LW1 
TWO DOLLARS A YF.AR.] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT." 
[ SINGLE NO. LFTVIC CENTS. 
VOL. XIV. NO. 11.} 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1863. 
i WHOLE NO. 687. 
MOOSE'S EDEAL MEW-XOEKEE, 
AM ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BV D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants and Contributors. 
O. I). BKA6DON, Western Correspondin* Editor. 
Tint Rural Nkw-Yorkkr is designed to he nnsurpassed 
in Value, Pnrity aud Variety of Contents, and unique nod 
beautiful in Appearance. lie Conductor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the Mipervision of it* various depart¬ 
ments, and earnestly labors to render the Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with 
the buijinesH of those whose interests it zealously advo¬ 
cates. As a Family Journal it is eminently Instructive 
and KntertainiOff— beinit so conducted that it can he safely 
taken to the Homes of people of intelligence, taste and 
discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural, Scientific, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than any other 
journal,—rendering it the most complete Agricultural, 
Literary and Family Nbwspaurr in America. 
VJT For Terms aud other particulars, see last page. 
FARMER GARRULOUS TALKS.' 
Puttering work. Yes, I should think it 
was, but it is paying work, sir. You hate to put¬ 
ter? Well, you like comfort us well us anybody, 
I will warrant. Puttering is nothing else than 
taking cure of the small items which make the 
big whole. There is my neighbor Rarely fails 
— a man who always succeeds, and a marvel to 
his slouchy neighbors. I was down in his fruit 
orchard the other day. What do you think I 
saw? Every pear tree protected by a little 
straw, or a few long weeds pet up against south 
aud west sides of the tree and bound, in one or 
two places, about the body of the tree, with the 
same material. You see his pears at the fairs 
and wonder. His neighbors see them, and cull 
the exhibition uu evidence of a soil adapted to 
pear culture. It is no more adapted to poar cul¬ 
ture than their own — no such thing. But the 
man putters!— pullers, sir! lie adapts his prac¬ 
tice to the wants of the tree. 
And so 1 am puttering! ! am going to have 
some early vegetables. I lore goes for a good hot¬ 
bed; and the cress and lettuce, and radishes, aud 
cucumbers that I will have on my table, before 
you anti-puttorers have planted a seed, will add 
to the health and pleasure of my family, flit¬ 
tering ! What does it cost? Compared with the 
comfort, not to say profit, nothing at all scarcely. 
Puttering! Why, sir, it is one thing that has 
given me more wealth than some of my neigh¬ 
bors. Bull don’t putter all of the time, mind 
you. There are odd hours arid wet (lays when a 
man can do nothing else at this time of year. 1 
make wooden buttons for barn doors, put leather 
hinges on my stable windows, batten the sides of 
my out-buildings, put buttons cm the cows horns, 
turn over manure, gather the guano from the 
chicken house, pick over and re-pack the apples 
in the cellar, assort the roots, cut up hay or straw 
enough to last the teams until the next puttering 
day comes, pile up the wood snugly, clean out 
the pig pens and put in fresh straw, look over the 
timber stored in the shed so as to know just 
whereto find what I may want in any emergency, 
pick up and store the old iron, and if the women 
want any thing done about the house, I cheerfully 
doit, and do not call it lost time, nor grumble 
because it is puttering work either. 
Look here, neighbor Nevertrt, didn't you tell 
me last year when the bugs were bothering your, 
vines like the mischief, that you didn't see how 
I saved mine so nicely? And don’t you remem¬ 
ber that I showed you the boxes with panes of 
glass in them that 1 protected mine with?—and 
that you said you never found time to make such 
things. Just come into my shop here, and see 
the doz-n I made the other day. It was done 
one of these puttering days. I can grow vines 
enough under them to supply our wants. They 
cost nothing scarcely. You hire a carpenter to 
do the same thing and he would charge you a 
shilling apiece for them if he found material. 
Well, I did the work on them in a half day. I 
shall s&ve my vines from bugs and late frost 
What's that?” Why sir, that is a wagou jack 
I made myself. I use it for lifting the axle when 
I want to take off the wheel for any purpose—to 
grease it, ,fcc. It saves hard lifting and some¬ 
times another hand. See, a boy can grease a 
heavy wagon with its aid. Yes, they can be pur¬ 
chased at the hardware stores, but then, they 
cost money; 1 had the material, the time, aud 
the will to make one, and it is as good as any of 
their iron concerns. 
Hello, John, what did that young man say? 
Said he would come at $15 per month, the year 
round, eh? Cheap enough, John. Tell him I'll 
give it, and a half day each week to himself, be¬ 
sides, if he will attend to the chores promptly. 
That young man is a thinker. He is ambitious 
to become a thorough farmer, and I’ll help him 
all 1 can, 1 like such hired men. Wish there 
were more o( them. They are cheap at $20 per 
month compared with some I’ve had. Well, 
John. I want you to mix a little scokcroot in the 
slop you give that brown cow. She always is 
troubled with garget in spring. Some cows are, 
Don’t forget it, John. I see her bag is a little 
hard now. That will prevent it getting harder. 
WESTERN EDITORIAL NOTES. 
WA3TTTNG BTtEKP. 
East and West, shepherds are yearly growing 
more and more averse to this practice, and justly, 
too. It is one of the barbarous customs; and it 
is nothing but a custom. It has uo base in utility 
or interest to the manufacturer, the farmer, nor 
his flock. Just at this present moment — the 
coming season—is the best time to change this 
senseless custom. And while concerted action 
may be advisable, no shepherd should wait for a 
convention and resolutions before determining 
what is for his own interest, and acting accord¬ 
ingly. 
If sheep are properly kept in clean, well- 
littered stables, folds or yards, aud in fresh, dry 
pastures, and then, at shearing, properly tagged, 
and the fleeces neatly and carefully tied up, there 
is not one buyer in ten who knows enough to de¬ 
tect the difference between it and two-thirds of 
the (so-called) washed wool that he buys. 
We say it is the best possible time to change I he 
practice, because wool is going to be wanted, and 
it will be purchased by the manufacturer at 
paying prices, whether washed or not. As for 
the rule of deducting one-third tare, it cannot he 
considered arbitrary. In some instances it would 
be too much; in others not enough. The care¬ 
ful, neat shepherd, ought, not to lose on account 
of the practice of the slovenly shepherd. A 
good, critical buyer will distinguish between 
wool well put up, aud the reverse, and pay ac¬ 
cordingly; and no shepherd ought to allow him¬ 
self to deal with any other. 
Do the wool up nicely; throw out all tilth that 
can be separated from the wool. Watch the 
markets. Establish iu your own mind wliat 
your wool is worth. When the buyer comes tell 
him you have fixed your price; that your wool is 
not washed, but that it is comparatively clean 
and well done up,— no extraneous matter in it. 
Let him select any half dozen fleeces ho chooses, 
open and examine them. If he is sensible, he 
will pay you your price or make you a fair offer, 
based upon the merits of your wool. If lie does 
not buy wool on its merits alone, paying accord¬ 
ing to value, the sooner you tell Mm you caunoL 
trade with him, the better for you and the manu¬ 
facturer. 
There is no greater imposition perpetrated on 
sheep men than this practice of employing buy¬ 
ers, with fixed prices, to perambulate the country 
and oiler A, B and 0 the same price for their 
wool, when the condition and <[nality of the 
fleeces of these respective shepherd’s flocks ure 
as unlike as is the shape of the letters represent¬ 
ing their respective names. It is an easy matter 
to regulate and fix the price of a class of goods; 
for the cost of production is determined by iho 
price of the material and labor; but the price of 
the material used in manufacture must be de¬ 
termined by it-; quality and the supply. Let 
there be a little firmness on the part of the pro¬ 
ducer, and he may regulate this matter of wash¬ 
ing sheep to suit himself. 
A STRIKING DIFFERENCE. 
I called recently upon A. R. Whitney, of 
Franklin Grove, Lee county, a quiet, observing, 
and thinking gentleman. Wo talked of orchard¬ 
ing, and I have written what I learned from him 
on that, subject Incidentally the subject of deep 
plowing was introduced. He said he had never 
had but one man, as a plowman, who knew how 
to plow, lie was an Irish-English plowman, 
who hail done nothing but hold the plow all his 
life, lie would not plow a crooked furrow, nor 
a wide one; nor would he cut and cover, nor 
pass any ground that was not properly turned. 
Mr. W. had given him orders to plow deep, and 
he did so. He did it quietly, steadfastly, and 
with marked progress daily. The orchard re¬ 
ferred to was planted on the land so plowed. It 
feels its influence to-day. 
But talking of the marked effects of good 
plowing and the advantage of turning the soil 
a little deeper each succeeding year, Mr. 
Whitney said he had a piece of ground ad¬ 
joining a field belonging to his neighbor. Each 
field was plowed and sown with spring wheat 
three successive years. Thu soil and its condi¬ 
tion at the start were similar. 
The first year, the plowing—which was done in. 
the fall—was the ordinary depth—say three lo 
four inehes. Crops much alike. The second 
season Whitney ordered the plowman to plow 
his field six inches deep. It was so plowed. 
The neighbor duplicated the plowing of the pre¬ 
vious year. W.'s crops gained the second year 
over the first, and over his neighbor's. Figures 
not given. The third year W. ordered the plow 
to go niuo inches deep. The neighbor still ad¬ 
hered to the Original depth. The latter got nine 
and a hall' bushels of wheat to the acre; Whit¬ 
ney, thirty-six bushels per acre. Neither had 
manured; there was no difference, in the time of 
plowing. In the last Case there was a difference 
in the time of seeding; for W. said lie found he 
could get ou his deep plowed ground to work it, 
in spring, ten days before bis neighbor could 
touch his shallow plowing. There was no differ¬ 
ence in the character of the soil—only in the 
depth it was plowed, and in the resulting crop! 
Plow an inch Deeper!— I see that some of 
the. agricultural press are reviving the old cry:— 
“Plant one acre more." 1 modestly urge as an 
amendment -Plow one inch deeper! 
The thinking farmer will not need to be told 
that this practice will do more to increase the 
aggregate crop, if adopted by every farmer, than 
if the advice of contemporaries was practiced 
with the number of acres,* two instead of one. 
If we call the average depth of plowing four 
inches, the adding one Inch to this depth will bo 
equivalent to adding onc-lburth to the productive 
power of each acre of cultivated land. There is 
little doubt that on most soils more than this 
amount will be added; for it will not only add to 
the amounl of land cultivated, but increase the 
productive power of that previously broken. 
Plow one inch deeper! 
RURAL AND SUBURBAN HOMES. 
The Goddess of Fashion asserts her sway in 
matters concerning the erection and adornment 
of our houses and grounds almost as strongly as 
she does in those pertaining to dress and equi¬ 
page. There is a fashionable style of dwellings, 
as well as of bonnets. Men are governed almost 
as much by the opinion of the world, when 
they determine upon what sort,of a house they 
will build, as when they order a coat or a hat. 
Wo say almost; for it is evident that individual 
tastes are more generally consulted in the funner 
case than in the latter. Fashion, as it relates to 
dwellings, is not quite so capricious and tyranni¬ 
cal as fashion ill dress. Let a man build a house 
in Boston, upon an entirely new and original 
plan, and altogether unique in its aspect, it will 
have but little immediate effect upon the world 
around; but if a milliner in New York add 
another story to a lady’s hat, thefashioiiable world 
is on tip-toe at once; the novelty is contagious, it 
Is revolutionary, it is aggressive. 
An economical man will, however, be as cer¬ 
tainly battled in any attempt to keep pace with 
the fashions, as regards form and arrangement of 
the house and its surroundings, as he will if ho 
tries Lo be always dressed a la mode. Fash¬ 
ionable styles are generally extravagant. We 
should first give the homo an appearance of 
taste aud fitness, and adaptability to circum¬ 
stances and surroundings; after that. If one 
desires to make it a means for display, of course 
he is at liberty to do so. The form and propor¬ 
tions of the structure we erect should be deter¬ 
mined somewhat by its location, and by the shape 
and extent and position of the ground upon which 
it is desired to place it; and, on the other hand, 
the grounds ought to be laid out and arranged iu 
conformity to the style and size of the building. 
To illustrate:—It would show but little taste and 
judgment for a man to put up a large, expensive 
brick or stone house, at a short distance from a 
city, upon a lot of a quarter of an uere, with 
scarcely room enough for him to place it more 
than thirty feet from the road, and no chance for 
surrounding it with shrubbery, or trees, or a gar¬ 
den. Or, suppose one is In possession of a park 
Of thirty acres, upon which he wishes to locate a 
rich and elegant country seat, and which is 
diversified with grove and knoll, and rock, lawn 
•f. Vafc? : ;i .Jl'- ~ r 
j\_ (JOTL'AGM OR’ OJVTIG STORY- 
The accompanying design of a very pretty 
one-story cottage originally appeared in a work 
entitled Village and Farm Cottages. We re¬ 
publish it in further answer tu the recent inquiry 
for “one or two plans for a snug, cheap, conven¬ 
ient cottage — not a farm house exactly, but a 
small, cozy, little house.” Some may prefer this 
plan to the one given two weeks ago. Wo need 
not say it. is neat, and tasteful — all can see this. 
This cottage must have been recently built, for 
the honey-sticklea and running roses have not yet 
grown half way up the columns, and the porch 
is entirely Imre. The artist, perhaps, was more 
anxious lo show the manner of construction, than 
how beautiful the cottage could be made to ap- 
peur by the graceful drapery of nature. I [e had, 
however, an eye for the beautiful, for how much 
of life and grace is added to the picture, by the 
little group of sportive children — these (lowers 
of the family- these rose-buds of the garden. 
The influence tufa tasteful abode upon the minds 
and manners of children, and even upon the tem¬ 
pers of all the inmates, is a matter well worthy 
of attention. Who would look for anything but 
peace and quiet, and the kindliest affection — the 
joyous home— in such a pretty cottage? 
A cottage of only one story, is, of course, less 
influenced by the wind; the rooms are all on a 
level, and, therefore, the “house-work” is more 
easily done, without the tiresome climbing up 
stairs, which, in many ill-arranged houses, 
doubles the labor of the housewife, There is no 
danger, either that the children will fall down 
stairs or from the chamber windows. There are 
some positions, too, in which such a low cottage 
would look butter than one of two stories. 
These are the principal advantages of a cottage 
of one story; but it must be borne in mind that 
they are not economical, as the same foundation 
or lake, and capable of being laid out in walks 
and drives, and planted with a variety of trees 
and fruits and shrubs; we would give him but 
little credit for good sense if he expended six or 
eight thousand dollars in adorning aud beautify¬ 
ing his grounds, and then erected a ten hundred 
dollar house, within half bow-shot of the high¬ 
way. There should be conformity between the 
structure and the features of the adjacent inclo¬ 
sure. There should be an adaptation of the 
means at hand to the end required. 
There should be such an arrangement in every 
man’s home, that comfort shall be secured, but 
not at the expense of beauty and fitness in its gen¬ 
eral appearance. Especially, it is thought, so 
much should not be laid out upon the house 
itself as to leave nothing to be applied on the 
lawn and garden and orchard. Convenience and 
suitability must lie secured in the dwelling by all 
means, but the out-door arrangements ought to 
have mure attention than they frequently receive. 
Country places are lacking, very generally, in 
just this particular. The house absorbs the 
thought, attention and means of the proprietor, 
while garden-, yard and fruilery come in, if at all, 
as an after consideration. In consequence of 
this, rural homes, with an assortment of ever¬ 
green and other ornamental trees, with a well- 
ordered garden and lawn, and an orchard bear¬ 
ing a constant succession of fruit, are very rare. 
Farmers’homes compare very unfavorably in this 
respect with those located in the vicinity of cities 
arid villages. In these there is, as a rule, some 
attention paid to the arrangement and appear¬ 
ance of the accessories to the house. 
As an accepted idea, a “ tanner’s place” means 
a comfortable, not very expensive or pretentious 
house; a yard, large or small, with a lew trees in 
and roof are required as for a two-story house. 
The same amount of room is, therefore, obtained 
at a less expense in a house of two stories. 
8 IS d 6 
r br T^ 
U 06 K to 10 I 
’ P 
0 5 X IOJO 
1 2 X 14 
12 * 14 
In building a house with sleeping-rooms on 
the lower floor, we would advise that it be at 
least one foot above the natural surface of the 
ground, and that proper means be taken to well 
drain and ventilate the cellar, and to carry off all 
stugnaut water from the grounds immediately 
around the house, as nothing is so injurious as 
sleeping in a damp and Impure atmosphere. 
The above plan shows a very fair sized parlor 
and living-room, two bod-rooms, kitchen, wash¬ 
room and closets. The kitchen, we think too far 
from the living-room, and altogether loo small, 
but it is impossible to get all desirable con¬ 
veniences in so small a house. 
it, a small vegetable garden, and,,an array, more 
or less imposing, of barns and sheds; while a 
“suburban home” is a rather large and costly 
building of some architectural pretentions, a 
neatly kept lawn, gravel walks, a variety of trees 
and shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, and a 
well arranged garden, radiant with blossoms, as 
well us capable of ministering to the “support of 
the family.” This is no invidious comparison. 
Each has its faults, and each its beauties. What 
we would urge here is, that farmers should make 
their homes more beautiful and attractive, as to 
their Outward features. Sprinkle them with 
flowers; add a few trees to your collection that 
will retain their foliage, and make the winter 
scene more cheerful. Screen every unsightly 
part and spread around them a bright, green, 
velvet carpet, that, shall give to every thing a 
neat and fresh appearance. 
Too much seclusion, in a home, is unpleasant 
and unprofitable. Too many trees in front of the 
dwelling render it dreary aud lonesome. The 
house should be visible from the road, and a full 
view of the passing objects should be a part of 
the Scenery from the front windows, and tiro 
veranda. Those who spend their time mostly 
within doors find it tiresome euougli, at best 
Let us not shut out from their sight what little of 
the outside world is represented by the passing 
traveler, the gay party of pleasure, or tlie steadily 
plodding loud. Let them at least have the privi¬ 
lege of looking out upon the constant pulsations 
of the life around them. Our days are uut many, 
at the longest; why should we spend them with- 
iu four walls so densely screened that we can 
have no apprehension of the great world without, 
but by actual contact witli it?—why shut out the 
evidence which we may daily enjoy, that there is 
