flCRTcULT URg - ^ 
jgSgSSi 
PROCRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
learn this art. The top of a stack thatched half 
or two-thirds of the way down from the peak to 
the bulge would be safe, and with an assistant, 
aud materials already prepared, as they might 
be iu winter time and stored—an expert worker 
would effectually thatch a grain stack of five 
hundred bushels’ capacity in three hours, so as 
to be perfectly safe against summer and autumn 
storms. 
clover seed, yet he could not have done so with 
profit had he not made more manure than farmers 
ordinarily do, wherewith to replace the elements 
which the seed had withdrawn. 
We advise Crrmors to grow clover seed, both 
for homo use and market, but not to regal’d it as 
a non-exhaustive crop. The field should receive 
a good dressing of manure, or, at least, be turned 
to pasture the succeeding year. At present, the 
season is one of good promise for this crop. 
Clover generally stands well; It Is heavy and 
thick,—so the foundation for the Betid crop is 
good ; then the seasonable rnlns will start the 
second growth quickly. The best way to har¬ 
vest clover seed is with a self-raking reaper, 
throwing it off in large gavels, presuming, of 
course, that the. stalks are ripe and somewhat 
dry — then let it sun a few hours, nnd load with 
barley forks without raking or otherwise disturb¬ 
ing the gavels. This course saves wasting the 
seed by shelling, as occurs when it is frequently 
handled. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850, 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AS ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
Box. HENRY R. RANDALL, LL. !>., Editor of the De¬ 
partment of Shoep Husbandry. 
Hon. T. C. TETERS, late President N. Y. State Agfi 
Society, Sontheru Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEN F. WILCOX, Associate Editor. 
BOOK FARMING 
Doubtless there are shallow books and fool¬ 
ish articles in newspapers about fanning, just as 
there are foolish farmers 
One of our subscribers, J. O. A. Bennett, 
Whiteside Co., Ill., sends ns the following plan 
and description of a farm gate, which he has had 
in use over two years. Mr. B. has no patent for 
it, and gives it for free use to readers of the 
Rural. He writes:—“The gates arc made by 
morticing 2x4 hard wood scantling in five places 
to receive the boards 13 feet long. The top 
board should ho two inches thick. Next take a 
3x4, and rabbit both edges half an inch deep 
and one and a quurter Inches wide. Bolt this 
bar, or track, to the gate, as represented, and the 
gate proper ia done. (It may be made cheaper 
by nailing together lighter stuff if deal ruble.) 
The rollers may he made of wood, though Iron 
ones are much prcferable v * There should bo 
dowels, 1), I), to fasten the gutca when shut. 
The gates slide hack from the center each way 
to the poBts, B, B, and the fence should start 
from the posts, A, A. The gates will shut by 
their owu'weight, bnt to hold them open when 
desirable have hooks properly placed.” 
The Rural New-Yorksb l* designed to be un.Mir- 
passed la Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents. Ita 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rural a Reli¬ 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business or those 
•whose Interests It zealously advocates. As a Family 
Journal It I* eminently Instructive and Entertaining— 
being so conducted that it can be safely taken to the 
Homes of people oflntelllKence, 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 Aoriccltcral, 
Literary and Family Newspaper in America. 
bnt as there arc wise 
farmers so are there wise books and able articles 
on Agriculture, helping greatly to still broader 
wisdom, and still more skillful practice. 
We are social beings and like to tell each 
other what we tire about. A good farmer leans 
over the fence to rest and talk with his neighbor, 
and they tell each other the what and how of their 
crops. It’s a cheery talk, and they learn mutu¬ 
ally. This is a day of newspapers and books. 
One of these farmers thinks to himself Bomo wet 
tiny, “i’ll just write down how I raised Unit big 
crop of corn and send it to the newspaper” —and 
he does it. When it is in print it la only that 
talk over the fence dressed up u little for a 
larger audience, aud a good many learn by it 
instead of one. 
Some man, skilled in using words, and with 
more time and means, writes a book of bis 
experience and experiment on some branch of 
farming. “Like produces like.” If he is a sen¬ 
sible man it will he a sensible book —just a 
longer talk over the. fence, made more system¬ 
atic aud fixed up to see good company and a 
good deal of it. Farmers think a good deal in 
these days, and with growing thought comes 
talk, writing, systematizing, scientific research, 
labor-saving nnd skillful work. A workman 
without thought iB a blind giant striking and 
tugging In t he dark; an intelligent workman is 
a trained athlete , whose every blow goes home, 
whose every motion is swiftly efficient to its 
end, and who wastes no power. 
An oyster may think a little, in a slow faint 
way, but they don’t have printing presses aud 
telegraphs on the oyster beds. A man thinks 
broadly and swiftly, and must give nnd take of 
the fruits of work and thoughts with his fellows. 
A farmer is close to Nature, and all her realm 
of wonderful laws, and subtle and persistent, 
forces, and myriad facts or phenomena, lie 
tends toward Natural Science, and begins to 
see that the farm and garden offer ample scope 
for the best culture of brain and the finest scien¬ 
tific education, and that the old notion that a 
dull boy might stay on the farm and a bright 
one go to College to lit for some “learned pro¬ 
fession ” was a mistake, ltlght in the soil is the 
place where the best education can be put to 
excellent use, and pay in wealth of fife as well as 
wealth of purse. Thus books and journals on 
farming aud its kiudred line arts of fruit grow¬ 
ing arid gardening grow naturally out of these 
thinking times , and are the means, indispensable 
as well as Inevitable, by which we tell each other 
what we know. 
The benefits of rotation of crops, crossing of 
breeds in stock, underdraining, keeping and in¬ 
creasing needed constituents in the soil to pro¬ 
duce certain crops, and sundry other important 
matters, which are comprehension and applica¬ 
tion of Nature’s Laws—Scientific Farming—are 
becoming well understood and well applied. 
Book farming has helped in all this, and will 
help more, and we shall comprehend and prac¬ 
tice things dimly seen now—as for Instance this 
matter of the protecting and equalizing influence 
of forests and groves on crops and climate. So 
let book farming—the record of experience, the 
interchange of thought —go on, only let saga¬ 
cious common sense and clear insight rule. 
PLAN OF A RURAL COTTAGE. 
One of our Western correspondents, II. R. 
Zanders, sends us the accompanying plans and 
description of a farm house, or rural cottage, 
the roadside—in unoccupied nooks about the 
farm—mucky depositee, rich in fertilizers, which 
a little timely labor would scatter over the newly 
shorn meadow, shielding the surface from the 
effect of drouth, while Imparting renewed vigor 
to the vegetation rising from it. Timely care 
and labor in this direction never fail to remuner¬ 
ate those by whom they are bestowed. 
tivcly clean and dryTor weeks, without changing 
or removing to dry it. When it is desirable to 
cleanse the pits or tanks under the gratings, It 
is only necessary to dasn a bucket or two of 
water into it. 
XW For Terms and other particulars see last page, 
STACKS AND STACKING, 
PERIODICAL STORMS-SAVING HAY 
AND GRAIN. 
FLOORS FOR STABLES. 
Many of our readers may he interested In 
learning how to construct uood stable Uoors, 
and we think the following remarks and advice 
sensible. We extract them from a communica¬ 
tion to the Germantown Telegraph by J. Wil¬ 
kinson, Baltimore; 
Stone pavements, whether for stall floors for 
cattle or horses, for box stallB or calf pens, or 
for bog pens, should be set In coarse sand or 
gravel fully ten inches in depth. The stones 
need not be more than four or five inches in 
depth, nnd three to live inches In their cross sec¬ 
tion at the upper end Is a good size. They 
should bo set in the loose saud, at least three 
inches higher than the floor is to he when fin¬ 
ished, aud be rammed with a heavy shod rammer 
until the desired grade is established, having 
first given them a light dressing of gravel. 
Wlieii the ramming process is completed, the 
gravel and sand should be swept off and from 
between the stones to the depth of two inches; 
then prepare sharp sand by drying it quite dry 
by heating it in a large iron pan or an arch ket¬ 
tle; then mix coal tar one part and coal tar 
pitch two parts, heat it and stir it until it is as 
hot as it will bear to be and not ignite, and pour 
it with a ladle onto the pavement, until the In¬ 
terstices are nearly full, and Immediately cover 
it with the hot, dry sand, which will settle into 
the hot pitch ; then more should be added until 
no more will sink. Should any remain on the 
surface, It may be swept off after the pitch is cold. 
This will leave an excellent surface, free from 
holes or cavities, an invaluable characteristic In 
stable floors, and withal it is us durable as if it 
were constructed all of hard stone. The urine 
runs off rapidly, if it is laid with a proper dip to 
the point of discharge, which, of course, it should 
always have. 
The most perfect horse stall floors that I have 
constructed of this material are arranged tints: 
Make the entire surface of the floor of each stall 
level at its margins, that is the surface of the 
floor on either side, and front and rear all per¬ 
fectly level, giving it u slope of half un inch to 
the front on all sides towards the center. At 
this point I set a grating or lattice of east iron, 
two feet by two lect four inches, In a cast iron 
frame. The grating fits loosely In the frame, 
1' in st Floor.- A Parlor, 10x16 : E, Bed Room, 21x9 
R, Red Room, 12x9; F, Pantry, 12x7; C, Kitchen, 
1 6 x12; Ch ClOaet, 9x4; D, Living Room, 10x10; II, 
which has been found neat and convenient in 
Western sections of the country. It represents 
a cottage cheap enough to be within easy reach 
of men of modcrute means, which consideration 
will attract the attention of many, and may give 
some a valuable hint. From the plans given of 
the first and second floors any competent me¬ 
chanic can work out the proper elevation. 
ten acres per day with a few hands. Great care 
should bo used that hay does not get wet; avoid 
even the dew. If not put in cock, let it he 
ruked into winrows. Grass should be exposed 
to the sun but three or four houre, and then, if 
too green, cured in cock. More hay is injured 
by too much than too little curing in the sun. 
Hay will bear to be put into the mow with some 
sap, but no water. Barn doors should he closed 
at night; currents of air injure the hay in mow. 
It comes out better from tight titan open barns. 
Our brother farmers may not believe in this the¬ 
ory of storms, but if not, let them observe and 
refute it. e. w. s. 
LATE MOWN MEADOWS. 
GROWING CLOVER SEED. 
It frequently happens that meadows, mown 
late in the season, sutler severely from the scorch* 
ing August sun. The roots of the gross become 
parched and frequently killed, affecting adverse¬ 
ly the succeeding crop. In sueh cases it is re¬ 
commended to give a liberal top-dressing of 
barnyard manure, if available, as a screen from 
tbe rays of the sun and to promote a quicker 
and more luxuriant growth of aftermath. It 
would be good policy to make special provision 
for such an application to lands designed for 
permanent meadows, as they would bo certain 
to payback many fold the cost incurred, by their 
increased and continually increasing productive¬ 
ness. There can frequently be found in gutters by 
Clover Seed is frequently a very remunerative 
crop to the farmer, considering only the amount 
of trouble and labor required to produce it. But 
the practice ol taking a crop of bay and then one 
of Eeed is exhaustive to the eoil, especially when 
it is followed by immediate plowing for a grain 
crop. To sustain fertility under this system, 
heavy applications of barnyard manure arc neces¬ 
sary. Still, we believe it is the common opinion 
of farmers that a clover seed crop i- nearly clear 
gain at least; that it does not particularly dimin¬ 
ish the productive capacity of the soil. But that 
honored farmer, John Johnson of Geneva, says 
though he has grown large and many crops of 
Mowing in the Moon.— A mralist writes the 
Cultivator that he has “proved by actual experi¬ 
ment that the easiest and safest way to destroy 
Canada Thistles is to mow them In the old of the 
moou tn August. Once mowing often has the 
desired effect, but generally they will want to bo 
mown the second year.” 
