TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850. 
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. 
Hon. HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D.. Editor of tbe Dc- 
pnrtment of Sheep Husbandry. 
Hon. T. C. PETERS. late President N. Y. State Ag’l 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEN F. WILCOX. Associate Editor. 
Tee Rural New-Yoiskimi Is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed in Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents. Its 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rubai, a Reli¬ 
able Guide on all tbc important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
whose interests it zealously advocates. Aa a Family 
Journal It is eminently Instructive and Entertaining— 
being *6 coadacted lhnt It can ba safely taken to the 
Homes of people of Intelligence, taste and discrimination, 
it embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural,Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other journal,— 
rendering it by far the most complete Agbtcultuhal, 
Liter a ur a ,%• t> Family Newspaper in America. 
jy Fob Terms and other particulars sea last page. 
RURAL FARMERS’ CLUB. 
Aphis or Plant Louse. 
One of our subscribers, Mr. A. J. Brown, 
Adams, N. Y., bus forwarded as the terminal 
bud of an apple twig, very much infected with 
small insects, which prove to be the aphis, or 
plant louse; an iusect incident to almost every 
plant and tree that the earth produces. They 
are an anomaly among insects, being oviparotis 
and oviviparous producing during summer their 
young alive, and in the autumn, laying ajnall 
Notes from Minnesota. 
“ F. J. S.” writes from Read's Landing, Minn., 
under date of May 1st, “that the pa6t winter 
has been n very long one, but not very severe, 
with plenty of snow. The coldest day was the 
17th of January, 2d* below 0. Spring is very 
backward; excepting a few acres here and there, 
uo grain has been sown yet; most of the far¬ 
mers will raise more oats and com this season 
than heretofore on account of the scarcity and 
high prices of the coarse grains. We have been 
growing too much wheat to the neglect of other 
graius, depending on having them shipped np 
from below than raising ourselves; so there will 
be less wheat sown this season In comparison to 
the number of acres under cultivation. Prices 
are very high for all kinds of grains, and pro¬ 
visions ;—Wheat, |8.25@2.80; oats, ?1®1,15; 
corn, ?L30@1-50; potatoes, £l,2o(ViT,50; bay, 
!?10; cows, $50<gfi0; oxen, ?150@200 per yoke; 
horses, $400@600 per span; beef cattle, 88 per 
lb, live weight; butter, 30 eta.; eggs, 85c., &c. 
Tho trade in dry goods is poor, very little doing, 
most of the merchants are selling goods at coBt 
and arc glad to sell at that. Money very scarce, 
interest from IS to*20 per cent. It will be very 
tight times until we have another harvest; no 
wheat in the country worth speakiDg of.” 
California;Wheat Prevents Famine Prices. 
TnEjshJpment of wheat and flour from Cali¬ 
fornia, to England and the United States this 
season, already amounts to millions of bushels. 
Thousands of sacks of both wheat and flour 
now come weekly to New York by way of 
Panama Railroad from San Francisco, at an ex¬ 
pense of two dollars per cental (100 lbs.) freight; 
and what Is better, thi6 wheat is so well saved 
and extra rich in gluten, that it commands an 
extra price In New York. What an enterprising 
agriculture now blesses the magic State of Cali¬ 
fornia; only a few years ago that country was 
dependent on Chili for wheat and flour; now it 
keeps the poor of the Atlantic States from 
famine prices for flour. It is said that the wheat 
from California shipped here and to England 
has kept flour from advancing several dollars a 
barrel in New York. lxxvi. 
Barracks for Hay or Grain. 
“ Practical Farmer” sends the Rural Far¬ 
mers’ Club his method of making barracks for 
storingbay and grain. He writes:—“ The larger 
sketch represents a movable barrack which I 
Fig. (1,) shows the male, natural size; (2.) magnified; 
(8,) female natural size ; (4,) magnified. 
shiney black eggs, at the axil of the leaves, 
which hatch at the first opening of the buds and 
attach themselves to the underside of the leaves, 
doing no damage to fruit, further than absorbing 
a portion of the nutriment that should be used 
for the growth and subsistence of tbe tree or 
plant, and not materially injuring tbe growth. 
The only remedy known, and winch can only be 
applied to small plants, is whale oil soap suds, 
and tobacco smoke. They propagate so rapidly 
and at so early a period of cxisteuee, that their 
name is legion, and some naturalists have as¬ 
serted that a single pair are capable, in one Boa- 
son, of producing hundreds of millions and 
would, were it not for the numberless natural 
enemies that nature has provided iu larger and 
more voracious insects. 
Their color varies on different plants; on the 
tansey they are red, on the cherry black, and on 
the dahlia spotted, though on most plants green 
and brown. They are the cause of honey dew, 
by injecting honey from two tabes that stand 
out from the body near tbe tail of the insect. 
The ants feed on this substance by irritating 
them and thereby Inducing them to eject the 
honey which they absorb and so pass on through 
a whole colony. 
Since writing the above we have received let¬ 
ters from Niagara Co. and Millville, N. Y., stat¬ 
ing that 11 Countless millions of black bugs or 
lice are Infesting the apple trees,” and asking 
some of the members of the “ Rural Farmers’ 
Club ” to give the name, nature and remedies 
lor them. They are, undoubtedly, some of the 
numerous species of plant lice , and no available 
method of destroying them is known. Their 
number renders them unconquerable. But their 
natural enemies are also formidable and numer¬ 
ous, and it is probable they will be troublesome 
only for oue season; they ordinarily disappear 
ns quickly and mysteriously as they come. In 
1861 the grain fields of some portions of West¬ 
ern New York, were black with the aphis, but 
they disappeared with the season and have not 
since been troublesome. 
barrack. To move from one field to another 
lower the roof to the bottom, attach a team to 
each sill, and away you go without delay. 
Permanent barracks arc made of four or eight 
posts (the engraviug shows eight,) set in the 
ground. They have also a thatched roof which is 
lowered and raised by means of holes in the 
posts through which pins are inserted. These 
contrivances are cheap and practical, and their 
general use in the prairie States would save a 
great deal ol farm produce from damage by 
storms.” 
" 
Combined Boiler and Vibrating Harrow. 
Mr. W. R. Brooks, this State, sends us the 
following for our Club : 
“ The thorough pulverization of the soil is, 
and will ever be, an important item in the til¬ 
lage of the earth. The most effective method, 
therefore, ol attaining this result, is one of inter¬ 
est to every individual. 
find very convenient as it is easily moved to any 
part of the farm, where it is desirable to stack 
hay or grain. In its construction lour posts, 18 
feet long and 6 inches square, are used; these 
are framed, at the bottom, into two oak sills 
which serve as runners when moving. The roof 
is made of a light frame work, thatched with 
rye straw which is lighter than shingles or 
boards, and is suspended to the frame-work of 
the top of the barrack by a rope which passes 
over two pulleys aud down one of the posts to a 
sort of windlass. This rope should be well 
tarred to endure the weather; instead of the 
windlass a weight to balance the roof may'.be 
used, and is perhaps simpler and better. The 
roof should notch into the posts at tbe corners 
and be somewhat larger than the square of tbe 
The accompanying drawiDg is intended to 
represent an arrangement which I have recently 
invented, of a combined roller and vibrating 
harrow, the successful working of which, in the 
limited experiments I have had the opportunity 
to make, has been most gratifying and satis¬ 
factory. Tbe invention consists of the frame, 
A, roller, B, which may he constructed of 
either iron or wood, the axle of which termi¬ 
nates at each end, in a strong crank, C, C, of 
from six to nine inches in diameter. These 
cranks are keyed upon the axle iu opposite posi¬ 
tions. Connected to the wrist pins of each 
crank, are the connecting rods, I), D, which ex¬ 
tend backward, aud are attached to opposite 
corners of the harrow, E. The attachments of 
the connecting rods to the cranks are made with 
universal joints, so as to tfilow of a free and easy 
working of all the parts, and to permit the roller 
and harrow separately to accommodate them¬ 
selves to the inequalities of the ground. The 
manner in which the barrow is vibrated, through 
the medium of the crank in rotating with the 
rolier, it is not necessary further to explain. 
If the machine is used &3 shown in the draw¬ 
ing, the last operation performed will be that of 
harrowing, butifit is desired to leave the ground 
in a rolled condition, all that Is necessary to do 
is to turn over the tongue, F, of the roller, until 
it rests upon the cross-piece, G, and attach the 
team by a chain, to what will then be the front 
corner of the harrow. Or should it be dCoired to 
use the roller or harrow separately, they! may be 
readily disconnected by driving out two of .the 
bolts In tbe universal joints. Thi6 invention, 
although I believe to be patentable, I hare de¬ 
cided to make public property, and do hereby 
present it for the benefit of the world at large.” 
■ ■ -■ ■» «■+ --- - 
S. T. Kelsey proposes, through the columns 
of the Kansas Farmer, to ask the Legislature of 
that State to pass a law making a hedge a legal 
fence as soon as planted, and holding parties 
possessing stock, running at large, responsible 
for any damage done by them to fields inclosed 
by these incipient hedges. This course, it is 
supposed, wlU lead to a general fencing with 
hedges, and preserve the timber bordering upon 
and interspersed over the couutry from the de¬ 
struction which fencing with it must involve. 
THE CUT WORM. 
This pest of the corn crop has for years baf¬ 
fled the skill of most cultivators, and in some 
places almost the entire crop is frequently lost. 
It has become such an intolerable nuisance, that 
I am sure anything like a cure for this evil, will 
attract general attention. Without pretending 
that 1 have au infallible remedy, 1 will briefly 
state what I believe to be the true course to 
adopt —adding what I believe is strictly true, 
that in nine year.-. I have not lost fifty hills by 
the cut worn; while my neighbors iu some 
cases, on lands near and adjoining, whose prac¬ 
tice has been different from mine, have lost 
half their crop. 
In the first place, early planted corn generally 
sutlers most. Many persons turn their whole 
stock on their corn ground before plowing, 
seeming to have an Idea, that all the grass which 
is turned under, is so much lost. Now, I would 
much prefer to have the grass untouched and 
plowed under. It will make mauure for the 
corn, and while green, furnish food for the cut 
worms until the young corn gets beyond their 
reach. I would be governed to some extent by 
the season — always delay plowing until near 
safe planting time — then put in the plow and 
drive ahead until the seed is in the ground. Let 
a heavy roller follow the plow — the same or the 
following day, unless the soil is very wet and ad¬ 
hesive—in that case wait till the surface is a 
little dry. Do not omit this on any account, for 
if there is any specific for the cure of the cut 
svuriQ, It is thu roller Agr-’a, th ’ ground should 
be thoroughly fitted. Do not establish a rule to 
harrow just twice or three times, but stick to it 
till it is done, and then to make it sure harrow it 
once more. Fill up every hole and crevice, so 
that the sod will be effectually smothered. It 
will then retain its moisture much longer than 
when left lying in ridges open to the sun and 
air. If it is a dry time, or if the soil is light, I 
would roil again after planting. 
Very little can be done by subsequent cultiva¬ 
tion to head off the worms, except visiting the 
field in the early morning and catching the ras¬ 
cals at their work. It has almost always been 
my practice to apply plaster and ashes to the 
young plants os soon as they make tlu-ir appear¬ 
ance. This may or may not have had a tenden¬ 
cy to keep off the worm. If ashes arc applied 
in their full strength, it is better to apply them 
to the hill soon alter the planting and before the 
corn comes up, as they will otherwise kill the 
corn down to the surface of the ground wherev¬ 
er they come in contact with it. It will grow 
up again, but it must retard tbe growth for a 
time, at least. Anything which excites the 
growth of the young plant is beneficial, as it is 
so much sooner out of the way of the worm. 
Other cultivators may have a better theory 
than mine, aud very likely mine may have been 
practiced by others, but it has this much iu its 
favor — it has borne the test of experience, and 
requires no new machinery to put it luto opera¬ 
tion, or any radical change in cultivation. That 
its general adoption by the fanners of Western 
New York would be followed by favorable re¬ 
sults, I have no doubt. If this cool, backward 
weather continues ten or fifteen days longer, we 
may reasonably predict a prolific year for the 
cutworm. p. p. b. 
Batavia, N. Y. 
IMPROVEMENT IN BEES—NO. II. 
1 advise the square box, lpose cap, large 
honey box, and many holes between brood cham¬ 
ber and honey box—not because it is the highest 
possible system, but because it is one of the best, 
and I believe the very best for common, practical 
use. What is the use of asking a man to go up 
a ladder ten feet when you can’t get him up one 
foot out of the mire he is in ? So, what is the 
use of asking our bee keepers to adopt the mova¬ 
ble comb hive when constilutiomUy fired or rather 
when constitutional thoughtk-smess lends them to 
freeze their bees out of doors in the winter, put 
them in all sorts of ill shaped hives, buy a patent 
humbug aud kill their hues iu them, and all that 
sort of thing; just as though they did not know 
any better, in the blaze of light and knowledge 
on bees, now so clear and bright ? 
The truth is, bees require attention as much 
as hqrses and cows. And it is trne that movable 
combs require ten limes the attention that im¬ 
movable ones do. So, if 1 '•an get you to buy no 
patent at all, (unless that for movable combs— 
the only valuable one I know of, or believe to exist,) 
but make the philosophic and paying hive I 
have recommended aud so get you to care for 
your bees, to get your honey, then I have done 
you, my dear reader, the best service I can. It 
you think me sharp in my words, very well. 
But could you see the farmers come and inspect 
rny hives every year, and that I have hundreds of 
pounds of box honey, and they, most of them, 
not a pound,— they calling me lucky and them¬ 
selves unlucky ,— then you would want to per¬ 
form the surgical operation of ripping them up, 
as the Japanese do, or some other thing; for 
they and you, my reader, deserve it richly. 
But the Italians? Well, I fear that there is 
such a thing as <i fashionable bias to the press. 
The Delaware grape, was to cure all our grape 
evils. But it did not. Now one or two other 
grapes must not be spoken against. The press 
and a few grape savarts wont allow it. So the 
Italians. If there is not an Italian furor over 
pure qu«ens, for the sake of a few who have 
them to sell, at very high prices, then I am mis¬ 
taken. 
Again. If the impurity is tbe rule and the 
purity of queens the exception (only as like 
grapes in certain Dr’s hands,) then there is no 
gain in onr useless experiments, lor the Black 
bees are the dominant race, and will in tbe end 
out rule the white Italians. Besides, the Italians 
ore not yet proven. We really know but little 
of them. It is true that iu the brood chambers 
they make more honey in proportion to the bee- 
bread than the common bee. But whether 100 
or 1000 hives of Italians will make, under the 
same care and circumstances, more honey than 
100 or 1000 comutou hives no man in the United 
States yet knows. Single hives have little. Our 
renowned Italian advocates nro keeping them to 
rear qttocnB, and make their money out of their 
sales of queens—not by the real honey they get. 
So far as I have proven them they are not us 
fond of making box honey as the common bees. 
And if I were to choose, the opening of movable 
comb hives (the patent right of which is held at 
qnity a high figure,) to get the surplus honey 
out of the brood chamber iu sheets; or to get 
box honey by the common bee, in the immova¬ 
ble comb hive;—then I say tho latter is prefer¬ 
able, and the only way that will generally be 
adopted. 
But the Italians are less apt to sting. That is 
trne; but woe be to you when you are stung by 
them. Now I am not a seventh son of a seventh 
sou of a bee man, and therefore won’t make be¬ 
lieve I am never stung when I a.i%, as “bee 
men ” generally do. For I am often stung, and 
in a few moments 1 forget it, the pain is so lit¬ 
tle. But a pure Italian sting is days in getting 
well on my flesh. But this I say, Italians run 
over my hand, light on my face, get under my 
clothes, crawl, with their* stings out, on my 
flesh, but rarely sting. . Yes, I never have been 
stung by one unless I pinched it. 
“ But the hybrids, or improved Italians, sting 
dreudfttlly.” Ask a man with Delaware grape 
on the brain, if Delawares ever pay tinder ordi¬ 
nary culture, and he will of course say they do, 
and only the divine introducers of Delawares are 
to be believed, despite your own eyes and trials. 
But my experience is that impure Italians are no 
worse than common bees. The truth is, a hive 
of any bee occasionally is cross; so are all its de¬ 
scendants. 1 have a hive that was given me the 
first year I had bees. I have it yet. It is cross, 
and always has been, though its queens have 
been changed at least eight or ten times by re¬ 
moving and old age. And all its swarms are 
cross. There is no training it or its descend¬ 
ants. So I fight them, that’s all, whenever 
it is necessary to do anything with them. I 
have other hives of common bees that are always 
mild. A path goes within two feet of one such 
hive and anybody can pass unstung. Go within 
ten feet ol' that splendid “ gift hive,” I just 
named, and there is a demonstration at once. My 
impure Italians act no different from common 
bees; iudued, not quite as bad. 
In ail this I am not condemning the Italians, 
nor those who bare WBon at? the eaStfense to rear 
them, as well us import them. I only say, use 
them with a mind prepared lor cither gain or 
loss. And the point of my remarks in respect 
to them 1 b, that while they may prove an inesti¬ 
mable gain, we arc not to despise the arts by 
which the common bee is made to be profitable 
to us ul). So far, only those who, cither iu this 
country or Europe, are interested in their dis¬ 
semination, are the advocates of the Italians and 
their alleged gains. They are excellent men 
and would not deceive us, but may be them¬ 
selves not aware yet of their ultimate value. 
While then it is wise not to receive too readily 
any new thing, we can at least do tar better with 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-EOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY 25,1867. iWHOLE NO. 005, 
YOL. XYHI. NO, 21. i 
I 
