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■&§&§£ 
W*M 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
VOL. XVIII. NO. 10.} ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, APRIL ED, 1007 
I WHOLE NO. 900 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850 
themselves here and there; -window lights, long 
since broken, are replaced by old hats and dilap¬ 
idated wearing apparel; doors are shaking 
and swaying about on a single hinge, or lying 
upon the ground. The out-buildings are in 
keeping with the house—all are ont of repair 
and falliug to ruin. A wagon, with a broken 
wheel, reposes in one place; a plow, eaten with 
rust, with the wood-work broken, in another; a 
hoe here and a shovel there — in fact, nothing is 
as it should be — nothing where it ought, to be. 
Going into the dwelling, we Dud, ninety-nine 
times In the hundred, like filth and disorder 
prevalent there. Receding from the house to 
the fields, we find the latter without fences, 
drains choked up, stock pinched by famine, eve¬ 
rything denoting disorder and Impending ruin. 
This is another type or class of farmers, happily 
diminishing in numbers of late years, but still 
sufficiently numerous to challenge attention as 
examples to be reprehended and avoided. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
agricultural, literary and family newspaper 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors 
Hox. HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D.. Kill tor of the De¬ 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
Hox. T. C. PETERS, late President N. Y. State Ag‘l 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEN F. WILCOX, Associate Editor. 
Tun Rural New-Yoekrr Is design'd to be unsur¬ 
passed in Value, Parity, and Variety of Contents. Its 
Conductor earnestly labor? to render the Rural a Kell- 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
whose Interests '.t zealously advocates. As a Family 
Journal U is eminently Instructive aud Entertaining — 
being so conducted that It can be safely taken to the 
Homes of people of Intelligence, taste uud discrimination. 
It embraces more Agricultural, HortieulturaLSclentifle, 
Educational, Literary and News Mutter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than auy other Journal,— 
rendering It by far the most complete Aokiccltuf.al, 
Literary and Family Newspaper in America. 
SOWING OATS, 
The present season has not been propitious 
for early farming operations, but this month 
may make amends by allowing the preparation 
of the ground in time for a sufficiently early 
seeding to oats. Though early sown oats un¬ 
questionably produce a heavier return than late 
ones, still it is better to delay seeding for awhile 
than to ca.-; the grain npou ground resembling a 
ruortar bed, 1 This is crowding nature and will 
be resente d, in the shape of a stinted crop, when 
the timu( c>f harvest comes aro'.fid. Get the 
ground la good tilth and then seed as soon as 
practicable. Formerly the early sowing of oats 
was objected to because It thre w the out, wheat 
and hay harvest so nearly into one as to render 
it difficult to secure either in proper season. 
Modem improvements, in harvesting imple¬ 
ments, compressing the labor of a week into that 
of a day, have rendered this objection invalid. 
The mower and the reaper have rendered it easy 
to manage all the harvests, though the several 
crops mature simultaneously. With reference 
to oats, then, sow as early as the ground will 
permit without regard to the time of harvest. 
Late sowu oats will grow and mature, but they 
are almost invariably less valuable than those 
produced from early seeding. 
£3 T" For Terms and other particulars see last page 
FARMER’S PREMISES-A CONTRAST 
Is passing through the country persona hav¬ 
ing a, taste for, and observant of, rural affairs, 
will find contrasts in form management which 
cannot fail to arrest attention. At one point 
will be encountered a farm dwelling and Its 
surroundings so admirable iu all their arrange¬ 
ments as to inspire a wish to make the acquaint¬ 
ance of the owner. The site of such a home was 
not chosen in a low, marshy or depressed place, 
because a spring chanced to bubble up there, 
but reference was had to aridity of soil and airi¬ 
ness of position, affording ample opportunity 
for cellar and other drainage. The dwelling, 
tasteful, commodious, hut not ornate, is not 
crowded upon the highway, but is sufficiently 
removed from it to afford space for a neat front 
yard, enlivened and rendered chc-eriul by a judi¬ 
cious intermingling of shrubbery and fruit bear¬ 
ing trees. The grounds are properly graded, and 
the way or avenue leading to the dwelling so 
formed as to allow ready access to it at all times 
without wading iu mud or filth. The domicil 
is always kept in order and never allowed to 
grow dingy for want ol' paint, or dilapida¬ 
ted for the lack of repairs. Internally Its 
arrangements and aspects generally evince equal 
judgment, taste and care, for it almost invariably 
proves true that, what the man is to the farm 
aud its surroundings, the wife is in her peculiar 
domain, the house. 
But a home, however tasteful as to house and 
lawn, is i ucomplete without a liberal allotment 
of ground for gardening purposes. Much of the 
domestic comfort of a family is derived from the 
products of the garden, hence the importance of 
rendering It capable ol producing the greatest 
variety of fruits and vegetables. These provided 
for, a taste for the merely ornamental and the 
beautiful may well be indulged as conducive 
alike to health aud intellectual development. 
The other farm buildings should be suitably 
placed and so arranged as to be easily accessi¬ 
ble and suited to the uses for which they are 
intended. There is room here, as in the case ol 
the dwelling, for the exercise of good taste in 
the matter of form and convenience of internal 
arrangement. There should be no dilapidation 
about them. The enclosures should always be 
in order, so that animals confided to their cus¬ 
tody, may be forthcoming when wanted. Every¬ 
thing should betoken order. There should be 
a place for all kinds of farm implements, secure 
from the weather, and ready at all times for use. 
Fences should he seasonably repaired and kept 
in order till all ehaucc of damage to crops from 
roaming stock is cut off' by the advent of winter. 
These are a few of the features pertaining to 
good forming, and which cannot he lost sight of 
without disorder aud loss. 
Not remote from this place of order and 
thrift—possibly adjoining it—may be seen a farm 
of another description. The dwelling is located 
amid filth and the debris of decaying matter. 
airy yard and inviting avenue leads to its 
portals. There are no vestiges of shrubbery or 
lruit bearing trees near it. If paint was ever ap¬ 
plied to it, all traces of it have disappeared, 
leaving it browned by age and the pelting of 
storms, 
Whoever has seen the heavy, black dray 
horses drawing the brewers’ wagons in the 
streets of London and Liverpool, will recognize 
the faithfulness of the above engraving. These 
heavy horses are bred chiefly In the midland 
counties from Lincolnshire to Staffordshire, aud 
are trained and worked moderately until they 
are four years old, when they are sent to the 
large cities for sale. Many of them are over 
seventeen hands high and of proportionate 
weight. They arc worth more on the hard 
pavements of the city than on the farmer’s field; 
and their weight is of most use in the shafts of 
the dray to enable the animal to stand the una¬ 
voidable battering and shaking. This breed of 
horses, we believe, is the largest and heaviest 
known ; and although too large and clumsy for 
the American farmer’s use, a strain of their blood 
judiciously mingled with our lighter breeds, 
might produce a race of draft hones valuable 
alike for the farm and the road. 
the lime only acts on the silicates and the inert 
vegetable matter in the soil. It is now a maxim 
among the best farmers In Eastern Pennsylvania, 
that the best manured soils are benefited most 
by the largest applications of lime, while p soil 
poor iu the compound tf nitrogen will bear hut 
little liming, I never kiew but one farmer who 
found that the application of lime to his lime¬ 
stone soil was no benetil; but bis farm was one 
of the best Lake Shore! intervales — so rich in 
mineral plant food in a soluble state that it 
brings continuous large crops of grain and grass 
with very light manuring. * 
sowed,—aud a miracle took, place. The main 
object in applying the manure was to secure a 
foothold for the grass. It was sowed in rye. 
The grain came up in due time, and made the 
greenest and finest spot in the neighborhood. 
A mat was formed. The stock was turned on it 
in the dry, fall weather, and thrived. When 
spring came, there was the same green. Though 
bare all the winter, its coat of roots and manure 
afforded a protection. So at least it seemed. 
It lay favorable to the sun, and soon cemmenccd 
to grow, and outstripped everything. It was 
tall and close, reaching above tv high fence; 
and the berry was ol' the plumpest, best kind. 
It was the best crop of rye that was ever known 
in the neighborhood. 
Clover was sown on in the spring, very early. 
In the fall there was as green a field of clover as 
of rye the fall previous. The spring following 
plaster was used plentifully. There was a crop 
of clover unmatched. The dry, well drained 
condition of the soil prevented the frost from 
having its usual effect, so that the clover re¬ 
tained its place. A crop was secured for hay, 
and the early harvesting induced us to try to 
secure another croi>—one of seed. But as the 
seed failed, the cattle were turned iu. The next 
summer a crop of young clover started up. 
This was the result of pasturing the fall pre¬ 
vious, re-seeding the ground. Grass-seed had 
been sown with the clover, and this now also 
appeared. From this year dated the sod, which 
lasted for many years, reliance being put upon 
top-dressing. But the soil at last, partly thro’ 
inattention, begau to fail. It was re-plowed, 
deeply, and manured, and produced good hoed 
crops. It is now again iu good grass. Manure 
applied to the surface, whether harrowed in or 
slightly plowed, and other fertilizers used, are 
the most profitable way of treating such land. 
tor the purpose of taking it into market green. 
But after the market became “ glutted,” I con¬ 
cluded to save the balance of my corn and cure 
it to feed. I cut and fed to my hogs corn (in the 
stalks ) every day, and they would eat stalks and 
all as clean as they would green clover. Thro’ 
the month of October and until the last of No¬ 
vember, I led husked corn. I can say I neVer 
killed so lut pork before. They seemed to be 
completely filled up with lard. I prefer the 
sweet corn stalks to anything else in the shape 
ol fodder for stock, aud especially for cows 
giving milk there is nothing equal to it. The 
stalk, husks, and leaves, are much more juicy 
and sweeter than any other com fodder. I would 
recommend those that sow corn for fodder, to 
sow the sweet corn iu preference to any other. 
Be careful to trace up your seed In the fall and 
then you will uot fail to have good seed when 
you come to plant or sow. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. Geo. W. Curtis. 
SPRING WHEAT 
The present and prospective high prices of 
wheat and flour would seem to invite to a liberal 
sowing of spring wheat In this region. It is 
true that winter wheat promises well, but it has 
to run the guuntiet of a great many vicissitudes, 
and the yield may be less affluent than is now 
anticipated. Almost every funner has a few 
acres which might be tested with a spring sow- 
iug of wheat, and, he the result favorable or the 
reverse, the loss cannot be great while the grain 
may be considerable. A day loam, on a porous 
subsoil, is said to be well adapted to this grain. 
It -should have had some previous preparation 
from the production of other crops unless the 
land has been newly cleared. Seeding should 
be done as early as possible. The Canadian 
Club and the Fife are said to be good varieties 
to cultivate. 
CULTIVATING YELLOW KNOLLS, 
Ihe treatment of tiese must be different 
from other land. Let pe give my experience, 
with remarks: The fieij was one of two acres, 
isolated from the rest of the farm by a gully, 
the soil on the opposite side being of a brown 
loam on a dry subsollJ It was a ridge once 
growing hemlocks —a food crop —which the 
mellowness of the soil favored. There was 
some rye raised among the first crops; and, I 
believe, some potatoes. But the yield after did 
not pay expenses, till a rew treatment was given 
the land- 
After having laid in catamons for 
THE CULTURE OF THE WHEAT PLANT 
Many farmers who succeeded 
so early in 
growing a crop of wheat from the scarified 
virgin soil iu the early days of Western New 
York, now thiuk that the deterioration in that 
cereal is owing to the exhaustion of a mysteri¬ 
ous pabulum in the soil Ye t, to grow a good 
crop of barley, requires a finer tilth and a less 
adhesive soil than for wheat, 
J. B. La was, the prince of England’s experi¬ 
menters on the farm, avers “ that he could sup¬ 
ply fertilizers to the wheat fallow to produce a 
given crop of wheat to the acre, subject only to 
the risk of hail and violent storni 3 .” But in 
England the wheat plant rarely if ever freezes 
; Out, us it Often docs in winter and early spring 
iu the United States, California and the South 
excepted. It is the freezing ont of this plant 
that prevents the western farmers of Wisconsin, 
Illinois and Iowa from sowing winter wheat. 
But they have reduced the sowing of spring 
wheat, as a substitute, into a perfect system that 
rarely fails to succeed if well done. The rub Is 
to plow and fallow in the full, or before the 
ground Is too hard frozen iu'winter, so that the 
wheat may be sown as early in April as the 
spring rains Will permit. The reason why spring 
wheat growing is attended with such ill success 
in Western New York is that the fallow was uot 
fall plowed, and consequently is sown too late 
in the spring. lxxvt. 
LIME — MANURIAL EFFECT ON SOIL, 
Many farmers suppose when they have a 
limestone soil, rich in the carbonate of lime, 
that lime applied to it is of no mauurial use; 
but the fact is that a long, warm limestone clay 
is fall of Insoluble silicates, which burning or 
treating with quick-lime can alone make soluble 
and fit for the assimilation of growing plants. 
Liedig says that “ all clays contain potash in an 
insoluble state, and that while some soils hold 
the mineral or inorganic elements of plant food 
there are 
years, with 
but little profit to tbd vagrant cows, St was 
fenced off and fallowed, i The first plowing was 
in Jane, The plow was iron two inches deeper 
than it had ever peietrtted. This brought up 
mellow ground, perffcctfr pulverulent. The rea¬ 
son why this grown w«l more mellow than the 
rest was no doubt owing to several causes, 
namely, the origin; l fertility which the roots 
had never penetrate (ouly the tree roots to im¬ 
prove it by decay), and the less susceptibility 
to abuse in eultiva ng, which is the ease with 
yellow soil, stirring t when wet; and the benefit 
which lower soil r< reives when leechy, as was 
this to some extent* being more or less sandy. 
When the laud was plowed it was as mellow 
as it is possible to jet soil. In August a coat of 
long manure frornithe bam-yard was given it. 
This was eompo-ei largely of straw in a half¬ 
in a constantly soluble condition 
others in which, the necessary amount of soluble 
silicate of potash for a single crop of wheat is 
not separated from the insoluble masses in the 
soil in less than two, three or more years;” 
hence the benefit of quick-lime to such a soil. 
The burning or heating to redness of the 
most impracticable clays not only destroys their 
adhesiveness, making them ever after as pulveru¬ 
lent as the flue sand of the river bottom, but it 
also makes it the best mineral plant food,—a 
capital top-dressing for a light, exhausted soil. 
The theory that quick-lime destroys the organic 
matter in the soil has been long since exploded. 
It might expel a part of the ammonia from a ma¬ 
nure heap, but the soil itseli holds all soluble now was coib 
organic matter by a strong chemical affinity, and undersoil and 
SWEET CORN 
It is a surprising fact that sweet corn is not 
abundantly grown among farmers. Every farmer 
thinks he must raise his five or ten acres of In¬ 
dian corn every year, in order to have something 
to fatten his pork and to furnish fodder for his 
stock, <fee. Now, if every farmer would grow 
three or five acres of sweet corn, his crop Would 
prove of much more value in proportion to the 
number of acres than Indian corn for feeding 
purposes. 
Last spring 1 planted six acres of sweet com 
Boards and shingles are detaching 
