AGRICUl TURp 
PROGItKSS AND IM.PR(iVEMKNTT, 
[SINGLE NO. FOUIt CKNTO, 
ROCHESTER. N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1861 
I WHOLE NO. 602, 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
"With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
CHA3. D. BKAGDON, Western Corresponding Editor. 
Tire Rural Nkw-Yohrkk is designed to be unKtirpiniM'd in 
Value. Parity, Uwfulnes* anil Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful iu Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of its various departments, 
and earnestly lanont to render the Rural an eminently 
Reliable Guide on all the important Practical. Scion 11 He and 
other Subjects lutilmitely Connected with the business of those 
whose Interest* ii Jealously advocate* As a Family Journal 
it is eminently Instructive and Entertaining — lielng so con¬ 
ducted that it can bn safely taken to the Hearts and Homes of 
people of intcllic'tic.n, tnstfl and discrimination. It embraces 
more Agricultural, llorticultural, Scientillc. Educational. 
Literary and News Mutter, interspersed with appropriate and 
beautiful Engravings, than any other journal, — rendering 
it the most complete Agricultural. Literary and Family 
Newspaper in.America. 
AGKICUIiTUBE AS AN ART, 
There is no business demanding snch varied 
acquirements and such extensive knowledge — none 
that affords such full scope for the highest intellectual 
powers—as that of farming. The farmer has to deal 
with the works of uatnre, created by an All wise 
Power—an Almighty hand by that Baino mysteri¬ 
ous power that set the flaming comet on its rapid 
course, and whose ways and works arc past finding 
out The farmer has to deal with the earth ,— learn its 
different chanvctcriutics and capabilities, and its 
adaotiituin to the various nlunts ho cultivates, the 
way to remedy iU defects and appropriate Its riches. 
The air and the seasons, too, must be his study; for 
they materially affect his interests, sometimes giving 
him a golden harvest, at others bringing rust, and 
blight upon his crops und prospects. lie must know 
something of vegetable physiology,—and the more 
the better,—for every day during the growing season 
he performs work for the growth of his crops, 
founded on the laws which govern vegetable life, and 
without this knowledge he labors in the dark, or 
follows the leading of those who may be as ignorant 
as himself, lie should knbw the best means of 
growing those plants that are valuable, and the best 
way of destroying those that are noxious. 
I his would seem to he enough to require of one 
man, for the successful prosecution of one profession, 
and yet the farmer cannot stop here, lie must know 
Bomewhat of the habits of the hundreds of insects 
that prey upon his crops, and threaten their destruc¬ 
tion, or he cannot hope to wage a successful war 
against them; and above all, he must learn and 
distinguish between friend and foe, or ho will not 
only destroy those that are iunooent, hut are his best 
helpers. The various domestic animals the noble 
horse, tlic ox, the sheep —all require his care in 
health and iu sickness. He must be their guide and 
protector as well as their physician in ordinary cases. 
The farmer must bo a mechanic, for the recent and 
general in’roductiori of complicated machinery upon 
the larm renders this absolutely necessary. The 
reaping machine, the seed-drill, the threshing ma¬ 
ll E1 1 K IGOR r> 15 U1,1 
CHANCELLOR 
liomaa Aston, of Kl.vriw., Jjorain County, Ohio. 
instructive reading to those who consult their chron¬ 
icles. They show that science, taste, and successful 
industry have been brought to bear upon agriculture. 
They mark the degree of mental culture and refine¬ 
ment to which the farmers if'the country have 
attained, T.et out common) pc .out teachers, I 
repeat, understand that they ..ft;:’, / mfl to commu¬ 
nicate snob knowledge or go without employment, 
and my word for it, you will find them all apt and fit 
for the task.” 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES 
ISAAC FUNK —AN ILLINOIS CATTLE KINO. 
“Have you ever visited TsaaoFunk, 11.7” asked 
a friend with whom I sat, talking, on the pia/,/.a of 
the Niocolls House at Hlooiniugtm. 
“ No, sir; will it pay?” 
“Of course it will, and lie will lo glad to see yon.” 
The matter was settled; we dehrmined to ride ten 
miles south-west of Bloomington and talk with one 
of the earliest settlers and largest land holders in the 
State. 
Having passed the station Shirlty, on the Chicago, 
Alton, and St. Louis It. It., the leponent deemed it 
necessary to make some inquirioi about the read to 
bo taken. Stopping at a house, I asked if 1 was on 
the right road to Isaac Funk’k “No,” said the 
woman; “you onghter ha’ gone through that gate 
yonder; but I reckon you had better take out through 
that par of bars till you git, to a raid, and then Toiler 
it, which is a right smart track, till you come to a 
little branch, with a bridge acrois it, in the Umber; 
then take to the left, and keep laming away till you 
reach the prairie, when you wil. see a yeller barn; 
then take towards the barn, and jon will see a house, 
which will be Isaac Funk’s home." Having care¬ 
fully digested these very minute directions, 1 asked 
how far it was, aud how long be’ore I should reach 
Mr. Funk’s land. " Why, blem you, this is Mr. 
Funk’s land right across the roar; it begins a half a 
mile hack yonder. You have dot to travel on his 
land all the way to his house-light smart four 
latum of this property, has reached the age of 
service, when, while he steps regularly and firmly, 
he walks with his right arm resting in his left hand, 
behind his hack, his head bowed — when lie lias 
passed the summit of life and is traveling the down 
grade. He leads his fine gray horso to the gate, tica 
the bridle to the saddle how, and turns him loose. 
LET PS LOOK AT HIM. 
Dress has a moral effect upon a man’s conduct; it 
is to a certain extent an imlex of his character. 
Therefore in describing the man we must describe 
the dress. He has on neither coat or waistcoat. Me 
is crowned with a slouch black wool hat, the crown 
a cone, the apex of which is ventilated with a ragged 
hole. A pair of dark, well-worn, satinet pants are 
suspended from 1 uh shoulders, one knee of which hus 
a large light-colored patch, iiis shirt Is not line 
linen, but plain cotton bleaching, the collor being 
fastened with a single button. He has a three days 
beard on bis taco; hair short, gray and wiry, curling 
slightly over a full, round, compact brow, behind 
which it is plain there is an active brain. He is five 
IVct six or eight inches high, and will weigh 
175 pounds. Ilia eyes are seeu under his jutting 
brows, dark, keen, searching. He has evidently 
lived long enough to read mankind —to know the 
make up of a man, us well as a steer, at a glance. 
INTRODUCTION AND RECEPTION. 
He has been in the house and is now leaving it for 
the gate, I intercept him. “ Is this Mr. Funk?" 
“My name Is Funk,” 1r the sharp, short reply iu 
a tone of voice which seems to ask, “What of it?” 
and his eye glances from beneath his brow with a 
strong magnetic light. I hand him my credentials, 
lie deliberately takes from Iiis pocket his glasses, and 
studiously deciphers the letter of introduction from 
our mutual friend Overman. This done, lie says,_ 
“ Olad to see you, sir. Walk In, and let’s sit down. 
I am very tired; have been hard at work to-day,” 
Heated, he enters into u conversation on general 
topics, expressing his opinions with great frankness, 
and exhibiting familiarity with topics talked of. 
WHERE 1IK WAS HORN 
o way io u>e ngut anu west, in me edge of the grove, 
I discovered the yellow barn tho woman said f 
should see; no other buildings were visible. Fol¬ 
lowing instructions, I rode towards the ham. I had 
rode on this Illinois farm nearly four miles, when I 
found sundry wagon and cattle trails converging 
towards one point. -Sundry civilized sounds were 
issuing from the dge of the grove west of the yellow 
barn—such as the hideous braying of mules, the 
neighing of motherly marcs, and whinner of filial 
colts; the loo of tho matronly kine and blatant 
response of affectionate calves, the cackling of liens, 
pompous crow of cocks, gobble, gobble of turkeys, 
barking and yelping of dogs, Ac., Ac. Led by tbese 
sounds, I at last reached an opening, in which stood 
disclosed an ancient two-story wood-colored bouse, 
with front to the west, a ohiruney in each end, a door 
ditto, eight front windows,— four above and four 
the science of botany needs no such botanical 
gardens for its apparatus; every dry reed-stallc left 
by the winter winds, every little weed, every green 
moss, are book and lesson and apparatus, to a mind 
healthy and properly instructed how to instruct.” 
“ Adorn your dwelling with flowers, and encourage 
your children to cultivate them. Many a useful 
uaturul bent in the young has been lost by injudi¬ 
cious and thoughtless levity. Believe that an hour i» 
not lost which your wife, or your daughter, or your 
son, spends in the garden, among the flowers which 
they have learned to love. Labor is relieved of half 
its toil when smiled upon by the elegances of life. I 
have been no heedless witness of these facts, and the 
most industrious hands, and the most loving aud 
motherly hearts, have 1 found among those who cul¬ 
tivated the tulip bed or nourished the rose bush, in 
some corner of the farm yard, amidst discourage 
meats which would have uppailed the sterner sex had 
they been suffered to exist where tho corn und the 
potato patch stood. 'The farmer’s garden,’ says 
Elihu BnRRTT, ‘is the introduction to a largo 
volume, of which every acre is a page, bearing the 
marks of his character. Viewed iu this light, the 
gardens of New England are full of hopeful and 
WUKN I1K CAME HERE. 
Isaac I unk is a native of Kentucky, He was bom 
in 1797. In 1807 hit* father emigrated to Fayette 
Co., Ohio. Here iiis father lost all his property, and 
in 1821, two of the brothers, Isaac and A its a non 
I 1 unk, came hither and settled within a few yards of 
the place where I am nosv writing. Their property 
consisted of three horses, two yoke of cattle, and 
$•(28.60 in cash.* It was their aim to settle where 
they could secure elbow room rango for stock, and 
where they could get lands cheap. They had had ex¬ 
perience iu tlie handling of stock, ant} knew some- 
tiring of its profits. Want of kpneo will prevent tho 
transfer from onr note book to the pages of the 
Ritral, of many interesting incidents, ndventures, 
and experiences related by Mr. P., as connected with 
their early hiHtory in this State. He assured the 
writer that when young, he had a great deal of 
“Spunk.” He came here determined to make a 
living and lay by something which he could use 
when he got old. The loss of property which his 
the yellow barn before spoken of. It is, I learn, the 
only barn ever built by Mr. Funk, in this State. It 
may be seventy-five or a hundred feet long, having a 
floor iu the center for carriages and tools, entered 
by doors at each end of the barn. On either side 
of the floor aro double stalls with open mangers 
and feed-boxes, and earth floors. These stalls are 
entirely Inclosed from each other, each being en¬ 
tered by an outside door; there being as many doors 
as stalls. 
1 have been thus minute iu my description of what 
I saw while tying my horse, learning that Mr. Funk 
was not at homo, but would be at 6 o’clock, and ac¬ 
companying the boy to the yellow barn to put my 
horse in one of the stalls above described, because it 
may enable the reader tho better to appreciate the 
man who has accumulated these thousands of beau¬ 
tiful acres, and his motives, when we see him. 
H Lansing 
