".'TCJtWKf? 



144 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER 



Mat 



of men who do not think ; and for this class we 

 add what follows. 



2. It is a little strange to men who see English, 

 Irish, Scotch and French Agricultural papers week- 

 ly, that there shoiild have been such an excitement 

 in Europe over this " root," and these papers have 

 taken no notice of it. We have seen no evidences 

 of such "excitement," and yet we see said papers. 

 "We do not believe there has been any such excite- 

 ment ; and if what it asserted concerning the pro- 

 duct of this root in sugar, as grown by Mr. Camp- 

 bell, is true, we think the English and Scotch Ag- 

 ricultural Press would have had something to say 

 concerning it. 



3. Again, Mr. C. is not the first traveler who 

 has traveled in Central Asia, (if, indeed, there is 

 any such man as this "C. Bruce Campbell, Esq.," 

 and yet no one within our knowledge has ever men- 

 tioned such a wonderful esculent. We don't be- 

 lieve the Asia story. 



4. We do not believe " a superior quality of 

 white sugar " was ever made from anything by 

 " simply boiling and cleansing as the American 

 fanner does the sap of the sugar maple. We have 

 never yet seen any evidence that it has been so 

 done. 



5. The author of this circular has drawn his 

 figures of the yield per acre a little too strong. 

 For instance, he asserts that forty acres planted by 

 Mr. Campbell, yielded over 35,000 bushels, which 

 would be over 875 bushels per acre. And each 

 bushel yields twenty pounds of " a superior quali- 

 ty of white sugar ! " Then 875 bushels multiplied 

 by twenty pounds, would give the nice little pro- 

 duct of 17,500 pounds of sugar as the product of 

 one acre I — of white sugar ! Wonder if is not as 

 transparent as glass, too ? It seems to us it must 

 be? 



6. But in the publication of terms of packages 

 of seed, he has been more shrewd. For, as an ad- 

 ditional inducement to purchasers of seed — he hav- 

 ing only a limited quantity, and the above recom- 

 mendations being scarcely an inducement — he of- 

 fers tT\o excellent publications — the Illustrated 

 Annual Register of Rural Affairs, and the Country 

 Gentleman — as premiums for orders for seed. That 

 is a very good movement — far more ingenious than 

 the story of the history of the "Oriental Sugar 

 Root" itself. The coupling the names of this re- 

 spectable annual and valuable journal with the 

 humbug will doubtless deceive a few, but we feel 

 safe in saying such use is not authorized by the 

 publishers of said Annual Journal. 



7. It is significant, too, that the proprietor of 

 this seed does not use the Agricultural Journals as 

 mediums for enlightening the Agricultural world 



upon the marvelous merits of this " Sugar Root." 

 No communications have ever appeared in an 

 American journal concerning it, and no extracts 

 from foreign journals either. No one has seen an 

 advertisement in an American Agricultural Jour- 

 nal. Why not ? Because it is too transparent to 

 withstand the looking into that would be given it. 

 We have devoted it this much attention, becaus« 

 wo have reason to believe that this circular has 

 been extensively propagated through the West. 

 We will be glad to furnish the police of our neigh- 

 boring city, Utica, with the name of this would-be 

 great public benefactor, and suggest that his seed 

 operations be looked into officially. — Eurd New 

 Yorker. 



— We have been patiently waiting for some new 

 humbug, and are delighted with so rich a one. We 

 had begun to fear that all of this class had turned 

 army sutlers, but we see one of the tribe is left. 



Sensible farmers, who take and read agricultu- 

 ral papers, are not often gulled. But that large 

 class who know enough without book farming are 

 the dupes, and in their hands will be found the 

 " sugar root." 



Last year a tree peddler came round through the 

 central part of the State — not a thousand miles 

 from Champaign and Vermillion counties, with a 

 picture of the Baldwin apple, which he represent- 

 ed as new and valuable, and sold large numbers of 

 them at a half a dollar each. He was shrewd 

 enough not to sell anything else. no, not him. 

 The. new apple was to supercede all others. But 

 not a man who reads an agricultural paper waa 

 sold, though several of those who were are now 

 taking the Farmer, and think they are wiser, — ^Ed. 



From the Wisconsin Farmer. 



A Plea for Certain Jackasses. 



The word " certain" in our caption is intended 

 simply to encourage the hope that we are not about 

 to espouse the cause of jackasses in general. In 

 other words, it stands as an assurance that we do 

 not mean to be personal ! 



The ass ! of what innumerable, perpetual sneers 

 and jeers, curses, kicks, and merciless starvation, 

 has he been the object and subject ! Venerable for 

 his antiquity, for individual longevity, for the sa- 

 gacity of his mind, and for unequalled sageness of 

 physiognomy,circumstances and endowments which 

 one would naturally suppose would have secured 

 to him the respectful consideration of the world 

 — he nevertheless somehow, and most strangely, 

 stands the symbol of the utmost obstinacy, stupid- 

 ity and meanness. 



In our opinion, he has suffered this unmeasured 

 abuse quite too long, and, however unseemly it. 



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