TWO DOLLARS 
YEAR.] 
“ PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE INO. PX)XTR CENT3. 
VOL. XIII. NO. 5.1 
ROCHESTER, N.Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 18G2. 
SWHOLE NO. 629. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THB LEADING AMERICAN WKKRLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOEE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors. 
CHA3. 13. BKAGDON, Western Corresponding Editor. 
Tins Rubai. New-Yorker is designied to be unsurpassed in 
Value, Purity. Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and uniiuiC 
and beautiful in Appeunuice. Its Conductor devotes hi«i>er 
sonal 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. As a FA-Mll.v Journal it is 
eminently Instructive and Entertaining—being so conducted 
that it can be solely taken to the flrorte and Homes of people or 
intelligence, taste and discrimination, tt embraces more Agri¬ 
cultural. Horticultural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and 
News Matter, interspersed with appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other journal, rendering it the most 
complete Agricultural. Literary and Family Newspaper 
in America. _ 
£3T" For Terms and other particulars, sec last page. 
IMPROVEMENT IN FARMING.—No. II. 
Ik our laston tliis subject, without designing to 
disparage laltor. or show the least desire touir.ke 
farmers gentlemen. in the modern or genteel sense of 
that term, we endeavored to teach the importance 
of though,l, without which there can bo no system and 
no management worthy of the name. It must bo 
remembered that the inquiry we answered in part, 
and promised to continue In 'his number, was, How 
can l improve in my sys'cm of farming? which, 
without any knowledge of the particular system 
adopted by the inquirer, we were compelled to dis¬ 
cuss in a more general sense, as, In what respect 
docs American farming most need improvement? 
In the first place, the work of improvement must 
commence with the man. He who looks upon a 
farm, and sees at a glance how things are managed, 
is at no loss to form a pretty correct opinion of the 
character of the owner; and when we see a farmer 
and hear him talk, and can get a pretty good idea of 
his character, we lorm an opinion at once of the 
condition of his farm and bis sly le of fanning. All 
effort at improvement that does not contemplate 
the improvement of the mind of the man, is at fault, 
and will fail. The improvement of the mind and 
the soil must always go hand in hand. Progress, 
like charity, should commence at home; and he 
who, like our correspondent, lias become aroused to 
the necessity of making the necessary effort, has 
taken the first and most important step. The 
farmer, if he succeeds at all, does so by the exercise 
of skill, care and economy; and his success, as a 
general rule, is proportionate to the amount of these 
qualities that he may possess or put in practice. 
The merchant may have every element of character 
necessary to success, and yet fail. His business is, 
in many respects, one of chance — the winds may 
wreck, and the waves swallow up his richest treas¬ 
ures; and commercial disasters, which the wisest 
could not foresee, sweep away, in a few short 
months, the fruits of a life of toil. A few lucky 
strikes may yield a rich harvest of gold to the ven¬ 
turesome and presumptuous, which the more able 
and careful may never reap. The amount of suc¬ 
cess, therefore, is not always a sure test of the 
ability of the merchant. The farmer is subject to 
no such sudden and overwhelming calamities; for 
the sun shines and the rain falls alike on the evil 
and the good, and seed time and harvest fail not. If 
he succeeds, he does so by the ability which he 
possesses wisely to devise and promptly to execute 
— iiy the union of mind and matter, head and 
hands. A clear head and diligent hands ensure 
success, and without these failure is certain. But, 
on this point we have perhaps said enough, as our 
remarks arc designed to be suggestive only. 
The foundation of all agricultural improvement 
must be laid deep in the soil. Many a mail has 
struggled hard to increase his products arid profits, 
and failed, because he commenced in the wrong 
place. It would be just as foolish to spend a large 
amount of money in an imposing and expensive 
structure, resting on a poor foundation, as to expend 
means in fanning operations without making 
thorough work with the soil. And yet this is a 
matter too often neglected, and for several reasons. 
It is natural to love to expend money and labor 
where we can make the most show in the shortest 
time. This is in some sense a national failing. We 
are a fast people, and have not patience to wait for 
results that are slow in their development. This is 
the reason why, tio matter what plants may be set 
out, we seldom obtain a decent farm hedge. We 
want a hedge in two or three years, and therefore 
never get any; while the English farmer is satisfied 
to wait at least half-a-dozen ye a re, and obtains a 
hedge that his youngest children never live to see 
grow old. Many a farmer has been taunted with 
the remark that be was burying money, while 
engaged in a work that, though slow and tedious 
and expensive, and that would not pay for the outr 
lay in a year or two, would yield a harvest of good 
fruits for a score of years, and prove in the end the 
most profitable investment that could be possibly 
made. 
The roots of most plants, if they have an oppor¬ 
tunity, extend far down into the soil for nourish¬ 
ment and moisture. As a general thing the roots 
will extend as wide, and often as deep below the 
ground, as the tops ascend above it The vigor and 
productiveness of the plant depend upon the size 
and strength of the roots; and no plant will make a 
robust growth, and yield a good crop, whose roots 
are cramped, or starved, or rotted, in an uncon¬ 
genial soil. This being the case, the importance of 
giving a proper soil in the right condition for the 
full development of the roots will be at once admit¬ 
ted. The roots of none of our ordinary plants will 
thrive in a water soaked soil. The water should 
have an opportunity to percolate through the 
ground and pass off as deep as the roots extend; in 
other wotjda, the drainage should be thorough to 
the depth the roots will extend when they obtain 
their maximum growth. The soil should be per¬ 
mitted to hold only so much moisture as it will 
absorb and hold naturally. Fill a basket with earth, 
and it will absorb and hold a certain amount of 
water; add more, and it will pass through; and this 
is a good specimen of tbor ugb drainage. Every 
farmer must have noticed that flower-pots are made 
with a hole in the bottom for drainage. Before the 
gardener places his plant in the pot, he puts pieces 
of a broken pot, or charcoal, over and around the 
hole, to make tho drainage, more perfect, and all 
water that : • not absorbed by the soil passes oil’, and 
the roots are healthy and soon fill the pot; but let 
this orifice become choked by any means, so that 
tli'‘ surplus water is retained, and the roots soon 
.income black and rotten, and the plant sickens and 
dies, unless removed. This should teach us an im¬ 
portant lossou as to the injurious effects of stagnant 
water upon the roots of plants. 
But, many will say, niy land does not need drain¬ 
ing; it is high and dry. We were once asked, byjthe 
owner, the reason why the trees .planted in his 
orchard became sickly, stunted, mossy, and finally 
died. We soon ascertained that the cause was 
stagnant water around the roots, and recommended 
drainage as the only remedy. He could not believe 
this to be the cause of the difficulty, as the land was 
pretty high, and he had never thought it needed 
. draining. We took a spade and dug a hole a couple 
of feet deep, and in ten minutes after the water 
stood in it within a foot of tile surface. Those who 
read the discussion before, the Fruit Grower's Society 
of Western New York, will remember that Dr. 
Faulky stated he had drained his vineyard thor¬ 
oughly, although it was not the kind of land that 
farmers usually thought required drainage, and 
water ran from tho tile nearly the whole year. We 
will not say that all soils require artificial drainage, 
but in ninety-nine eases out of a hundred, a few 
hundred dollars expended in this way is the best 
investment the farmer can make, and without it all 
1 other attempts at improvement will be ot little 
avail. 
REVIEW* 
Not to be captious, dear reader, but simply to aid 
in fixing in the mind whatever is found most valua¬ 
ble. It is not unusual that the second reading of 
any work is more profitable than the first; and the 
third or fourth often results in new discoveries of 
much value and profit. The truth is, most of us 
read too superficially. We study and analyze too 
little—in other words, we think too little—don’t we? 
Let us reform in this respect. 
CAN YOUNG FARMERS SUCCEED V 
The editor is cautious in his answer. Under 
certain circumstances, and with certain qualifica¬ 
tion, he says •• Yes.” U nder different circumstances, 
and in the absence of these qualifications. “ No.” 
Young farmers may succeed as well as any class 
of business men, if, in addition to a thorough busi¬ 
ness education, they have a practical, philosophical 
one—a professional one. Some may succeed us the 
blind man travels—by slowly feeling bisway; but 
the pace in roost cases would be unendurable to 
Young America. This article suggests the writing 
of some axiomatic qualifications essential to the 
success of the Young Farmer: 
1. A good, strong, sound constitution. 
2. To know how to take care of it. 
3. A thorough business education. 
1. A practical or professional education. 
5. An inquiring, patient, investigating, reasoning 
mind. 
0 . Industry and economy. 
7. Enthusiasm and ambition in the prosecution of 
farm labor, stimulated by a love of the beautiful 
and the Creator of the beautiful in Nature. 
8 . Love of home, and a desire to render it “ the 
sanctuary of (lie highest human affection ”—beauti¬ 
ful in all respects, and symmetrical in its beauty. 
Success depends upon the spirit which inspires 
effort, If the motive bo high, ennobling, worthy, 
and the means used to secure success correspond in 
character with the motive, the young man will 
surely succeed. 
The editor has given the key to success in his 
remarks—“Labor produces wealth.” Knowledge, 
* Of Rural New-Yorker, No. 1 1, Vol. XIII. 
and the ability and disposition to apply it, with 
patience and perseverance, will insure success, 
whether in forest or on prairie. 
A VILLA IN TK2 ITALIAN STYLE. 
This article and these plans suggest the propriety 
of saying what is needed moBt by thousands of 
Rural readers. Plans and elevations of Farm 
Houses and Cottages, combining convenience, 
cheapness, and beauty — adaptation to the wants 
and means of young farmers. The specifications 
and cost (estimating the material at a fixed price,) 
should be. given in detail. There is !he greater need 
for such plans, from the fact that the majority of 
those who build houses in the country are their own 
architects—make their own plane, and are guided 
in determining the same mainly by ideas picked up 
from plans and elevations in papers, and by visiting 
the houses of their neighbors. If the plans thus 
formed are modified, it is because the “ carpenter and 
joiner,” employed by the day to put up the frame 
and “do off the house,” is strong-minded and a good 
logician. There are, of course, exceptions to this 
class. 
It may be proper to suggest that the architect 
who will take the trouble to travel and study the 
wants of ruralists, and undertake (o supply the 
same by improved, simple (yet ornate) plans and 
elevations for rural buildings, with specifications 
as above described, will build himself a name, if 
not. a business. Such a man should have Downing’s 
taste, coupled with an intimate knowledge of the 
practical wants of the class for whom he labors. It 
is true wo have all sorts of works on architecture, 
with plans, Ac, But these plans are so uniformly 
modeled alter, or modi tied from, the city or suburban 
residence, os to render them unworthy, and in many 
instances responsible for gross outrages upon good 
rural taste. The eo >•.•icy wants a distinct and 
distinctive style of architecture. Who will sup- 
, ply it? _ 
1 _ bad timber. 
That is a good article—not bad timber—but Hugh 
1 T. Brooks’ jostlings and mulgings of ourselves. 
And I need say little more beyond commending the 
reader to re-perusc it. But there is a confession 
there that I want to apply to some of our ranting 
brother farmers, who talk —aye, and sometimes act. 
too—as if there was but one profession in which we 
might look without, finding rascals. 1 tell you, 
brethren, there is a great deal of “ had timber” 
1 among us — it is not always found in wagon shops 
’ and plow manufactories, if you could hear some 
of these same mechanics, that you charge with all 
sorts of dishonesty, talk about you when you leave 
the shop, after giving them “a blowing up,” you 
might discover a beam in your own eye as big as a 
’ bail plow beam. 
Read Brooks’ confession again, and confess your 
I owd sins. 
5 POOH AND EICB FAHMEB3. AND WHY. 
Peter Hathaway’s classification is believed to 
be correct, and corroborates what I have written 
above about successful farmers. There is a certain 
class of farmers who dig, delve, and struggle all 
their lives long to get a living; but they never think 
j — they have no Lime to carefully calculate — they 
have no ideal position which they labor to occupy, 
j. They struggle and complain of their calling; spend 
> their lives groveling aud grumbling, and never sus- 
j pect that the fault is in themselves. 
FIRST 1 PREMIUM FARM HOUSE. 
Believing that very many ofthe plans of houses I 
published were unsuited to the use of far me re, and 
auxious to present our readers with those which 
would be more valuable, about three years ago we 
offered premium for the best three plana of farm 
houses. In response, we received nearly a hund¬ 
red designs, mostly from farmers, of houses built, 
and found to answer the purposes for which they 
were erected. These were examined by a Com¬ 
mittee, and the premiums awarded to the best three, 
winch were published in I859. We have been 
requested to republish them for the benefit of the 
many thousands of our readers who were not then 
subscribers, and have consented to comply with the 
request. In this number wo give the design to 
which was awarded the first premium, with the 
owuer’s description. 
Tub accompanying design was prepared to sup¬ 
ply the wants of a large and increasing class of 
farmers, whose well-to-do circumstances, and the 
demands of social life which their growing children 
make, prompt them to replace the “old house” by 
a more commodious, convenient, and beautiful build¬ 
ing. A tasteful home, spacious enough to accom¬ 
modate the entire family, with due regard to the 
separate duties of life and the requisite individual 
privacy, and to offer that wide hospitality which so 
charms us in the country, is a better investment 
than bank stock or fertile acres. If it does nothing 
more than keep the children beneath the home 
roof, and make their associations of home pleasant, 
and their enjoyments pure, it will be an incalculable 
blessing to them, while at Uie same time it will 
prove a source of sere nest joy to sweeten the declin¬ 
ing years of the parents. In this house there are 
no apartments for show, merely, but all are arranged 
with reference to economy of labor, where the mis¬ 
tress of the house has rarely any other assistance 
than her own daughters can render. 
recess at the further end. There is also space for 
a cloak closet under the stairs. The hall gives 
access to tho three principal rooms; a parlor on 
the left, u living-room on the right, which may also 
be used as a dluing-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 doore down to the usual 
height of wainscoting, and below, ctosets for news¬ 
papers, specimens in natural history, Ac. If both 
sides arc not needed for books, one side can be fitted 
up with an ottoman-seat, or lounge, thus affording 
a cosy nook for reading or study. 
LOOK TO THB CELLARS. 
Yes, sir, pray do so! Itis an important and timely 
hint. The writer has visited cellars that were as 
near pest-cellars as anything else. One family, now 
remembered, lost three of its members with a fever. 
Tho physician happening in one day while the 
cellar door stood open, detected, by his olfactories, 
the source of tho trouble. He explored the cellar 
and found it rotten with decayed and decaying 
vegetables and other filth. A thorough cleansing 
of the cellar saved the balance of the family, who 
never forgot the lesson learned at such a terrible 
cost 
The potato bins, this year, should bo frequently 
and carefully picked over: the apples assorted; the 
leaves of vegetables removed; and let it be emphat¬ 
ically understood, the cellar is not the. place to keep 
soap grease. It has often been found there by the 
writer in open cask or barrel, producing a stench 
which poluted fruit, vegetables, and meats. If 
articles of food are kept in the cellar, nothing that 
is not pure should bo allowed therein. Especially 
is fruit affected by decaying matter of whatever sort 
THB ASTER FAMILY. 
The editor’s remarks upon this line family of 
flowers are interesting; and I heard a lady say that 
she hoped the Rural would contain more of that 
kind of talk, accompanied with specific directions 
for culture. 
The description of the few best varieties, “from 
notes taken in our own garden the past season,” 
suggest that each lady who loves plants aud culti¬ 
vates flowers (and vegetables, if you please,) will 
find it a source of much pleasure and profit if she 
“lake notes” of the peculiarities (good and bad) 
of each plant and flower she may cultivate. Have 
the lady readers of the Rural ever made an effort 
to describe even a Bachelor’s Button, (Centuurea 
cyanus,) and found it impossible? Although it is 
PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. 
A, Living Room—15x1$; B, Parlor—16x18; C. Kitchen—12x18; 
D, Bed Room—12x12; B, Children's Bed Room—9xt2; /<’, 
Buck Kitchen—llxlG; G, Dairy—7x8; //, Pantry—5x2; I. 
Wood House—12x22; K, Hall—6x15; L, Alcove—0x8; MM. 
Verandas; N A, 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 narrow hall, 
which seems roomy enough, as the staircase is in a 
PLAN OP CHAMBERS. 
A , Bed Room—15x15; B, Bed Room—15x18; C. Bed Room— 
12x16; D, Bed Room—12x18; K. Bed Room-UxlS; F. Bed 
Room—12x22; G, Hail—7x8; //, Dressing Room—7x8; J, 
Bath Room—5x9; L Closets. 
In the rear of tho alcove is the kitohen, 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 lor children beyond, which also has a closet 
In case but one of tho bed-rooms is needed, the 
other can be used for a librury, when a door from 
the hall could be made. 
A back-kitchen is provided in (he wing, having 
doors to tho dairy, cellar, wood-shed, and veranda. 
Tho chamber plan supplies four large bed-rooms 
in the main house, ono of (hem having a window 
seat, formed by a projecting closet, and another, a 
dressing-room with close's. A batli-room is placed 
above tho hail, lighted by a small octagonal win¬ 
dow, or by an enameled door. Two large sleep¬ 
ing-rooms are shown over tho 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, &Q; should be made durable and plain. All 
ornamentation beyond what is strictly characteristic 
and suggestive of country simplicity, has uo place 
upon it. We have endeavored in our perspective to 
give it an unpretending, rural aspect, with enough 
of dignily to mark it as the residence of a family ot 
refinement, and taste. If built of wood, in a plain 
but thorough manner, it could be erected in most 
parls of the country for about two thousand dol¬ 
lars. The remaining details of construction are 
familiar to most persons, and especially to masons 
and carpenters, and need not be discussed here. 
a type of “single blessedness.” (if there be any | critical habits of observation, and enable us to dia- 
snch “blessedness,”) it is worthy the study of the 1 tinguish the muse of the effect produced on the 
thoughtless, careless observer. Whatever will fix | mind, should be adopted and practiced. There is 
