1877.] 
AMERICAlsr AG-RICULTUKIST. 
187 
A Very Hiizzliiig- Puzzle. 
Mr. W. Y. W., Bucks Co., Pa., sends usa puzzle, which 
he had worked over a long time, and could not make out. 
As it belongs to Aunt Sue's Department, we sent the puz- 
zle to her ; to our sur- 
prise she returned it 
with '• I give it up," or 
words to that effect. Of 
course, if she could'nt 
make it out, it must be 
more difficult than such 
things usually are, and 
we follow her advice 
and print it for others 
to try at. If it has puz- 
zled Aunt Sue, it is 
hardly likely that you 
youngsters can master 
It— still you can try, 
and we put it in your columns so that you can ask 
your older brothers and sisters, and others to try at it. 
To make the puzzle, take a piece of stiff paper or card, 
of any convenient size, and exactly square. Then care- 
fully mark eight equal divisions on each side, and rule 
across ; this will divide the square into (U small squares, 
as in fig. I. Now cut the piece as shown by the heavy 
lines in fig. 1 ; first divide it in two unequal parts by cut- 
ting across three squares from the bottom. Draw a line 
across from comer to corner of the lower piece, and cut 
it in two there. Then cut the upper piece in halves, as 
Fig. 1.— SQTJAEE. 
Fiff. 2. — PARALLELOGRAM, 
ehown.hy the heavy line, taking care to get it exact by 
counting the squares. Your large square will now be in 
four pieces, which, put together as it was at first, has 8 
squares on a side, or 8x8=64 squares in all. Now put 
the pieces together to form a parallelogram as in fig. 2, 
and if the work has been nicely done, you will find the 
small squares will all match. Count them. 5X13=()5. 
Now where does the other square come from? That's 
the puzzle. No doubt those who are expert in geometry 
can make it out. Let us hear from them. 
My Pet Birds. 
BT J. H. P., FRAKKLDT, N. T. 
Two years ago in June, a mother robin built a nest in 
a low evergreen, a few feet from the house, wisely judg- 
ing that there she would not be molested by her worst 
enemy, the crow. Having occasion to pass close to the 
tree several times a day, and observing that she did not 
seem to be frightened, I began to take liberties with her, 
with the idea of seeing how near I could get to her, 
By slow and gentle movements I approached her nest, 
laid my hand upon her back, thrust my fingers under her 
wings, and felt the eggs. She was at first greatly fright- 
ened, but after a few days, by frequent handling, she be- 
came BO gentle that I could put worms and bugs into her 
mouth, and even lift her off the nest, though she would 
not let me bear her away more than a foot or two, before 
she would jump back upon the nest again. 
Ab the little ones increased in size, the old robin found 
It necessary to spend almost her whole time in hunting 
food for bet little family of four, and consequently could 
spend but little time upon the nest. Yet in the middle 
of the afternoon, as the Bun poured its heat down be- 
tween the trees directly upon the nest, she would invari- 
ably return to it and cover her little ones until the friend- 
ly shadow of the next tree moved over and reached 
them and the shelter of her wings was no longer need- 
ed. And again, when it rained, she would extend her 
wings over the aides of the nest, so that not a drop of 
water could fall within. How did she know that the sun 
aud rain would injure her babies ? How was she tmght 
10 protect them from the heat and wet ? 
Soon after the old robin commenced sitting upon her 
eggs, a little sparrow came and made a nest In the same 
tree, only about eighteen Inchoa from the robin's nest. 
Asa rule, a fitting bird will not allow another bird to 
intrude in this way, but the sparrow selected the densest 
part of the tree in which to build her nest, which was 
completely hidden from view by overhanging branches. 
Tlie two birds therefore had no reason to quarrel, for 
they did not know of each other's presenc. The little 
sparrow was even more gentle than the robin, she would 
allow me to handle her as often as I chose, and would 
readily tike from my fingers almost any kind of food I 
gave her, such as Indian pudding, boiled potato, broad, 
cake, moat, and worms of various kinds. When digging 
in ray garden. I used to find cnt-worms. which T careful- 
ly saved for my sparrow. A small cut-worm she would 
swallow while sitting upon the nest, but when I gave her 
a large worm, she would take it and fly off upon the 
ground, and then seizing it by the head, whip it right 
and left with great violence, until she had reduced its 
bulk, and then swallow it. If I gave her an angleworm, 
or a May -beetle, she would take it, and fiying away a rod 
or two, drop it upon the ground, and then return to the 
nest. One day, finding a small green worm, I carried it 
to her, and I was well repaid for my trouble by seeing 
her rise np and drop it into one of the little mouths be- 
neath. It seemed strange to me that, while she would 
eat heartily almost any kind of vegetable food I gave 
her, she would never give a particle of it to her children 
—for the reason, I suppose, that she regarded small 
worms more suitable food for baby sparrows. At length 
both the robins and the sparrows, getting too big for 
their nests, flew away, and I saw them no more. 
The nest (last) year the old robin returned, and built 
a new nest in another evergreen close by, but higher up 
among the branches. By placing a step-ladder under the 
tree, however, I could easily reach her, and I found her 
as tame and gentle as the year before. If she returns 
again next June, as I hope she wiU, I intend to study 
her habits and instincts more closely, and if I learn any- 
thing new respecting her, I will report. 
Aunt Sue's Chuts. 
DoLLiE.— Yes, I can give you a very "simple pattern 
for working babies'" flannel petticoats," and one quite 
effective and pretty. See figure 1. Scallop the edge with 
semi-circles, about as large as No. 70 cotton-spool would 
make ; you can mark them with a pencil. Then rule, 
very lightly, four straight lines just above the scallops at 
A, B, Cand D. In case you do not kuow how to make 
the feather-stitch needed for the A and D lines, I have 
given you a hint of the process in figure 2. Be careful to 
bring out the point of your needle on the pencil-line with 
evei7 stitch. You can mark the vandyked line (which is 
to be chain-stitched) with the corner of a square card. 
Wlien this line is finished, you can very easily mark the 
required dot in each point. The pattern without the 
scallop may be worked at the top of the hem. 
In case you ever have to join a false hem on to a skirt 
D 
Fig. 1. — DESIGN FOR EMBROIDERY. 
to lengthen it, a line of feather-stitch may be worked 
over the joining to hide it. With feather-stitch, chain- 
stitch., and worked dots, you can make many pretty pat- 
j terns. {Sec figs. 3 and 4.) A 
simple way to get the pat- 
tern of a scallop is, to draw a 
circle around your spool at 
each end of your card (see fig. 
5), then draw stiaiL;ht lines 
from one circle to the other 
at the top and bottom. Now 
move your spool along, let- 
ting it lap a little bit (unless 
you want a deeper scallop), 
and draw your pencil around 
it. When you have reached 
the end of your card, draw a 
straight line (as A in fig. 5) 
near the edge, and cut up to 
it between your scallops, as 
shown by the black portion 
In figure 5. Use Corticelli's embroidering silk, letter 
F. Linen floss (or white single zephyr worsted) looks 
very well, washes better, aud is less expensive than silk. 
Fig. 3. — FEATHERSTITCH. . 
FifJ. 3. — PATTERN FOR EMBROTDERT. 
(iEKTUUDE B. aska: "Will you please toll me the dif- 
ference between cocoa aud chocolate."— Both are from 
the seeds of the Cacao tree of South and Central America, 
which is very different from the Cocoa-nut tree. The 
Fig. 4. — ANOTHISB PATTERN. 
Cacao tree rarely grows taller than 15 feet, and it bears 
fruit or pods about the size and shape of a common cu- 
cumber ; these contain from 50 to 100 seeds, much the 
size and shape of an almond meat, surrounded by a pulp. 
The pods are buried in the earth, or covered in close tubs 
for a while, until the pulp has fermented, after which the 
peeds are taken out. exposed to the sun for several days, 
when they are ready to use or to seud to other countries. 
Great quantities of these seeds, cocoa beans as they are 
called, are imported, and various preparations are made 
from them. Like coffee, they must first be roasted, be- 
fore they are used, bnt they are not browned so much 
i^lg. O. — HOW TO MAKE A SCALLOP. 
as coffee. When roasted, the thick skin or husk of the 
beans is very brittle, aud this is broken and separated 
from the kernel. These husks are sold as " cocoa-shells " 
in this country, and as "■miserable'" in England, and are 
used by the poorer people. The kernel it!?elf, coarsely 
broken, and ol'ted mixed with the husks, is sold here as 
"cracked cocoa," and in England as "nibs." All the 
articles called chocolate, aiul some with other names, are 
made by grinding the kernels. These conPuin about half 
llieir weight of a kind of fat. and when ground in a stone 
mill of proper form, and which is kept warm, the cocoa 
kernels g-rlnd up to a smooth paste, which is put into 
molds, where it hardens, aud this is pure chocolate. It 
is, however, rarely pure. Commonly half their weiglit 
of sugar is atkled to the beans, and vanilla is pirt in to 
fiavor. This is the kind of chocolate that many like to 
eat. Then some chocolate is mixed with starch or flour, 
to make it cheaper, and of course this is a fraud. Various 
fancy names are given to different preparations of the 
cocoa bean, such as "Soluble Cocoa," "Homceopathic 
Chocolate," " Broma," and others. In general, "cocoa" 
is the name for the whole or merely crushed bean, while 
chocolate is the proper one for those fonns in which it is 
ground into a paste. 
Alice,— The term, "carnival," is the name of a festi- 
val, especially celebrated in Catholic countries, during 
the week before Lent. It is derived from the Latin 
"carni," an inflection of rarwo, meaning flesh, and "vale" 
farewell. It means, really, "good-bye to roast beef," 
meat being prohibited food during the lenten season. 
" W. J. W."— Your enigma is excellent, but a little ab- 
struse. I must take some liberties with it if I publish it. 
A Spring: l>ay iu tUe Country. 
" Spring !— When is it spring?"— The answer to this 
would depend upon where the boy or girl lived; we all 
kuow when it is sprini: with ufi. but our division of the 
seasons will not answer at all for those who live at the 
other side of the equator, for there the seasons are re- 
versed. Wc call March. Ajiril, and May, the spring 
months, but in Englaiul spring begins In February, and 
summer in May. Then astronomers have a spring of 
their own; their spring begins at what is called iho 
venial equinox. March 21st. when the days and nights 
arc equal in all parts of the world. If we call April the 
first spring month, we come very near to the astronomical 
spring. Our young friends who live in Florida and other 
far southern places, and tho^c who are in California, have 
well nigh forgotten about spring, it came so long ago, 
while this paper will reach some far northern children, 
who are just watching for butter-cups and dandelions, 
and other early flowers. Though May is the last of the 
spring months, as wc generally divide the seaconp, it 
will be to many of our little folks the first one in which 
out-door play can really be enjoyed. March with ita 
bluster, April with its showers, and often long, cold 
rains, both prepare the way for ^[ay, and even a good 
