82 Buffalo St., Rocha 
41 Park Row, New 12 
gave a profit of 363 per cent., and was used at the 
rate of 178 pounds per acre. 
These profits appear large; but two bushels of 
plaster applied to an acre of meadow on the Michi¬ 
gan College farm increased the crop of hay over 
4,000 pounds — showing an enormous profit on the 
cost of the fertilizer. Do not these facta warrant the 
conclusion that it is to make two or three 
hundred pounds of the proper food of plants do for 
the farmer what he expects from ‘30 loads of yard or 
stable manure? Are not 4,000 pounds of hay ob¬ 
tained from a little salt of lime, quite as valuable as 
if made by the most watery dung heap ? Such dung 
heaps smell of agricultural old fogyiam — of that 
happy time when our forefathers went to mill with 
the grist in one end of the bag and a big stone to 
balance it In the other. There is no doubt that man 
once drank salt water at saline springs as wild cattle 
now do; but if it is proper to concentrate the dif¬ 
fused particles of salt in natural water, why is It not 
also proper to concentrate fertilizing atoms, greatly 
diluted in the stable droppings of our farm stock ? 
Who uses sugar diluted in water as it comes from 
cane, the sugar tree or beet? Cora is not more re¬ 
productive in its nature than good stable manure; 
but, as it is not necessary to plant a whole cornstalk, 
cob and leaves, to get the living germ of this plant, 
so it Is needless to plant 96 pounds of carbon and the 
elements of water in mannre, to obtain four pounds 
of the living essence of fertility. 
These views were urged upon the attention of the 
enterprising and intelligent planters of Hancock Co., 
Ga., over twenty years ago, in an address before 
their County Agricultural Society by the writer; 
and they are to-day in advance of all other Ameri¬ 
cans in the profitable use of manure brought to a 
focus. It is time to collect the scattered rays of 
agricultural science — bring them to a point on the 
a*rt”of feeding all cultivated plants, as well as all 
domesticated animals. D. Lee. 
Knox Co,, Tenn., H388, 
MOOBE’S BUBAL NEW-Y0BKEB 
AN ORIGINAL WEHKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AMD FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
Pioneers are an important portion of an army, 
especially on a march through a rough and primitive 
country. But pioneers are not confined to the mil¬ 
itary solely, but are found self-appointed in all 
newly settled countries. There is many a stalwart 
man who marches into the woods with the tread of 
a giant; searches for a spring, and, when found, 
locates a cabin near it and says, mentally, “ here I 
stick my stakes.” He means it, and goes to work 
with a wllL The forest becomes vocal with the re¬ 
verberating blows of the ax and the crash of falling 
timber. In a short time an opening is made; 
ground that has reposed in the shade for ages feels 
the genial influences of the sun, and is bedecked 
with waving grain. Home seems stamped on every 
thing around. But the pioneer tires of a fixed po¬ 
sition ; the glara of the sun is too strong for his 
optics, and he pines for tho solitude and undress of 
the forest. The pioneer fever is strong upon its 
victim. Stakes are pulled up, “betterments ” sold, 
and another dive into the far west is made with all 
the zest of a first effort 
Such arc the pioneers of the real farmers, smooth¬ 
ing down, as do the military ones, the rough places, 
and preparing the way for the advancing thousands 
which follow along the routes thus explored. There 
are some of this pioueer class of farmers who have 
set and pulled up their stakes half a dozen times 
before age and consequent diminution of physical 
power warn them that it is time to make them fast 
for life. This class pioneer for the excitement. 
They are like the Athenians, ever after some new 
thing. But there is another clasB who are pioneers 
from necessity; men with strong local attachments, 
but whom misfortunes have compelled to seek shel¬ 
ter in the region of cheap lauds. These last are the 
men who will leave a more lasting mark in the place 
where they settle than will the first. The tiret throw 
up temporary structures; the last permanent ones. 
The first move from a feverish impulse; the last 
from settled convictions. The one is the light ar¬ 
tillery of advancing civilization; the last the heavy 
battery. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Associates and Contributors, 
G. F. WILCOX AND A. A. HOPKINS, Associate Editors, 
Hon. HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL. D., 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
HIRAM BLMPHREY and REUBEN D. JONES, 
Assistant and Commercial Editors. 
RED TOP STRAP-LEAS'. 
Special Contributors. 
P. BARRY, F. B. ELLIOTT, B. W. STEW 
H. T. BROOKS, JOHN E. SWEET, JAMES V 1 CI 
MRS. MARY J. HOLMES, MRS. L. E. LYMAN. 
Terms, 1b Advance — Thrr* Dollars a Year:— Five 
copies for $14; Seven, and one free to Clnb Agent, for $19; 
Ten, and one free, for 145— only $3.50 per copy. As we pre¬ 
pay American postage, $2.70 Is the lowest Clnb rate to Canada 
and $3.50 to Europe. The best way to remit la by Draft or 
Poet-Offlce Money Order,—and all Drafts and Orders made 
payable to the Publisher may bb mailbd at ms risk. 
BTA11 Business Letters, Contributions, Ac., should be 
addressed to Rochester until otherwise announced. 
QUEEN-TOP BWBDB, 
We suppose there are few farmers who would 
object to a liberal turnip crop, if, at the proper time, 
it were found stored in their cellars, ready for feed¬ 
ing stock. And if it is not yet expedient for Ameri¬ 
can farmers to engage in turnip growing as largely 
as their English cousins, it may be of great profit for 
them generally to grow moderate quantities, and, in 
many cases, large crops. The farmer who at the 
present season looks over his resources, and fears 
he is not producing food enough to carry his stock 
through next winter, may yet increase those re¬ 
sources to an extent which will enable him to even 
add to instead of diminishing his number of animals. 
Butting in a turnip crop will do this ; and just now, 
before you arc fully engaged in the grain harvest, is 
the time to devote a day or two to this work. 
If the farmer unexpectedly determines to raise 
turnips it may puzzle him a little to select the land 
for their growth. He has no place prepared; but 
there may be several locations on bis farm where an 
experienced turnip grower would expect to attain 
reasonable success. If by mischance there are va¬ 
cant spots in the corn or potato field, sow them to 
turnips. The stubble of the earliest cut .grain, 
plowed, fitted and sowed promptly, may give a 
fine crop. Or a light and brittle clover sod inverted 
with care, will fit the turnip plant. There is, in¬ 
deed, no lack of place for the crop on any farm. 
Where there is a chance for selection the soil 
should be fertile, and one that may be finely pul¬ 
verized and readily worked. Then preparations 
should he made to grow a large crop; it is much 
better to raise eight hundred bushelB on one acre 
than ten hundred on two. The foundation for a 
large crop is manure ; faith and a liberal hand is 
wanted there. Good culture rears the superstruct¬ 
ure ; skill and industry should labor together. The 
Swede, or cuta-baga, which variety is perhaps unex¬ 
celled as a field crop, is peculiarly remarkable for its 
wanting manure to give it a start. A little concen¬ 
trated fertilizer in the drills is what is needed so to 
push the plant vigorously iu its first growth that it 
may escape the turnip fly, and acquire early the 
broad rough leaves through which the plant derives 
from the air a very great share of its substance. If 
the method of culture is thorough, aiming to grow 
a large crop from a given area, we should advise 
planting iu drills that are about two feet apart. 
These may be opened with a plow, manure spread 
along them, then dirt turned on to the manure, 
thus forming over it little-ridges. These should be 
slightly flattened and the seed sown about three- 
quarters of tin inch deep and at the rate of one pound 
per acre. In our climate it would be of some impor¬ 
tance to sow the seed while the soil is fresh and 
damp so that the &eed will germinate quickly. 
Broadcast sowing is often practiced, but for a good 
crop it is not commendable. 
When the plants first appear they are often in¬ 
fested with the turnip fly. The best remedy is to 
push the plants with manure so they will soon get 
the rough leaves, when the insect becomes harm¬ 
less. It is useful to dust plaster over the plants. 
As soon as the young tumipBareof sufficient height 
to mark the rows well, cultivators should be passed 
between them, and the dirt scraped from the sides 
of the ridges, leaving them only three or four 
inches in width and two or three in height. A few 
days later the plants must be thinned in the row so 
they will stand about one foot apurt. Tbi6 work is 
rapidly done with a hoe, an active hand going over 
one-third of an acre in a day. This completes the 
hand labor, if the ground is tolerably free from 
weeds, until harvesting; but the cultivator must be 
used. The main growth of the turuip i6 made In 
the fall, moist, dark weather being favorable to its 
development. It is not injured by the ordinary fall 
frost*, but continues its growth late. It should be 
harvested in November. 
Our illustration represents several varieties, of 
which the 8wedes and Red Top Strap Leaf are the 
best for market or stock. The Kohl Rabi is a 
singular plant, intermediate between the Cabbage 
and Turnip. It rises one stem above ground, but 
the bulb and leaves are those of the Turnip family. 
They are grown extensively for stock in Europe. 
should be used on an acre, mixed with live times 
its bulk of muck or scrapiing of the barnyard. But 
if it has been composte-l for a year double that 
amount may be used witli profit. 
AMMONIA CAL LIQUOR. 
This refuse of the gas works has not been used 
to any extent in this. vc *-ry. But it is valuable 
as a manure, and to those in the vicinity of the gas 
works it would many times repay the coBt of Baving 
and applying it. The gas is forced up through hol¬ 
low columns filled with water spray, which absorbs 
the ammonia from the gas and retains it. This am- 
moniated water has the principal fertilizing agent of 
urine, and when used with compost causes a rapid 
decay of vegetable matter and adds great fertilizing 
power. It may be used in a liquid form, but, in 
that case, it must be diluted—one of the liquor to 
four of water. In this proportion it has been ap¬ 
plied with a water cart at the rate of 400 gallons 
per acre, a few days before putting in the crop. 
This liquor is rich in nitrogen, which has been reck¬ 
oned the most valuable portion of Peruvian guano. 
Immense quantities of this liquor go to waste, which 
might fie used to fertilize t housands of acres of wheat 
and other grain, and thus add to the sustenance of 
mankind.— e. w. s. 
of grain in a field that yield the most bushels per 
acre, but the greater length and weight of them. A 
field of grain looks beet when the headB lop over 
with weight of berry; then the sun glances from it 
and the field delights the beholder. I saw an filus- 
tration of thick and thin seeding in a barley field 
last year; four bushels per acre were sown on one 
strip and less than two on another. On the first the 
straw was fine, thick, and heads short and stood per¬ 
fectly upright; on the second the heads of grain 
were long, well filled and the berry heavy. The yield 
of grain was more than double that of the first. 
meadows 
Should not be mown late if it is desirable to retain 
them permanently in grass? No seed should be 
allowed to form on the grass of permanent meadows 
or pastures, Late mowing, thus allowing seed to 
ripen in the grass, and light pasturing, which on rich 
lands brings the same result, are not favorable to the 
permanency of grass. Not only does the matured 
seed impoverish the land, bnt It saps the vigor of 
the plant itself, and induces it to put forth feebler 
efforts for growth and even existence. Chiel. 
HOW LONG SHALL FODDER BE CUT? 
As friend E. W. S. has abandoned his hair-split¬ 
ting platform, with regard to cutting fodder, and 
planted his views exactly on a level with my posi¬ 
tion, which he at first assailed, we will dismiss our 
academical nonsense, and treat the subject with the 
dignity which becomes men who are ambitious to 
disclose important facts and useful information. It 
Is the height of folly to attempt to palm off on the 
readers of the Rural any thing that is not practi¬ 
cally useful. Many people who cannot write even 
a brief paragraph for the press, can judge as correct¬ 
ly as if they were competent to wield the pen of a 
ready writer. There are a great many really intelli¬ 
gent cultivators of the soil who cannot, commit a 
single paragraph of their practice to paper. And 
yet, I feel willing to take a place at their side as a 
learner . Such men know perfectly well whether we 
writers record matter that is practically useful or 
not. A young stripling of a minister sometimes 
thinks that because he has been intro-luced into 
the pulpit he knows more thau all the congrega¬ 
tion, when many of the fathers and mothers in 
Israel, who are in their dotage, can talk more theol¬ 
ogy when in their places than their haughty parson. 
It is of no use for ns to recommend to intelligent 
farmers that hay, straw and corn-stalks ought to be 
cut an eighth of an inch long; or that it ought to 
be ground into a pulp before it is fed out; or that 
the cut fodder should be reduced to small frag¬ 
ments, unless we can show that it will pay them; 
because they are not going to adopt a system of 
management that will not return to them a quid 
pro quo —an equivalent—for their labor. A million¬ 
aire who has so much money that he must set his 
wits at work, night and day, to devise ways and 
means of spending a part of his interest money, may 
construct expensive machiuery for reducing coarse 
fodder to a pulp; but it is a palpable absurdity to 
recommend to the masses of the farmers to grind 
or crash all their fodder, after it has been run 
through a straw cutter. They will not do it. 
Hon. Ross Winans of Baltimore, has constructed 
a huge crushing machine for mashiug and grinding 
all hay and straw fed to three hundred milch cows, 
after everything is steamed. At first sight, we all 
say, that is the way to farm it. Admit it to be so, 
for the sake of the argument. But, when a farmer 
has only a limited revenue, and a 3mall herd of cat¬ 
tle, will it be possible for him to make it pay, if he 
expends 12,000 for machinery and apparatus to 
crash aud steam his fodder? The bare interest on 
the money expended would more than consume his 
profits. A farmer must count the cost of every ope¬ 
ration. We are agreed that the facilities for cutting 
coarse fodder are now so complete that it can be 
made to pay to ebaff the coarse material before 
feeding it, provided we do not recommend cutting 
too line, thus increasing the expense so as to 
frighten beginueis out or an economical operation. 
If we can get farmers to cut their coarse feed two 
inches long, we have gained a desirable point. I 
kuovv it will pay to cut cornstalks and straw two 
inches long. I am still In doubt, ho wever, about 
cutting prime hay. Very coarse, second quality of 
hay, I would cutand steam also, if l could devise an 
apparatus that would not coBt more than all the 
profits of feeding. If we can Induce farmers to cut 
their fodder two inches long, I feel assured that, 
after a few years, they may think it best to try the 
experiment of cutting one inch long. But, if we 
come out squarely, and contend for cutting every¬ 
thing one-eighth of an inch long; that it must be 
mashed and pulped and steamed, the expense will 
enormous that farmers would be in dan- 
N. S. H. asks, through the Rural, “ How much 
gas lime shall he put upon an acre of land ?” The 
multiplication of gas works In every considerable 
town, producing a large amount of this refuse lime, 
renders this question very important to farmers in 
the vicinity. In order to understand this question 
fully, it will be necessary to look into the compo¬ 
sition of this gas lime. The gas is forced through 
the dry-slacked lime to purify it of its sulphuretted 
hydrogen and other impurities. In its fresh state 
gas lime contains some ammonia, which la 60 on 
dissipated as a carbonate, and it also soon parts 
with its hydrogen. What change is produced in 
the lime may be seen by the following analysis of 
Prof. J. F. W. Johnston : 
COMPOSITION OF OAS LIME. 
When nearly When a year 
fresh. or two old. 
Water anil Coal Tar .„ 959 959 
Carbonate of Lime.... 58.38 50 -11 
Hydrate of Lime, (Caustic).. 5.92 - 
Sulphate of Lime, (Land Plaster)... 2.77 29.33 
Sulphite and Hyposulphite of Lime. 15.12 - 
Sulphur.7.92 - 
Prussian Blue . 1.S0 1.80 
Alumina and Oxide of Iron. 3.40 3.40 
Sand, &c. 1.29 1.29 
100.00 101.81 
A careful scrutiny of this analysis will explain the 
cause of the different opinions of the value of gas 
lime. The fifteen per cent, of sulphite or hyposul¬ 
phite of lime dissolves readily in water, and when 
used fresh in considerable quantity, is dissolved by 
water and carried down to the roots of plants so 
rapidly as to injure or destroy them, and thus 
comes the statement that it will kill rather than 
nourish vegetation. Some years ago, when in a - 
hurry, meeting an acquaintance in Buffalo, who 
had heard of my using gas lime, he asked me. if I 
had found it heneflciaL To which I replied, “ Yes, 
a valuable manure,” aud passed on. The next thing 
I heard he had put on twenty loads to the acre and 
killed every green thing. But 1 understand the soil 
has been much benefited by the application since. 
It will be seen by the analysis that, after being ex¬ 
posed to the air for a time, this sulphite of lime 
changes to sulphate of lime or land plaster and 
thus becomes very useful to vegetation. The sul¬ 
phite of lime is not injurious to vegetation when 
used in the proper quantity. The fre6h gas lime 
may be used with perfect safety if mixed with five 
times its quantity of muck or other compost. I 
have used it with excellent effect, mixed one to 
three with bone manure. Fifty bushels of the lime 
mixed in this manner and sowu upon an acre of 
oats produced fifty per cent, more than another 
acre adjoining, without manure ; and I thought this 
difference could uot be attributed to the three loads 
of horse manure. I uIbo used two loads of old gas 
lime alone upon an acre of wheat, and found a great 
improvement over an unmanured portion of the 
same field. It will be seen that lifly-eight per cent, 
is carbonate of lime uncomblned with impurities of 
the gas. This portion is as valuable as lime slaked 
in any other way. Then the sulphur is certainly 
beneficial when combined with lirpe in the form of 
gypsum or laud plaster. After using it for years, I 
have come to consider gas lime, properly managed, 
a very valuable ingredient for the compost heap, 
or as an application to be used alone in moderate 
quantity. If fresh, not more than fifty bushels 
While E. W. S. is showing very clearly In the 
Rural the importance of “soiling” farm stock, 
perhaps its readers will be gratified with a few facts 
showing the intrinsic value of concentrated stable 
manure. In the February and March numbers of 
the Southern Caltivator of the present year, Dr. E. 
M. Pendleton of Sparta, Ga., famishes tables of 
carefully conducted experiments with twenty-eight 
different kinds of manure, applied to cotton. Among 
all these, concentrated .liable manure estimated as cost¬ 
ing $20 a ton, gave the largest profit on the invest¬ 
ment, or 531 per cent.; 107 lbs. per acre drilled in 
with cotton seed, increased the yield from 588 lbs. to 
876 of seed cotton. Gain, 288 lbs., equal to 100 lbs. 
of lint and 188 lbs. of seed, Wnen cotton was very 
low In price Dr. P. estimated the “clear profit at 
$8 89.” At the present price of cotton it would be 
twice that sum, or give him a clear profit of 1,000 per 
cent on a fair valuation of the stable manure. 
A ton of 2,000 pounds of common manure was re¬ 
duced to less than 400 pounds by thorough drying; 
or it “lost between SO aud 90 percent” “It was 
thoroughly pulverized and sifted —all of which, to¬ 
gether with the hauling, &c., were estimated in the 
cost." Sifting would remove woody stems and tis¬ 
sue of little value as a fertilizer. 
Cow manure, gathered from an open cow pen or 
yard, manipulated iu the same way, and estimated at 
$1 for lUO pounds, gave a clear profit of 315 per cent. 
Pigeon manure a profit of 328 per cent. Urinated 
piaster a profit of 97 per cent. 
The benefit to accrue from concentrating common 
farm manure lies in the fact that carbon, water and 
its elements, are too abundant In the atmosphere and 
soil, for it to be profitable to haul them far, or spread 
them by hand, as fertilizers, in ten tons of stable 
droppings there are eight tons of water, which is no 
better than rain or snow water on any crop. Why 
haul and spread this worthless water, when a little 
drying will remove it? Why not use concentrated 
manure and drill it in with seed wheat, corn, beans 
and other crops? Even “chip manure," concen 
trated, gave Dr. Pendleton a profit of 24 per cent., 
estimated at $20 a ton; while “Jimc or rotten wood” 
gave a loss of 101 per cent. Cotton seed heated, 
(probably by fermentation to destroy its vitality,) 
gave a profit of only 26 per cent.; while similar 
seed, crushed and pressed without fermenting, gave a 
profit of 117 per cent. This means that we should 
let munurial substances ferment and rot on the land 
or in tilled ground. 
Again: 140 pounds of a mixture of Peruvian guano 
and soluble Pacific applied to an acre gave an in¬ 
crease of seed cotton from 558 pounds to 1,450 pounds, 
at a clear profit of $26.80; aud 482 per cent, on the 
cost of the fertilizers. Home-made superphosphate ’ appear so 
COBBLE STONE WALLS. 
I heartily detest that thing called a cobble 
stone wall, commonly supposed to be a fence, but 
mostly a good harboring place forvermin and a very 
effective contrivance for teaching stock — especially 
sheep —to be anruly. Cobble stone on the fields 
are a nuisance, but most fanners so unfortunate as 
to be troubled thereby have committed a greater by 
putting them into fences. Itls’nt in their nature to 
be made into a satisfactory fence, first-, because you 
can’t build a cobble, stone wall high enough for a 
complete and legal barrier without having it tumble 
down in a few years, and second, you can’t build 
it low enough, finishing the fence with rails or 
boards, to keep it from going the same way. Of 
course, there are some ways of building wall that 
render them more durable than others. If yon 
make them broad at the base, narrow at tho top, 
low, and then bank them sufficiently to keep the 
frost from the foundation you get balf a feuce. But 
the work costs as much as a whole fence out. of good 
rails or posts and boards would, and what is gained 
thereby? Better plow up a simple bank of earth 
and put the rails or boards on that; or, what is bet¬ 
ter, plant a hedge. 
Well, what would I do with the cobble stone? 
Bury them. Fat them out of sight and the way of 
troubling forever. They can be made of more ser¬ 
vice to the farmer underground than above. Fill up 
ditches with them, and if more remain find hollows, 
or sinkholes that are too wet and low, dig great 
holes in them aud fill up with stone. Yon can mend 
many bad places around the farm In that way, every 
field will absorb the stone on it, and you will never 
be troubled with them afterwards. 
It don’t pay to have too much fencing on a farm. 
Consider that it is of no use but to restrain stock in 
pasture. For all other farm purposes fences are in 
the way. They are costly, they occupy laud, and 
they harbor weeds. Surely, for the one purpose it Is 
nut neeessury for us to build and keep up mile6 of 
fences on every hundred acres. Let us away with 
the old fogy practice, and bring the food to the 
stock, and have only the permanent pasture lands 
fenced. 
thick and thin seeding. 
We sow too much seed to the acre. I mean of 
grain; rarely do we sow too much of grass. We 
should consider that we sow grain to reap grain, and 
that to bead well the plant must have room, air aud 
suu6hiue. If grass is thick and fine It is of better 
quality than if thin and coarse, hence it will bear 
thick seeding. It is not the largest number of heads 
