) 82 Buffalo St., Rochester. 
> f 41 Park Row, New York. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y, AND NEW YORK CITY 
$3.00 PER YEAR. 
Single Copy, Six Cents. 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER U, 1868 
■with sand. As soon as hard freezing is over in the 
“ PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT, 
spring, remove the covering from the plants, and 
as soon as the ground is in condition proceed to 
set the hedge. Be careful and not let the plants 
be exposed to sun and dry wind. 
In answer to our objection to plashing as unsight¬ 
ly, and possibly unnecessary, the answer was that 
cutting the plant nearly off at the ground, and still 
leaving enough to ensure the circulation of the sap, 
secured a more vigorous and uniform growth than 
could he obtained by removing the top entirely, 
and the portion cut and turned down soon died off, 
and left the hedge, with proper after care, in a very 
desirable form. h. o. w. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
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 S. RANDALL. LL. I)., 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
Db. DANIEL LEE, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
Special Contributors. 
P. BARRY, P. R. ELLIOTT, E. W. STEWART, 
H. T. BROOKS, JOHN E. SWEET, JAMES VICK, 
MRS, MART J. IIOLMES, MRS. L. E. LYMAN. 
SALT. 
One hundred parts of common salt consist of 
GO.41 of chlorine and 39.56 of sodium. The specific 
gravity of chlorine is '2.5, while sodium is only 0.9. 
The opinions of farmers as to the value of salt as a 
manure have been very contradictory. Some have 
given it the preference over every other fertilizer, 
while others have regarded it as a useless applica¬ 
tion. These various opinions arise from the varions 
circumstances under which it iB used. It is not a 
general, but a specific fertilizer. It enters to a lim¬ 
ited extent into the circulation of all plants, but its 
most important office is, no doubt, to combine with, 
dissolve and distribute other substances in the soil 
and render them assimilable food for plants. It 
must, therefore, be most beneficial on soils con¬ 
taining a large proportion of vegetable matter, or 
phosphoric acid, silicic acid, potash, Ac., which, 
sometimes, require the aid of common salt to be¬ 
come assimilable. In England it proved most bene¬ 
ficial at considerable distance from the sea shore, 
the damp sea breeze furnishing a liberal supply of 
salt near the sea. ' 
been very favorable. 
Terras in Advance — Thebe Dollahs a Year: —Five 
coplen lor $td; 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, $3.70la the lowest Cluti rate to Canada 
and $3.50 to Europe. The bust way to remit. Is by Draft or 
Post-Office Money Order,—and all Drafts and Orders made 
payable to the Publisher may be mailed at ms risk. 
jy All Business Letters, Contributions, &c., should he 
addressed to Rochester until otherwise announced. 
AflBlOITliTlIBlL 
CLOYER AS A RENOVATING CROP. 
The second evening’s discussion, at the Fair, was 
devoted to clover as a renovator — Hon. A. B. 
Conger in the Chair. Members were invited to 
give their views. The first speaker opened the 
discussion by saying that he supposed tho value of 
clover, as a renovator, was generally understood and 
conceded. He considered clover as one of the most 
valuable fertilizers known, and the cheapest for the 
farmer. EximnsteU iivtrdB might ronuiio barn-yard 
manure to start with; after that, clover is a safe reli¬ 
ance to keep up fertility. His plan was to seed to 
clover, turn it under and sow wheat. This might 
be followed with com aBd some other crops, snd 
then come back to clover for a new r Btart. 
In reply to this it was suggested that the location 
of the land, where the clover is grown, must he taken 
into the account as to Its value as a mannrial agent. 
In the neighborhood of large towns and cities clover 
hay sells for twenty dollars per ton. When this is the 
case it is cheaper to rely on commercial manures — 
the phosphates, <toc., and sell the hay. If it was de¬ 
sirable to keep stock, clover was worth more to 
feed out than to plow under, as a good deal of ma¬ 
nure would result from this practice, which could 
he returned to the land. 
The third speaker said the question was not 
whether clover was a good manurial agent, when 
turned under preparatory to a grain crop, for all 
conceded its great fertilizing power, but as to its 
comparative value thus used, or fed to stock on the 
arm. Farmers, conversant with the subject, are 
known to hold conflicting views in reference to it, 
but which side had the preponderance was a point 
of difficult adjustment. 
As a proof of the great fertilizing power or clover 
a member stated that he gathered a bushel of clover 
roots from six feet square of ground. From this a 
calculation was made by the President as to the 
quantity au acre would yield at this rate, and the 
result was one thousand, two hundred and ten 
bushels. These roots contained a great amount of 
fertilizing power in addition to that derived from 
The head is gray, the neck hackle silvery white, 
striped with black. The remainder of the plumage, 
says Mr. Teebay, should be dull white, minutely 
and distinctly pencilled throughout with dark pen¬ 
cilling, so closely as almost to cover the ground 
color; the pencilling reaching well up the front of 
the breast. 
“The dark or pencilled birds have steadily pro- 
gressed in public favor since the date of their first 
introduction; their gigantic size, great weight, 
hardihood, and prolificacy, ami the ease with which 
they cau he kept in confined ranges, all tend to ren¬ 
der them esteemed by the public at large; whilst 
the nobleness of their appearance and the truthful¬ 
ness to which they breed to feather, cause them to 
be highly valued as the favorites of a vast number 
of the most enthusiastic of our poultry fanciers.” 
hack and saddle, is silvery win >.e striped with black ; 
the breast, uuder part of bi and thighs hlack, 
slightly mottled with white The feathers that, 
cover the bases of the quill 'Aimers of the wings are 
of a metallic green black, and form a broad, well- 
marked bar across the wings.' 1 /The quill feathers o! 
the wings, or flight feathers, aiK. white on the outer 
and black on the inner webs. ^ he secondary quills, 
those visible when the wing is closed, have a broad, 
dark-green black spot at the md of each feather. 
The tail is black, the coverts on either side being of 
a beautiful lustrous green-black, the lesser feathers 
being edged with white. The shanks should be of 
a yellow color, which sometimes partakes of a dusky 
shade, and they should be well clothed with dark 
feathers slightly mottled with white. 
“ The color of the hens may be briefly described. 
Our illustration represents a group of Dark 
Brahma Fowls, imported by D. W IIbrstine 
of Philadelphia, last spring. They are a new 
breed to most poultry faueiers, only two or three 
importations having previously been made. VYe 
credit onr engraving to the Practical Farmer. This 
breed combines size, weight, perfection of form, and 
an attractive color. They are good table fowls, and 
the chickens are easily reared- The cocks olten 
attain the weight of fifteen pounds, and pullets at 
five months weigh seven. Tegktmeier, who is per¬ 
haps the best authority we have on poultry matters, 
says of these fowls; 
“ The Dark or Pencilled Brahmas are very distinct, 
in color from the light variety. We will take the 
description of the cock in the first instance. The 
upper part ol the body, including the neck hackle, 
The English experiments have 
i. Mr. Sinclair increased the 
yield of wheat from II to 21 bushels by applying 
6% bushels after a bean crop; and from 12 to 28 i 
bushels by the use of 5% bushels of salt after a 
turnip crop. Mr. Cuthbekt W. Johnson increased 
the wheat crop, on a light gravelly soil, from 13 to 
26 bushels with 5 bushels of salt; and Mr. Fleming, 
with ICO pounds of salt, on a heavy loam, increased 
the yield of wheat from 25 to 32 bushels. Mr. Ran- 
som increased the barley crop from 30 to 51 bushels 
with 16 bushels of salt. The hay crop was increas¬ 
ed, on a thin, light soil, clay subsoil, from 2 tons, 
10 cwt. to 3 tons, 12 cwt., with five bushels of salt; 
and in another case on a light soil, gravel subsoil, 
from 2 tons to 2 tons, 12 cwt., and on a clay soil, 
from 2 tons, 1 cwt. to 2 tons, 8 cwt. (Quoted by 
Prof. Johnston.) Experiments of the Royal Ag’l 
Society of Englaild were made on wheat, and the 
crop was increased from 29 to 38% bushels, by the 
use of 336 pounds of salt. 
The Committee of Agriculture of Bavaria insti¬ 
tuted experiments in 1857-8, at Bogenhausen, on 
barley and wheat. The barley crop on four differ¬ 
ent plats of ground was increased from 10 to 130 
per cent, by the use of 205 pounds of salt per acre 
on loam and tho straw in a much less proportion; 
and the wheat crop was increased from 25 to GO per 
cent. (Liebig.) These German experiments were 
with the salts of ammonia alone, and then in com¬ 
bination with common salt. 
Many experiments have been tried in this coun- 
. try with salt, and they have generally beeu favor¬ 
able to its use, though, in most instances, the de¬ 
tails have been loosely given. The Germantown 
Telegraph published, some years since, experiments 
with salt and guano, superphosphate of lime, &c., 
and the salt proved the best; but this could only 
occur where the soil was more deficient in chlorine 
and soda than in the other elements, or where the 
salt was needed to distribute the other elements in 
the soil. The Rural of 185G refers to 8. M. Brown 
of Onondaga Co., who is stated to have applied 
from three to five bushels of salt per acre to one- 
third of a thirty aero fallow for wheat in 1855, four 
days before seeding, on which part he harvested 26 
bushels per acre, while the average product cf the 
other twenty was but 16 bushels per acre, the whole 
crop being somewhat injured by the lly and winter¬ 
killing. He also applied to two acres of sod, three 
weeks before planting to corn, a barrel of salt per 
acre, and the other portion of the same field, after 
planting, he top-dressed with ashes, with plaster 
alone, and with ashes, plaster and salt together, 
but the part sown with salt alone was quite supe¬ 
rior to the rest of the field. He also claimed that 
salt prevented rust on wheat. Mr. John John¬ 
ston has top-dressed wheat with a barrel of salt per 
acre, and found the wheat heavier and the straw 
brighter and stiller, besides ripening some days 
earlier, and thus escaping the weevil. He thinks 
salt very valuable for stiffening the straw on rich 
land giving a heavier grain. Mr. Johnston is said 
to use, sometimes, 75 barrels of salt per annum on 
his wheat. 
Experiments were tried with salt on the Michigan 
AgT College farm, a few years since, which gave 
some very remarkable results in its favor, but the 
details are not now before us. The general results 
SETTING OSAGE HEDGES — WESTERN 
METHOD. 
Under certain circumstances of location and condi¬ 
tion of soil it might be the most profitable to feed 
the clover to stock in the barn or yard, while others 
might render it advisable to apply the clover directly 
to the soil by plowing it ander as it came into 
bloom. As to its great value as a fertilizer how¬ 
ever used, there would scarcely be two opinions 
among farmers who have tested it in their farming 
operations. The address seemed to give satisfaction 
to all shades of opinion, and the meeting closed in 
clover. 
Since penning the brief article upon Osage hedges 
in Western New York, we have met and conversed 
with some well-informed, practical hedge growers 
in different parts of the West, where the subject re- 
much attention, and desire to give the read- 
ceives 
ers of the Rural the benefit of their experience aB 
well as practice. Their directions, which are brief 
and to the point, are as folio wb : 
Cultivate the ground during the summer, and in 
the fall plow a strip eight feet wide, leaving the 
dead furrow where the hedge is to be planted 
(pluwiug the ground as deep as possible,) leaving 
the furrow open and exposed to the frost through 
the winter. In the spring, back-furrow the ground 
to the line where the hedge is to set, raising the 
low places high above standing water. Harrow 
down smoothly. Stake the ground and stretch a 
line, by which make a plain mark, take a spade, 
place it across the mark, at right angles with the 
same, press it down the length of the blade, a little 
slantingly, and let a boy push the plant under the 
spade on the mark, at a depth of ®ne inch below 
what it stood in the uurseiy, and at a distance of 
eight inches apart. When planting is done tramp 
In a late number of the Irish Farmers’ Gazette 
an inquiry was addressed to J. B. Lawes, asking 
whether it was true, as reported, that he had grown 
wheat twenty-five years consecutively on the same 
laud without the aid of any fertilizer, and, if so, the 
character of the yield at the last cropping. The re¬ 
sponse was an affirmative one, to the effect that he 
commenced cropping, as an experiment, in 1841, 
following wheat with wheat without applyiug any 
manure. As soon as the harvest was over, the field 
was plowed to the ordinary depth of four or five 
inches, and left undisturbed till the last week iu 
October or the first one in November, when the 
ground was harrowed and two bushels of seed to 
the acre drilled in. Care was taken not to turn up 
the subsoil, leaving the ground to its natural yield 
frurn year to year without ru aim rial aid. The crop 
in 1811 was fifteen bushels to the acre, and the 
twenty-fifth one sixteen bushels. Care was always 
taken to keep down grass and weeds in the wheat 
field —hoeing twice and even three times where 
necessary. 
In connection with the above it may not be amiss 
to state that we saw in Western Bennsylvauia, some 
years since, a fair crop of wheat growing on ground 
which had been used for the same purpose twenty- 
one consecutive years. It was what is denominated 
u wind-fall ” land—that is, land over which a hurri¬ 
cane swept in the seventeenth century, leveling the 
timber with the ground. A new growth succeeded, 
comprising beech, rock maple, soft maple, hickory, 
basswood in thick dusters, red elm, poplar, iron- 
wood, cherry, butternut, cucumber, and possibly 
some other kinds. This timber was slashed down 
by an “actual settler,” to the amount of ten acres, 
and left to rot on the g'-ound—the party Hitting to 
some other point. Passing to the possessions of 
others, the debris was cleared off, the soil broken of ground and proceed as follows:—Gut a trench 
up and sown to wheat for the time specified, re- at an angle of 45 degrees, laying the bundles close 
maiuiog in good heart all Iho while. The soil was a together; then cover with the dirt taken from the 
gravelly loam of great depth, such as is occasion- next trench six inches in front, and so on until all 
ally found upon and adjacent to creek bottoms, and the plants are trenched. Cover the plants two 
its fertilizing power probably inexhaustible. The inches deep, pressing the earth closely around 
Let them remain until 
experience in fertilizers, ana eousmereu mover essen¬ 
tial to success iu his department of farming. Thought 
clover, turned under, more effective and cheaper than 
ham-yard manure. Had had an experience of twenty- 
five years in dairy farming. 
A member here suggested that the meeting was 
taking hold of the question at the wrong end. Ex¬ 
hausted land will not produce clover, consequently 
cannot act upon it as a renovator. We should re¬ 
member that we must put on the land more than we 
take off till vitality is given to it, and, aa clover will 
not grow at first, the bettor way is to sow rye and 
turn it under. This will grow some on tho poorest 
land,(and, if plowed under, will aid in bringing the 
land "up to a point where clover may be Introduced 
with advantage, and may be regarded as the readiest 
and cheapest of fertilizers. 
It waB objected here that, in the customary way of 
growing and turning under clover, we lose a whole 
them, leaving no spaces, 
the gronud is frozen two inches deep, then cover 
the whole bed with straw eighteen inches deep in 
the center, and extending about one foot beyond 
the plants; then cover the whole with dirt one foot 
thick, leaving a ditch encircling the whole bed, »o 
that no water will penetrate to the plants. They 
can also be kept In a cellar, well covered in layers 
