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TERMS, *3.00 PER YEAR.3 
PROCURESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
YOL, XYIII. NO. 38.1 ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPT. M. 1887. WHOLE NO. m. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1860. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
11 ORTOrNAL WBRKLT 
AGRICULTURAL, UTERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With as Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
Ho*. HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL. D., Editor of fee De- 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
HOH. T. C. PETERS, late President N. 7. State Agl 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZE5 F. WILCOX, Associate Editor. 
AGRICULTURAL NOTES 
FROM FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND.—No. HL 
BY H. D. X.. &WEKT. 
Plate, August, 1867. 
The route from Berne to Geneva lay through 
rather a rough country, if heavy cuts, extensive 
hills, mighty bridges and long tunnels, are any 
indications,—but the glimpses of their cultiva¬ 
tion showed the same perfect and thorough til¬ 
lage of everything. The vines seemed to climb 
a little higher up the hills, aud to be a little more 
forward, as the trimmers were in many places 
busy, and the harvester in the valley of the 
Rhone was cutting spring wheat, barley and oats. 
Some little patches of Indian corn looked as 
4*.,A. ,1 ■»*nw jtroon 
corn by-aud-by, aud several plantations of to¬ 
bacco, of a few square rods each, looked as good 
as is usual in Onondaga at the same time of year, 
Round Geneva all was loveliness. Up the 
valley of the Arve to Chaumouy, by diligence, 
gave another excellent opportunity to see the 
people at various kinds of labor, and us the 
stream was ascended the effect of altitude again 
upon the same productions and same soil 
was easily observable in every hour’s travel. 
For the first thirty miles the country was princi¬ 
pally cultivated in grain, much of which had 
been gathered, and in many instances women 
were spading up the stubble and planting cab¬ 
bages. In some instances women were wielding 
a heavy hoe, scarifying the surface of what was 
a meadow, taking olf about an inch of the. turf, 
which in other places was dry enough to be piled 
up aud burned. Further up were some mead¬ 
ows on Hat land, the tlrst I had seen where a 
mowing machine would have worked splendidly 
—but womeu were mowing swaths about three 
feet wide, iu gras& that would cut about a ton 
per acre. Some was being loaded upon carts 
and drawn to the barns quite respectably. The 
grass usually was of the wild kind apparently, 
although French clover or Lucerne was the kind 
usually cultivated in connection or alternation 
with grain. Although clover seed was for sale 
in the market of Berne, I had thus far seen no 
field of Clover, but on this route 1 did espy a lit¬ 
tle, mixed with other grass. 
Above the baths of St. Gervuis we left the 
valley proper und entered a gorge in the moun¬ 
tains, and for eight or ten miles the agriculture 
was nothing to brag of. We emerged at length 
in the little valley of Chaumony, beautiful to 
view and fruitful withal. Its great altitude, over 
3,500 feet, bounded on the south-east by the 
Mont Blanc chain, with its gigantic ice cataracts, 
and live immense glaciers, tbut creep or crawl 
even down among the habitations of men, and 
on the north-west by mountains of immense 
magnitude, it seems almost impossible to raise 
auything in the cereal line. Here were growing 
about all the kinds of grains that are usually 
cultivated. Wheat nearly ready to cut, heavy 
and good; grass, better than in many places; 
oats rank, aud potatoes covering the ground, 
though widely planted; flax, pretty good, and 
only hemp that looked light and rather short. 
From the summit of Moutanverte I looked 
upon the Mer dt Glace , a frozen sea two leagues 
in length, one of the most sublime things In Na¬ 
ture. 1 turned to the left aud the fruitful valley 
of the C’haumony met my gaze, thousands of 
feet below, one of the most beautiful and en¬ 
chanting spots that it has ever been my good 
fortune to see. 
A deep, deuse fog, that hovered in the vale. 
Rose slowly upward aud revealed to sight 
Tbe fearful beauties of the Mer de Glace. 
Near me, and on my right, in silence stand 
The frozen waves, sharp, clear, and well defined,— 
The glassy peuka, the Alps iu miniature,— 
Beyond, more rounded grown, as though a storm 
Had only just been hushed; and further still, 
Where all seems calm and quiet as a lake. 
Or ripples frozen by the passing breeze, 
That put the flush upon Us tranquil face. 
More nearly scanned, the deep blue valley, ’twixt 
The toppling crests, grows a crevasse; beyond 
The lighter tinge, a crevice, or a seam, 
Down which the brooks descend and disappear, 
But come again to light as Arveiron, 
How cold the scene, how cheerless, yet how grand! 
Nothing like life; nothing to cheer the heart; 
And yet, entranced and awed, I stand and gaze 
Upon this emblem of a cheerless death, 
Where desolation savage reigns supreme. 
And then upon the vale of Chaumony, 
The little village, and the village ehnreh, 
Whose vesper bell just bends the. ambient air; 
The golden fields of every varied hue, 
The little squares of every tinge of green, 
The vine-clad slope, with foliage rank and dark. 
The strip of flax, just, blossoming In blue, 
The yellow wheat, that, waving, seems to ask 
Some stalwart harvester to try his scythe, 
The noisy herdsman, with his blatant horn, 
That calls the goats from off their rocky cliffs, 
The merry tinkle of their little hells. 
That scatter music like a noisy Till, — 
All speak of life, all speak or joy and hope, 
While the descending sun, that seems to tip 
The mountain-top6 with crowns of molten gold, 
Adda a transcendant beauty to the scene. 
From Genova the route down the Rhone val¬ 
ley was a continual panorama of pleasant pic¬ 
tures, rural and otherwise. The harvest was 
going on splendidly, and the weather was all 
that the husbandman could ask. Large quanti¬ 
ties of grain stood iu the Hold In shocks—some 
put up rather slovenly and some capitally— just 
it. ih clone probably the world over. Those 
who were drawing in seemed to bind on the 
loads with cords, whic h, under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, seemed useless. Women were doubling 
up gavels, ready for the men to bind, and they 
made their bands by twisting; very few had 
rakes, but many wore gleaning by hand in the 
fields where the bundles had been removed. It 
all seemed slow. 
As we were leaving the valley of the Rhoue, 
up a lateral valley, we crossed a marsh for some 
distance, which gradually grew dryer, and finally 
we came to an immense meadow and several 
smaller ones. In some from two to live teams 
were loading at once, but in the largest there 
were twenty-three loadB being loaded at once. 
There was a spot for a mowing machine trial, it 
was now night, but the next morning we wore 
in the valley of an aHluont ot' the Seine, in an 
immense harvest field. No sooner was it light 
enough to see clearly than men, women and 
ehidren were out and at It. There were not 
enough, by any means, and much will suffer for 
a lack of labor in a laud that has a million able- 
bodied men under arms, dressed in gewgaws. 
Perhaps, In traveling 150 miles, nearly all in 
grain fields, we saw a dozen old - fashioned, 
straight cradles, with lingers about two feet 
long, and handled very clumsily. The grain was 
heavy and in places badly lodged, with poppies 
and vines growing through it. No reapers, no 
horse-rakes, no horse-forks, no nothing —mostly 
being cut by women with sickles; it seemed as 
though they had gone back oue hundred years, 
and were verging on barbarism. I might exease 
such things in the mountains of Switzerland, 
but within sight of the Puutlioou Iu Paris, ou 
the plains of Fontainebleau, ’tis worse than folly, 
’tis wickedness. I hope the time will come 
when civilized nations will cease to war, when 
men will cultivate the earth, and women not be 
made beasts of burden. 
- - - ■ --- 
RURAL FARMERS’ CLUB. 
Fruit and Shrev in Missouri. 
Clarke Irvine sends us the following state¬ 
ment from Holt Co., Mo.: — “Seeing in your 
journal an article ou emigration to Missouri, I 
feel it my duty to speak of this particular couuty 
in connection with the growing of grapes and 
dwarf pears. An experience of many years in 
the growing of dwarf pears in Holt Co. enables 
me to say that no country that I have ever heard 
of equals this in that respect. The trees seem 
to be entirely exempt from disease, aud the fruit 
grows in abundance and of the largest aud most 
luscious kind. Curiously enough the region 
twenty miles north or south aud cast or west 
of us is not so favorable as this particular spot. 
Our prairies are remarkably exempt from de¬ 
structive pests. It is no new thing for us to 
6 ee peach bloom covered with a white froBt, yet 
the fruit not affected thereby, 'i'hIs is explained 
by the extreme aridity of the atmosphere. A 
fro6t which in Ohio would destroy everything 
in bloom, will here be harmless. Within a few 
AILAN'rHUS SIXjK WORM MOTH— (Bombyx Cynthia.) 
Some considerable effort has been made to 
introduce aud acclimate tbe Ailauthus Silk 
Worm in the United States. The Chinese have 
employed it for ages to fabricate a species of 
silk from the leaves of the ailanthus tree, which 
product, however, is of a coarser texture than 
that furnished by the mulberry worm, but of so 
durable a character that garments of It are said 
to have becu worn by three generations. Some 
cocoons of this insect were introduced into 
France iu 1857 where it has since become natu¬ 
ralized, arid promises to develop into a profita¬ 
ble industry. As yet tlie efforts to introduce it 
into this couutry have not been as successful. 
There are more natural enemies lor it to contend 
with,—but extended and thorough experiments 
have not yet been made in our regions that are 
most favorable to its success. 
years several persons have turned their attention 
to grape culture with marvelous success. The 
Concord seems to be the favorite. I have been 
here thirteen years and have never seen frost in¬ 
jurious to gardens or fruits. 
“ That same dryness of atmosphere which pro¬ 
tects us from frost is favorable to the health ol‘ 
sheep, aud I have wondered at wool growers In 
the East who invcBt thousands of dollars in 
sheep, and pay out large sums annually for pas¬ 
turage in those damp regions, while here are 
millions on millions of ueres of free range in a 
high, dry latitude, perfectly exempt from all 
causes of disease to the animaL Wolves may 
be an objection iu Nebraska and Kansas at 
present, but there are none here. I write this, 
believing that anything that may tend to in¬ 
crease the knowledge of so valuable a new 
country as this will be gladly read by your 
patrons. I am careful to state nothing but 
facts ascertained by long residence.” 
Orchard Grass. 
A subscriber asks for information about or¬ 
chard grass. We reply that it is oue of the most 
valuable and widely cultivated of all the pasture 
grasses. It is peculiarly valuahle for pasture, 
especially on rich, moist soils, of vigorous, 
quick growth, and abides long in the land. It 
blossoms with red clover and should be sown 
with it. It is not considered exhausting to the 
soil, yet it wiU, on account of its tlbrous roots, 
Tbe ailanthus tree, the leaves of which form 
the chief food of the worm, is well known here, 
and is a vigorous grower and easily propagated. 
For the use of the worm it should he trained 
low arid in the form of hedges or thickets. The 
worms live aud work in the open air, and aro 
hardy as the tree itaelf. They hang their cocoons 
on the toot stalks of the? leaves, whore they are 
handily gathered. No costly nursery houses will 
bo needed, aud it has been estimated that a quar¬ 
ter of the expense that is required to produce a 
pound of silk from the mulberry will make as 
much from the ailanthue. We apprehend, how¬ 
ever, that cheap labor, also, will be required to 
make a profit, though if successful, like bee¬ 
keeping, it might furnish 6 ome profitable em¬ 
ployment to those with little capital and unfitted 
to do hard work. 
endure shade and drouth well. As it is a rapid 
grower it endures close pasturing, and should 
be thus treated, and also sown thickly to pre¬ 
vent the formation of tussocks or bunches, to 
which it naturally tends. The seed weighs twelve 
or fourteen pounds to the bushel, and should be 
sown at the rate of one bushel per acre when 
mixed with clover, or double that quantity if 
alone. 
ited in the comb ? If the comb is formed from 
the oil extract of honey, does it not seem rea¬ 
sonable that as fast as the comb gr* v it would 
be tilled with honey ? Yet such is not the caso. 
We Uml the comb ready and piy/lectly formed 
before a drop of honey has be tv deposited in 
it!” 
•— ■ ■■ ■■ »» - ■ —— 
THE BREEDING 07 t’lWlisE. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker. —No subject is so 
much neglected iu our Agricultural papers an 
that of swine breeding. The breeding of alicep, 
cattle and horses receives abundant attention, 
aud is fast becoming a science, but ignorance 
aud erroneous opinions in regard to swine breed¬ 
ing prevail very generally, I propose to offer 
some bints on the subject which donotall apply 
to other animals. 
Wliat we desire in a hog Is that he mature at an 
early age, and make the most and best pork pos¬ 
sible from a given amount of food, with the 
least possible refuse. In other stock two or 
three qualities are to bo bred for, which are an¬ 
tagonistic. Cattle are kept for their labor, their 
milk and their flesh. While you are breeding 
them for their llesli you arc destroying their 
milking qualities. UorscB are kept for their 
speed, aud also for their strength in draft. 
When you breed them for the latter quality you 
lose in the former. Sheep aro kept for their wool 
and flesh, and those that are valuable for wool 
are not valuable for flesh. The ease Is similar 
with all animals, except the hog, which Is brod 
for its flesh alone. Farmers ave strangely igno¬ 
rant hero. 1 have been breeding swine, and ex¬ 
hibiting them at our State Fairs and fairs ot 
other States, for ten years, and the common ex¬ 
pression of farmers lias been:—“ Your bogs are 
too fat to bread.” Even the usage of our Ag’l 
Societies has been against the successful breeding 
of Bwiuo from fleshy animals. They have given 
their premiums for hogs that would not carry 
flesh while growing and breeding. 1 claim that 
we can Just as well have swine that can carry 
flesh, grow and fatten, and at the same time 
breed and mature early, dressing 300 to -W0 lbs. 
at seven or eight months old. They will reach 
this weight, at tills age, kept, on less feed than 
would be required to bring our lean hogs to the 
same weight in eighteen months or two years. 
We need uot go to England to get them; they 
may not be of any particular shire. We can obtain 
them by selecting the best specimens of our na¬ 
tive Btoek, and then breeding them skillfully, 
with Judicious crossing and persevering atten¬ 
tion. This course will produce a breed that will 
seem miraculous. It is more easy with the hog 
than with any other animal, which breeds twice 
where other animals breed once, and has a much 
more numerous progeny to select from. 
But it would take a long time to perfect a 
breed in this way, and as much time should be 
gained as possible. Select, therefore, from swine 
that have been well bred for years, and are the 
nearest to perfection. Be sure to get them from 
a stock that runs even, as this shows good breed¬ 
ing better than all the pedigrees that, can begot¬ 
ten up. After you have selected give your breed 
good care and attention. For, as Mr. Waite 
' said lu his address of June 23d, 1862, before the 
I - * 
1 N. U. Ag. Society and Mechanics’ Association, 
“ No farmer can afiord to breed from inferior 
’ animals, or from good ones in an improper way.” 
1 Although he may follow closely the well estub- 
5 lished rules of breeding and crossing, Ills ani- 
1 nulls will not be superior unless they are given 
* proper food, care and attention. If the dam is 
poorly fed and cared for while carrying her 
young, the progeny will be a starveling, and its 
life will not be long enough to erase from it the 
. evidence of the ill treatment or neglect of the 
^ parent. 
In breeding and crossing we should hare a 
definite idea of the improvements wc wish to 
make, and then steadily pursue our object. If 
. our hogs are too large or too small, we should 
Notes from Oiilo.-K.imt Advice. 
., ,, ,.. . _ life will uot be long enough to erase from it the 
T. B. Fickton lumishes us some uotes on .„ , * , . , . , 
- , .. ., . .. . rr, evidence ol the ill treatment or neglect of the 
farm prospects from Akron, Ohio. He says the “ h 
drouth has been severe and cows arc for sale at P ftren ^ .... 
*20 to *25 each. The crops are good except ln brucdil1 * ftnd c . r0BBltu ? we ahould lmvc a 
corn and potatoes-the latter being very light. dtiftnite lde * 01 tbe ““Pavements wc wish to 
Apples are falling from the trees. Our corros- ««*«. a " d steadily pursue our object. If 
pendent writes that he “ took counsel from the our hogs are too large or too small, we should 
Rural and planted an extra patch or two of procure a hoar a little smaller or a little larger, 
sweet corn that comes on now very sweet. Hogs, «« thc cuae 1but be Cftreful to have the 
.. „I1 thrive ii,, t.iie corn difference slight, as wo cannot effect a cross 
sweet corn that comes ou now very sweet. Hogs, 
chickens, horses and cows all thrive on the corn 
and fodder.” He recommends feeding bitumi¬ 
nous coal to swine once or twice a week as a 
preventive of hog cholera. 
Formation of Bee Comb. 
J. B. S. writes us on this subject thus:—“I 
notice in your paper of Aug. 31st an article in 
relation to the formation of bee comb. M. W. 
Lei. and of Rochester, Minn., says that the comb 
is not made mechanically bu( grows. How, then, 
is it, that we always find the comb ready made 
to receive the honey before any has been depoa- 
where it is considerable. You can take but a 
step at a time; if you take more the progeny 
will be uneven, some taking after the sow and 
some after the boar. 1 agree with Mr. Youatt 
on this point. He says :—“ It will not do for 
the farmer to breed too long from dose affini¬ 
ties ; ho must introduce a little different and 
yet congenial blood; he must select a male with 
points as much resembling his own stock as may 
Pc—quite as good as his own, superior if possi¬ 
ble in some points, and inferior in none; end he 
must dismiss his own male for one year and 
