V 
PROCRES8 AND IMPROVEMENT 
remember that few, very few, business and pro¬ 
fessional men succeed in acquiring and reta in¬ 
ing a. competency, while thousands of disap¬ 
pointed, broken-hearted men, who commenced 
life with high hopes and brilliant prospect*, an¬ 
nually die in poverty and obscurity, indeed, 
every one looking city-ward should ponder well 
the llfe-Jong consequences of a change from 
country to city life and habits—from an out¬ 
door to a sedentary employment. Certainly 
those who wish to secure health, serenity and 
contentment—making euro of sufficient to eat 
and wherewithal to be clothed, without con¬ 
stant fear of reverses—should give the subject 
the most profound consideration before decid¬ 
ing. The financial simoons which so often 
sweep over the land (such as the recent panic,) 
iti numerous instances destroying the accumu¬ 
lations of years, and dissipating the hopes, if 
not entirely beggaring individuals and fami¬ 
lies teach a lesson whlcbcannot he misunder¬ 
stood. They prove that Agriculture, which 
feeds all and clothes nil, is the most sure and 
reliable occupation for this life, while it guar¬ 
antees competence If not wealth. 
Ought we not. to ben Iturol People? 
utary check to other abuses of privilege. 
Money would not be wantonly wasted if 
It was liable to be checked out by retiring pol¬ 
icy holders on the day of renewal, and the In¬ 
dorsement of surrender values, which the 
policy holders know could be withdrawn at 
stated periods, would encourage the fidelity of 
a class now too prone to defect, to wit: the 
healthier and better eiars. 
The reluctant policy taker submits now to 
conditions which he feels to be onerous; by- 
and-by, when he discovers them to be indefen¬ 
sible. he will demand bis rights with an obsti¬ 
nate energy that will revolutionize the whole 
business. Might it not be wise to anticipate 
him ? 
last week to the Rochester Democrat by 8. P. 
A., (who we reckon to be S. P. Allen, Esq., for¬ 
merly editor of the Democrat, and later clerk 
of the State Seriate,) — which we take great 
pleasure in chronicling, and in congratulating 
the farmers of the Genesee Valley upoD the 
return of the good old times when wheat grow¬ 
ing was profitable in their favored region; 
“ From day to day the wheat puts on a deeper 
golden tinge, and some fields w ill be out this 
w eek and many more in ten days. From every 
part of the country the reports are favorable, 
arid tho poor fields are the exceptions. I hear 
of some estimated at forty bushels to the acre. 
This conies up to the average of old times, save 
that the variety is not. the plump, white berry 
formerly produced.” 
A NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED 
Founder and Conducting Kditor, 
CHAS. D. BRAGDON, ANDREW S. FULLER. 
Ah wooiate Editors. 
HENRY S. RANDALL LL, D., Cortland Village, N. Y., 
Editor ov tub rtmsnt or Erbkp IIqihamiky. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y M 
Editor or thk JJkpartu*vt or Dairy Husbandry. 
UNION 18 STRENGTH." 
O. A. C. HARNETT. Publisher. 
Borrowing Money in Illinois.— The Illinois 
correspondent of the Country Gentleman, writ¬ 
ing from Champaign Co., says: —“ There is less 
borrowing of money at two per cent, a month, 
or olio per cent., or at 10 per cent, per nnnum, 
even; our farmer*, laboring men and mechan¬ 
icsbeginning to comprehend the insane folly 
of paying twice as much for the use of money 
to buy land improved or engage in business as 
tlie average annual profit of that business or 
the Income from that land amounts to. Form¬ 
erly, any sum of money, at almost any rate per 
cent., could be loaned to almost any farmer in 
the country. Rut that Is all changed now, and 
money is accumulating In the bands of rich 
men and bankers, at a rate that will soon bring 
money interest down within reasonable limit. 
When the industrial classes once understand 
that to borrow money at two per cent, a mouth 
Or one per cent., or even at the rato of 10 per 
cent, per annum, is almost as sure to result in 
loss as the spending of money in lottery tick¬ 
ets, then there will bo no further occasion for 
demagogues to protend they can lower the rate 
of interest by Increasing the quantity of paper 
money." 
This Is true; but after all, there are some 
Unions that are not strong. Jt aii depends upon 
the moral force or motive which makes in on 
cohere. The concentration of power, and its 
unity, for purposes that are wrong and unjust, 
enable* t taoeo who attack it to break it the more 
easily. Public opinion has very much to do 
with tho success or non-success of any unlan or 
combination. A combination to rigid, w-rongs, 
to protest against injustice, to resist oppression, 
accumulates strength until its object Is accom¬ 
plished. But that object accomplished, the 
tendency Is toward dictation. The conscious¬ 
ness of power is accompanied with n desire 
to make that power felt. It is a natural result, 
especially with the unthinking and not over- 
Murtipulous. The reaction comes. The men 
who acquired strength and power in a just 
cause nic too apt to become aggressors and 
throw away all they have gained. The mutual 
dependence of men and classes of men is over¬ 
looked or ignored. Then follows the process of 
disintegration. Aggression provokes resist¬ 
ance; resistance, in a just cause, at tracks ad¬ 
herents, and desertions from the ranks of those 
men engaged in a good cause follows, and the 
opposing party recovers its supremacy. This la 
the history of all political and reform parties. 
Supremacy acquired, ambitious men use it to 
do just what they were organized to undo. 
Such is til© danger organized farmers are to 
guard against. As they begin to feel the fibers 
of their growth strengthen, let them resist the 
Inclination to discard equity and fair dealing. 
It is the only insurance of permanent success 
that we know' of. Tho man who oppresses ids 
neighbor because bis neighbor has oppressed 
him, Is very far from removing a radical evil. 
On the contrary, he perpetuates it. He proves 
himself as bad as tlie man lie sought to reform 
as unable to resist temptation to use unscru¬ 
pulously the power he has acquired. "Union 
Is strength" only so long ms the resistance to 
this strength is vicious. Evils correct them¬ 
selves. When what originated in agood motive 
becomes a bod agency, that is the beginning of 
the end of it. The same forces that helped to 
sustain it will hcJp to overthrow^!!, It is gratify 
ing to believe t his of human nature; and we see 
no reason in past history or the present condi¬ 
tion of things to disbelieve it. 
TERMS, IN ADVANCE: 
Subscription.— Single Copy, 12.50 per Tear. To 
ClubsFive Copies, and cmn copy free to Agent or 
getter up or Club, for 112.50; Seven Copies, and one 
free, for 116; Ten Copies, sml one free, 120—only $2 
per copy. As we are obliged to pro-pay the A meriean 
postage on papers mailed to foreign countries. Twenty 
Cents should be added to ubove rates t or each yearly 
copy mailed to Canada, and One Dollar per copy to 
Europe. Drafts, Post-Office Money Orders and Regis¬ 
tered Letters may be mailed at our risk. E !f~ Liberal 
Premiums to all Club Agent* who do not take freo 
copies. Specimen n umbers, Sbow-Uills, ,vc.. sent free. 
A company insuring lives, year by year, for 
a series of increasing or natural premiums just 
sufficient to provide for current losses and ex¬ 
penses, would be truly and simply n life insur¬ 
ance company. When, however. It receives a 
penny more, to be applied to the losses and ex¬ 
penses of more than on© year, or to purchase 
an endowment or a limitation of premiums, 
the company becomes a savings bank, holding 
in trust, moneys to be applied In part payment 
of the claim of the depositor. Ho for as this 
union of functions promotes the convenience 
of the assured it is unobjectionable. The 
equal assured premium obviates the Inconven¬ 
ience of the rapid Increase, in the later years of 
life, of the natural premiums; Its use creates, 
unavoidably, a rosorve fund to be held by tho 
savings bank part or department of the com¬ 
pany—all of which mny be endowed, because 
conveDicut; but when the insurance is coupled 
with a condition that the deposit with the 
savings bank shall be forfeited when the in¬ 
surance part of the bargain Is terminated by 
the act of the depositor, the Insurance savings 
bank drives a peculiarly advantageous bargain. 
Ho long as the insurance continues there are 
any number of conciusive reasons why the de¬ 
posits also should be made and held, for in 
them lie tbe means enabling the company to 
complete and fulfill its obligations; but when 
the company is relieved from these obligations, 
it has no satisfactory claim to retain the accu¬ 
mulated deposits. 
Tho reasons assigned for the practice of total 
forfeiture are chiefly pretexts for the reten¬ 
tion of a source of Immense profit. Any suffi¬ 
cient excuse must be based upon a confession 
of imperfection in the original assumptions of 
mortality, Interest and fuLure expenses, all of 
which have been purposely exaggerated. So 
far in the practice of Insurance, no special 
fund has been set aside from the fruitB of for¬ 
feiture, or any portion of them, to be applied 
to correct errors or supply deficits. They have 
been ordinarily so used as to compel tlie par¬ 
ties who could not, or at most did not, con¬ 
tinue to contribute more towards losses and 
expenses than those who could and did con¬ 
tinue. 
Aside from the gains from forfeiture, the 
union of insurance and savings bank business 
lias in it almost untold elements of profit. As¬ 
suming that tlie insurance part pays Its own 
expenses, and is not merely an adjunct to the 
savings bank, the latter business enjoys pecu¬ 
liar advantages over other savings banks, and 
most other brandies of business. Taking tlie 
minimum of loading or addition for expenses 
per thousand insured as adequate to the inci¬ 
dental outlay of insurance proper, the remain¬ 
der goes toward maintaining a savings bank, 
which receives in this way a bonus with its de¬ 
posits. These deposits do not, by the terms of 
tho policy contract, draw interest, nor can 
they be withdrawn at the option of the deposi¬ 
tor. They are in a limited sense permanent 
deposits, accumulating a low rate of compound | 
interest fixed by law, 
ADVERTISING RATES: 
Inside. 14t h and loth inures < Agate space).COc. per line. 
“ 18th nnao. .70 “ 
Outside or Iasi page.,....1.00 ** 
Fifty percent, extra for unusual display. 
Special Notices, Icndd, by count.1.25 " 
Business “ 1.50 “ 
Keudlug " 2.00 “ 
Disoount on 4 Insertions. 10 per et.i 8 Ins., 15 per ct.; 
13 ins., 20 per ct.; 26 lus., 25 per el.; 52 Ins., 33)< per ct. 
tir No advertisement Inserted for Iobs tbun $3. 
PUBLICATION OFFICES: 
78 Duane Street, New York City, and No. 67 
East Main St., (Darrow's Bookstore, Osburn 
House Block,) Rochester, N. Y. 
Our Lite Insurance Article* Approved.— The 
scries of articles on life insurance now running 
In tlie Rural are attracting much attention 
for their perspicuity, ability and truthful¬ 
ness. The numerous letters received by us on 
tlie subject lead us to believe that the general 
public are waking up to the business view of a 
subject to which they have heretofore givon 
little thought, and upon which they have gen¬ 
erally accepted the dicta of parties more di¬ 
rectly interested in tlie premiums than in the 
welfare of the policy holder. From tlie letter 
of a prominent Actuary of one of the largest 
Life Companies in New York we make this ex¬ 
tract:—” I hav© read with interest ami pleas¬ 
ure somo of the very able articles entitled, 
‘Fallacies of Life Insurance,’which have re¬ 
cently appeared in the Rural New-Yorker. 
I am glud to see this subject—life insurance— 
discussed by the general press, and particularly 
so when tlie discussion is so forcibly and dis¬ 
passionately conducted as it has been In the 
articles I have read. Will you oblige ino by 
Bending by the bearer a complete set of the 
articles ?” 
SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1874, 
ARE WE A RURAL PEOPLE? 
In a recent conversation with an intelligent 
New-Yorker who has seen much of foreign 
countries and peoples, he saidThe truth is 
we Americans are not a Rural People. W© 
have no real love of the country and of rural 
life and pursuits, such, for example, as the 
English, Germans, &c., exhibit. Few of us care 
for a permanent homestead, its attractions and 
surroundings. The fact that bo many farmers 
are ‘Bolling out’—and more, if not all, would 
if they could and flocking to cities and villages, 
proves ray assertion. And why is it that the 
sons, yes, and daughters too, of hosts of well- 
to-do farmers prefer clerkships, and other de¬ 
pendent and unreliable positions, to remaining 
upon farms where they nru sure of good food 
and raiment at least, and an eventual compe¬ 
tence. No, toil your readers again and again, as 
you ha ve been doing for years, to May on their 
farms — to make their homoatoada better by 
embellishments and improvements, thereby 
rendering them more attractive to their sonB 
and daughters (thus koepiug them at home), as 
well as increasingly valuable.” 
Whatever may be thought of the assertion of 
our friend thut ours is not a rural people—and 
its correctness cannot bo gainsaid In regard to 
some sections of the Union—there can be no 
doubt, that he is right about farmers retaining 
and improving their homesteads, so that if their 
sons and daughter* do depart to cities and vil¬ 
lages, or elsewhere, they may always have, in 
prosperity or adversity, a resort to the parental 
roof-tree. But the main question I* whether 
Americans, as a Nation, are a Rural People— 
whether they possess a true love of the coun¬ 
try and its pursuits. Our hope being father to 
the thought, wc take the affirmative, while 
admitting that tlie Census—showing a decrease 
of population In the rural districts In some 
States, and a large increase in villages and cit¬ 
ies—measurably sustains our friend’s position. 
But if we do not possess a love of the country 
and its most natural, health-giving, peaceful 
and honorable occupation—Agriculture—there 
are cogent reasons why we should do so. True, 
trade, commerce and manufactures must and 
will be pursued its avocations, and each will 
annually draw brain and muscle from the coun¬ 
try—the rural districts—whence the best busi¬ 
ness aud professional talent usually emanates; 
for it i* notably true that the great majority of 
Morse Trots.—We have not Llic least idea that 
Deacon Smith and his sons and daughters will 
stay away from the ‘‘agricultural" horse trots 
this year. On the ^contrary, it is pretty plain 
that they like them; for we see that the good 
obi Deacon Is a Director in an organization 
which pays more money to encourage exhibi¬ 
tions of speed than is offered in tho whole list 
of premiums of farm products. Go it, Deacon 
Smith ! Bring up your boys iu the way they 
should go, and when they are old they will not 
depart from it! 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES 
The Grasshopper Plague in the West is at¬ 
tracting attention and is becoming a very im¬ 
portant matter not only to thoso afflicted but 
as affecting the future of tlie States whore the 
ravages are committed. Methods for destroy¬ 
ing these Insects, or for preventing their rav¬ 
ages, will have an early demand. A method 
employed in Cyprus Is worthy of note:—"By 
this plan the attack is made neither on the eggs 
nor on tbe fully developed insect, as practised 
elsewhere, but during tlie intermediate or wing¬ 
less period of their development, a stage begin¬ 
ning about a month after the eggs are hatched, 
and lasting three or four weeks, during which 
the " crickets" wander aboutin compact masses 
and are easily taken in V-shaped traps open to 
the line of march. The sides of the traps are 
made with strips of silk » hundred yards long 
and two or three f6et wide firmly attached to 
poles set in the ground. The bottom edges of 
these walls of silk are banked with earth so 
that tlie " crickets" cannot crawl under them, 
and the upper edges are waxed or bordered 
with oiled silk, which prevents their climbing 
over. As they have no wings to escape with, 
they are forced to mass themse.ves at the apex 
of the system (as it ts called) where they tumble 
into a trench edged with plates of ziuc, which 
offers no foothold, so that they are effectually 
trapped. When the trench is full the insects 
are covered with earth, and the system is moved 
on to continue the work of destruction else¬ 
where. Upwards of 7,000 cubic yards of grass¬ 
hoppers were thus destroyed in Cyprus in a 
single season." 
RURAL BREVITIES 
Thk Journal of the Farm has been sold to the 
Practical Farmer. 
Foot-and-mouth disease among iive stock 
Is still very prevalent throughout England. 
George Glknny, who once published the 
Gardener’s Gazette, in England, died last May, 
aged fll. 
John Saltku. whose name is Inseparably as¬ 
sociated with Chrysanthemums, died early in 
May, aged 70. 
Tfik hop crop In England is regarded by the 
Brewer’s Journal as very critical. Blight, the 
fly and the bine In some places are damaging, 
aud in many the growth is weak arid 6ickly. 
At Bremen, in Germany, the other day, the 
gold medal for agricultural machinery and im¬ 
plements was aw arded to several English firms, 
and to Walter a. Wood of lloosic Falls, in 
this State. 
Nathan C. Ely, the veteran President of the 
Farmers’Club of the American Institute, was 
on the train on the Shore Line R.R., w hlch was 
throwm from tbe bridge at Stony Creek the 
other day. His friends will rejoice to know 
that ho escaped death and had no bones brok¬ 
en. He was severely bruised, but it is hoped 
he will speedily recover from both the bruises 
and the shock. 
Tbe margin between 
this low rate aud the high rate obtained is all 
Clear profit if the company chooses to stipulate 
to tliat effect in the charter. Outside of these 
elsewhere unheard of advantages, for which 
any other savings bank would readily pay a 
bonus instead of receiving one, are all tbe 
sources of profit arising from the investment 
of large sums, the gains from the investment 
in real estate, and others which the money 
lender so well knows how to utilize. 
Admitting the usefulness, even theindlspen- 
Bttbleness, of the savings bank department of 
Insurance, it appears to be 60 managed as to be 
about equally Injurious to the policy holder 
and dangerous to the company. The failures 
that have occurred are failures of the savings 
bank. Tho insurance part of the institution is 
soarcely ever unprovided with money for cur¬ 
rent loans, but the savings bank often shows a 
lack of assets to meet liabilities. The very re¬ 
dundancy of meaus begets recklessness aud 
invites to waste. Money is injudiciously ex¬ 
pended In a mad race for precedence, and ruin 
and insolvency follow. A modification of the 
condition of total forfeiture would not only be 
an act of justice, but might act as a sal- 
VVheat Growing in the Genesee Valley.— 
Years ago no region was so famous for large 
yields of choice w’heat as the Genesee Valley— 
the towns of Wheatland, Caledonia, Avon, Gen- 
eseo, Mt. Morris, Ac., excelling in both quality 
and quantity of the great staple. Tbeu a yield 
of forty bushels per acre was not uncommon ; 
but later, after the appearance of the midge, 
the crop was greatly diminished and In some 
sections proved unprofitable for awhile. Of 
late years, however, our friends in the famous 
wheat growing valley have been regaining their 
former power of production, and the present 
crop of the great cereal promises an abundant 
yield. Among others we have this brief but 
most enoouyaging report from Geneseo—made 
BUSINESS NOTICES 
our best and most prominent men in the learn¬ 
ed professions and leading branches of business 
were born and bred in the oountry. Indeed, as 
we have said and printed aforetime, unless our 
large towns occasionally receive recruits from 
the country, they will ere long have no robust, 
vigorous, enterprising (and we had almost said 
respectable) citizens. 
But the certainty of Agriculture as a pursuit, 
compared with other callings, is the most 
urgent reason why it should bo followed as a 
business for life. Young men, especially, should 
LYONS MUSICAL ACADEMY 
A thorough, practical School for Instruction on 
the Piano-Forte, in Vocal Culture aud Musical 
Theory. Students fitted for teachers. Fall Term 
begins Sept. 9 tli. Catalogues mailed free. 
O. 8. ADAMS, Prlnoipal, 
Lyons, Wayne Co., N. Y. 
Eureka Machine Twist is reliable iu every re¬ 
spect—length, strength and quality guaranteed. 
