ORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
^atjnt (Bconomg. 
rA 2Z1 AND GARDEN IEEIGATION. 
Tvater 13 not only the food carrier, but 
t Lie very food it self of the vegetable creation. 
By water I mean not the pure compound of 
oxygen and hydrogen, known only to chem- 
is*. 3 , but water aa wo Cod it in nature, in 
cpriogi or.d stream-, and even in rain as it 
falls; which, though fo the eye it appear 
clear t 3 crystal, is cot pure, but contains 
in solution various foreign matters. In 
fact, all those substances which enter into 
the composition of plants, as the sulphates, 
phosphates and nitrate a of potash, lime, mag¬ 
nesia and iron, are found dissolved in the 
water which exists in cho soil, and thus dis¬ 
solved, th i.y ar j carried from the soil through 
the roots to their placo in the tissues of 
plants. The soil may contain all these mate¬ 
rials in abundance, yet if water be absent, 
they are useless a3 food for plants. An En¬ 
glish wri.er says “Tho most r ressing need 
in most gardens i3 that ott water. Tho want 
of it means hard, sticky vegetables, stunted, 
1 athery fruits, and small, withered flowers: 
for water ia the life, tho very substance, of 
most garden cro~s.” Cucumber* contain 97 
per cent,, apples 89, potatoes 75, and all vege¬ 
tables and fruits a large proportion of pure 
water. - 
In tho great system of aqueous circulation, 
through tho ministry of rain, snow and dew, 
naturo famishes cn abundant supply of 
water; but it is not always and everywhere 
ou attributed as to meet the highest wants 
of vegetation. There i; excess, there is scarci¬ 
ty. Tli 3 supply is placed within man's 
roach; human energy must appropriate it 
to human needs. To remove a surplus is the 
calco of drainage; to supply a lack, of irri¬ 
gation. Tho litter is lc83 practiced, except 
in countries where from lack of raiu It can 
nob be dispensed with. In Italy, Indin, 
P. anoe and Spain, systems of irrigation have 
been in existence for centuries, while the an¬ 
imal inundation^ of the Nile have given to 
E^rpt its inexhaustible fertility. Horace 
Catron, late Commissioner of Agriculture, 
in an int"‘resting letter on the agriculture, 
cag 3 :—“ Their systnin of irrigation enables 
the people of Japan to realize the highest 
possibilities of tho coil, in all seasons, with 
ail kinds of crops. Their system of ditches 
ii so arranged as to act as an equalizer of 
moisture, la dry seasons they supply the 
dchcienc/ from the reservoirs; in wet sea¬ 
sons t hey draw away the surplus moisture.” 
In tho now States and Territories west of 
tho Ilishosippi considerable attention has 
been given to tho subject, with such success 
than far that, according to a correspondent 
of tho Eh noXi Nirv-Yobker, residing in Mon¬ 
tana, ‘‘few farmers who hava plenty of 
water would willingly exchange our dry 
summers with irrigation for tho uncertain 
rain3 cf tho States.” These uncertain rains 
arc tho eolo reliance of the tillens of tho soil 
in all tho vast region cast of the Mississippi. 
Although our gardens and Holds suffer for 
wcebn and so me times for months nearly 
every season from drouth, and although half 
our crops fa 1 wholly or in part from lack of 
water, yet a perfect network of streams, 
largo aud small, throughout Llio land, affords 
the facilities for irrigation which would make 
our Holds teem with tho most luxuriant veg¬ 
etation even in the (Iryest seasous. Most of 
tho farmers in the Eastern States might, I 
have no doubt, derive more profit from the 
cultivation of one-half as many acres as they 
no v till, if they would adopt some simple, 
inexpensive method of distributing over that 
half, at Iho proper time?, a portion of the 
water which Haws through their farms load¬ 
ed with choice fertilizers. During our annual 
“ dry spell,” when the whole face of the 
country is brown and bare, a well-watered 
Hold look* like an o »sis In the desert. 
Prof. STORE a, in the “ Bulletin cf the Bus¬ 
sey Institution,” Part 11., page 189, speaking 
of the experimental Hell of the Institution, 
says :— 4 This field, like thousands of others 
in New England, has but limited capacity to 
profit by the application of manure. In one 
word, tho land lacks moisture. There is, in 
f ict, but one sure way to elevate its charac¬ 
ter, and that is by irrigation.” May not the 
same be said of thousands of Helds outside of 
New England ? TVho will take the lead iu 
thu3 elevating tho character of the soil, 
chock'ng tho streams as they rush towards 
the sea and causing them to pay to the fields 
through which they pass tribute of moisture 
an 1 fertility ? 
Last year I turned the waste water from 
my pen stock down rows of potatoes. Tho 
yield was so large that one man with a boy 
to pull tho tops dug wi’.h a fork 80 bushels in 
two hours. This year I used the water upon 
my celery, which grew finely, whereas pota¬ 
toes on a part of the ground not irrigated 
were scarcely worth digging. 
In regard to tho expense and results of 
irrigation, a Colorado correspondent of the 
Kura i, says :—“On large tracts pf land the 
average original cost is not over $1 per acre, 
while the annual expense of repairs and su¬ 
perintendence does not exceed 25 cents per 
acre. The yield of wheat per acre is often 
as much as 35 to 40 bushels. Eight crops of 
wheat, averaging 25 bushels per acre, have 
been raised on the same soil with no apparent 
loss of fertility.” The Agricultural Report 
for 1871 contains a long article upon the sub¬ 
ject of irrigation, C. H. Dann. 
Warsaw, N. Y. 
- » ♦» - — 
INQUIRY ABOUT FENCES. 
I SHOULD like a question or two answered 
through the Rural New-Yorker in regard 
to fences. Arc wire fences durable—that is, 
part wire and paling—and what is the cost 
per rod ? What is considered the cheapest 
kind of straight fence t I have inquired of 
several persons but without much success. 
As you arc well posted on these matters I 
thought perhaps you could offer some sug 
gestions on this matter.— G. D., Salem, 0. 
Wk have seen durable wire fence made for 
much less money than post aud board fence 
could bo made for in the same locality. We 
never saw tv part wire and part paling fence 
that was worth liulf its cost. The cheapest 
kind of a straight fence in any locality must 
always depend upon tho cost of the various 
kinds of material available in that locality 
and the price of labor. Our correspondent’s 
question can only bo answered, therefore, by 
farmers of practical experience, who tell the 
cost of the material with which they build 
their cheapest fence arid the price of labor 
in their localities. This will enable him to 
institute a comparison and thus arrive at an 
approximate conclusion. We shall be glad 
to receive aud print such experience for our 
correspondent’s and others’ benefit. 
■ -»♦» - - 
PRESERVING MANURE. 
The Boston Journal of Chemistry states 
that the sources of loss in the storage of 
manure are t wo ; first, tho escape of volatile 
ammonia aud other guses ; and secondly, 
the loss of valuable salts by leaching. The 
first difficulty may be obviated by covering 
the excrement with eight or ten inches of 
good soil or loam, which will absorb all es¬ 
caping gases. A bushel or so .of pla ster may 
be advantageously scattered over the heap 
before the soil is thrown on. The whole 
mass should be perfectly covered, leaving 
no 44 chimney ” for gaseous exudation. The 
danger of leaching may be avoided by cover¬ 
ing the heap with hay or straw sufficiently 
thick to shed most of the rain. If kept in 
this way a sufficient time, the manure will 
undergo spontaneous decomposition, the 
products of which will bo ready for immedi¬ 
ate assimilation by plants. The usual pro¬ 
cess is cart ing manure to the fields in the 
autumn to waste, by both the above process¬ 
es, some of their most valuable constituents. 
PIG-PEN PAPERS. 
Du roc Red or Jersey Swine .—There has 
been inquiry iu the columns of the Rural 
New-Yorker concerning these swine—as to 
origin, history, &c.,—which have not been 
satisfactorily answered. Mr. Geo. O. Cham¬ 
berlain, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., contrib¬ 
utes to the Saratogian the following on the 
subject 44 A few days since I called on the 
venerable ex-Sheriff Isaac Frinic, who lives 
in the north part of the town of Milton. He 
informed me that a gentleman by the name 
of Henry Kelsey of Long Island imported 
two swine from England. Ho owned the 
famous Duroc horse, the sire of Eclipse. Mr. 
Kelsey moved to the town of Florida, Mont¬ 
gomery County, where Mr. Frink obtained 
from him a pig of the imported breed, which 
he named Duroc. That was tho first sandy 
pig ever brought into this county, and was 
the sire of the now famous Duroc breed. 
That was about 50 years ago.” 
Swine Breeders' Conventions. — L. A. 
Bup.ke, an Indiana swine breeder, asks in 
Indiana Farmer 44 By the way. what have 
become of the Swine Breeders' Conventions ? 
The breeders should hold conventions every 
year, so that all the improvements may be 
known. This subject is of great importance 
to the farmers of Indiana,” 
Diarrhea in Swine may be arrest ed usual¬ 
ly ' >y feeding a few quarts of boiled milk 
thickened wit h fine Hour, giving at the same 
time the animal the range of a small pasture. 
Fruit, weeds und meat should be withheld. 
|§ds. 
MINK CULTURE IN NEW YORK. 
The Poultry Exchange furnishes us with 
the following interesting facts : 
Among the novel features of the Albany 
County Fair is the minkery exhibited by 
Mr. H. liesseque of Verona, Oneida County, 
New York. Seven years ago he came in 
possession of a wild mink, and through her 
progeny his stock, at some periods during 
tlii 3 time, has numbered ninety Individuals, 
besides many specimens disposed of through¬ 
out the different States of the Union. 
Mr. Itesseqlie’s home yards contain twelve 
stalls, each twelve feet square ; the soil is 
stale, and around the outside of the yard a 
trench is dug fifteen inches deep, and a plank 
fifteen inches wide is laid on the bottom, 
close to un upright plank nailed upon the 
fence-post as a base. The dirt is then filled 
in, and the fence is composed of upright, 
rough boards .»ix feet in hight, with a cab 
projecting over the yard, in order to prevent 
the mink from climbing outside. In each 
stall is placed a dry-goods box, which is 
inhabited by a female. This box has two 
openings opposite each other for ingress and 
egress, with a door on top to allow inspection 
and cleanliness. 
Minks are not burrowing animals when in 
a state of nature, but freely avail themselves 
Of t he burrows of the muskrat or some other 
vermin. They cannot climb a smooth sur¬ 
face, but when there ia enough roughness for 
nail-hold, ascend easily. In the minkery the 
male and female are not allowed to run 
together, excepting during the month of 
March, which is considered the running 
season for wild minks. If allowed together 
for a longer period the male annoys the 
female by teasing her. The female remains 
in heat about four days, and all of the females 
in his yard are ready for tho male within 
a period of ten days’ time. One male will 
serve six females. The female carry their 
young six weeks, and in kittening they do 
not vary twelve hours from this? time. They 
average from three to ten kittens at a litter, 
which, when born, arc blind, and remain so 
for five weeks. They arc quite destitute of 
hair, and arc as white as a piece of paper, 
and devoid of animal shape. Mr. liesseque 
informs mo that they resemble the shape of 
a finger, and are about the size of Ills little 
finger. By the time their eyes are open they 
arc covered with a coat of beautiful glossy 
hair. The young females develop sooner 
than the males; the former obtain their 
growth in ten months, while the males do 
not until eighteen months of age. The 
females are capable of hearing young when 
one year old. 
In his yards they are fed exclusively on 
wound, fresll meat. They do not relish tainted 
flesh. He feeds them once each day in the 
summer, but in cold weather the food is 
thrown to them in quantities, and allowed to 
freeze, so that they can help themselves at 
pleasure. During the month of February a 
short allowance of food is then given them, 
to get them in condit ion for breeding. When 
running wild, food at this season is scarce 
with them. Mr. liesseque, in managing 
them, attempts as near as possible to imitate 
nature, and he says that this comparative 
fasting makes them much more lively and 
playful. 
In a litter of mink kittens one sex or the 
other is apt to predominate—that is, they do 
not usually come half males and half females, 
but are either ali males or all females. A 
grown male mink will weigh about two 
pounds; the female is heavier than she 
seems to be, and will weigh from one and a 
half to one and three-quarter pounds. 
They arc readily tamed when taken in 
hand when their eyes are beginning to open ; 
they should then not be allowed the society 
of their mother or the rest of the litter. By 
constant petting and handling they become 
like domestic kittens, and exhibit ull of the 
playful antics of the feline tribe. They 
can then be handled without fear of being 
bitten by tnern, but they arc represented as 
being exceedingly mischievous; their ex¬ 
ceedingly sharp scent will enable them to 
find food which was not in tended for them 
to eat. Their fondness for water and bath¬ 
ing will prompt them to go into an open 
tea-kettle, or any epen vessel filled with 
water, and while v.ot will roll and dry 
themselves in a clothes-basket of freshly 
ironed clothes, or on a lady’s dress. In this 
way they are troublesome pets. 
Mr. liesseque, at several Fairs, has been in 
the habit of exhibiting two female tame 
minks to the bystanders thronging his cage, 
which he hands to the promiscuous crowd 
to be caressed and petted. They would 
allow themselves to be handed from person 
to person, but it was a noticeable fact that 
their eyes were constantly on their keeper, 
and when they came within reach would 
extend their paws to him like a child wishing 
to return. 
Tame minks make excellent ratters, and 
hunt with vigor, and speedily exterminate 
these troublesome pests. The rats will im¬ 
mediately flee from them when first they 
scent them, and they are so bewildered in 
flight that they never give battl \ but yield 
at once, and so swift does the mink cut the 
main arteries of the rat’s neck, an observer 
would scarcely think the deed was done. 
During the running season the males fight 
desperately, and if several are allowed to¬ 
gether one always assumed tho mastery. 
About the 1st of November the young males 
should be separated from the females. 
Minks only have one litter a year, and never 
breed at unseasonable times. 
When tame and wild minks are confined 
together the tame oneB always prove vic¬ 
torious, being much stronger than the wild 
ones. Too much confinement will make 
their fur look dead and rusty. They require 
a dark place to roam and exercise. If fish 
is given them during September end Octo¬ 
ber their fur is much improved ; soft water 
for bathing purposes also improves it much. 
Mr. liesseque tells an amusing story of a 
stray cat that- invaded his minkery, no 
doubt in quest of game, but the minks 
proved too much. At last the Cat gained 
the outside cf the inclosure, the yard was 
strewn with locks of cat-hair, and for a 
hundred feet or more iu the track of her 
exit were found tufts of cat-hair ; but not¬ 
withstanding this, a strange person can go in 
the minkery with impunity, and observe 
these shy creatures playing like kittens 
around him. 
Mr. Ressequo finds ready sale for all ihe 
minks he can spare at £30 per pair. His 
prices are, for a female, 820 ; for an impreg¬ 
nated female, $25; for a male, 810. He 
informs me he cannot now supply tbs de¬ 
mand. 
®fte f)mtltt[ir fjnrd. 
DISEASED FEET IN CHICKENS. 
Under the above heading we find in the 
London Fancier’s Gazette of Nov. 6 a com¬ 
munication from M. Leno, an old and some¬ 
what famous breeder of chickens, in which 
he says: 
“During the last twenty-six years I hove 
been solicited by near neighbor to unravel, 
if possible, the mystery oi diseased feet in 
chickens, which included young tin keys, 
pheasants and poultry. I found the toes rf 
many completely eaten eff, some crumpled 
ud with sores, others With toes turned under 
the foot and of course rnanv deaths, ns they 
could scarce move about. 1 made the most 
careful inquiries of vile several Individuals as 
to the food given to them, and in every c«se 
l found ^large quantity of nnimai food was 
being used, such ft.-j hard-boiled eggs, xnutten 
and boiled rabbit. 
“A man employed by rnyrelf also tried 
one year some mutton fur young pheasants. 
1 cautioned him, desiring him to use it very 
sparingly ; but my cautioning wts unheed¬ 
ed ; the consequence was, in a few- days 
numbers of the birds became lamp, their 
feet aud legs appearing as though (hey 1 ed 
been dipped in net water, the feet of many 
breaking out in sores—the to; r, as disease 
increased, turning nnd crumpling vp rs be¬ 
fore named, the tees r.f seme completely rot¬ 
ting off, and only ft very few ibut were ef¬ 
fected recovering. 1 ordered lie meat to be 
discontinued at oucp, the result of which was 
that not a single bird fell with the disease 
thet had not been fed with the meat, proving 
to my mind that the disease was caused 
through the too l.bei a] use of animal food ; 
and the other casts I inspected weie similar¬ 
ly affected to mine. 
“My opinion, founded on long experience 
as regards so-called cramp in young pheas¬ 
ants and poultry, is that it is caused by a too 
1 ountiful supply cf animal food, and not by 
wet ground. 1 1 now many game and poul¬ 
try rearers will believe lie to be on Ihe 
wrong scent; hut when so railed cramp 
makes its appearance reduce the quant ily of 
animal food and note the result. I cm not 
against the use of animal lood, for I knew, 
if judiciously and sparingly used, it is a very 
great help; but over-do it, and the result will 
prove very disastrous.” 
-- 
Sinole comb Dorkings.— 1 The colored or 
speckled Dorking is generally figured with a 
single CGznb, Now 1 have brtd Dorkings 
since 1849, and have had them from themost 
noted breeders in this country and one crek 
and hen from Prince Albert’s collection. This 
cock and hen were speckled, and both had 
rose combs, and I have never seen two birds 
equaling them in size and form. I have had 
white Dorkings. %vith rose and witli single 
combs. The whole is, I think, like aov other 
breed. A cross is needed or the stock is re¬ 
duced in vigor, and the perpetuation of a 
single or double comb comes from the steady 
inbreeding. —Iona. 
