Fig. t is the ground plan of a yard for storing 
manure out of rover, so arranged that no loss 
Howto store manure to avert material waste can result from leaching. Fig. 3 is a section 
until it is applied to the soil is a question recog- view of the same iu the direction of tire line, 
nizedas important by progressive fanners. The m, u ; and Fig. a is a section view in the dirce* 
chief waste in unprotected yards comes from the * tion of the line, p, q. In these figures a repre- 
natu rally be expected. Grass grown rapidly up¬ 
on very ricli land is not so solid as that, grown 
slowly upon poorer land-, but who would prefer 
the poorer land in consequence? Just before 
animals are ready tor the butchers it is well to 
feed them u few days upon dry, uncooked food, 
which will correct this softness of flesh. 
PREPARING FOOD POU STEAMING. 
The cut hay, straw and hay, or other cut feed, 
is moistened with a large watering pot (if done 
by hand,) at the rate of, at least, two gallons of 
water to five bushels of feed, while It is being 
stirred tip with a fork; then if bran, meal or 
other feed is used with it, It. should be silled on 
and mixed evenly. Two quarts of bran to the 
bushel of straw wilt render wheat, barley, oat 
and pea straw equal to good timothy hay. A 
little salt should be added, which will be per¬ 
fectly difi'uscd through the mass. The feed must 
always be moistened before .-teaming, for steam 
will not cook dry hay or straw, but only dry it 
more. Moisture is required to absorb the 
steam. In our next we shall describe the vari¬ 
ous apparatus for cooking food.— e. w, 9 . 
STORING MANURE 
special attention in the beginning of winter. 
They need shelter, water and tender food. Get 
the box stalls ready for the colts, and feed them 
some ground oats every day. They need shelter 
in bad weather and plenty of exercise all the 
time. 
Poultry .—The manure which can be saved in 
a good poultry house will pay twenty per cent, 
interest each year on its cost. Convenience to 
yourself, shelter for the fowls, and fresh eggs in 
winter may thus be had for nothing if you throw 
in a little pleasant labor. Give the poultry, then, 
a good house and make them roost in it. Don’t 
crowd the fowls, but give light, room, warmth 
and variety of food. Poultry for killing on 
Christmas and New Years should be fatten¬ 
ing now. 
Swine. — Killing hogs will be in order this 
month. For home use the fattest pork is not 
the best or healthiest, and it is doubtful if there 
will bo much profit in making very fat pork for 
the market. 
Cellars .—Overhaul the cellar and remove all 
decaying vegetables; this work should be done 
often as a safeguard against disease. A venti¬ 
lator should extend from the cellar to the top 
of the house, or connect with a chimney. 
Accounts .—Balance your accounts this month; 
pay your bills; scan your system of fanning and 
improve it; take an inventory of stock, and find 
out to a dollar on the 81st day of December how 
much you have added to your capital during the 
past year. 
Farmers' Clubs .—Organize a Farmers’ Club. 
How shall it he done? Invite a few of your 
neighbors to your house some evening; set 
good cheer before them, and talk about farm¬ 
ing, fruit growing, &c. Then your guests will 
reciprocate the invitation and there will be 
other evening meetings. So you will have a 
Farmers’ Club. You can enlarge on this plan 
as you please—have some essays, select ques¬ 
tions for discussion, and appoint a Secretary. 
You will not forget to contribute to our Farm¬ 
ers’ Club, nor, of course, to subscribe promptly 
for Moore’s Rubajl New-Yorker. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850, 
AN 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 the De¬ 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
HON. T. C. PETERS, late President N. Y. State Ak’ 1 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEN F. WILCOX, Associate Editor. 
Tns Rural New-Yorkxr Is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value. Purity, and Variety of Contents. Its 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rural a Reli¬ 
able Guide on all the lmportsnl Practical, Srlentitie. aud 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
who*e Interests It zealously advocates. As a Family 
Journal H is eminently Instructive and Entertaining — 
being >0 conducted that It eon be safely talceu to the 
Home - ol people orintelllgenee, taste and discrimination. 
It embraces more Agricultural, Hortle.nlt.urul,Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other journal,— 
rendering It by fur the most complete AoittmiLTi-RAL, 
Literary and Family Nhwscapkr In America. 
Fig. 1.—Ground Plan. 
water passing through it and currying away solu¬ 
ble elements, and many deem sheds and cellars 
lor storing and covering the manure very paying 
improvements to the farm. Doubtless they are, 
but cellars are Inconvenient In many respects 
and situations, aud covered manure requires 
SAW-FILING AND SETTING. No. II, 
sents the bottom of the yard, which is covered 
witJi a smooth pavement, d, laid in water-proof 
cement, aud slopes from the outside towards the 
reservoir, c, which is sunk entirely below. This 
cistern is also lined with a cement wall, and its 
cover is so perforated that liquids will flow into 
it. For convenience In removing the liquid 
manure or pumping it back on to the pile, 
the cistern is placed on one side of the yard. 
Around the outside of the yard runs a double 
row of curb stone, b, which project above the 
surface about six inches. Outside of this is a 
pavement, c, of common field stone, about three 
feet broad. The plan represents a yard twelve 
feet by twenty-four. 
It will be seen that if the pavement and reser¬ 
voir arc made water tight, as they should be, 
nothing can escape from the manure, pile aud 
be lost by reason of water passing through it. 
The excess of fluid is collected In the cistern, 
from whence it may be pumped back on the 
heap or conveyed to the fields; this plan also 
affords great advantages for composting ingre¬ 
dients for manure. The escape of gas is mani¬ 
festly no greater than from compost heaps under 
sheds or in cellars. 
for Terms and oilier purtienlars Bee last page, 
Figure 4 represents the large hook-toothed 
cross-cut saw. Saws with teeth of this form do 
their work most rapidly, especially in softwood. 
But few persons, however, keep them in good 
order. To do this otic requires to understand 
Clearly the principle of their operation. As be¬ 
fore stated the teeth of the cross-cut saw should 
first ' it’- off the fiber.-, of the chip on each side Of 
HINTS FOR THE MONTH 
Winter in his coming finds the farming inter¬ 
est in most respects well prepared for his reign. 
Over u lur^e portion of the country the weather 
during the latter part of the summer and au¬ 
tumn has been unprecedentedly favorable to 
the saving of crops rapidly and iu good order, 
and to the accomplishment of all necessary farm 
work. The fodder crops for winter use were 
generally good, and the grain stacks of the 
West have been thrashed and their contents 
safely secured against further injury from the 
elements. 'There should be no grown wheat 
this year. The greatest drawback to a most 
satisfactory condition of things is the long con¬ 
tinued drouth which has prevailed in Western 
New York, Western Pennsylvania, and through¬ 
out the States west of these aud north of the 
Ohio river. The want of water is felt as never 
before hi these regions, and a wonderful amount 
of trouble and labor is incurred to procure the 
necessary supplies. Some of our Western ex¬ 
changes give accounts of the hauling of water 
from the distance of eight or ten miles to sup¬ 
ply large towns ; railroad trains cannot make 
regular time for lack of water, and stock is 
driven miles daily in search of the life-giving 
fluid. Hence, if winter sets in, as it may, with¬ 
out much rain, the cold water question, will he a 
very important one with many of our readers. 
Wbai means can be used to avert suffering and 
labor, from lack of water, can only be determined 
when the circumstances of a locality are tmder- 
stood, but we suggest that farmers combine 
their efforts, as through cooperative labor they 
will be apt to accomplish most with least cost 
in this direction^ 
Fuel .—Farmers having timber lots should cull 
the dead, fallen aud worthless trees first; utter 
that it is better to cut clean as you go, and let 
a new growth spring np. Experiments have 
proved that land yields more timber if cut over 
once in twenty or twenty-five years than if the 
trees are allowed to grow a longer time. If you 
burn coal get in a full supply; you could have 
done it cheaper months ago, aud it is less costly 
now than it will he at the middle or end of win¬ 
ter. It is well to examine the peat question aud 
see what you can make out of that. Perhaps 
that low, worthless piece of ground on your 
farm would save you fifty or one hundred dol¬ 
lars yearly. 
Manure .—Draw all the manure you can on to 
your planting ground for next year and spread 
it, unless the surface is uneven enough for the 
water to wash it away. Keep the hog pens dry 
with leaves, sods, potato tops, weeds, straw — 
something which will promote the comfort of 
the stock and make manure. Dry leaves make 
Fig. 3. — Cross Section. 
considerable attention to prevent, great waste 
by overheating or “fire fanging.” Water is a 
benefit to a manure pile if it is not allowed to 
leach through it and flow away, aud generally 
it hits to be supplied to prevent “burning” in 
sheds and cellars. Our illustrations represent a 
plan of storing it without any cover, or as a son 
of Erin would phrase it, “with the cover on 
the bottom of the pile.” 
Figure 4. 
the kerf, and then, by a chisel-like cut remove it. 
In the saw we are describing, there arc, as will be 
observed, two distinct kinds of teeth. The teeth, 
a. a., arc the ordinary cross-cu tting'.teetL. xcopt 
that they are perhaps sharper poiuted and more 
phlcm shaped, (that is, more obliquely filed,) than 
usual. The hook-teeth, b. b ., are termed coring- 
teeth, their use being simply to remove the chip. 
They do not require anyset; and it is important 
that their cutting edge should be kept 1-13th of 
an inch below the points of the teeth, a. a. The 
latter teeth will wear away considerably the fast¬ 
est. Have, always, therefore, when you file 
these saws a straight-edge at hand so that you 
can be Bure the teeth, b. b., are reduced to their 
proper length. The dotted line, d. shows the 
application of the straight edge. The hook- 
teetb should be filed squarely; that is, holding 
the file always perpendicular to the saw plate. 
The pitch line of the outer edge of the hook- 
teeth should make an angle of about 30 degrees 
with a line drawn through the points of the 
teeth as shown by the dotted line, e. 
SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF WIN 
TER FOOD FOR ANIMALS.—NO. II. 
COOKING. 
The first inquiry under this head is, What is 
the effect of cooking food ? Starch, as found in 
the cells of vegetables, consists of globules or 
grains, contained in a kind of sac, and in order 
to burst these grains it must be subjected to 
heat. Ta yen, on examination with the micro¬ 
scope, found that when starch was mixed 
with water and heated to 140°, some of the 
smaller grains absorbed water and burst, but 
many still remained unaffected, aud only burst 
between lfi3° and 313 ' of heat. This shows, con¬ 
clusively, that the heat of the animal stomach 
is not sufficient to utilize 6tarchy food; and 
when we reflect that about sixty per cent, of the 
cereal grains consists of starch, we see the great 
loss which must occur from the want of cook¬ 
ing. And if the cereal grains require cooking, 
how much more must the dry fiber of hay, straw 
and corn fodder require it! The woody fiber of 
hay, straw, &c., consists, chemically, ol the 
same elements as Eturch. Starch may he turned 
Into guin and sugar; so may woody fiber, alter 
being dried and gronnd, and by the same means, 
heat and dilute sulphuric acid. The famous 
“ corn sugar ” patent, which took in the sugar 
meu of New York city to the tune of $(X)0,000, 
is not yet forgotten. It was simply the old 
chemical process revamped. 
All woody fiber will yield to steam pressure, 
and when thus reduced to a pulpy mass, most 
of it is digestible, and can be assimilated by the 
animal stomach. Grass, the natural food of 
domestic animals, in its succulent state is solu¬ 
ble, and ueeds but the natural heat and acid of 
the stomach to convert it into nutriment. Hay, 
straw, &e., by thorough steaming is reconverted 
into grass, and thus the animal may be furnished 
with its natural food through the winter. 
We can say, after eleven years experience in 
cooking the winter food of our animals, that 
the advantages are all that theory would indi¬ 
cate. Steaming renders mouldy hay, straw and 
corn-stalks sweet and palatable, thus restoring 
their value; renders peas and beans agreeable 
food for horses, as well as other stock, and thus 
enables the feeder to combine more nitrogenous 
food iu the diet of his animals. 
We have fouud half hay and half straw mixed 
and steamed more than equal to hay uustcamed. 
Cross Section 
Pea straw when cooked is readily eaten, and, if 
cut early, nearly as nutricioua as hay. Bean 
straw, which, when dry, i? generally left un¬ 
touched by cattle, will he all eaten if steamed 
with hay, and, as analysis shows, is more than 
equal in flesh forming matter to hay. Corn¬ 
stalks, when cut short and steamed, will be 
eaten clean by cattle, horses and sheep. By 
cutting and cooking, all the straw and coarse 
fodder raised on the farm rnay be turned into 
milk, flesh and wool, besides adding largely to 
the manure heap. 
In cities where cows are kept to supply milk, 
and are milked through the winter, cooking 
their food will greatly increase the yield of 
milk, improve the condition of the cow, and 
reduce the expense of keeping at least one- 
third. The saving in food for each cow in milk 
will be, at least, eight doUaiv per season. This 
item may he worth looking utter by city feeders. 
The mixture of oil aud pea meal and brau, as 
We have indicated, makes an excellent food to 
produce milk and keep up the condition of the 
cow. One and a half pounds each of oil and 
pea meal, and three pounds of bran, mixed with 
ten pounds of hay and steamed, per day, for 
each cow weighing 800 pounds, will generally 
he sufficient. This may he thought a small 
quantity from which a cow of that size, at her 
best season, could produce four gallons of milk 
and keep up her condition; but it must be re¬ 
membered that four gallons of millc contain 
only about four pounds of dry matter, which 
will leave a supply for the thrift of the cow. 
Yet it is always the best economy to give a cow 
in milk all she will eat with a good appetite; 
forittake .3 a certain quantity to keep the cow 
in condition without gaining any milk, and 
what she will eat above this should be added to 
the milk. Thirty-three to forty per cent, would 
require to be added if uncooked. But witti the 
estimate given, it will be seen what a splendid 
margin there is in producing milk in cities at 
ten cents per quart! 
This combination of food recommended for 
milch cows is also well adapted to growing the 
young animal, us it contains a full supply of 
bone aud muscle nutriment. For fattening, let 
the pea meal be rcplucod with six pounds of 
corn meal. Corn meal may also be used in small 
quantities lor milk where butter is to be made. 
EFFECT OF COOKED FOOD UPON ANIMALS. 
It has sometimes been urged, that although 
the animal eats less aud for a lime thrives better 
upon cooked food, yet its tendency is to weaken 
the stamina of the system and produce prema¬ 
ture decay. We have been able to test this 
theory fairly, and can now show as the result, 
cows and horses, which have been fed every 
winter upon cooked food for eleven years, and 
so far from shpwlng any 111 effects of this way 
of feeding, the cows have never been sick, and 
are now in fine condition and heart, aud the 
horses able to do good work, although sixteen 
and seventeeu years old. We have raised many 
colts from weaning age to five years, and never 
saw any want of stamina. The effect of cooked 
food upon horses with a cough or a sudden cold 
is very remarkable, almost uniformly producing 
a cure in a few days. It will cure incipient 
heaves, correct eostiveness, aud materially im¬ 
prove a founder. In fact, our animals have been 
more uniformly healthy since feeding them 
upon cooked food. But, it.ls true, that sheep 
and other animals fattened rapidly upon steamed 
food, will be softer in flesh than if fattened more 
slowly upon uncooked food. Yet this would 
Figure 5. 
Figure 5 shows the form of teeth of the hand- 
slitting saw. This kind of saw is used entirely 
for cuttinglengthwiso thegrain of wood. Phlem- 
sbaped teeth are here unnecessary, as a ebiscl- 
like cut is made in one direction. The line,/,/, 
is shown as perpendicular to the base of the 
tooth. It may lull to the left or Tight of this 
somewhat according as the saw is intended for 
hard or soft wood. Saws either of this kind or 
cross-cutting should have comparatively small 
sized teeth for working in hard woods. Saws 
working in hard and dry timber require the 
least width of “set.” The width of “set” 
should be a trifle more in the middle of the 
saw than at each end. 
The art of filing can only be acquired by prac¬ 
tice. One ought, to be able to keep a perfectly 
flat or plane surface under regular strokes of the 
tile, and to do this the file must he drawn and 
pushed tn straight lines, without any rocking 
motion. It is a golden rule to have a place for 
every tool aud every tool in its place. Next in 
importance keep every tool In good order. Farm¬ 
ers ought to be familiar with the use of most 
kinds of edge tools. This can be acquired only 
through the right kind of practice with them. 
Never attempt any mechanical work without a 
TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
“ PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[g 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CEU 5 " i. 
YOU. XYM. NO. 49.} 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DEG. 7,1867. 
-) 
1 WHOLE NO. 933. 
