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“PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[ SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
VOLUME VII. NO. \l.\ 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.,—SATURDAY, MARCH n, 1858. 
- {WHOLE NO. m. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY JOURNAL, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN ABLE CORPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS: 
H. T. BROOKS, Prof. C. DEWEY, 
T. C. PETERS, L. B. LANGWORTHY, 
H. C. WHITE, T. E. WETMORE. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unique and 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity and 
Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor to make it 
a Reliable Guide on the important Practical Subjects connected 
■noth the business of those whose interests it advocates. It 
embraces moro Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Mechan¬ 
ical, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with many appro¬ 
priate and beautiful Engravings, than any other paper published 
in this Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Lit¬ 
erary and Family Newspaper. 
For Terms, and other particulars, see last page. 
CHANGES IN FARMING. 
Railroads, Canals, and other means of transit 
have wonderfully modified the interests of the 
farmer, as well as those of all other classes of 
men. He finds it for his advantage, in many 
instances, to discontinue the production of cer¬ 
tain articles once most profitable, and to devote 
his attentipn-to others not previously remune¬ 
rative. The owner of a few acres, in*the imme¬ 
diate vicinity of New York city, formerly found 
it of the highest pecuniary advantage to keep a 
limited number of cows, and run into town 
every morning a democrat wagon laden with 
milk-cans, in order to distribute the contents 
among his customers. The building of the Erie 
Railroad, and the running of special milk- 
trains, enabled the owners of cheap farms in the 
Southern tier of counties, a hundred miles in¬ 
land, to meet in the market and undersell their 
suburban competitors. 
Formerly the farmers in old Dutchess and 
other counties favorably situated along naviga¬ 
ble waters, possessed almost the monopoly of 
the market for fat cattle. Store animals were 
driven on foot, a thousand -or more miles, from 
Ohio, Western New York, Ac., to the river 
counties, and there fattened and killed, or boated 
alive to market. It was impossible to get a fat 
animal to the seaboard from (he interior, as no 
means of transit existed ; the animal’s locomo¬ 
tion proving insufficient for long journeys, ex¬ 
cept in a lean condition. Neat cattle and swine, 
fatted in the interior, were therefore slaught¬ 
ered and packed; and sheep, killed by the 
hundred thousand, were tried up bodily for 
their tallow. Now, by the aid of Railroads, 
these, fresh from their prairie pastures, are 
transported fifteen hundred miles, and set down 
in the seaboard market ready for the hand of 
the butcher. Twelve or fifieen years ago, it 
would not pay to transport the potato from 
Northern New Hampshire and Vermont to the 
Boston market; but now, by means of numer¬ 
ous lines of Railroad penetrating all New Eng¬ 
land, that esculent bas been a profitable article 
of production. Ruinous as many of the roads 
have been to tbe stockholders, the farming 
community bas certainly been benefited. 
During the early days of isolation, and ere 
the system of inter-state communication had 
been perfected, each community was obliged to 
raise for itself most of tbe staple products, or 
forego their use. Although a farmer’s land 
might not be well adapted to wheat, he must 
endeavor to raise a few bushels, at least, for his 
own family ; and any other product of prime 
necessity had to be cultivated under like cir¬ 
cumstances. Farmers at a distance from market 
could not turn their attention to the raising of 
bulky or perishable materials, even though 
their lands were admirably adapted to them, 
for the reason that no sale could be made when 
produced; hence other things less naturally 
productive, but more readily marketed, were 
forced upon the attention of the cultivator. 
These difficulties, however, under the im¬ 
proved modes of transportation, are removed or 
greatly mitigated ; and men in all parts of the 
country are left at liberty, to turn their atten¬ 
tion to the cultivation of those products best 
adapted to their soil and climate. Other things 
being equal, every farmer should strive to raise 
for himself as many of the necessaries as possi¬ 
ble ; but it is poor economy to expend twice 
the labor and expense in raising anything 
which would he required to produce another 
article of equal value, and which might be given 
in exchange. A New Hampshire farmer, for 
instance, can, by great care, occasionally obtain 
a tolerable crop of spring wheat, from a few acres 
which are certain for an excellent yield of the 
coarser grains or grass. It is not good economy 
for him, therefore, at the present day, to divert 
his acres from their legitimate production which 
meets a ready sale in all the New England 
cities, and manufacturing villages, and put them 
into wheat. The lines of communication which 
extend toward the West, will set down at his 
door wheat and flour, whith which, both in 
quality and price it is impossible for him to 
compete. 
In Virginia, at an early day, tobacco was the 
staple production ; but its continued cultivation 
exhausted the soil, and ultimately impoverished 
the landholder. Immense tracts of once fertile 
land in Eastern Virginia, are now almost des¬ 
erts on account of this improvident husbandry, 
but which, by judicious management, and a 
plentiful application of guano, are now being 
restored, and made to produce good crops of 
grain and grass. It would be the worst possi¬ 
ble economy for the purchasers and renovators 
of these fields, when partially restored to fertil¬ 
ity, to return again to the original process of 
cultivation, which proved so pernicious. The 
demands of cities for food and clothing, give 
them a market for grain, meat, and wool, the 
production of which, judiciously managed, will 
not only prove remunerative, but will also im¬ 
prove the soil year by year. 
Farmers, to be successful, must be awake to 
the progress of the times, and adapt themselves 
to the varying circumstances which surround 
them. Not only to the modes of culture, the 
implements used, and the manner and season 
of marketing must they conform themselves, 
but also to tbe varying demand for specific 
nt'il's, ;;i .! t" the vary in.'V capacity of their 
grounds to produce them. A disease or an in¬ 
sect occasionally proves destructive to some one 
thing,originally successfully raised, and renders 
its returns very precarious. In such cases it 
should be abandoned in tlie infected district until 
tbe disease abates, or tbe insect dies out; and 
some other crop equally remunerative and more 
certain should be substituted. Seed time and 
harvest are promised us by Divine word, while 
the world stands; hut the successful seeding 
and harvest of a specific product, for a particu¬ 
lar locality, are not promised through all the 
intervening time; nor is it promised that all 
things which can be raised, will find a ready 
and profitable sale. He is a wise husbandman 
who notes the varying circumstances that sur¬ 
round him, and brings profit to himself from all 
their combinations. 
OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT. 
No employment or situation in life is more 
favorable for the observation of interesting and 
valuable facts, than that of the farmer. The 
varied works of Nature, animate and inanimate, 
lie before him; the operations he is generally 
engaged in are substantial matters of fact, con¬ 
stantly subject to modification by tbe action of 
different causes — the state of the soil, the 
weather, Ac. The deductions of experience are 
made from observation, and the knowledge 
which one can apply to any subject, is ever in 
proportion to their opportunities, and then- 
power of digesti ng and drawing truthful infer¬ 
ences from th ■ tacts presented. It el ten re¬ 
quires a long s -vies of observations to establish 
or disprove any theory or supposition : hence 
the value ot t lie practice of not only observing 
carefully, bet of recording minutely everything 
that hears o i the point in question. 
To every young farmer, especially, is this a 
subject worthy of considerate adoption. There 
are many important problems constantly press¬ 
ing themselves upon the attention of agricultu¬ 
rists, which Observation and Experiment alone 
can work out. And it is through these means 
that the advancement which has been made 
within tbe last twenty-five years in agriculture, 
has been accomplished. It is from facts gath¬ 
ered from careful observation of the thousand 
things which influence the character and value 
of the products of the farm, that we have learned 
the means of increasing those products. When 
every farmer shall come up to the determina¬ 
tion to learn all he can by observation, study 
and experiment, and put his knowledge into 
actual practice, as far as his means will allow, 
then will the productiveness of the country, as 
a whole, come up to that standard which now 
■only the most intelligent and enterprising 
farmers attain. 
A SWISS-ROOFED FARM HOUSE- 
The accompanying plans and elevation are 
copied from Allen’s Rural Architecture, and 
present a plain yet handsome and ample farm 
house, suitable for a large farmer, indulging in 
a liberal style of living and hospitality. We 
give a condensed description of the same : 
The material may be either stone, brick, or 
wood, as the taste or convenience of the pro¬ 
prietor may suggest. The main building is 44 
by 36 feet, on the ground. The height of the 
main walls may be two ful'. stories below the 
roof plates, or the chamber? may run a foot or 
two into the garret, at the, * ,-e of the builder. 
The veranda is Uti feet lring bj TO fee in depth, 
dropping eight inches from the door-sill. The 
roof juts over the columns in due proportion with 
that of the house over its walls, more so than 
shown in the engraving, and may he covered 
either with tin or zinc, painted, or closely 
shingled. 
The walls of the house may be 18 to 20 feet 
high below the plates; the roof a pitch of 30 to 
45°, which will afford an upper garret, or store, 
or small sleeping rooms, if required; and the 
eaves should project two to three feet, as climate 
may demand, over the walls. A plain finish— 
that is, ceiled underneath—is shown in the de¬ 
sign, hut brackets on the ends of the rafters, 
headed and finished, may be shown, if preferred. 
The gables are Swiss-roofed, or truncated, thus 
giving them a most sheltered and comfortable 
appearance, particularly in a northerly climate. 
The small gable in front relieves the roof of its 
monotony, and affords light to the central garret. 
Retreating three feet from the kitchen side of 
the house runs, at right angles, a wing 30 by 18 
feet, one and a half stories high, with a veran¬ 
da eight feet wide in front. Next in rear of 
this, continues a wood-house, 30 by 18 feet, one 
story high, with ten feet posts, and open in front, 
the ground level of which is 18 inches below 
the floor of the wing to which it is attached.— 
The roof of these two is of like character with 
that of the main building, though this, by an 
error in the engraving, is gambrelled instead of 
straight. 
Adjoining this wood-house, and at right- 
angles with it, is a building 68 by 18 feet, pro¬ 
jecting two feet outside the line of wood-house 
and kitefien. This building is one and a half 
stories high, with 12 feet posts, and roof in the 
same style and of equal pitch as the others. 
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT. 
The front door from the veranda of the house 
opens into a hall,*18 by 8 feet, and 11 feet high, 
amply lighted by sash windows on the sides, 
and over the door. From the rear of this hall 
runs a flight of easy stairs, into the upper or 
chamber hall. On one side of the lower hall, 
a door leads into a parlor, 18 feet square, and 11 
feet high. On the side opposite the parlor is 
the sitting or family room, 18 by 16 feet in area 
having an open fire-place, and three windows. 
On the hall side of this room, a door passes into 
the kitchen, 22 by 16 feet, and which may, in 
case the requirements of the family demand it, 
be made the chief family or living room, and 
the last one described converted into a library. 
In this kitchen, which is lighted by two win¬ 
dows, is a liberal open fire-place, with an ample 
oven by its side, and a sink in the outer corner. 
A flight of stairs, also, leads to the rear cham¬ 
bers above ; and a corresponding flight, under 
them, to the cellar below. A door at each end 
of these stairs, leads into the back entry of the 
house, and thus to the other interior rooms, or 
through the rear outer door to the hack porch. 
This back entry is lighted by a single sash 
window over the outside door leading to the 
porch. Another door, opposite that leading 
down cellar, opens into the passage through the 
wing. From the rear hall, which is 16 by 5 
feet, the innermost passage leads into a family 
bedroom, or nursery, 16 by 14 feet, lighted by a 
window in each outside' wall, and warmed by 
an open fire-place, or stove, at pleasure. At¬ 
tached to this bedroom is a clothes-closet, 8 by 
4 ieet, with shelves and drawers. Next the 
outer door, in rear end of the hali, is a small 
closet opening from it, 6 by 4 feet in dimen¬ 
sions, convertible to any use which the mistress 
of the house may direct. 
be divided into two apartments, if desirable.— 
The vaults are accessible from the rear, for 
cleaning out, or introducing lime, gypsum, 
powdered charcoal, or other deodorizing mate¬ 
rial. At the extreme corner of the wood house 
a door opens into a feed and swill room, 20 by 
8 feet, which is reached by steps, and stands 
quite eighteen inches above the ground level, 
on a stone under-pinning, or with a stone cellar 
beneath, for the storage of roots in winter. In 
one corner of this is a boiler and chimney, for 
cooking food for the pigs and chickens. A door 
leads from this room into the piggery, 20 by 12 ft., 
where half a dozen swine may be kept. A door 
leads from this pen into a yard in the rear, 
where they will be less offensive than if con¬ 
fined within. Next to this is the workshop and 
tool house, 18 by 14 feet; and, in rear, a snug, 
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GROUND PLAN. 
Opening into the wing from the kitchen, first 1 
is a large closet and pantry, supplied with a 
table, drawers, and shelves, in which are stored 
the dishes, table furniture, and edibles necessa¬ 
ry to be kept at a moment’s access. This room 
is 14 by 8 feet, and well lighted by a window 
of convenient size. Next to this is the dairy, 
or milk room, also 14 by 8 feet; which, if neces¬ 
sary, may be sunk three or four feet into the 
ground, for additional coolness in the summer 
season, and the floor reached by steps. Out of 
this milk room, a door leads into a wash-room, 
18 by 14 feet. A passage from the kitchen also 
leads into this. A sink la between the two rear 
windows, with conductor leading outside, and a 
closet beneath it, for the iron ware. In the 
chimney, at the end, are boilers, a fire-place, 
and oven. On the other side of the chimney a 
door leads into a bathing room, 7 by 6 feet. 
A raised platform passes from the washroom, 
past the bath room, to a water closet, which may 
CHAMBER PLAN. 
warm house for the family chickens, 18 by 6 ft. 
Adjoining the workshop is the carriage house, 
18 by 18 feet, with a flight of stairs to the hay¬ 
loft above, in which is, also, a dovecote; and, 
leading out of the carriage floor, is the stable, 
18 by 12 feet, with stalls for two or four horses, 
and a passage of four feet wide, from the car¬ 
riage house into it; thus completing, and draw¬ 
ing under one continuous roof, and at less ex¬ 
posure than if separated, the chief every-day 
requirements of living, to a well arranged and 
highly respectable family. 
Tbe chamber plan of the dwelling will be 
readily understood by reference to its arrange¬ 
ment, There are a sufficiency of closets for all 
purposes, and the whole are accessible from 
either flight, of stairs. 
Keeping Farm Accounts. —We were much 
interested recently in looking over the farm- 
book of a friend, which enabled us to calculate 
the expense of growing the different crops 
raised on his farm. The cost of manure, culti¬ 
vation, seed, harvesting and marketing, as well 
as rent and taxes, were set off against the value 
of the product, as sold, or consumed upon the 
farm ; and it was to be seen at a glance what 
paid best and what least, and where, in one 
case, .$10 expended in manuring half of a field, 
gave a return of 300 per cent, upon the outlay. 
Such information is not only interesting, hut 
important to every farmer. 
