ICUL TUftf 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JUNE 13,1863 
{WHOLE NO. 700 
MOOSE'S RURAL NEW-YOEKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
SURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
three feet from the ground. The stalks are not 
broken over at right-angles to the rows, but 
inclining from the operator in this position. 
Thus the tops are left in a po- 
' xa m yr sition where it is light work 
for women and children to cut 
them. The brush should be 
cut about fifteen inches long. 
Some regard, however, should 
be had, in cutting, to the character of the market 
In some markets more stalk is required—some 
preferring it two feet long. In others thirteen 
inches are long enough. On hoth these farms 
the brush is bound on the tables before moving. 
It is found best for each cutter io bind his or her 
own brush as fast as it is cut. 
CLEANING OP SEBI). 
As soon as the brush is bound it is drawn to 
the stripping or thrashing tables. At Kankakee, a 
small portable steam engine furnishes the power 
which propels the stripping cylinders. These 
cylinders are about feet long and 14 inches in 
diameter. Two sets of cylinders are used. A set 
consists of two wooden cylinder (size above 
given,) with two sets of teeth, so arranged that, 
while each of these cylinders are propelled in 
opposite directions, (one being above the other,) 
the teeth do not clash. The teeth are inserted In 
the cylinder as In the cylinder of a thrashing 
machine. They are three-fourths of an Inch 
wide, an eighth of an inch thick, and two inches 
long. Each cylinder has two systems of teeth, 
one on each end, so that two men may work at 
uach e<;t. ntnuplnur. These cylinder 1 * nr« I Dented 
outside a shed, which is boarded uu the side 
where they are located, and open on three sides. 
The bound brush is laid on a table where the 
band is taken off, the brush opened and arranged 
in convenient handfuls for the stripper, who 
takes it up, thrusts the seed-end between the 
revolving cylinders where it is quickly cleaned 
of its seed; it is then laid carefully and regu¬ 
larly on a long, light wheelbarrow, with a tight, 
high frame, and is wheeled away to the drying 
houses. Thus four men are kept busy stripping; 
and, including the engineer and the men who put 
it up in the drying houses, it requires ten or 
twelve men to wait on these four strippers. The 
shed in which the stripping is done is fifty feet 
long and twenty-five feet wide. 
Judging by the fixtures, the process Is substan¬ 
tially the same at Champaign. A three-horse 
treadmiH power is used instead of steam. There 
is the same number of cylinders. The stripping 
building is a substantial barn, with a loft for 
storage, Ac. 
DRYING. 
At Kankakee the dry-sheds are near the strip¬ 
ping shed. Two sheds, 175 feet long by 25 wide, 
accommodate the crop. Each shed is divided 
into four parts, each six and a half feet wide. 
Narrow boards, nailed to posts, leaving about 
nine inches space between the upper edge of the 
lower board, and that of the one next above it, 
form these partitions. On these narrow boards 
are laid light sawed sticks an inch and a half; cl¬ 
one inch by two inches square, reaching from 
one partition to another. On these sticks are 
laid the brush in tiers to dry—two sticks sup¬ 
porting a single layer of brush, the tops of the 
second layer over-lapping the huts of the first. 
The brush is spread on these sticks about an 
inch and a half thick—leaving six or seven 
inches open space between the layers of brush, 
for the circulation of air. Twelve tiers of these 
layers are put in the two outside compartments 
of each of these long sheds, and 15 tiers, 175 feet 
long and 6j feet wide, in each of the two inner 
compartments. This gives an immense amount 
of drying surface—let us see — 175x64 = 1,137j 
(square feet of surface 
got mixed with the larger variety, and its culture 
was abaudoned. The brush grew in a sheath, 
and was very long—too long for brooms—and it 
was only available for manufacture into brushes 
and small ware of that character. Great pains 
is taken in the selection of seed. The object is 
to get the longest, finest, smoothest, most uniform 
and toughest brush. And the brush ib improved 
by saving the seed of plants which combine these 
qualities iu the highest degree. McGuEW A 
Vail now plant a kind which they call 
shuler's seed. 
It was introduced from New England some 
years ago. I did not learn what variety is 
planted at Champaign, I saw some splendid 
seed in the drill boxes, and some bales of excel¬ 
lent, brush in the barn there. Parties who desire 
to go into the broom-corn business should cor¬ 
respond with men of experience, and learn what 
is the best seed and where it can be obtained. 
The difference in the product will often more 
than pay the extra expense of getting the best. 
VROFIT OF BROOM-CORN CULTURE. 
I learned little in the shape of figures. No 
system of accounts with the crop had been kept 
by McGkkw A Vail. They did not represent 
it as being a very lucrative business. J had no 
opportunity to learn what Johnson A Bogar¬ 
des may know of figures. But their neighbors 
say both these firms are making money. At 
Kankakee, they say that the cost of cultivating, 
harvesting nud marketing an aero of broom-corn 
is at least double 'b it.of maize. I cannot, see 
that .1 can bo any ies‘‘;i Champaign Co. There, 
my friend Dunla f, Lefere named. Hays corn can be 
grown and marketed for twenty cents per bushel. 
I think fifty bushels per acre a fair average—cost 
$10x2= $20, cost of the acre of broom-corn. But 
put the cost of the latter at two and a half times 
that of the former, or $25. A good yield of 
broom-corn is 800pounds. Five hundred pounds 
is a good average, probably. The price ranges 
from $75 to $150 per tun. Mr. Vail says there 
is little or no profit in its culture, if less than $100 
per tun is obtained for the crop. Adopting the 
above estimate of cost as correct, there is no 
profit in it at that average per acre, and that 
price per tun. But when you go above $100 per 
tun, the profits begin to be apparent; and if yon 
go up to 800 or 2,000 pounds per acre, as good land, 
good seed, good culture, and a good season will 
enable you to do, there is an added profit The 
reader can make bis own figures; but it seems to 
me. with the tools used, and the system perfected, 
there rnuBt be considerable profit in broom-corn 
culture, taking one year with another. I should 
like to see the accurate figures for a series of 
years—especially from some of these western 
cultivators. 
NO MANURE JS USED 
But manure is not ignored because it is thought 
to be useless. Better brush and more of it is ob¬ 
tained, even on our western landB, where it is 
applied to the soil. And it astonishes me that 
advantage is not taken of the proximity to towns 
to secure it, and apply it. I should expect the 
brush would push out of the sheaf “red In the 
face/’after broom-corn had been squeezed from 
the same soil a series of years without manuring. 
There ought to be some indications of indigna¬ 
tion and protest from some source. 
The amount being planted by these two firms 
indicates that some benefit is derived from its 
culture, in some way. McGbew A Vail are 
planting 200 acres the present season, and I 
learned that Johnson A Bogardes are plant¬ 
ing about 300 acres. If there was little profit 
and great risk, this specialty would be dis¬ 
carded for some crop involving less skill, and 
sure to pay a fair profit. It has been suggested 
to me that broom-corn men do not care to have 
their balances made public. Perhaps there is 
something in that. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors. 
e. D. BKAGDON, Western Correa ponding Editor, 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity and Variety of Contents, and unique and 
beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes biB per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of it* various depart¬ 
ments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific aud other Subjects intimately connected with 
the business of those whose interests it realonsly advo¬ 
cates. As, a Family Journal it is eminently Instructive 
and Entertaining —being so conducted that It can be SftfeLy 
taken to the Homes of people of intelligence, taste and 
discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate Engravings, tlinn any other 
journal,— rendering it the most complete Agricultural, 
Literary and Family Newspaper in America. 
tV For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
BROOM-CORN CULTURE IN ILLINOIS. 
CULTURE. 
At Kankakee, the ground is rolled as soon as 
the corn begins to appear above ground, or soon 
after. The roller is run length-iriao the two. 
TUt oboe ,,f tin, drill leaves a furrow in which 
the corn grows, so that by running lengthwise 
the rows the plants are protected from pressure 
and injury. The clods are crushed, the surface 
leveled, and the ground put in shape for the wheel 
cultivators, which are novel labor-saving contri¬ 
vances. These wheel cultivators are drawn by 
two horses; cultivate three rows at a time, culti¬ 
vating close up to the row. Lika the drill, this 
cultivator is supported by wheels, and of such 
length and gauge as to allow the team to travel 
astride a center row, which it cultivates with 
two outside ones. The teeth of this cultivator 
are suspended from an axle, in a manner similar 
to the teeth of a wheat drill. And they resemble 
drill teeth, except that the points are larger. 
They adjust themselves to the surface, each 
acting independent of the other. A lever and 
chain lifts them out of the ground when desired, 
and renders the whole portable. Two men ac¬ 
company it in the field—one to drive, the other 
to watch its operation, uncover any plants it may 
cover, clear it of corn roots, clods, Ac. Twelve 
or thirteen acres are an average day’s work; 
twenty-five acres is an average day’s work 
ibronghout the season for two teams and four 
bands with two of these cultivators. When the 
torn is young, less, and when large, more is cul¬ 
tivated per day. This is so nicely ganged to 
work after the drill, that not five per centum of 
the plants are injured by this culture. Mr. 
Nail told me it was the best implement they 
bad for labor-saving, The crop is worked twice 
with this tool; and a third time (sometimes a 
fourth, depending upon the season,) an ordinary 
shovel plow, com plow, or cultivator, is used. 
lion. M. L. Dunlap, who accompanied me to 
visit the Champaign farm, told me that there, u 
scraper, of peculiar construction, and shovel 
plows, were used. 1 did not see the cultivating 
implements here.—I did notice that the ground 
on which last year's crop was grown, was in 
splendid condition—very clean indeed; and last 
season was a very weedy one. 
HARVESTING. 
The time of harvest depends upon the condi¬ 
tion of the corn; and this depends upon the 
season and time of planting. 1 asked Mr. Vail 
if he was guided by the maturity of the seed—if 
he waited for it to ripen. He said he did not. 
The length, color and size of the brush deter- 
termined the time of cutting. The brush should 
he ot a bright green color for most markets. If 
it was allowed to stand till ripe, it became red 
it was not go tough then, nor regarded of so 
much value ia market. He said, however, that 
INSECTS INJURIOUS TO SHEEP. 
a blunt process; accompanying the claw Is an 
elegant feathery tarsal brush, and on the under 
side of the last tarsal joint ia a bilobed pectinate 
organ. It propagates rapidly, and is often found 
in great numbers on a single sheep, selecting the 
neck and shoulders. The dipping of sheep and 
lambs in a tobacco wash is said to prove a sure 
and safe remedy. 
Fig. 2 . A cat-flea, (Pidex felix,) of a pale pitch- 
brown color; head naked, shining, smooth, with 
delicate scattered dots; coxie and femora nearly 
naked; the fifth joint of anterior tarsi, and the 
first joint of the posterior tarsi, longest. Besides, 
there are the dog-flea, (/ cants,) fowl-flea, (P. 
gallinoi,) pigeon-flea, (P. coinmbo\) and human 
flea, (P. irriians.) 
Fig. 3. A kind of parasite, (Hamatopinus 
suis.) dusky, ferruginous; abdomen gray or 
ashy-yellow, flat and membranous, with a black, 
bony excrescence surrounding each of the white 
spiracles; legs long and thick; femur Iransversly 
striped; tibia very abruptly clavate, dark-col¬ 
ored at the end; tarsi with a large fleshy pul vil¬ 
lus. It infests pigs, cattle, horses, dogs, and 
other animals, and is of the family Pedlculidw, 
and is, therefore, akin to Pedioulun vedimtnli, 
P. capatix , and P. tabescentium, tho second spe¬ 
cies of which bagfuls were actually carried in 
times gone by to the palace of Montezuma, by 
the Mexicans and Peruviana, say Kirby and 
Spence, to cancel a poll-tax which was exacted. 
Phthiriasis, pedicular or lousy-disease, is not 
confined exclusively to the profanum valgus of 
the human family, nor to the ill-fed and neglected 
of domesticated animals. It is a loathsome dis¬ 
ease, produced by the excessive multiplication of 
lice. Dr. Dunglison, author of a medical lexi¬ 
con, recommends tobacco as a' remedy for this 
humiliating and sometimes fatal disease. 
Figs. 4, 5, 6. A fluke, (Distoma hepatic um,) or 
plaice, as sometimes called, from its resemblance 
inform to a fish by that name, (represented in 
Its usual size aud appearance,) is an obovate, 
flat worm, from three-fourths of an inch to an 
inch and a fourth in length. Its body is soft, 
depressed, or cylindrical, more or less elongated, 
not jointed; furnished with two distinct and iso¬ 
lated suckers,—one anterior, terminal, and con¬ 
taining a mouth, the other situated on the ven¬ 
tral surface-between the middle and the anterior 
sixth of the body. The species are very numer¬ 
ous. It occurs in the go.H-bJidde r oUtl hepatic 
ducts of sheep when affected with the “ rot,” and 
is sometimes found In the horse, ox, goat, stag, 
and hare; also in the gall-bladder of man, 
whence it occasionally finds its way into the 
intestinal canal. 
Figs. 7, ‘J. A pair of gad-flies or sheep-bote, 
(tExtras oviws.) Very troublesome insects, 
near woody places, in July and August They 
are nearly half an inch long; forehead, a dusky 
red; the antenna: or feelers, black; thorax, ashy- 
gray ; abdomen, variegated; legs, pale red; 
wings, clear and unspotted. They deposit their 
eggs on the inside of the sheep’s nostril, to pre¬ 
vent which the sheep flock together and hold 
down their heads. The eggs, when deposited, 
are soon hatched, and the grubs make their way 
immediately into the frontal and maxillary si¬ 
nuses and other cavities of the head or horns, 
where they subsist until spring, when they make 
their exit through the nostrils to the ground, and 
In a few weeks become flies, ready for a new 
circuit. There is another species of flesh-fly 
that troubles sheep in May, by depositing its 
eggs about the head, -electing a sore place if 
there be any. Sheep-wash of tobacco and whale- 
oil are used as preventives. 
Fig. 8 . An Itch-insect, (Acurux xe.abiei .) Body 
soft, white,oval-oblong or rounded; ventral sur¬ 
face with transverse and undulating rugae; dor¬ 
sal surface with marginal irregularly concentric 
on one side of a single 
tier of a single compartment,) x Ins, (the num¬ 
ber of tiers in the two sheds) =122.850x2, (the 
number of surfaces, >=245,700 feet of surface of 
broom-corn exposed to the air in the two sheds. 
Mr. McGrkw told me it required about twelve 
or fifteen days of good weather to dry the brush 
in these sheds. The drying sheds at Champaign 
are put up in a similar manner. 
BALING. 
As soon as the brush is dry it is baled. Ixger- 
sol’s hay pregs is used. The bales are bound 
with five bands of No. 9 wire, and a wooden 
“ cleat ” on each corner. 
VARIETIES OF BROOM-COKX. 
I could learn but little concerning distinct 
varieties. A few years ago a dwarf broom-corn 
was planted at Kankakee, which promised to be 
profitable. I remember Mr. MuGrew spoke 
highly of its qualities at the time. But the seed 
INSECTS INJURIOUS TO SHEEP. 
We are indebted to a Poston firm, who have 
recently published a sma?l work on Sheep Hus¬ 
bandry, ior the illustration portraying insects 
injurious to that class of animals, and also for 
the accompanying description: 
Figure 1. A sheep-tick (Melophagus ovinus,) 
common upon sheep. Antenna* small, sunk in 
an eyelike cavity of the head; eyes email, oval, 
resembling two groups of ocelli; setse three, 
inclosed in two sheath-like, hairy, unjointed 
organs, (labial palpi,) resembling otherwise those 
of the flea, ( Pulex,) and arising from the sides 
of a triangular labium; legs robust; tarsi with 
two stout serrated claws, each having at its base 
