and those of hia intelligent. English neighbors 
who compose the Victoria Colony. 
experience of all countries and companies shows 
that the chances of death at seventy are five 
times as great as at twenty-live. The young 
member of 25 might possibly remain faithful 
to an arrangement whereby he could be Insured 
a definite sum for a definite premium only one- 
11 ft.lt as great us the old member of VO, but. the 
lat ter would not so readily consent. He would 
probably urge that "he never had died yet,and 
didn’t foci as if he ever should.” 
I f t he California State Grange desires to create 
a Ufa Insurance company for the use and heno 
(It of its members, it. can do so safely and surely 
only in some one of the ways which the expe¬ 
riences and usages of two centuries have d'm >n 
Btrated to be safe and equitable. They court dis¬ 
aster, confusion and disorganization by adopt- 
Inganyrevamped modification of “ nothing but 
this—“ I will pay $1 to the family of a brother 
when his support Is taken away, and 1 will pay 
annually a sum sufficient to defray necessary 
expenses"—“ only this and nothing more." 
FALLACIES OF LIFE INSURANCE. 
PROCRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
Number xxxiv 
That the liural U llie Ilest Paper Extant— 
Is the opinion of many, and some, like the 
writer from which we quote below, think it 
cannot be changed for (be better—albeit w© 
expect to Improve it next. year, llut hear wbut 
Mr. Wm. ¥. BftODNAX of Tipton Co., Tenn., 
writes in a recent exemplary letter—exemplary 
because he not only renews but sends a new 
subscriber arid will try for others. He says? 
" Inclosed please find fo, for which place half 
of said amount to my credit as renewal of old 
subscription, and the balance for Col. Gko. T. 
Taylor, new subscriber. Will try and send 
you other new subscribers. I am honest in say¬ 
ing that I think your paper is the best one I 
ever read, and I don't think there is a family in 
the country but would take it if they wero to 
read a few numbers carefully. Don’t think you 
could make any change in your paper for the 
better." 
— How many appreciative readers of the Rc- 
kal will follow suit by renewing promptly and 
sending a new subscriber? We won’t object If 
all speak at once. 
A NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED 
The Pacific Rural Press adduces, in a recent 
article, a number of examples of abuse of con¬ 
fidence by life Insurance agents, as reasonB why 
the California State Grange "Should not ad¬ 
journ without bringing Into existence and ac¬ 
tive operation a full-fledged life insurance com¬ 
pany.” 
There is little room to question the authen¬ 
ticity of these commonplace Incidents. Any 
one ambitious to get up an alphabet ically ar¬ 
ranged encyclopedia of such examples would 
find abundant material for a new volume every 
full and change of the moon. Each exutnplo 
would be a reason for discrediting In future 
some particular canvasser and perhaps the com¬ 
pany he represented "only this and nothing 
more." All the rascalities ever perpetrated are 
simply arguments for greater caution In heark¬ 
ening to parole statements, whether made by 
life Insurance agents, actioncers or horse Jock¬ 
eys. No one, nor all, nor for that mutter a thou¬ 
sand limes as many, supply a single roason 
why the Grange, which has upon Its hands a 
burden of unfulfilled duties Incident to Its or¬ 
ganic purposes, should meddle with a matter 
which its members are r.ot expected to under¬ 
stand. Flnanolal and commercial questions 
they will doubtless find to be within tho scope 
of their powers of solution, but unless some 
member of Influence and pronounced ability 
understands the elementary principles of life 
insurance better than tbeir State organ, the 
Grange will make asad muddleof Its Insurance 
experiment. Something more than “ pure and 
humane teachings" are needed to create a loco¬ 
motive ora life insurance company, and if the 
Grange begins the task by adopting, at tho sug¬ 
gestion of the Pacific Rural, the earliest., 
crudest and longest-discarded device, it will 
consume a century or so before evolving from 
its experiences a better plan than it Is counseled 
to reject. 
The Grange may devise a plan to insure the 
lives of its members at less cost, for the present 
at least, than can be done by ordinary plans ; 
but it cannot do so by collecting or attempting 
to collect a dollar from each survivor. And for 
several reasons: First —Each member wants a 
definite amount of Insurance. He can no?, In 
justice to bis family, permit their indemnity 
to be a matter of uncertainty. They can at best 
have only what Is collected, and unless tho pay¬ 
ment Is compulsory, this will be only as many 
dollars as there are members who are willing 
to pay and do pay tbeir allotment. The worst 
risk will die first, and the earliest assessment 
will be largest. This member's family will re¬ 
ceive, say one thousand dollars, though he paid 
nothing. The next will, assuming 1 ha' all the 
survivors are faithful and prompt, receive $999, 
and so on down to the latest survivor, who will 
get nothing for his investment of $1,000 and 
compound interest. This is worse than the 
CHAS. D.BRAGDON, ANDREW S. FULLER 
Assooiate EiHtorM, 
HENRY S. RANDALL LL, D„ Cortland Village, N. Y. 
KdITOU OF TUI 1>*I'AMT*KHT OF Silkin' HffillANDnV 
X. A, WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y„ 
Kditob or th« Dirimiao or D*i»» Hcmrini. 
li. A. C. HARNETT, Publisher. 
TERMS FOR 1875, IN ADVANCE, 
INCLUDING POSTAGE, WHICH PUBLISHERS PREPAY. 
Single Copy, $2.65 per Year. To (TubsFive Gop- 
ies, and ana copy free to Agent or getter up of (Tub. 
for$lK.40; Seven Copies,and OHO free, for $17.20; Ten 
Copies,and one free, $21.50—only 12.10 per copy. The 
above rates itichuU poirtagr (which we Mini! be obliged 
to prepay after .Ian. 1. 1875, under the new law,) to 
any part ot the United States, and (ho American 
postag * on all copies mailed to Canada. On papers 
mailed to Europe, by steamer, tho postage will be 85 
cents extra—or $3.50 in all. Drafts, Post-OHloe Money 
OrderB and Registered Letters may be mailed at our 
risk, tr Liberal Premiums to all Club Agents who 
do not take free copies. Specimen Nnmbers Show- 
Bills, &o., sent free. 
KNOWING AND DOING 
Talking with an employer of men, the other 
day, and of the merits and comparative knowl¬ 
edge of some of bis employes, he gave us the 
test by which men are judged in this practical 
age by practical men. It i* the shortest and 
d treetest mode of reaching a conclusion with 
reference to Ihe value of men that, we know of. 
He said" You tell me that. Mr. H. is a man of 
great, knowledge in his line of business. It 
may be; but there is John -, whom I sup¬ 
pose you wunld call comparatively Ignurant, 
who produces ten times the results that Mr. H. 
does. I assure you we care little for a man’s 
knowledge unless It Is productive. It is like a 
mountain of gold located where it cannot be 
made available—It is of uo use." 
prof. Sweet, in an address before the Me¬ 
chanical Engineering Association, at Cornell 
University, once saidMen ore paid for what 
they do, not for wbat they know." This is a 
forcible argument in favor of the most thor¬ 
ough practical training in combination with 
the acquirement of technical knowledge. Jt 
means that t man may have a complete tech¬ 
nical knowledge of the Jaivs of medianfos and 
be unable to make a muebine—that he may be 
possessed of the principles of all of the sciences 
relating to agriculture and horticulture, and 
yot not In utbo to manage either a farm or 
nursery successfully; Mini he may be learned 
lu the science of government, and yet be a most 
miserable legislator, etc., etc. It means the 
rea-sertlou of all that has been proved, over 
and over again, to lie true—that, the mau prac¬ 
tically educated i i any kind of business Is surer 
< r substantial and enduring success lu that 
business than the one who possesses vastly 
more theoretical knowledge concerning it, and 
yet has not been Laught. how to manage it in all 
its practical details. This is one reason why 
tho Rural New-Yorker has repeatedly ad¬ 
vised young men who asked what school we 
would recommend them to attend lu order that 
they might learn fanning to hire out to the 
best farmer they can find and go to work on a 
farm. Tills advice is not given bcc.usewe in 
the least undervalue technical ancl scientific 
education, for every young farmer should em¬ 
ploy these aids In his dally work ; but we woulfl 
have, so far as practicable, the acquirement of 
knowledge and its application simultaneous. 
But if we were going to drop either from our 
education, we would not drop the practical. 
The theoretical and purely technical should be 
made, as it is, subordinate to the practical. 
l'lease be .More Definite.—Tho Germantown 
Telegraph is Indignant occasionally about some¬ 
thing. This is the last “ ebullition of feeling” 
we have noticed, and we would try to adminis¬ 
ter a soothing lotion, if it were possible. It 
says“The fact is, there is far too much pue¬ 
rile criticism of our Department of Agriculture 
and other Departments." "Puerile criticism" 
Is good, but please bo a little more deflotte. 
neighbor, and tell us what particular criticism 
you refer to ns “puerile.” If you think any¬ 
body who criticises the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture Is not In dead earnest, and is trifling or 
boyish, let us know who you mcanl 
ADVERTISING RATES: 
Inside. ]4th and lnth pages (Agate space).60c. per line. 
" 18th page.70 " 
Outside or last page.1.00 “ 
Fifty per cent, extra for unusual display. 
Special Notices, leaded, by oouut.1.25 " 
Business ’* 1.50 " 
Reading " 2.00 “ 
Dlsoount on 4 Insertions, 10 per et.; 8 Ins., 15 per ct.; 
13 ins.. 20 per ct.; 26 ins., 26 per ct.; 52 Ins., 33X per ct. 
Farming by Piece W ork—The labor strikes 
among agricultural laborers In Eugland is de¬ 
veloping for skilled and smart laborers a mar¬ 
ket for their labor at good pay; but the work 
Is done by “the piece,” or, as we call It here, 
"tho job.’ The smartest and most skillful 
make the best wages; the inferior workman 
gets all he really earns. Thus there is a propoi 
equalization of wages—not that, vicious sort of 
" equalization" fostered by Labor Unions, which 
compels a skilled workman to take the same 
wages as the unskilled. 
t, ij.fr 
SATURDAY, NOV. 21, 1S74, 
The Personal Correspondents of the Con¬ 
ducting Editor of this Journal, as well as all 
others who desire their letters to reach him 
directly, are requested to mark their commu¬ 
nications “ Personal ” on the top or upper edge 
of the envelop. The adoption of this sugges¬ 
tion will ooofor a favor upon the Editor and 
perhaps facilitate replies in eases where they 
are requested by correspondents. 
THE SEASON.—WINTER COMING, 
As a compensation for the long-continued, 
cold nod dreary Spring with which the season 
for out-door operations was inaugurated, the 
soil cultivators of this Continent have been 
vouchsafed most propitious weather during the 
past two months—more favorable than for any 
corresponding period In many years. This 
blessing has, with, rare exceptions, been Na¬ 
tional-extending from Maine to Texas, and 
Canada to California—giving our people abun¬ 
dant cause to manifest heartfelt gratitude on 
the coming Thank-giving. We repeat that the 
blessing vouchsafed is National, for the season 
has been unusually pleasant and genial in nearly 
every section of our widely-extended country- 
alike in the East and West, North and South. 
Throughout the North and West the corn and 
other Fall crops have been matured, arid mainly 
gathered in good condition, in consequence of 
the warm and pleasant weather during October 
and the fore part of November. And the same 
is true in regard to Eastern and Southern States. 
As corroborative evidence In point, we have re¬ 
cent information from Texas (given in an Item 
elsewhere) (bat the favorable weather of Octo¬ 
ber added fid,(XX) halos to the cot ton crop of that 
State, the Increase alone being valued at $3,000,- 
000! SnrelyToxnn cotton growers ought, to join 
with unction in the National Thanksgiving. 
But, bright and genial as has been the weather 
for weeks past., there are sure indications, aside 
from what tho almanac prognosticates, that 
Winter is coming, and if behooves all to pre¬ 
pare for the season of hibernation. Though as 
we write (Nov. 10,-11 A. M.) the sun shines 
Foreign Wheat Market.—Our latest reports 
from abroad show an extraordinary dullness 
uud depresslou in the wheat market. The sup¬ 
ply is more than equal to the demand, and 
present indications are thut this state of things 
will continue for some time. Our own shippers 
seem to think so. 
before being insurei. The company is finan¬ 
cially interested in selecting only the longest 
lived. It is reckless of personal offense, but 
the Grange la a democratic institution in which 
each member has a right to all the benefits and 
advantages enjoyed by any other To discrim¬ 
inate in the matter of Insurance wlildisinte- 
grate the order, and to insure the unsound at 
the expense of the sound will discriminate In 
the other direction and drive away the healthy 
members. The Grange that has fewest deaths 
because it has bravely refused to insure its 
unhealthy members will soonest tire of paying 
assessments for the benefit of other Granges. 
Ou the other hand, the Grange that gets the 
largest insurance for its members will be en¬ 
couraged by the apparent imminence of death 
to pay most promptly. In fact, the worst Grange 
and worst (f. e., unsoundest) members will, as 
in regular companies, hold nut most faithfully, 
while the healthy members will abandon the 
organization. The old members who will, in 
the ordinary course of nature, die first, will be 
encouraged to persevere; tlie young, who can 
do so with impunity, will first revolt. 
Thirdly—However strong the bonds of an 
associatlon.it loses its coherence when the ele¬ 
ment of life insurance is introduced. This is 
the invariable experience. The Grange does 
not promise to become an exception, and its 
objects do not deserve to be imperiled in this 
or any other way. Trades unions and societies 
bound together by ties so strong as to endure 
to this day have tried the co-operative life iu- 
surance experiment without success, and re¬ 
jected it long ago incontinently. 
The reasons are just these and no more. No 
one can be depended on to pay unless he stands 
to lose something by refusing. No one will long 
pay more than his just share though he will 
willingly pay less, and—no system of insurance 
can be perpetuated or deserves to be perpet¬ 
uated that does not fix the premium so that 
each one Bh&ll pay in exact proportion to the 
chance that his death will entail loss. 
No farmer would Insure his detached, brick, 
slate-roofed dwelling in a fire Insurance 
RURAL BREVITIES, 
The American Institute Exhibition will close 
this (Saturday) evening. 
By subscribing for the Rural for 1875 before 
Dec. 1, you will save postage. * 
The New York Dairymen's Convention meets 
at Binghamton, Dec. 9 and 10. 
The American Cheap Transportation Associa¬ 
tion Is to meet at Richmond, Va., Dec. 1. 
Ir you want to benefit both yourself and your 
neighbors send for our Premium List, &c., and 
get up a club for the Rural. 
Information front Texas says thirty days of 
fine weather last month added 00,1)00 bales to 
the cotton crop of that State, worth $3,000,000. 
Send $5 before Dec. 1, for the Rural for 
yourself and friond for 1875, and you will save 
postage on both copies. "A penny saved," etc. 
The Massachusetts State Board of Agricul¬ 
ture holds its next "Country Meeting" at West- 
field, Deo. 1-3. A long list of papers is an¬ 
nounced. 
Mr. J. Y. Bicknell informs us he has just 
shipped to John K. Fowler, Aylesbury, En¬ 
gland, four Cayuga Duoks and a trio of Ply¬ 
mouth Rocks. 
We notice the assertion in the Western papers 
that as busking progresses it becomes more aud 
more apparent mat the corn crop Is a short one 
—from one-third to oue-half less than at Hist 
estimated. 
The death of Mr. W. Wadsworth an associate 
Editor of the Pacific Rural Press, is announced. 
Mr. Wadsworth was largely instrumental in 
developing the beet &ugar interest in California, 
aud was an able writer on agricultural topics. 
Fault is being found by breeders, with Mr. 
RaGG’6 management or delay of Yol. 4 of the 
Ayrshire Herd-Book. It is suggested that a 
meeting of Ayrshire breeders be held to look 
after their own interests. 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES, 
The Victoria Stock Farm, Kansas.—A few 
days since we were favored with a call from 
Mr. George Grant of the Victoria Stock 
Farm, Kansas. Mr. Grant speaks with enthu¬ 
siasm of his life iu Kansas. He has nearly 7,000 
sheep, and is breeding Cotswolds, Lincoln, Ox¬ 
ford and Leicester*) from the best, English rams 
and ewes. He has alio 500 head of cattle tv bich 
he says are in wonderfully fine condition, his 
Short-Horns thriving beyond his expectations 
upon the Buffalo grass of the prairies. He is 
now building stone corrals for his stock—one 
of them having sufficient area to shelter 4,000 
to 5,000 sheep. We are promised by Mr. Grant 
urther information concerning jyiu operations 
com¬ 
pany that insured steam saw-mills and match 
factories at the same rate us Ids house, and 
assessed all alike after each fire. Tho uncer¬ 
tainty of premium and insurance would deter 
him from entering into such an arrangement, 
yet it would be neither move uncertain nor 
more inequitable that a scheme of life Insuring 
which (peases a dollar at all ages, though the 
G'ouiuiou adulterated yellow soups are rap¬ 
idly going out of use, owing to the magnificent supe¬ 
riority and economy of the celebrated Dobbins' 
Electric Soap. Pure and white, it works like a 
charm without Injury to the finest fabric. 
Ladle* will experience much less trouble with 
their ocvripg, if they use the Eureka Maehlno Twist. 
Try It once fira be convinced. 
