such. We are glad old Massachusetts don’t 
believe in free Agricultural Scholarships. 
FALLACIES OF LIFE INSURANCE.-X, 
“PROGRESS and improvement 
A NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED 
create an estate, except from the results of 
many years of slow and precarious accumula¬ 
tion, may create an Immediate competence. 
Not however for himself, but for his depend¬ 
ents. A thing Intrinsically #0 excellent and 
useful maybe injured, but. cannot be benefited, 
by being represented to be other than It is, 
either a* regards its nature, methods or de¬ 
signs. Yot if all the years of Its probation in 
this country had been purposely devoted to 
the dissemination of erroneous views of these 
things, those who have done most to enhance 
its popularity could scarcely have been more 
widely misled. It has boon advocated and has 
won Its successes as a benevolent scheme, as a 
sort of organized charity, while In reality it is 
a business, with quite as few claims to be re¬ 
garded as a charity ns the business of the 
hatcher and baker, bike any other business, 
it Is good or bad in accordance with the char¬ 
acter of its management. Bad men may be ex¬ 
pected to abuse this ns they have every other 
business. Kven the most sacred of all callings 
hae and will continue to include some unwor¬ 
thy spirits. 
The best possible assurance of the perma¬ 
nence and continuance of the business of in¬ 
suring life is that it is a source of gain to those 
Mutual in a certain sense it 
D. D. T. 3VIOOB.E, 
Founder and Conducting Kditor 
CHAS. D. BRAGDON, ANDREW S. FULLER, 
A«HOOtntR Kditor*. 
HENRY S. RANDALL LL, D„ Cortland Village, N. Y., 
Editor of tub Jjkvaktmrnt of Swum* Husbandry* 
X. A. WIl'.ARD, A. M., Little Fall*, N. Y„ 
Eoitos or TH» D«i-»iitm*nt „r D*niv Huhsakpmy. 
planted with trees within two years of the date 
of entry; another fourth within three years, 
and the remainder within four years—the trees 
to be not over twelve feet apart each way. 
After planting, the trees must be protected, 
cultivated and kept In a healthy, growing con¬ 
dition for eight years next succeeding the date 
of entry. In case of the death of the person 
thus entering the land, his heirs by continuing 
its occupation and the care of the trees thus 
complete the title. Land secured under this 
act is not liable for debts contracted previous 
to the Issue of the final certiflcate therefor. 
Ten dollars entry fee Is required # on making 
the entry and other fees amount to $8, making 
$18 the full charge up to and including the 
final proof of occupation and fulfillment, of the 
required conditions. 
This Is certainly a wiser law than the first. 
The gain in value of the property to the settler 
is as great as U can be to adjoining lands re¬ 
maining in possession of the Government. If 
tho settler takes up ISO acres of land worth 
$3.50, Government price, he saves in cash by 
such culture $400 be would otherwise have to 
pay to the Government, besides enhancing the 
value of his land by each season’s efforts. If 
he enters 100 acres of land at the minimum 
Government price per acre—$1.25-be saves $200 
to pay for the care and planting of his trees. 
G. A. C. BAItNETT, Publisher 
TERMS, IN ADVANCE: 
Subscript Sou.—Single Copy, $2.50 per Year. To 
Clubs:—Five Copies, ami one copy free to Agent or 
getter up of Club, tor *12.50: Seven Copies, and one 
free, for |1« i Ten Copies, and one free, *20—only *2 
per copy. As we are obliged to pre-pay the American 
postage on papers mailed to foreign countries, Twenty 
Cent* should be added to above rate* for each yearly 
oopy mulled to Canada, and One Dollar per copy to 
Kin ope. Drafts, POrt-OfiloO Money Orders and Regis¬ 
tered betters may be mailed at our risk. E Liberal 
Premiums to all Club Agents who do not take free 
ooples. Specimen Numbers,Show-Bills, 4o.,scnt free. 
Our “ Rural Purchasing Agency " Is not only- 
becoming widely known and patronized, but 
Its Manager’s promptness and efforts to render 
satisfaction wo duly appreciated. As a speci¬ 
men of tho ack lowlcdgmcnt* already received 
we take the liberty of publishing the following 
note from one who has for many years been un 
influential Agent-Friend of the Rural in Cort- 
UDd '° , " ,,,! .PnBBLB, N. Y„ Mav 21.1814. 
D. i). T. Moore -tor Sir: On behalf of my 
aged and sick mother and myself, I wish you 
to thank C- II. E. Redding, pernonall)/, for ais 
judicious selection in tho purchase. I wrote 
ADVERTISING RATE8: 
Inside- nth and lath pages (Agateapace). 80c. per line, 
•• Uitli page, .i**v 
Outside or last page...." 1-UU 
Fifty per cent-extra for tin usual display. 
Special Notice*, loaded, by count.1-25 M 
business i-jY 
Discount on 4 Insertions. 10 per et.; 8 Ins., 15 per ct-; 
13 ins., 20 per cl.; 2fi in*-, 2a per Ct.; 52 Ins., 33X per ct. 
ZZT No advertisement Inserted tor less than *3. 
who conduct it 
may be, for mutuality Is inseparable from a 
series of transactions in which the fortunate 
are compelled to endow the heirs of the unfor¬ 
tunate ; but pure mutuality cannot be trusted 
to compass the ends of skilled management. 
Theoretically the policy holders of a purely 
mut ual company are entitled to select director? 
and officers, bat practically they have as little 
voice or suffrage as the policy holders of a pure¬ 
ly proprietary company. A few.men, usually 
directors or officers, or both, hold proxies that, 
enable them to perpetuate the management by 
a select coterie. Tills may not be objectionable 
or Injurious, but It is, to say the least of it, dis¬ 
ingenuous to claim, under such a condition of 
affairs, the advantages, whatever they may be, 
of pure mutuality, since there is assuredly noth¬ 
ing democratic about It. 
Being a business conducted to make money, 
and not a charitable association. Its methods 
tnuy be expected to partake of the weaknesses 
and frailties Incident to any other business. 
Their transactions are all, so far a? the compa¬ 
nies’ advantages are concerned, conducted with 
legal precision, and usually under tho advice of 
a high order of legal talent. There are in the 
policies they issue, no loop holes through which 
an exceptionally adroit party might creep Into 
an advantage. Everything Is nicely defined. 
The advantages are all secured to the company. 
The contract promises no more than the com¬ 
pany is certain to be able to fulfill. Indeed, a 
careful examination suggests that nothing more 
is promised than is indispensable, and many aro 
hampered with conditions that may become to 
the heedless mere snares and pitfalls. A clause 
may involve the penalty of entire forfeiture of 
thousands for crossing tho line between two 
States, or participation in « chemioai experi¬ 
ment,, to say nothing of the perpetual peril of a 
day's remissness in the matter of premium or 
the payment of interest upon a lien nr note. 
(\ivcnt nnptor, and that alone, applies in such 
transactions. Tho policy taker must exorcise 
caut ion and careful discrimination in becoming 
n party to any insurance contract, more especial¬ 
ly where, for all his purposes, the matter prom¬ 
ises to he perpetual, and t o in vol ve his execut ors 
in litigation. He should Invariably read every¬ 
thing before signing his name, and us carefully 
examine every clause of the policy, with an eye 
totts legal meaning and importance, and where 
in doubt submit It to his legal adviser. He 
should in no case forget that the policy is com¬ 
plete in Itself ; that the verbal statements and 
promises of the agent are not lit any sense bind¬ 
ing upon the company, nor is any statement or 
promise, even made by all the officers of the 
company, legally binding, though they might 
have weight before a jury. That is precisely 
PUBLICATION OFFICES t 
78 Duane Street, New York City, and No. 67 
East Main St, (Darrow’s Bookstore, Osburn 
House Block,) Rochester, N. Y. 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES 
Tobacco iu Wisconsin. -The Western Farmer 
of May 23 says j—“ Wo hear complaint from to¬ 
bacco growers that the seed this year falls to 
grow, so that the prospect for plants la poor, 
in any event the acreage devoted to tobacco In 
Wisconsin this year will bo very much less than 
last year. We think It safe to say that less than 
one-half as many acres will be planted to to¬ 
bacco in the State as last year. In some neigh¬ 
borhoods almost all the growers will abandon 
the crop for this year at least. A few will put 
in as large a crop as usual. Many hold their 
1873 crop and some of their 1872 crop." 
The National Forester.—' Tho telegram we 
published sometime since, that Congress had 
rejected tho proposition to create such an of¬ 
fice, does not seem to have been well based. 
Buell is not the fact. Congress refused to take 
up and consider the bill out of Its regular 
order. It Is, therefore, still pending. On this 
subject of the necessity for the creation of such 
an office we have this from Mr. THOMAS Mee¬ 
han, Editor or tho Gardener's Monthly, in a 
note to the Editor of the New York Tribune: 
The everlasting tendency of the American 
mind to run to “ laws " la so radically opposed 
to my own Ideas of the proper end to begin at, 
that even where It seems evident a law 
may do good, I hesitate for fear some other 
points may be sacrificed. My hopes of progress 
are so bound up with the culture of the indi¬ 
vidual, and my love of freedom so great, that 1 
dislike Government Interference In any shape 
or form when it. can possibly be avoided. At 
any rate, If we are to be governed in these 
matters, 1 prefer it to he done by our Own 
neighbors, or at worst by our own Ktates, and 
not by tho General Government. Tins is my 
theory, and the justice of it, Ima already been 
exemplified by whatever Government has un¬ 
dertaken to do for us. Wluit benefit, for exam¬ 
ple, Is the Agricultural Bureau? would a 
‘‘Department of Forestry” be a greater suc¬ 
cess’* * * l cannot think I hat there is to be 
any scarcity of limber in this country, for the 
reason that timber will be grown a? fast as a 
demand for it U made apparent . It is probably 
true that a man buying a farm would give very 
little more for it wLth a young timber planta¬ 
tion, hut as wood becomes more valuable, the 
owners of land will set out trees, and there is 
no need of it before. These sro my private 
views, and it is because of them that I have 
t aken prominent part in the timber discussion. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 1874, 
Patrons “ Minding Their Own Business."— A 
friend writing from Gibson Co., Ind., says this 
about the Patrons of Husbandry: — “ The 
Grangers are fully organized In this county and 
In strong working order. Since the furore has 
got over a man might, come in and go out of 
town without thinking there was a Granger in 
the county: but they aruhere for all that, and 
their business, whatever it may be, they attend 
to; at least they are not meddling in anything 
else. What they may be able to accomplish 
time only can reveal." 
The Principal Publication Office of this Jour¬ 
nal has been removed to 
NO. 78 DUANE ST., 
NEAR (AND EAST OF) BROADWAY, N. Y., 
Where all business letters and communications 
should be addressed, and where vve shall bo 
happy to see the friends of t lie Rural. 
Lucerne Culture.—If there Is among our read- 
ers in New York, New England, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, or any of the more Northern States east 
of the Rocky Mountains, one man who has 
practically and actually cultivated Lucerne or 
Alfalfa, in any shape, with success and profit, 
as a forage crop, we shall be glad to have him 
tell our reuders all about how it was done and 
wherein the profit consisted. We have some 
doubts about the profit for these States and 
wish to have them removed if they can be. 
DECORATION DAY, 
All men like appreciation. Those who serve 
value it as one of l he most important elements 
of compensation. Decorating the graves of 
dead soldiers may or may not-who can tell? 
gratify the departed spirits of the brave and 
self-sacrificing patilot soldiers; hut it ia an 
earnost. to the living of t lie gratitude and honor 
that continue to grow in the hearts of the 
people and annually blossom all over the 
graves of those who loved country, and the 
theory upon which our republic U based, more 
than life. This is the best and profoundest 
good which grows out of Decoration Day. It 
makes men of all of us—the young and the old. 
The tears that are shed, tho flowers that are so 
lavishly strewn, and tho eulogies that are 
spoken, foster a love of home and country in 
the hearts of the impressible. We aro too apt 
to forgot the blessings our system of Govern¬ 
ment yields us, and are too rapidly acquiring a 
chronic habit of self-depreciation and Indiffer¬ 
ence, But when vve annually visit the graves 
of our dead and remember what they have 
wrought and how they suffered that vve might 
live and enjoy what we now do, there should 
germinate in us resolutions to live better lives 
as citizens, to discharge more faithfully the du¬ 
ties of citizenship, to the eud that the liberties 
they rescued ftom peril and the Institutions 
they saved, may be preserved intact and uncor¬ 
rupted for all generations. Indeed, may we all 
of us be counted worthy the tender floral trib¬ 
utes which vve so gladly bestow upon the graves 
Of the Honored Dead. 
Our last Decoration Day- May HO. 1874— wit¬ 
nessed increased manifestations in honor and 
memory of the patriotic dead, not only in New 
York City but many other parts of the country. 
Iu this city the mournful tribute was partici¬ 
pated in by thousands, the procession being 
much larger than ever before. Indeed, the 
demonstration was here, as in many other lo¬ 
calities, alike honorable to the departed and 
creditable to the living—exhibiting a just ap¬ 
preciation of patriotic services and a Jove of 
country which vve trust will ever prevail, thus 
tending to save the Republic from the anarchy 
and dissolution which many fear are impending. 
Manufacturing Business — 1'rospcct*.— 1 There 
seems to be a widespread opinion, in which vve 
do not concur, that manufacturing business of 
nil kinds ts generally bad this spring. For ex¬ 
ample, a representative of the Rural lately 
called at tile works of the Walter A. Wood 
Mowing and Reaping Machine Company, at 
Hoosick Falls, N. Y., where he found their im¬ 
mense factory filled with busy employes. They 
were turning out one hundred and twenty-six 
machines per day and still behind their erders. 
Tt is just possible that the renewed activity 
among the farmers or the special merits of 
these machines may he the cause; hut vve are 
inclined to look at the bright side of things, 
and believe that business Is improving and that 
everything is not going to pieces, as some of 
our lugubrious contemporaries would have us 
think. At all events, this branch of manufac¬ 
ture seems to be more active than ever. 
Vermont Former.—Wo are sorry to find tho 
following paragraph In the Vermont Record 
and Farmer" Dr. Hoskins has dissolved part¬ 
nership with Mr. Cummings, and retires from 
the editorial management of the Vermout 
Farmer. The course of Dr. Hoskins on the 
paper has been very far from satisfactory to 
the farmers of the State whom he has assumed 
to represeut." Whether Dr. Hoskins has sat¬ 
isfied the farmers of Vermont or not, he has 
made a live and excellent agricultural paper. 
The Northwestern FLow-Makers have again 
held a Convention in Chicago and renewed 
their resolutions of last year not to sell their 
manufactures except through their recognized 
agents—which means that they will not make 
special terms to Granges and Farmers’ Clubs. 
It Is an interesting figbt. Let us see who will 
win. The fact is, the Patrons have not all got 
the backbone necessary to complete combina¬ 
tion, and therein is their weakness. 
Free Scholarships In Agricultural Colleges. 
—An effort has been made in the M&ssachu* 
setts Legislature to set agart 35 per cent, of the 
Dog Fund (whatever that may be) to establish 
free scholarships at the Mass. Ag. College. 1 he 
Legislature, however, don't take kindly to the 
proposition and prefers to vote a direct appo- 
priatiou to the college, whereat the venerable 
Massachusetts Ploughman rejoices but la “sorry 
to give up the Idea of free scholarships, as they 
would furnish aid greatly need by many young 
men,” "The Idea of free scholarship ” is some¬ 
thing that it will do all young men to give up. 
We do not believe In them even for theological 
students, much lesB for farmers. Those dear, 
darlings, those poor young men, who need help 
In order to become educated for farmers, aro 
not the kind of stuff that will cut up well as 
The Watertown, Win., Board of Trade an¬ 
nounces its first semi-monthly sale of butter 
and eheeso for 1874, June 30 regular sales there¬ 
after June 17 ; July 1, 15,29; August 12 and 20 ; 
September, 9 and 23: October 7 and 21, and 
November 4 and 18. 
BUSINESS NOTICES 
HOMESTEAD LANDS—PLANTING TREES 
Much of the trouble experienced in running 
Sewing Machines is caused* by the poor quality of 
the thread or silk used, and may be avoided by using 
the Eureka Spool Silk, which is always reliable. 
The law of 1873, providing for the planting of 
i reee en public lands, was ao absurd iu its pro¬ 
visions as to render it cheaper and easier for 
the settler to pay for bis land outright. Its 
