AGRICULTURE* 
PROCRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CENTS 
ESTABLISHED INI 1850, 
itable need of some device to mark the bounda¬ 
ries of their premises and fields; for the countless 
acres of prairie land almost devoid of any tim¬ 
ber, It seems there is no so available source of 
supply for positive wants, as the hedge. It is 
cheap, of easy construction, growing wliUc we 
are asleep, durable and irresistible to animal 
encroachment, and neither rots nor is afl’eeted 
by winds. 
of farming must correspond with situation and 
circumstances. One thing you may depend 
upon ,\high farming will never exist where labor 
is dear and land cheap. If land that costs nothing 
will yield some feed, and you can get what you 
ueed without cultivation, you will bestow very 
little labor tojthe acre—witness Western plains. 
Yon will expend labor just about in proportion 
to the value of the land and the cheapness of 
labor. Americans, with their indomitable en¬ 
ergy, their spirit of rivalry, tlieir high aspira¬ 
tions, their varied and admirable soil and 
climate, under the shelter of free institutions, 
will excel every nation on the glubc In the 
quality of their farming, just as soon as laud 
gets well up and labor gets well down ! That is 
what uclare coming to. The world of men, like 
the world of waters, tends to a dead level, if 
wages are higher here than elsewhere, laborers 
will llow here till an equilibrium is established 
and the price of work is the same the world 
over. Every right thinking person will depre¬ 
cate a reduction in the price of work. Labor is 
none too high, compared with the price of what 
the laborer baa to buy. A largo family—and, 
thank God, some people still have large families 
—must consume all a farm laborer can earn, 
and trust Providence some besides. In n new 
conntry there iB more work than workers; 
populous districts reverse that, order, and work¬ 
ers underbid each other, till ft mart’s earnings 
will barely keep the Ilf* m bin bodA md «np p ]y 
THE CREEPER OR DWARF FOWL 
BREEDING AND HANDLING STOCK. 
So much has already been said and written on 
this subject that. It would appear exhausted, still 
as Its success depends upon so few simple prin¬ 
ciples I am tempted to again bring the matter 
to the attention of our reading farmers; and 
a though my remarks may more particularly 
apply to the West, rather than to your more 
favored locality and the older settled portions 
of the country, stm the Rural finds its way 
here and meets with a cordial welcome. 
Breed up;—and now 1 almost hear some cry- 
can,t aabrd to m *500 for a bull, 
550 or #100 for a ram, $25 for sendee of a horse ” 
and so on. I will admit it; but In almost even 
community there can be found some superior 
animals which can be purchased, or the use ot 
them obtained at a comparatively small cost, 
and by doing so, ere long, seeing the good re¬ 
sults, these same persons will feel able to buv 
thoroughbreds and pay the prices they are 
worth,—for men who keep the breeds of ani¬ 
mals pure, distinct and improving, must have 
prices to remunerate then, for their extra care, 
attention and trouble Jn doing so. To be sure 
it is attended with some care and trouble, this 
constantly keeping in your eye the improve¬ 
ment of your stock ; but is not sowing and 
harvesting attended with cure and trouble - 
even more, hard labor!- And if it will pay in 
the one.instance, will it not pay far greater in 
Ui i other ; for does a steer that will weigh as 
much or sell lor as much money at two years 
old as one at three years old cost any more 
trouble, care or money to raise it? Then in 
comparison to the less cost and enhanced value 
what does the trilling cost of $3.50 or $5 00 for 
the service of a good bull signify? Nothing. 
Guarding at all times against the tendnm-v tr. 
Tub following is an illustration of a diminu¬ 
tive pattern of the barn-yard fowl known as the 
creeper or dwarf. This variety is described by 
some as not greatly exceeding the tamo pigeon 
in eize, and differing from the Bantam maiuly in 
bnlk twd the shortness of Its legs. It is occa¬ 
sionally found in farm-yards, and obtains favor, 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
Hon. HENRY 8 . RANDALL, LL. D.. Editor of the De¬ 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
Hon. T. C. PETERS, late President N. T. Stnte Ae'1 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEX F. WILCOX, Associate Editor. 
Tim Rural New-Torkrr is designed to he unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents. ItB 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rvbal a Reli¬ 
able Guide on all the Important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
whose Interests It zealomly advocates. As a Family 
Journal It Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining— 
being so conducted that It can bo Bafely taken to the 
Homes ol 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 tbe most complete Agricultural, 
Literary and Family Newspaper In America. 
as many pet things do because of their diminu- 
tiveness and kindly domestic hnbits. There is 
another redeeming trait of tbo creepers—the 
shortness of their legs—rendering them less 
able to deface newly made beds in a garden, or 
to unearth the seed which the planter has com¬ 
mitted to tbe earth,—hence arc an aid rather 
than a detriment to newly prepared grounds. 
lit Fob Terms and other particulars see last page, 
SELF-CLOSING GATE OR 11 STILE,” 
A recent number of the (English) Journal of 
Hortimvrnre uives a single gate) or, as it is 
VARIETY IN FARMING 
The tendency of farming in this conntry has 
been towards specialties, 
Before the war of the 
rebellion the South grew cotton; it bought its 
food, its clothing, its luxuries, — individuals 
grew rich, and tbe people and soil grew poor. 
The Prairie States raised corn, which was sold 
for ten cents per bushel, burned for fuel, and 
monetary panics became chronic in tbe West. 
New England and the Middle States practiced 
variety in fanning, and the water wheel and 
steam engine worked everywhere in sight of 
the plow and the reaper; with them flourished 
a stable prosperity, and they stood best of all 
Looking tbe 
FIG. 1. —GATE CLOSED. 
called there, a “ Sommersetshire Stile; ” though 
a stile, properly speaking, is a set of steps to 
pass over a fence or hedge. The construction is 
quite simple, and there are probably many places 
in which it would be found more usefnl than a 
swinging gate, as it is self-closing and self-fast¬ 
ening. Fig. 1 represents the gate closed, and 
fig. 3 gives it half open and open; the letters 
refer to tbo same parts in both. Two posts are 
the terrible drain of resources, 
world over, in the Past or Present, we find those 
communities and nations which found their 
agriculture on the fewest varieties of products, 
likewise the least prosperous, powerful and 
stable. 
Tbe practice of devoting a farm mainly to the 
growth of a single product, is opposed to all 
principles of scientific or common sense Agri¬ 
culture. The one product system of necessity 
abstracts from the soil more than It can legiti¬ 
mately return; it demands continuously the 
same mechanical and chemical conditions of the 
soil, like elements of plant food, and the point 
may be reached where the single variety will 
fail altogether, yet leave the earth capable of 
producing other crops abundantly. Thus it 
would seem as if Nature herself declared against 
this system by refusing to support it any great 
length of time in one locality. Tbe one crop 
farmer is also less independent than if practicing 
mixed husbandry, inasmuch as he is obliged to 
depend to a large extent oo the market to sup¬ 
ply his family and the demands of his business. 
Neither can he conduct his labor with the same 
economy that he could if growing a variety of 
crops. At certain seasons he has little to do, 
and at others he is overwhelmed with work. 
His risks also are greater, approximating to 
those of commercial transactions, without hav¬ 
ing the compensatory chances of equally large 
profits. Variety of crops also makes variety of 
work, which relieves the tediousness of the 
business. In short, a mixed husbandry is the 
only scientific, common sense, self-sustaining, 
and, therefore, permanent system of Agricul¬ 
ture; it renders the farmer, the community and 
the nation independent, and Its fitness is recog¬ 
nized, in the light of recent chaiges, both in 
the cornfields of the West and on the cotton 
lands’of the South. 
eery trees and large saplings. The evergreens— 
spruce, cedar, pine and hemlock—do not send out 
sprouts or suckers from their bodies or roots, 
and therefore never thicken up any closer than 
they are set out. The question, what can be 
found as a substitute that will meet all contin¬ 
gencies, is yet a difficult and unsolved problem. 
The Barberry^ which has been suggested by 
some one, meets many of tbe objections urged 
against all these varieties. It is of easy produc¬ 
tion, growing from seeds freely, perfectly hardy 
in any climate, is armed with very sharp protec¬ 
tive thorns, suckers freely and does not grow over 
eight or ten feet high, and is perfectly proof 
against mice; its bark being of a medicinal and 
nauseous taste forbids its destruction by that little 
pest. Its blossoms are long yellow racemes, 
are handsome, and it bears a scarlet, edible berry 
as tart as the cranberry. The structure of the 
anther is peculiar; it is formed with two valves 
which, when opened, allow the pollen to fall in 
the shape of fine dust. The engravings repre¬ 
sent the anther; stems with leaves, and buds, 
prevent an overstock of hired laborers. I know 
very well that many fanners complain of the 
high price of labor, and I know by my own 
experience the last year, that a farmer like my¬ 
self, whose principal crop) is wool , cannot make 
anything after paying taxes and present rates of 
labor, and selling wool for forty cents, unless 
be is in a country where land is very cheap. I 
also know equally well that my workmen with 
families and rent to pay, have lived close and 
laid up nothing. 
Farmers must bit upon products suited to 
their soil and circumstances, and must make 
their gains by good calculations, by improved 
modes of tillage, and by economy in all depart¬ 
ments, and not by refusing “to take a paper,” 
or by beating the editor down a dollar on his price 
and his workmen two dollars cn the month. 
Writing of economy, things ire quite different 
np here among these Allegany ttump6 from 
what they were forty years a^o, when I was a 
boy among the stumps of “ old Genesee,” now 
Wyoming. A well-to-do farmer, I recollect, 
then gave in sufficiently to tins budding heresies 
of the times to borrow a “broadcloth” coat to 
get married in, but homespun lias the rule. Ox 
teams could go to meeting, and ox carts carry a 
lady to a quilting. Tow btpeches were not 
ignored by good society, things were compara¬ 
tively substantial, and actually lasted some ;—it 
was not all ganze, and shoddy, and brash tim¬ 
ber, and brittle iron. AW, a loung mau whose 
robust constitution can end'te anything—but 
“the draft,” must teater throjgh the world on 
elliptics or ride in the cars; waking or going on 
AMONG THE STUMPS.-No. I, 
FIG. 3.—GATE OPEN. 
in tbe other post, and is fixed by a pin upon 
which it moves, and the other end Is made long 
enough to be shaped into a projecting handle. 
A perpendicular piece, or pendant, c, is attached 
to the cross-bar, a, by means of a pivot, at e, and 
at the lower end it has a ring which runs upon 
the iron rod, d. The action of the different 
parts in opening is shown in fig. 2. 
SECOND SERIES. 
HIGH FAP.M1NG AND LOW WAGES. 
Again I am spending a few weeks in South 
western New York, on a new farm which I am 
Clearing up for (I beg pardon of my friend, Dr. 
Randall) dairy purposes. Hereabouts a man 
the experiment of feeding one calf or colt gen¬ 
erously. 
But, dear Rural, I fear that for a new comer 
you may deem me lengthy. If so, I will only 
say In apology that the subject interests me. I 
was induced to write from the fact that we are 
now having our first installment of winter, in 
the shape of a cold rain, after an extraordinary 
mild and beautiful autumn, aud I was conscious 
that part of my sheep were w ithout shelter, al¬ 
though with the exception of the straw the shed 
uncompleted. 0- s< p 
Iowa, Nov. 23,1867. 
Rinderpest in Maryland. — A dispatch to 
the Philadelphia papere states that the cattle 
disease known as rinderpest is fatally prevalent 
in Baltimore county and portions of adjacent 
counties. It la probably the saute disease which 
proved fatal awhile since on Long Island, and 
was pronounced, after examination, to be pneu¬ 
monia, and not the European rinderpest. 
tHr 
. TiTlv -t.LL. 
^- 1 — 
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IBP 
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