HE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practical Department#: 
Practical Notes from tbe Kurin. f 
Irrepressible Oupstion, The. •' 
Cellar Clean ? Is Your. •' 
Tube-Well# Altai"..... ‘ 
Kart It-Closet System. Moule’*.f 
51" Have a I Tape for Everythin)! «nd Kverytbtn* 
in lt» 1’htee*’...• •’ 
nrieUetv .. ' 
Plea Mint Words with Kuril) Head era. j 
Misei-lluiiea.. ! 
Hemlock Hgdgi". f 
Acre's Sequel. The. : 
Cranberry. Drawback* on the. ! 
Georgia, Krom. . I 
Sclenliile ami ITaorni Notes.f 
Cats. A ChBRler ou... i 
Under. l‘rc->TvitiK... 
Daily Holt,The American.•' 
Deep Sottlnu lit Milk, &C. • 
Poultry. Fat .. I 
Summer MaUaifiMuONt of I’Iks, . f 
Answer# to Correspondents... I 
DynHf ty ot Cooks. The. ! 
Recipes. 1 
Madne*> In a D"k, Symptoms. 1 
Fair Diet, Annual.I 
Bditokiai, Park: 
Education unit uiay Affect Labor. < 
Hoy and Man. * 
Notes ltrevitlc*... f 
Literary: 
Poetry.....111. 03, < 
Ptorr. i 
Mined lane ms . 1 
Lad lea* Portfolio. t 
Heading for the Young. < 
Puzzler... I 
Sabbath Heading. > 
Markets. I 
News of the Week... i 
Educational Notes. i 
Personal*. I 
Humorous. i 
Publisher'll Notices...._... i 
Advertisements.53, Go, 67,1 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1877. 
We call attention to the editorial letter from 
the Rural Grounds, “ Pleasant Words with 
Rural Readers ” and respectfully submit that 
the offer to our friends therein contained is a 
generous one, iuspired, as would appear, by an 
earnest desire on the part of the editors to stim¬ 
ulate their readers to a higher appreciation of 
the Horticultural Art. 
The article by Mr. Oonrad Wilson upon that 
irrepressible subject “ Does Farming Pay?" will 
be followed by another next week from the pen 
of the same experienced writer. 
--- 
EDUCATION AS IT MAY AFFECT 
LABOK. 
The proportion of people who are con¬ 
tented with their daily avocations is, we 
think, small as compared with those who 
are not. The difficulty of procuring other 
employment; a distrust of their ability 
to make themselves useful therein, or a 
languid clinging to the bird in the hand 
rather than a pursuit of the bird in tlie 
bush, prevents many from abandoning 
their present occupation, which they may 
detest, for another which they fancy would 
prove more agreeable. There are others 
who, from a species of dill id once which 
seems always to deter them from turning 
passing opportunities to any personal ad¬ 
vantage, plod on from year to year in 
pursuits very distasteful, and for wliicli 
they are by nature quite unstated. 
There is still another class whose con¬ 
ceit is far more prominent than their mer¬ 
its ; who, iu their own estimation, are 
never appreciated ; who receive but cruel, 
neglectful treatment on all sides; who 
whine at the degradation of the drudgery 
to which they seem to gravitate, and who 
are choked with regrets that misfortunes 
have placed iu other fields the masterly 
efforts of which they affect to believe 
themselves capable. There is yet another 
class—the Rolling Stone—the Jack-of-all- 
trades. Happy and useful while there are 
odd jobs to be done, tbe doing of which 
reflects credit upon their ingenuity—mis¬ 
erable and useless when, having tinkered 
the tea-kettle, repaired the pumps and the 
plow, there is naught remaining but tbe 
steady, hard work of the farm. There are 
other classes, which need not be particu¬ 
larized, that, as a convict expiates in 
prison his crime against the law, can find 
in labor only the detestable means of pro¬ 
curing their bread and clothes. 
Since man is so constituted that be must 
labor a considerable share of his time in 
order to enjoy leisure, it is a pity that he 
can not so interest himself in such labor 
as to render it also a source of en joyment. 
What we call pleasure is, after all, only 
the privilege of selecting our labor and of 
discontinuing it when Ave choose. As 
soon, therefore, as a person is assured that 
his occupation is not suited to his tastes 
or capacities, let him hasten to change it 
at almost any present sacrifice. The first 
and earliest sacrifice will be found, in the 
end, to be the least. 
We need not ever hope to pursue busi¬ 
ness as an amusement—and amusement 
pursued as a business, is fatal to every 
manly impulse. But we need not, there¬ 
fore, conclude that the vigorous employ¬ 
ment of our hands or brains is inimical to 
enjoyment. Onr first concern should be 
to perform vif/oronstj/ the task which is 
before us, and iu order to accomplish this, 
we runst be interested in the work. This 
faculty of interesting ourselves in the Avork 
before us depends, in a great measure, 
upou early education. 
Children can well comprehend Avliy they 
should go to school or study hard for a 
few hours at home. They know that no¬ 
body else can study or acquire education 
for them. If reluctant to learn their daily 
lessons, they should sternly be obliged to 
do so. They should be taught alike, that 
from this there is no possible escape—and 
that beyond it, nothing is required of 
them. The reBt of the day is theirs, and 
they should be permitted, in all innocent 
ways, to pass it as they list—to frolic and 
to play, the prerogative and necessity of 
youth, whether in the lower or higher ani¬ 
mal creation. 
But through fear of creating habits of 
laziness, parents too often exact labor of 
their chil dren after study hours and thus, 
while yearning for play and needed recre¬ 
ation ; while yearning for the absolute 
freedom which children hold so dear, they 
are tied to tasks in which they can feel no 
interest — Avhich are sometimes beyond 
their feeble powers of endurance, and 
which are tbe more repugnant in that they 
consume the precious hours of their lib¬ 
erty. This is tlie way to make Jack a 
dull lad, and to establish the very habits 
that it was intended to avoid—for a boy 
who works reluctantly, is only happy when 
that Work is finished, and he is thus tempt¬ 
ed to slight and skim it over, that he may 
the sooner be released. In this way not 
only are habits of laziness created, but of 
negligence and of a deep-seated dislike of 
work which often cling through life and 
form the several classes to which, in the 
beginning, we huve referred. 
The education of children, if properly 
conducted, is not, in after life, valuable 
alone as a reservoir of isolated facts, but 
as a nucleus of mental power, ever incit¬ 
ing to original investigations and conclu¬ 
sions, rendering the humblest labor not 
destitute of an interest which the undis¬ 
ciplined, uncultivated mind that plods on 
like a horse or an ox, with little other 
aspiration than that of eating and sleep¬ 
ing, can but imperfectly experience. 
--♦♦♦- 
BOY AND MAN. 
When does a boy become a man ? We 
presume tbe reader will be ready with 
the reply, when he is twenty-one years 
old. Tins is true in a legal point of vieAv. 
Before this time he is an infant. His 
services and labor belong to his parents 
It is estimated that all he can earn up to 
this age is no more than is necessary for 
his support and education from the time 
of his birth. He cau make no valid con¬ 
tract unless it be relative to necessary 
food and clothing. He cannot sell prop¬ 
erty, or make a will. To recover for 
damages to person or property he can 
only bring suit through his next friend. 
We remember of but one act that he 
can legally do for himself before he 
attains his majority, bnt that is a very 
important one. He may commit matri¬ 
mony. But with the last stroke of twelve 
on the night preceding the twenty-first 
anniversary of his birth he steps forth into | 
the world a man. 
That is legally. But is it not worth 
onr Avhile to inquire whether age is all 
that is necessary to make a real man of a 
boy? Whether there are not certain 
attributes mental, moral and physical, 
that are required in connection with age 
to raise a boy to the position of real mau- 
liood. A Hottentot, a Bushman, or an 
Esquimaux would scarcely answer to our 
definition of a man!* even were we to live 
so long as did Methuselah. In the culti¬ 
vation and proper us« of the mental aud 
moral faculties lies the source of true 
mauhood. At twenty-one years of age, 
the full statue has been attained, the 
bones have become hardened, the assimi¬ 
lative and digestive organs in good Avork- 
jng condition, tho circulation steady and 
constant. The physical man lias evolved 
from infancy, through many changes aud 
trials as measles, scarlatina and whooping- 
cough, and the other ills which childhood 
and youth arc heir to, (which, unless 
they are for purifying and perfecting pur¬ 
poses, would seem better to have been left 
out.), aud has attained as near perfection 
as cun ever be expected. 
The mental and moral faculties Lave at¬ 
tained a degree of proficiency. At, birth the 
nited is a blank, and apart from hereditary 
influences, the child has no more morals 
than a brute. But observation, teaching, 
culture aud training make wonderful 
changes, and it is supposed that under 
ordinary circumstance!!, a discipline of 
twenty-one years is enough to enable one 
to stand before the world sufficiently per¬ 
fected to need no farther guardian. 
Iu the well-known paintings by Cole of 
the Voyage of Life, infancy is represented 
as being entirely dependent. The second 
picture of the series represents youth 
standing in the bow of the boat, while the 
guardian angel holds the helm. He then 
shows us manhood, left to his control, 
himself the only guide of this frail bark. 
Woe to him whose days of youth have 
been so spent as to reach the age of man¬ 
hood without, a power of self-help and self 
control. 
But how many young men do Ave see 
who are no better fitted to fight the battle 
of life alone at twenty-one than at sixteen. 
This is often, to an extent at least, tlie fault 
of friends who, through mistaken kindness, 
have taken npou themselves the thiukiug j 
aud reasoning that should have been done 
by those they so urgently desire to assist. 
Iu other cuses it arises from a lack of 
force of character in the young men that 
induces them to rely on their friends for 
advice aud counsel rather than exert 
themselves to the extent necessary to form 
an opinion on which to found a judge¬ 
ment. One of the first lessons a young 
man should be taught is tlmt of self-reli¬ 
ance. We would not, have him cureless of 
the advice or suggestions of those older 
than himself whose experience should en¬ 
title them to consideration, hut to care¬ 
fully consider all they say, and then de¬ 
cide l’or himself; sometimes, perhaps often, 
he will decide Avrxmgly—but every wrong 
decision is or should be a valuable lessou. 
Friends may properly be nsed as coun¬ 
sellors and guides, but not as leaning 
posts or staffs. Learn another's stroke if 
you think it better than yours, then paddle 
your own canoe. Floats and life pre¬ 
servers are often very serviceable but they 
are not always at hand iu time of danger, 
and he is wise avLo learns to swim with¬ 
out their assistance. 
But there are other things than self-re¬ 
liance necessary to complete manhood; 
1 Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, 
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.” 
Bo much, therefore, of these as can be 
acquired the boy should possess himself 
of ; until he has them in some degree, he 
Avill not be a man, no matter what his age. 
-fH- 
NOTES. 
The Railroad War. —The railioad 
strike now in progress, is unprecedented 
in extent aud in the amount of mischief it 
has already effected. Several hundred 
lives have, up to this time, been sacrificed 
and an enormous amount of property de¬ 
stroyed, while at one of the busiest sea¬ 
sons of the year, all traffic is impeded or 
prevented throughout a large area of 
the country. Moreover heavy losses have 
been inflicted on hundreds in no v»ise con¬ 
nected Avitli the grievances of the rioters, 
all legal authority set at defiance and a 
deplorable rebellion madly inaugurated. 
The military in five States of tlie Union 
have been called under arms, and from 
three of these States demands have been 
sent to the General Government for as¬ 
sistance. The fate of this movement is 
no longer a question of wages, but its 
suppression is vital to all legal rights and 
authority. 
-« + » 
Be of Good Cheer.—It inaketh the 
heart glad to know that over the greater 
portion of our country, abundant harvests 
have been reaped thus far and that 
abundant harveBte are well promised for 
the rest, of the season. It should be a 
happy time for the agriculturist aud the 
horticulturist, und, if, in seasons of dis¬ 
appointment it is at all justifiable that 
woeful faces and doleful complaints should 
lie seen aud uttered, surely now it. is only 
tho chronic fault-finder that cau murmur. 
Even the great Potato Beetle that, previous 
to experience, threatened tho utter im¬ 
practicability of potato culture, proA’es to 
be an impotent enemy or, as some of our 
contemporaries are pleased to view it a 
Blessing in Disguise. Political troubles 
are calmed—mercantile matters brighten. 
Peace (barring the R. R, war) aud plenty 
are ours. Let us be of good cheer. 
- ♦♦♦- 
Ben ssii ri iig 1 ntcl 1 igence. — For 
upwards of the past three years, there 
has been a report that wheat in some sec¬ 
tions of Virginia, was injured by a fun¬ 
goid growth at the roots. Barren spots 
were observed in the wheat fields, and on 
examination, the roots of the wheat in 
such places, Avcro found to present a web¬ 
like appearance, which was erroneously 
attributed to the presence of fungi. But, 
Mr. Thomas Taylor, tho microsoqpist of 
the Department of Agriculture, has just, 
reported, after close local investigation, 
that the so-called fungoid matter consists 
wholly of microscopic Tootlets, and that 
the laud which gives the largest yield pro¬ 
duced a corresponding increase in tlie 
rootlets. As all pests hostile to the farmer 
seem to multiply and spread with astound¬ 
ing rapidity, it is a relief to learn that this 
cause of apprehension avhs due to an un- 
Avarranted generalization. 
The Subjoined Letter from Mr. 
N. Burnham explains itself. We are mak¬ 
ing arrangements, aud will in the near 
future, we trust, be able to fully illustrate 
the three prize plans alluded to. 
Er*. Rural : I waH agreeably surprised, I as¬ 
sure you, on receiving cluck for $30, as second 
pi iz • for “ Barn Plan,” a# I never expected to 
merit it. Have long desired to build such a baru, 
but pecuniary chcumstnuooM and present pros¬ 
pect* forbid my cherishing auv such hopes. I 
spout some time and study on said “ plan'*— 
found it a harder '* job than I had anticipated." 
Would like to see all Prize plans published iu tbe 
Rural.—Nathaniel Burnham, Amboy , Lee Co., 
III. 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
The Russians iu Asia have completed the first 
figure in tho dance, “ Forward and back.” 
The laA'orite cry of those Russians who can 
speak in tho language of the Prophet is “ Musii- 
allab!" and they proceed to do it. 
A steamship company advertises cheap excur¬ 
sions from •' Baltimore to Halifax and Vice-Ver¬ 
sa.” This last must be that new watering-place 
spoken of in tbe August Harper. 
At last Mrs. Myra Clark has leisure to count 
her Gaines. She lias been a complainant for 
some, so to speak, centuries, but finding the law 
didn’t Suitor, she tried Billings-gate, and now 
has the law and ibe profits on tbe credit side. 
Seneca Falls, N. J . .Inly 2l», '77-—I received 
the Watch all right. Aui very much pleased 
with it. J consider myself well paid for what I 
have done, and hope to he able to send you a 
good, I urge club this year. Yours truly, Ste¬ 
phen Weatheuloav 
Mu. .J. R. Dodor, tbe able statistician of the 
Department of Agriculture, is retained in that 
position under the new Commissioner, it would 
Lave been still more satisfactory to all who have 
tbe best interests of agriculture at heart, had ho 
been appointed to succeed tbe inefficient W a its. 
The receipts of Avbeat in Cincinnati for the 
week ending Saturday, the 14th iust., were 138,- 
199 bush., the largest amount ever received in 
one Aveek in the history of that city. The near¬ 
est approach to thebe figures was in 18112 aud 
1875. The price now, however, is ^1.40 per 
bush., while at the former times it was 85c. aud 
$1.37, respectively. Good for the fanner, as re¬ 
gards both quantity and price! 
The Mona rob i* usually’ considered the foun¬ 
tain of honor from Avliorn all titles emanate, yet 
a very dislinguisbed title has lately been con¬ 
ferred by tho liildeidieim Milchwirthscliaftlioher 
Vereiu on Ilis Majesty the Emperor of Germany, 
for, in gratitude lor a donation of (500 marks for 
the encouragement of dairy-work, this euphoni¬ 
ous association has elected him to the dignity 
of Dairyman (! ) For double tbe amount, they 
might have dubbed bim Professor of Dairy Hus¬ 
bandry ! Iu tbid free country, however, such ti¬ 
tles are gratuitously assumed, without oven tho 
qualification of a small donation. 
BUSINESS NOTICES._ 
The Best Oil for Harness is the celebrated 
Vacuum oil, made at Rochester, N. Y., and sold by 
harness makers everywhere. 
