unman 
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J 82 Buffalo St., Rochester. 
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Trnuc ($3.00 PER YEAR. 
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FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY 
MOOEE’S EUEAL NEW-YOEKEE, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Associates and Contributors, 
HON. henry s. r.yndall, ll. n„ 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
G. F. WILCOX AND A. A. HOPKINS, Associate Editors. 
Dr. DANIEL LEE ani> Hon. THEO. C. PETERS, 
Southern CorrcHpondJug Editors. 
HIRAM HUMPHREY and REUBEN D. JONES, 
Assistant and Commercial Editors. 
Special Contributors. 
F. R. ELLIOTT, E. W. STEWART, 
JOHN K. SWEET, JAMES VICK, 
ST ,T. HOLMES, MRS. L. E. LYMAN. 
AGRICULTURAL 
NOVEL DESIGN FOR A FAMILY RESIDENCE - ELEVATION. 
I Floor .— A, Parlor, 1.5x34; About twenty-seven yards area. B, Hall. C, Sitting-Room, 
Family Slocplng-R&om, 13x18, with Closets, of, d. ' E, Dining-Room, 13x34; China Closet, 
to Cellar. I, Fuel Room, 6x14. Chamber Floor .—A, A, A, 01mmhers. B, B, P*. Closets, 
full explanation of the design, read the accompanying elaborate article by the architect,—Mi 
VOLUME XIX — INTRODUCTORY 
Reader, before you is the initial number of a 
new Year and Volume of the Rural New-Yorker. 
Necessarily gotten up in haste, amid the vexations 
attendant upon a change involving the labor and 
skill of type-founders, paper-makers, engravers, ste¬ 
reotypers, printers and pressmen, as well as editors 
and writers, we must still present, it as a specimen 
of the enlargement and improvements promised, 
though confident that wo shall do better in luture. 
And perhaps it is well that the ordeal through which 
we have passed has prevented us from attaining the 
perfection desired; for wc much prefer to improve 
as we advance, rather than to start a new volume 
with extra illustrations, reading, etc., and then retro¬ 
grade,—a plan “more honored iu the breach than 
the observance,” albeit often adopted by respectable 
journals, and even those claiming superiordignity and 
ability. Our promises are for the whole volume, yet 
we hope to render each and every number acceptable 
and valuable—equal to the best issues of those 
papers which make spasmodic efforts to start in a 
A happy and prosperous New Year to you, honest 
farmer, and trusting that we are"permitted to help* 
make it so, let us begin by looking over the ac¬ 
counts, surveying the field of last year’s operations,, 
and drawing some useful conclusions therefrom for 
the. benefit or the next. Taken altogether, wi» T nfc 
1807 a tolerably prosperous year for farmers ? True;, 
some of us dwelt in the region where rain fell too 
plentifully; more, probably, where it was scant uui 
we called it very dry, and a few in the belt where 
the happy medium of moisture and dryness pre¬ 
vailed. We found a great deal of fault with the 
weather, (that’s a chronic liubit, you know, with 
farmers,) but after all have we not got along with 
our work pretty well, harvested good crops, received 
a good deal of money for them, and, all things eonr 
sidered, are we not fairly prosperous ? It geenu* to¬ 
ils, too, that the dry weather farmers, which ass the 
most numerous, have got considerable advantage 
over those who were too much “out in the wet-.”' 
Their crops yielded more and arc secured In better? 
order. Dry moton# make yowl ero-ps if the crop* wa¬ 
in presenting No. 1. of Vol. XIX, our first duty— 
after wishing the reader a “ Happy New Year’’—is 
to tender grateful and profound acknowledgments to 
each and all who have in any manner contributed to 
the remarkable success and prosperity of the Rural 
New-Yorker —to its myriads of warm friends and 
supporters all over the laud whose confidence and 
substantial encouragement have enabled us to so 
materially enlarge it and introduce corresponding 
improvements in its Contents, Style and Appearance. 
As those to whom we are thus indebted are both 
numerous and widely scattered throughout this 
broad Union, the Canadas, and even other lands, 
our acknowledgments must be somewhat Cosmo¬ 
politan in character, yet they are none the less cor¬ 
dial and sincere. To some thousands of Contribu¬ 
tors, Correspondents, and Agent-Friends, near and 
distant, wc are especially indebted for timely and 
valuable aid in augmenting both the value and cir¬ 
culation of this journal,—for, without the generous 
exercise of their ability and influence, it could, never 
have attained a tithe of its present prosperity and 
usefulness. While, therefore, we return grateful 
thanks to the multitude of ardent friends who have 
so kindly aud substantially aided the Rural iu the 
past, we bespeak a continuance of their favors,—and 
also frankly ask all others of our tens of thousands 
of subscribers, who can consistently do so, to second 
our efforts in like manuer—by contributing the re¬ 
sults of their experience aud observation for publica¬ 
tion, or efforts to augment and widen its circulation. 
Those familiar with this journal will require no 
explanation of its character or objects. They know 
that, with “Excelsior" as its inspiring Motto, aud ] 
11 Progress and Improvement" for its laudable Ob¬ 
jects, it has for eighteen years zealously and con¬ 
tinuously sought to promote the best interests of 
the Rural and other Industrial Classes — never, 
through either “ fear, favor or the hope of reward,’’ 
proving false to those interests, or failing to speak 
plainly and independently in regard to matters 
coming within its province. And it will be as out- 
spokeu and unflinching—as earnest in advocating the 
Right and condemning the Wrong—iu the future, 
as it has been in the past. To the many thousands 
whom we now address for the first time—the new 
subscribers from all sections—wo will say, introdne- 
torily, (as we have on similar occasions,) that “Our 
object from the commencement of the Rural New- 
Yorker has not been to furnish either an exclu¬ 
sively Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, Educa¬ 
tional, Literary, or News Journal, — but rather to 
combine all those, and thus present a paper unequaled 
in Value, Variety and Usefulness of Contents. Our 
earnest desire has been to make it an honest, hide- 
pendent, reliable and eminently useful Rural, 
1 Literary, aud Family Newspaper— correct in its 
teachings oil Practical Subjects, instructive aud 
CHAMBER FLOOR. 
PRINCIPAL FLOOR, 
tionable if the square room will not be the costlier | 
one of the two. The brick commonly used in con¬ 
structing the outer walls of an ordinary square 
house, would answer to build one of this kind, 
inside partitions and all. Inside partitions should 
be of brick, because the plastering then would all 
be alike; it is also better than on wood, and noise 
is not transmitted so readily. A four or a four and 
a half inch brick partition is quite sufficient in 
strength, if the work is well done; such is the com¬ 
mon practice in England, and what answers in 
England ought to in America. A ten inch hollow 
wall is all that is required on the outside; even that 
portion in circles could be built without headers, 
and still he abundantly strong. 
The complaint has constantly been made by archi¬ 
tects, builders, and plenty of other people who havo 
tried them, that hollow walls with the plastering on 
the brick render the rooms damp; hut in every case 
where such appears to he the truth, a thorough 
search for the cause has developed the fact that 
there was something wrong iu construction. 
Enough water cannot pass through a good four 
inch brick wall and across a two Inch air space, to 
saturate another good four inch wall, so as to render 
it either inconveniently damp or unhealthy, unless 
it has some other way of getting there besides that 
which comes battering against it in a ruin storm, 
if the gutters and conductors are leaky and the 
water comes dripping down the walls, or If the 
grouud is damp and the water runs up us it does in 
a sponge, the evil is no more than in a solid wall 
furred out, but is sooner apparent. Precautionary 
measures would prevent it in either case, and 
equally as well in the one as the other. 
entertaining to members of the Family Circle, of 
high moral tone, and entirely free from deception 
and quackery." Sueh has been our “platform ” for 
the past eighteen years—brief, explicit and compre¬ 
hensive—and such it will continue to be; for it is 
not only right, but bus rendered the Rural New- 
Yorker the most prosperous and widely circulated 
Journal of its Class. 
In conclusion, we are determined that the future 
of the Rural shall be worthy of its past, — and 
especially that the volume upon which we now 
enter, under the most favorable auspices, shall far 
excel either of its predecessors. This is no vain 
boast, for we have the means, facilities and talent 
at command,—ns well as a disposition to use them 
liberally,—to fully redeem all onr promises. For 
example, read the names of our Associate Editors 
and Contributors above — nearly all of whom are 
known as able authors or writers of experience, 
possessing much practical knowledge and also rare 
literary acquirements, indeed, far more confidently 
than last year, we can say that, having a corps of 
Editors and Contributors who are conversant with 
the condition and wiAits of the Industrial Classes of 
both America and Europe, w hy may not the Rural 
claim, without arrogance or pretension, to speak for, 
and in the interest of, the Rural Population of the 
whole Continent? With subscribers in every popu¬ 
lated section of our widely-extended Republic, (and 
also in the adjacent British Provinces, Europe, etc.,) 
it behooves us to bo well posted in regard to the 
best Interests, and true “Progress and Improve- 
Tms design, with accompanying plans, Is not pre¬ 
sented to the readers of the Rural as one which 
carries with it the recommendation of having been 
erected, and in use j in fact, the designer hardly 
expects that a building Till ever be executed from 
the plan at all; but hi has simply combined a 
number of ideas, gLcantj from the extensive col¬ 
lection at the Paris Exposition, and arranged them 
in the form of a residents 1 , which, it is thought, will 
prove to he a tolerable crevcnient one, if not quite 
as complete as a few families might require. 
Its novel aud leading ft thro is too prominent to 
need special mention, am the argument in favor of 
Its adoption is based oil the theory that, for the 
same amount of money, l better result can be ob¬ 
tained by employing ft graceful form aud simple 
finish than a simple form oid costly finish. Whether 
the present plan will aid n gaining converts to this 
theory is of but little i mscqueuce; this wc will 
venture to predict, that v hoover leads the fashion 
so far as to build a sittfcg or dining room in the 
form shown by the plan, will not live long enough 
to want to trade it for hi neighbor’s "best square 
room" or his “city coush’s" gaudy parallelogram. 
No doubt circular room! will be found costly to 
build; so, too, are square ones, with heavy walls, 
information they possess and may command sliouid. I 
be generally disseminated, discussed, digested md f 
brought within the scope of practice; and the « 
means to effect this lie In Farmers’ Clubs, Agrieul- / 
tural Fairs, Books and Journals. Winter gives the- | 
farmer some leisure, which should be improved in i 
every practicable way to gain such knowledge as will £ 
direct manual labor to more effective results. v 
Fodder and Feeding .—Coarse fodder should be fed 3 
first, leaving the best for the wanner weather of 
