PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT,” 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW YORKER, 
AH ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
(PUBLISHER and proprietor,) 
With a Corps of Able Associates and Contributors. 
THE OLD FOGY FARMER AND HIS STOCK.—No. IV, 
down level for mowing. The offoxorfaorse travels in 
he furrow, and Id returning the near one walks'in 
the furrow, both being relieved by the change, and 
save nearly a mile in travel plowing an acre, over the 
common plow. There are eight sizes, from a light 
one-horse to a heavy four-cattle plow, famished 
with either wood or iron beams, and manufactured 
by F. F. Holbrook & Small, 10 South Market 
Street, Boston, Mass. 
The manufacturers are usually large exhibitors of 
various agricultural implements at the prominent 
fairs. They will have a line assortment of plows at 
the N. Y. State Fair, which will be worthy the special 
notice of farmers. 
anee,—when it is advisable to let the teams ran to 
pasture. This outdoor range and the fresh grass 
invigorate the system and promote health. But at 
all other times the best place for a steadily worked 
farm horse, to eat and rest, in view of health, fitness 
for performing labor and expense of keeping, is in 
the stable. Of course the stable should he neither 
a dark, close den, nor an open shed, but such an one 
as a humane person of good judgment and kind 
heart would build for the most honest, pazfent and 
intelligent animal domesticated by man. In such 
the horse is safe against accidents which are liable 
to happen in the pasture -, he i3 protected from the 
effect of storms and sudden changes of temperature; 
his food, if of the proper kind, is consumed in less 
time, consequently he has more time in which to 
recuperate; he may be at any moment under his 
master’s eye; he is ready, on call, to put forth his 
best efforts in labor, and the cost of his keeping in 
the stable may be made less than in the pasture. 
The truth of the latter assertion some farmers will 
question, but it is simply a test of soiling, whether 
it is cheaper than pasturing. Stabling horses does 
not imply feeding them exclusively with hay and 
grain. Their diet may be varied, and fresh grass, 
green oats, and rye and sowed corn may form a con¬ 
siderable part. Undoubtedly such food would be 
both cheaper and healthier than a diet of hay and 
grain exclusively. Some roots for winter would 
likewise he advisable. Grain should be ground or 
bruised, and dry fodder cut fine. During the sum¬ 
mer, bran or “ middlings” fed with sufficient line 
cut hay or bright straw, to make proper bulk, the 
whole being wet, could be given in conjunction | 
with green oats, rye or grass. Corn and oatmeal 
CROPS AND CULTURE]IN CENTRAL N. Y. 
The present season is an excellent one in Central 
New York for corn, notwithstanding the drouth. 
Not in all cases —as in poor tillage—but where the 
proper means have been taken. It shows that true 
management may defy, more or lee?, the uncertain¬ 
ties of the season, especially the common occur¬ 
rence of drouth, which is becoming more and more 
common. 
The crop was planted late as a whole, and some 
| of It replanted. That planted the first of June 
seemed to do as well as any. Take an instance: 
Hiram Suits (of Stark, Herkimer Co.,) turned 
down a sod in the spring, of four years’ standing; 
plowed It nine inches deep —that on the knolls 
deeper. Put hog manure in the hill, a handful, 
with little soil on top; planted, and in seven weeks 
had stalks seven feet long, — the variety the “ small 
eight-rowed yellow.” in five weeks more his 
corn was ripe, fully fit to cut, and not exceeded in 
growth or yield. The soil Is a yellow drift loam, 
not remarkable Tor fertility. But:the ground was 
manured a year before, instead of the fall previous 
as is usually recommended. A very heavy crop of 
grass was taken from it the last year. This has en- 
SOWING WHEAT AFTER CORN 
THE OLD FOG\ FARMER’S BULL IN TRAINING FOR THE FAIR. 
exhibition proper —many animals and articles hav¬ 
ing been removed from the grounds before my 
arrival — I will not attempt to particularize. Ham¬ 
ilton Park, where the Fair is held, covers some U0 
acres. Is beautifully situated about one and a half 
miles from the center of the city, and easily reached 
by street cars and other 
largest display, including 95 varieties of apples, 75 of 
Pears, s of Peaches, &c. A. E. Rockwood of Hol- 
liston, Mass., R. F. Van Vliet of Shelburne, Vt., 
E. S, Elmer of Hartford, Ct., and others, also made 
very creditable displays. 
Agricultural and other Implements were shown 
in abundance, and really this to us the the most 
interesting department of the Fair. Mowers, ted¬ 
der-, hay rakes, plows, straw cutters, coni and other 
seed planters, were numerous and apparently as 
near perfection as possible —this being the focus of 
the “ Universal Yankeo Nation.” The Ames Plow 
Co. had a grand display — making 04 entries and 
showing a much larger numher of articles. Their I 
leading items are Perry’s Mower, the American Hay 
Tedder, irou and wooden-toothed Hay Rakes, Gang 
Plows for California, Ac. The implements of this 
Company are very perfect —well made and neatly 
finished. The American Hay Tedder is a very com - 
plete implement, and justly becoming popular. We 
can safely say all and more than was said in its com¬ 
mendation in the Rural when it was illustrated and 
described some months ago. But we must close or 
this screed will be too late for the mail. 
Our acknowledgments are due and tendered to 
Dr. Geo. B. Loring, the worthy and popular Presi¬ 
dent, and to Col. Needham, the efficient and gentle¬ 
manly Secretary, for attentions and courtesies which 
rendered our brief visit pleasant. Though we do 
not admire some of its features, we are glad to 
leam that the Fair has been a decided success pe¬ 
cuniarily, and In some other respects. It was 
largely attended on Wednesday and Thursday—from 
-0,000 to -5,000 each day. May the future exhibi¬ 
tions of the Society prove still more useful and 
successful. 
conv-yances. West Rock 
almost shades the grounds on one side, West River 
winds around another, whileJlne grove fringes the 
icu of the P.iik. Near the Y»i? er is a half mile 
course, nearly surrounded by buildings, tents, etc.,— 
not a few of which are occupied by saloons, side 
shows, and other things which are never permitted 
inside the inclosure at our New York State Fairs. 
You may be assured that the groggeries, and “ suaik ” 
and other shows—in addition to the racing, trotting, 
etc ,— somewhat staggered my ideas concerning the 
descendants of the Puritans, the staid, orthodox. 
VHB.NEBY OI Highland Stock Farm,” Belmont, 
Mass., though there were a few very superior Jer¬ 
seys and somefrae Devons left. The snow of Dutch 
or Holstein cattle by Mr. Chexery was a prominent 
feature, and justly attracted much attention. Mr. C. 
also exhibited several thorough-bred horses, includ¬ 
ing Belmont Eclipse, Ledo, and other superior ani¬ 
mals. The lexel and broad-tailed sheep, and Angora 
goats (also shown by Mr. C.)were very interesting. 
The show of Cattle is said to have been superior in 
most classes—Devons, Short-Horns, Aldemeys, Ayr- 
shires, &c.,— and I regret being too late to see and 
compare specimens of the various herds represented. 
Of Alderneys, John Brooks of Princeton, Mass., 
had SO head, all excellent, and J. A. Contebse of 
West Cambridge, Mass., 12 head. A. M. Winslow 
GROUND TLAN OF HORSE BARN. 
A Carriage Room, 30 by 30. B, Harness Room, 5 by 12. 
P* Hoom for Horse Power for driving leed cutter, 5 by 
12. D. Box (stall, 10 by 16. E. E, E, Stalls. 5 by 9. F, 
Passage 4 feet wide. G, Feed Room, 8 by 30. H, Well. 
A, Feed Box. 
Some horsemen are. prejudiced against any mate¬ 
rial but wood for horse stables,—but such judgment 
is founded in ignorance. A stable of brick or stone, 
onskillfully built or badly located, is, perhaps, more 
deleterious to the horse’s welfare than one of wood 
in similar circumstances. A stable should be roomy, 
equable in temperature, well lighted, dry, and well 
ventilated. These conditions can be secured as 
readily withibrick, stone, nr concrete, as with wood 
— some of them more readily —and, in addition, 
there is the greater durability. A complete horse 
barn will have a carriage room attached, a well of 
water inside, a roomy loft for storage of fodder, a 
hay cutter driven by horse power, grain bins, and a 
harness and robe room. The harness aud robe6 
should be protected from the influence of the stable. 
A stationary one or two horse power for driving the 
hay cutter would be both convenient and profitable. 
We give the ground plan of a horse barn above, 
which is simple, cheap, and well adapted to the 
farm. 
HOLBROOK’S NATIONAL 
iicxl me itr&L. r,y mis plan you will have two rows 
of shocks, occupying the epace of about four rows 
of corn, and the strips between the rows of shocks, 
for plowing and sowing, will be thirty-eight rows 
wide. At husking time the stalks and corn may be 
set on the wheat and the wagon driven where they 
previously stood. These strips may be sown to 
spring grain. 
We know a large and successful farmer in the 
State of Michigan who followed, for some years, a 
much simpler and less laborious system than those 
we have mentioned. He cut his com as early as its 
ripeness would admit of, shocking it in the usual 
way. Some care was taken not to make the shocks 
too large twenty-five hills on the average, being 
enough for each. They were firmly tied. As soon 
as the corn was cut his teams were set to work at 
plowing, harrowing and drilling. They went round 
the entire field. As the plow approached a row of 
shocks two men went along and thrusting a stout 
pole through the middle of each one, under the 
band, lifted it on to the plowed ground. Thus the 
plowing, harrowing and sowing went on uninter¬ 
ruptedly until the entire field was finished and the 
corn shocks rested in about the older they were first 
placed. The corn was then husked and the field 
cleared as if no crop had been sown; the wheat cov¬ 
ered the whole ground, and usually no detriment to 
the crop could be traced to the passage of loaded 
HOLBROOK’S PATENT STUBBLE PLOW. 
Our first engraving illustrates a stubbie plow, of 
which the manufacturers say: — “ These Plows won 
Four Gold Medals at the National Trial of Plows, 
at Utica, A D. 1867, in the following classes: — 
Class 1. — A Sod Plow for stifi’ soils. Gold Medal, 
Class II. — A Stubble Plow for stifi soils. Gold 
Medal, Class TVk— A Plow for Stubble Land, 
working 12 inches deep, with 3 horses abreast, and 
raising the lowest soil to the surface, large Gold 
Medal. Class V. —A Michigan Sod and Trench 
Plow. Gold Medal, The Mould-Boards of these 
Plows, by their convex form, give lightness of draft, 
New Haven, Conn., Sept. 4, 186S. 
The Fifth Annual Fair or the N. E. Ag. Society — 
which has literally been “running” for the past 
three days, the trotting and racing being the great 
feature —closed to-day, not in a halo of glory, so 
far as weather is concerned, but amid most copious 
showers. The heavy rain, which commenced last 
evening, precluded any trotting or other exhibitions 
of “style and speed” on the track, and the attend¬ 
ance was very meager — probably not over a thou¬ 
sand at any time. But as I did not come here to 
witness equine perfonnamces, the lack in that line 
was no loss. Of some other departments I had a 
glimpse of what was remaining on the last day of the 
Fair, and will note a few items. 
As this is my first visit to a New England Agri¬ 
cultural Fair, and as I was a day too late to see the 1 
The expense of keeping the necessary teams to 
accomplish farm work is a serious one, though 
many farmers hardly seem to realize it. But let a 
farmer estimate the number of acres required to 
furnish summer and winter food for his horses, and 
add to the use of the laud the cost of labor required 
to grow the hay and grain, and he will be astonished 
by the amount. But teams are indispensable, aud 
the best we can do is to adopt a system of keeping 
them which will reduce the expense to a minimum 
The introduction of machinery which requires 
horse labor, and the greater variety of farm crops, 
HOLBROOK’S PATENT SWIVEL FLOW. 
Ihe second illustration represente a swivel plow 
designed for both level land and side hill plowing. 
These plows turn a deep flat furrow on level land, 
leave no dead furrows nor ridges, pulverize the soil 
very thoroughly, will not clog, and they lay fields 
