The same caution then given -would no-w 
apply. Keep cool! The uncertainty of 
the result, the extreme anxiety for success 
of either party, and the the intemperate 
behavior of those deeply interested, have n 
tendency to foment tlio -worst passions of 
the public at large; but serious resnlts 
eaunot noorue therefromif the injunction, 
“Keep cool" is literally obeyed. Nothing 
is to be gained by any hot-headed action, 
-while much permanent good can result 
from calm, dispassionate discussion and 
deliberation, upon questions so momen¬ 
tous as those now before the citizens of 
the United States. Therefore, Keep Coon! 
compilations of the experience of hun¬ 
dreds and thousands of men, thev are in 
consequence far more trustworthy than 
the experience of any one person, however 
wise. Adopt this rule of obtaining au¬ 
thoritative -works in commencing herds of 
any particular breed of cattle, planting an 
orchard, vineyard, or raising fruits and 
vegetables of all kinds, and you will ex¬ 
perience fewer difficulties, sustain less 
loss, and derive more pleasure and 
protits from labor and investments than 
if the opposite course is pursued. 
charitable enough to give them credit for 
having been in the past, sober, industrious 
and economical, beside putting forth all 
the energies at command in furtherance 
of their own -welfare and happiness, with¬ 
out in the least taking anything which 
rightfully belongs to their associates and 
neighbors. If any there be among the 
renders of tho Rural New-Yorker who 
have not done all this, no better time 
will ever present itself for a reformation 
and correction of known errors than the 
present moment. 
Perhaps we may be permitted to offer 
one suggestion, and it is, that you en¬ 
deavor to practically demonstrate your 
sincerity in the oft-repeated “Happy 
New Year ” on the first day, to friend, 
neighbors and family, and abate no effort 
to make the entire twelvemonth a season 
of rejoicing. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
PR/ WWAT, nr.PAHTMrN'TS 
The Argus £ 
Elk or Moose..... |> 
Rise and Progress of Dairying In America. <5 
Poultry at the Farm... J 
Feeding Straw to Horses and Cowa. < 
Oregon FJuur alut Oil Mill*... 7 
Winter Ore of filieep. 7 
Bee Plants...*. 5 
TheJIonov Crop................... 8 
The Wax Moth and Foul Brood. S 
Profits of Uee Keeping. 8 
Do Mena Make Honey?. 8 
Polished Petitions... 
Beet^Root Sncri.r In Franco. K 
The Canada Root Show ... 8 
Ch uf»m In C llfornia. » 
glHer Varlego ted Deciduous Trees. It 
A New Golden Tree. ■{ 
About- Bulking. 2| 
Harass au«1 Mules Eating Dirt. ■) 
Mungo in Horses. * 
A Useful Invention. •* 
Excelsior Printing Press--.. )* 
Novelties........... 
Not,*)* . 10 
The Rreen Fly, or Aphis. ]}• 
Watering Kitchen Gardens. jo 
Water-Cress culture. . n 
Groan Guue Tomato-Green Prolific Cucumber 11 
Cooks nod Cooking. .. II 
Recipes. . 11 
Drinking Water . 
Cider Drinking . ;1 
Why We Cough... 11 
EnirrmiAi. PAGE: 
Two-Faced .limns. 12 
Value or Books and Papers. 11 
Nulus—Brevities. 1‘ 
LITERARY : 
Poetry.14.15 
Story. .. I*' 
Miscellaneous. 
Recent Literature. H 
Sabbath Read log. ]} 
Jjiidles* Portfolio. 1? 
Reading for the Young. 
Publishers’ Notices. I 1 ! 
News of the Week..... } f J 
Markets. }' 
Answers to Correspondents. d 
Personals. 12; 
Educational Notes. >•[ 
18. 19.' '20. 21 
RURAL notes 
A Good Yield of Artichokes.— 
A correspondent of the Western Progress 
states that last spring ho cut a small arti¬ 
choke’" Into five pieces and planted them 
in as many hills, 20 inches apart. They 
were dug a few days ago and yielded 203 
bulbs, from the size of a marble to that 
of a large goose egg. Allowing four squ are 
feet to the hill, an acre would yield, at 
the above rate, about 900 bushels. They 
are said to be equal to com for fattening 
hogs.” We send a pound of these tnbers 
to nay ono of onr subscribers who will 
get a new subscriber for tho Rural New- 
Yorker for 1877. 
The Grasshopper Plague.—The 
Western States which are in danger of 
visits from the Rocky Mountain Locusts, 
have once more united in a memorial to 
Congress, asking aid in the investigation 
of the history and habits of this great 
pest. They are very modest in their de¬ 
mand, only asking for $25,000 to pay for 
a Commission to visit the home of the 
grasshoppers and, in fact, learn all that it 
is possible to find out about them. Con¬ 
gress will scarcely dare refuse this small 
amount, even if it should not lead to the 
discovery of some means of controlling 
these insects, for the hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of dollars' worth of property almost, 
yearly lost by them, is certainly worth 
making an effort to save. Tho smallness 
of the sum named, even if appropriated 
without reduction, would not suffice to 
pay tho expenses of a very numerous 
Commission, even if the gentlemen com¬ 
posing it should give their time without 
remuneration. But it is time something 
was done, else certain regions of country, 
in two or three of our Western States, 
will have to be abandoned to its original 
occupants—namely, insectB and wild ani¬ 
mals. 
VALUE OF BOOKS AND PAPERS, 
the actual ne 
Food and clothing are 
oesaities, -while books and other forms of 
reading matter are often dispensed with 
by those who cannot use them, and by 
some who could, if they would. It is to 
the latter class that we address ourselves 
at this time, for it must be admitted that 
with all our boasted intelligence as a peo¬ 
ple, there are still thousands of families 
who have been given the rudiments of an 
education in the common schools, but who 
have advanced no further for the want of 
a proper stimulus, which might have been 
supplied in good books and newspapers. 
A gentleman who was recently endeav¬ 
oring to get up a club for tho Bur at. New- 
Yorker in a town not a thousand miles 
from this city, wrote, “ There are fifty- 
six families in this district, only one of 
which takes a newspaper of any kind 
and wo will add, that it is quite probable 
that the heads of these families would lie 
quite indignant , if any one should dare to 
insinuate that they were less happy or 
prosperous through the lack of iniorma- 
tion wlueh might have beeu obtained from 
books and newspapers. It is probably’ 
unnecessary to state that a large majority 
of the said families were very poor, al¬ 
though in possession of farms which, if 
properly’ managed, might be made to yield 
a good living, if not many of the luxuries 
of civilized communities. But they will 
perhaps remain in their present coiuli- 
Subscribers. — This being the first 
number of the year, perhaps it would be 
as well to suggest to those subscribers 
who have renewed their subscription, that 
an excellent thing to do will be to show 
their paper to their neighbors and secure 
their subscriptions also. If the Rural is 
worth its price to yon it will be to them, 
and a double favor will he conferred upon, 
them and upon ns by securing their sub¬ 
scriptions for 1877. A little interest, taken 
in this matter by each ono of our readers, 
will greatly increase our list, and give us 
just so much more opportunity to still 
further improve the paper. 
Advcrllsaninnts 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY 
American Dairymen's Conven¬ 
tion.—Mr. L. B. Arnold, Secretary of 
the American Dairymen’s Assooiation, an¬ 
nounces that the Twelfth Annual Conven¬ 
tion of the Association will be held at 
lugersoll, Canada, January 10-12, 1877. 
The first paper before the Association 
will be given by Prof. L. B. Arnold, on 
“The Dairy at tho Centennial." The 
other speakers announced aro J. Stewart 
of Iowa, on “Butter Making at the 
West;” H. C. Green of Meadville, Pa., 
on “ Progressive Butter Making;” Har¬ 
ris Lewis of New Y r ork on “The Fitness 
of ThingsC. L. Sheddon of Lowville, 
N. Y., on “Leaks in the Dairy;” Hon. 
Thus. Ballantink of Canada, on “Cheese 
Manufacture;” C. E. Chadwick of In- 
gersoll, Canada, on “Canadian Dairy¬ 
ing E. W. Stewart of New York, on 
“ Dairying and Fertility ;” J. S. Vandu- 
8ER of New York, on “ The Refuse of the 
Dairy —Its use and abuse Adam Brown 
of Canada, on the “ Cheese Interest in 
ANDREW S. FULLER, Editor 
BUBAL BBEVITIES, 
Associate Editor, 
THE Wftol clip of New Bouth Wales for 1876 is 
said to exceed 125,000,000 pounds. 
An Apiarian in Utah estimates that one acre 
of Mignonette will furnish sufficient pasturage 
for one hundred stocks of bees. 
The Illinois Fanners' Association will hold its 
Fifth Annual Meeting at tho State House in 
Springfield, Jan. 23-25, 1877. 
Black or dark-colored pigs only, aro recom¬ 
mended for hot climates, as they are freer from 
skin diseases than white ones. 
The rioo crop of Louisiana for 1876 is said to 
bo the largest ever raised, and will reach over 
200 000 barrels. Rice pudding Bhould bo cheap 
in 1877? 
Carrots have been raised in California tho 
past season, weighing from four to six pounds 
each, and in one instance six pounds nine ounces 
are recorded. 
During the late “freeze” in Florida, the 
pump of the water-tank at Lake City frozo, 
causing a delay of two hours to one of the trains. 
How te that for “Tropical Florida?" 
The climate of Russia is reported to be grad¬ 
ually growing drier, and the larger rivers and 
small streams are drying up. The destruction 
of forests is the Bole cause of the change. 
Statistics prove indisputably that the aver¬ 
age term of human life has largely increased 
during the preseut century in spite ot the “ croak¬ 
ers’ "assertion that we are “growing weaker 
and wiser." 
We are in receipt of a list of the Agricultural 
Societies’ and Farmers' Clubs of the United 
States from the Department of Agriculture at 
Washington, which will prove an excellent work 
of reference. 
California farmers are becoming very much 
interested in the raising of choice breeds of stock, 
and from present indications, some of the best 
herds in the United States will be found west of 
the Rocky Mountains. 
Debating Clubs are now in order in every 
school district; bnt the subjects discussed should 
be of a practical kind instead of, as usual, some¬ 
thing of which nobody knows anything, except 
through tradition or hearsay. 
The American Journal of Microscopy enters 
its second vear with roost cheering prospects of 
being both liberally nnd ably sustained. Wo 
wish its founder, Mr Phis, tho success he so 
fairly has earned in this department of science. 
Mason C. Weld is writing to the English Ag¬ 
ricultural Gazette, giving our cousins, across the 
Atlantic, some good advice in regard to the man¬ 
agement of tho Colorado Potato beetle when it 
happens to arrive in Great Britain, which is 
likely to be very soon. 
The editor of Hall’s Journal of Health, iu 
speaking of the Agricultural prtss of the coun¬ 
try, oommeuds it by saying. “These journals 
as a class—and 1 know of not a single exception 
—are solid, substantial; on the sido of virtue, 
integrity and industry," 
The agricultural outlook iu California is said 
to be very favorable indeed, more grain has been 
i sown than ever before, and tne plows are busy 
j in preparing the land for more. While our fann¬ 
ers iu the East ore shivering in the cold, those 
in California are putting in their crops. 
ELBERT 8. CABMAN, 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y., 
Enrroa o» th» D*ri»Tu*NT ow D*i»r Hnnaiwomr, 
G. A. C. BARNETT, Publisher, 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City 
SATURDAY, JAN. 6, 1877, 
TWO-FACED JANUS, 
The old Italian deity, once supposed 
to be tho god of the sun and the year, wa6 
named Janus, or, in Latin, Januarius, 
and lie is represented as being two-faced, 
leffuently enabled to look forward 
consi 
and backward at the same time. It was 
from this mythological old fellow that 
our month of January received its name, 
lienee the eustom of making the first of 
this month a kind of starting point for 
various transactions in the mental, moral 
and commercial world. Many a promise 
will doubtless be made on New Y r ear’s 
Day, to be broken; many a resolution 
formed, to be forgotten before the close of 
the month, and still, who shall say that 
even an attempt to better one’s condition 
is without reward, should there be a fail¬ 
ure to carry it out to the fullest extent 
hoped for in the beginning ? 
It is certainly well to be Janus-faced 
once a year, especially if in being so we 
can look back and see errors committed 
and mistakes made, and at the same time 
see for enough into the future to avoid 
repeating them. There are certainly few 
farmers who have been bo fortunate as 
not to desire to do still better; or whose 
lives have been so perfect that there is 
no room for improvement; consequently, 
tho beginning of the new year is an ap¬ 
propriate season to open a new set of 
books with ourselves, in the hope that 
fewer errors will be recorded than in the 
one recently closed and laid aside. 
It would be—and rightfully, too—con¬ 
sidered egotism on our part should we 
attempt to advise our readers in regard to 
the management of their own private 
affairs, or tell them what they may or may 
not do during the year 1877, and we are 
Poor Graham !—After having been 
ooaxed, lectured aud scolded for a half 
century about eating fine*flour bread by 
hundreds of tho medical fraternity, we 
are now treated with tho following crumb 
of information by one of our would-be 
great reform doctors, to wit :—“ No ordi¬ 
nary cooking process is competent to con¬ 
vert wheat-meal, or 4 Graham 1 or crushed 
wheat, or crude grain into food suitable 
for civilized meo.” That has been our 
opinion of your bran-bread all along ; but 
then there are some persons who have an 
“ innate itching” that nothing short of a 
little soluble glass would make comfort¬ 
able, and we hold that they have a perfect 
right to take it in any form most agreeable 
to themselves. But if the spirit of poor 
Graham is prowling about ou this earth, 
it will certainly pay thiH new reform doc¬ 
tor a visit. 
Merino Sheep Register. — There 
is a movement on foot to establish a reg¬ 
ister for fine wool sheep, the same as has 
long been done with different breeds of 
cattle. Whether there will be sufficient 
unanimity of opinion among breeders to 
accomplish this, remains to be seen ; but 
there are already several different plans 
proposed, and it’is only to be hoped that 
breeders, in all parts of the country, will 
unite and adopt ono which shall best fur¬ 
ther the object contemplated. 
Keep Cool.—Before election we had 
occasion to say something in relation to 
the temper of the American people during 
the excitement of a political campaign. 
