which I have found to 
operate excellently in more than one instance. 
"A’s” “lean and ill-favored kine” wouldn't get 
outside my barn doom if they once got inside of 
them. 1 would put them in the snuggest possible 
place I could find on my premises, and feed them 
well. They should not run at large. 
“ B’s” hogs should have as warm a sty, as I 
I could give them, and plenty of heat-generating 
food and good clean straw to keep them warm. 
.“C’s” colts wouldn't plungo across rny wheat 
fields but once before being kindly cornered and 
carefully fed and groomed in the warmest, cosiest 
stalls I con Id give them. They should go through 
a civilizing process; and if I didn’t reach the 
civilization of those respective owners 1 would 
try some other way—that’s all. 
After you have carefully kept the kine, hogs, 
and the colts a few days, there will be inquiries 
for them. “A” will vow that he don’t see whats 
become of his cows. They don’t come borne as 
usual of nights. “B” will wonder what'n thun¬ 
der has got into them are hogs of his- bain’t 
seen them for a week — they’re more bother than 
they’re worth. And “C” will wish his wild colts 
in Tophet —it costs more to run after them and 
keep track of them, than their necks are worth- 
Have you seen them, neighbor Rust runs? 
• Then, 0, Rusticuh, La your opportunity. Look 
here, neighbor A. You and I have always been 
good friends. I hope we always may be. I try 
to do all I can to keep the peace with my neigh¬ 
bors. To this end, I have good fences and keep 
l -ff~ For Terms and other particulars, see last page, 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES 
WESTERN AGRICULTURE AND THE ERIE CANAL. 
W. II. Osborn, President of the Illinois Cen¬ 
tral R. It., has recently addressed a letter to the 
President of the III. State Ag. Society, in whieli 
arc some important facts and suggestions that 
will interest all our readers. 
1. Western Agriculture is almost rendered un¬ 
profitable for the want of proper facilities for car¬ 
rying its vast products to tide-water 
2. The Erie Canal could do the business when 
the export of Western grain was only fifty million 
bushels; but now that it is one hundred and fifty 
million annually, it is utterly inadequate, with 
the three trunk lines of railway added. 
3. A broad water course from Lake Erie to the 
Hudson, through which our lake vessels can float 
without breaking bulk, will cheapen the cost of 
transportation to a point at which we can supply 
the European market profitably under all cir¬ 
cumstances. 
4. As to the present arid prospective demand 
for Western products, the following extractfrom a 
letterfrom acommercial house in London is given: 
“ Of the present population of Europe, which i» 280,- 
000,000, about 100, 000,000 are wnnomure of wheat, using 
aauoally upward of one hundred million of quarters, or 
one thousand million of bushels This mat* of people 
may be considered to press always upon the means of sub- 
eUtenee, or supply of food, since there is no instance with 
iu the memory of map of any large accumulation of wheat 
for the wants of buyers or consumers. It is only by a sue 
cession of two or three iibundalisut rvesta, that prices can 
be brought in Europe to n low level, say 3li«. per quarter iu 
England, and :X)8. m Europe—the average price of wheat 
in England for ‘£t years has been 5 4s. fid. per quarter. 
Such a state would presuppose that America could furnish 
an annually increasing immense supply at the cost of 3s. 
4d., or 83 cents per bushel on board at the shipping ports, 
and probably no less a quantity than five hundred million 
of bushels could have that effect,” 
5. The question as to permanency of market 
being til uh disposed of by the foregoing “relia¬ 
ble and carefully advised statement,” the ques¬ 
tion of transportation is ihe vital one for the pro. 
ducing west. Illinois has for two years sent 
away food enough to supply ten millions of peo- 
WHAT SHALL WE EAT 1 
Among the grave and weighty problems of life 
is this, What shall we eat? We all may be said 
to have a personal interest in this matter, and 
therefore can afford to use our bettor judgment 
in ils solution, and not defer to custom, caprice, 
or convenience. It might, perhaps, be too broad 
to say that we become what we feed upon. At any 
rate, pur food assumes very intimate relation¬ 
ship to us, affectbvj every vital function , and 
should therefore be specifically adapted to our 
needs. Common sense and philosophy are not 
worth having if they don’t servo us in the serious 
exigency of a meal. Referring this general sub¬ 
ject to others, and to other occasions, I will sug¬ 
gest concerning meat 
Without assuming to decide the grave differ¬ 
ences between the disciples of Sylvester Gra¬ 
ham and their carnivorous brethren, 1 shall 
boldly assume that if we do eat meat, it should 
be the best, and not the worst of meal. There 
are two difficulties. First, to find the best 
Second, to get the fact admitted. Appetite is an 
authority, for Gon made it; it is not infallible, 
for man perverts it; we must accept it with 
such qualifications as reason suggests. 
Allowing for personal idiosyncrasies, universal 
instinct points to lean rather than fat moat as the 
proper food for man. A congress of epicures 
would agree with a congress of iufauts, that 
partridges were bettor than pork—that prairie 
chickens and deer, that breathed the fresh air, 
and followed their native instincts in quest of 
food, are more savory than “first premium” 
beef, or adipose mutton. Granted that we cannot 
all live on wild game, does not the universal 
preference for it indicate the kind of meat that is 
most desirable? Is it not an emphatic condemna¬ 
tion of stall-fed and sty-led animals, bred in 
defiance of physiological law, loaded with fat, 
which is not food, till disease und debility have 
made serious progress. Doubtless the best avail¬ 
able meat food for the million is beef and mutton, 
made on physiological principles; being from 
animals in thr; highest state of healthy develop¬ 
ment, fed mostly on hay and grass, with plenty 
of pure water, air, and exercise. Under these 
circumstances, it will not be excessively fat, but 
will partake in some degree of the good qualities 
of wild animals. An able writer has discussed 
this subject in tbatexcellont paper, the American 
StoeJc Journal. He says: 
“ You take a walk with an up-town /ritual, suy to Cham 
berlain Market, New York city, and there fall in with a lot 
of fat bullocks, and they u re quite (at, you pronounce them 
1 in fine condition, ‘ magnificent creatures.' Two days af 
ter wo dine wiUi your friend. A fine nb cut of beef from 
the * magnificent, creature,’ is brought to table. Do wo 
admire it? Yes, it is very fat. Do we relish it ? No; it 
is oily and gross; nay, wo do uot even eat, but cut off a 
little boro and a little there from the lean, or mixed parts. 
We admit it is fat, hut do not eat; wc admire it as a fash¬ 
ionable-looking substance, but do not use it as food. It is 
not food, or we could and should eat it. It is repulsive txj 
our taste or instinct, and we reject it; it goes to make soap 
and caudles. We go through the form of buying, cook 
ing, and bringing it to the table in tho name of food ; but 
as to the fat it is ail a farce. * * Every pound of tat 
produced and offered as food, costs more labor, and the mo 
of more land, than two pounds of lean meat. * * Do 
the pole is ready for use, with a hoe bent for the 
purpose, (see figure,) make a groove in the bot¬ 
tom of the drain the size of tho pole, and in which 
it is to be laid. Mr. Bunxcn gives as reasons 
why the pole should be let in below the point 
upon which the cement is to rest, that the shoul¬ 
ders thus formed for the base of the cement 
render a less quantity necessary, and he thinks, 
protects the drains; and he thinks the drains 
wear longer and better in this way. lie now 
makes a shallow triangular trough, having ca¬ 
pacity to hold the amount necessary to cover the 
pole a half inch thick with cement Straps or 
cords should be inserts! at each end, in order 
that it may be lowered into the ditch. The 
trough is usually made of two light boards three 
inches wide. The trough is then filled with 
cement, and two men let it down beside the pole 
and tip it over on it The cement is then spread 
MY STYLE OF FARM GATE, 
Ens. Rural New-Yokkkk:— There seems to 
be some discussion in your paper with regard to 
the best mode of constructing farm gates, and I 
suppose we may as well all have our say on the 
subject I think your correspondent L. S., of 
Attica, N. Y., must have more patience than is 
allowed to mankind in general if he can lift a 
gate up and set it one side and then replace it 
every time a team passes; or if he can hang a 
gate with rollers ami make it last one year, he 
can do better than I ever could, and I have tried 
it more than once. Bat every one to his own 
way, and to make a variety I will give you mine. 
The materials of my gate arc inch boards, 
(pine, spruce, or hemlock,) planed or not, 
with a trowel made of a piece of Russia iron bent 
and a handle attached, (see figure,) one end of 
said trowel being one-third smaller than the 
other. This trowel is placed over the cement 
after it has been put on the pole, and drawn from 
the small end of the pole to the large end. This 
distribatos the cement evenly, and gives it a 
