T 
TWO DOLLARS A. YEAR.] 
PROGRESS ARSED IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE INTO. UOUR CENTS. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.,—FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1859. 
(WHOLE NO. 469. 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITHZAN ABLE CORPS OP ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
The Rural New-Yorker is designed to be unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor de- 
rotes his personal attention to the supervision of its various 
departments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with the 
business of those whose interests it zealously advocates. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Edu¬ 
cational, Literary and News Matter, interspersed with 
appropriate and beautiful Engravings, than any other jour- 
nal,-rendering it the most complete Agricultural, Lit¬ 
erary and Family Journal in America. 
Z&~ All communications, and business letters, should be 
addressed to D. I). T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. 
For Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
TENTH VOLTJME — INTRODUCTORY. 
Jy-. - l-S^ e J’ f in W th .° ¥>L>'Vof a ne\y xea’y »nd 
volume? ‘ho first uuty’incumbent upon us, and 
which we discharge with alacrity, is to tender pro¬ 
found and grateful acknowledgments to thousands 
of ardent and substantial friends of the Rural 
I New-Yorker — to all who have in any manner con¬ 
tributed to its marked success and prosperity, and 
thereby enabled us to present the Tenth Volume in 
attire so tasteful and becoming, with Contents so 
diversified and valuable. This duty performed, 
allow us to speak briefly of the Past and Present, 
and allude to the probable Future of this Journal.’ 
The Tenth Birth-Day of the Rural New-Yorker 
is, to us, an eventful and long looked-for period_ 
one fraught with far more than common interest in 
many respects, and which awakens emotions and 
reminiscences of no ordinary character. On such 
an occasion a brief retrospective glance at the 
early history and progress of the paper is appro¬ 
priate, if not expected —and therefore we indite 
what followeth. When the first number was issued, 
scarcely any one believed such a journal as we pro¬ 
posed could be established upon a permanent basis. 
Many wished it success—some boldly and gene¬ 
rously lent their aid to the enterprise—but the 
almost unanimous sentiment was that the People 
and the Country were not prepared to appreciate 
and sustain a weekly of the character announced, 
and hence the achievement of success, even after 
we should have expended much time, labor and 
money, was pronounced an impossibility. This 
was the general and often openly-expressed opinion 
of the great majority, while the best friends of the 
cause of Rural Improvement entertained similar 
views, though their kindness and sympathy induced 
different speech and action. The truth is that we 
were considered, if not voted, a visionary and 
enthusiast, and more than one well-meaning friend 
confidentially intimated that the result would be 
in accordance with the trite adage, “a fool and his 
money are soon parted.” Yet, strange to say, we 
judged differently, and were always sanguine of 
(aye, determined to achieve) success, eventually— 
the only question being one of time and the con¬ 
tingencies of circumstances, for we believed that 
right intentions, well-directed industry and ener¬ 
getic perseverance would accomplish more and 
greater wonders than the most subtle arts of the 
necromancer. True, we did not expect to succeed 
in a week, month or year, but that years of patient, 
earnest and untiring labor would be necessary to 
accomplish our object. Hence it was that when 
told we must fail that we had commenced the 
paper ten years in advance of the period for such 
an enterprise—we replied that, if life and health 
were spared, partial success would crown our efforts 
in three years, and in ten the Rural New-Yorker 
would have a circulation of Fifty Thousand! This 
prediction was of course pronounced the height of 
absurdity—but how has it been fulfilled? what is 
i the result? Months and years of hard labor fol- 
f lowed,—the trials and struggles of which will 
p : uever be forgotten, though we forbear recounting 
\ them in these pages,— and year after year the paper 
’ S rc w in favor, circulation and influence. And now 
J we enter upon the Tenth Year and Volume with a 
/ °° na fi de of over Fifty Thousand— the 
■f Rural having attained, during the nine years of its 
/** Publication, a circulation far exceeding that of any 
4U other Agricultural or similar journal in the World! 
In reviewing the past history of the Rural, we 
might perhaps be permitted such latitude as to 
speak somewhat definitely of matters connected 
therewith, yet will not obtrude upon the reader any 
special details of business or personal experience. 
Suffice it, that during the nine years past our best 
endeavors have been devoted to the promotion of 
the cause espoused — that we have labored zeal¬ 
ously and constantly, regardless of personal ease, 
pleasure or recreation, — in order to furnish a 
journal which should excel in all the essentials of 
a combined Agricultural, Horticultural, Lite¬ 
rary and Family Newspaper. That wo hare not 
failed is manifested by its present enviable position 
and wide popularity. Though errors may have 
been committed in its pages, we trust the Rural 
has thus far accomplished its mission worthily— 
has performed its duty to readers and the public in 
an honest, independent, straight-forward manner. 
It has called things by their right names, and fre¬ 
quently exposed and condemned the hums and 
speculations by which sharpers sought to deplete 
the Rural Population—and, while keeping pace 
with the progressive spirit of the age, has at the 
same time been sufficiently conservative to avoid 
endorsing the visionary schemes so often com¬ 
mended. Of course we have not expected to please 
all, but sought to do right whoever might feel ag¬ 
grieved, without special regard to consequences— 
and we shall be very likely to pursue a similar 
course in future. Hosts of friends have joined our 
standard,—and are now nobly aiding the Rural all 
over the land. But its success has produced rivals 
and enemies also—and a host of imitators, though 
many of the latter arc extinguished. Wishing well 
to all cotempqraries who labor for .flu- iroo.l of U-.o 
cause, Ik wever, the ituRAL will cont;;iue'to pursue 
the even tenor of its way—striving only to excel in 
advancing true “Progress and Improvement.” 
In presenting the initial number of Volume X, 
and addressing a larger parish of readers than 
ever before, we cordially greet the numerous 
friends who have already renewed their fellowship 
with the Rural, and heartily welcome the thou¬ 
sands who now, for the first time, take it to their 
firesides. Whether residents of Country or City— 
located in the East or West, the North or the 
South, we trust they will find it, ever and always, 
interesting, instructive, pure and entertaining—an 
appropriate and valuable, and ere long highly es¬ 
teemed weekly visitor to their hearts and homes. 
As we have said on a similar occasion, our honest 
endeavor will be to return subscribers far more 
than “value received” for their investments—to 
furnish an eminently Instructive, Entertaining and 
Valuable journal —such an one as will enhance 
the interests and promote the welfare of Individ¬ 
uals, Families and Community. Our earnest desire 
has ever been to make it an independent, reliable 
and useful Rural, Literary and Family News¬ 
paper— correct in its teachings on Practical 
Subjects, instructive and entertaining to members 
of the Family Circle, and of high moral tone.— 
Such is our platform for the year and volume upon 
which we now enter—and, wishing all our readers 
a thrice “Happy New Year,” we ceaso promises 
and commence performances. 
PAYING FARMING. 
"Will it JPayP 
To make farming pay should be the great object 
of the farmer. It is his profession —his business— 
by which he earns his livelihood —the means to 
feed, clothe and educate his children. By it he 
gains not only the necessaries—just sufficient to 
keep soul and body together—but the comforts, 
the luxuries and the elegancies of life —the means 
to purchase books and papers, and the time to 
educate, enlarge and adorn his mind. By farming, 
too, he gains goods and money to bestow on the 
poor and needy —to feed the hungry and clothe 
the naked, or else he must be deprived of this, 
the greatest privilege accorded to man by Him 
who declared it was “ more blessed to give than 
to receive.” Therefore, it is not strange that the 
farmer should be anxious to make everything 
which he undertakes pay. It is not surprising 
that the first question, on proposing anything new, 
should be, “ U ill id pay? ” It is reasonable and right. 
It Won’t Pay. 
“It won’t pay ! ” is an exclamation we often hear, 
and it is intended as an answer to the previous 
question. We have no objection to its use, for if a 
thing won’t pay, the sooner we make the discovery, 
and the quicker we spread the information, the 
better. But we fear it is often used without proper 
reflection rashly. Everything new that promises 
to be of advantage, that comes decently recom¬ 
mended, or with the least show of reason for its 
claims, deserves a lair test—a regular jury trial_ 
and after the evidences on all sides have been ex¬ 
amined, if the jury cannot agree, on account of the 
conflicting state of the evidence, it is entitled, in 
common justice, to another trial. But, if the evi¬ 
dence is clear against its Vaims, then “away with 
it,”—proclaim upon the h use-tops’ or rather, in a 
more modern and effeHm:. ay, through the Agri¬ 
cultural Press, that it will not pity. 
We doubt, however, whet her th ere is a paying 
crop now cultivated, or a m stem ?T culture now 
generally approved, that i,al net at some time been 
condemned by the many a.' unprofitable. Indeed, 
a new candidate for the f.vor of fhe agricultural 
world, like a candidate for political favors must 
receive many hard knocks, whether deserved or 
not. Jethro Tull wrote, in 1740, that he could 
remember the time when, if a farmer was advised 
to sow clover, the almost invariable replv would be, 
“gentlemen might sow it if they pleased, but farmers 
must tales care and pay their rent.’’ Now, clover is 
a great aid to the fiirmer in making his rent and 
his living, the world over. We often hear a re¬ 
mark, somewhat similar, now, that such a course 
may be well enough for gentleman farmers , but 
they will not pay the prac icd Jhrm er. who works 
for a business and a living these remarks, doubt¬ 
less, are often just, but they are sometimes made 
inconsiderate!}’, as a few years experience proves. 
The lessons of experience in Agriculture are 
necessarily slow. Nature gives us but one lesson, 
— one series of experiments each year. Still, much 
can be done by practical men to elicit truth, and 
something we are now doing. Let the wheat be 
sifted from the chaff, but in the anxiety to get rid 
of the chaff - , be careful not to lose the grain, for 
this won’t pay. 
Does it Pay P 
We will suggest anot^^jiant question, 
; f l; "'; u^i— i■ • 
more nnportam^ve^P^^^^^^m^^^estion'^re- 
viously considered, as U Limits of a definite answer, 
and this answer is all important. It is simply, 
“Does it pay?” To aid any of our readers who 
may for the first time mike up their minds to ask 
this question in a sensible, practical way, we will 
give a lesson or two, showing the manner in which 
it should be done. 
Does it pay to take dovn and put up bars from 
three hundred and sixty-five to a thousand times 
every year, when in the time wasted at this work 
during one season, I could make a gate that would 
last a score of years, to say nothing of having teams 
standing, doing nothing, to see me make a mule of 
myself, at work at the bars? Then, how often they 
are left down, for it due) seem as if some folks 
could never learn to put up bars. 
Does it pay me to rake and scratch over so much 
ground for such small crops, when some farmers I 
know of get much larger products from less land and 
less labor ? Wouldn’t it pay better to plow deeper, 
manure heavier, cultivate cleaner, and get the same 
produce from one-half the quantity of land? I 
have thought that as I have the land, I might as 
well cultivate it all with my present help, but does 
it pay ? Had I not better lay a part of it down to 
grass, which will not require much labor, and what 
I pretend to cultivate, do far more thoroughly ? 
Does it pay to let those sheep and cattle get so 
miserably poor in the fall, by depending on that 
dry and frozen pasture for sustenance, eating up 
the very roots, in a vain endeavor to appease their 
hunger? Wouldn’t I gain by commencing to feed 
earlier, and so have them in better condition when 
winter sets in ? I have always been taught to 
economize feed, for we don’t know how long and 
severe the winter may be; but there is no use of 
starving animals in the fall, for fear they will have 
to go short before spring — a contingency which 
may never arise, and which, perhaps, I can provide 
against in some better way. That is something 
like the plan of the miser, who denies himself the 
comforts of life from his hoarded millions, for fear 
that some time in the future he will come to poverty. 
So he brings upon himself now the evil which he 
so much dreads in the future. A plan, certainly, 
that don’t pay. 
Does it pay to leave those loose boards hanging 
on the barn, flapping about with the wind, so that 
the horses can’t sleep? And those open spaces 
between the boards, and the holes where some of 
them are broken, how much cold, and wind, and 
snow passes through them, and how the cattle and 
horses have to eat to keep warm? Several of the 
stones are gone from the foundation wall, and the 
wind has a fine sweep under the floor. I guess it 
will pay to patch them up immediately, though it 
should have been done before. 
Does it pay to raise half a ton or so of hay to the 
acre, in that young orchard of mine? The trees 
look stunted, and make but little growth. They 
cost the cash, besides the trouble of setting; but 
more than that, I want the fruit. 
Every thinking man will find occasion, almost 
every day, to ask himself the important question, 
“Does it pay? ” That these inquiries may be often 
asked and properly answered, is our most earnest 
desire, and we hope to be instrumental, during the 
year just commencing, in aiding our readers to 
arrive at correct conclusions. 
FIRST uremiium: IUARAL house. 
The accompanying design was prepared to sup- papers, specimens in natural history, Ac. If both 
pl> the wants of a large and increasing class of sides are not needed for books, one side can be fitted 
farmers, whose well-to-do circumstances, and the up with an ottoman-seat, or lounge, thus affording 
demands of social life which their growing children a cosy nook for reading or study 
• i~;y>*orec *m:‘ u.v. '..v . v . * v ** * 
a more commodious, convenient and beautiful build- 
ing. A tasteful home, spacious enough to accom¬ 
modate the entire family with due regard to the n p* 
separate duties of life and the requisite individual B 
privacy, and to offer that wide hospitality which so 
charms us in the country, is a better investment w 5 “ aaxi '“' """■ J'"*" 1 
than bank stock or fertile acres. If it does nothing 
more than keep the children beneath the home 8 i ■ 
roof, and make their associations of home pleasant, 5 El I _ 
and their enjoyments pure, it will be an incalculable |Sj | j ^ g 
blessing to them, while at the same time it will L jj j I 
prove a source of serenest joy to sweeten the declin- | ii 1 L. | 
ing years of the parents. In this house there are va sw-mw i sas&rj 
no apartments for show, merely, but all are arrang- jjj | ® 
ed with reference to economy of labor, where the T C jj D 
mistress of the house has rarely any other assis- | H j 3 U 
tance than her own daughters can render. 
plan of chambers. 
PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. 
11 “ 16. 
7 “ 8. 
5 “ 9. 
A. Living Room, 15 by 18. 
B. Parlor, 15 “ 18. 
C. Kitchen, 12 “ 18. 
D. Bed Room, 12 “ 12. 
E. Children’s Bed Room, 9 “ 12. 
F. Back Kitchon, 11 “ 16. 
G. Dairy, 7 “ 8. 
II. Pantry, 5 “ 9. 
I. Wood House, 12 “ 22. 
K. Hall, 5 “ 15. 
L. Alcove, 6 “ 8. 
M. M. Verandas. 
N. N. Closets. 
The plan shows a broad veranda on the entrance 
front, extending so that its roof forms the top of 
the bay-window, giving access to a nhrrow hall, 
which seems roomy enough, as the stairfcase is in a 
recess at the further end. There is also space for 
a cloak closet under the stairs. The hall gives 
access to the three principal rooms; a parlor on 
the left, a living-room on the right, which may also 
be used as a dining-room, which has a bay-window, 
and an alcove showing through an arched opening, 
fitted up with book shelves on each side. The 
shelves should have glazed doors down to the usual 
height of wainscoting, and below, closets for news- 
A. Bed Room, 15 by 15. 
B. Bed Room, 15 “ 18. 
C. Bed Room, 12 “ 15. 
D. Bed Room, 12 “ 18. 
E. Bed Room, 11 “ 16. 
F. Bed Room, 12 “ 22. 
G. Hall, 7 “ 8. 
II. Dressing Room, 7 “ 8. 
J. Bath Room, 5 “ 9. 
L. L. Closets. 
In the rear of the alcove is the kitchen, which 
has a china-closet, a pantry, and a door leading to 
the back stairs. A bed-room communicates with 
the kitchen, having a closet and a smaller bed¬ 
room for children beyond, which also has a closet. 
In case but one of the bed-rooms is needed, the 
other can be used for a library, when a door from 
the hall could be made. 
A back-kitchen is provided in the wing, having 
doors to the dairy, cellar, wood-shed and veranda. 
The chamber plan supplies four large bed-rooms 
in the main house, one of them having a window 
seat, formed by a projecting closet, and another, a 
dressing-room with closets. A bath-room is placed 
above the hall, lighted by a small octagonal win¬ 
dow, or by an enameled door. Two large sleep¬ 
ing-rooms are shown over the back-kitchen and the 
wood-shed. A similar amount of accommodation 
can also be furnished in the attic, if necessary. 
The house can be built either of wood, brick or 
stone; but in either case, the verge-boards, veran¬ 
das, Ac., should be made durable and plain. All 
ornamentation beyond what is strictly characteris¬ 
tic and suggestive of country simplicity, has no 
place upon it. We have endeavored in our per¬ 
spective to give it an unpretending, rural aspect, 
with enough of dignity to mark it as the residence 
of a family of refinement and taste. If built of v 
wood, in a plain but thorough manner, it could be 
erected in most parts of the country for about two 
thousand dollars. The remaining details of con- ( 
struction are such as are familiar to most persons, 
and especially to masons and carpenters, and need £k) 
not be discussed here. 
