StjRE^ 
• ,i — 
i SINGLK INTO. H’lVW CENTS 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26,1863 
{ WHOLE NO. 728 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL -WKRKI.Y 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
with the present, our second [fifteenth] volume 
will, we believe, exhibit some decided improve¬ 
ments. Our facilities are superior to those pos¬ 
sessed at the commencement of tho work, and 
every indication is highly favorable. While wo 
wish to hold out no inducements nor excite an 
expectation which may not be realized, we may 
be permitted to say, that no reasonable effort or 
expense will be spared to exceed the promises 
made in our prospectus — and as evidence of tho 
manner in which former pledges have been 
redeemed, we refer to the volume of 5, the New- 
Yorker just closed.” 
Thirteen eventful years huvo passed since tho 
above was written and published, and thosa of 
our readers, and they are many, who have kept, 
us company the while, can bear witness that the 
Rural New-Yorker has ever and always 
maintained the Right and condemned tho 
Wrong—that it has earnestly If not ably ad¬ 
vocated the interests of the Industrial and 
Producing Classes, und ostracised speculators, 
harpies and all sorts of humbugs —and that, 
when the rebellion broke out and an internecine 
war devastated a large portion of this fair and 
fertile land, it unconditionally espoused the 
cause of the Union, and, regardless of con¬ 
sequences, firmly stood by the Country, in 
adversity as it had in prosperity. Prom the 
commencement of the war—whioh, thank Gon 
and the People, seems nearly terminated—we 
have been of the opiuion expressed in this 
journal a twelvemonth ago, viz., that “it is the 
duty of the Press, and especially of the Agricul¬ 
tural Premi, to do all in ike power to facilitate 
and cheapen production in such a crisis — to 
herald every Improvement in culture and man¬ 
agement, and advise with caution and judgment. 
The course we have pursued Is known to our 
readers. From the opening of the rebellion we 
have endeavored to render tho Rural more 
useful to its patrons and the country than ever 
before. We saw but one way to crush the hydra¬ 
headed monster, secession, boldly proclaimed 
our position in the outset, and have since con¬ 
stantly aimed to strengthen the Union cause, 
especially by efforts to induce increased pro¬ 
ductiveness throughout the Loyal States.” 
Now, however, we begin to see the beginning 
of tho end of the rebellion. “ The world moves,” 
and the Union,causa is makiiig decided “pro¬ 
gress and improvement.” Witness the fact that 
this number of the Rural will be sent to, and 
read in, maDy States where the paper could not 
penetrate a year ago — Louisiana, South Caro¬ 
lina, Arkansas, Texas, etc. The wandering 
sheep are coming (by inclination and necessity) 
back to the fold. We anticipate a glorious 
re-union of States and People during the 
ensuing year, and therefore make our arrange¬ 
ments for 18G4 on an extensive scale — having 
resolved to do our part toward making it a year 
of Restoration and Jubilee. For this purpose 
wo have made anaDgementa which some deem 
unwise and extravagant, Considering our in¬ 
creased expenses and the low price at which the 
paper is afforded —but we shall endeavor to 
carry ont our plans to render the Fifteenth 
Volume of this journal superior, in all leading 
essentials, to either of its predecessors. 
We have already announced a new and im¬ 
portant feature—a department of Sheep Hus¬ 
bandry, to be edited by Dr. Randall, the able 
and popular author on that subject. And we 
now have the pleasure of announcing that P. 
Barry, Esq., author of “The Fruit Garden,” 
and formerly editor of The Horticulturist, has 
consented to become a regular contributor to the 
Horticultural Department of the Rural for the 
ensuing year. This will be gratifying to the 
thousands of our readers interested in Horticul¬ 
ture,—for Mr. Barry’s ability as a writer, and 
long experience and eminent success as a Horti¬ 
culturist, have given him, a reputation second to 
that of no author or teacher on the subject in 
America. That the writings of one so accom¬ 
plished in the whole field of Horticulture will be 
sought with avidity and read with pleasure and 
profit by thoEe interested in the subject, we need 
not predict in this connection. 
To all who have in any manner contributed 
to the success of this journal during the year 
now terminating, we tender grateful acknowl¬ 
edgments, and, in conclusion (as we said a 
mouth ago) 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. Our ear¬ 
nest endeavor will be to supply in the future, as 
in the past, the best combined Agricultural, 
Literary and Family Newspaper obtainable. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Oorp* of Able ANtlKtiinU null Contributor*. 
CHA8. D. EBAG DON. W«nt«rn Corresponding Editor, 
Thu Rural Nkw-Yokkkr Ig designed to be unsurpassed 
in Valne, Parity and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful in Appearanon. Its Conductor devotes hie 
personal attention to the snpemrfon of its varjous 
departments, and earnestly labor* to render tho Rural an 
eminently Reliable Gnide on all the Important Practical. 
Scientific and otherSubjecte intimately connected with the 
busies* of those whose Interests it toalously advocates, 
Ab a Family Jovkwai. It Is eminently Instructive and 
Entertaininir— belmr so conducted that it can bo safely 
taken to the Home# of people of intelliuence, 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 oomptele Agricultural, 
Literary aj»i> Family Newspaper in America 
FINIS TO VOLUME XIV 
For the fourteenth time it becomes our duty 
to indite an article appropriate to the close of 
a Year and Volumeoi the Rural New-Yorker. 
A custom whereof our practice runneth not to 
the contrary renders the occasion a lilting one on 
which to review the past and advert to the future 
of this journal— and yet we are inclined to 
depart from the established rale, and circum¬ 
scribe our harangue in imitation of the Indies 
who have recently ignored the amplitude of 
spreading hoops for the limited “Sly Quaker.” 
This inclination is the stronger from the fact that 
a month ago, (to wit, in our Issue of Nov. 28th last 
past,) under the heading of “ The Rural Nkw- 
Yorker for 1864,” we dilated at some length 
upon the past, present and future of the enter¬ 
prise in which we have so long and earnestly 
been engaged. And still, though not so old as 
some of our contemporaries—and especially such 
as base their chief claims for support upon an 
age which betokens dotage— we are disposed to 
be somewhat garrulous, and to celebrate the 
anniversary in our usual manner, viz., by talking 
to, il' not with, our numerous and wide-spread 
parish of readers. 
But if wo are to be garrulous we shall Ire 
expected to repeat ourselves more or less. 
Suppose we do this by quoting a few sentences 
from the Rural of Dec. 26,1850, which we have 
just been reading. With two or three amend¬ 
ments, which we make in brackets, what we 
extract is applicable at the present moment. 
Listen while we read it in thiH wise:—“ The close 
of the year, and with it the initial [fourteenth] 
volume of the Rural New-Yorker, furnishes a 
fitting opportunity for a review of the past and 
an allusion to the future. Yet, appropriate as a 
somewhat extended essay might be fruitful 
and suggestive as is the theme—the limited 
space in which this article must appear, admon¬ 
ishes us to beware§of prolixity. We can, there¬ 
fore, merely men'ion a few matters pertinent to 
the season and occasion. And if our remarks 
seem personal, and include business affairs, the 
kind reader, ‘into whose eyes we are now look¬ 
ing’ — and to whom we trust our fifty-two visits 
have been both welcome and entertaining—will 
bear in mind that the present is tho most suita¬ 
ble time for posting up accounts and striking a 
balance sheet with the world and mankind. 
Attentive reader, the first [fourteenth] volume 
of the Rural New-Yorker ia completed, and 
you are the most competent umpire to decide in 
regard to Its merits. Whether our efforts to 
fulfill the pledges made in the outset, have 
proved successful and satisfactory, you can best 
determine. Guided, a3 we trust, by a more 
worthy motive than mere personal gain, we 
have not only endeavored faithfully to redeem 
those promises, but to discharge the duty in 
such a manner as would redound to the present 
benefit and future well-being of all our readers. 
You may, perhaps, remember reading, among 
others, this sentence in our first number:—‘Our 
aim is to furnish a reliable and unexceptionable 
Family Paper, for both Town and Country- 
one which shall interest land instrnct the young, 
and prove a valuable assistant, to “hoee more 
advanced in years and experience To accom¬ 
plish this object we have earnestly and con¬ 
stantly labored — even during days and weeks 
when we were admonished, by failure of health 
and strength, that the task was too arduous to be 
performed with safety. * " * In comparison 
Our engraving represents a Yorkshire pig, owned by Mr. Bruce, of MilKown Castle, Ireland, and nearly two years old wnen the portrait 
was takeD, (in the winter ot 1860-61.) She was awarded the first prize at the Winter Fat Cattle Show of the Royal Dublin Society, (1861,) in 
the class of “Single pigs, large breed, of any age,” and had previously received four first class prizes. The engraving is copied from the 
Irish Farmers' Gazette, and we think ir, a perfect model of a large sized pig. Can any of our readers furnish a portrait of a better porkor ? 
will smooth all the rough edges as he often does 
for educated and titled men. Give us your facts, 
figures and suggestions, and we will render 
them acceptable and available. 
— How many of our practical, sensible friends 
will contribute to Volume XiV of the Rural ? 
A RURAL LECTURE REPEATED. 
TARTRATE OF POTASH IN GRAPES 
A correspondent referring to the commu¬ 
nication recently published in the Rural, by 
L. 11. Lanowortuy, Esq., ou the Clinton grape, 
its origin, <&c., wishes some information about 
tartaric acid, which has been found, we believe, 
in the Clinton more abundantly than in any 
other variety tested in this section. We cannot 
better answer the inquiries than by giving the 
following communication furnished for our pageB 
by Prof. Dewey: 
Tartrate of potash, or rather the bi-tartrate oi 
potash, is so common in the grapes of Europe as 
to bo thought essential to the excellence of this 
admirable fruit. It must be equally necessary 
in the grapes, cultivated or native, in our coun¬ 
try. It is strange that the opinion should have 
been originated that this salt is not to bo found 
in our grapes, excellent as they are for fruit and 
in the wine manufactured from them. It is grat¬ 
ifying to know that the matter is already settled 
right 
-In the Patent Office Report for 1850, on Agri¬ 
culture, are two papers from two distinguished 
chemists on this subject Tho first is from Dr. 
Jackson, on page 57, and the second from Prof. 
Antisell, on page 59. 
“Dr. Jackson examined the juice of thirty- 
seven forms of the grapes in cultivation, and 
found tartaric acid, without which the tartrate 
cannot exist, in every one of them, varying from 
six-tenths of one per cent to 1.9 percent The 
latter amount was obtained from tho Clinton and 
the Bartlett grape, near Boston, and the former 
from the Sweet. Water and Bull’s Concord seed¬ 
ling. Even two per cent was obtained from 
No. 35 of Weber, on page 68. The average of the 
whole is more than one per cent., an adequate 
quantity. 
“Prof. Antisell found tartaric acid in the 
Catawba grajio and the Halts obtained from it, in 
Green county, Ohio. Some salts from grape 
juice wore sent to the Rural New-Yorker, 
which seemed to contain the same. 
“it is obvious to remark, that as potash is one of 
Hid ingredients of the bi-tartrate, there should be 
the adequate supply of potash for the grape vino 
to feed upon, as its roots will take it readily from 
tho earth. Only a small quantity is needed, 
which will bo found in the best vegetable ma¬ 
nure, or may be easily supplied from wood ashes,” 
jjarmers vvi-ito Aoout Banning. 
Yes, and having written, “don't forget to 
remember” to send your efforts, lucubrations or 
essays to the Agricultural Press for publication, 
that others may be benefited by their perusal. 
The busy season is past, your crops secured, and 
now comes the period of leisure and recreation— 
a time when you can “ balance tho books,” tig- 
dre out profits or losses, and see where you have 
i; missed it,” or gained by this or that operation. 
It is also the time for review and reflection, and 
to make calculation?, predicated upon pust ex¬ 
perience and observation, tor the future. Of 
course yon must cypher, plan and think / and 
while about It, these long winter evenings, why 
not jot down some of the more Important items 
of thought and practice for publication, that 
others may learn how you failed with this or 
succeeded with that crop?—why you prefer a 
certain variety of grain or vegetable, and why, 
after Hying several, you have decided to keep 
and breed only certain kinds of cattle, sheep, or 
swine? now, also, about drainage, fence?, and 
other farm improvements ? Let us, or rather our 
myriad of readers, know about those things. 
“ Teach one another” by giving the results of 
your observation and experience. As a contem¬ 
porary says, “Do good and communicate”—but 
as we say, do good by communicating. Thou¬ 
sands of our readers—practical, experienced and 
observing men—who never wrote a line tor pub¬ 
lication, ought to be court-martialed for their 
neglect of duty in the matter. Home mean to 
write, but procrastinate; others are too timid- 
fearful of criticism ; and others, still, think, as 
they “ never wrote tor the press,” their style, or 
grammar, or some other (to them) bugbear is a 
sufficient excuse. But it won’t do, gentlemen. 
You know some tilings better than editors or 
others, and you ought to tell them jiro bono pvjy 
lico—iot the pubHo benefit. Wake up friends! 
You can talk sentibly—why not write ? Instead 
of spending your time and breath in telling two, 
three or a half dozen about an improved mode 
of cultivation, cr useful discovery, write and 
send it to the Rural, and it will thus be com¬ 
municated to nearly three hundred thousand 
persons I Think of that! The tongue, well 
managed, is a good thing, but the steam press is 
“ a great institution.” 
Send us anything practical and sensible—use¬ 
ful to your fellow cultivators— and we will guar¬ 
antee that it shall he read in every loyal State of 
this Union, the Canadas, England, Scotland, Ire¬ 
land, and other countries. Every intelligent 
man knows something better than any other man 
under heaven—and having a clear idea of his 
subject he has only to write it out in tho same 
words he Uses In conversation. No matter 
about, the grammar or style—our proof-reader 
SEASON, CROPS, &c. ( IN ILLINOIS 
We are just now experiencing the first touch 
of winter. Yesterday it rained moderately all 
day and finished off last night with snow—which 
is considerably drifted. No frost in the ground. 
The plow has been running on my farm the past 
week. Sloughs and wator-coqrses very low- for 
the time of year. The corn is all harvested, and 
proves about one-third of a good erop on an av¬ 
erage; some fields on tho flat land would have 
scarcely been worth harvesting at the ordinary 
price of corn, and some on high and rolling land 
that escaped the frost was nearly a full crop. I 
think the drouth of summer did quite as much 
damage to the crops us the early frost, for had the 
summer been wet enough all crops but buck¬ 
wheat, cotton and tobacco would have been so 
far advanced as to have received but little injury. 
As it 1 b, the last mentioned crops are a total 
failure, or nearly so. Tho sugar cane is about as 
near a failure as ibo corn. Some very good 
sirup has been made, even from unripe cane. 
The high prices of all kinds of farm produce 
renders this a season of unusual prosperity. The 
Autumn was a favorable one for farm labor, and 
most farmers have their land plowed and in 
readiness for spring crops, which will insure 
early seeding, one of the essential requisites for 
the production Of large crops, nay is very high, 
wild prairie ranging from ?0 to $10 per tun, and 
timothy $2 higher at R. R. stations where much 
ofit is being pressed for shipment. Hay has nev¬ 
er been more plenty than it is here at present, 
and never BO much sent away. There is usually 
only a very limited local demand for it. 
Tho sheep fever runs rather high. Almost 
every farmer who baa no sheep is trying to buy. 
Many sheep have been brought here from Ohio 
and sold for four dollars to five dollars cash per 
head. Onr prairies are well adapted to sheep 
husbandry, as, in fact, they are to all branches o' 
fanning. Au old New York sheep farmer wJO 
has been here twenty years, told me a few Jays 
ago that sheep did much better here than iu New 
York. The dairy business is also attracting 
considerable attention. There is no better dairy 
country in the world that I know of, and people 
are beginning to discover that exclusive grain 
farming is rather a prec&rionj business, and ex¬ 
hausting to the soil. The associate dairy system 
now being tried in New York would be likely 
to succeed well here, and will probably be soon 
introduced. S. W. Arnold. 
Cortland, Do Kalb Co., Illinois, Dee. 14tb, 1883. 
Deferred, —In order to give Title Page, 
Index, &c., our space for reading matter is 
limited this week, and we aie necessarily obliged 
to defer several seasonable articles from contri¬ 
butors and correspondents. We are also con¬ 
strained to omit various inquiries, items and 
advertisements which were designed for publica¬ 
tion before the close of our present volume. 
