TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR.l 
“PROCRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.’ 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
VOL XYIH. NO. U.\ ROCHESTER, N. Y.-POR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1807. !WHOLE NO. 008, 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, • 
AS ORIGINAL WEKKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, literary and family newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. SIOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
HOX. IJEXr.T S. RANDALL, LL. D.. Editor of the De¬ 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
H 0 Jt. T. C. PETERS, late President N. Y. State Ag’l 
Society. Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEX F. WILCOX. Associate Editor. 
Thk Rubai. Nhw-YOHEBB U designed to be unsur¬ 
passed in Value, Purity, and "Variety of Couteuts. Ite 
Conductor earnestly labor-' to reurtcr the Rcral A Reli¬ 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
whose Interests It zealoiuOy advocates. As a Family 
Jottbxal it U eminently Instructive and Entertaining- 
being so conducted that it can be safely taken to the 
Homes or 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 Aobtcculttoial, 
Litekakv and Familt N’bwspai-kr in America. 
MM! 
CULTIVATION 0? HOED CHOPS. 
Farmers have learned to depend much on 
the cultivator and but little on the hand hoe, 
not "rilv to ctir ax,cl mellow tiro soil in which 
their corn and potatoes prow, but also to destroy 
the grass and weeds in the immediate vicinity of 
the hills. With the smooth fields and improved 
implements of the present day the labor of pro¬ 
ducing a hundred bushels of com or potatoes Is 
small te that necessary a quarter of a ceulitry 
ago. And we think no fanner should be satisfied 
with his method of cultivating until lie has 
reached the point Where hl8 hoed crops are npule 
clean and the soil mellow without touching a 
hand hoe to the work. In most instances this 
can be attained, but success in a great measure 
depends on the kind of farming to which the 
field has been subjected for some years previous. 
The rule with the farmer should be to cultivate 
every crop thoroughly, fight the weeds on all 
occasions, and always leave the surface of the 
land in a smooth condition when the crop is 
taken from it. This course is not only the best 
one for the immediate crop, but it is likewise 
most favorable for the one succeeding. 
How would we manage a potato field? Let 
us see. Suppose it was a crisp, clover sward, 
well set, clean, smooth and not hilly. First, 
plow well, using a jointer, and laying the fur¬ 
rows even, and without ‘■‘balks; 1 ’ next, harrow 
fine and mark straight. Do this work as imme¬ 
diately preceding planting as possible. The soil 
will remain in good condition, and the weeds 
and grass will only juft start—get in the best 
condition for the cultivator to kill them—by the 
time the young potato plants can be seen along 
the rows. Now put in the cultivators and mel¬ 
low up the soil, throwing little ridges of dirt 
close along the hills. Where the cultivators 
stop there will yet be a space around each hill, 
and amODg the plants untouched; xhe weeds will 
be there, and the ruiu-formed crust. Your father 
would, in his time, have taken his hoe and toiled 
day after day, giving the crop the first hoeing. 
You can do better. The young potatoes are not 
tender; they like fresh dirt; so yon must con¬ 
trive some plan to cover them slightly. If the 
cultivating has been skillfully done, and the 
fresh dirt ridged up somewhat along the rows, 
then a good brush harrow drawn by two lively 
horses will do the work. A harrow might be 
cheaply made especially designed for this work. 
The requisites are lightness, and short and 
thickly set teeth. If, when the work is done, 
the potatoes are covered out of sight, it is just 
as well; they will reappear in a day or two fresh 
and vigorous from contact with mother earth ; 
hut the weeds, not so strong rooted, will not 
appear so quick. Keep the cultivator at work 
in the field until the vines are tall enough to hill 
op, and then we have many cultivators, (thauks 
to the inventors even if they do dabble in patent 
rights, i that will do the hilling and leave not a 
weed in sight. After this Uj e crop grows rapidly, 
the vines lop over and cover the ground, and the 
cultivation is ended. But towards autumn it is 
well enough to go over the field and pull out 
any intruding plants whose vitality lias with¬ 
stood the cultivator. 
The corn crop may be managed the same way, 
only it will not do to use the brush harrow on it. 
For this reason—the tenderness of the young 
plant—a crop of potatoes can be kept clean with 
less trouble than one of corn. You must be 
careful of the young corn; it is tender and will 
not flourish if bruised and handled roughly. 
But it has a different habit of growth from the 
potato, and soon gets tall enough to allow dirt 
to be throwu around the base of the stalks. 
"When this time arrives the fanner must be active 
with the cultivator. He runs a race with the 
weeds. But riding on his two-horse sulky culti¬ 
vator which rolls the dirt to the corn rows and 
screens away the lumps and stone, he wins the 
race and the corn is clean, without the slashing 
of a hoe blade around a single hill. 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 
The following plan to aid m preventing injury 
to grain and hay crops from storms during har¬ 
vest, is offered by A. Watson of Washington, 
D. 0., for the consideration of farmers, county 
officials, telegraph companies, hoards of trade, 
agricultural societies, the press, and the public, 
generally. The idea, or plan, is not original, as 
a similar one was proposed and discussed in the 
Rural New-Yorker several years ago, by an 
accomplished Meteorologist — M. F. Maury, 
theu Superintendent of the National Observa¬ 
tory, Washington. In a scries of able articles 
on the subject of Meteorology J'W Farmer a, he 
invited, through the pages of this journal, the 
co-operation of farmers and Agricultural Socie¬ 
ties in aiding to extend to the Lakes uud the Land 
the beautiful aud valuable system of physical 
research which was proving so beneficial upon 
the Sea,— and promised the rural population 
results which should be as valuable to the indus¬ 
trial pursuits on shore as those already Obtained 
had proved to be to commerce and navigation. 
Connected with this plau of Lieut. M., was a 
system of (Telegraphic Meteorology , which has 
since been adopted to a greater or less extent in 
other countries. In an article entitled “Meteo¬ 
rology for the Lukes and the Lake Region,” 
published in the Klral of Feb. 20,1858, Lieut. 
Maury expressed the opinion that, “by a 
proper use of the magnetic telegraph as a 
meteorological appliance, warning of the ap¬ 
proaching storm might be given to the ship¬ 
ping in port and the laborer in the field, several 
hours in advance, and quite in time to save 
annually to the farmer, merchant and mariner, 
life and property not a little.” And in the same 
article Lieut. M. averred that “with a proper 
system of daily walker reports through the tele¬ 
graph, the people aud the shipping of this 
country might have timely warning qf every storm 
that ids ite our shores.” 
As we believed the subject an important one 
at that time, and gave its discussion the most 
prominent position in the Rural, we arc glad 
to have it again brought before the public, and 
commend the suggestions of Mr. Watson to the. 
consideration (with a view to future action,) of 
the great mass of people who are interested. 
Though the plan cannot he fully tested the 
present season—the harvest having already com¬ 
menced In some regions — a beginning may be 
made, sufficient to test its utility, preparatory 
to its more general adoption (in case it proves 
valuable) throughout the principal rural dis¬ 
tricts of a country which should be first on the 
globe in Agricultural Production and Wealth. 
But to Mr. Watson’s article, which is entitled 
STORM. SIGNALS DURING HARVEST. 
It is estimated that one-third of the grain and 
hay crops are on an average injured annually by 
storms during harvest. Large quantitles are cut 
down, and then a storm coincB on suddenly, or 
as a settled rain, and they get wet to a degree 
that they are damaged materially, the labor of a 
year often being lost by a single heavy rain. 
These storms when of considerable duration 
generally commence in the Northwest, and fre¬ 
quently extend over several States to the ocean. 
If farmers had i earning of these approaching 
storms hi time to get their grain or hay under 
cover, or in a situation to shut out the rain, much 
of this injury would be prevented. By adopting 
the following general plan it Is believed that 
this may be effected: 
When a storm commences in any part of the 
country and is traveling in a certain direction or 
is spreading in several directions, the first tele¬ 
graph station over which it passes is to send the 
news immediately to all the telegraph station.-, 
at county seats, hundreds of tiiilea in advance, 
in the direction that the storm is traveling. At 
each county seat a cannon is to he kept ready by 
the officials, at the Court House, as soon as the 
news is received of a coming storm it is to be 
fired three times; at intervals of one minute If a 
hurricaue is approaching, at intervals of three 
minutes if the storm is traveling rapidly, and at 
intervals of sU minutes if it is traveling slowly. 
And even a fourth gun ought t<> be fired, the in¬ 
terval from the third in seconds, giving the dis¬ 
tance that the storm is otf, seconds for miles; 
but this last may not be deemed Important, If 
a county scat has no telegraph, the tiring can of¬ 
ten he by sound from the next county scat. 
As a good sized canuon can be heard distinctly 
from fifteen to twenty miles in r.ll directions, or 
over a space of from thirty to forty miles square, 
(1,600 square miles,)by firing one at. each county 
seat the farmers for hundreds of miles over the 
whole country could be warned in time to get 
their grain or hay under cover, or in a situation 
to shut out the rain. And this warning would 
not only aid in preventing damage to hay, wheat, 
rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, peas, beans, and 
many other products, but it would also be use¬ 
ful In drying or curing fodder, tobacco and 
cotton, and In drying brick and many other 
products and manufactures too numerous to 
mention. It would be useful in seeding time, 
spring and fall, us well as in harvest, and might 
even be useful iu winter.. It would also be use¬ 
ful to commerce on our extended coasts, and 
particularly on our numerous bays, rivers and 
lakes, and especially in severe - » ms and hurri¬ 
canes, by warning vessels to seetl places of safety 
or prepare for the coming stornt And, finally, 
it would be useful In nil sens* A, umi to every 
business, city or country, and to U . cry individual 
in the entire cwmmuuity. V 
It may be remarked that tills Elan Is In direct 
imitation of nature as exhibited ti storms during 
summer, the thunder being oftef heard long be¬ 
fore the clouds arc even seen. The telegraph 
represents the lightning, aud the cannon the 
thunder, but nature is vastly surpassed in time 
and extent, as the flash will be understood, and 
the roar will be heard at the same moment, hun¬ 
dreds of miles In advance of the real lightning 
aud the thunder. 
The cost of the plan will be trifling compared 
to the advantage gained. Many county seats 
own cannon which can be fired by some of the 
officials or employees round the court house. 
The actual expense willonly be the costofashort 
telegram from the next, county scat about once 
a week for three or four mouths during summer 
and the additional cost of a few kegs of powder. 
The whole cost to each county w ill not be more 
than fifty dollars annually, while from tins 
trifling outlay tens of thousands will be saved 
to each county, millions of dollars to each of the 
larger grain and grass growing States, aud per¬ 
haps one hundred million of dollars annually to 
the whole United States. 
As every county seat does not own a cannon 
suitable for a storm gun, and as the State and 
National arsenals have a great abundance of any 
size desired, all deficiencies may be supplied 
from those sources, and thus these eauuon now 
lying Idle will be put to a useful purpose, and 
these destructive engines of war will be con¬ 
verted into implements of husbandry by being 
used to imitate thunder to give warning of tip* 
preaching storms many hour.-, in advance ol the 
real thunder or the rain. 
If this plan should meet with general approval 
arrangements should be made to carry it into 
operation in time for the coming harvest, not 
only in our own country hut also in Canada, and 
throughout Europe. Such arrangement may be 
made betw een the county officials and a tele¬ 
graph company, or some telegraph company may 
make arrangements by circular with the county 
officials in several of the States. Then if all the 
newspapers w ould publish the storm signals to 
be posted in every house over the whole country 
the plan would be complete, and in a short time 
the storm gums would commence to roar, giving 
warning of approaching storms aud hurricanes 
over vast extents of country hundreds of miles 
in advance of the actual thunder or the storm. 
■ . 
SUGAR BEET-SOIL, CULTIVATION. 
Tiie cultivation of the beet for sugar purposes, 
though carried on extensively in France and sev¬ 
eral other of tin 1 Continental States, lias excited 
little attention here till a comparatively recent 
period. Experiments, to be sure, have been 
! made, ut various poiuts, in beet culture, but 
they have been spasmodic — limited in number, 
I in pecuniary resources and the experience essen¬ 
tial to success. The increasing demind for sugar 
here, the restricted limits of the cane-growing 
region, the comnarative failure in its enltivu- 
THE EXCELSIOR FARM GATE. 
Tnu farm gate herewith illustrated was patent¬ 
ed May Stb, 1866, by A. G. Barnard of Ohio, 
aud is claimed to be the cheapest and best 
for the purpose designed, yet offered to the pub¬ 
lic. Its points of excellence are: 
1st, It is entirely free from the objections 
to farm gates on the score of cost, complication 
in construction nud is said not to be liable to 
get out of working order or be impeded iu its 
action by snow. 2d, It is so constructed as to 
lock in with and form part of a hoard fence in 
sueli manner as to make a firm and durable 
hinge without an extra post, heuce costing 
little more than a panel of plain fence— ouly 
35 cents, the inventor claims. If desirable it 
may he made self-shutting. 
For further information, address H. B. Nor¬ 
ton, No. 10 Baker’s Block, Rochester, N. Y. 
C O NT VHESTI KNUD HAY OR GRAIN RACK. 
A correspondent, “A. M.,” from Youngs- | 
ville, Pa., sends us the accompanying sketch 
and descriptions of o rack for hauling hay or 
grain, the advantages of which, he says, “are 
lightness and ease of construction — two men 
being able to place it easily upon a wagon — and 
cheapness and durability.” 
“ The largest stuff in it is one-iuch boards. It 
consists of two boards 10 feet long and about 14 
inches wide for the sides; four boards 4 feet 3 
inches long and about 8 inches wide notched 
into the bottom edge of the side boards, also 
four boards Obj feet long, and the same width, 
notched into the npper edge ol' the side hoards, 
directly over the four bottom boards. Bore ft 
one-inch auger hole through the top and bottom 
boards so that a one-inch pin will just pass the 
‘outside of the side boards; again, boro a bole 
through both hoards so that a second pin will 
just pass the side board on the inside and you have 
tion, owing to the rigor3 of the season, the in¬ 
creasing success of the beet sugar manufacture 
in Europe, have conspired to renew the interest 
in beet culture in the United States. It is too 
late in the seasou to seed for a crop for fall use, 
hut it ia early enough to consider the matter 
with reference to the future, and to commence a 
preparation of the ground for that purpose. 
Assuming that some of our readers may feel an 
interest in the subject, we have condensed from 
a book recently published and noticed elsewhere, 
a few hints with reference to the soil requisite to 
success in beet culture, the manner of preparing 
it for the seed and the cultivation of the crop. 
The ground should be mellow, warm, fertile, 
free from saline and alkaline constituents, not 
sour, and of a nature not likely to suffer mate¬ 
rially from drought; easy to work late in au¬ 
tumn and early in spring, with a permeable 
subsoil readily penetrable by the tap-root of the 
beet; affording natural, or a chance for artificial 
drainage, enabling it to be worked soon after 
rains. All lands, suited to growing grain, will 
answer for the beet, but more especially those 
having a depth of from twelve to lil'teeu inches 
of rich vegetable mold. Fine, sandy, alluvia) 
bottom lauds, overflowed in winter and spring, 
are favorable for the beet, as they need no arti¬ 
ficial manures — the inundation supplying all 
that is necessary. Tim ground should be thor¬ 
oughly cultivated, and the sod, if any, entirely 
rotted. Newly broken up land should lie crop¬ 
ped with oats one season as a preparation for the 
beet-. If the soil is good and well cultivated, 
two crops of beets iu succession may be raised 
before changing to something else. If the soil 
is plowed sufficiently deep the root of the beet 
will not rise much above the surface, which is 
better, as more sugar is thereby produced. Deep 
plowing, therefore, should be a prime consid¬ 
eration. 
It is customary in France to plow and harrow 
the way of making the rack. Make the wooden 
pins with a head on the under side, and wedge 
them on the top; It will take 10 pins for the 
rack. Or the pins may be made of half-inch 
rod Iron with a nut on the top, having pieces of 
hoop iron, two holes in each, to go over both 
rods as a washer. The rack should he made Just 
wide enough for tiie side boards to lit within the 
upright stakes of the wagon, which usually is 
about 3 feet 2 or 3 inches. The short ladder at 
the forward end, should be about 4 feet high; It 
is made by boring two 2-ineh holes through the 
top and bottom boards, which give It a firm 
hold. Iu the cut the hind wheels are repre¬ 
sented as covered with hoops; it may he. made 
without them by placing 4 by 4-inch scantling 
on the wagon bolsters, and having wider hoards 
for the sides to raise the rack, so that two hoards 
16 feet long aud 8 inches wide will go the whole 
length on top; then hoops will not be needed.’’ 
the land thoroughly in the fall —first applying 
manure if any is needed. In the spring it is 
plowed and harrowed again. Some throw it 
into ridges while others leave a plane surface. 
If ridges are made they are flattened down by a 
roller and the seed sown in drills upon them by 
machinery—the rows being from 18 to 20 inches 
apart. 
If the season he favorable planting may be 
commenced the latter part of April. The seed 
should he rubbed between two boards for the 
purpose of toning down its asperities, thus allow¬ 
ing it to filter freely and evenly through the 
seeding drill. When thus rubbed and cleaned, 
a solution of the sulphate of potash and an equal 
one of that of lime, using warm water first and 
afterwards cold, should he prepared sufficient to 
cover and soak the seed. This wiU take about 
six hours. It should then be mixed well with 
slaked lime, wood ashes or piaster of Paris till 
coated over. Wheu dried it will pass readily 
through the seeding machine, which should be 
gauged so as to plant from an inch and a half to 
two inches deep according to the quality of 
the soil. 
As the plants are finally to stand about one 
fuot apart in the drills, seed enough should be 
sown to allow of a liberal thinning, if uccessary, 
and to supply vacant places where the seed, ftom 
any cause, fails to germinate. From nino to 
thirteen pounds to the acre is the customary 
rule of seeding. The drills should be as straight 
as possible, as it greatly facilitates cultivation. 
When the seeding ia done a roller should be 
passed over the surface, as it hastens germina¬ 
tion. As soon as the plants appear aud weeds 
come with them, the cultivator should be put in 
motion, destroying the latter and loosening up 
the ground around the former. Where vacant 
places appear, fill them up by transplanting 
from other parts having a surplus. It is all 
important to keep the crop clear of weeds, hence 
