MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
Our New Dress. 
Sir John Franklin, 
According to statements made by tbe St. 
Paul, Minnesota, papers, there arrived in that 
city on the 12th ult., James B. Stewart and 
four or five half-breeds direct from the Arctic 
regions, whither they, with ten or twelve others, 
had been sent on an overland expedition in 
search of Sir John Franklin. The expedition 
left Selkirk early in the spring, with three ca¬ 
noes. Passed through a running stream into a 
lake, from thence into Wliitefish River; was 
one month on this river, sleeping on the shore, 
and entered the sea, on which they were com¬ 
pelled to remain nine days. They reached 
what is called Montreal Island, ivhere they fell 
in with some Esquimaux, who informed them 
where the crew of the Terror (one of Franklin, s 
ships) met their untimely fate. The explorers 
gathered up the remains of a boat having the 
name of Sir John Franklin on it, a hammer, 
kettles, part of a blue flag, and other articles 
belonging to the unfortunate vessel. 
The Esquimaux informed them that they (the 
Esquimaux) reached the spot just in time to see 
the last man die of hunger, who was leaning 
against some object when discovered, but was 
too far gone to be restored. The Esquimaux 
state that it is four years ago since the crew 
perished. 
— The value of exports this season from Green Bay is 
$655,667. 
— Tiie annual value of poultry in the United is estimated 
at $20,000,000. 
— The number of hogs slaughtered at Cincinnati this 
season is 255,062. 
— One of the Jersey City watchman lias been arrested on 
a charge of burglary. 
— Miss Jenny Campbell, aged 115 years, died in Orange 
Co., Va., on the 6th ult. 
— The Legislature of Maryland will convene at Annapo¬ 
lis, on tlje 2d of January. 
— Imuis A. Revoile has been indicted in New Orleans for 
selling his grand-mother’s tomb. 
— The last male descendant of Sir Walter Scott died 20 
years after the illustrious novelist! 
— John W. Bell, one of the heaviest flour merchants of 
Baltimore, has disappeared mysteriously. 
— A pertinacious female beggar, a Mrs. Shaw, has in¬ 
vested $10,000 in real estate at Pittburg, Pa. 
— The city of New York expends yearly a million and a 
half of dollars in the purchase of eggs alone. 
— Twenty-six students recently graduated with the de¬ 
gree of M. D. from the Albany Medical College. 
— Two bulls, which cost $5,000 each in ^Germany, were 
entered at the New York custom house last week. 
— The last male descendant of John Bunyan died 167 
years after the author of the “ Pilgrim’s Progress.” 
— There are now 531 students in the University of Yir- 
Ten Copies, (and one free,) $15, and any additional number 
at latter rate, ($1,50 per copy,)— payable in advance. No 
deviation from these terms. Any individual remitting the 
club price ($1,50 instead of $2) for a single copy—except as 
an addition to a club already formed—will be credited for 
only nine months, in accordance with our terms of single 
subscription. And it is useless for persons to send less than 
the published price, demanding a certain number of copies 
or a return of the money—for our rule is to retain the 
funds in all such cases (especially if a stamp is not inclosed 
to pre-pay return postage,) and credit in proportion to the 
amount received. 
23P” Club papers sent to different post-offices if desired ; 
and after a club is once formed, additions of one or more 
copies can be made at the club price. The Rural is pub¬ 
lished strictly upon the cash system— copies are never 
mailed to individual subscribers until paid for, (or ordered 
by a responsible agent,) and always discontinued v hen the 
subscription term expires. Hence, a prompt renewal is ne¬ 
cessary to secure the regular continuance of the paper. 
Terms op Advertising. —"With the new year and vol¬ 
ume, we change our price of advertising from fifteen to 
Twenty-Five Cents a Line, each insertion— payable in 
advance. This increase is not in proportion to circulation 
_for our subscription bas considerably more than doubled 
since the former rate was established, and is rapidly aug¬ 
menting. As our space is limited, brief and appropriate 
advertisements will always have preference. In order to 
accommodate as many applicants as possible,—and also ren¬ 
der this department more interesting and readable, and 
hence of greater value to advertisers—our rule is to give no 
advertisement, unless very brief, more than four consecutive 
insertions. Those who desire to avail thcmseli es of the 
advantages of advertising herein, will please note the price 
and advance terms, and govern themselves accordingly. 
Patent Medicines, et id omne genus , are not advertised in 
this Rural on any conditions. 
Back Volumes— In answer to many recent inquiries and 
orders for back volumes of the Rural, we would state that 
we have only those of 1854 and 1855 vols. I 1 ii e and Six. Of 
the former we have only a few copies, all of which are 
handsomely bound ; price $3. Of the latter (6th) we in¬ 
tended to keep 200 sets for binding, but found it impossible 
to retain that number, and hence shall have few more than 
will be required for premiums. Price, in numbers, $2 ; 
bound, $3. Those who wish to secure either volume, should 
give the matter early attention. 
the rivers. Tliere are no swamps, ponds, lakes 
or “ sines” in tlie Territory, wliich, in most of 
the Western States, produce so muck ague and 
fever. The water is excellent, particularly in the 
Northern portions of Kansas, and in the region 
of Fort Riley, generally a little impregnated 
with lime, with which the country is underlaid. 
The soil is very rich and fertile, of a vegeta¬ 
ble mould usually; there are exceptions, how¬ 
ever. It is admirably adapted to agricultural 
pursuits, grains and vegetables of nearly every 
description, growing luxuriantly. Having trav- 
charges against her were, that a company of 
enlisted and drilled fillibusters were on board 
bound for Nicaraugua, to assist the Walker 
invasion, and that the steamer was freighted 
with arms and munitions of war, put on board 
under a false manifest. There seems to have 
been some reasons for the first charge, but upon 
a search of the cargo, the alleged munitions 
proved to be agricultural implements, type and 
press, mule saddles, and similar articles of 
peaceful pursuit. Several of the alleged leaders 
of the expedition, and the officers and agents of 
the steamship company, were put under bonds, 
and the vessel, after two or three days detention, 
was permitted to sail. 
Steamer Burned. —The steamboat Charleston, 
of Memphis, Tenn., loaded with cotton, was 
burned a few days since on the Ohio river, the 
fire supposed to originate from the pipe of an 
Irish deck passenger. There were about seventy 
cabin and twenty deck passengers on board; 
and so rapid was the progress of the conflagra¬ 
tion, that in ten minutes after the first alarm, 
the whole boat was a sheet of flame. The boat 
happening to be near shore at the time, only one 
person (a negro) was lost. After all had reach¬ 
ed shore, the hull floated off down the stream 
about six miles and sunk, being burnt to the 
water’s edge. 
The Weather, 
For twenty days of the month, the weather 
has been remarkably mild and pleasant for the 
season. But, as “ true love never runs smooth,” 
so the weather ran less smooth, and even mad e 
a complete somersault. The day before Christ¬ 
mas the change began, rolling along its wave of 
cold from the West, where, at Chicago, the ther¬ 
mometer cried out, with stiffened fingers, “fif¬ 
teen degrees below zerc,” —of which we heard the 
day after Christmas, when our thermometer 
whistled six degrees ; “six above and cold enougli' 
was the general cry. The papers had told us 
“ no snow” for Christmas, but as we heard the 
young cry of “ Santa Claus has come,” four inch¬ 
es of snow had fallen, and soon another, and the 
gay riders were ranging over and around the city. 
To Non-Subscribers.— "VVe send this number of the Ru¬ 
ral to many prominent friends of improvemant, in the 
hope that it will meet their approval, and if so receive 
their support and encouragement. Those disposed to exer¬ 
cise a portion of influence in its behalf, are referred to Pre¬ 
mium List, Terms, &c., on next and the last page. 
ROCHESTER, JANUARY" 5, 1856. 
The Rural for 1856,—Briefly, 
Thanks to its ardent, active and generous 
friends in all sections, we commence the New 
Year and Volume of the Rural New-Yorker 
with the brightest prospects and most substan¬ 
tial encouragement. Their cordial support has 
not only enabled us to clothe the paper in 
entirely new and beautiful attire, but encouraged 
us to add fifteen thousand to its former edition — 
making the aggregate nearly fifty thousand. 
Whether we shall dispose of this edition remains 
to he determined,— but, if its friends continue 
their present noble and unprecedented efforts, 
we are confident of attaining a circulation of full 
forty-five thousand previous to the 1st of May 
ensuing. Meantime, we respectfully ask all — 
Agents, Subscribers, and others into whose 
hands this number may be placed — to lend the 
Rural such encouragement as it may, in their 
judgment, seem to merit. If each person who 
approves the character and objects of the paper 
— and we trust none object to either —would 
show this number (we will supply another if lost 
or soiled) to friends and neighbors, and receive 
subscriptions, its circulation would at once be 
immensely increased, and hundreds of localities 
thereby benefited. How many of our readers 
will confer a favor upon us, and benefit commu¬ 
nity, by acting in accordance with this sugges¬ 
tion ? Those who respond affirmatively — may 
the vote he unanimous ! — are referred to Busi¬ 
ness Notices at head of this column, Premium 
List on next page, and Special Notices on last 
page of this number. 
— In this connection we would remark that 
our arrangements are such that we shall, extra¬ 
ordinaries excepted, he enabled to furnish a 
good paper throughout the year—rich in con¬ 
tents and beautiful in appearance. • The present 
number is not, in all respects, what we intended, 
as the labor of changing from old to new type, 
in a very brief period, has prevented us from 
bestowing proper attention to details, while our 
proof reader will be entitled to a premium if all 
proves correct. With more time, and a uniform¬ 
ly superior quality of paper, ink, (fee., and the 
best attention in and to all departments, we 
hope to render acceptable each and every num¬ 
ber of the volume now commenced. 
A Valuable Present.— Those of our readers 
who wish to make near or distant friends a New 
Year’s present which will he new and present¬ 
able fifty-two times during the ensuing twelve- 
months—as often reminding the recipient of the 
tile and productive portions in all parts east of 
the last named section, I consider the north part 
the garden of the Territory. The prairie is un¬ 
paralleled for fertility of soil, beauty of surface, 
and salubrity of climate,—interspersed with 
lofty and magnificent groves of timber, including 
the different varieties of ^ak, linden, elm, black 
walnut, hickory, cottonwood and hackberry. I 
do not say there is an abundance of timber here, 
hut sufficient for the wants of the settlers, if 
properly distributed and rightly cared for. The 
water is excellent. The land requires but little 
labor to grow a crop, for the simple reason that 
successive cropping does deteriorate the soil—as 
has been amply tested for twenty years past at 
the Iowa ■ Mission, near this place. I am now 
speaking of Highland, a town newly laid out.— 
But little has been said or known about this 
region, from the fact that all the Emigrant Aid 
Societies and Companies have centered their 
wealth and influence on the Kansas river and 
its tributaries—having overlooked the most fer¬ 
tile, if not the most advantageous portions of the 
Territory. 
A railroad is now building from St. Jo to 
Hannibal, on the Mississippi, which will he 
completed in a sort time, making an uninter¬ 
rupted line of railway to New York city, which 
distance can be traversed in three days at the 
most. Three and a half days from Highland to 
the home of the Rural, including twenty-five 
miles by stage to St. Jo, and by steam boat on the 
Missouri thirty miles. This railroad must draw 
the trade of Kansas to the North, to find an out¬ 
let for its surplus to the great Eastern consumers. 
I think this must make this portion of the coun¬ 
try far preferable to the Eastern emigrant, if he 
considers access to market, and to the home 
of his nativity any object. * * 
A saw and grist mill is already in operation 
here, doing a splendid business. Corn is the 
tv ay, and the increase of stock in California. 
— The anniversary of the landing of the pilgrims was cel¬ 
ebrated with appropriate exercises, by the sons of New 
England, at Buffalo, Cleveland and Chicago. 
— At Detroit on the 14th inst., a couple were married 
who had never seen each other till within fifteen minutes 
of the performance of the nuptial ceremony. 
— An extraordinary bear was recently caught near Pilot 
Creek Ditch, California, perfectly white, except the feet, all 
of which were black. He was very ferocious. 
— Twenty pieces of silk vestings, worth $1,000, were 
stolen from the warehouse of Milton, Cushman * Co., in 
Milk street, Boston, on Friday evening week. 
— The whole number of aliens arriving at New York du¬ 
ring the past year, according to a statement in the Courier, 
is 184,987. In 1854, the number was 319,223. 
— According to the New Orleans Commercial Bulletin, 
the aggregate assessed valuation of property in that city 
this year is $846,860 less than in the year 1854. 
— A bill has been introduced into the Georgia Legisla¬ 
ture for the creation of an office of State Geologist and 
Chemist, the salary being fixed at $2,000 a year. 
— The Collegiate Mirror, of Holy Springs, Miss., announ¬ 
ces that the honorary degree of “ Mistress of Arts” has 
been conferred upon Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Sigourney. 
— Traveling on the Sabbath, in the Sandwich Islands, 
except in the direction of a church, is strictly forbidden by 
law, it is stated. How do they get away from church? 
— A daughter of Hon. Mike Walsh, who is now in Eu¬ 
rope, died in New York on Sunday week, aged seventeen. 
She was receiving her education at a Catholic seminary. 
— Col. John Somssich, a Hungarian exile of distinction, 
who has resided in New York latterly, died at Jacksonville, 
Fla., whither he had gone for his health, on the 8th inst. 
— On Saturday afternoon of last week an Irish lad named 
Fanning, 13 years old and blind, being taken to Bangor to 
skate, in the absence of his friends got into the water and 
was drowned. 
— It is said Gen. Canrobert is about to marry the daugh¬ 
ter of one of the Emperor’s physicians, a beautiful lady, 
thirty-two years old, who has hitherto rejected all propo¬ 
sals of marriage. 
— The Washington Organ of Wednesday week says that 
after that day the Union will cease to do the public print¬ 
ing, in consequence of the refusal of the Comptroller to 
pass the accounts. 
— The Passumpsic Railraad Company have achieved a 
financial exploit—they paid their mortgage bonds the very 
day they were due. The first instance of the kind ever 
known in Vermont. 
— The mammoth California tsee, which has been exhib¬ 
ited several months in New York, was destroyed by fire on 
Sunday night week in the stable in which it was stored.— 
Loss about at $7,000. 
How fetv are Left !—A Revolutionary sol¬ 
dier named Roswell Graham, died at Batavia, 
Genesee county, on the 24th inst., at the ad¬ 
vanced age of ninety-six. He was one of the 
few remaining personages of that eventful pe¬ 
riod, and has at last gone to his rest full of years 
after seeing the Republic whose liberties he 
helped to achieve, reach a position of unexam¬ 
pled prosperity and power. The deceased was 
born in Westfield, Mass., and came to Western 
New York in the year 1801, and purchased a 
farm near Batavia, on which he has lived over 
fifty years ! Peace to his ashes. 
-- 
A Waif. —The British discovery ship Reso¬ 
lute, which was blocked up by ice in the Arc¬ 
tic Seas and abandoned by her officers and crew, 
finally became disentangled and was drifted by 
the winds and currents a thousand miles distant 
from her original position. She was recently 
discovered by Capt. Cuddington, of the New 
London (Ct.) whaleship George Henry, manned 
by a portion of his crew, and brought safely in¬ 
to port with all her armament, stores, and equip¬ 
ments, on board. She is a new and handsome 
bark, and worth one hundred thousand dollars. 
Congressional. — We have nothing new to 
announce from Congress. Each party remains 
firm upon their own candidate for Speaker, and 
will not hear to a compromise. There have 
been absences which varied slightly the state of 
the vote, and on Saturday Banks came within 
three of an election. It is presumable that an 
organization will be effected soon after New 
Years, but it is not certain. If no new candi¬ 
dates are started, some of the minority members 
may absent themselves temporarily, and thus 
enable a Speaker to be chosen. We shall see. 
State Boundary. —The H. S. Circuit Court 
have decided that the jurisdiction of the State of 
Kentucky extends only to the centre of the Ohio 
river, instead of to low water mark on the nor¬ 
thern shore, as claimed by them. The people of 
Trimble County, Ky., have held a meeting and 
denounced the decision, as they say, if the deci¬ 
sion stands, it would be unsafe for the people of 
the South to carry their slaves on the Ohio river. 
Sad Casualty. —A telegraph despatch, dated 
Boston Dec. 27, says:—“At Falmouth, Maine, 
on Thursday evening, Mr. Coffin, with two 
young ladies named Haskell, while coasting, 
were precipitated over the banks of the river 
forty feet. Coffin and one lady were drowned, 
and the other lady is so badly injured she is not 
expected to live. 
Railroad Freights. —Under the favorable 
auspices of the weather, <fcc., the Central and 
the Erie Roads have done an immense business 
during the past month, the heaviest in fact ever 
done by either Road during the month of De¬ 
cember. The freight tariff has been raised 
about ten per cent, upon both lines. 
The Arrison Trial. —The second trial of this 
notorious person came off recently at Cincinnati, 
and resulted in a disagreement of the jury, who, 
it is said, stood eight for acquittal and four for 
conviction. On the former trial he was found 
guilty of murder, and sentenced to be hung.— 
The charge was for killing Harrison and his 
wife, by the explosion of an infernal machine. 
Our Receipts on subscription during the past 
two weeks exhibit a large increase over the 
same period of any previous year,— while the 
letters covering remittances are most encourag¬ 
ing. We intended to give a few extracts in this 
number—as samples of the greetings we are 
daily receiving from all parts—but want of 
space compels us to defer and perhaps omit them 
altogether. 
The Governor’s Message.— The Albany Jour¬ 
nal of Friday last says :— “ As the Legislature 
will convene on New Year’s Day, it is under¬ 
stood that the Governor does not propose—even 
though an organization should be effected—to 
send in his Message until Wednesday. This 
will be very gratifying intelligence to our typo¬ 
graphical brethren, who, otherwise, would be 
kept at their cases, through most of fhe day.— 
Now they can enjoy New Year’s without the 
fear of being disturbed.” 
Eliiiu Burritt is to lecture before the Print¬ 
ers’ Union, in this city, on the 16th of January. 
As Mr. Burritt has a great reputation as a lec¬ 
turer, and is a self-made man, he will draw a 
large audience together, besides those who are 
influenced by the desire to attend the Printers’ 
Union. 
Notices of Books, Periodicals, <fec., necessarily 
deferred. 
Prompt. —Our arragements for printing and 
mailing the Rural are now such, that we hope 
to give general satisfaction. The paper ought 
to reach most post-offices in this State on or be¬ 
fore the day of its date — and in all cases of 
failure, we will endeavor to make right on 
notification. In writing, please mention how 
often, and on what days, your mail is received. 
Emigration from Germany by Bremen to the 
United States appears to be falling off. The 
total number of passengers who had embarked 
during the present year up to the end of Octo¬ 
ber, was 29,096, on board of 146 vessels. 
.........m.mhm.h.,. . .......... 
