S-Jure 
AGRICULTURE 
ROCHESTER, N. Y— FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JANUARY 16,1864 
! WHOLE NO. 731 
MOORE’S RHRAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL. WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND PAMILT NEWSPAPER. 
should degenerate into mere form in religion 
and social intercourse, without immolating our 
bodies upon that altar. 
Every man, uxpnan and child ought to he provided 
with a good thick pair of icoolen pants at Vic expense 
cf the governmcnl, if they cannot afford it themselves. 
It is a disgrace to the civilization of the age that 
anybody in this climate attempts to do without 
them. Hear what Dr. Hai.i, says in his Journal 
of Health respecting woolen garments: 
“ The healthful clothing for our climate, the 
year round, is that made of wooi. If worn next 
the skin by all classes. In summer as well as 
winter, an incalculable amount of coughs, colds, 
diarrheas, dysenteries and fevers would be pre¬ 
vented by the ability of a woolen garment to 
keep the natural heat about;the body more per¬ 
fectly, instead of conveying it away as fast as 
generated, as linen and flaxen garments do; as 
also cotton and silk, although these are less 
cooling than Irish linen, as any one can prove 
by noticing the different degrees of coldness 
on the application of a surface of six inches 
square of flannel, cotton and linen to the skin, 
the moment the clothing is removed. The 
occasion is, that wool is a bad conductor of 
heat, and linen is a good conductor. It is more 
healthful to wear woolen next to the skin in 
summer, because it absorbs the moisture or 
perspiration so rapidly as to keep the skin meas¬ 
urably dry all the time. It Is curious to notice 
that the water is conveyed by a woolen garment 
from the surface of the body to the outer side 
of the garment, where the microscope shows it 
condensed in millions of pearly drops; while it is 
the experience of the observer that if a Uncn shirt 
become damp by perspiration, it remains cold and 
clammy for a long time afterwards; and unless 
PLANS FOR A CHEAP FARM HOUSE, 
Israelites, is full of close intermarriages. Isaac, 
son of Abraham, married his cousin Re- 
bekah. Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebekah, 
married his cousin Rachel, and of the twelve 
-ons 0 f JACOB (J oseph and Benjamin only, sons 
of Rachel) more or less of them, intermarried 
with close relations. Moab and Ammon. 
founders of powerful tribes, were sons of the 
incestuous connection of Lot with his two 
daughters. Aside from these, numerous in¬ 
stances of illustrious men and women of ancient 
civilized history, trace their origin to what, 
under our present laws, would be rank incest, 
yet not so considered hv Greek or Roman law¬ 
givers. In modern times, the history of the 
present reigning family of England is a succes¬ 
sion of cousin-marriages for several generations, 
us well as of the same practice for many genera¬ 
tions previous in their German homes. The 
Third GEORGE of England, married his German 
own cousin Charlotte, who bore him thir¬ 
teen stout, healthy sons and daughters, of 
quite average mind and capacity. The Fourth 
George married his German cousin Caroline, 
from whom descended “the Princess Char¬ 
lotte, ” first wife of Leopold, her own 
cousin, now King of Belgium—a Princess of 
rich promise—and had she lived, would have 
been Queen of Britain. Edward, Duke of 
Kent, and fourth son of George III, married 
one of his German cousins, and from that mar¬ 
riage came Victoria, the present Queen. She 
married her first cousin—German also— A t - 
In the Rural of December 19 we published 
an inquiry for a “plan for a cheap, plain farm 
house, with parlor, dining room and kitchen— 
about two bed rooms and pantry below, and 
suitable sleeping rooms above.” Wo have 
received several plans in response, two of which 
are given below. The first is from Mr. Peter 
AVykokk, of Romulus, TS. Y. It is the plan of 
a house built by Mr. W. last summer, at a cost, 
for mechanical labor and materials, of about 
$700. The cost of such a' house would be, in 
different localities, from $000 to $800, according 
to style of finish. Mr. W, says he likes the old- 
fashioned square house—that in his the upright 
is 10 by 36 feet, and the lean-to 10 by 30. He 
thinks he can get along in the country without 
a hail or pantry, and yet have things very con¬ 
venient. The sills are the whole length—26 by 
36 — and eeUar under the whole. The foUowing 
is his plan and description : 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Cor[» •f Able AjwIwtantM null Contributor*. 
HEEPHUSBANDRY 
• B- BRAGDON, Western Corresponding Editor, 
HENRY 8. RANDALL. LL. D., 
Editor Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS: 
P. BARRY, C. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANGWORTHY. 
IN-AND-IN BREEDING OF ANIMALS. 
Dear sir; — In compliance with your request 
for my Views on the close breeding of animals as 
a tendency toward their improvement in desira¬ 
ble qualities aud characteristics, I propose to 
give a few hints and suggestions; but as the time 
and opportunity which I can give to the subject 
are restricted, I must confine myself to few 
points, and treat even them as concisely as pos¬ 
sible, however inconclusive they .may be. 
In-and-in breeding, with stock breeders and 
physiologists, means the union of animals of 
whatever kind, which are closely related in 
blood, as father to daughter, or grand-daughter: 
son to mother, or grand - mother; brother to 
sister, Ac., Ac., in any aud every possible 
manner of blood relation, and which, if ap¬ 
plied to the human family, would appear most 
incestuous and revolting. I state the matter in 
its most forbidding sense t* those whose ideas 
and opinions have ruu in an opjwsite direction, 
and from them shaft probably receive in reply, 
the adage, “Cousins’ children are always fools,” 
with additions from the old Mosaic law, as little 
applicable to the domestic government of man¬ 
kind in the present day as other Mosaic require¬ 
ments now counted as the height of absurdity 
and folly. 
To understand the subject in its proper hear¬ 
ings, it may be as well to remark at the threshold, 
that in the manner I propose to treat the subject, 
there is scarcely a paraUel between the human 
family and the brute creation. Mankind have 
mind, sympathies, affections, emotions, passions, 
prejudices, partialities, loves, hatreds, associa¬ 
tions, any ot which influence, either in concep¬ 
tion or in the course of gestation, in a greater 
W. T. KENNEDY. Jr- Assistant Office Editor. 
Tub Rural N'kw-Yorker Is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed in Value, l’urity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful lu Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotos Ills personal attention to Uie supervision of Its 
various departments, and earnestly tabors to render 
the Rural an eminently Reliable tlutde on all the 
Important Practical, Scientific and other Subjects Inti¬ 
mately connected with the business of those whose 
Interests It zealously advocates. As a Family Journal 
It Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining—being *o 
conducted that It can be safely taken to the Homes of 
jieoplc of Intelligence, taste and rtlscrlmlnaUon. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural. Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate Engravings, than any other JournuL— 
rendering it the most complete Agricultural I.rrx- 
rary and Family Newbpafxr in America. 
WOOLEN AND COTTON FABRICS. 
FIRST FLOOR —26 BY 36 FEET. 
A, Parlor, 10 by 16. B, Dining and Sitting room, 16 
by 16. C, lied • room, S by 10. D, Family Bed¬ 
room 10 by IS. E. Cook room, 10 by 13. F, Hall, 
4 by 5- G, Cellar Door for inside- H, H, Closets for 
Rod rooms, 2 by fl. ,T, Cistern In Cellar, (mad.i of 
field stones two feet thick and cemented inside with 
water lime.) K, Outside Cellar Stairs. 
Sheep arc often spoken of in complimentary 
terms; Mr. Randall has written a book about 
them with evident sympathy for his subject; 
painters put them into landscapes, and poets into 
song; excitable persous make pilgrimages to 
Vermont, as Mohmamedans to Meecu^and yet I 
compute that sheep are only a trifle more than 
half appreciated. Those who like them only 
when they are fat, and well cooked, take a very 
narrow view of a great, subject—those who like 
them when they can buy in a low and sell in a 
high market, have a very interested friendship. 
I wish my friends would go hack to first princi¬ 
ples and look at sheep from that “ stand-point,” 
They will then see that the distinguishing 
characteristic, the real personality of a sheep, 
is—wool! Then, having computed our distance 
from the equator, considered our atmospheric 
changes, and our constitutional susceptibilities, 
and remembering what wool and woolen are 
doing, and can do for us, they would be prepared 
to receive with reverence and respect the 
announcement of a “national thanksgiving” for 
the gracious gift of sheep. 
Wendell Phillips says the devil sowed 
the cotUm seed. I about half believe it, and for 
other reasons than he assigns. The cheapness 
of cotton brought it into universal use. Sup¬ 
planting wool, supplanting linen, it enveloped 
all, from prince to peasant, from head to foot - 
which are otherwise inevitable. The British 
government makes it imperative that every 
sailor in the navy shall wear woolen flannel 
shirts in the hottest climate.” 
Another celebrated authority says:— “In aU 
seasons of the year, and in all climates, the best 
material for dress, for old and young, for strong 
and weak, is woolen. It is the poorest conduc¬ 
tor of heat, and therefore secures the most 
equable temperature. This is the principal 
object of dress. The superiority of woolen 
clothing for babes Is even greater in July than 
in January. In the warmest days a single 
thickness of soft flannel will sullice. But if 
linen or cotton be worn, Die garment is soon 
moistened by perspiration, and two or three 
thicknesses are needed to protect the child from 
the ill effects of a draught. Blacksmiths, glass- 
blowers, furnacemcn, find woolen most usefid. 
Few practices will do so much to secure the 
comlort and health of young children as dressing! 
them in flannel night and day, the year round.” 
This being the testimony in favor of woolen, 
let us seize this auspicious moment, when cotton 
is scarce, to introduce woolen into mere general 
use. Having introduced it, lot us not be tempted, 
under any circumstances, to return again to 
those gauzy garments that arc spreading the 
palor of death over youth and age.—n. r. b. 
Items Requiring Attention. — •• About 
these days," as the almanacs say, sundry matters 
require the special and personal attention of 
farmers. Let us enumerate a few of the indis¬ 
pensable duties, livery farmer who has a fam¬ 
ily should make proper provision for their 
physical, intellectual and moral comfort and 
improvement. Look to the conveniences of 
\oui household. Broken windows and crevices 
are an uncomfortable abomination, and a dis¬ 
grace to the “man of the house.” Repair all 
breaches which admit the chill monster; and 
don’t forget to follow the reform by the provis¬ 
ion and pn>per preparation of suitable fuel. See 
that all your domestic animals are cared for_ 
well protected from the storms and cold, and 
regularly and pvptriyjht, “ The merciful man is 
merciful to his beast;"—it is for his interest to be 
so, aud that ought to be a potent argument, y 
your district school, and see whether the school¬ 
master is abroad or at home. Furnish good 
books and periodicals for the family circle. Go 
for the Union attend the annual meeting of 
jour Agricultural Society- and old with your 
Presence, Puree and Voice every cause designed 
to benefit your Family. Community or Country 
ceremony —it is bad enough that we 
jl 
m 
Hi Hill 
