California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



95 



money enough to get all ef us as much 

 as Vie would like to have. But papa 

 and mamma sa3'3 times will be better 

 after a while, and then the children will 

 all fare better. But we had lots of fun 

 anyhow with our presents, and ever so 

 many nice things mamma cooked for ns 

 to eat. I expect there is lots of terribly 

 poor children everywhere who had no 

 good things to eat or nice things at all. 

 I am real sorry, Aunt Polly, aren't you? 

 Jly name name is Walter Eosk. 



Aunt Polly thinks that the girl who 

 writes the following letter is a pretty 

 large one, but she is just as welcome as 

 long as she has a good word for all of 

 us and thinks so much of the Agricul- 

 TUEisT. The editor never objects to hav- 

 ing a good word spoken for the paper. 

 Editors are so much like proud girls — 

 thej' like flattery. I wonder if our editor 

 ever reads his own paper, and if he will 

 see that Aunt Polly has dared to talk so 

 about him. But listen to Kitty Hart: 

 Salinas, May, 187G. 

 Dear Aunt Polly: There are lots of peo- 

 ple here who take the AgeicultuiiIst, 

 and I hear what some of them say about 

 it which you might like to know. My 

 aunt Jane says she wants me to bring 

 her the February number of the Agki- 

 COLTUKIST, for there she saw a receipt 

 for making cream cake which Mattie 

 Sargi nt tried one day and gave her some 

 to taste. She wishes her folks took the 

 paper, and she hopes they will some 

 time, for Mattie says sho's tried a good 

 many receipts from it and finds them 

 good. A boy I know says he always 

 reads the funny things in Aunt Polly's 

 '■Corner," and wishes there were more. 

 He would write to her himself if he knew 

 anything good enough. Our hired man 

 says to me, "Kitty, fetch the agricultur- 

 al paper and see what it says about feed- 

 ing calves. We've got one whose mother 

 died afore it was big enough to drink." 

 Mother says she could not keep house 

 without the Ageicultueist no how; 

 'cause why, she finds so many useful 

 things there ; and then it rests her to 

 read about what • 'Jewell" writes on 

 health, and the rest of the ladies about 

 other things. Jim likes the poetry best, 

 and learns pieces to speak at school. I 

 learned one once, and I heard a lady 

 read one poem from it at a church sociid. 

 Sister Annie likes the gardening part, 

 and says she is so glad she knows how 

 to fix hanging baskets, she wants one in 

 our best parlor. Farmer Brown, who 

 lives near us, was talking to store-keeper 

 Brown on the church steps, last Sunday, 

 and he say, "Did you see Dr. Scott's 

 article in the May number of the Agei- 

 cultueist? It is worth reading. Fact 

 is, that paper, every month, contains ar- 

 ticles worth more than the whole year's 

 subscription." My aunt Hatty came 

 along just then, and says she, "Yes, and 

 the cutest part on't is, that it is temper- 

 ance clear through. If you know any- 

 body around here who don't take it, for 

 goodness' sakes lend 'em a copy." Now 

 I've told j'ou enough; I was only going 

 to write a few words to send with two 

 subscriptions I collected for you. . In- 

 closed you will find the names, and the 

 money I'll send next time, when I get 

 more. Yours, truly, Kitty Haet. 



Aunt Polly thanks the Lompoc Record 

 for noticing one of her nephews. Char- 

 ley Tucker must be a good boy to merit 

 such. words. This is what the paper 

 says : 



"Among the correspondents of the 

 Agriculturist, we notice the name of 

 Cbarlej' Tucker, who is also the author 

 of a word puzzle. Good for Charley! 

 Reading, writing and thinking make a 

 useful and well-posted man." 



A MISCHIEVOUS PET. 



Thinking an item from this locality 

 would bo of interest, I add a few lines. 

 This part of Shasta county is a very poor 

 tract of country — no orchards, flowers, 

 or anything calculated to make life en- 

 durable. 



Mr. Lendrum, on his way to Oregon 

 with Angora goats, iiassed through here, 

 and left a Kid of that breed with Mr. 

 Warner, ou Pit river. It is one of the 

 most mischievous animals I ever saw. 

 An out-door cuiiboard is a favorable 

 climbing place for him, overturning jars 

 of yeast, scattering seeds, and other potty 

 mischief. One day, while Mrs. W. went 

 out of the house for a short time, leaving 

 the door open. Captain Kid must needs 

 walk in and pull out a pan of bread from 

 the oven, and devour half of it before 

 she returned. Ho was fully impressed 

 with the idea that he had a right to all 

 the edibles he could get hold of. He 

 helped himself liberally to strawberry 

 vines, the best potatoes, and, I firmly 

 believe, made away with some horserad- 

 ish that we were trying to stiirt. He 

 seemed to have a discriminating taste, 

 for he ate holes into the mellowest 

 squashes, and corn fodder laid away for 

 the cow had special attractions, together 

 with the grain and hay, to and from 

 which he had more exits and entrances 

 than the squirrels. Seeing the board 

 fence did not prevent him from going 

 over, we laid boards on top, but he had 

 three or four passages soon made under- 

 neath. He thought more of taking his 

 naps on the nice, clean beds than on the 

 cold, cold ground, at least when no one 

 was around to tend to him. He kept 

 Mrs. W. in a lively state of terror walking 

 all over the braces on the bridge, for fear 

 he would tumble in and got drowned. 

 Taking it altogether, we want to know if 

 there is anything (a mule excepted) with 

 a subUmer cheek than an Angora goat. 



Y'our journal is a most excellent one, 

 and we would not do without it. Your 

 outside cover cannot be beat for beauty, 

 and as an example of woman's work is a 

 powerful argument. Youi-a, truly, 



T. J. Pilkixgton. 



Burgottville, May, 187U. 



GRANDMA'S TALKS- 

 Easy Lessons from Nature— No. 5. 



Good morning, children! So you 

 have been having a gay time in the gar- 

 den and woods this morning. How do I 

 know it? Why, you have brought both 

 into the room with you. Don't you be- 

 lieve me, Johnny? How else should I 

 know where you have been? Y'es, in- 

 deed, you bring with j'ou the perfume of 

 violets from the garden, bay leaves from 

 the woods, and mint from the brook-side. 

 iSee, then, how many outside "atoms" 

 you have unconsciously brought to me. 



Y'ou want me to show you one single 

 atom all by itself, do you, Lucy? Well, 

 let us try to do that. 



Here I have a microscope to help our 

 eyes to see smaller things than we can 

 with the "naked eye" (as we call using 

 the eye without the help of magnifying 

 glasses). 



Here are two things which look very 

 much alike : this finest of cambric needles 

 and the sting of a bee. But compare 

 them under the microscope. The needle 

 looks rough aud coarse, almost like a 

 crowbar, and it seems to have lost its 

 point; but the sting of the bee is as 

 smooth and perfect to its shai-p tip al- 

 though magnified as much as the needle. 

 Do you think you can see the tinj' atom 

 ou the very end of that point, Lucy? 



Here is a lump of sugar. You may 



pound it to powder in this little mortar, 

 Johnny. Now we will place a few grains 

 of this powder under the microscope. 

 How coarse it looks! Don't you think, 

 if we had the means, we could grind it 

 up finer than that? Those are not atoms 

 j'et, because atoms are such very, very 

 small particles of matter that they can- 

 not possibly be divided into two parts, 

 and the smallest particle of sugar must 

 contain an atom of each of the several 

 substances which combine to make 

 sugar. 



Now I will dip this needle into this 

 glass of liquid which looks like water. 

 'Touch your tongue to the needle, John- 

 ny, and tell mo what it is. How do you 

 know it is lemonade? Oh! you can taste 

 the lemon and sugar, can you? Then 

 imagine, if you can, how small the 

 atoms are in that tiny drop of lemonade 

 to give enough of the water, lemon and 

 sugar (each composed of various sub- 

 stances) for you to taste distinctly. 



I will now rub some of this bright red 

 paint, which we call carmine, upon this 

 saucer. Now I will mix it with the water 

 in this large pitcher. Do you see what 

 a pretty color it has all become? The 

 particles of carmine have separated and 

 mingled with the water, and see how mi- 

 nute they must be to color nearly a gal- 

 lon of water. 



If you keep only one violet in a room, 

 it will throw ofl' particles of perfume for 

 days, and yet not grow smaller in size. 

 So it is with musk, which has a strong 

 perfume. I have read that one grain of 

 musk will sent a room ten years and 

 weigh as much as at first. Of course, 

 particles of the musk are constsntly leav- 

 ing the grain, but we cannot measure the 

 loss. 



Thus you perceive that the very small- 

 est particle of matter that you can see 

 or taste or smell is made up of millions 

 of smaUer ones which are composed of 

 atoms of simple substances (these are 

 substances which contain only one kind 

 of matter) . Do you think, Lucy, that 

 your ej-es have the power to see one 

 single atom all by itself ? No, indeed, 

 we cannot even imagine the smallness of 

 an atom, neither can we really know the 

 capacity of matter for being divided and 

 sub-divided. This property, belonging 

 to all matter, is called Diuisiliilily. You 

 can remember that word easily, children, 

 because every alternate letter in it, ex- 

 cept the last ene, is an i. 



Y'ou are very much interested in that 

 microscope, children, and well j'ou may 

 be. There is really no end to the won- 

 derful facts to be learned by the use of a 

 microscope. When I was a little girl, I 

 remember seeing a drop of water magni- 

 fied by means of a solar microscope. 

 The drop of water looked as large around 

 as that centre table, and it was alive with 

 creatures, some very small and some like 

 monsters gobbling up everj-thing that 

 came in their way. Now in that drop of 

 water the naked eye could see no living 

 thing, but by the aid of the microscope 

 what curious and astonishing creatures 

 appeared, swimming as freely in that one 

 drop as fishes do in the ocean. 



You a.sk, Johnny, if all the water we 

 drink is just like that, full of such fight- 

 ing and gobbling creatures. It is proba- 

 ble that all water contains living creat- 

 ures, though I have been told that the 

 microscope does not detect such quanti- 

 ties in fresh water lit for drinking: stag- 

 nant water, which is poisonous to us, 

 contains the kind of creatures that I saw. 

 But only think, chUdren, how small 

 the atoms must be in those lively little 

 bodies! Think, too, of the infinite Wis- 

 dom which can plan and perfect such 

 wonders ! 



FOR THE "CORNER." 



FROM JI. K. T. 



I am going to tell you a story about 

 the same little Willie with whom I made 

 i that contract. You may not see anything 

 very funny in it, but I am sure you papa 

 and mamma will laugh when they hear 

 you read it. 



Willie was very fond of reading, and 

 would stay in doors for hours quietly 

 reading his favorite book, the New Tes- 

 meut. Now, Willie was a poor reader, 

 and a poor speller, too, for a boy eight 

 years old. It happened about this 

 time that a great political contention was 

 going on, and the words "Democrat" 

 and "Republican" were heard almost 

 every day; besides Willie's infant mind 

 had been fed on troubles arising from the 

 spirit of partyism, and which had had 

 the efi'ect of stamping upon his memory 

 the importance of a party name. One 

 day, after reading, ho sat apparently 

 meditating upon the sacred pages before 

 him, when suddenly a sober lace was 

 raised and a solemn voice said, "Mam- 

 ma, was Jesus a Democrat?" Mamma 

 was both amused and astonished at so 

 odd a question, but when she saw the 

 earnest look upon his face she said, 

 "Why do you ask?" "Because I have 

 read where Jesus ate with Republicans 

 and sinners, and I thought perhaps he 

 might have been a Democrat." 



THE PUZZLE CORNER. 



The boy or girl that will send Aunt 

 Polly the best original puzzle shall have 

 three chromos; the one who will send 

 the second best puzzle shaU have a pair 

 of chromos, and the one who will send 

 the third best shall have one chromo. 

 Now, nephews and nieces, we want some 

 original puzzles that it will be worth 

 chromos to find out, and we want you all 

 to see what nice puzzles yon can make 

 to trj-e.ach other's skill. 



Typical Trees. 



For gouty people — the ache com. 

 For antiquarians — the date. 

 For school boys — the birch. 

 For Irishmen — the och! 

 For conjurers —the palm. 

 For negroes — See dah ! 

 For young ladies—the man go. 

 For farmers — the plautiu'. 

 For dandies — the spruce. 

 For actors — the pop'lar. 

 For physicians — syc a more. 

 For J'OU wife — her will oh. 

 For lovers — the sigh press. 

 For the disconsolate — the pine. 

 For sewing machine people — the hem- 

 lock. 

 For boarding house keepers— -'ash. 

 Always on hand — the pawpaw. 

 Who is this written for — vew. 



A Very Singular Sentence. 



"Satorarepo tenet opera rotas." 



1. This spells bakward and forward all 

 the same. 



2. Then taking all the first letters of 

 each word spells the first word. 



3. Then all the second letters of each 

 word spells the second word. 



4. Then all the third, and so through 

 the fourth and fifth. 



5. Then commencing with the last let- 

 ter of each word spells the last word. 



6. Then the next to the last of each 

 word, and so on through. 



Read the new advertisements on sec- 

 ond page of cover. 



