AGRICULTURE 
$3.00 PER YEAR. 
Single Copy, Six Cents, 
82 Buffalo St., Rochester. 
41 Park Row, New York. 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
FOOD-ITS CONSTITUENTS AND RELA 
TIVE VALUE. 
MOOSE’S EUEAL NEW YOEKEE, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
MOPE OF BtJILDtNG. 
If a cellar is made, it should be excavated before 
the wall is laid. When the wall is within two feel 
of the surface, it is better to lay stone from this 
point three feet, or one foot above the ground, to 
Water and 
Dr. Bellows, in a recently published volume on 
the philosophy of eating, classifies the various arti¬ 
cles or food under three general heads, thus: 
First —Carbonates; that class which supplies the 
lungs with fuel, and thus furnishes heat to the sys¬ 
tem, and supplies fat or adipose substance, 
Second— Nitrates; that class which supplies the 
waste or muscles. 
Third— Phosphates; that class which supplies the 
bones, the brain and the nerves, and gives vital 
power—both muscular and mental. 
The comparative value, in supplying heat, mus¬ 
cle and bone, of the several cereals, vegetables and 
meats, may be seen by the following analysis: 
Carbon- PhoB- w t 
ates. phates. waier - 
Wheat..... 15. 09.8 1.0 14. 
Barley. 17. 60.5 3.5 14. 
Oats. 17. 00.4 3. 13.6 
Northern corn.12. 73. 1. 14. 
Southern corn. 35. 45. 4. 14. 
Buckwheat. 8.6 75.4 1,8 14.2 
Beane. 24. 57.7 3.5 14.8 
Rico. 0.5 79.5 .5 13.5 
Potatoes. . . 1.4 22 5 .9 75.2 
Sweet, potatoes. 1.5 25.5 2.9 67.5 
Parsnips. 1.2 7. 1. 82. 
Turnips. 1.1 4. .5 90.5 
Cabbage. 3. 5. 1. 90. 
Cucumbers...... 1.5 1. .5 97. 
Apples. 5. 10. 1. S4. 
Milk of cow. 5. 8. 1. 80. 
Veal. 16. 16.5 4.5 62.5 
Beef..,.,.,. 15. 30. 5. 50. 
Mutton. 12.5 40. 8.6 14. 
Pork. 10. 50. 1.5 38.5 
Chicken. 20. 35. 4.5 40.5 
Animals have been fed on pure starch, or sugar, 
or fat alone, and they gradually pined away and 
died; and the nitrates in all the hue Hour bread 
which the animals can eat will not sustain life be¬ 
yond sixty days; others fed on unbolted flour bread 
would continue to thrive for an Indefinite period. 
It is immaterial whether the general quantity of 
food be reduced too low, or whether either of the 
muscle-making or heat - producing principles be 
withdrawn while the other is fully supplied. In 
either case the effect will be the same. The animal 
will become weak, dwjnt'le away and die, sooner nr 
later, according to the deficiency; and if food is 
eaten which is deficient in either principle, the ap¬ 
petite will demand it in quantity till the deficient 
element is supplied. All the food, beyond the 
amount necessary to supply the principle that is 
not deficient, iB not only wasted, but burdens the 
stomach with efforts to dispose of it. Food, there¬ 
fore, containing the right proportion of heaters 
and muscle-makers is uot only best, but most 
economical. In Boston, aud probably in all Ameri¬ 
can cities, a large part of the expenses of the table 
are for butter, superfine flour and sugar, neither of 
which contains enough of the muscle or brain feed¬ 
ing element to sustain life over fifty days, as has 
been proved by experiment with flour; while butter 
and sugar would not sustain life a single month 
without other food. As far as we have articles of 
food deficient in carbonates, we can use without 
loss, butter or sugar to supply the deficiency; but 
most of our national food, both animal and vegeta¬ 
ble, contains a due proportion, and if with them 
we use butter aud sugar, they cannot be appropri¬ 
ated by the system, and are therefore lost. All 
meats, fat and lean together, all grain and milk, 
contain all the carbonates that are needed, or can 
be used to furnish heat in moderate weather. All 
the butter or sugar, therefore, that is added to 
either of these common articles of food, as they are 
used in making cakes, custards, pies, utc., are not 
only lost, but by adding too much fuel increase the 
tendency to inflammation, embarrass the stomach, 
and induce dyspepsia, congestions, obst ructions, etc. 
With beef steak, or any other lean meats, or fish, 
or potatoes, or any green vegetables, or fried bean-, 
or peas, some oily substance seems to be needed, as 
all these articles are deficient in carbon, and in 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
(PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR,) 
With a Corps of Able Associates and Contributors 
prevent the possible danger of frost, 
frost will sometimes scale oil' the concrete near the 
surface of the ground, but when perfectly made, it 
will stand the action of water and the most severe 
frost. 
The method of laying the wall is to place stand¬ 
ards of 4 by 4 scantling perpendicularly on each 
side of the proposed wall, and three inches wider 
apart than the wall is to be thick, so that plank 
one and a half inches thick and fourteen inches 
wide may be placeij inside these standards, leaving 
a space between just the thickness of the wall. 
These standards Bhould reach above the height of 
the wall, may be twelve feet apart, and the plank he 
of that length. To hold these plank from Bpringing 
out in the middle, a piece of hard wood board, with 
notches [sawn, of the right width, may be slipped 
on the upper edge. When these standards are all 
plumbed and braced, so as to hold them firmly, 
around the whole building, and the plank placed so 
as to make a continuous box, then the next thing 
is to fill this box with the concrete mortar. But 
we will first make the mortar, noting all the in¬ 
gredients and preparations. 
WATER-LIME CONCRETE. 
If it is water-lime or hydraulic cement for cellar 
or underground wall, take one part of good, strong 
lime and three parts of sand, and mix them well 
together dry; then work In the water, making a 
very thin mortar; after which work in three parts 
more of coarse gravel and pebbles, or small stone, 
making six of sand and gravel to one of lime. If 
cobble stone are used, a layer of these may be put 
in the boxes, and then the mortar put over them; 
then another layer of cobble stone and mortar, and 
so on. The boxes should be filled to the top with 
the concrete, taking care to put it in before it sets. 
When the boxes are filled around the building, they 
should stand till the concrete harden* sufficiently 
to bear the weight o( another layer. This will 
occur, in dry, warm weather, in twenty-four to 
forty-eight hours, according to the thickness of the 
wall. When ready to put on another layer, raise 
up the plank one foot, leaving two inches lapping 
on the wall below to keep the new mortar from 
running out. Each layer after the first will be one 
foot high. This cellar wall will he thus continued 
x till high enough to commence the first 6tory of the 
. house. At this point, the upper edge of the plank 
should he carefully leveled where the top of the 
r cellar wall is to be. When the box is nearly filled, 
, plank of some lasting timber, two inches thick and 
two inches narrower than the thickness of the wall. 
t * 
r should be placed flat in the box against the inside 
, plank, and bedded into the concrete, so that the 
upper surface be Just even with the upper edge of 
the box, and level, leaving two inches of concrete 
on the outside. This plank should be extended on 
■ two sides of the building to lay the floor joists on. 
! When this upper layer is sufficiently dried, the in- 
1 side plank of the box should be taken out before 
’ the floor joists are put on, and these joists should 
; not be gained or notched, but the under side should 
! rest four inches on those wall plank, and be staid 
firmly in their places. Cut in pieces of boards be- 
’ tween the joists on the inside of the wall to hold 
' Die concrete to the top of the joists, then raise the 
1 outside plank to the top of the floor joists; and 
now we are ready for the 
QUICK - LIME CONCRETE. 
This is made by slacking the quick-lime, and mix¬ 
ing three parts of sand to one of lime into a thin 
mortar—working well; then working in live parts 
of coarse gravel, pebble or cobble stones. When 
cobble stones are used, the best way is to mix the 
mortar with five parts of sand and gravel to one of 
lime; place a layer of this in the bottom of the 
box; then bed the cobble stones into it, aud fill up 
around them with mortar; then another layer of 
cobble stones as before. 
Quick-lime concrete should he mixed some days 
before using, so that the lime shall be thoroughly 
slacked, for the particles of lime slacking in the 
wall weaken it. 
The wall of this story of the building may be 
carried up only one foot thick from the top of the 
floor joists, consequently, as the cellar wall iB four¬ 
teen inches, there will be a set-oil' on the inside of 
two Riches. The inside plank to the box will now 
be restored, and the wall tarried up as before to the 
second story, wheu the wall will be leveled as be¬ 
fore, and the plank bedded into the mortar to lay 
the second floor Joists on; and when the top is 
reached, the ceiling joists will be put on in the 
same way, and on top of the wall a plank will be 
bedded into the mortar to rest the foot of the raft¬ 
ers on. The window and door frames will have 
jams as wide as the wall is thick, and will go inside 
the boxes, and thus give no trouble in laying up the 
wall. The concrete should be made as convenient 
to the wall as possible, and may be wheeled to the 
place in a barrow and shoveled into the boxes. It 
may be carried in this manner till the wall reaches 
the top of the first story, with a long gang plank. 
ICE-HOUSE AND PltESERVATOKY. 
This wall is peculiarly adapted to the ice-house, 
being penetrated less by heat and cold than any 
other. To make one in the best manner it should 
I be built with a double wall, having an air-space six < 
(3. F. WILCOX and A. A. HOPKINS, Associate Editors, 
Hon. BENRY S. P.ANDALL, LL. P., 
Editor of the Department oi' Sheep Husbandry. 
Dr. DANIEL LEE, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
Terms, in Advance Tup.ee Dollars a Year:—F ive 
copies lor *11; Seveu, and one free to Club Agent,, for $19; 
Ten, and one. free, lor $25 —only $2.$0 per eopy, As we pre¬ 
pay American postage, $2,70 Is the lowest Club rate to Canada 
and $5.50 to Pur ope. The best way to remit Is by Draft or 
Post-Office Money Order,— and all Draft? and Orders made 
payable to the Publisher may be mailed at iiis risk. 
TH"" All Business Letters, Contributions, &C„ should be 
addressed to Rochester until otherwise announced. 
Nitrates, 
AemiMMiEAit 
It is to be presumed that on most farms there 
may he found portions of ground which have been 
already plowed, designed for winter grain. Such 
land, if not situated too low, will now be in fair con¬ 
dition for the purpose of sowing to buckwheat. 
Bottom lands, in the vicinity of streams or ponds, 
are not suitable for the production of this grain, as 
it grows too rank, and is liable to blast as the grain 
commences to make. A more elevated and airy po¬ 
sition is beet, escaping the malaria of fogs and early 
frosts — its two most prominent enemiee. The soil 
should be mellow and well worked, in order that 
the wheat may get an early start, and shade out the 
weeds and grasses. Two or three acres of buck- 
• wheat, to each small farm, null be found of great 
value to the family as a portion of their winter 
bread, aim equally acceptable to the poultry in the 
spring, when the egg aud chicken season commences. 
It is profitable, too, as furnishing pasturage for 
bees — especially late swarms, whose stores often 
consist mainly of contributions from this source. 
The honey may be less palatable to some than that 
derived from others not so pungent to the taste, 
still it is honey, and not bad to take with properly 
prepared cakes — particularlybuckwheatcakes. As 
this grain reaches maturity rapidly, the ground oc¬ 
cupied by it may be used for putting in wheat or 
rye, and will usually be found in excellent tilth, 
ready to receive and appropriate, to advantage, the 
manurial agencies bestowed upon it as a preliminary 
to the latter crops. When the soil is in good heart, 
property plowed and pulverized, the buckwheat 
plants will develop rapidly, branching widely, con- 
sequenly ouly a light seeding is required. If very 
thickly seeded, the plants will be feeble, from com¬ 
petition, and the yield of grain diminished. Some 
soils will do admirably with half a bushel of seed to 
the acre, but we believe it is usually safe to apply 
about three peeks. It is not denied that this crop 
is subject to more casualties than most others 
within the cycle of farming operations, still, as it is 
a desirable one, and as the expense of two or three 
acres is not. great, it would seem to be good policy to 
give it a chance with the others. 
The imagination of the ancient Greeks gave a 
beautiful and artistic exiuession to the most practi¬ 
cal things of coin mou life. To the deity wjiom they 
personified as Ceres, the goddess of the earth, they 
attributed the invention of agriculture, or whatever 
pertains to the cnlture of thesoil. On the art taught 
rested the foundation of civil society, for the no¬ 
madic tribes were fixed to the soil, their manners 
softened, and they learned to respect rights of prop- 
It was a beautiful white wheat, but I fear it ripens 
too late for our climate. The Lancaster variety ap¬ 
pears to do the best. If nothing happens east of the 
Blue Ridge the wheat will be good; but in the Val¬ 
ley of the Shenandoah the fly and rust, with the con¬ 
tinued wet weather, will cause a failure. Grass is 
good everywhere; also oats; corn backward — 
many not done planting — which is a month later 
than usual.” 
IMPLEMENT TRIAL AT HERKIMER 
Trapping Ground Moles. 
H. M. Ashbhook, Johnstown, Ohio, asks how 
moles maybe trapped, as they are a great pest in his 
locality. Borne menffier of a Western Horticultural 
Society recently said he was successful in trapping 
them by simply digging holes, with straight, smooth 
sides down into Die hard clay, under thefr surround¬ 
ings. The moles fell into them and could be killed. 
If the soil is soft, board boxes might be inserted 
in the ground. We also transfer a cut and descrip¬ 
Tns Farmers’ Club, Little Falls, made arrange¬ 
ments some time since for a trial Of farm implements 
at Herkimer, which they carried out quite success¬ 
fully on the 5th ult. The ground selected was 
of a character to give the implements a severe trial, 
as it was proper they should have before being con¬ 
demned or approved in a public manner. The num¬ 
ber tested was not large, but they were generally of 
a superior character. The list comprised plows, 
cultivators, horse hoes, shovel plows, double and 
single, and self-cleaning coulters, «&c. The double 
shovel plow, of the Remingtons, did not work well, 
hut according to the Utica Herald, was a complete 
failure. Among the implements commended, for 
style and working capabilities, were Johnson’s cul¬ 
tivator, also Bayne’s; Aloen’s horse hoe—a thill 
machine very easily managed and guided, and per¬ 
forming excellently. In reference to this hoe the 
Utica Herald remarks that “ It did its work 
in the most perfect manner, and its simple arrange¬ 
ment for regulating depth, is an important feature. 
The teeth are diamond shaped, and there is a wheel 
in front, and the whole construction is such that it 
is of light draft, and quite easy of management for 
the operator. Another noticeable feature of this 
machine i3, that while the ground is thoroughly 
pulverized at any required depth, it does not pile up 
the earth on the plants.” The use of thills, for cul¬ 
tivators, is deemed to be a marked improvement by 
those who have tried them, and we have no doubt 
that such will be the general verdict of the farming 
community. With thills to horse hoes and cultiva¬ 
tors, greater steadiness, in their management, is 
assured, while the labor of the operator is materially 
lessened. The forty-tooth harrow, of Mr. Morgan, 
performed admirably, leaviug the ground finely 
broken np and pulverized. Ford <fc Howe’s Excel¬ 
sior cultivator proved to be a good implement, and 
made many friends. The trial, on the whole, was 
Tappalmunock Wheat. 
The Germantown Telegraph asks for further in¬ 
formation with respect to Tappahannock wheat sent 
out from the Department at Washington. It was 
tried in Lancaster Co., Fa., and also in a few in¬ 
stances in Wisconsin with reputed favorable results. 
It was twenty days earlier than other varieties, and 
the yield tbirty-nue bushels — sixty-two pounds 
per bushel — per acre. The Telegraph adds: — “A 
neighbor who sowed one quart of seed obtained 
seventy-seven and three-quarter quarts of clean 
wheat. It stands the winter well.” 
com¬ 
mon use we have the choice between lard, sweet oil 
or butter, or perhaps fat pork, all of which are pre¬ 
cisely alike in chemical construction, and that one 
is most wholesome which is best relished. 
Sugar is needed with the acid fruits and berrieB, 
and especially with apples, which are the most val¬ 
uable of all fruits, either with or without cook¬ 
ing, and which with sugar furnish excellent food, 
especially in winter aud spring, when other fruits 
cannot be had. But to find a good use for superfine 
(lour, out of which has been taken nine-tenths of 
its food for muscle or brains, is exceedingly diffi¬ 
cult, indeed, impossible, in health; and it can only 
he useful in disease when the irritability of the 
stomach or bowels forbids the use of their natural 
stimulants, just as inllummation of the eye makes 
it necessary to exclude the light. 
Cement Water Pipe. Uinfmhopptrii. 
D. M. 8., Evuueburg, Fa., asks: — “ Will some of 
the readers of the Rural tell us whether it pays or 
not to make cement or water lime pipe for running 
spring water in 5* If so, how should it be made and 
in what kind of soil has it been laid? 
“ What will keep grasshoppers from young apple 
trees? They destroyed several for me last year, and 
promise to be equally as bad this season.” 
tion of a mole trap from the Country Gentleman. It 
was devised ty Tho3 . J. Hand, Esq., Woodlawn, 
Sing Sing, this State. It is mudu of two ash boards, 
a full inch lu Thickness, seven Inches in width, and 
two feet six riches long, attached at one end by a 
broad butt hioge. The form given to the bottom 
board is shown in the cut, thu central slit beiug made 
to admit the fee play of the trigger, which is repre- 
resented by tself in the right-hand corner of the 
sketch. It S» of iron, ten inches long; the lower 
part shaped Ike a paddle, five inches long, one and 
one-eighlh Helms wide, and the left hand end, 
notched as saown, and three-quarters of an inch wide 
perpendicularly. The post, sixteen inches high, is 
curved to ti e circular sweep of the top hoard on its 
hinge. Th teeth, six in number, on each side, are 
riveted sev n-cighths of an inch apart, in a plate five 
aud three- ourtlis inches long and one inch wide, 
containing four screw holcB, placed zig-zag, and this 
is found nneh firmer and more secure than if the 
Notes from Vivtrlnin. 
We extract the following notes from a letter dated 
June 11th, and received from Geo. 8. Ayr, Loudon 
(jo., Va.: — “I would beglad to be informed through 
the columns of your ever welcome and valuable paper 
the best way to get rid of what is known in this 
country as the ox-eye daisy. It was left here wher¬ 
ever the Federal army encamped, and I suppose came 
in the hay brought from the North or West. I am 
now plowing up the larger spots in the different 
fields and pulling up the scattering bunches. 1 did 
the same last year about the same time, when in full 
bloom, but 1 fear to but little effect, as it is yet in 
abundance. Our wheat promi.-es very well if the 
rains do not continue too long; I see some rust on 
the blades of some sent me from Rochester last fall. 
Steam TIii'ikImiie Machine*. 
J. C. Hodob, Waterford, Loudon Go., Va., writes: 
“ 1 would like to know about steam threshing ma¬ 
chines ; how many bushels one will thresh per day; 
what sized engine it requires to run the machine, 
and if there is any danger from sparks from the 
engine; how much fuel it takes per day; where and 
by whom they are made, and cost at the factory, Jcc.” 
Locust Tree Sprouts. 
J. H. V., Belle Valley, Fa. Sprouts from the 
roots of locust trees that have been cut down may 
be killed by a free use of salt or brine, but the cheap¬ 
est way is to cut them down a few times during the 
summer. 
