MOORE'S 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
“PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
MOORES RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A NATIONAL 1LLUSTRATED 
FALLACIES OF LIFE INSURANCE, 
Number xxxvii. 
ABOUT RE-iNSURANCE. 
has virtually sanctioned an unavoidable wreck¬ 
ing of all that insurance laws are intended to 
conserve and protect. 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 
RURAL, LITERARY AM) FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
I). D. T. 2MEOORE, 
Founder and Conducting Kditor. 
CHAS. D. BKAGDON, ANDREW S. FULLER, 
Aamooiute Editors. 
HENRY S. RANDALL LL, D t , Cortland Village, N. Y., 
Editob or Tin DirmTHiNT or Siinr Hvihikdby. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y., 
Kditok or TUI n«riBTU»KT or Daisy Himuukdby. 
G. A. C. llAItNETT, Publisher. 
TERMS FOR 1875, IN ADVANCE, 
INCLUDING POSTAGE, WHICH PUBLISHERS PREPAY. 
S'URlo Copy, t2.'i5 per Tear. To flubsFive Cop¬ 
ies, and one copy free to A root or getter up of Club, 
fort 18,40; Seven Copies, and one free, for $17.20; Ten 
Copies,and one free, *31.60—only >2.16 per copy. The 
above rates include postagi (which wo shall be obliged 
to prepay after Jan. I, 1876, under the new law.) to 
any part of the United States, and the American 
postage on all copies mailed to Canada. On papers 
mailed to Europe, by steamer, the postage will he 86 
conte extra—or fHJHMn all. Urufts, Post-Office Money 
Orders and Registered Letters may he mailed at our 
risk. Liberal Premium* to all Club Agents who 
do not take free ooplea. Specimen Numbers Show. 
Bills, &c., sent free. 
ADVERTISING RATES: 
Inside, lttli and Lilli pages (Agate space).60c. 
'■ 13tli page.70 
Outside or last page.1.00 
Fifty per cent, extra lor unusual display. 
Special Notices, leaded, by count.1.26 
Business ‘ l . 1.60 
Heading “ 2.00 
per line. 
tt 
•» 
tt 
Discount on 1 insertions. 10 per ct.: 8 Ins., 15 per ct.; 
X.'j Ins., 30 per ct.; 2li Ins., 25 pur ut.; 52 Ins., 3% per ct. 
Biff" No advertisement inserted for less than 03. 
♦♦♦ 
t PUBLICATION OFFICES: 
No, 78 Duane Street, New York City, and No. 67 
East Main St., (Darrow's Bookstore, Osburn 
House Block,) Rochester, N. Y. 
SATURDAY, DEO. 13, 1874. 
MOOER’S RURAL FOR 1875. 
THE TIME TO ACT EFFECTIVELY. 
PAYING WORK FOR ALL, ! 
Agents, Subscribers, and all others friendly 
to this Journal—which we trust and believe 
includes a myriad of good men and women, 
young men and maidens fair —are reminded 
that this Volume will close in two weeks, when 
our engagements with the majority of readers 
will terminate, as most subscriptions expire 
with the year. Those, therefore, who propose 
to form clubs, renew or subscribe, should wisely 
take time by the forelock and act at once— 
for all present parishioners whose mimes aim 
sent in early will continue to receive the paper 
without inteJTuptlon, while new subscribers 
will receive the early numbers of the now year 
and volume promptly. 
December—and especially the part of it yet 
unexpired— is the best time In all the year to 
fann clubs. Agent-Friends who have long kind¬ 
ly acted as Recruiting Officers for the Rural 
Brigade know this by experience, but we men¬ 
tion it, with emphasis, for the benefit of new 
recruiting ugents. This—N< jU)—T o-Day— is the 
time to net effectively. Any live man or woman, 
boy or girl, of any Influence (and every “live” 
person has more or less influence) can form a 
dub of from ten to fifty or ono hundred within 
a week by Going to Work Notv —and mauy can 
do it (as many of our friends have, aforetime,) 
In a single day. 
It is Paying Work for All, as every one 
who forms a club of ten or more will receive 
an extra paper or a good Premium, the value 
of t he latter generally being in proportion to 
the number of subscribers obtained. Though 
many act in behalf of the Rural for the benefit 
of their neighbors and community, we ask none 
to work for nothing, but propose to give, and 
da give, “Goo» Pay for Doing Good”— our 
inducements being greater than these offered 
by any other journal, as an examination of our 
new Premium List will clearly demonstrate. 
The question of re-insurance promises to be¬ 
come as vexatious and as productive of almost 
unmitigated evil In this country as it has so 
long been in England. Already a great num¬ 
ber of American Life Insurance Companies 
have either “ amalgamated " or re-insured, and 
nearly a* many more are believed to be quietly 
preparing lor a similar resort. Indeed there Is 
scarcely room for doubt that, unless the In¬ 
surance Departments hasten to enact and rigid¬ 
ly Inforce additional laws for the better protec¬ 
tion of policy holders, it will soon become a 
matter uf serious doubt whether they have any 
rights that the companies can be compelled to 
respect, Under exist ing laws t hey may be trans¬ 
ferred to another, and In their estimation utter¬ 
ly worthless, company, not only against their 
will and without consulting their inclinations, 
but without other Intimation of their fate than 
is contained in a notice to pay their allotted 
premiums at the home office of another com¬ 
pany, perhaps a thousand miles away. 
At first, the barguln to re-insure a company 
Included all Its risks, good, bad and Indifferent; 
but this was, upon trial, discovered to require 
some Ingenuity and to bo less lucrative than a 
later Invention. The re-insuring company did 
not want the bad risks at any price, but uruler 
Its contract was compelled either to take them 
or to buy them off, which was found to be a 
costly and difficult thing, for the worse the risk 
the more tenaciously the owner of the policy 
clung to the only insurance he had or could ob¬ 
tain. Having vantage ground, an unusual posi¬ 
tion for a policy holder, he naturally drove u 
bard bargain with the company, compelling it 
to drive hard bargains with the healthy risks— 
In fine, to dlmlohh the Inducements it could 
offer to desirable policy holders In order to get 
rid of Ihe undesirable. This plan of robblug 
the healthy and desirable Peter, to pay off and 
get rid of the moribund Paul, did not pay, 
and lienee the adoption of a device which 
might retain the desirable risks and leave the 
undesirable to shift for themselves. 
The professional re-insurer does not, as for¬ 
merly, buy up a majorit y of 1 he slock of another 
company,and, after due notice tothe Insurance 
Department, proceed to ro-lnsure its risks as 
they i-p,me, when It is so much easier, safer and 
more profitable to concert with the company to 
be re-insured to retain Its dividends until they 
equal the value of the stock, that is. the value 
the holders choose to put upon it, retire t he 
stock, call it a mutual company, and the next 
year announce, or get some olio to disclose, 
that there Is a deficiency of assets. This brings 
down upon it tbe Superintendent, wbo finds 
the company “abort,” perhaps half a million 
dollars. The company that lias all along in¬ 
tended to re-insure such of its risks as it want¬ 
ed, slips in and offers to make good the deficit 
on such and such terms. Tbo proposal Is for¬ 
mally accepted, of course, and (he work of de¬ 
molition begins. As fast as policy holders come 
in to renew their premiums they are Informed 
that the company has been required by the De¬ 
partment to close up Its business ; it is darkly 
hinted that the company is In a very Insecure 
if not dungernus condition, and that they had 
better see Mr. So-And-So of the other company, 
and if possible make some arrangement to 
transfer their policies. 
Tbe affrighted policy holders are examined; 
the sound ones, especially those who are pay¬ 
ing oll-uaah premiums and have valuable cash 
reserves, are offered such terms as, it is sup¬ 
posed, they can be Induced to accept, and ( lie 
unsound are told to “ come in again next 
week." Those who are accepted are allowed 
from two-thirds of the actual- cash value of 
their policies down to a sum that will payor 
partly pay the first premium on a new policy. 
Those who refuse to accept those terms are in¬ 
formed, with a profusion of expressions ol' re¬ 
gret, that the company “can do not blog for 
them ; If they choose they can pay their pre¬ 
miums to u broken-down company; would like 
to insure them; advise them to obtain lnaur- 
ancebomewhere,” See. The result Is that those 
who cannot bo affrightened into lapsing their 
policies outright accept the terms offered them, 
the few who persist in paying tbe old premium 
wait until their next premium fulls due and 
then either accept less favorable terms than 
they formerly rojcctod or lapse their policies. 
The unhealthy risks remain in the old com¬ 
pany, which is, a* long as it is convenient, per¬ 
mitted to keep up a semblance of existence. 
The healthy members defect one by one and 
obtain policies elsewhere, while the unhealthy, 
who have no alternative, remain to experience 
such a rate of mortality as soon exhausts all 
attainable moans of payment. 
The wrong done those whose misfortune com¬ 
pels them to cling to the old wreck consists in 
permitting the Letter risks to abandon thorn. 
They went into partnership with the sound 
risks, when all were, at least theoretically, 
souud, with the understanding that all should 
remain. This implied agreement was the basis 
of their mortality table, tbeir premiums and of 
every calculation Intended to reuder their in¬ 
surance perpetual. Had the officers and the 
Insurance Department enforced tho fidelity of 
the healthy members the losses would always 
have fallen within the premiums and the in¬ 
surance of all would have been equally reliable, 
but by permitting another company to seduce 
the best risks only the Insurance Department 
A .Mi>mi*«ip pi nil's Opinion of tbe dural. The 
following from a gentleman (Mr. J. Harhal) 
residing in Pe Soto Co., Miss., is frank and 
uiauly. We assure the writer that we are not, 
knowingly, prejudiced against the South or Ks 
people—In which and among whom wo have 
many friends that wo esteem highly and that, 
believing In free discussion and Justice, wc 
shall be glad to hear from him in reply to any¬ 
thing which may appear In tho RURAL. He 
writesl’leasc find inclosed $X.H 0 for tbe 
Ruhal New-Yohkbr for 1875 for my daughter. 
Carrie. I have come to love the paper for its 
gems, aside from its utility, and you certainly 
have the faculty or talent, tu charm and Improve 
the young, and If your columns, ok years ago, 
had more of moral miscellany, they would be as 
valuable to the young as Arthur's writings. 
What you publish Is pure gold, only not enough 
of it. 1 have only one objection to you, and 
that is your seeming prejudice against us as a 
people. I do not object to your lashing our 
vices as severely as you plcaBe, but our virtues 
should not be pushed out of sight. I must be¬ 
lieve that you do not know us or you would 
not be so sweeping in your condemnation of us. 
I began to write a letter to you and ask its pub¬ 
lication in reply to some severe strictures on a 
letter to you from Florida, but I was not sure 
you would publish It, and so I desisted; but if 
you coulddosolwould take pleasure in writing 
something to correct the errors Into which our 
Northern friends have fallen in regard to us.” 
A Bureau of Dendrology.— This scheme to 
saddle on the people another Bureau for the 
benefit of a few individuals.who do not know 
what to do with themselves, and who believe 
“ the world owes them a living,” is not given 
up. Congress is again to be importuned to es¬ 
tablish such a Bureau and give the charge of it 
to parties who have the past two or three years 
been traveling about the country soliciting the 
indorsement of scientific and industrial socie¬ 
ties. This proposed Bureau lias already received 
the indorsement of the distinguished scientific 
body known as the Formers' Club of the Amer¬ 
ican Institute. It was attempted, the other 
night, to get a similar indorsement from the 
Polytechnic branch of the same Institute, but 
IngloriousJy failed. Thefactls the whole scheme 
is “ too thin.” Fossils may indorse it, but live 
thoughtful, sensible men, who know how such 
schemes work, are not likely to do so. 
»»«-- 
Shake Your Head,—Listen to a patent right 
vender, if you want to, or to a dealer in clothes, 
or to a peddler of wonderful fruits illustrated 
with highly colored pictures—listen patiently, 
say nothing, and finally, when ho lias reached 
the climax."of his peroration and wants you to 
invest, shake your head. Don't open your 
mouth; say nothing; think what you choose, 
but shake your head and point to tbo door as a 
place of exit for such fellows. Don't get into 
an argument with them; don't ask any ques¬ 
tions ; let your eyes twinkle as much as they 
will; but shake off the wool they are attempt¬ 
ing to pull over your eyes by shaking your head 
firmly, digniflmlly and decisively. This recipe 
has proved, in more than one case, to be deci¬ 
dedly effective, and if acted upon will soon save 
m my a reader more thau the cost of a year's 
subscription to the Rural New-Yorker. 
»♦»- 
Go With n Uiicatton.—We do not suppose 
there is a reader of the Rural New-Yorker 
who liss not learned that It is profitable to 
attend Industrial conventions—especially such 
as arc held for discussion of topics In which he 
or she may be practically interested. We have 
one suggestion to make to those who may 
attend these conventions. Go ready to give 
any information in your power and willing to 
contribute it freely to the general fund; but 
also go with a qitcsllon! A season's work, in 
any branch of husbandry, should suggest many 
inquiries for answer. It is not always the case 
that the man to whom they are suggested can 
answer them for hirnself. Such conventions 
are good places at which to secure such answers. 
-- 
Virginia Lands.— N. O. Bond, Esq., formerly 
of tho Virginia Land Co. and publisher of 
“Southern Homes,” is now farming at Fairfax 
Court Uuuse, Va., and partieb seeking Soul hern 
homes can obtain any Information they desire 
by addressing questions to him by mail. Mr. 
B. is one of our Virginia subscribers, and we 
remember publishing several years ago a de¬ 
scription of his Farmer's Furnace, with illus¬ 
trations, a cheap and useful apparatus for 
heating purposes, now in use by many. All 
seeking homes lu the South are referred to Mr. 
B's advertisement in this paper. 
— - ♦ * < . ■ 
UufBiiotis Atioui Life Insurance.—Questions 
from subscribers to the Ruhal NEW-YORKER 
(only) relative to life Insurance, that are asked 
in brief, concise form, will lie answered in these 
columns (or privately) free of charge. This pro¬ 
position docs not Include the valuation of poli¬ 
cies, which will, however, be valued for a small 
fee. The object is to give information con¬ 
cerning the general subject of Life Insurance 
to those who may have general questions to 
ask thut may not be fully answered in the series 
DIO. 42 
of articles we are publishing. The information 
given will be reliable. 
-*♦*- 
“It's Just n Splendid Sled ! Is what our 
eight-year-old junior said, the other day, about 
a little (mainly) iron sled received by the Editor 
hereof from some kind body at Seneca Falls. 
It is stamped “ Karn's Patent-May 27. 1873— 
manufactured at Seneca Falls, N. Y." Though 
oblivious as to the name of tho maker and 
sender, wo will tell when advised, and mean¬ 
time can surely announce that the aforesaid 
junior anticipates a “jolly good time” when 
snow comes. 
-- »♦♦ - — 
The Lifting Power of the Squush. -Now they 
are beginning to find fault with the President 
of the Agricultural College at Amherst, Mass., 
because he has made a great reputation out of 
a squash vine and hasn't done it in some other 
way. Will those Massachusetts farmers never 
bo satisfied ? How many of them would ever 
have known what a squash vine would raise if 
President Clark hadn’t told 'om ? 
-- 
The Illustrated Annual or Rural Affairs for 
187 if —(Albany: Luther Tucker & Son)— Is at 
hand, well filled with practical material. It is 
an excellent publication and we should miss it 
if, for any reason. It failed to appear “about 
this time in December.” 
»♦» i . 
Experience Wanted, it is always in order to 
forward the Ruhal New-Yorker any practical 
experiences, or suggestions and inquiries grow¬ 
ing out of them. We suppose every reader 
knew this before, but we again assert it, as a 
reminder. 
--, 
RURAL BREVITIES. 
“ Good Pay for Doing Good” is what we give 
all who form dubs. Strike us, please! 
The meeting of the State Farmers’ Associa¬ 
tion of Illinois is postponed until Jan. in, 1875. 
“They all want It?" Want what/ The Ru¬ 
ral for 1876, and are only waiting for you to 
Invite them to subscribe. 
Tine Dairy Husbandry Department of the 
Rural is alone worth many times thepricaof 
the paper to any dairyman. 
Now is the time to start a Rural club for 
1F75. Is any one attending to il In your neigh¬ 
borhood? If not, try it yourself. 
O. II. Phelps. Klngsboro, Fulton Co., N. Y., 
asks correspondence with some truck farmer 
and fruit grower near Norfolk, Va. 
Header, “What'* going to he done, and 
who’s going to do it" about getting up a club 
for next year’s Rural in your place? 
K.C. Hill or Richardson Co., Neb., writes us 
that ho this year harvested 434 bushels of win¬ 
ter wheat from 13 acres of high prairie sod. 
The Crawford Co-, l'a., Dairymen's Conven¬ 
tion occurs at Moadville, Jan. 0 7, when Mr. X. 
A. Willard of the Rural New-Yorker will 
give an address on “Milkand its Products.” 
George Vinton Is Informed that military 
Instruction at West Point cannot be purchased. 
Nomination as a cadet can only ho secured 
t hrough a member of Congress or the Presi¬ 
dent; then If you pass tlm required examina¬ 
tion. Government pays tho expenses of your 
education. 
X. A. Willard, A. M., of tbo Rural New- 
Yorker, delivers an address before tbe Con- 
nectiout SI ute Board of Agrlcull ure (at Woi id 
stock, Dec. 17.) on "The Philosophy of Dairy 
Manufacture.” 
Horace Waters & 8ow of 481 Broadway, 
New York, advertise in another page, their 
Pianos and Organs for sale, at prices commen¬ 
surate with the times. Parties of limited 
means, desiring to make a vaJuabin holiday 
present, can secure a good inmnifneut and pay 
for it by installments. 
Wrt.LARD'S Practical Dairy Husbandry” a 
splendid octavo volume of 546 pages, profusely 
illustrated— la tbe standard American authority 
on the subject and ought to be studied by every 
dairyman. Published at this Office price $3. 
Messrs. Trump Bros, of Wilmington, Del., 
advertise on another page their Fleetwood 
Scroll Saw, which tiicy now manufacture so 
cheaply that they are within the means of any 
one who has any use for such a tool. The read¬ 
ers ol the Rural can get. a full, explanatory 
circular by addressing the above firm. Boys 
could add this saw to their tool-kit with benefit 
or make a good and useful holiday present of it. 
Hon. D.I>.T. Moore of Moore s rural New- 
Yorker, is hitting off some of III), old newspaper 
friends in Western Now York Id fils usual nappy 
manner. Age cuunot. wither nor custom stale Ills 
Infinite variety; and a residence in Gotham clothes 
him with no vuiprettjr city “airs." .Moore's Rural 
New-Yorker continues to be one ol tliu best jour¬ 
nals on our exchange list, as well as one of the most 
popular of its class. And thus be It ever,— Lyon* 
Ttc/iubUcav, 
While we “doff our head-shade” to Brother 
Tinsley for the above, we can't help thinking 
that his allusion to “age” is because wo would¬ 
n't admit (after glancing at a mirror) that he 
was tho best-locking Editor in tl:e-State ! Well, 
ho is forgiven; but it remind* us jf what a 
friend (who, by the way, is now the worthy 
Mayor of the “ Metropolis of the Eden of Amer¬ 
ica," yclept Rochester,) wrote In response to an 
invitation to attend a party on the Fiftieth 
birt h-day of—somebody. He said, substantial¬ 
ly, “Fifty veats old, oh ? They will soon be call¬ 
ing you ■ The old man.' How do you like that ?” 
And,lo! our good friend Tinsley has “ went 
and gone aud done it" by talking about ‘ age! ” 
BUSINESS NOTICES, 
Sore Throat, Cough, Cold, und similar 
troubles, if suttered to progress, result in serious pul- l 
mouary affections, oftentimes Incurable. "Brown’s 
Bronchial Troches” reach directly the seat ot the 
disease, and give almost instant relief. 
-*♦♦- 
True Economy does not consist in buying the 
lowest-priced article. A superior one Is cheaper, 
even at a higher price. So it is with Dobbins’ Elec¬ 
tric Soap, and wo ask our readers to buy one bar ^ 
for trial. ® 
