FOR THE WEEK ENBING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER li, 1868 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
in their opinion, in the long run no money had 
been made, but on the contrary the abandonment 
of hop culture, in that county at least, would add 
largely to the prosperity of the majority of farmers 
engaged in it. 
It is one of the truest axioms in agriculture, and 
applies as well to the individual as to a community, 
that to make the business of farming a permanent¬ 
ly paying one, it must be the study and practice of 
the farmer to so arrange his farm and its products 
in relation to each other that the annual products 
from vegetable will not exclude animal products. 
Or, in other words, the vegetable and animal pro¬ 
ducts should be nearly or quite upon an equality 
in amount, which cannot he the case if the farmer 
cultivate such a non-manure producing crop as hops. 
My advice to the farmers in Wisconsin, aud any¬ 
where else, who contemplate going into hop grow¬ 
ing, is to let the business severely alone. Other 
branches of farming may not promise such fine re¬ 
sults, but in the end will be found much the most 
profitable.— t. c. p. 
climate, and should be for more cultivated in the 
States north of this. The facility with which grass 
and clover are raised, and the greater abundance of 
cold springs for dairy houses, render this whole re¬ 
gion better adapted to the cheap production of supe¬ 
rior butter and cheese than almost any other on the 
Continent. Our elevation above the sea level gives 
ub a pure, cool and bracing atmosphere, even in the 
summer months. The mean temperature of the 
earth in deep cellars and numerous caves, adapts 
them to the long keeping of fruit, wine, cider, 
meats, sweet and Irish potatoes, and all vegetables. 
I see nothing to prevent any man from makiHg a 
fortune by raising apples, and making elder of any 
Burplus. I have never known American cities over¬ 
stocked with really good cider in bottles or barrels. 
Pears, peaches, grapes, plums, cherries, quinces and 
allfsmall fruits, reward cultivation here as liberally 
as in any section east of the Mississippi, 
Population is generally too sparse for the present 
support of good roads, schools aod churches; and 
all parties, sects and interests desire the increase of 
citizens, and will extend a cordial welcome to new 
comers whether from the Northern States or Europe. 
An earnest effort is making to improve our roads, 
schools, churches, manufactures, agriculture and 
other industrial arts. Such as wish to grow up 
with a growing community can here find a desir¬ 
able home or make one. D. Lee. 
Knox Co., Tenn,, 18U8. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AN OKIGINAL 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. HENBT S. RANDALL, LL. D. f 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
Db. DANIEL LEE, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
HIRAM BUMPHRET AND P.ECTBEN D. JONES, 
Assistant and Commercial Editors. 
Terms in A dvance - Tukke Dollabb a Teak —Five 
copies for $14: Seven, and one 1'ree to ClubAeent, for *10; 
Ten, and one free, for *25— only *2.50 per copy. As we pre¬ 
pay American postage,*2.70is the lowestClnb rate to Canada 
and *3.50 to Europe. The best way to remit is by Draft or 
Post-Offlee Money Order,— and all Drafts and Orders made 
payable to the Publisher may be mailed at ms eisk. 
fcfc r ' All Business Letters, Contributions, &c>, should be 
addressed to Rochester until otherwise announced. 
The good old German adage had it, “No cattle, 
no manure; no manure, no crops. 1 ’ The farmer’s 
first necessity was manure, and he knew no other 
way to obtain it save by feeding cattle. This was a 
safe plan ; and when followed as economically as 
the German did by soiling' bis animals, and thus 
keeping two where we Americans do one, the 
amount of fertilizing matter returned to the 6oil iB 
very abundant. 
We are just beginning to study this question of 
manures in earnest; and keeping so few animals to 
onr acres that a hundred acre farm will scarcely 
furnish enough to enrich more than five acres per 
year, we arc obliged to turn to other plans of relief, 
which will enable us to fertilize our fields oftener 
than once in twenty years. One of tbe most availa¬ 
ble means of increasing the manure pile, is the use of 
THE SALT AND LIME MIXTURE. 
This mixture is made by dissolving one bushel of 
salt in the least water possible, and then slaking 
with this three bushels of lime hot trom tbe kiln. 
This is all the salt that can he used by this method 
to slake the lime. The most valuable lime for agri¬ 
cultural purposes Is shell lime or that made from 
burning oyster and clam shells. Another method 
recommended by C. W. Johnson is, to mix one 
bushel of salt with two of lime dry, under cover, and 
allow it gradually to decompose and unite the chlo¬ 
rine of the salt'With the lime. It may be turned oc¬ 
casionally for two or three months, by which time 
it will he well united together. And whatever way 
is taken to form the mixture it should not be used 
immediately, but should remain incorporated, at 
least, six weeks that the chemical union may be well 
formed. The chemical changes that take place 
are — the chlorine of the salt unites with the lime 
and forms a coarse chloride of lime — the soda of 
the salt is mostly set free and probably slowly at¬ 
tracts carbonic acid from the air and forms carbonate 
of soda. This mixture has a remarkable decompos¬ 
ing power, and if you mix three or four bushels of 
it with a cord of swamp muck, leaves or any veg¬ 
etable matter, it will soon be reduced to a powder. 
It is most excellent to mix with course manure for 
the purpose of decomposing it and rendering it fine. 
After the sour muck from wet places is decomposed 
by the salt and lime, it is then in ripe condition to 
be composted with bam-yard manure, and compost supply this ingredient of crops for * thousand years, 
becomes as valuable as the barn-yard manure alone. Dut lime performs other offices than that of funush- 
Aimostevei7 farm has a supply of muck which might tbis constituent of plants. It decomposes or- 
be turned into valuable manure. Hog manure has S anic matter in the soil and render* it suitable food 
been greatly benefited by mixing with the salt and f°rplants. It also combines chemically with organic 
lime, correcting its rank character and fitting it for matter, and thus renders it soluble and capable of 
garden use; but it is, probably, better that the salt entering into and supporting vegetable life. Soils 
and lime should first be composted with muck and sometimes contain Biiiphate of iron, (green vitriol,) 
then applied to the hog manure. We stated in our an ^ Ume decomposes this sulphate and forms snl- 
first article on manures, that salt and lime composted pRate of lime, (plaster, ) which i3 a direct stimulant 
with barn-yard manure, would preserve the ammo- to the growth of vegetation. It unites with phos- 
nia. This has been considered by most, who have P h °rlc acid in the soil tend forms phosphate oflime, 
used it, as practically correct; but, theoretically, (bone earth,) Lime applied to a heavy clay soil ren- 
that small portion of this mixture which becomes < * ara ^ more friable, less adhesive, less liable to bake 
carbonate of soda, would be supposed to dissipate ‘ n the sun, permits the air to circulate more freely, 
the ammonit., unless the chlorine was sufficient to renders it wanner and the harvest a week earlier, 
absorb it all, which is, no doubt, generally the case. ^ or this purpose it should be applied fresh from the 
This salt and lime mixture alone makes an excel- kilD ’ in a canctie itale > and well mixed with the soil, 
lent top dressing for most crops, at the rate of ^ Vhere the soil is deficient in vegetable or organic 
twentv to thirty bushels per acre. The character of ffia ‘ ter ’ bme ^ leas t valuable; ant' most valuable 
the lime is so much changed by the union of the WbcTe soil abotmdB in organic natter, or is of a 
salt,, that there is no danger of injury from an ex- col<1 ’ pea1 ^ na ture. 
cessive quantity, and where land has been over-limed The purest 111116 te best for agricultural pur- 
and this may be told by its whiteness. The 
The question is occasionally raised as to whether 
horses or oxen are the most valuable, for farm labor, 
but, like the one about “Billy Patterson,” ii 
remains an open one for the very good reason that 
it admits of no exact solution. For some kinds 
of work on the farm, horses may be the best; for 
others, oxen. In either case much will depend on 
the fact whether or not the animals are properly 
trained or broken to the work required. As a gen¬ 
eral thing a span of horses will plow over more 
ground in a day than a yoke of oxen because they 
walk faster, yet occasional exceptions to this occur. 
We remember to have aided in turning over a fallow 
of twenty-five acres in which a span of horses and a 
yoke of oxen were employed. It was decided to test 
their relative capacity for the work — both teams 
being allowed their natural gait. Equal sections 
of land were assigned to both teams, and the oxen 
came out invariably a little ahead—gaining time at 
each turning of the corners. They were then tried 
on the same lands fora day, with no marked advant¬ 
age on either side. These oxen were broke to the 
work; held their heads well up and marched along 
with a steady, stately step. In this particular in¬ 
stance the oxen were better for plowing than the 
horses, for the simple reason that, pertorming equal 
work, they cost less for keeping, and were more 
readily prepared for labor. 
Where the field of operations is at any considera¬ 
ble distance from the barn or pasture, the horse 
would have the advantage in the celerity of his 
movements in reaching it. As a general thing, the 
summer season through, horses can do more work 
than oxen for this reason, if no other, they can stand 
the heat better. Both are important on a consider¬ 
able farm, and if the ox is found to be worth tbe 
most when age suspends labor, the horse will have 
made up the difference by the celerity of his move¬ 
ments, and the more diversified uses for which his 
labor has been made available. Both are good in 
their places, and no extensive farmer is properly 
equipped for business who is destitute of either. 
space for the storage of some com or other feed for 
immediate nse, under the ridge." 
In the section cut and elevation or end view, the 
letter A marks the foundation wall which extends 
under all the sills. The space inclosed is filled with 
earth within an inch of the top of the wall; ou this 
a coat of water lime is spread into which the plank 
for the floors are bedded- The floor is thus made 
durable, and rat, water and air proof. B is the end 
sill over which the ends of the floor plank C project 
sufficient to support on the outside of the building 
the trough F. Covering the trough are the swing 
doors E, E, — fastened by compound latches to 
support their length. They are shoved back to 
shut the hogs away from the trough when filling, 
and brought forward to cover it at other times. 
The interior is divided into two main pens with 
sleeping quarters attached to each. This arrange¬ 
ment, however, may be varied. 
Ie you take the map of New Jersey and draw a 
line from Trenton to Point Pleasant, at the head of 
Barnegat Bay, you divide the State into two parts 
which are about equal in area. Now that portion 
lying on the Southern side of the line is quite level, 
none of it rising more than sixty feet above the sea. 
It fronts on the Atlantic Ocean, and bears unmis¬ 
takable evidence of having been long ago sub¬ 
merged. For generations it lay here unoccupied 
save by a few squatters who subsisted on game, 
and by occasional coal burners or glass makers. It 
was covered with a feeble forest growth, and was 
owned In large tracts by a ;few old families who 
lived far off, and who were in no haste to sell, or 
who, more likely, sharing the popular impression 
ol its worthlessness for purposes of Agriculture, 
were of opinion that it would be useless to offer it 
In the market. Besides it was inaccessible, there 
being no railway communication, and the infre¬ 
quent wood roads were indeed hard roads to travel. 
With the exception of a narrow strip of land lying 
along the Delaware River, this state of things con- 
tinned up to 1855. About that date there was an 
advance movement. A colony was started in At¬ 
lantic county. A heroic man, laboring under every 
conceivable disadvantage, was laying iron rails 
through the wilderness. His friends thought it 
extra hazardous; outsiders called him inRflnp IT# 
SECTION, 
GROUND PLAN. 
a foot deep, then on the wood place a layer of shells 
one to two feet thick, cover these lightly with earth, 
clay is best, leave a small vent at the opposite end 
for smoke, fire the wood and vour shells will be 
burned to lime and the clay will retain much of the 
organic matter and be also a good manure, e. w. s. 
In speaking of the hop in Sussex, England, 
where from 10,000 to 13,000 acres are annually de¬ 
voted to this crop, Mr. Caird, in his “English 
Agriculture,” thus remarks upon the uncertain re¬ 
turn from that kind of farming: 
“ This plant requires the richest soil of the farm, and 
receives nearly all the manure prodneed, robbing the 
corn and root crops of the share which rightfully belongs 
to them. The farmer’s attention is concentrated on his 
hop garden, and the rest of his farm receives very little 
of his regard, and hardly any of his capital. The opera¬ 
tion of the dnty gives the business a gambling character. 
A favorable season, with a large yield of hops, is disas¬ 
trous to the farmer, as the market value of the article 
falls while the dnty swells in proportion to the lucky 
character of the crop. When the crop is a short one the 
farmer prospers as the price of the hop rises and the 
total amount of the duty falls. There is thus a constant 
succession of chances, extraordinary prices being some¬ 
times realized, which tempt men to farther adventure 
and withdraw them from that steady, persevering indus¬ 
try, without which agriculture cannot he profitably car¬ 
ried on. The uncertainty of prices and crops, and the 
peculiar bearing of the dnty, are such that very few of 
the hop farmers are enriched by it, many are ruined, and 
still more are kept on the verge of bankruptcy. It is 
very probable, therefore, that if the cultivation of hops 
were to cease, it would in the end he no loss to the Sus¬ 
sex farmer, as his richest land would then be released for 
the growth of crops of a less hazardous kind, and the 
rest of his farm receive a fair share of manure and culti¬ 
vation." 
A thorough examination of the hop farms of this 
Statej has fully satisfied me of the truthfulness of 
the remarks of Mr. Caird, as applied to the hop 
gardens or farms of Oneida, Madison, Herkimer, 
and other counties, where hop growing is made the 
leading feature in their system of farming. In 
but a very few instances has the hop grower been 
as successful as the dairy farmer. And I am satis¬ 
fied that in all those counties the farmers to-day 
would be less in debt and more independent if they 
had never engaged in hop growing except as a sub¬ 
ordinate branch of business. Some of the soundest 
financial business men of Otsego, as well as some 
of the oldest and wisest farmers, assured me that, 
So many readers of the Rural have sent letters to 
the undersigned asking information in reference to 
the condition of society, health of the country, mar¬ 
kets, soil, climate, railways, prices of land, l'ann 
stock, &c., &c-, in East Tennessee, and the South, 
that I cannot answer them privately, but shall try 
to meet the wishes of the writers through the press 
The Presidential Ejection being over, it is to be 
hoped that politics will no longer disturb our social 
relations. All admit that such agitations cannot 
last long, and when they cease, the inhabitants of 
this State will be alike happy and prosperous, for 
those of no other have superior natural advantages. 
Sheep, cattle, horses and mules are remarkably 
healthy, mid are easier raised here, in our milder 
winters, on land worth from one to ten dollars per 
acre, than in Kentucky on land worth from ii 7 e to 
ten times the sums named- There, however, stock 
raising and grass culture are better developed t han 
la Tennessee, and the result is great improvement 
in the value of land and all its products. The seeds 
of poa pratenm and other English grasses, became so 
abundant in the limestone soils of Kentucky, many 
years ago, that so close an observer as the distin¬ 
guished farmer ol Ashland thought them indigenous, 
and so informed the writer. But experience proves 
that we can make any grass which is well adapted to 
onr climate and soil as Indigenous to the country as 
white clover or any weed, in the course of time. 
All plants doubtless, have a beginning, and may be 
more or less extended by man, who is unquestiona¬ 
bly a part of Nature. Bermuda gross, though yield¬ 
ing few or no seeds, and of foreign origin, will never 
be extirpated from the Cotton States. For sheep 
pastures and grazing other stock, it has inestimable 
value. In Mississippi, Mr. Thomas Affleck has 
grown six tons of good hay per acre of this South¬ 
ern grass at three cuttings in a year: and I have 
cultivated it very successfully in Georgia. 
The English fescues are well suited to our soil and 
poses; 
dark colored or gray limes make excellent mortar, 
but contain sometimes considerable clay and ap¬ 
proximate too near to water lime, which will become 
bard in the soil. As to the quantity to be applied to 
the acre—small applications, made often, are con¬ 
sidered better than large quantities at long intervals, 
Lime dissolves slowly and sinks in the soil, and 
therefore it is found better to apply it on the sur¬ 
face. It is better to apply ten bushels per year than 
fifty bushels every five years. 
Shell lime should be used in preference to stone 
lime, as the former has entered into animal life, and 
is more soluble and capable of being assimilated as 
plant food. Besides, shell lime contains a small 
per centage of phosphate of lime which is still more 
valuable. We have found a better effect from Dm 
bushels ol' shell than twenty bushels of stone lime. 
The oyster and clam shells should all be carefully 
saved aud burned for application to the soil. These 
are very easily burned, by digging a trench, putting 
iu the bottom a few stones on which to lay the wood 
