' ■acgffl Biim iai 
AGRICULTURE 
fine as grains of corn, pnt in a tight vessel with two 
parts wood ashes and a little quick lirne, and kept 
moist, will any considerable portion of the bones 
become available to plants in a month or two ? If 
desired to treat the pounded bones direct with 
diluted sulphuric acid, in what kind of vessel could it 
be done? and at what cost, if the acid cost ten cents 
per pound and the bones nothing ? All of these points 
may have been discussed in previous numbers of the 
Rural, but a fresh discussion of them by some of 
your practical experienced contributors, would be 
read with interest by many of your new subscribers. 
What can a farmer who undertakes to prepare his 
bone dust properly pay for bones ? ” 
From our experience in the use of bone manures 
and from reasoning on the snbjeet, we came to the 
conclusion long since, that the action of bones in 
their most perfect application, is only excelled by 
To act as a quick fertilizing agent, 
any way. I like clover in my soil. Some people do 
not; but either I am a good deal of an egotist or 
some people are foolish. I find it a good substitute 
for weeds.” 
Do you know Jones? I know several who look 
and act like him in this matter. And somehow he 
manages to get just the tallest crops of wheat of 
any of our farmers. 
suen A HOP FEVER 
As there is out West here, is likely to result favor¬ 
ably to the beer makers but not eo favorably to 
bread consumers. I don’t like it —not because I 
have any conscientious scruples in the matter, for I 
am not more of a Christian than I ought to be, but 
with our increasing army of idlers, men engaged in 
commerce and manufactures, all of whom consume 
and do not produce food, there ought not to be any 
serious diversion from food production in this coun¬ 
try. We cannot afford it. Our population Is con¬ 
stantly increasing. Oar railway enterprises are mul¬ 
tiplying and employing armies of men in their 
development who must be fed; our miuos and new 
territories are floating off from fields of production 
a vast population that must constantly consume, 
each individual of whom spends from one to three 
years without producing a particle of food. Food 
is enormously high compared with other products. 
It must continue to be so, unless men can be en¬ 
listed in soil-culture. And this leads me to say a 
word to the 
THE SHEEP MEN'. 
I’ve been among the shepherds. The flocks in 
the West arc doiDg bravely this winter. And there 
is a jolly good feeling iu favor of keeping a stiff 
upper lip relative to the tariff' and prices. Green 
ones are selling flocks; sharp ones are keeping the 
best and adding such as they can buy cheap. There 
is a furor in favor of cows and associated dairies. 
It is all well, too, for we can just as well produce 
our own — and do it at less cost, too — as to pay for 
transporting it from the central counties of your 
own State; but we have not got a hoof too many 
sheep in the West, and’ there is abundant faith that 
flocks will pay good dividends yet. 
SORGHO! IN MICHIGAN, 
There is persistence for you! I went over to see 
the men who continue to have faith in the profits to 
result from Sorghum culture. There were asser¬ 
tions of profit made. Sugar was shown by the bar¬ 
rel. Samples of simp sweetened our lips. There 
was much talk about processes of culture and man¬ 
ufacture; but the crystallised results of the Conven¬ 
tion are that In order to make Sorghum culture 
profitable, there must be established refineries 
whereat the crude sirup may be marketed and 
made into an article of commerce in the shape of 
refined sugars and sirups. 
“Faith without works is dead.” 
Accordingly a Committee was appointed to report 
upon the feasibility of organizing a stock company 
to build a refinery. It was asserted that there were 
men with faith enough to take the stock. We shall 
see. I have faith in the ;-irup, but little in the sugar 
product of this plant. Incog. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL -WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. ItlOORE, 
(PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR,) 
With a Corps of Able Associates and Contributors, 
PUBLICATION OFFICES: 
Rochester-Nos. 83, 84 anti 86 Buffalo Street. 
New York-No. 41 Park Row, Times’ Building 
WMt- 
Terms, in Advance —Three Dollars a Year:— Five 
copies for $14; Seven, and one free to Club Agent, for $19; 
Ten, and one free,for $25—only $2,50 per copy. As we pre¬ 
pay American postage, $2.70 la the lowest Club rate to Canada 
and $3.50 to Europe. The best way to remit la by Draft or 
Post-Office Money Order,—and all Drafts aud Orders made 
payable to the Publisher wav bk mailed at ms risk. 
py - All Business Letters, Contributions, *c., should be 
addressed, to Rochester until otherwise announced. 
The above design of a movable fence which is 
simple and capable of being constructed by any 
farmer, was handed to us by Mr, P. M. Ackerman, 
Monroe Co,, N. Y. It is made entirely of inch- 
boards fastened together with wrought nails, and 
the panels or sections are held firmly in place by the 
cross-stakes which brace against the boards imme¬ 
diately above and below their point of crossing. 
The stakes are also wired near the top and bottom 
to further add to their stability. The fence Is de¬ 
signed to stand on a ridge formed by plowing two 
furrows together, which adds to its height and tends 
to prevent stock from approaching closely. Flat 
stone should be placed, when practicable, under¬ 
neath the uprights of the panels. The method of 
lapping the ends of the boards alternately, as shown 
in the engraving, also strengthens the fence. Apply 
crude petroleum to the stakes. 
the best guano, 
it must be applied in a fine comminuted state, either 
as raw bone dust, or decomposed by alkalies or acids. 
When applied to the soil in coarse particles its action 
is slow aud lasting. 
The incineration in wood fires must be decidedly 
wrong, as it dissipates all the nitrogenous substan¬ 
ces — the fibrine and gelatinous portions and a part 
of the phosphorus, in which its great value resides. 
Wood ashes should not bo allowed to mix with acids, 
as it would at once neutralize their effects. 
The lime and ashes process is slow but sure, and 
we suppose in about the time specified, would de¬ 
compose the bones if kept properly moist without 
any surplus water. The sulphuric acid when applied 
must be reduced slowly and carefully with an equal 
quantity of water. One process is fermentation, the 
other solution, and may be performed in any tight 
wood cask or box. Sulphuric acid ought not to cost 
ten cents per pound, and bones are bought in cities 
for from a half to one cent per pound. 
The raw bone dust is a most valuable stimulantand 
nutriment for the whole class of vegetable growth, 
and is a perfect specific, when dusted on the young 
plants of cabbage, turnips and bagas, against that de- 
structlvepest the turnip Ilea. (Jnlilce plaster, itsliould 
not be used as a surface dressing, but mixed with the 
soil to assist decomposition. The raw bone dust is 
expensive, costing from fid to 75 dollars per ton, and 
we have no doubt but that a domestic operation, 
with a little experience, would result in a valuable 
addition to the farm manures. 
ashes is more valuable to most soils than three bush¬ 
els of lime. We do not wish to discourage the use 
of lime, for it i3 a very valuable application to cold, 
heavy soils aud those containing much vegetable 
mold; but we think farmers do not sufficiently ap¬ 
preciate the value of wood ashes. e. w. s. 
by atom, from their low estate, and fitted to per¬ 
form the high offices of nutrition in the animal 
organization.” 
Alsike, or German Clover. 
H. C., Cortland Co., N. Y., asks U3 if the German 
clover is any better than our common red clover. 
We reply first, that the true name of this variety is 
Alsike or Sweedish clover, not German; second, 
that it is a hardier sort than the common red, its 
chief value consisting in that, and in its being adapted 
to moiBt locations where the former will not flourish. 
It has pale red flowers, a lank stalk, oval, obtuse 
leaves, which are lighter in color than those Df red 
clover. It will not produce a second crop after mow¬ 
ing, nor will it cover the ground until the second or 
third year, hence it should be sown with other 
grasses. It is said that the honeybee can collect its 
sweets. As a fertilizing or fodder crop it is not 
superior to red clover where the latter thrives, 
but it may be grown on soils not adapted to the 
common kind. 
A hop fever rages in some portions of the land, 
and we are inclined to think that it will go hard 
with many who have a full course of it. Just now 
the demand for hops causes high prices,—but iu the 
future, and a near one, too, this state of things may 
be reversed, and hop grow- i s that have sailed into 
the business on full tide, with fair winds, will be left 
high and dry by the receding wave. Our advice is to 
beware of embarking in hop culture so largely that 
a failure would email ruinous consequences. Some 
localities and their attending circumstances, are pe¬ 
culiarly favorable to success in this business; these 
embrace good soil, cheap poles, plenty and cheap 
help, aud exemption from insects. But for the 
benefit of those having the fever without hope of 
cure, we give a synopsis of operations. 
Iu preparing the luml for hops, plow deep, say ten 
inches, early in October. In the spring, harrow 
thoroughly with a heavy, iron-toothed implement, 
in the same direction as the land was plowed. This 
done, manure heavily and evenly by broadcast, and 
erosB-plow as deeply as at the first breaking. Pota¬ 
toes or corn may be planted, the ground being fur¬ 
rowed out four feet apart each way. Every other 
hill in every other row should be of hop, as this 
would place them eight feet apart each way. Four 
cuttings, from a running hop root, should be put 
in each hill and covered the same as in planting com 
This remoteness of one hill from an- 
An Adjustable Gale. 
Leonidas, Mich., sends us a plan of a swing gate, 
“which will be found very convenient in times of 
deep snow, as it can be opened and shut without 
the process of shoveling which often becomes neces¬ 
sary nearly every time one wishes to pass through. 
The gate is cheap and easily constnkted, being 
made the same, as any common swing gate, except¬ 
ing the upright piece, A, which should be three, 
or three and one-half inches square, and six , or six 
and one-half feet long, aud should be made round 
from the top to the upper slat, also from the bot¬ 
tom to the third slat, the second slat being cut one 
inch short of the upright, A, so as to allow the up¬ 
right to pass up and down through the eyes, B, B, 
which should be made of three-fourths inch round 
iron and large enough to allow the upright to pass 
up and down freely. The upper eye should be made 
so as to fasten with a nut at the back of the post, C, 
and the lower eye in the form of a staple, with a small 
block fitted in so as to come between the post and 
upright. The gate can be raised or lowered at 
pleasure, and kept at any desired height by means 
of a small bolt, passing through upright, A, over the 
lower eye. The gate will swing either way and will 
be found very convenient in allowing sheep or hogs 
to pass through, while it will stop cattle or horses, 
and furthermore costs nothing for a farm right.” 
YVinterinsr Bees In Cellars. 
P. W. Sherry, Utica, Ohio, writes: — “I have 
been in the bee business for twenty years, and lose 
some hives every winter. Last fall I pnt three hives 
in my cellar, according to S. J. Parker’s plan. 
The cellar being rather damp, the comb commenced 
moulding, and on the <>th day of March (it was quite 
warm) I took them out and plHced them on a board. 
They made a rush for the light, and flew around 
until they got chilled, aud many fell to the ground 
dead. I would like Mr. Parker to state, through 
the Rural, the time he takes his bees from the 
cellar. I kept twelve hives out in the open air this 
winter, packing straw around them for protection. 
Although a great many chilled and died, there are 
still enough bees and honey in each hive to ensure 
success the coming summer.” 
LIME, BONES, ASHES, &c 
An Erie (Jo. subscriber asks“ Will some one 
tell us, what lime is worth, iu comparison with the 
value of coarse ground bones, on the dairy farms of 
the south towns of Erie and in Cattaraugus Co. ?” 
To answer this question with any degree of accu¬ 
racy, it is necessary to know the elements lacking 
in the particular soil. If the soil be sour, common 
lime is better to correct the acidity than hones, but 
if bone earth is needed then lime will not supply it. 
Common lime is composed of carbonic acid and 
lime, and bones are composed of phosphoric acid 
and lime, and when the bones are perfectly dry 
each contains about the same quantity of lime. 
The only difference in the value of the lime, in 
is that the lime in the bones 
or potatoes, 
other is deemed necessary for the purpose of allow¬ 
ing a free circulation of air and to prevent the en¬ 
tangling of the vines of different hills, as this retards 
the process of removing the poles at picking time. 
In cultivating the corn or potatoes interspersed 
among the hops, the latter should not be neglected. 
Grass and weeds should be kept as clear from the 
one as from the other. In the fall, after the corn 
and potatoes are harvested, manure may be applied 
to the ground, broadcast, and not placed upon the 
vines, as the practice of some is, as this tends to the 
production of worms, which destroy the plants or 
injure, them so much as to retard their growth and 
impair their productiveness. The roots, reaching 
out iu all directions, will find and appropriate the 
manure more readily than when it is placed in a pile 
on or around the base of the plants. 
After tha first crop the hills should be opened in 
May, every sprmg, by running four furrows between 
the rows, turning them inward from the hills and as 
near to them as practicable without injuring the 
main roots. Remove the remaining earth with a 
hoe, and cut the running roots with a sharp knife 
within two inches of the main oneB. This done, 
cover the hills with earth about two inches deep. 
When up, and the grass and weeds begin to start, 
cultivate with the hoc, repeating the operation 
about three times during the season, the last time 
when the hops are in bloom, or about the first of 
August. As the plants commence to appear above 
ground, the poles should be set, as the vines will be 
more likely to fasten to them than If left till further 
advauced, and requiring to be fastened by the hand. 
Two vines are deemed enough for one pole, and two 
poles ample for each hill. These ehould be from 
fifteen to twenty feet in length, according to the 
richness of the soil and the probable luxuriance of 
the hop plants. Select the.most thrifty plants, and 
train them to the poles early, lest they wander away 
from them and lees promising ones usurp their 
places on the pole. Frequent inspection of the hop- 
fields is necessary to repair any deraugements which 
may be caused by the winds or other causes. 
The work of curing and baling should be learned 
from an experienced person, as much depends on its 
being well and properly done. The picking is also 
an important matter, and the quality of the hops and 
the consequent price are greatly dependent on this 
operation. Of these topics we will have more to 
say at a seasonable period. 
each, as a mannre. 
has entered first into vegetable and then into ani¬ 
mal life, and is therefore more progressed, and has 
a much larger proportion in a condition to enter 
into and sustain plant life. But the distinguishing 
characteristic of the two, and what gives bones their 
great value, is the phosphoric acid they contain. 
Unless the food of animals contains a sufficient sup¬ 
ply of phosphoric acid, their bones cannot be sus¬ 
tained, the cow cannot give wholesome milk, a 
robust calf cannot be reared, diseases multiply in 
the herd, and disappointment and loss will fallow 
the dairyman. On farms long used for dairying, 
the phosphate, of lime (bone earth) is very likely to 
be deficient, as the cow carries off iu her milk alone 
twelve pounds of phosphate of lime per year, be¬ 
sides what it takes to keep up the waste of her own 
system ; and it would require about twenty-four 
pounds of raw bone dissolved in sulphuric acid to 
supply what is consumed per eow. This amount of 
coarse ground bone would not be sufficient, as it 
would take many years to dissolve and all become 
food for plants. Dissolved bones, called super¬ 
phosphate of lime, are the boat, as it does not re¬ 
quire more than a twentieth part of the quantity, 
as of coarse bones, to produce the same immediate 
effect. Where raw bones cau be cheaply obtained, 
an excellent method of reducing them to flue pow¬ 
der is to boil them in lye. 
ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY. 
I attended the formal inauguration of this insti- 
tui ion. Mud three feet deep, clouds dripping, and 
yet University Hall was crowded with representa¬ 
tives from different sections of the State to celebrate 
the culmination of the struggle to realize an Agri¬ 
cultural School. There are about seventy students 
in attendance—bright-faced, wide-awake, rough-and- 
tumble fellows, willing to work, and evidently of 
the right kind of material for this experiment which 
educational hypochondriacs regard so dubious. I 
need not detail the inauguration ceremonies. They 
were appropriate and impiessive. I simply want to 
call the attention of your Illinois readers to the fact 
that this school is now opt-n, and is controlled by a 
Board of Trustees with a Regent for executive offi¬ 
cer, who will neglect no means at command to make 
it an aid to agriculture and an honor to the State, 
and its students practical as well as learned men. 
1 will say more of this school and its organization 
hereafter. 
THE WHEAT SOWING 
Commenced in sections of Illinois and Iowa some 
weeks since. The wild geese are flying northward; 
the ponds and streams are fall of ducks ; plowing 
has “been doing” for some days, and the stir of 
spring-time quickens every department of labor. 
I walked out over Jones’ field, yesterday, where he 
was putting in wheat. There was a good hard bot¬ 
tom for the team to travel upon, for the ground wat- 
frozen four inches below the surface; but he was 
scattering wheat on fall plowed land and harrowing 
it in. Then he sowed on his timothy and clover 
seed. He always does do this whether he designs 
the field for pasture or meadow thereafter or not. 
However it is only clover which he sows if the field 
is to be plowed the succeeding year. 
Jones is a philosopher—a sort of a farmer philos- 
pher. I asked him why he always sowed clover 
with wheat. 
“ O, well, it don’t do any harm; and I get a fine 
fall forage from it any way, when I put in the seed 
in February or March. Sometimes I change my 
[M. G. Van Stckle of Ulster township, Bradford 
Co., Fa., sends the following items for publication 
in the Rural, claiming that he has attested the 
truth of his statements by actual experiment:] 
PLASTERING WHEAT. 
The greatest benefit of using plaster In connec¬ 
tion with wheat, is derived only when it is sown 
upon the ground immediately before or after the 
wheat is sown, and then harrowed in with the 
wheat. I have pursued this method for about five 
years, and have carefully observed the advantage 
gained by it. Whenever portions of the same field 
were left unsown with plaster at the time the wheat 
was pnt in, there was a remarkable difference at the 
time of harvesting. Thus, I answer the query of S. 
C. 1.., in the Rural of February 39th. 
A BUNDLE OF HINTS. 
Manure should be spread upon plowed land, for 
crops, invariably when the moon points upward, 
and upon bottomed meadows when the moon points 
downward. I have planted potatoes in all ways and 
at all times, and have found that putting the seed in 
the ground when the moon points downward, al¬ 
ways secures the best crop. Clover seed, also, does 
best when sown at the time of the moon’s down¬ 
ward pointing. The best time for the sowing of 
peas, is after the full of the moon; and. the best 
time for the planting of com is when the sun’s 
sign is in the aims. To have the best result, in the 
case of planting for root crops, the seed should be 
put in the ground when the moon points downward; 
and I have noticed that fence-posts will hold most 
surely when set or driven at the time of the moon’s 
downward pointing. (Though we publish onr cor¬ 
respondent’s opinions, we do not endorse them, nor 
desire to incite a discussion on “moon farming.”] 
COMFOST FOR CORN. 
A good compost for com, at the time of planting, 
may be made of two bushelB of hen guano, mixed 
with two of wood ashes and one of plaster. Use a 
handful iu each hill, and cover along with the corn. 
A BUCKWHEAT ITEM. 
Buckwheat should be sown always at evening, for 
the reason that it comes out in bloom at the same 
time in the day that it is sown, and the effect of the 
dew on the tender opening bloom is better than 
that of the sun. m. g. v. 1 
Grnaslioppers iu Texas, 
G. A. W., Millican, Texas, writes us as follows, 
under date of March 1st: —“About the first of 
November last the grasshoppers made their appear¬ 
ance in this county in large numbers; they deposited 
their eggs, ate off’ the vegetation and disappeared. 
Now, these eggs have hatched, and to-day the sur¬ 
face of the earth is covered with young grasshoppers, 
from three to five days old; they are innumerable, 
but I may safely say there is all of one hundred to 
the square foot of surface. Our yanng corn is just 
coming up; all the common garden vegetables are 
young and tender, and in a few days, not a vestige 
of them will remain; all will be devoured. We can 
plant again, but the second crop will share the same 
fate. I Learn that the wheat crop is already destroyed 
by them. Last fall they ate the grass so close that 
the owners of large herds of cattle arc killing them 
at the rate of from one to five hundred per day, to 
secure the hide before the animals starve to death, 
hence the extraordinary large shipments of hides 
from Texas during the winter. What are we to do ? 
Can ingenuity de vise ways and means to relieve us 
of this pest?” 
The lye from a bushel of 
ashes will dissolve fifteen pounds of bone; and the 
value of the potash will be added to the bones as a 
manure. 
But where bones are not easily obtained, then as 
a substitute for that article we recommend unleached 
wood ashes for a heavy soil, but for a light soil leach¬ 
ed ashes are excellent. Unleaehed ashes contain 
from ten to twenty-five per cent, of phosphate of 
lime, besides potash, soda, magnesia, lime and silica 
—all most important to sustain the growth of plants. 
The trees from which ashes are produced contain all 
the elements that make up animal bodies, and there¬ 
fore contain all the ingredients of bones. Leached 
ashes contain less of these, and therefore should be 
used more liberally. Three hundred pounds, or five 
bushels, of unleaehed ashes would amply supply the 
phosphate of lime consumed by each cow. The salt 
and lime mLxture is also excellent to be used with 
ashes. This is made by slaking lime with strong 
brine. Mix one bushel of this salt and lime with 
two bushels of unleaehed ashes. The elorin of the 
salt is a necessary element of milk. One bushel of 
Chemistry of a Kernel of Corn. 
In Nicholson’s “ Chemistry of the Farm and the 
Sea” occurs this paragraph:—“ What a remarkable 
combination of chemical substances are stored up 
iu a kernel of corn! It may almost be said to be an 
apothecary’s shop in miniature. * * * With a 
moistened cloth we can rub off, from the kernel, 
about three aud a-half per cent, of woody or strawy 
material, of not much nutritive value, aud then we 
come to a coating which holds nearly all the iron, 
potaBh, soda, lime, phosphoric acid and the rich 
nitrogenous ingredients. This wrapper is the store¬ 
house upon whose shelves are deposited the mineral 
and vegetable wealth of the berry. From whence 
come these chemical agents ? They come of course 
from the soil, and by the mysterious and silent 
power of vital force, they have been raised, atom 
“A. B.,” Society Hill, S. C., writes: — “Will yon 
please give me your opinion as to the comparatively 
rude methods sometimes adopted in the country, for 
preparing bone dust ? For example, to pulverize the 
bones calcined on a wood pile, pound the mass, pass 
through a sieve, and treat with sulphuric acid. Does 
not the amount of sulphuric acid lost by the absorp¬ 
tion of the ashes, very much destroy the profit of 
such an operation ? if the bones are pounded up as 
A vjtfcS jpg. 
mm* 
XRANT n y 
