POORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
“HROCRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED 
liUUAL, LITKEAIIV AMI FA11LI NKffSPAPKE. 
D. D. T. MOORE, 
P'ounder and OondtactiiiK LMitor. 
CHAS. D. BRAGDON, ANDREW S. FULLER, 
Aeaooiate iOilitOra. 
HENRY S. RANDALL LL, D., Cortland Village, N. Y., 
KlOToll ok THK DkPAUTMKFVT OK SHKKr I iW»HANHUT. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y., 
Editor or thr DuFAUtviiocr or Dairy Husbandry. 
G. A. (J. HARNETT, 1’iib I teller. 
TERMS FOR 18*5, IN ADVANCE, 
INCLUDLNU POST AUK, WHICH t’UJtUSJIKES PREPAY. 
Single Copy, F.Wi per Year. To Club*; Kirn Cop- 
lee, utid nno (Mpy Iron to Agent or colter uji of Club, 
for .fl'UUi Seven Copies, and one free, tor 117.20; Ton 
Coplos.sind ono free, $21.50—only F2.lv per Copy. The 
above I'al* 1 :* "I- Imli' puntrtgr (which Wo Mm II beobliged 
to prepay after Jan. I. IMS, under the now law,) to 
any part «>i the Cnlted Stater, and the American 
postage on all copies niiilled to Canada. On papers 
malted in Europe, by steamer, the postage will be 00 
ccnlrexn-a or J.'i.50inall. limits, Post-OifLco Money 
Orders and Registered Letters may bn mailed at our 
rink. 1.- “Liberal l’rcmloin* to all Club Agents who 
do not take freo copies. Specimen Numbers Sliow- 
15111s, Ac., sent free. 
ADVERTISING RATES: 
Inside. Hth and loth pagestAgate space).60c. per lino. 
*• mil miae.7(1 “ 
101/11 p.irt;. I u 
Ouirlde or lari page.. LOO ** 
Cl tty per coni, extra for unusual display. 
Special Notices, leaded, by count..... ,,.1.26 ’* 
Business “ . ....l.M) “ 
Reading “ 2.00 »* 
Discount on -I Insertions. 10 per et.; H Ins., 16 per ct.; 
13 ins., 20 per ct.: 20 Ins., 25 per ct.; 52 Ins., 88X per ct. 
S jg~ No advertisement Inserted tor less than Et. 
•-»♦«-- 
(PUBLICATION OFFICES: 
No, 78 Duane Street, New York Cily, and No. 67 
East Main St., (Darrow’s Bookstore, Osburn 
House Block,) Rochester, N. Y. 
SATURDAY, J1T1C. 5, 1874. 
AND HERE IS WINTER! 
Yes, Winter is here! Not only according to 
the almanac, but in very truth—for both Sum¬ 
mer’s and Autumn’s joys and gonial, halcyon 
days arc gone, and old Horens has taken posses¬ 
sion. AYhal, a recent, writer has said of Novem¬ 
ber is t rue In this latitude of the present month 
—the first of Winter--that “ the nights grow (nr 
have grown) keen ;uid frosty, tho sunbeams 
faint aud chill. Jack Frost scatters Ids ashes 
broadcast over lawn and meadow, and the 
brooks ah Ivor and sigh as they oroop through 
tin' sodden leaves. ‘Old Probabilities’ talks 
of snow; we foci it in our bones, and shall not 
be surprised to see, at any hour, the orispy air 
while with snow Hakes. Hut after all, these are 
not the ‘ melancholy days ’ of which the poets 
sing In dlrge-Ilke strains as ' I he saddest of the 
year.’ November,[December.] ruddy with ting¬ 
ling life, and w ill) the free, fresh winds blowing 
out her nut brown tresses, hastier own charms 
as she clasps old Winter by the hand and leads 
him in to be erownod ‘ruler of the inverted 
year.' For the Iasi ruse of Summer Abe gives us 
the blue fringed gentian, bright with frosty 
dew. In her rougher winds are tonic draughts 
of life and in her long night and radiant lire 
places, dear home delights, and at her Thanks¬ 
giving [Christ mat] tables the fairest consum¬ 
mation of domestic joys.” 
Hut let us take a less poetical and more prac¬ 
tical view of this timely topic. 
Truly, Winter may be made a season of pleas¬ 
ure and amusement, as It is, to many of our 
readers, one of leisure and Instruction. *• There 
is a time far all thingis,” saith tho wise man, 
and Winter Is peculiarly l',e period when Itu- 
ralists have opportunity for recreation and 
mental improvement. Nowell-ordered family 
in the country should fail to improve the com¬ 
paratively leisure days and long o v Rings of the 
hibernating season in such manner as will tend 
to promote physical, mental and moral ad¬ 
vancement. Books and periodicals, schools 
and churches, parties and oilier places of 
amusement and recreation — ait should be 
brought into requisition and made available 
for instruction, diversion and improvement. 
Even the pleasures of tbe dance may lie in¬ 
dulged in Innocently, though perhaps the waltz 
(as represented in the allegorical illustration of 
December, on next page,) might be objection¬ 
able. He that ns it may, we trust our readers 
all over the land will enjoy Winter—making it 
a season of genuine “Progress and Improve¬ 
ment” in all that ennobles humanity and ad¬ 
vances civilization. 
FALLACIES OF LITE INSURANCE. 
Number XXXVI. 
There is eminent, authority for the assertion 
that the power to amalgamate, or to ro-immre 
eaoh other's risks, either singly or In gross. Is 
more injurious and minatory than any Other 
that tho life insurance companies ha\a been 
permitted to assume, but it is a power which 
has been, for many years, exorcised without 
oven (lie semblance of restraint, and, it is safe 
to say, has been in many Inst slices most shame¬ 
fully abused. No fewer than twenty-three 
companies that had, at. ono time or another, 
issued policies upon the lives of citizens of this 
State, with the sanction of tho Insurance De¬ 
partment., have within the last five years 
adopted this method of retiring from a profit¬ 
less undertaking. Bach company drove the 
best bargain it could, without regard to the 
consent of its policy holders, whose right in 
tbe premises it has not yet occurred to the in¬ 
surance authorities to define. 
The expediency or necessity for this resort in 
each particular case it is, perhaps, too late 
to question. There are circumstances under 
which re-insurance becomes expedient; for 
example, wlieu the financial resources of the 
company have become so depleted that it can¬ 
not either saiely or profitably proceed, but it is 
nearly always a desperate remedy. The boat 
tlmt can bo said is, that when the alternative 
ilea between utter insolvency and re-insurance; 
the latter is the lesser evil, but none the less an 
evil. Excepting in the rare instance when, in 
perfect good faith and without an exchange of 
policies, one solvent company accepts the as¬ 
sets and as*iilues tho risks of another equally 
solvent corporation, the chances are very great 
that the motives of the principal parties will 
not boar too close inquisition. When, as in 
nine cases In ten, the re-insured company's as¬ 
sets are i repaired, a deficit of assets can be made 
good at the expense of one or the other Bet of 
policy holders, and as there can exist no suffi¬ 
cient motive to impose upon their own follow¬ 
ers, the re-insurers too frequently take advan¬ 
tage of t he necessities of the re-insured to dic¬ 
tate conditions. 
These conditions usually relate to the ex¬ 
change of policies and the proportion of the 
reserve, of l lie surrendered policy allowed as a 
bonne, or applied in payment of premiums in 
advance upon the new’ policy. For example, a 
party to be re-insured has, at. tbe ago of thirty- 
live, a ten-year endow ment pulley on which five 
annual payments have been made. The policy 
is worth about $440, and t his liability tho rein¬ 
surer aiUBt assume unless the holder oi the pol¬ 
icy w ill consent to exchange it for some other 
policy. Suppose lie accept t he offer to issue to 
him a whole life policy and pay the premium# 
ten years in advance. The company gets rid of 
$440 of liability at a cost of Jess than $200; the 
remaining $240 is clear gain. 
The exchange of policies is a losing transac¬ 
tion to the policy holder, oven when he is per¬ 
mitted to use all the reserve to the credit of his 
policy, for the reserve will not at the increased 
age purchase as much insurance as he gives up. 
A paid-up, whole-life policy at the age of forty 
cost the holder $443.53. If after holding it one 
year lie surrenders it in exchange for its full 
value, $1520.07, this sum will purchase only about 
$744.10 of insurance, and if he made such an ex¬ 
change the next year, lie would have but $554.08 
of insurance to show for his original outlay; 
yet iu every exchange ho is allowed t he entire 
reserve. It, as is the practice of at least one 
company that exhibits a fondness for this sort 
of business, only half, or less, of tbe reserve Is 
allowed to be applied to the payment of premi¬ 
ums on the uew policy (the other half being 
“appropriated ”), the ael ual Insurance left after 
an exchange would l>o $72 leas than the original 
premium. This would be the effect, in a lesser 
degree, of allowing t lie dllir< reserve of any old 
policy to be applied In payment of premiums on 
anew insurance, and the purchasing power of 
half the reserve would, or course, bo propor¬ 
tionately less. In such ease the policy holder 
is pretty certain to sustain loss by consenting 
to any change whatever, mnl had best hold on 
to his original policy and take the conse¬ 
quences, always remembering to tender his 
legular premium before the day it is due. 
This is the process when a company legally 
assumes all the risks of another, but the re-in¬ 
surer has a greater advantage whore no such 
obligation exists, and the policy holders or a 
company which it proposes to re-insure piece¬ 
meal arc permitted the choice of accepting the 
terms offered or staying iu the old company 
after all its best risks have gone over t o the new’ 
one. Tim object, is to get ail the healthy and 
long-lived risks into tho new company and 
make money by ullowdng one-half only of the 
reserves, leaving the unhealthy aud unwilling 
policy holders to their fate. This is a piece of 
most Ougrant injustice, but as it appears to 
meet the approval of the authorities to whose 
guardianship the rights of the insured are in¬ 
trusted under the law. It is perhaps useless to 
protest against it. Those who are ongaged in 
t his business will doubtless make a good thing 
of it, but it will at once occur to the least re¬ 
flective observer that the Insurance Depart¬ 
ment that know ingly sanctions such a practice 
must be unworthy of public confidence, and 
the veriest sham of supervision. Of the moral¬ 
ity of this sort of business there can be hut one 
opinion. 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 
“Doing the Country a Service.”- Many of 
our best Agents do not. work for Premiums only 
—and some refuse to accept any—but mainly 
for the benefit of their fellow citizens and the 
country. AVc gratefully appreciate the con¬ 
scientious efforts of such friends, and shall 
endeavor to continuously furnish such a paper 
as shall do good only to Individuals, families 
and community. Of the many who believe 
introducing the Hr rat. is doing 1 a service to the 
count ry is Mr. V. It. Kenyon of Potter Co., Pa., 
who has already remitted for a handsome club 
for 1875. After closing the business portion of 
his letter Mr. K. add*“ I would Bay, In addi¬ 
tion, that I shall continue iu future to do what 
I can Tor your most valuable Rural, believing 
• hat I am doing the country service in Intro¬ 
ducing so interesting a paper. 1 think it sur¬ 
passes anything I ever yet have road in the line 
of weeklies, and it. has been worth dollars 
where it has cost me cents. My only regret Is 
that I did not become acquainted with Its use¬ 
fulness Booner, os I have met with losses that I 
am satisfied might have been avoided by the 
knowledge derived from Its pages. I expect to 
get more subscribers. Shall endeavor to aid its 
circulation «s far as Is in my power.” 
— How runny of tho thousands who are 
ardent adinlicrsfof this Journal will manifest 
their approval of its character, objects and 
beneficial influence, by making some effort to 
extend Its circulation and usefulness ilurlnu 
th< pmnit months the best in the year for ob¬ 
taining subscriptions ? 
-in- 
The Eastman Business College—Located at 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., has long been celebrated, 
its reputation ranking it among the most suc¬ 
cessful and popular institutions of learning in 
this country. This him been its repute for 
years, and Mr. Eastman, its Founder and Presi¬ 
dent, has sufficient enterprise and ability to 
maintain and augment its usefulness and pop¬ 
ularity. The College buildings have recently 
been so enlarged as to accommodate one 
thousand students, tbe extensive improve¬ 
ments including new Practical, Office nnd 
Hanking Departments. A Poughkeepsie paper, 
after congratulating tho institution and its 
friends upon the Increasing popularity which 
induced the recent enlargement, etc., adds this 
strong commendation “ We have known Mr. 
Eastman, his public and private achievements, 
and the institution over which he presides, for 
years, with an intimacy that is almost akin to 
near relationship. We have been intimate with 
the ProfeesotR, have met in the streets and 
public places the multitude of students who 
have flocked t o It from all sections of tho coun¬ 
try, and wc know whereof wo affirm, when we 
t hat in its specialty, H Practical, Thorough 
Business Training School, with a coarse of 
study, clou t, useful and reasonable, and taught, 
in tho most novel and interesting manner, con¬ 
ducted by men of high standing and great bus¬ 
iness experience, it is eminently worthy of the 
increased confidence and support it is re¬ 
ceiving.” 
•-*♦«- 
New York College, of Veterinary burgeons. 
—“ Young Horseman ” asks if Ihlsis “ a reliable 
institution.” We Judge so from tho fact that It 
has been in operation nearly or quite t en years, 
and that such men as Henry Burnt are included 
In its Hoard of Trustees and Peter Cooper 
among its subscribers. Its faculty are J. Bus- 
tked, M. 11., Emeritus Prof. Histology; A Lian- 
taki), M. 1)., V. s„ Prof. Comparative Anatomy 
and Operative Surgery; J. L. liotinRTi4w«, M. 
D., V. S., Prof. Theory aud Practice of Vet eri¬ 
nary Medicine!; Fan. I). Wkisse, M. D., Prof. 
Surgical Pathology; Alex. N. Stein, M. 1)., 
Prof. Histology and Comparative Anatomy; 
Samuel n. Percy, M. It., Prof. Chemistry, 
Materia Medina and Therapeutic*; Prof. F. L. 
Hatteelee, M. D., Agricultural Chemistry; A. 
Larue, M. D., V. S., Clinical Professor. You 
can obtain furl bur information of A. F. Li vn- 
tard, M. 1)., V. S., Secretary of the Faculty, 205 
Lexington Ave., New York City. 
-- 
Returning Packages.—It is an absurd, incon¬ 
venient and annoying custom which requires on 
t he part of the consignor I he return by thecon- 
aignec of butter, cheese, fruit nr other pack¬ 
ages. Every dealer ought toset Ids face against 
it; every consumer ought to reluae to lmy of a 
dealer who asks such return. Let those who 
sell charge for their packages if they please, but 
cease this absurd requirement. We are glad 
to note that the Produce Exchange, of Chicago 
has decided to adopt, or arc about to adopt, a 
rule to neither pay for, return nor charge pur- 
sbasors for butter packages that have been used 
It Is Just as absurd as for dry good dealers to 
require the return of dry goods boxes or the 
paper wrappers about goods, and just as in¬ 
convenient and unnecessary, it. ought to he 
stopped. 
No, Sir, Don’t Do It!—“Would you ad vise a 
man w ith a young family of boys, who has a 
small home and a comfortable one, to sell out 
and take his family and move South or Weft, 
where ho can get more room for the money?” 
No, Sir, not until you have first gone over tho 
ground and selected your homo- Thin should 
be done before you have disposed of your pres¬ 
ent home. It is a great mistake for men to make 
such changes until they are satisfied, by }u'.rguual 
c.ruminalUrn , that they are going to benefit 
themselves. Better spend $100 or $200 In look- 
DEC. S 
lug than to waste your substance and lose your 
home by taking such unnecessary and unwise 
chances. If you live long in the hind, you will 
thank the Rural New-Yorker, some time, 
fur this advice, if you need it. 
--- 
Tlint Our Premium* Pay Agents, and are 
appreciated by recipients, wc bave abundant 
evidence in frequent letters of acknowledg¬ 
ment. Vide t his one from Mr. W. J. Htaley of 
Schoharie Co., N. Y., who (in a l< tier remitting 
for a club for 1875) WTites “ I have formed 
clubs for the Rural for the past eight years 
(«dth the exception of otic), and among the 
Premiums have received a Grover & Baker 
Sewing Machine, a Webster Dictionary, nine 
Tabic Spoons, and the Continental Washing 
Machine. I feel that you have paid me well for 
my labor, apart from placing in the hands of 
many ono of the (if not the) best family papers 
in our country. Tho articles I have received 
have all been of the first class, just as you said 
they were. I thank you for them all.” 
Twenty Tliouxnuil Extrn Copies of this 
week's Rural are Issued, which will bo a good 
thing for advertisers, aa all the papers will be 
circulated. With the extras will he mailed a 
Supplement comprising our new and profusely 
illustrated Premium List, and we trust every 
non-subscriber receiving the same will consti- 
t ufe himself an Agent and form a club for 1875. 
Though a good one, this number of the Rural 
is probably no better I lian the average for we 
do not resort, to tbe dodge of getting up an ex¬ 
tra nice paper, semi-«»o<;nslfinally,sis nspecimen 
wherewith to deceive the public and catch 
innocents. 
-*♦*- 
Don't Conic to (lie Cily for W ork, unless you 
arc assured of a job before you start. There are 
thousands of young and older men here with 
nothing to do; also women. Better work for 
your hoard in the country titan come hero to 
compete with those now out of work, and to 
haunt the soup-houses for food, the station 
houses for lodgings, and the headquarters of 
charitable societies for help. Bctterchop cord 
wood, lift logs, drive a team, thresh with a flail, 
or do any kind of farm work than to risk so 
humiliating an experience ns thousands under¬ 
go who are hero. 
-- 
Testimony of a Young Lady Agent,—Among 
our Agent-Friends are many ladles who believe 
in the Rural, and therefore work for it con¬ 
scientiously and usually with success. For ex¬ 
ample, Mi s M. J. Tvvt.vu or Berkshire Co., 
Mass,, writes us (under date of Nov. 21) in this 
encouraging wise“ 1 nclosod you w ill find a 
check for twenty dollars ($20) and the names 
of eleven subscribers for the ‘Hear old Rural.’ 
It speaks well for your paper that those who 
have taken It want it again, and I feel no com¬ 
punctions of conscience when I urge a man to 
take it, for the benefit of Ids children.” 
-♦♦♦-- 
RURAL BREVITIES. 
Agents can send part of a Club on the start 
and fill up subsequently. 
There are said to be 50 students In attend¬ 
ance at the Ohio Agricultural College. 
December n t, ho best month to form clubs. 
Don’t forget that, good friends. 
As a seasonable item we may mention that 
now is the tlnm to subscribe and form clubs 
for the Rural for 1876. 
Many of our Agents have already reported 
good progress. They arc striking us wit h clubs 
from all sections. “ Lay on, Macdlkk ! ” 
Rukalihts wishing to purchase or consign 
goods or any kind, should address “ Rural Pur¬ 
chasing Agency," (C. li. K. Redoing, Manager.) 
Nu. 78 Duane st., New York, 
Stillman Fletcher, for several years one 
of l.lio Editors of the New England Farmer, 
died recently at Reading, Vi... aged 51. He was 
a long time i.he valued associate of i be late ex- 
Gov. Brown in the conduct of the Farmer. 
Our Rural Purchasing Agency “still 
lives aud prospers, albeit, its announcements 
are omitted ibis week, in order to give the new’ 
favors of advertising friends who wish the 
benefit of our large extra edition. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
Tin* Ladd Patent Stiffened Gold Watch 
Gases havo proved theuiselve* in wear a superior 
and standard article, in tho eight years limy have 
been before the public, they huvu steadily named In 
popular confidence unci esteem. .Made of thick plates 
of gold and ulckel'ooniposition, thoroughly welded 
together and rolled to the requisite tulckne-s, they 
are, while equally handsome, ’stronger and more 
durable than tbe finest solid gold cases of the same 
weight of metal, and at onc-third or one-half the 
cost. With good movements they mute Die cheap¬ 
est, most elegant and .-cmenable gold watches in 
market, and are to be had of respectable deulers in 
all parts of tho country. Send lor full Descriptive 
Circulars to the manufacturers, 
J. A. BROWN & CO., 
11 Malden Lane, New York. 
«»♦ ■ ■■ 
If there arc any of our readers who have not 
yet tried Dobbins’ Electric Soap, they will really 
find it economy to do so. It is perfectly pure, and 
a truly wonderful labor-saver. Ask your grocers to 
order It. 
-m- 
“Brown’s Bronchial Troches.”—Coughs and 
Colds are often overlooked. A continuance lor any 
length of time causes in Ration of the Lungs or some 
chronic Throat Disease. * 1 Breton’s Bronchial Troches” 
are uu effectual Cough Remedy. 
-- 
Ladies, If you wish a silk that will run well on 
your Sewing .Machines, buy the Kureka. 
