eSLHSS, 
f TTGRICULTURf 
$3.00 PER YEAR. 
Single Copy, Six Cents. 
I 82 Buffalo St., Rochester, 
*) 41 Park Row, New York. 
saving machinery — every well conducted agricul¬ 
tural journal, college, school or experimental farm 
— should be fostered and encouraged by those who 
regard the future wellbeing and prosperity of the 
people and country. 
But we are digressing from crur text and purpose. 
We cited the spots on the sun with the view of 
speaking of the greater spots } causing barrenness, on 
the earth — the results of non-culture. To remove 
these blemishes, earnest, persistent, well-directed 
labor must be performed—not alone by those now 
on the farm, but by myriads of do-nothings in vil¬ 
lages, cities and elsewhere. Thousands of these 
must work or suffer ere long, and as the trades and 
professions, as well as the channels of speculation, 
are oyer-stocked, the sooner they get into the 
country and become producers , the better will it be 
for all concerned. Those who have some means, 
and no business, or none that they understand, can 
purchase and cultivate farms; and if they do not 
make agriculture immediately or very profitable, 
they may gain in health and comfort, benefit the 
country, and teach their children how to secure a 
sure and honest competence. 
In conclusion, we beseech farmers all over the 
land to plant and sow as much as possible — all the 
unoccupied acres which they can cultivate well, by 
extra effort — and thus aid in staying scarcity and 
starvation. And all Idle men—especially those who 
must cither work, beg, steal or suffer — should join 
the great Rural Phalanx and help remove the barren 
spots from the earth’s otherwise fair surface. Let 
us discharge this near terrestrial duty, and Heaven 
will take care of the sun and other celestial bodies. 
All who can should this season Plant, Cultivate 
and Produce to the utmost of their ability. 
worth’s Ohio. His varieties of peas are contined.ou 
the good old kinds that we had twenty years ago; 
and the same is true of everything else. 
On comparing the copy In my possession with a 
copy published in 1850, I find that both are publish¬ 
ed from the same plates, and therefore I ask: Is it 
fair or honest to take an old book, issued twenty 
years ago, print a new title page, and issue with the 
date 1S07 flaunting conspicuously at its foot ? I 
know that some will “ whip the devil around the 
bush," as the saying is, and claim that the book 
really was printed in ISO 7, and perhaps they will cite 
cases in which the works of Virgil, Horace or 
Bacon have been reprinted and issued with modem 
dates attached. But this Is a different thing. If 
yon order a copy of “ Lindly’s Theory of Horti¬ 
culture,” latest edition, yon will get one marked 
1855. At least so I am told by a friend that knowB. 
There is no attempt to deceive here. You are told 
that the hook was published In 1855, and yon will 
find that the book is up to the time. If I am anx¬ 
ious to get the latest information in regard to any 
subject, I can do so by getting English, French or 
German books of the latest dates, and if they are 
by respectable authors 1 am pretty certain that the 
title page will give me the year up to which 1 may 
expect that information to he brought. But if 1 
buy one of -Judd’s books which professes to be 
published in the year 1807,1 may get a book which 
is In reality twenty years old. It is no palliatiou of 
this to tell me that a smart bibliographer can always 
tell the year in which a book is really published. 
Gardeners are not usually bibliographers. A gar¬ 
dener goes into a book store, and If he sees a book 
with 1807 on the title page he believes that it was 
issued in that year, and that it will contain an ac¬ 
count of the most recent improvements. If he buys 
it under this impression, who is to blame, the gar¬ 
dener or the publisher V 
One who Got Bitten. 
Remarks.— The above is given at the request of 
the party aggrieved, and of course with no desire to 
injure the good name or business of the publisher 
alluded to. Indeed, we think the practice com 
plained of is followed by other publishers, and no 
doubt often misleads book purchasers, for this is 
by no means the first protest we have heard or re¬ 
ceived on the subject. As it is manifestly unjust to 
the public to issue an old work as a new one—un¬ 
less it has been revised and corrected to date—we 
trust the matter will soon be reformed altogether. 
MOOSE'S BUBAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. ITIOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Associates and Contributors. 
G. F. WILCOX AND A. A. HOPKINS, Associate Editors. 
„ Hon. HENRY S. RANDALL. LL. D„ 
Editor of tlie Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
JOE. DAJSJEL LEE and Hon. THEODOP.E C. PETERS, 
Southern Corresponding Editors. 
Terms, In Advance— Three Dollars a Year:— Five 
copies for $14; 8even, 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 is by Draft or 
Post-Office Money Order,—and all Draffs and Orders made 
payable to the Publisher may be mailed at ms bisk. 
IF All Business Letters, Contributions, Ac., Bhould be 
addressed to Rochester until otherwise announced. 
firm foothold. But such is human nature—so re¬ 
gardless are private individuals of public interests— 
that we suppose, in spite of frequent, warnings and 
earnest exhortation, weeds will eventually spread 
and oeeupy the fertile, virgin lands of the West, as 
they have those of other regions. 
Ihe means by which they spread are many, and 
some of their approaches are so insidious that 
the farmer never dreams of guarding against them, 
and when he finds the weeds on his land, he 
knows not how to account for their presence. There 
are two means by which weeds spread, against 
which we especially warn Western farmers; one Is 
the packing of straw and hay which encloses many 
goods shipped from the East, and the other and 
most pernicious, we think, are the roots of nursery 
trees. The latter are frequently grown in land in¬ 
fested with Canada thistles and quack or couch 
grass, and nothing is easier than for some roots of 
the weeds to cling to the trees and spring to life 
when planted again in the earth. The roots and 
packing of nursery trees should be carefully exam¬ 
ined before setting, uuufiL a year or two afterward 
search should be made around the trees for the 
appearance of weeds. 
RURAL FARMERS’ CLUB 
Thrashing with Steam Engines. 
“ C. L. J.,” Waynesville, Ohio :—“ I notice in the 
Rural of Dec. II, 1867, in the Club, a question by 
U H. A. P.” about a light, portable steam engine 
for thrashing. For four years we have used a steam 
thrasher in this part of the country—having thrash 
ed '10,000 bushels one fall. Tim engine requires half 
a cord of wood per day and twelve barrels of water. 
(I have no ax to grind , I answer the query on the 
score of humanity.) The engine can be drawn from 
farm to farm,,by one yoke of oxen. Horses are done 
going around with thrashing machines here.” 
According to Galignani’s Messenger (Paris,) the 
sun’s disk is at present riddled with holes,—in 
other words, with spots,—one of which is of very 
considerable size. It is represented as a deep cavity 
in the photosphere, and so wide that the whole ter¬ 
restrial globe would find room in it without touch¬ 
ing the edges! There is another spot which, though 
much smaller, still has one of its diameters as large 
as that of our earth. The Messenger adds that Her- 
sctiel and Arago having conceived the idea of com¬ 
paring the annual price of the cereals to the number 
of solar spots observed each year, found, on compar¬ 
ing a series of twenty-five annual results, that the 
greater the number of spots the higher was the 
price of breadstuff's, This shows that these phe¬ 
nomena may reduce the heat of the sun, and there¬ 
by retard or reduce crops considerably 
The above statement, taken in conjunction with 
the fact that the spring of 1808 has been unusually 
cold and backward, may very properly induce others 
than chronic croakers to reflect on the season, crops 
and production, and seriously consider cause and 
effect in estimating the prospective harvest and 
general prosperity of this country. The subject is 
certainly worthy of consideration at a time when 
many of the earth's most common products—arti¬ 
cles which have come to be considered actual neces¬ 
saries—are so exorbitantly high in price a6 to be be¬ 
yond the means of a large portion of our population. 
But spots on the sun and backwardness of the sea¬ 
son are not the only causes which will produce inju- 
.Tbere are 
The Grub In Cornfields. 
“L. P. G.,” Lima, N. Y., writes:—“Can yon or 
your correspondents inform us by what means we 
can prevent the grub riyliich we find numerous in 
the sward ground LU3 year) from destroying our 
corn ? I saved most >f ' ‘in- last year, by digging 
them out of the hill . V'b ■ ,r o knives, while they 
were committing thefivuepredations on the young 
stalks. Will soaking trim m any solution save it 
from these pests S’” 
As the grub preys npon the young shoot and not 
on the kernel, soaking *,Lie grain will not prevent 
their ravages. For small Helds there is nothing 
more certain or probatly more satisfactory than 
the hand process our correspondent describes. The 
Germantown Telegraph ays that a tablespoonful of 
salt, applied to each hl(l of corn after the tdades 
make their appearance, will keep off the grub. 
Care must be taken to pit the salt around the corn 
and not in contact with it. The Telegraph stales 
that the plan has been tried with success several 
seasons by many person? in that part of the coun¬ 
try. We also refer onr correspondent to the article 
on “ Corn Growing 
Year by year the potato has advanced in import¬ 
ance as an agricultural production, until it now 
ranks with the foremost of onr farm crops. It is a 
noticeable fact that. Its prices, in various parts of 
the country, arc nearly equal, and the grower is not 
compelled to seek, nor dependent on distant mar¬ 
kets for profitable returns. The large cities of 
course consume immense quantities, so, too, do 
the smaller towns and villages everywhere, and ns 
no surplus can he carried over from one year to 
another, the local as well its shipping demaud will 
always be good and generally steady. In all locali¬ 
ties that are well adapted to potato growing, farm¬ 
ers will do well to pay considerable attention to 
this branch of their business. At present prices the 
crop is enormously profitable, with a fair yield. We 
have observed, too, that farmers who had good ad¬ 
vantages in the points of location and Boil, have 
made themselves rich by steadily pursuing potato 
growing for a short term of years. It is true they 
met with occasional failures—sometimes from rot, 
or drouth, or low prices—hut these were compen¬ 
sated for by years of unusual success. In regard to 
prices, they are much less variable latterly than for¬ 
merly, and there seems now to be little danger of 
meeting serious reverses in that direction. 
Owing to the nature of the crop, which is bulky 
aud requires much labor to handle, close proximity 
to market, or to a shipping point, 13 very essential 
to growing it on a large scale. Five miles, even, 
will be found a long and weary distance to baa) a 
large crop of potatoes, and where the location is so 
near the market that it is only the work of two or 
three days to haul the crop, the advantage of juices 
which may often be taken will add largely to the 
profits. As for soil, loain6 are the best, and stiff' 
clays least adapted to the potato. 
The bultivation of potatoes, with the exception 
of harvesting, may be carried on with as little ex¬ 
pense as that of corn, and perhaps with even less 
cost. They may be planted rapidly by machinery, 
ftnd by’judicious and timely use of the harrow and 
cultivator hand hoeing is rendered unnecessary. 
The young potato plant is much tougher than that 
of corn, and will bear to be entirely covered with 
earth after it breaks the crust; this gives a chance 
of completely cleaning the soil by machine labor 
alone. Some growers recommend fiat culture, but 
this necessitates a very deep soil, as the seed must 
be planted in a furrow, so as to allow of a consid¬ 
erable depth of earth being drawn over the tubers 
as they grow; this is necessary to protect them 
from the sun. Moderate hilling is undoubtedly the 
best and mo6t practical method of culture to suit 
the majority of fields, and has the advantage of leav¬ 
ing the surface in the best position for digging. 
The great improvement yet to be generally intro¬ 
duced to cheapen potato growing, is suitable ma¬ 
chinery for harvesting. When the farmer can take 
Cultivation of the Castor Bean. 
“ J. W. B.,’’ Gonzales, Texas, asks for information 
respecting the Castor Bean. The soil for this crop 
should be dry and adapted to growing wheat or corn. 
Planting should be done as soon as the ground can 
be got into good tilth, as for other cultivated crops. 
If the ground iB low, or likely to suffer from ruins, 
throw it into ridges. The rows should be from five 
to six feet apart each way. About every eighth row 
leave a space of eight feet for the passage of a wagon 
at gathering time. In preparing the seed, pour 
water, raised to nearly the boding point, upon it aud 
let it remain twenty-four hours before planting. 
Eight or ten seeds to the hill should be dropped, as 
the cut worms arc likely to destroy some of the 
plants. Keep the ground open and mellow as for 
other hoed crops. The pods are generally about 
eighteen inches long, and should be gathered us soon 
as they begin to turn brown—catting them off as 
they ripen. They may be dried in a house specially 
prepared, or in an open place with a southern 
inclination—the ground being first rolled down hard 
to facilitate the gathering of the beans, as they pop 
oat of the pods, as they frequently do to the distance 
of a dozen feet. The spikes or pods should be 
frequently turned over till they are all clean, when 
a new batch, which ripened later, may be put in the 
same place, if rain is threatened, rake the pods in¬ 
to heaps and cover them with straw or boards. 
When all the beaus are out sweep them together, 
clean with a fanning-mill, sack or store them, in a 
diy place, for market. The yield Is about twenty 
bushels per acre, and the price per bushel ranges 
from two dollars to five. Prolific seasons may de¬ 
press the price below two dollars, but this is not 
often the case. Where the cultivation is on an ex¬ 
tended and permanent scale, a drying-house is 
important, as loss from bad weather is avoided and 
a saving made in the end, amply repaying the cost of 
the structure. 
TRIAL OF PLOWS IN NEW ENGLAND, 
The old aphorism which salth 
“ He who by the plow would thrive, 
Must either hold himself or drive,” 
may have been true in that “good old time,” when 
every plowman made his own rude wood«u plow; 
but in this later day, when talent and skill of the 
highest order, and capital in almost unlimited 
amount, find well requited employment in the 
manufacture of plows, a better rendering would in 
some manner include among those who thrive, and 
perhaps best thrive, by the plow, many who are 
employed in its production rather than its use. 
Away back in the olden lime, when the tournament 
and the tilt afforded the tiller of the soil,—the vassal 
of some feudal lord,—his only season of recreation, 
the plow was comparatively unknown. Its history 
is the history of civilization, while that of the 
sword is of a rude barbarism. If, as is frequently 
usserted, the modem improvements in agriculture, 
agricultural implements, and the mechanic arts 
generally, are due to the prevailing system of fairs, 
cattle-shows and expositions, then, indeed, is the 
plow indirectly, as well as directly, a great benefac¬ 
tor ; for it is said that to the inability of an English 
farmer to get a plowman who could use his rude 
wooden hook, yclept plow, do we owe the origin 
of the whole system. The mechanical improve¬ 
ment of the one has kept even pace with the hu¬ 
manizing influence of the other, until there are not 
wanting some who assume to believe that perfection 
in the art of plow-making has been attained; and 
to the most critical mechanic, who judges by in¬ 
spection alone, it does really seem as if there is no 
field for improvement. 
But the fallacy of attempting to form a just opin¬ 
ion of the true merits of a plow by inspection 
alone, has been forcing itself upon the minds of the 
officers of our Agricultural Societies, and of those 
persons who are culled upon to make a practical 
use of the plow in the field, till the Executive Com¬ 
mittee of the New England Agricultural Society 
felt that it devolved upon them to bring about a 
thorough trial of any plows that might he offered, 
with a view to testing their comparative merits for 
field work. The beautiful farm of the Massachu¬ 
setts Agricultural College, having upon it plats of 
land of almost every variety of soil, was placed at 
their disposal for the purpose, and on Tuesday 
morning, May 5th, the trial commenced. Dr. 
Geo. B, Lorisg of Salem, Mass., the accomplished 
President of the Society, attended personally to 
every detail,of the trial, working in the field more 
than ten hours each day; Prof. Lavi Stourbridge, 
the very efficient Superintendent of the College f 
Farm, was, untiring and assiduous in his efforts; as 
and the judges were none the less determined to L 
make the most of the opportunity. % 
There were thirty entries of plows for compe- he 
fcition in seven different classes, and several others jx 
on exhibition, but not in competition for the prizes, m 
The plows were subjected to every possible test, /T* 
rious effects in summer ancl autumn, 
other and far more serious reasons for apprehend¬ 
ing a diminished production and its consequences 
—high prices and suffering, if not famine. The 
thousands—aye, tens and hundreds of thousands 
—of acres of improved and easily-cultivable land 
which are lying fallow and waste in fertile regions 
throughout the States and Territories of this Re¬ 
public, ought to alarm those who study cause amt 
effect, and especially Intelligent farmers and land- 
owners, and arouse them to Immediate and effectual 
action to prevent the loss and suffering that must 
result from their non-cultivation. Let us remove 
these blemishes from earth, and leave those of the 
celestial bodies to a higher power. The subject is 
of the first importance to the people and country— 
of far greater consequence than the success of this 
or that party in the approaching political campaign 
—and it behooves every one who can to 1'kno , riant 
and QuMivate as much of mother earth as possible. 
The truth is that too many soil cultivators have 
forsaken their calling for trade and speculation. A 
haste to get rich has caused a begira from country 
to city which must prove most disastrous—not only 
to the deserters themselves, but to the country at 
largo, in diminishing production and cheeking the 
general prosperity. The success of one oil specu¬ 
lator induces scores to try their luck, and though 
nineteen out of twenty fail, the twentieth man—he 
that succeeds—is, as a rule, the one who is envied 
and imitated in the effort , not the success. 80 in 
other speculations and pursuits which do not in¬ 
volve manual labor. The desire to live in the city, 
wear fine clothes and be fashionable, is resulting iu 
a curse to the Rural Population approaching that 
of the primal one upon the race. This, we are 
aware, is strong language, but is it not justifiable, 
considering the results and consequences of the 
great influx to the cities 1 Let the d is appointm ents, 
failures, poverty und destitution of thousands in 
onr commercial centers answer. 
We adjure every farmer, and especially every 
young man on the farm wbo is familiar with its 
labors and duties, to adhere to Agriculture—ex cept 
such as have special talent or an irrepressible in¬ 
clination for this or that occupation or profession. 
We make this exception for the reason that, unless 
our cities are occasionally reinforced by country 
stamina aud constitutions, their citizens will nat¬ 
urally and speedily deteriorate and become effemi¬ 
nate aud useless. Luxury and dissipation—idleness 
and fashion—do not produce or encourage Brain, 
Muscle and industry, the great levers of production 
aud success. Were Agriculture rendered more at¬ 
tractive — more popular and fashionable — tens ol 
thousands who now leave it, annually, would re¬ 
main on the farm, and a hegira from city to country 
— instead of the reverse — would be the result. 
Hence, every improvement in culture and labor- 
in the Rural for May 16th 
UueUwheat lu ilie Hop Yard. 
“ D. A.,’’ Oaklaud Co., Mich., writes: — “We 
would like to learn, through your columns, whether 
it is desirable to sprinkle buckwheat on the hop 
yard after the last cultivating. It has been sug¬ 
gested as good to keep the louse from attacking 
the hops, as they give the buckwheat the prefer¬ 
ence. Many of your subscribers here would like 
information on the subject.” 
This is a matter which must be proved by experi¬ 
ment. We are not aware that any yards have been 
thus protected; that is, no experiments have been 
reported which were so conducted as to demon¬ 
strate, beyond doubt, that buckwheat had the effect 
ascribed to it. We advise trial, believing that a 
sprinkling of buckwheat on a rich and well culti¬ 
vated yard will have no serious damaging effect, 
while there may be a possibility of its affordidg the 
desired protection. We invite hop growers who 
have tried it to report to us, or if they know any 
means of circumventing the insect let us hear it. 
As a rule, we can’t coax our enemies from our 
crops by giving them something they like better. 
Thistle** and Other Weeds. 
“R. D. C.,” Augusta, Wis., writes:—“I notice in 
the Rural of April 11th, a few remarks on the burn¬ 
ing of Canada thistles. Now, I was brought ap in 
yoar State, and if there is any one thing more viv¬ 
idly remembered by me than all other incidents of 
boyhood’s trials, it is the hugging of Canada this¬ 
tles when I assisted in binding my father’s grain, 
and I want to say to everybody, ‘kill them out.’ 
Stubborn as they are and tenacious of life, they may 
nevertheless be destroyed root and branch by mow¬ 
ing them on the 5th day of July two years in suc¬ 
cession. By this year’s cutting all are killed that 
would seed, the young sprouts live through and 
must be cut next year.” 
Mowing Canada thistles, at the period when they 
have their full growth, but before the seed matures 
is a good practice, and if well followed up, on sod 
ground, will eventually kill them. We do not think, 
however, that the 5th of July, or any other exact 
date can be specified as the best and most certain to 
ensure their destruction, if the cutting be then per 
formed. The time must be fixed by the maturity of 
the thistles and state of the weather. 
The weed question is a very important one to 
Western farmers. They work a soil free from these 
pests when the plow first upturns it, and nobody 
will pretend to deny that it might be kept in that 
condition, and that the cost incurred to do this 
work would be far less than that of extirpating them 
when once they have become established, or of cov¬ 
ering the loss they inflict when they have secured a 
Eds. Rural :—A great deal has been said about 
“ Book Farming;” and about agricultural and hor¬ 
ticultural books being written by men who know 
nothing practically about the subjects upon which 
they write. Now, I have felt that there may be 
something In this, and 1 have neglected to get what 
I much wanted—a good book on kitchcu gardening 
—lest I should get one of the poor kind. But being 
in New Fork, lately, I asked a bookseller to let me 
see hia latest works on gardening. Amongst others 
he showed me one which was by a man who is well 
known to be one of the best gardeners in the coun¬ 
try— Robert Butst. Moreover, the book professed 
to be published in the year of our Lord 1807; it bore 
the imprint of a publisher who is well known to be 
death on all humbugs — Orange Judd; and so 1 
felt sure that I was all right,— that I had the latest 
and best thing out. 
And now, wnat do you think, when 1 tell you that 
this book, which professes to be by a good gardener, 
and to be published last year, contains not one word 
about any of those fruits and vegetables which have 
been introduced since 1847 ? 1 felt anxious to see 
what Buist had to say about the new Goodrich pota¬ 
toes. He says nothing at all. He writes of grapes 
and describes the varieties, but not a word about 
any kind more modern than the Catawba or Loug- 
and prizes awarded as follows: — To the Ames 
Plow Co. of Boston, five medals and one diploma; 
to the Morse Plow Co. of Boston, one medal; to 
