ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY 311, 1863 
! WHOLE NO. 698 
MOOBE’S BUBAL NEW-YOEKEB, 
AN ORIGINAL WTtKlLLT 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
have been pledged at Pera; 600 at Bulk Icy; 700 
at Onarga; 700 at Kankakee; 500 to GOO at Man- 
teno, and GOO at Clifton. It is proposed to boil 
toe juice down to 21 o 25 Resume and skip it to 
Chicago and refine it. If the Dinner grows cane 
that will make .too gallons of sirup per acre, he 
gets $45 per acre for his crop, including the cost 
of cultivating, cutting and delivering at the mill. 
Tbeamount per acre will, of course, depend upon 
soil, culture, and the season; but it will be sale 
to put the average product of the soils in the 
localities named, with lair culture, at $30 per 
acre, or 200 gallons. This will be much better 
than corn culture has paid in the past. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors. 
C. 1>. BRAGDON, Western Corresponding Kditor. 
Thb Rural Nkw-Yorker is designed t« 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 fttraestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with 
the business of those whose interest* it zealously advo¬ 
cates. A^a Family Journal it is eminently Instructive 
and Entertaining — being so conducted that it can be safely 
taken to the Rornea of people of intelligence, taste arid 
discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticn! 
tural. Scientific, Educational, Literary and Ni*wh Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than any other 
Journal,— rendering it the most complete Agricultural, 
Litkrart and Family Nbwspapkr in America. 
SORGHUM FOR PAPER. 
I am informed by manufacturers who have ex¬ 
perimented considerably. that Sorghum Begasse 
is not so available and useful for manufacture 
into print paper as straw. It requires more 
alkali in its preparation, and there is more waste 
to IL Straw is much more economical and prof¬ 
itable to the manufacturer, even at the same 
price per tun. But it ir found that Sorghum 
makes much the best coarse, heavy, wrapping 
paper. It makes a stronger paper; and it Is pro- 
dieted that It will be a good deal used in the 
future for this purpose. Manufacturers think 
they will be able to pay ouly five and six dollars 
for the dried begasse, baled and delivered at the 
mill—but a little more than straw, if any. And 
an equal price would not be paid for it, for man¬ 
ufacture into print paper. 
It is a matter that should concern every farmer 
— the economical vain of every thing about 
him; not only the grain which he produces, but 
the straw upon which it grows; not only sirup 
and sugar he manufactures, but the refuse of the 
mill; not only the beef and pork which he fat¬ 
tens, out the hoofs and horns, and hair and hides 
of the same,—not only the timber be grows, but 
the saw dust and chips made in preparing it for 
use or market. 
These waste items on almost every fag m, are 
large enough, if looked after, to more than pay 
the taxes of the same, just as the waste of some 
manufactories, preserved and used, pays a large 
proportion of their current expenses. The farm 
scavenger in the West, has a great and profitable 
field before him. But every farmer needs to be 
his own BcaveDger in order to secure the greatest 
profit from bis acres—of which, more anon. 
DIVISIONS OTF WOOI 
IT" For Terms and other particulars, see last page, 
Tiif, accompanying illustration, from Mor- 
kell’s Amerkan Shepherd, will show the.points 
in the pure Merino and Saxon where the differ¬ 
ent qualities of wool are to be found. The divi¬ 
sions do not always accurately correspond, but 
LartRyrjj? and Chancellor Lrvi xgston, who 
were both familiar with pure Spanish Merinos, 
agree a£ to their general truth. 
it is a matter to be studied by the wool-grower 
who la desirous of propagating sheep of the fine- 
wuoled varieties; for grades will often exhibit 
seven and eight qualities in the same fleece, 
whereas it will be seen that unalloyed breeds 
show but four qualities. Individuals have occa¬ 
sionally been found in originul Saxon flocks 
whose fleeces would divide into only two sorts; 
but this is very rare. 
The refina, or picklock wool, begins at the 
withers, and extends nloug the back to the set¬ 
ting on of the tail. It reaches only a little way 
down at the quarters, but, dipping down at the 
flanks, takes in all the superior part of the chest, 
and the middle of the side of the neck to the 
angle of the lower jaw. The fina, (fig. 2,) a 
valuable wool, but not so deeply secraled, or pos¬ 
sessing so many ourves as the refina, occupies 
the belly, and the quartern and thighs down to 
the stifle joint. No. 3, or third, is found on the 
bead, the throat, the lower part of the neck, and 
the shoulders, terminating at the elbow; the legs, 
and reaching from the stifle to a little below the 
hock. No. -1 is procured from the tuft that 
grows on the forehead and cheeks, from the tail, 
and from the legB below the hock. 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES 
SOBGJTUM — PAST, PRESENT and future. 
I have received the following excellent article 
from Mr. O. N. Braixard, now of this city; 
formerly of Iowa, where be has been a large 
cultivator and manufacturer of Sorghum. I 
commend it to tie attention of Western readers 
especially. 
“This plant, which was grown in the United 
States for the first time in the year 1855, is now 
becoming a great staple article for export And 
yet nine-tenths of those who raised it in 1855 
gave it up as worthless, not knowing how to 
raise or manufacture it. There was more Sorgho 
raised that year than in the next two years. But 
a few enterprising men kept it before the public, 
and have made it a success. In the years 1861- 
62 there were about 1,000 barrels sold in the 
Chicago market, with a very slow sale and at a 
low price. The past fall and winter there have 
been over 10,000 barrels sold in this market 
alone, at better prices and quicker sales. The 
demand has been greater than the supply, and 
the prospect now is that the next year there will 
be sent to this market 100,000 barrels which, at 
$16 per barrel, will be $1,600,000. The question 
arises with the farmers, will this amount over¬ 
stock the market? WiU there be a cash demand? 
Let us review the sale of sirups during the last 
four years in the United States: 
1869. Foreign, Cuba and Porto Rico 28,293/210 gallons. 
sandy or gravelly soil, and the effects of plaster 
are generally very plain and beneficial, but on 
a calcareous or limy soil the results are not so 
visible, ami the reason of this is very plain; such 
soils abound more largely In ammonia or volatile 
matter than those of a lighter nature; hence we 
use plaster, which has an affinity for these ingre¬ 
dients Of the soil, to establish an equality. 
And now let ns look to our friend Serviss’ 
principle of ‘'robbing Pkter to pay Paul." 
Say each of these worthies has a farm. Peter 
has one of a limy and fertile soil, and Paul has 
one of a lighter nature. Peter's farm, the 
limy nature of which partakes largely of plas¬ 
ter, is strongly incorporated with ammonia and 
other volatile matter that is continually passing 
off into tbe air, and at the same time a great 
plenty is reserved, by the virtue of the soil, for 
the growth of Peter's plants;—but Paul, who 
has land of a lighter order wishes fo preserve 
these fertilizing elements in his soil, and at the 
same time gather and make use of what Peter 
must waste; so he uses plaster to the proper ex¬ 
tent, which has a strong attraction for these vol¬ 
atile fertilizers. Now, I would ask the readers of 
tbe Rural if Peter has been robbed by Paul ? 
But Mr. Serviss says, “Let Nature alone and 
she will, in her own way, apply it to plants, and 
do it, too, on the principle of equity." No, sir! 
Nature is a very good mother, but she would 
just as soon send Peter’s surplus ammonia into 
a field of Canada thistles as she would to send it 
into Paul's wheat or clover fields, and in which 
place do you think it would give the best satis¬ 
faction ? No, Mr. S.; the true sphere of a farmer 
is to assist Nature in her work all her can. A 
farmer can raise good crops and fertilize his land 
with barn-yard manure if he has plenty of it 
but I apprehend if this is not the case his cheap¬ 
est manure is plaster and clover. But to he 
“compelled" to use it, is hard indeed. Mr. S. 
says he is “compelled to do it.” or, in other 
words, because his neighbors use it He says, 
“I am not willing that they shall by the use of 
it get what Nature intended forme.” Unfortu¬ 
nate man!—unfortunate because ho is compelled 
to do what he dislikes; unfortunate because bis 
neighbors are so troublesome; unfortunate be¬ 
cause so fearful that others will attract from him 
his staff of life—his ' gas.” 
Tbe consolation which I would give ibis 
unhappy man is that he go into scientific agricul¬ 
ture; that he subscribe for and read the Rural, 
(if be does not already,) and mind its precepts; 
that he study the great principles of Agricultural 
Science In all their combinations, and, finally, 
that be investigate the laws which govern the 
fertilizing ingredients of Nature that he may 
thereby apply them to practical use, and bring 
up his land to the maximum of sixty bushels of 
wheat to the acre, and by such skillful manage¬ 
ment, according to bis own logic, bring disaster, 
trouble and ruin into bis neighbors’ fields, and 
learn those pilferers the disastrous consequences 
of pilfering others. Wm. West. 
Liberty, Jiukson Co., Midi., 1 863. 
THE TRUE CAUSE OF THE POTATO ROT. 
THE FARM IS A MANUFACTORY. 
After so much has been said and written, 
and so many theories started, (only to be again 
exploded by stubborn fact*,) as to the mysterious 
potato disease, it has at length become, the good 
fortune of certain pains-taking, patient German 
botanists, to discover that the true and only 
cause of the disease is the presence of a parasite 
fungus on the leaf. Dr. DjB Barv, Kuhn, and 
others, have learned, by the closest attention to 
the potato plant, that there are no diseased pota¬ 
toes where this fungus does not first attack and 
destroy the leaves; and, also, that this parasite, 
when located there, is very rapidly developed 
if the weather is warm and showery; then the 
fungus not only spreads and matures, but its 
spores are washed down into the tubers, always 
infecting those first which lie near the surface of 
the hill, and in the end,if the warm, wet weather 
continues, the others are also diseased. 
Prof. Johnson, of Yale College, in a letter to 
the Country Gentleman, fully in dorses this fungus 
theory, as promulgated by tbe German botanists, 
lie says:—“ Beyond all reasonable doubt, it is 
proved that the potato never rots without the 
fungus, and that it always rots with it. Plant¬ 
ing the fungus on a sound potato, develops the 
disease. Shielding the potato from the fungus 
prevents the disease. The rot starts where the 
fungus begius to grow-. Each microscopic cell 
oi the tuber becomes discolored and rotten, 
when, and ODly when, the fungus issues its 
branches into it, or into its immediate neighbor¬ 
hood. Constitution, tuber, propagation, aphides, 
salt, manures, have nothing to do with the dis¬ 
ease, except as they favor or destroy the fungus.’’ 
Again — “These investigators have not merely 
looked at the blighted leaves and seen tftefungus 
there, but have watched the fungus, as it rapidly 
sends out its branches into the still healthy por¬ 
tions of the leaf, which it literally devours— 
appropriating the juices to its owu nourishment, 
and leaving behind a disorganized and decayed 
mass, as the track of its desolation. It is easy to 
see with the naked eye that the fungus travels 
over the potato leaf before the blight. If the 
observer carefully regards one of the brown? 
bright spots, when the disease is spreading, he 
will see that its borders are extending over tbe 
!t ought to be so regarded. The soil should 
be looked upon as bearing the same relation to 
the agriculturist that any raw material does to 
the manufacturer of that specific raw material. 
It is the stock from which is to be wrought out 
the marketable product. What Is put on the 
soil in the shape of seed, fertilizers, labor, should 
always be regarded, together with the interest 
on the money invested in the land, as going to 
make up the cost of the product—of the article 
manufactured from the soil. And the farmer 
should know precisely what this cost Is,—and it 
should govern the price at which he sells his 
product Now, this is a very simple and self- 
evident proposition. It has been often repeated; 
and yet it has got to be told a great many thou¬ 
sand times more before the mass of farmers will 
appreciate its importance, judging by the ratio 
of their progress in this matter in the past. 
We refer to it now, and so often, because we 
believe it is as emphatically the basis of success 
in agriculture as in manufactures. And we in¬ 
tend to repeat it until our readers, who do busi¬ 
ness bap-hazard and fail, shall understand how 
to go to work to find the leak that is sinking the 
ship. 
Louisiana. 
Total...49,360,970 “ 
1860. Foreign imported.28,724,205 “ 
Louisiana,.18,694,672 “ 
Total. .47,318,877 “ 
1861. Foreign imported,..20,383,556 11 
Louisiana,.19,808,000 “ 
Total...40,191,656 “ 
1862. Foreign imported,.. .25,650,400 “ 
Louisiana, . .37,018,000 “ 
Total.62,668,400 « 
Total foreign in 4 years, 103.051,371; average 25,762,842 
Do. Louisiana 4 " 96,488,432, “ 24,121,108 
“Average per year, 59,883,051 gallons. 
“There is a heavy duty put on the imports 
now. and Louisiana sirups are minus. Will our 
100,000 barrels or 4,000,000 gallons supply the 
demand? I think not. 
“ The next question is, can it be raised at these 
prices on a large scale? It is a conceded fact 
that it costs only five dollars per acre to grow it, 
and it yields, when well raised, 200 to 300 gallons 
per acre, which is only 24 cents per gallon. 
Gathering and manufacturing is very simple with 
the improved machines, and only costs about 5 
cents per gallon. The sirup, alter being refined, 
brings the highest price, or more than foreign 
sirups. There is no crop raised that pays bettor, 
and there has been no season that the crop has 
failed, when well cultivated. Any good upland, 
L or dry soil, will grow iL Stable manured lands 
J injure the quality of the sirup. The soil should 
ff he pulverized very deep, as the roots are very 
nI 8 trong and penetrate to the bottom. Tbe ground 
■) should not by prepared until just before plant- 
jT 1Q g; so that the weeds will not get the start of 
*1 the canes. 
T he easiest way to raise a large crop is to 
fi ' a the seed. A corn planter, with a drill 
v| attached, did good business last year. Set them 
to drill very shallow; not over one inch deep. 
PLASTER AS A MANURE. 
Mr. Moore:—A correspondent, Mr. Serviss, 
in the Rural of April 18th, thinks that the use 
of plaster on land is the same in principle as 
“ robbing Peter to pay Paul." I should judge 
that the conclusion be arrives at is an erroneous 
one, and extremely visionary. My experience 
in the use of plaster is that it pays well —that it 
is a cheap and excellent manure, (when used in 
connection with clover and other grass land,) as 
a farmer need expect to obtain. 1* is used ex¬ 
tensively hereabouts on our sandy and gravelly 
soil*; probably not Jess than 2,000 tuns will be 
used in this county this spring, and the result 
will be a heavy crop of' clover, and a fine quality 
of wheat The results of using plaster are not 
always the same, and this arises from the differ¬ 
ent soils on which it is used. Taue it on a light 
