. flCRICULTURC 
SWHOLE NO. 699 
FOE THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 1863 
head, and cows an average of $28. Then, ac¬ 
cording to the beat statistics we can get, the aver¬ 
age produce of the cow would not be over 500 
gallons milk fur the year, at the highest figures. 
Probably the cows of this State do not nearly 
come up to that quantity. Then the extra labor 
would, in ray estimation, bo $10 instead of $5, as 
T. C. P. estimates. Some persons in this county 
are hiring their cows milked at one shilling a 
head per week, which, at forty weeks, would use 
up the $5 extra lu milking alone, to say nothing 
about any other care that would be necessary to 
have the products of the cow put in the best con¬ 
dition for the market. 
In regard to sheep T. C. P. has put the price 
of wool less than line wool sells for in this 
county, as an average. The number of lambs 
aro less than any good shepherd should bo con¬ 
tented to raise for (he sheep, and, also, the price 
here would be at least $2 as an average, iustcad 
of $1.50. Then we should have, at that ratio, 
$40 as product for the cow, less $10 for extra 
care, with the addition of $7 ns extra cost. We 
should have $14 for wool and for lambs, $7 on 
the side of the sheep, which is loss in value, both 
in wool and lambs, than T. C. P> has valued the 
milk in bis estimate from which I have quoted. 
Seven cents per gallon is as high an estimate for 
the milk as 40 cents per pound is for wool, which 
would reduce the value of the cow’s product to 
*:i5. which, probably, is nearer the correct value 
good, a bushel should plant 10 to 20 acres. In 
this imitler he is governed by the character of 
the seed, lie sprouts it and determines what 
per cent, will germinate before he fixes the 
amount per acre. 
At Kankakee a drill is used which plants three 
rows at a time. It is a wheat-drill altered for 
this work. 1 do not know what patent it was. 
A small cast wheel or cylinder, with caps on the 
periphery,- revolves in the bottom of the seed- 
box; the cups are emptied of the seed into cloth or 
rubber lubes connecting with hollow iron shoes, 
which run in the soil, opening a furrow or drill 
for the seed. Each of these shoes is followed by 
au iron roller, taken from three Utica corn-culti¬ 
vators for the purpose. The seed is thus drop¬ 
ped in moist soil, and the same compressed dose 
about it by the roller. 
I said three rows ure drilled at a time, each 
three feet from the other. The mode of opera¬ 
ting is such as to secure uniformity in the width 
between the rows. Two men operate the drill- 
one driving the team, the other following the 
drill, watching its operation, keeping tho shoes 
clear of clods and, the tubes in tho shoes, Arc. 
lie also sets over the guide sticks. These guide 
sticks are light, straight poles nine feet long. 
There are three of them—one at each side or 
end of the field, and the other at the center. 
The first three rows having been started, the 
man who follows the drill toys one end of his 
nine i*eet pole at the tiu k ; f tho center drill,and 
thrusts it into the ground at its other extremity, 
thus indicating where the next center drill shall 
be. The center Drill of ti;" machine being hnine- 
diatedy in the rear of the pole, the driver guides 
bis team so that tho pole shall range with the 
guide stakes. 
At Champaign a different drill is used. Only 
two rows are drilled at a time—2 feet 9 inches 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AJ» ORIGINAL WXEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors. 
C. I». BKAGIMIN, Western Corresponding Editor. 
Thb Rural Nkw-Yorkrr la designed to be unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity and Variety of Contents, and uniaue and 
beautiful ta Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sons! attention to the supervision or its vnrious depart¬ 
ments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Re! .ble Guide on all tlie Important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with 
the buainn.ni of those whose interests It zealously advo¬ 
cates. As,a Family JorRN.iL it Is eminently Instructive 
and Entertaining—being so conducted that it can be luifely 
taken to the Homes of people of intelligence, taste and 
discrimi nation. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspers'd with appropriate Engraving*, than any other 
jouraa),—rendering it the most complete Aoaici'LTCIUl., 
Litkrakt and Family Newspapkr in America.' 
«3F“For Terms and other particulars, see last page, 
BROOM-CORN CULTURE IN ILLINOIS. 
During the past week I have visited two 
large broom-corn farms; one located at Kan¬ 
kakee City, sixty miles south ot Chicago, 
McGkew & Vail, proprietors; the other at 
Champaign, 128 miles south of Chicago, Joun- 
Son & BoGAnnus, proprietors. The first named 
gentlemen I found at home, and am indebted to 
them for their system of broom-corn husbandry, 
in detail; tho latter firm I was not fortunate 
enough to meet, and have, consequently, few 
specific items concerning their operations. But 
what I learned at these two farms I propose to 
give the reader. 
LOCATION OF A BROOM-CORN FARM. 
This question of location is one of a good deal 
of importance to the broom-corn husbandman; 
for in its cultivation, but more especially during 
harvest and the process of preparation for mar¬ 
ket, a great deal of help is required. Hence it is 
found best, in the West, to locate near some rail¬ 
road town, where plenty of help may bo secured 
whenever wanted. Regard to this matter ruled 
in the location of the two farms named. 
soil. 
Any good corn soil is regarded good lor broom- 
corn. The land cultivated in this crop at Kan¬ 
kakee is a low. level prairie, but rich soil. The 
soil of the Champaign farm contains less humus, 
and is located on high rolling prairie, well 
drained. The low lands are molo drained — on 
the Champaign farm — and there is little doubt 
that the elevation and character of tho soil 
secures a greater uniformity in the amount and 
quality of the crop; though on this point I have 
no testimony. The low lands of Kankakee were 
not drained. Almost any of our prairie soils 
will grow good broom-corn. It is not easy to 
find any too rich to grow it New land is 
the best. 
PREPARATION OF SOIL. 
In the case of the two farms named, broom- 
corn follows broom-corn. The lands are not 
plowed in the fall. The first thing necessary is 
to get rid of the stalks, or at least put them out 
of the way of the plow. McGkew & Vail use 
a long heavy T rail of railroad iron, bitching a 
team to each end of it and draw it lengthwise the 
rows to break the stalks down to the ground. 
This is usually done in winter, when the ground 
is frozen hard. When the stalks get dry, if the 
weather is such that they do, they are burned 
sometimes raked up by hand, and. again, burned 
without raking. But Mr. Vail has adopted a 
new mode of getting rid of therm He plows 
them under. He has constructed a section 
roller, consisting of six independent wooden 
I drums, nine inches wide, and three feet and a 
half in diameter. These rollers are placed on 
I | the axle about four or five inches apart. Sus- 
1 LI pended from the frame which supports the axle 
U, of these rollers, is another frame, from which are 
tfy suspended five rolling steel cutters similar to 
RJ those uEed on plows, which revolve in the paces 
O between these roller sections. This secondary 
iff frame is suspended from the roller frame in front 
[hjefl |J Y ire 11 eyes bolted through the two frames 
respectively, and in the rear by a standard and 
8$ lever, so that the coulter frame may bo raised or 
SH lowered at will by lifting the lever. ThiR is 
ifj! necessary in turning, and is a convenience when 
iron, an inch and a quarter or an inch and a halt 
in diameter. A lever runs back from the center 
of the axle, from which is suspended a brake two 
and a half or three feet long. This brake drops 
down upon the head of the rake in lrontot tho 
decision. Gladly would I write a whole article 
upon these useful'workH; but even now more is 
hero given than was intended. 
FARMERS BHOULl) INVEST MORE CAPITAL. 
In these, war times there are many farmers with 
money to let —glad to let it at four to six per 
centum—the legal rate is six per cent, in Maine. 
Why not invest your surplus money in farming 
appurtenances and ilms increase the pleasures of 
your vocation? Why not enrich that field of 
yours, or increase your corn and root cropB two 
or three-fold by the application of some concen¬ 
trated manure to them in addition to the usual 
amount applied? And there are the surround¬ 
ings of your home to beautify, the library to be 
replenished, and if a few more of our first class 
agricultural papers were received, they would 
leave no place for the slimy, ephemeral publica¬ 
tions to obtain a foothold in the family circle,— 
and, beside, if any are so unfortunate as to 
already have the latter In their midst, from not 
supplying a better class of reading by making a 
beautiful addition of the high-toned agricultural 
literature, these spawns of evil will gradually 
give way to that which is good and wholesome. 
The Hon. Johiah Quincy, Jr., of Boston, in 
an address before the N. Y. State Ag. Society, 
says, that at the great Exhibition held in Paris, 
he met with an English farmer who had just 
leased an estate at $8,000 per annum, to whom 
he put nearly this question:—What was tho first 
thing you did? lie says that, with a smile, he 
replied:—“ The first thing I did was to invest ten 
the yield of wool, which is fair. One of my 
neighbors told me a few days since he never sold 
bis wool less than 50 cents per pound, had sold 
os high os Gfi cents, and his crop the past year 
probably over 75 cents per pound. Now, I do 
not think 50 cents per pound for wool, and $2 
each for lambs, anymore than a fair value for the 
sheep when a cow Is rated at. GOO gallons of milk 
per year at 7 cents per gallon, and 1 have no 
doubt that A careful shepherd should double his 
flock every year if they tire kept lor breeding 
purposes, because if the lambs are sold the ewe 
lambs only need be kept iu such quantity as to 
keep the flock good. Then the twin lambs 
would, with careful attention, make up for all 
losses- They have done so with me, and more 
than that. Two years ago I raised I) lambs from 
7 ewes; last year I was still more successful, and 
convenient distance. It, will be seen, then, mat 
this is a revolving wheel rake. Tho teeth are 
dragged along over the surface in a position 
nearly vertical to the earth. A single team 
draws it, and the driver drives his team length¬ 
wise the rows; when the rako has accumulated 
a sufficient quantity of stalks to make a wind¬ 
row, he lifts the lever, thus lifting the brake, lota 
the rake revolve half round, emptying Its load, 
and the brake drops In time to prevent a second 
revolution. Thus tho ground is raked clean of 
stalks—many of the hills being torn out by the 
iron teeth, and the entire surface being complete¬ 
ly scarified. What this implement cost I did uot 
learn; but it could not have cost more than 
Vail's roller, and is worth twice as much for 
tho work they were designed to do. A boy, with 
a match, fires the windrows of stalks as a "load’’ 
is raked, and thus the stalks are disposed of. 
The plows follow the roller and the rake. The 
ground, as I saw it, is not very deeply turned— 
not as deep as it should be, I think. Only the 
ordinary field plowing is done. On J ohnson & 
Boa a lines’ place two gang plows were iu opera¬ 
tion. Each gang, consisting of two plows, is 
drawn by two span of horses. The advantage 
is the saving of one hand. One man drives, 
guides and controls each gang. The war, with 
EASTERN RURAL NOTES 
by inspection or otherwise, as much about what 
others are doing in farm improvements, in stock 
raising, iu sheep husbandry, in mechanics, in the 
construction of cisterns and other water supply¬ 
ing apparatus, in farm buildings, in repairing 
old ones, and, in short, in the movements of the 
day in their own vicinity as they ought? 
Often it is the ease we know something con¬ 
siderable about the improvements and advances 
made in the usefulness of implements, and the 
purchases of improved domestic animals at a 
distance, and so of other things which we are 
interested iu, while equally as good stock is 
brought within a few miles of us and we know 
nothing of it, or the very implement is manufac¬ 
tured near home which is sought for at a much 
greater distance. 
As an illustration, John Johnston, Esq., in a 
letter to Co!. B. P. Johnson, Sec’y N. Y. State 
Ag. Society, in i860, in giving an account of a 
I found two tile works 
Rome, N. Y., 1SC3. J Talcott. 
. “ABOUT WOMEN FARMING 1” 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— L have read with 
interest the communication of your correspond¬ 
ent, J. Talcott, deprecating the idea of women 
becoming practical farmers as advocated by 
II. C. Wright and others. Tho writer is evi¬ 
dently a believer iu the “ inalienable rights of 
women to life, liberty, and the puauit of money, 
but his objections are based upon the ground 
that “continued out-door labor on the farm by a 
young girl, or woman, tends to lower her posi¬ 
tion in social life, and he points to the degraded 
condition ol women among savage nations as 
conclusive evidence in favor ol his positions. 
1 le reasons substantially thus: W omen perform 
the out-door drudgery in barbarous and savage 
nations. Women are degraded in barbarous anil 
savage nations. Therefore, performing out-door 
drudgery degrades women. This conclusion 
may appear very logical to the careless thinker; 
nevertheless, 1 cannot bedp thinking there is 
something wrong in the premises. This subject, 
COWS AND SHEEP, AGAIN, 
In the Rural of April 4th, T. C. P. makes a 
calculation in regard to which is the most profit¬ 
able, under ordinary circumstances, dairy farm¬ 
ing or sheep husbandry, and as he figures tho 
case makes quite a difference in favor of dairy 
fanning,—ia fact, such a difference, if it exists, 
that all should heed. In conclusion, T. C. P. 
asks the questionWill somebody tell me where 
I have made a mistake? 1 think T. C. P. has 
probably made a fair estimate in regard to the 
number of sheep to be kept instead of cows, but 
the cost in each ease would not comparo In this 
vicinity in ordinary times, and bore is where I 
think T. C. P. made hifl first mistake in favor of 
the cows. His second is in rating the average 
product of milk per cow at too great a quantity 
for the season. Ilia third is in not allowing 
enough for the extra labor in taking care of the 
cow and her product. 
At the ordinary average prices in this vicinity 
sheep would cost on the first of March $8 per 
fifteen mile ride, says 
on my ride, that 1 had never heard of, and one 
of them had been doing a good business for four 
years; the other commenced a year ago, and 
found a ready market for all it could make.” 
Here is a commendable example of honesty in 
not pretending to know all about what was going 
on around; but it is also not a little singular tbafc 
one who was ail the time underdraining his own 
lands and advocating it to ethers should not know 
of these “ tile works.” 
ANNUALS. 
Not annual roses or annual flowers, but annual 
books. Of these, the number is annually in¬ 
creasing; some better, and some, in the even tenor 
of their way, about the same year after year. 
