Ml 
DES. %7 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES 
With the New Year begins a new era of 
“Progress and Improvement/* The experience 
of the Past, wo trust, will help us to do better 
work in tin* Future. If good resolutions are 
of any avail, we have plenty of them. If stimu¬ 
lus is needed, we have it in the lively and 
touching sympathy and words of commenda¬ 
tion and encouragement of our long-time 
friends, as well as in the pleasure we have for 
twenty-four years derived from our visits to 
and greetings from American Homes. 
Now, we have no time to expend in words. 
Our work for the year is ended. Tile work of 
the New Year will have been begun before this 
article Is read by lien At. readers. Of the char¬ 
acter of that work we need not speak. It will 
be just as earnest, careful and faithful to the 
interests of the classes with whom we co-opcr- 
ateas il has been in the past. No effort will be 
relaxed to give our readers full compensation 
for their money, their efforts in our behalf and 
for tbtir kind words, liolieve us I We appre¬ 
ciate all the Past has brought us from you, 
every one of you! We are not likely to forget 
in the future! We shall hope to lose no name 
from our list of friends! Wo work with faith 
that our New Year’s Call shall be madeto every 
one of our old and many new acquaintances. 
Wc believe we shall be greeted as kindly and 
considerately as any New Year's Caller. We 
shall bring you cordial wishes that the New 
Year may be a happy one ; and our wishes shall 
be expressed every week by the effort to con¬ 
tribute to that happiness. 
Thus, with a warm clasp of the hand, an 
earnest ami friendly look into your eyes, Reader, 
we write “ Finis " to the Twenty-Fourth Year of 
the Rural NKw-Yorkkk, in the confident be¬ 
lief that its Quarter-Centennial issues (for 1871) 
will prove more, valuable and acceptable than 
those of any preceding year. 
To Personal Friends.—The Editor of this 
Journal has not time to answer, by letter, the 
many kind greetings he is receiving from per¬ 
sonal friends in various parts of the country, 
and must therefore respond in this abrupt and 
printed style—saying, briefly, that although he 
cannot answer every correspondent in an ap¬ 
propriate manner, he sincerely appreciates the 
generous sentiments uniformly expressed. As 
soon as arduous duties permit he will endeavor 
to reply personally: meantime friends must 
take the will for the deed. The scores of 
Agents and others who have written for 
“documents’’ to aid in prosecuting I lie Whi¬ 
ter Campaign, have been properly answered by 
our new Publisher and his assistants, and wc 
can only add the assurance that the Rural 
New-Yorker for 1374 will be worthy the confi¬ 
dence and efforts of its numerous ardent sup¬ 
porters. 
A NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED 
Conti tic ting Jtiditor and X'ti'blinlier 
CHAS. D. BRAGDON, ANDREW S. FULLER, 
Awwoul.itc Editors. 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D., Cortland Village, N. Y„ 
Editor u* tkr Driartmiiat or Su&tr Humundby. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y., 
Editor of thr Dwabtyihni of Diiht Houbakdrt. 
- • l ITER MS, IN ADVANCE:® 
Subscription.— Single Copy, $2.31) per Year. To 
Clubs;—Five Copies, and one copy free to Agent or 
getter up of Club, for $12.30; Seven Copies, and one 
free, for $16; Ton Copies, and one free, $30—only$2 
por copy. As we are obliged to pre-pay the American 
postage on papers mailed to foretgn countries. Twenty 
Cents should be added to above rates for each yearly 
copy mailed to Citnuilit, and One Dollar pur Copy to 
Europe. Drafts, Post-Office Money Orders and Regis¬ 
tered Letters may be mailed ut our risk. S3F~ Liberal 
Premiums to all Club Agents who do not take free 
copies. Specimen Numbers, Show-Hills, «fec.,sentfree, 
“The. Importance, Progress mid Influence of 
Itural Pursuits.”— Itoil. MARSHALL P. WILDER 
Of Boston lias been talking to the Massachu¬ 
setts .State Hoard of Agriculture upon this sub* 
Ject. Judging by the report of his speech (an 
abstract of which wo find in a Boston paper) ho 
went over the whole Held quite exhaustively, 
con Iras ting the Past and the Preset it, of Rural 
affairs, with striking Illustrations of our pro¬ 
gress and success. Col. Wilder concluded by 
allusion to the happiness attending the acqui¬ 
sition of pleasant rural homes, embellished by 
ourtasteaudendcarc.il by pleasures shared in 
common by loved one- of the family; a happy 
country home, surrounded by trees, fruits and 
flowers, where we find enjoyment, not in hun¬ 
gry greed for gold, not in conflict for political 
distinction, or strife for place or power or re¬ 
nown. Speaking of his own tastes and instincts, 
he desired thut lie might spend his remaining 
days amidst the scenes of rural bliss, and at 
last, like the fully ripe fruit dropping softly on 
the bosom of mother earth, lie down te rest, in 
the joyous hope of a glorious immortality lu 
the garden of the Loud, where disease and the 
wintry blasts of death shall never come, where 
the summer of glories and perfection shall for¬ 
ever reign. 
ADVERTISING RATES: 
Inside, ltth and IMh pages (A gate space).90c. per line, 
Wifi page.1.00 
Outside or last page........l.M “ 
Filly percent, extra, for unusual display. 
Special Notices, tended, by count.2.00 “ 
Business “ 2.50 “ 
Reading “ 3.00 “ 
J7"* No advertisement Inserted for loss than $3. 
LETTERS FROM “RURAL” PEOPLE 
PUBLICATION OFFICES: 
No. 5 Beekman Street, New York City, and No. 82 
Buffalo Street, Rochester, N. Y. 
(Hi; letters from Agents, Subscribers, Editors, 
Fir., are numerous, cordial and encouraging 
now -u-days. We could easily fill a page with 
extract* which are very cheering, but have only 
space lor a few, as given below: 
Mr. .1. Potter, of Niagara Co., N. Y., writes 
us;—“ As the JtuiiAL campaign has commenced 
it is time to report. Ami first 1 must beg par¬ 
don for neglecting to acknowledge the receipt 
•of a splendid ser of Hard Rubber-Handle 
Knives and Silver-Plated Forks, received seme 
time ago. They filled the bill to a T. and 1 
have no excuse to make hut negligence. I will 
try and do better In the future. I herew ith 
semi you a few names and money order. I 
hope to send enough mure to make a respect¬ 
able club.” 
(Jen. II. It. Porter, of Erie Co.. Pa., long an 
efficient officer in the “Rural Brigade.” com¬ 
plains because the “ documents’’ were not 
furnished him early,and adds:—“ Now, 1 ought 
to have had these weapons furnished me rnnre 
than two weeks ago. Being an old campaigner, 
twenty-two years in the service of the good 
old solid IP:UAL New-Yorker I cannot gn 
into the field for 1874 without the necessary 
equipments furnished by you, the commanding 
officer; and I, one of your recruiting generals, 
and always more or less successful in gaining 
new or renewed recruits to the best of all 
causes, to enlist under the flag of the Rural. 
I have said, best of all causes for the simple 
reason that the Rural has something for every¬ 
body, rich or poor, bond or free, black or white, 
Jew or Gentile,Scythian or Barbarian, male or 
female, young or old; and.so I might go on.” 
Mr. F. B. W kku of Saratoga Co., N. Y„ an 
active and successful Agent-Friend, writes ua 
in thiswise: “My relations with the Rural 
as its Agent for the last dozen years or more, 
have been the most pleasant, and I have 
worked most heartily for the paper, as my past 
list, of subscribers will show. I have .already 
commenced work lur 1874.” 
A good wife in Warren Co., Iowa, writes t— 
*• Wc used to take the RURAL, but tw o years 
ago my husband was In such poor health that 
wc were obliged to give it up; hut we think we 
cannot do without It uny longer, and have 
saved two dollars toward It which I w ill send, 
and will you please send us yoiirelub rates pre¬ 
mium list, etc., and oblige.” 
Mrs. Charles M. \'.ul of senee.i Co„ X. Y„ 
writes as follows (a letter similar to preceding 
and many others)1 have taken your paper 
for the Iasi eighteen nr twenty years, with the 
exception of two years, I think. The past year 
1 have taken the —--. and must say that I 
don't like it ns well as the old Ritual New- 
Yorker j and, as you are still printing the 
RURAL, 1 should like to have you send me a 
specimen copy and the lowest cash price for 
one paper, or at club rates. Please send as 
soon as you receive this, so that 1 will have 
time to look around among my neighbors and 
sec if l eau get up a club/’ 
Here is a note from E. C. Little. Independ¬ 
ence, Iowa, under date of Dec. 2, 1873, which 
is emphatic, talking in this style:—” I have Just 
received the beautiful Knife you sent me as a 
premium for the club raised lor the Rural. 
Ttic knife is omo of the finest that i have seen, 
and I doubt not but that it w ill do good ser* 
vice. 1 havoreceived two premiums from the 
Rlual before this one n Silver Fruit Stand 
and a Castor—both of which are of the best 
quality and fully answer your advertisements ; 
Indeed, I think they’are better than one need 
expect os premiums for newspaper dubs. Ac¬ 
cept thanks for the very honorable manner 
with Which you dual with your Agents, and be- 
lieve mo fully satisfied.” 
And now we quote from the letter of the 
editornf a leading Southern daily paper, who 
formerly received the Rural while editing in 
the West. lie writes:—“I received and read 
the Rural New-Yorker regularly, and con¬ 
sidered it one of the most valued of my ex¬ 
change*. I now desire the paper again, partic¬ 
ularly for lay family—believing it to be uot only 
an entertaining hut a fit visitor to the family 
circle. I can take pleasure in recommending 
Moore's Rural to all readers. I wish rhe 
paper sent to niyhur address, so that my family 
will receive it, and not (lie office, where it will 
possibly, half the time, “go the way of all the 
—exchanges/* 
Necking Office.—A correspondent who signs 
himself “ A Granger,” writes to the Rural 
New-Yorker “ I like what you said some 
time ago about ‘ Seeking Office/ The fai l is, 
that very' many (Jranges here (in Iowa) contain 
members who seem to have sought admission 
only to gain political Influence. In our Grange, 
where this has been evident in one or two 
ciwoe, I have remembered what you said about 
t he office seeking the man ; and we have * head¬ 
ed off’ some of these zealous (?) Grangers. 1 am 
glad you have the good sense lo write Indepen¬ 
dently upon all subjects. 1 have seen no evi¬ 
dence that you are an enemy of the Order, and 
I have read your admirable journal for years. I 
like a paper t hat speaks the truth, no nuilfcr 
whom it lilts.” We are glad our friend sees our 
position so clearly, as we have reason to know 
many other of our readers do. We are not the 
enemy of t he Pat rons of Husbandry—nor arc 
wo the organ of anybody In particular, blit of 
every one in general yvlio will furnish us incl¬ 
ination that will help to make the people more 
prosperous, contented and happy. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 
TO 0UK SUBSCRIBERS AND AGENTS, 
NOW Is? 'FITId 'F1NIK I 
Yes, Noir is the l r cry first Time for our 
Subscribers to renew (Ju irsubscrijdions, ami 
for Agents (ttti d all dlsfuysedto become such) 
to form Cluhs for DM. By sending inns 
many names as possible non:—and before 
Jan. 1st—Subscribers and Agents null confer 
a special, furor, as it will enable us to gel 
thousands of reminds and new names in 
tnjpe and ready for mailing papers by much inn. 
before the rush whioli always comes the first, 
of the year. Subscribers will also be bene¬ 
fited by complying with this request, as they 
will receive their papers promptly, with■ no 
delay or interruption. Agents con send 
small clubs, or parts of large ones, and con¬ 
tinue their efforts for weeks and months 
afterwards — receiving Premiums, or Com¬ 
missions, in proportion to the number of 
subscribers obtained. Many of our Agents 
send several chibs every TFfnfcr, some taking 
small premiums for each, and others limiting 
until their lists are completed amt then se¬ 
lecting such articles as they prefer. 
— So, Send your Names and Lists, Hood 
Friends! liV wilt respond promptly, by for¬ 
warding Papas and Prcmmms as desired, 
and moreover furnish yon a better Rural 
New-Yorker ne.ot year Ilian ever before ! 
The Frunkiug Privilege and Free Keed IMh.. 
trlbution.—Senator Gordon of Georgia is evi¬ 
dently in favor of a Government soed store 
which will enable him to furnish his con¬ 
stituents their seeds free, regurdle— of the 
fact that the majority of the American people 
are compelled tu pay for their se.ed ; und judg¬ 
ing by the character of the preamble ton reso¬ 
lution he roi out Iy introduced into the Senate, 
ho w ants those who pay for their own seeds to 
pay the expense of carrying the seeds he pro¬ 
poses the Government shall furnish his con¬ 
stituents, free of charge to them. We arc en¬ 
tirely in favor of allowing senator Gordon’s 
constituents to buy and pay for their own field 
and garden seeds. If they are too lazy to work 
or lack the individual enterprise to purchase 
new seeds as oilier people have to do. they had 
better give up agriculture. 
Critique on the Department of Agriculture.— 
Commenting upon the management of the 
Department of Agriculture, the Turf, Field and 
Farm says: 
How superior in every respect is the manage¬ 
ment of the French Agricultural Department, 
w hich, fully appreciating the importance of its 
mission, ransacks the whole habitable globe 
for new staples with which to enrich the ag¬ 
riculture ot France, and which is invariably 
ruled by a practical man of science, and never 
by a mere political partisan or his creature. 
The ostentatious macninery aboui the Depart¬ 
ment at Washington, all run in the interests 
of a favored clique of Senators, members of 
Congress and Government official*, should be 
suppressed at once, and the munificent reve¬ 
nues of the Department should be expended, 
not in Washington, but at various points 
throughout our vast territory of various cli¬ 
mates in the introduction of new staples and 
the acclimation of foreign animals useful to 
agriculture. The Department of Agriculture 
w as not intended to lie a allop for the gratuitous 
distribution of worthless seeds, or a printing 
office for the publication of plagiarized agri¬ 
cultural literature. 
OUR TWENTY-FOURTH YEAR CLOSED, 
For tiie Twenty-Fourth time it becomes 
our duty to write au article closing the year’s 
issues of the RuAal New-Yorker. In doi»g 
Bhis our first idea is to .congratulate the great 
majority of our readers—the Soil Cultivators 
ofAmerieu upon the fact, which 1* patent to 
the world, and one that wo have preached for 
over two dorado* in these pages, that they are 
the most Independent people on this mundane 
sphere. For, as we said in a recent, issue, 
“they, of ail classes and peoples, ought to 
thank Goo that their lines have fallen In pleas¬ 
ant places- for, though not, all rich, as a rule, 
they have sufficient to cat and wherewithal to be 
clothed, while thousands in our cities and 
large villages arc so (To ring from want. ” 
The Rural New-Yorker was born in l«,i0. 
It has lived and fought ami WTought twenty- 
four years. It is not dead yet. It is still labor¬ 
ing to make happier homes and more worthy 
men and women, ft. finishes the record of 
1873 wit ha retrospect of duty done according 
to its ability—not as well done as wc could 
wish, but, we have the vanity to believe, not 
discreditably performed. 
Rice in i?oiitli Cusoliiiu.—A correspondent at 
Georgetown, S. C„ says“ The season liaa been 
most disastrous to our specialty, rice. The 
heavy rains of August and September w'ere so 
slow to run off that the swollen rivers- delayed 
harvest four w*eeks. Rice cut and stacked in 
the field was almost a total loss. That uncut 
became over-ripe and tangled so as to cause 
great waste in harvesting. The loss will be 40 
or 50 per cent., while the quality will be poor. 
->♦ > 
Good Things Coming.—Our new volume will 
contain a number of superior Illustrations, 
Stories, etc. Wc never bad go many good 
things on hand, and think our readers will be 
gratified when our budget is opened. In the 
line of Illustrations wc have several choice 
original drawings already prepared, and our 
opening Story i a translation from the German, 
entitled “ Martha's Turn Loves, or The T Fife's 
Home,” will prove most entertaining as well as 
Instructive to all our readers. ” We study to 
please,” and Intend to accomplish that laudable 
object. 
Tho Rural New-Yorker closes its Twenty- 
Fourth Year under the most favorable aus¬ 
pices, and hopes to enter upon its Quarter- 
Centennial with tiie best wishes and ardent 
support of its myriad of friends. Those who 
wtsu it will, ami desire to increase Its Circu¬ 
lation and usefulness all over the land, can, if 
they will, materially enhance its interests by 
making, at the present time, some effort in its 
behalf. We hope that Agents, and our long¬ 
time Subscribers, w 111 lend such aid as may be 
consistent with their views and engagements. 
■■■ ■ «♦» 
Index of Vol. XXVIII. — Wc give in this 
number of the Rural New-Yorker a com¬ 
plete Index of the volume (only six months) 
which will be valued by those of our readers 
who (as all should) preserve and bind it for fu¬ 
ture reference. Included is an Index of Adver¬ 
tisers, who thus secure a perpetual advertise¬ 
ment. The contents of t he volume now closed 
show a wide range of industrial and literary 
topics, and are, in a sense, a promise of what 
the future will yield our readers. 
\ Tinted Cover, for Advertisements, &o., will 
be given with our next number, and as often 
thereafter as may be necessary to accommo¬ 
date our advertising friends without Infringing 
upon reading departments. While we regard 
the interests of Advertisers, our first, duty is 
to give Subscribers full “value received” for 
their money, and therefore we propose to look 
first to the instruction and entertainment of 
those who subscribe for aud read the Rural 
New-Yorker. 
VnlcCollege Expedition.—“Geologist” asks, 
“Are tho reports of the Yale College Expedi¬ 
tion under the direction of Prof. MARSH pub¬ 
lished, and where can they be obtained?’’ 
Prof. Marsh, we believe, works on his “ own 
hook,” and mainly with hla own funds. We 
do not t hink F’rof. Marsh intends publishing 
an> special* report of his expedition, but will 
probably give the world an account of his dis¬ 
coveries in magazine articles, or in papers 
published in tiie transactions of some society. 
Untile upon llie Roads of New Jersey.—The 
Grand Jury of Burlington Co., N. J.. made the 
following presentment recently“ We do pre¬ 
sent the practice of letting cattle run at large 
upon the highw ays as a nuisance which Bhould 
be abated by all proper remedies.” The Court 
expressed full concurrence with this present¬ 
ment as an eminently proper one. We think 
so, too, and that every respectable New Jersey 
farmer will concur. 
•• Heaven in 'Song,” a Gift Book containing 
742 pages, just published by Sheldon & Co., 
New-York, is among the most choice and 
elegant works of the season. It is by a noted 
author, Henry C. Fish, D. D., and contains 
selections from many of the greatest poets of 
all ages who have chosen Heaven as the theme 
of their sweetest songs. 
■ 4 --—- 
RURAL BREVITIES 
Biqch bark Is now used in Duluth upon 
which to print wedding cards. 
A cheese, weighing 2,200 pounds, made in 
Oneida Co.. X. Y., was shipped to London re¬ 
cently, made on. a special order for a Christmas 
show; 27,000 pound? of milk were consumed 
in making it. 
J. H. S., Hastings, Michigan, can obtain tho 
hi formation he desires by sending for a copy of 
The South, published by the South Publishing 
Co., Bennett Building, corner Fulton and Nas¬ 
sau Sts., New-York City. 
Thu attention of managers ol agricultural 
fairs is called to the fact that there is a strong 
movement among women in favor of demand¬ 
ing a year’s notice where prizes are offered for 
the finest babies to be exhibited at the fairs. 
California has 40,000 acres of land this year 
in vineyards, and they have produced 12,000,000 
gallons of wine, 2,000,000 pounds of grapes for 
table use, aud ;t>0,000 pounds of raisins, besides 
the brandy, of which we have no statistic* of 
the present year’s yield. 
BUSINESS NOTICES 
Docs the storm keep you from ihe lecture? Do 
the winter evenings seem long? Have the old games 
become worn and lost their freshness t Get now 
Avilude, or Game of Birds. No game has so happy a 
combination of keen enjoyment in Its play, with.so 
much useful information conveyed by the beautiful 
pictures of Birds and their fine and correct descrip¬ 
tions. Sent, post-paid, for aevonty-flvc cents, by 
West & Lke, Worcester, Mass- 
