1 WHOLE NO. 260 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1854 
VOLUME V. NO. 52.! 
aii almost constant requisition. A3 we are 
HGj however, writing either our own or the 
Real's autobiography, it is unnecessary to 
reite the incidents attending a most arduous 
stuggle for position and permanency. Suffice 
it that, after months and years of patient, 
hoieful, persevering toil—during which period 
ou expenditures considerably exceeded the 
recipts of the establishment, (for the outlays 
forimprovements, &c., were increased in pro- 
porion to the augmented support annually 
accrded to the paper,) — our efforts were 
finaly crowned with a success as positive as 
its ichievement was gratifying to ourselves, 
and we trust, beneficial to the cause of Im- 
pro'ement and promotive of the best interests 
of tie Country. 
Bit, after arduously contending against and 
succesfully surmounting the numerous difficul¬ 
ties rhioh attended the establishment of the 
RuhIl upon a permanent basis, it was neces¬ 
sary to continue equal effort, and make still 
gre° cr expenditures, in order not only to sus¬ 
tain he enviable position attained, but so en¬ 
hance its merit as to increase its wide popu¬ 
larity and usefulness—as well as to keep in 
advarce of the several able rival journals 
which its success had called into existence — 
Hence we have continuously endeavored to 
improve the Rural in all its prominent and 
valuable essentials—intermitting no consistent 
effort, 4r reasonable expense, to render each 
volume superior to its predecessor, and conse¬ 
quently rendering the paper more worthy its 
extensive and continually increasing National 
HflKtion. We confess, however, that during 
now closing, the paper has not been 
complete in either Contents or 
a<? we landed, though we trust 
it has proved generally acceptable, if not alto¬ 
gether unexceptionable. Circumstances en¬ 
tirely berond our control prevented us, during 
a portioi of the year, from devoting that con¬ 
stant pesonal labor and attention to the edi¬ 
torial aid other departments of the paper 
which hid previously been bestowed, and 
which wt hope to be enabled to give hereafter. 
For tie large measure of support accorded 
to the Rural during the year and volume 
vhich nov closes, we tender the warmest ac- 
.kiowledgments to its numerous Subscribers, 
aid many earnest and influential Agents, Con¬ 
tributors and Correspondents. Deeply sensible 
of our, and the community’s, obligations to 
eacj and all who have 
Editor of tiie Rural: —Many persons of 
nervous temperament,—hypochondriacs with 
uneasy stomachs, from the use of too much 
rich and highly seasoned food, knick-nacks, or 
tea and coffee,—the thinkers, inventors, au¬ 
thors, and those who have domestic or other 
troubles pressing on the brain; in fact all who 
are not of mere animal construction and of re¬ 
dundant health, are subject more or less to 
Wakefulness and a difficulty of obtaining that 
repose necessary to reinvigorate the system, 
after the labor and cares of the day. It be¬ 
comes a disease, and sometimes as distressing 
as the “ snakes in the boots ” of the inebriate. 
AVhat is more tedious and enervating than 
the difficulty of procuring sleep, or of waking 
and waiting for the sonorous bell of the clerk 
of time, and after hopelessly trusting it will 
proclaim the approach of day, hearing him 
bluntly tell all he knows by striking twelve ?— 
Then, the melancholy hours passed in solitude 
and thick-coming thoughts of real or anticipat¬ 
ed troubles and cares, are painful in the ex¬ 
treme and disorder the whole vitality of the 
animal machine. 
Many devices have been suggested to be¬ 
wilder the mind and induce the lethean forget¬ 
fulness of sleep. Counting up to hundreds— 
multiplying two or more numbers in the mind 
and obtaining the result—calling over the 
names of acquaintances, or the counties in the 
State, &c. The most effective course is to 
jumo out of bed and commence walking in the 
dark, exercising yorr judgment in avoiding and 
in finding objects about the room, taking no 
heed what the matter is; its effect is to break 
the chain of thought—dispel vapors—equal¬ 
ize the circulation and dispt.^e the electricity 
of the body, which the bed, b'eing a non-con¬ 
ductor, cannot do. The antagonism of the 
warm bed and cold air gives a shock to the 
nervous system, acting like a cold bath, which 
it is, only air instead of water. On getting 
into bed a pleasant glow is felt, and in nine 
cases out of ten, the brooding nightmare of 
wakefulness is driven to the land of Nod, and 
forgetfulness and refreshing sleep ensues. 
No one can take cold when every part i3 
equally exposed; the most delicate constitution 
may run naked a mile in the greatest rain or 
snow storm, and if they do not freeze, no ill- 
efiects will follow. It is partial exposure that 
deranges the system and creates the colds, lung 
complaints and rheumatisms of life. Baptism 
by immersion is a case in point, and the thou¬ 
sand accidents by flood and storm; while a 
spoonful of water in the shoe, or damp feet, or 
sitting by a cracked window-light, gives a 
cold that costs life. The only precaution is to 
keep moving; exercise and motion and a will, 
can carry the person safely through almost 
any exposure. 
It is a simple experiment, and the fees for 
advice—gratis. h. y. 
A QUARTO WKKEiY 
Agricultural, Literary, and Fanily Newspaper. 
“ Or course it is unimportant what system of 
rotation is adojjted, provided the land is not ex¬ 
hausted by to ofrequent repetitions, or by work¬ 
ing it too much without proper care in dressing 
and manuring.”— Exchange. 
The opinion that “ it is unimportant what 
system of rotation is adopted,” however popu¬ 
lar it may be, arises, as it appears to us, from 
a misconcepMon of the fundamental principles 
ou which the practice of a rotation of crops is 
based. Timothy, wheat, barley, buckwheat, 
oats, corn, Arc., following each other, would be 
a rotation of crops, but who can doubt that 
such a conrse would impoverish the soil as 
much ns though any one of these crops were 
grown continuously on the same land. Look¬ 
ing simply at the exhaustion of the elements of 
fertility in a soil, rotation is of no use whatever 
unless crops are introduced into the course 
which require a less quantity of certain sub¬ 
stances as food, than the crops which precede 
or are to follow them. 
That this is a seasonable topic is the only 
excuse we need offer for following the practi¬ 
cal suggestions of our Pennsylvania corres¬ 
pondent with further remarks ou the same 
subject. It is oue which has been repeatedly 
brought before our readers, but as yet, consid¬ 
ering its importance, fir too little action has 
been taken. For, (as wo have urged heretofore) 
plans for the Future and records of the doings 
aud occurrences @f the Present, are of as high 
value to the Farmer as to any other class of 
business men. The success of Agricultural 
labor is as dependaw on system, and a full un¬ 
derstanding of the results which that labor 
may and should produce, as that of Commerce 
or .Manufactures. And, we have sometimes 
thought, a higher wisdom and forethought 
might find full aud noble employment in the 
study of the wide and complicated range of 
influences acting upon the Farm. The Mer¬ 
chant and Mechaaic deal with dead matter and 
lifeless organisms, but the Farmer has to do 
with active existences—with living, growing, 
food-consuming plants and animals—demand 
ing constant prevision for their wants, and a- 
wider range of knowledge to enable him to 
turn their production and activity to the truest 
advantage. lie, if any man, should know cost 
and result—should keep those records which 
would show all this—and which would help to 
furnish him ‘'facts and figures” whereon to 
find well-considered plans for the Future. 
How many of our farming friends can to¬ 
day “strike a balance 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. 1 MOORE, 
With am able corps or Assist arts lira Contributors. 
Thb Rural Nhw-Yorkwr is design?! to be unique *nd 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpaasd in Value, Purity 
and Variety of Contents. Its conducting earnestly labor 
to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical 
Subjects connected with the business o those whose in¬ 
terests it advocates. It embraces more AjSrienltura!, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary rad News Matter, 
interspersed with many appropriate and hndsome engrav¬ 
ings, than any other paper published in. this Country,— 
Litkrart and 
rendering it a complete Agricultural, 
Family Nswspapbr. 
TERMS, IN ADVANCE. 
Suhscriptiox—$ 2 a year— $1 for 6 months, in advance. 
For reduction to Agents, and those who ena Clubs, see 
notice on last page. 
For Advertising Terms, see lsst page. 
To illustrate this, sup¬ 
pose wheat, barley, oats, and rye, require a 
much larger quantity of ammonia for their 
growth than the atmosphere and rain can sup¬ 
ply, w'hile clover, peas, beans and turnips do 
not, it is evident that a succession of the for¬ 
mer crops wrould soon exhaust the soil of am¬ 
monia, and a diminished yield of these crops 
would be the result. If, however, instead of 
having a rotation of successive cereal crop, 
we introduce each alternate year a crop of 
clover, peas, beans, or roots i::to the rotation, 
the exhaustion of ammonia would be much 
less speedy, and, indeed, by judiciously feeding 
the clover, peas, roots, &c\, to stock on the 
farm, it may be prevented altogether. 
In regard to the mineral elements of plants, 
too, suppose turnips, clover, peas, &c., require 
more available phosphoric acid in the soil than 
wheat, it is evident that a succession of these 
crops would be a very injudicious rotation and 
one calculated, provided they were sold off the 
farm, to render the soil incapable of producing 
a good yield of such crops. On the other 
hand, the same field, which after having pro¬ 
duced a good crop of roots, has not sufficient 
available phosphoric acid for another crop of 
the same class, might, nevertheless, have 
enough for a large crop of wheat, &c. 
It is not, therefore, “ unimportant what sys¬ 
tem of rotation is adopted.” It is, rather, of 
the greatest importance. No system of rota¬ 
tion is adapted to all soils and all climates, but 
the laws of vgetable growth on which the 
practice of rotation rests are the same every¬ 
where, and are worthy of profound study.— 
Experience has taught English farmers that, 
on their light soils, in their moist climate, 
wheat followed by turnips, barley, clover, and 
wheat again, and so on, is a judicious rota¬ 
tion. The heavy land farmers have long dis¬ 
covered that beans, peas, and clover, al¬ 
ternately with wheat, oats, &c., is a rotation 
well adapted to their soils and circumstances, 
and true science has demonstrated that it is 
so in both cases. In AVestern New York, 
clover and wheat is found a good rotation.— 
In the Southern States the cow pea, in rota^ 
tiou with wheat, corn, &c., is found to be an 
excellent renovator of the soil. The Italian 
farmer advantagously introduces white lupines 
into his rotation. Now in all these cases the 
principles involved are the same and cannot 
be violated with impunity. 
Progress and Improvement. 
TIIE RURAL —PAST AND FUT'IRE 
Another Year and Volume of the Rural 
New-Yorker terminates with the jresent 
number, and it becomes our duty, as is con¬ 
ductor, to indite a salutation approprhte to 
the occasion. And though we would fan ac¬ 
complish the incumbent task creditably-rin a 
manner alike pleasant and profitable to al in-1 
terested—our fifth annual retrospect must oc¬ 
cupy a space so limited as to preclude Uie 
discussion of several topics of timely impor¬ 
tance and peculiar pertinence. Therefor, 
after briefly referring to the past history of 
this journal, we shall allude only to the more 
prominent and noteworthy of the many appro¬ 
priate items of remark on closing one volume 
and preparing to commence its successor. 
Imbued with an unusual amount of confi¬ 
dence in Mankind, and much faith in the Fu¬ 
ture—and possessing far more hope and self- 
reliance than pecuniary ability—we five years 
ago commenced this journal, with the firm de¬ 
termination that, extraordinaries excepted, it 
should merit, and ere long achieve, eminent 
success. Our earnest desire was, as stated last 
week, “to make the Rural New-Yorker an 
honest, reliable and eminently useful Agricul¬ 
tural and Family Newspaper, —correct in 
its teachings, of high moral tone, and entirely 
free from all deception and quackery, even in 
its advertising department.” Though admon¬ 
ished by intelligent friends—including shrewd 
business men, and cautious and experienced 
editors and publishers—to “count the cost,” 
and remember the sage adage that “Republics 
are ungrateful,” we nevertheless resolved to 
venture our little all in what was considered a 
most uncertain and even hazardous enterprise. 
The Rural was commenced, as it has been 
continued, on an expensive scale in all depart¬ 
ments—though its expenses were then trifling 
compared with our present heivy disburse¬ 
ments. True, we started with \ery few sub¬ 
scribers, but there was abundunt room for 
large additions on our limited subscription 
books, and wc firmly believed tkey would be 
constantly augmenting,—an iteir in which we 
have not been disappointed. Its reception 
was most gratifying and encouriging, consid¬ 
ering so many had prophesied that it would 
neither be appreciated nor supported. With 
all our confidence, however — tnd notwith¬ 
standing the cordial welcome of the Press, 
and the substantial greetings of the People— 
both observation and experien«e taught us 
that years must elapse before the paper could 
be rendered pecuniarily protitible to our¬ 
selves, though we were determired it should 
meantime largely benefit the community. We 
were therefore prepared to labor jealously aud 
untiringly, and await the result—never for a 
moment doubting that, if our efforts were sec¬ 
onded (as they have been most nobly and 
abundantly) by Rose whose interests we 
sought to promote, the enterprise would even¬ 
tually prove successful. Our mouetury and 
mental means, including more energy and per¬ 
sistence than had previously been placed to 
our credit, were necessarily brought into active 
for 1854, showing how 
the account stands between the labor and cap¬ 
ital they employ, and the returns they have re¬ 
ceived? Those who can do so—not by guess¬ 
work, but in dollars and c^nts, pounds and 
bushels—know the profit or loss of their busi¬ 
ness for thj year. They know how they stand 
with the world—how each plan has resulted— 
how crops and stock have repaid the care and 
labor bestowed upon them; and, not in the 
dark as to what pays and what does not, their 
future course and true policy can be under¬ 
standing^ defined. 
The opening, or rather the close of the year, 
is a favorable time for the Fanner, as well as 
other business men, to “ take an account of 
stock,” in his case including animals, imple¬ 
ments, &c., crops on the ground or in the barn, 
also everything due him, and everything he 
owes,—that he may have a definite stand-point, 
showing his present condition, and which he 
may compare with that of other years to prove 
his progress or retrogression. lie and every 
one, young or old, who pays and receives money 
should keep a cash book of receipts and ex¬ 
penditures. In addition to this, let him debit 
every crop with the expenses of its production, 
and the same should be done with every ani¬ 
mal or class of animals. An apparatus for 
weighing will be found very useful, for without 
it one cannot know the cost of keeping and 
attening animals. One cannot decide which 
is the most profitable food, unless he knows its 
cost and the show it makes in the stable, the 
dairy, and the larder. But we need not pro¬ 
ceed to further specialities; this has already 
been done, and experience alone can show the 
best mode of procedure in individual cases. 
Who, let us again ask, more than the Far¬ 
mer, has incentives for keeping a journal or 
diary of his labor and his life. To whom are 
the lessons of experience and observation of 
greater value than to him, who in the very 
laboratory of Nature watches her operations, 
and depends for wealth, comfort, and subsis¬ 
tence upon her workings? The daily work of 
the farm—the planting, culture, and gathering 
of its fruits, the details and results of varied 
experiments and observations in the different 
departments of Agriculture—all furnish valua¬ 
ble materials worthy of careful study as the 
ground whereon Practical Science shall plant 
the seed of many a golden harvest in the Fu¬ 
ture.—B. 
in any manner contrib¬ 
uted to the eminent prosperity of this journal 
we Del more than it is proper to express—for 
even sincere and heartfelt language might be 
coustued into a flattery which we would avoid 
underany circumstances. We have endeavor¬ 
ed to furnish a journal worthy the exertions 
and inluence thus bestowed. How well we 
have succeeded in this sincere endeavor, our 
readers, ather than ourselves, can best deter¬ 
mine. Tius much of the Past 
Of the Future we have little to say in this 
conuectioL our principal arrangements for the 
new year aid volume having already been an¬ 
nounced. »Ve can, however, safely promise 
that the inbrest, value and usefulness of the 
Rural will le fully sustained, if not raateriall} 
augmented, is more talent time and attention 
will be devoid to each Department,—whilt 
the arrangeiihnt and appearance of the whole 
will, we trust, be coimnensurately improved. 
Our corps of Lditors and Contributors will be 
increased in nunber, and embrace more ability 
and experience tian heretofore. Messrs. Bixby 
and Webster wll continue their valuable as¬ 
sistance; and the Hon. T. C. Peters, of Gen¬ 
esee Go., too fnvrably known as an able writer 
and extensive aid experienced farmer to re¬ 
quire an introduction at our hands, will join 
the office corps in the 1st of January. In 
addition to Messr.- T. E. W etmore, of Michi¬ 
gan, and II. C. Whtk, of Erie Co., our pres¬ 
ent Corresponding Editors, we have the pleas¬ 
ure of announcing the assistance of Hugh T. 
Brooks, Esq , President of the Wyoming Co 
Ag. Society, and L Wktherei.l, A. M., ol 
Massachusetts. With such a force as asso¬ 
ciates and assistants—and the continued favors 
of numerous talented Contributors and Cor 
respondents—we ought, as we intend, to make 
the Rural Nkw-Yokkkr unequalled as an 
Agricultural, Literary aid Family Newspaper. 
Regularity in Feeding. —It is very desira¬ 
ble both for the thrift of the animal and tie 
orderly progress of the labors of the farm, that 
all domestic animals, as far as possible, be fed, 
watered, Ac., at the same hour and minute 
every day. It has been found by experienced 
and intelligent herdsmen that, when thus at¬ 
tended to, they learn to expect their fodder at 
the stated time, and remain quiet and uncom¬ 
plaining until that period comes around. This 
is true of all domestic animals, and should be 
heeded by the farmer. Let him so arrange his 
labors at the barn that every operation may 
be performed at a stated time, and he will find 
matters to go on much more comfortably and 
pleasantly than when all is left at hap-hazard, 
without system or regularity. Few things are 
more unpleasant to the good farmer than the 
complaints of hungry stock. 
Consistent Criticism. —The scientific editor 
of a practical hebdomadal, published way 
down in the “ Athens of America,” seems dis¬ 
posed to criticise onr humble labors out here 
in the “ Rural Districts.” He objects to the 
article entitled “ Seasonable Notes,” in a late 
number of the Rural —saying, “ Ite is no far¬ 
mer who needs such notes.” Perhaps not— 
but it is not a great many months or years 
since “such notes” were transferred from the 
Rural into our critical friend’s paper (under 
another title,) and leaded as original, credit 
being omitted.' Are there any glass houses 
around Boston? 
Winter Labors of the Farmer. —Winter 
is not exactly a leisure season with the farmer. 
The care of his domestic animals must con¬ 
sume a large portion of his time; and added 
to this, he has the preparation of his supply 
of fuel for the year, and the material lor re¬ 
newing or repairing his fences, also getting out 
and drawing lumber, stone, &c.—forming, iu 
The beginning of a new year is an excellent 
time for farmers (as well as other people,) 
o “ turn over a new leaf.” After doing so, we 
lope many will inscribe thereon the results of 
heir observation aud experience for publica¬ 
tion in the Rural and other journals. 
Analysis has shown that the portion of the 
beet not exposed to the light contains less su¬ 
gar than that which is buried. 
