agriculture^ ! 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
VOL. XVHL NO. 15.1 ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, APRIL 13, IH07 
bay to sell instead of to tiny; or, what is better, 
you can winter more stock, make more, manure, 
and as a consequence increase your crops. 
of great advantage to blacken the grains pretty 
well with gas tar, to prevent, the birds from 
taking it up by the roots. The remedy proves 
very Cfiei'tual. 1 fully approve of thorough cul¬ 
ture, and also agree with him when lie says “all 
the scare-crow you want in the lield is yourself.” 
Aud now the only point I make against the sys¬ 
tem of our western farmer is, that more corn can 
be raised by not having quite so many stalks in 
ft hill.” * 2 • 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850, 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AS ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
agricultural, literary and family newspaper 
ROTATION OF CROPS-GERMAN SYSTEM 
Can attention has been called to an address, 
recently delivered before an agricultural conven¬ 
tion at Springfield, ()., by John IT. Kufpart, 
Esq. It reviews at great length the system of 
firming as practiced in Europe—especially hi 
Germany — intimating that American farmers 
have much to learn and more to forget before 
they can arrive at the excellence of the former. 
The cause of the difference observable between 
these two classes of farmers, is asserted to be 
tliiB: The German makes farming his sole busi¬ 
ness, while the American has numberless irons 
in the fire, outside of his agricultural operations. 
The. oue expends the surplus of one year’s pro¬ 
ductions in enriching and improving his lands 
for succeeding crops, till their highest produc¬ 
tive capacity is reached. The other devotes that 
surplus to the purchase of bank, railroad or oil 
stock, leaving the farm to its own resources. 
The consequence is the grounds of the one in¬ 
crease yearly in productive power, while those of 
the other are starved for the lack of due prepa¬ 
ration and nourishment. Among the German 
farmers' more attention is paid to a systematic 
rotation of cropping than is customary among 
the same class here. On this point we quote 
from the address as follows:—“In Europe there 
is a regular rotation of crops adapted to the 
soil—a three course system, a four course sys¬ 
tem, a six, eight, ten or twelve course system— 
according to the size of the farm and quality of 
the Boil. The farm is divided into as many fields 
as there arc rotations in the course, or else into 
multiples of the rotations; then, the kind of 
crop which was grown in field No. I last year, is 
grown in field No. 3 this year, aud will be grown 
in field No. 3 next year, and so on till the course 
is completed; this ensures a crop of wheat every 
year on a different field, and has many advant¬ 
ages; it has the advantage of having the soil 
properly prepared by previous crops 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors 
Hos. IIENKY 8. RANDALL, LL. D., Editor of tl>e De¬ 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
Hos. T. C. PETERS, late President N. Y. State Ag’l 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
0LEZEN F. WILCOX, Associate Editor. 
The Large Variety of Clover. — (Trifolium 
Pratense.) 
Mr. Story, an astute farmer near Waterloo, 
Seneca Co., N. Y., has this winter thrashed forty 
bushels of the seed of large clover from the 
hay grown ou 1 1 £ acres of land, which seed he 
sold at §10 per bushel—§400. The hay, which, 
although over-ripe and coarse, is much richer in 
nitrogen than wheat straw, and is worth more 
for cows. Mr. S. has abandoned growing the 
small clover, as it is a very uncertain crop for 
seed unless the season favors; but the large va¬ 
riety ho has found never fails to give ft fair crop 
of seed, if Instead of cutting it for hay in .June, 
it is only pastured until late in May, and then 
suffered to grow and mature its seed early in the 
fall; it will then stand both wet and drouth, 
and give a much larger crop of seed than the 
small kind cut first for hay, ami the second time 
for seed. The seed of large clover is now 
worth §11 a bushel. This, variety is a great 
favorite with the farmers on .he dry hill side cal¬ 
careous clays near Aurora, Cayuga Lake, as it 
Stands continued drouth much better than the 
small clover. Another advantage is that it ripens 
later and on that account it is better to sow with 
timothy. The seed is not as large as that of 
the small clover.—s. w. 
Trie Rural New-Yorkbr Is designed to bo nnsur- 
passed in Value, Purity, and Variety or Contents. XU 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rt-itM.it Reli¬ 
able. Guide ou all tUe important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subject* conducted with the business of those 
whose interests It zealously advocates. As a Family 
Joursao It Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining— 
being so conducted that it can be safely taken to the 
Homes of people of Intelligence, taste-anil discrimination. 
It embraces more Agricultural, ITortU.".iRural,3cIcnti0c, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other journal,— 
rendering it by far the most complete AGRICULTURAL, 
Litmaby axd Family News paper in America. 
VT For Terms and other particulars see last page 
ECONOMY IN FEEDING, 
Are ilie Suits, of Manure Lost. by Filtration. 
Prop. War says, as the result of his patient 
experiments, that the salts of ammonia will not 
filtrate through clay; but that much of this fer- 
tiUzer in solution will escape through a giliclous 
sand. This might iuduco a belief that a sandy 
soil loses by leaching; but while a siliclous sand 
contains no aluminous earth, a sandy soil rarely 
contains less than ten per cent, of alumina, 
which is aU sullieient to enable the soil to hold 
its organic matter until it is absorbed by the 
roots of growing plants. A sandy soil that will 
not form a crust after a shower, undoubtedly 
loses 6ome of Its nascent ammonia which passes 
off from the loose surface in the form of a gas, 
but when in solution the soil retains it for the 
use of plants. , lxxvi. 
Remedies for Smut in Wheat. 
A. Pickett, Winnebago Co., Wis., writes us 
that in his experience of twenty years as a wheat 
grower, he has “not found brine of any use to 
preveut smut iu wheat; it is good to take out 
oats, and light grain and other substances, and 
perhaps facilitates the growth of wheat. The 
remedies I have found for smut are ley, lime and 
vitriol. Ashes answer when sifted on the seed 
while it is moist. Thu wheat will not hurt if it 
remain some hours after being coated with either 
of these BubstanccB, before being sown.” 
L. T. Williams, Troy, Pa., soaks his seed iu 
strong brine, then sifts over it slaked lime; he 
puts it afterward In a box and lets it stand a day 
or two before sowing. 
EXPLANATION OP ENGRAVING 
Fig. 1 denotes an egg magnified; 3, an egg as laid in the botton 
bottom of a cell; 4, a full-grown larva; 6, a pupa; (i, u drone, ( 
(perfect insect;) 8, a neuter, or working-bee; 9, cells of workli 
Of a queen; 13, proboscis and mandibles, magnified; 18, the stii 
croUs tube, spennathcca, and their appendages: 15. the honey- 
second stomach. 
; it is very 
much less liable to insect depredations, and the 
crop is every year on a comparatively new soil, 
and there Is, as a rule, a good wheat crop every 
year.” 
The closing portion of that from which we 
quote, is intensely political—advocating the pro¬ 
hibition of foreign produets aud the formation 
of a great “ Farmer*’' Party." This is a field we 
do not propose to cultivate at present, hence 
leave it to the occupancy of those to whom the 
labor may prove more congenial 
BEES-PROPAGATION AND MANAGEMENT 
zing the queens, or, in other words, "to propa¬ 
gate and rot,”—for, when their functions are 
performed, the workers drive them forth to 
perish. These last aru prodigies of Industry aud 
have been cited, for long ages, as examples 
worthy of. being imitated by mail. 
As an incentive to some of our readers, com 
potent to discuss the bee question, we quote a 
paragraph from a friendly letter just received.- 
The writer says;—“Bees you do not discuss 
very much. These I also Omcy. Bnt real good 
articles are scarce,—most of onr rural papers 
having only the old ideas re-vamped over and 
over again, Please tell us of the Egyptian Bee, 
the Russian, the bee of Hindoostan and the bee 
of Northern China,—said to be a bee like across 
of the Russian and Italian. Probably we have 
at least five types, and, as in architecture, we 
settle America with the old French and Roman¬ 
esque, both barbarous, and have had to uproot 
our old ideas, so in bees, we got the ‘ black ’ 
and poorest of all. As in political matters, we 
must get the-out. 8o in the bee.” As the 
season of working is approaching, it is a good 
time to discuss the bee, and it la hoped that 
some of our readers, having the experience re¬ 
quisite to do the subject justice, will avail them¬ 
selves of our columns for this purpose. 
The preceding illustration is designed to pre¬ 
sent the honey-bee in its several stages, from the 
egg to its perfected state, whether as a drone or 
male, queen or mother of the colony, and the 
neuter or working and honey-making division of 
the same. It will be seen, by the illustration 
presented, that the working bee is the smallest 
of the throe divisions, constituting a perfect 
hive or colony, hut nature lias made amends by 
imparting to the worker a restless activity and 
industry which more than supplies the deficiency 
as to size. In numbers, too, the latter prepon 
derate greatly, numbering in a strong healthy 
colony, from thirty to forty thousand, while a 
few hundreds comprise the force of the non-pto- 
ducefs. The queen takes the (lost of honor, 
however, being the mother of every bee In the 
colony and the object of their unceasing care 
aud solicitude. If this head of the household 
meets with a mishap, the family is at once 
thrown into confusion. Labor is suspended and 
the workers may be seen coursing wildly about 
in search of the lost one. This kind of break¬ 
ing np continues till a new queen is developed, 
when order is restored in the disorganized house¬ 
hold. According to the authority of writers on 
bee culture and management, a fertile queen, 
during the better portion of the honey season, 
deposits about three thousand qggs per day, and 
If she has been fertilized, the product of these 
will ba'working bees. It will be seen that the 
three divisions, constituting a perfect colony, 
vary in size, form and color. 
The queen has an elongated body with short, 
wings and of a darker hue than either the drone 
or worker. The Italian queen is, however, 
lighter colored than either the drone or the 
worker, much of her body being of a golden 
yellow. The queen is said to live from three to 
four years. The Messrs. Kino, in their work ou 
the honey bee, speaking of the drones, say that 
they “are more bulky, though somewhat short¬ 
er than the fiueeu. and. unlike her. their wings 
RURAL FARMERS’ CLUB 
About New I’uiulom, 
Jonathan Talcott, Rome, N. Y,, asks Ritual 
readers for facts concerning the qualities of the 
Early Sebec, Early Goodrich and Shaker Fancy 
varieties of potatoes. He remarks—“I wish to 
get the best for general cultivation, but do not 
wish to pay too dear for tbe whistle. It is only 
by farmers comparing notes that they can find 
out what is the best, unless they choose to pur¬ 
chase all that are brought to notice, and devote 
their farms to experiments.” We have long 
recognized the necessity which exists for farmers 
to freely compare notes. It te to aid in this that 
we have established this Rural Farmers’ Club; 
so please forward your “notes.” 
Piaster on Corn.—An Experiment. 
D. R. Newton, Cooper, Mich., sends ns this 
record of an experimentOn the 13th of 
last June I sowed six bushels of plaster on two- 
thirds of nine acres of corn, putting a handful on 
each hill in sixteen rows, aud skipping eight. 
The corn was cut. up in September, putting eight 
rows in a row of BtoOks. The rows were all 
alike, being forty rods long; the rows plastered 
yielded from three to six bushels of cars more 
than those unplastercd, and the com was 
Buuudev. I shall try the same experiment again 
this year. The com was planted on a heavy 
clover sod, and the soil was very wot at the time 
the plaster was put on.” 
QUANTITY OF SEED PER ACRE 
large crop of corn, given iu a late number of the 
Rural. lie 6ays : — “ 1 fully agree with him in 
a liberal application of manure, either long or 
short. In taking some exceptions to hia theory 
I would first inquire where the'short manure is 
to eorae from as soon as tile snow is off the 
ground—sufficiently short not to interfere with 
preparing the ground for planting? And I um 
unable to tinders taud how that amount of manure 
can be used for com alone without some disad¬ 
vantage to other crops. 
I think it would be proper to take into con¬ 
sideration the variation in depth of soil, for if 
my experience is worth anything it is certainly 
a very important matter, l'or I believe that some 
soils will admit of plowing much deeper than 
others, especially for corn. 
I very much approve of ‘ home-made guano,’ 
made of ashes, hen manure, <&c., hut prefer put¬ 
ting in the bottom of the hill at planting, and I 
would suggest that in this section we consider it 
We give the following for reference: 
Grain Drilled.— Wheat, t0 - bushels; rye, 
m to oats, 2>£ to 3; barley, 2% to 3; bar¬ 
ley and oats, 1 bushel of oats to 2 bushels of bar¬ 
ley; peas, 2 to 3 bushels; buckwheat, half to two- 
thirds of a bushel; com, in hills, 0 to 8 quarts; 
in dribs, for fodder, 2 to 3 bushels; broadcast 
forfoddder, 3 tot bushels; broom com in drills, 
hull’to three-fourths of a lmshel; beans, 1 to 1 b, 
bushels; sorghum, half to three-fourths bushel. 
Grumes. —Timothy, 8 to 13 quarts; orchard 
grass, 1% to 2 bushels ; red-top, 12 to 10 quarts ; 
Kentucky blue grass, 3 bushels; white clover, 4 
to 0 quarts; red clover, 0 to 8 quarts; millet, 
half to three-fourths; lucerne, 8 to 10 pounds. 
Vendable and other Seeds.— Beets, 4 to 5 pounds 
per acre; carrots, 2 pounds; ruta-baga, three- 
lburtbs to oue pound; tobacco, two ounces; cot¬ 
ton, two to five bushels; turnip, one to two 
pounds; onions, three to four pounds. 
Cures for Foil Evil. 
J. E. Cole, Steuben Co., N. Y., says he never 
failed to cure poll evil by first “washing the sore 
clean with warm soap suds, and then sprinkling 
on a teaspoonful of ealeratua once a day until a 
cure is effected, which will be speedy.” 
L. P. W., Troy, Pa., says, “take four quarts 
of mandrake roots, boil them in water to get a 
strong decoction, then add one pint of hogs’ lard 
and simmer it down to a salve. This is rubbed 
on once a day and heated in with a warm shovel. 
I have tried it for twenty years and never knew 
it to fail.” 
