State Dairymen’s Association and Dairy Editor 
of Moore's Rural New-Yorker.” If then 
pays this deserved tribute to our valued asso¬ 
ciate : 
A practical farmer and dairyman, bavins' had 
an intimate acquaintance with every eiep of 
dairy progress, liberally educated, nr an observ¬ 
ing and systematic turn of miDd.lie has enjoyed 
ami improved greater advantages than any 
other American, in his profession. American 
dairymen are greatly indebted for their present 
attitude before the commercial world, to the 
knowledge of the customs, habits and demands 
of the English people who consume so much of 
our cheese, gaiuod by Mr. "Willard during an 
extended tour among the dairymen and cheese 
dealers of England, whither he was Bent by tho 
American DairytnetiV. Association in its early 
days. While ingenious dairymen have devoted 
their time to the Invention of machinery and 
implements to save labor, and individuals havo 
exercised their various gifts and ail together 
have aided in Ihe progress that haabeen made, 
none has presumed lo have acquired the com¬ 
pleteness of general and special dairy informa¬ 
tion that is by common consent accorded t»Mr. 
Willard, ft# feel like saying this much of 
him before his visit to Meadvilie, that our citi¬ 
zens who have not given particular attention 
to dairy affairs or to the labore of tho Associa¬ 
tion, may not suppose that none but second- 
rate men are engaged in the work of developing 
our dairy resources. 
mind with useful knowledge, will for a mo¬ 
ment think of doing without the Rural New- 
Yorker.” 
A NATION 0F INVESTIGATORS. 
“ PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
Beginning with the proverbially Inquisitive 
Yankee who asks a stranger “forty-’leven” 
questions before he can discover the color of 
hlB interrogator's hat-band, we have come to 
be a nation of professional “ investigators. ” 
Congress does little else than ‘‘investigate! 
Legislatures arc occupied in the same charac¬ 
teristic employment. Detectives, employed by 
the different branches of Government, by cor¬ 
porations, companies and individuals, are in¬ 
vestigating the affairs of other people. Church¬ 
es, scientific bodies and social organizations 
“ investigate. ” Farmers’ Associations and 
Granges “Investigate." We are glad to say 
that this spirit of investigation extends and is 
extending to individuals whose object is not 
simply to gratify curiosity and find oat, what- is 
wrong, but to discover what Is right, what is 
truth, and render Its application to daily lifo 
and duties practical. 
The spirit of legitimate inquiry concerning 
scientific and practical matteri that is exhibited 
by the American people to-day, is one of the 
most hopeful signs of the times we know of. 
It penetrates every field of Investigation. It 
stops at no obstacle and masters all problems, 
nearly, by the-application of persistent force 
and short-cut methods which are characteristic 
of American enterprise. True, wo are still far 
too superficial. This grows out of our impa¬ 
tience. But w hen we shall have learned that 
wc acquire fastest when we “ make haste slow¬ 
ly," we shtil! be swift to adopt such method. 
Contrasting the present with twenty years 
ago, in the relations of Agricultural Investiga¬ 
tion, then and now, it must be said that there 
Is cause for self-gratulation; and yet there are 
certain problems In the different branches of 
husbandry which are apparently muiearer solu¬ 
tion than then. Yet we think they must be, 
for in proportion as we learn scientific formu¬ 
las, and learn to generalize from facts- or, more 
Important still, learn to observe intelligently 
without jumping at conclusions when only it 
part of the facts are obtained, we have taken 
a good long step in the right direction towards 
the solution of obscure problems. 
It Is, therefore, no reproach to be Known aa a 
nation of Investigators. We are already com¬ 
manding the attention of the Old World scien¬ 
tists by tho results of our investigations. In 
practical matters, especially relating to Agri¬ 
culture and Horticulture, foreign contempora¬ 
ries are beginning to give us full credit. Yet 
so little is really known , and ao much is forgot¬ 
ten, that we need not flutter ourselves that wo 
will gain, or retain, pre-eminence, except by 
persistent effort. We do not inti mate that tin's 
effort is to be relaxed; for our people are not 
likely to relax effort that will pay, and It ia 
evident from the character and extent of mod¬ 
ern inquiry t hat It does pay. 
Dog Laws.—It is a good season for dog laws. 
The IcgislatureBin session should be importuned 
to protect shepherds and dairymen against 
dogs, and the children of poor families from 
robbery of food by worthless curs. Mr.WtLi.AfiD 
recently stated that he had known the simple 
employment of a dog on a dairy farm to de¬ 
crease the yield of cheese per cow nearly 100 
pounds per annum. We have known a single 
mutton-loving cur to decrease a flock of sheep 
to the extent of $100 lu value in a single night. 
Ohio assessors give the loss of shepherds in 
that state, by dogs. In 1873, at $153,318. This 
would pay for tho school tuition of a good 
many ignorant children whose parents keep 
just, such dogs as inflict these damages. Wa 
are aware that a good, well-trained dog may bo 
made very useful on a farm; but then all dogs 
are not good nor well-trained, and such need 
to be “ regulated " by law. 
A NATIONAL II,LUSTRATEI) 
CHAS. D, BRAGD0N, ANDREW S. FULLER, 
Aasooiate Editors. 
HENRY S. RANDALL LL, D., Cortland Village, N. Y„ 
gpiTbtt #r THK DtPAHTVSNT OF ShKKC HflKAKPBY! 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y„ 
Editob or nm Pifumui or Daibv Huueanubt. 
A. C. BARNETT, Publisher 
TERMS FOR 1875, IN ADVANCE, 
INCLUDING POSTAGE, WHICH PUBLISHERS PREPAY, 
Single Copy, $2.05per Year. To ClubsFive Cop¬ 
ies, and one copy freo to Agent or getter up of Club, 
for $12.10; Seven Copies, and one tree, for $17.20; Ton 
Copies, and ouo froe, $21.50-only$2.15 por copy. The 
above rotes in,elude pottage (which we shall be obliged 
ts prepay after Jan. 1, 1875, under the now law,) to 
nny part ot the United States, and the American 
postage; on all coplos mailed to Canada. On papers 
mailed to Europe, by steamer, tho postage wlil ho $5 
cents oxtra-or $3.50 in all. Drafts, Post-Office Money 
Orders and Registered Letters may he mailed at our 
risk. iJT Liberal Premiums to all Club Agents who 
do not take freo copies. Specimen Numbers Show- 
Bills, &c., sent free. 
British Imports of Food Products from the 
United etAtcs for the eleven months ending 
November 30th, 1871, are given. The figures will 
interest some of ourreaders. ThoTJnitedStates 
sent of wheat. 21,893.336 cwt.; British valuation. 
£13,667,068: oi wheat meal and flour there 
were sent. 3,114,110 cwt.; valued at £2.786,739. 
From the figures given in English Journals, wo 
cannot state what proportion of the butter Im¬ 
ported was from the Cnitod States, but the 
total valuation of the butt er imported la placed 
at £8,309.930; of cheese at £4,257,106; and of eggs 
at £3,288,436. Great Britain imported no w< ol 
from ua but she sent ua of woo], sheep and 
lambs, £79,333 worth, during the eleven month:* 
named. 
Shooting Over the Mends nt People. —“Don’t 
aim too high if you want to lilt the masaes," 
we heard one politician say to another the 
other night. It may be that it was political 
wisdom, but politicians—modern ones—arc not 
noted for either their elevated character orthe 
elevation of their words. But this remark of 
the politician is good advice for farmers who 
think If they write their experience they need 
t.o put it in other than ordinary language and 
say it In a style other than they would talk it. 
Give us the facta and experiences in the plain¬ 
est and fewest words you ©an, and give them 
fully and comprehensively. That's all. 
ADVERTISING RATES: 
Inside 14th and l»th pages (Agate space).«0c. per line. 
“ 13th page-.. -JO 
O ■v.s' !e or last page...........l.UO 
.y per cent, extra for unusual display. 
Special Notices, leaded, by count.1.25 “ 
SJSSST • .:.:;::;;:::v.v.v.v.v.v.::.:a •• 
Discount on 4 insertions. 10 per ct.; 8 ins., 15 per Ct.; 
13 ins., 20 per ct.; 2(5 ins., 25 per ot.; 62 ins., 33H per ct, 
Ho advertisement inserted for less than $3. 
The Rural'* Second Quarter-Centennial.— -A 
most kind letter (Including payment for tho 
Rural as a present to a friend) from an old 
subscriber in Allegan County, Michigan. (Mr. J. 
Kelley), after wishing the editor and all hia 
associates “a very happy and prosperous new' 
year," says: “1 also wish the ‘dear old RURAL’ 
the greatest possible prosperity for the second 
Quarter-Centennial upon which it has just, en¬ 
tered; and as your motto Is “ Excelsior,’ and 
judging from the past I doubt not but this sec¬ 
ond quarter century will be as successful and 
triumphant as tho one just past. You and I 
may not live to see its close, still I believe the 
Rural will continue to flourish. Success to it 
through all its fnture existence 5” 
Patron* and Sovereigns. — The N. Y. State 
Grange, P. of H„ held its annual meeting at 
Syracuse, last week, opening Jan. 12, — and a 
National Convention of tho Order of Sovereigns 
of Industry was held at the same time LiPhila. 
This paper closes for the electrotyper too early 
to give reports of cither of t hese important 
convocations, but we hope to present, at, least a 
synopsis of the proecedlngsof each In our next. 
PUBLICATION OFFICES! 
78 Duane Street, New York City, and No. 67 
East Main St., (Darrow’s Bookstore, Osburn 
House Block,) Rochester, N. Y. 
American t rimbcrrlcH in Loudon, Eng.—Tho 
Garden of Dec. 36 saysAmerican cranber¬ 
ries of great size and highly colored, now find 
their way into our markets, and may be seen 
exposed for sale in the shops of provincial 
fruiterers," 
WOORE'S 
N*-w Jersey Game Laws.— A correspondent 
in Gloucester Co., N. J„ writes us that New 
Jersey is now well protected by stringent game 
laws, which arc, in many parts of the State— 
notably In the six most southerly counties— 
rigidly enforced. Iu t he count ies referred to u 
chartered Association, known as the “ West 
Jersey Game Protective Association,” looks 
specially after the enforcement of the game 
laws. Every person joining this Association 
becomes thereby an officer, having power to 
make arrests for all violations of the game 
laws. Pot-hunters, whose principal exploit* 
aro slaughtering insectivorous birds, do not 
now Infest that portion of the State. 
RURAL BREVITIES 
The Poultry Show at Utica, N. Y., the past 
week, seems to have been very successful as an 
exhibition. 
The American Dairymen's Association, at its 
meeting in Utica last week, resolved that its 
next convention should be at Rome. 
James J. H. Gregory. Marblehead, Mass., 
has favored ua with Ills retail catalogue of war¬ 
ranted vegetable and flower seeds for 1876. 
They have learned to bleach J-ite lu Ireland 
and Scotland so au to give to t lie fiber tho white¬ 
ness of linen fabrics, into which it largely en¬ 
ters, it is said. 
Chase Bros. & Woodward send us a gor¬ 
geously colored catalogue of flower and vege¬ 
table seeds for sale at their establishment, 
Rochester, N. Y. 
We have au Interesting report of the meeting 
of the Pennsylvania dairymen at Meadville, 
Jan, 6 & 7, the publication of w hich we are 
compelled to defer until next week. 
England la importing far less Peruvian guano 
than formerly. It is more than Intimated that 
the falling off in imports is due to « falling off 
In demand, due to the adulteration of the arti¬ 
cle by dealers. During 1874,67,000 tons less w’ere 
imported than in 1873. 
If Mr. David Boyd, Jeff. Co., Ind., has been 
“ a reuder of the Rural" the past year, be must 
have found the information he now asks f< r in 
relation to the dairy business. If lie proposes 
starting a cheese factory, he should not only 
read the Rural New-Yorker carefully, but 
send for and study Willard’S *' Practical Dai¬ 
ry Husbandry." 
Tub eider-makers of Michigan propose to 
hold a convention “ where the best machinery 
and the best processes for the cure of cider and 
jelly can he exhibited and discussed, with other 
matter? of importance.” A preliminary meeting 
was called at Detroit, Jan. 9, to make arrange¬ 
ments for tho proposed convention; we have 
not yet learned the result. 
RURAL NOTES AND QUERIES 
SATURDAY, JAN. 23, 1S75, 
A Hearty and Friendly Greelkng—Is this from 
Commodore W. A. Hart of Friendship, N. Y., 
(for years one of our most efficient recruiting 
officers) whoso roll list comprises Seventy-Five 
good men and women true who ship with us for 
the t wenty-elrth annual voyage of tho good 
ship Rural ; " Here we come to be enrolled in 
the good old ship Rural New-Yorker, N. Y. 
City, for a twelve months’ cruise, Admiral D. 
D. T. Moork Commander of the Rural Squad¬ 
ron at that point. Having read your paper for 
about twenty years past, and feeling interested 
in the great cause of Agriculture, and thinking 
to promote the circulation of Moore’s Rural 
New-Yorker among the agriculturists of 
Western New York, 1 transmit to you the in¬ 
closed list of subscribers as the result. The 
Rural is a family paper, as well as agricultural, 
and as such every Tradesman, Mechanic, Teach¬ 
er, as well as the Farmer, can hail it with confi¬ 
dence. Its moral tone is unexceptionable. Its 
articles are full of life and interest. You have 
my hearty good w ill in your praiseworthy en¬ 
terprise. Wishing you andfours a Merry Christ¬ 
mas and a Happy New Year, I remain,” &o. 
WHO WILL RESPOND? 
Ayrshire Herd-Book.— At last Mr. BAGQ, 
about whom there has been a good deal of In¬ 
quiry, and whose delay in the publication of 
the fourth volume of the American and Cana¬ 
dian Ayrshire Herd-Book has excited indignant 
cam aunt and criticism, has been heard from. 
He announces that a neatly-printed and well- 
illustrated edition of the fourth volume is uow 
being Issued from the press, and that it con¬ 
tains the Baines of 384 patrons and about 3,000 
pure and fresh pedigrees. This announcement 
will tend to check the Ayrshire Convention 
project, until breeders can seo how the new 
volume looks. 
manners, of men Wul women oi mama aim in¬ 
fluence, located in near and distant sections of 
our widely-extended country, our earnest and 
persistent efforts, however well intended and 
directed, must have proved unavailing—while, 
with the kind assistance and cordial co-opera¬ 
tion of sucli powerful friends, Moore s Rural 
long ago became the standard and most popu¬ 
lar and widely-circulated Weekly of its Class. 
Now, our first aud boundeu duty, to readers 
as well as ourselves, is to fully, or more than, 
maintain the reputation, standing and useful¬ 
ness of this Journal—to render the issues of 
this year superior to any of the past in its his¬ 
tory. To aid ua in accomplishing this w* wish 
and solicit the aid and co-operation of its hosts 
of friends all over the land. Men and Women 
of brains and influence—and all our readers 
possess these to a greater or less extent—e^n 
materially contribute, iu various ways, to the 
object sought, the enhancing of both the con¬ 
tents mid circulation (and consequent useful¬ 
ness) of tho Rural. This can be done by con¬ 
tributing the results of experience aud obser¬ 
vation to our practical and othei departments, 
and by introducing the paper to the notice and 
support of neighbors, acquaintances and the 
community generally. We need not toll the 
intelligent reader how or in what manner he 
can best second our efforts to benefit tho public 
at large—nor dilate upon such time-woru 
phrases as “ Teach one another," “ Circulate 
the documents,'’ etc. But we will say that our 
purpose In this appeal is not altogether selfish, 
for we not only desire to build up and extend 
the circulation and usefulness of this journal, 
but to reuder it increasingly interesting and 
valuable to Its readers and the country. Who 
will aid ua in this good work ? 
That many will respond to the above by be¬ 
coming contributors to the pages of the Rural, 
or acting as its agents, or both, we fain hope- 
aye, and confidently anticipate. 
Grinding Axes.—Correspondents who kindly 
suggest to us that it will immediately and sig¬ 
nally increase our subscription list if we allow 
them to grind their axes in our columns, are 
informed that we have furnished grindstone, 
gudgeon grease and elbow grease for other peo¬ 
ple a good many years without finding our axes 
any the sharper nor our subscription list larger 
for their using our grindstone and we turning 
the crank. Their story iatoo old and hackneyed 
and we are either too smart or too stupid to 
allow them to edit the Rural New-Yorker. 
It’s no use, kind friends! 
Michigan Mote Agrioullurnl College.—From 
the recent Message of the Governor of Michi¬ 
gan we learn that the current expenses for 1875 
are estimated at $51,477, and the receipts from 
Interest and other sources at $19,180. leaving 
the sum of $12,297 to be raised by taxation. For 
1876 the cun-rent expenses are estimated at $31,- 
3 U7,and tho receipts for tho same timeat $20,180, 
leaving a deficiency of $11,127. The Board also 
asks for au appropriation for buildings, repairs, 
etc., of $12,460, making the entire appropriation 
asked for 1>>- the Board tor the two years, $35,- 
890, being $30,110 less than the appropriations 
for 1873 and 1874. The Governor recommends 
the reduction of the appropriation below this 
sum by $4,750, which he does not regard abso¬ 
lutely essential. 
BUSINESS NOTICES 
LEAKY ROOFS 
Easily made water-tight, with Gline’S Patent 
Roofing Paint, which saves reshingling, iB prac¬ 
tically fire-proof, contains no tar, is extremely cheap, 
and indorsed by corporations, public institutions and 
loading men In overy State. Local Agents wanted, 
Send for book circular, containing full particulars and 
thousands of testimonials. N. Y. SLATE ROOFING 
CO., 6 Cedar St., New York. 
More lhan Doubled His Rural dub, —An 
Agent-Friend in Mahoning Co., Oblo,{Mr.H.N. 
Lynn,) iu remitting, under date Dec. 26, tor a 
club for 1875, thus tells how ho had already 
more than doubled hl6 list;-“I had bard work 
to raise this elub on account of hard times, but 
I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have 
more than doubled the Dumber of Rural sub¬ 
scribers at this post ofifice, and have secured the 
names of at least five persons that never took 
ihe Rural before. I intend to work away and 
get all the names that I can, and 1 hope for 
much better results next year.” 
A Good Investment.— In renewing their sub¬ 
scription to the Rural, Messrs. Ch as. Brown 
& Sons of Jefferson Co., Ohio, write us thus 
emphatically;—" We find it impossible to suc¬ 
cessfully carry on farming without having the 
Dear Old Rural ever at hand, and have con¬ 
cluded that the money spent for your paper is 
among tho best investments we have ever 
made. We often get from a single copy infor¬ 
mation of sufficient value to repay us for the 
entire year’s subscription, and are satisfied that 
no farmer who wishes to Improve and beautify 
his farm, Increase hia Income and store his 
WANTED] 
To furnish Cheeso Factories and Creameries with 
the newest and moBt approved Apparatus, Fixtures, 
&c. Also, best Herkimer County Cheeso and Butter 
Makers. Apply to WHITMAN Jo BURRELL, Little 
Falls, N, Y., for Illustrated Catalogue. 
Meadville Compliments Mr. Willard. —The 
Meadville (Pa.) Republican, In announcing a 
meeting of dairymen at that place, remarks 
that it is to be “addressed by the acknowledged 
head of American Dairy lecturers, Hon. X. A. 
Willard of Little Falls, N. Y., President N. Y. 
There arc niauy articles one trial of which 
ghow.-, tholr worthlessness. Such do not meet an 
extended sale. One trial of Dobbins’ Electric 
Soap will make au enthusiastic believer iu Its merits 
of you ever after. 
