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TgRICULTURT 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-EOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1863 
{WHOLE NO. 724 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AM ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
RURAL SERMONS.-NO. I 
A wise man will hear and will increase learning; and 
a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. 
—Provbrbs, Ch. I, 5. 
1. Be a Good Listener .— Learn to listen.— 
Listen attentively and critically—not captiously. 
Analyze what you bear. Sift the truth from the 
chaff of verbiage. Treasure up the beauties of 
lauguuge and sentiment. Store the drops of 
wisdom as the bee stores its honey. Be in 
search of truth and wisdom in all your listening. 
Let what you hear make you think. Follow 
suggestion. Let her lead you to avail yourself 
of all the advantages of counsel. You may be 
a good listener and yet not adopt all that you 
hear. It is not necessary you should commit 
yourself to the sentiments of others. Be content 
to listen unless truth is manifestly imperiled. 
Listen to the old and young. Accept the bless¬ 
ings Gon gives you in this form and bo thankful. 
Let them aid you iu the practical affairs oflife as 
well as in spiritual matters. It is one of the 
ways, and one of the b«Rt ways to acquire knowl¬ 
edge. Counsel should strengthen us in our good 
purposes. It should confirm us Iu our desire to 
avoid evil and evil associations. “A wiso man 
will hear.” That is the first assertion. Be will 
not turn away from, nor scorn Counsel. Let the 
young remember this. Let the bigoted make a 
note of it. Let the opinionated think of it. It is 
one of the characteristic features of the wise 
man. Be hears. 
2. Increase Learning .—Y <t only increase in 
burning, but increase it. ' Add to the general 
fund. Contribute something. You should listen, 
but you should also impart knowledge. You 
should seek it for its own sake, and use it to con¬ 
serve the public good. There are a thousand 
ways of doing this. Set down and with pencil 
note such modes of increasing learning as occur 
to you. Oneway of increasing your own knowl¬ 
edge Is by undertaking to Impart,it. Knowledge 
imparted is not knowledge lost. The more we 
give the more we receive. The effort, to give be¬ 
gets knowledge. The educational work is a 
noble one. It develops the best powers of the 
human mind. It strengthens the noblest prompt¬ 
ings of the human heart. It forges links of last¬ 
ing friendship. It begets fraternal feelings and 
charitable relations. It binds the human family 
together by a common bond. It benefits the 
whole world, and its influence will extend to 
future generations. It should be increased and 
multiplied until the inhabitants of the whole 
earth shall learn to live uuderstundingly. 
3. Get Understanding. — Knowledge is not 
enough. We may possess it abstractly; but it is 
of little avail unless we can apply ft. Common, 
practical sense is needed. We learn to read 
Scripture truths by the light of Revelution. We 
must learn to use knowledge. And we should 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able AMMlntant* and Contributor®. 
CJ1A8. D. BBAQDON« Western Corresponding Editor, 
Th* Run a i. New-Yorker U designed to b* anrarpRsiwd 
in Vxlne, Purity and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful in App»amnoe. Its Conductor devotes Ilia 
Personal attention to the supervision of its various 
departments, and earnestly labors to render tlio Rural an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the imporuuit Practical, 
Scientific and other Subjects intimately connected with the 
business of those whose Interests It zealously advocates. 
As a Family JomvAL it is eminently Instructive and 
Entertaining —being §o conducted that It can be safely 
taken to the Horr.ii* of people of intelligence, taste and 
discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural. Horticul¬ 
tural, SoieoUflc, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate Engiarings, than any other 
journal,—rendering it the most complete Agricultural, 
Literary and Family Newspaper in America 
The Postage on Ui. Rural Nkw-Yorkkh Is only fi eta 
per qnarter to any part of this -State, (except Mo.roe coun¬ 
ty, where it goes free,) and the same to any other Loyal 
State, if paid quarterly in advance where received. 
CP" For Terms ami other particulars, see last page 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER POR 1864. 
A NEW AND IMPORTANT FEATURE. 
The Fifteenth Year and Volume of the Rural 
New-Yorker will commence on the 2d day of 
January ensuing. It seems but yesterday since, 
with ali the hopefulness and confidence of early 
manhood, we issued the Prospectus for its first 
volume, and firmly resolved to put furth every 
proper effort to render the enterprise a success. 
The task proved more difficult thau anticipated; 
but after year? of toil—our expenditures upon 
the paper annually exceeding the receipts from 
its publication—the Rural began to pay mod¬ 
erately, and was ultimately established upon a 
permanent basis. The struggle was long and 
arduous, and the more discouraging because 
many good friends, experienced in business, 
prophesied failure—and such would have been 
the result had we heeded their well-meant ad¬ 
vice or acknowledged any such word as fail in 
our vocabnlary. But when success 
tially achieved, it was 
PEIHOREE OF HOLD DROP AND SWEEPSTAKES. 
was par- 
more gratifying for the 
reason that the contest bad been severe, pro¬ 
longed, and so generally considered doubtfuL 
It gave ua confidence, however, in our own 
judgment, and taught, us to rely more upon 
industry, energy and perseverance, than that 
so-called genius which is the sole capital of 
many a wrecked mariner upon the Ocean of 
Journalism. And it was this confidence, or 
self-reliance, (coupled with the belief that our 
readere would appreciate and second every 
laudable endeavor in that direction,) that caused 
us, from year to year to make increased efforts 
and expenditures to improve the Rural —to 
render it more valuable in jfoa Contents, and 
more acceptable iu Style and Appearance. It 
was this “faith iu works,” and confidence in its 
due appreciation by the public, that induced up, 
in the summer of 1861-just after the breaking 
out of the traitorous rebellion, and when many 
of oitr contemporaries were dismayed, and not a 
few shortened sail or sought the port, of safety 
by discontinuing business —to increase rather 
than diminish the expenses incurred in the pub¬ 
lication of the Rural. 
And it is in the faith and confidence which 
guided us in former years that we make arrange¬ 
ments for the Fifteenth Volume of the Rural 
New-Yorker upon a more extensive and 
expensive ecale than heretofore, notwithstanding 
discouragements (including the advancing prices 
of paper, materials, wages, etc.,) which would 
cause many to recede from present rather than 
incur additional pecuniary risks and responsi¬ 
bilities. But confident of a generous response 
from old subscribers, and also from the pub¬ 
lic, we have resolved to advance, rather than 
retreat or remain inactive. This may not be 
prudent,— but a forxeard movement is deter¬ 
mined upon, and rime will decide as to its 
wisdom. Though our arrangements for the en¬ 
suing year are not yet fully completed—being 
delayed by recent illness, while convalescing 
from which this is written—we can safely an¬ 
nounce that the Rural for 1864 will be superior 
to the present volume (and we think to either of 
a iiis is unaerstamnng. The bumble, common 
man, whose knowledge is related to his wants in 
life, and the development of usefulness from all 
its objects is a better counsellor than the learned 
man who has never hmsbed against the hustling 
world. It is understanding that gives strength 
and force to the counsellor, lie discerns the re¬ 
lation of ldeatt to each other and to things. He 
comprehends the capacity of a man or object to 
serve him. ne is able to givo each a place 
where it may do the most good service in a given 
time. We need to listen if we would learn. It 
is tho pavement, over which we reach under¬ 
standing. We need to increase learning; not 
only our own, but that, of others. This will 
involve the use of understanding and develop it. 
For we cannot teach what we do not understand; 
and tho act of teaching will discover to us how 
little we know worth imparting. It is better to 
know less and understand more. And the more 
we study the above text the more wonderful and 
subtle will its meaning and scope appear to us. 
Listen, Learn, Understand and Teach! Ora 
et labora. 
unimpaired —thus adding a very essential ele¬ 
ment, without diminishing the value or popularity 
of the paper iu other respects. To accomplish 
this will be our earnest endeavor. 
In conclusion, we respectfully present the 
Rural to its numerous ardent and generous 
friends for continued support—basing its claims 
solely upon such merits as it may possess. We 
shall expend so much upon the next volume 
that we shall probably have little or nothing to 
spare in the way of outside advertising or pre¬ 
miums, though we may make a venture in that 
direction. Considering the present and pros¬ 
pective prices of paper, wages, etc., it is not 
probable that a farthing can be made on copies 
of the Rural tor 1864 at the lowest club rate— 
and yet, as it is difficult if not unwiee to change 
terms, we intend to adhere to those already pub¬ 
lished, and still endeavor to supply the best 
combined Aoricultckal, Literary and Fam¬ 
ily Newspaper obtainable. In furtherance of 
this object we frankly ask the co-operation of the 
friends of the paper everywhere—that they will 
kindly aid in maintaining and augmenting its 
circulation and usefulness by introducing it to 
the notice and support of others, and contributing 
the results of their observation and experience 
for publication in its pages. 
AMERICAN MERINO RAM “ 8WEEPSTAKEB.” 
We give above a cut of the American Merino 
ram “Sweepstakes,” taken from Randall’s 
Practical Shepherd.” This remarkable animal 
was bred and is owned by Edwin Hammond, 
Esq., of Middlebury, Vermont, who is declared 
in the Practical Shepherd to be “the great and 
leading breeder” of this family of sheep, (the 
improved Infantado,)andtohave “ effected quite 
as marked an improvement in the American Me¬ 
rino, as Mr. Bakewell effected among the long- 
wooled sheep of England.” 
presses his own characteristics unusually strong 
on his get. He took the first premium of the 
as a yearling, and as a grown ratu. In 1861 he 
met several of the best rams of the State (the 
best of his competitors were got by himself) in a 
sweepstakes and was victorious. Mr. Hammond 
alogfcal map, if we may so term it, perfect, a 
parallel record should be kept, giving a short 
description of each animal, or at least each lead¬ 
ing animal named in it. Examples of such a 
Bheep record are given in the Practical Shepherd, 
page 412. 
