1375.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
87 
to draw a prize in a lottery. Almost every one who can 
rcmombcr tbe times when lotteries were not only tolerat- 
ed, but le^al, can recall cases in which men were abso- 
lutely ruined by drawing a prize in one of them. The 
gain of a few thousands in this manner, nnfitted tfaem 
for all useful business ever after, and they ruined them- 
selves in endeavoring to repeat tbeir former luck. Those 
who do not regard lotteries as gambling, and hold them 
to be fair investments, do not make very wise distinc- 
tions in morals, and they are in a very small minority ; 
tbe better thought of the community, as expressed in 
the laws of almost every State, is against them The 
extent to which this lottery evil extends, is not general- 
ly known, and the unhappiness it causes wives, mothers, 
and children, who see those they love carried away with 
the passion for this form of gambling,* is most sadden- 
ing. We every now and thea receive 
MOST patii7:t:? appeals 
from those whose homes ar.: b_ing ruined, asking what 
can be done to niTest the destructive influence of the 
lottery. Some of these letters arc so touching, that they 
Avould almost reach the heart of a lottery manager. 
Alas, what can we do to help them I Those addicted to 
this form of gambling, will resort to every device and 
fiubtcrfuge to gratify their passions. In the majority of 
cases, they procure their tickets froma distance by mail. 
We have had complaints that tickets were sold in New 
York, and we have been asked to try and stop their sale, 
but the authorities say that they can do nothing unless a 
formal complaint, with proofs, is presented to them, 
which the parties who write ns are unable to furnish. 
If one is infatuated by this or any other form of gam- 
bling, he will find means of indulging in it, and there 
is no large city in which lottery tickets are not sold 
Another frequent source of domestic misery, is 
PUIVATE BANTiING HOUSES, 
That some of these are of the highest character, unde- 
niably safe, and a benefit to the community in which 
they arc placed, we liave no doubt, but there arc others 
quite the reverse of these, and are nothing less than 
swiiullcs. Every now "and then a man, whoso reputed 
wealth gains him the confidence of his employees and 
others, by means of a bank gets possession of a large 
sura, made up of the "little all" of hundreds of hard- 
working people, A crash comes, and misci-j- fallows to 
all concerned, except to tiie banker, who we have more 
than once noticed continues to live in the same style, 
and drive in as fiue a turnout as before. Cases of this 
kind have occurred within our own knowledge, and they 
happen all over the conntiy every year. The sufferers 
arc only jioor work-people, whose little deposits of $5 to 
§100 arc not large enough to makeanoir^c in the financial 
■WorUl. A case which recently occurred in New York 
State is thus described by one of our old subscribers: 
•' The rnral population of tliis county, and the hard-work- 
ing men and women of and neiLjhboring villa;^es, 
have been victimized a short time since to the amount of 
about three quarters of a million of dollars by the failure 
of the two private banks. These two cases, and a simi- 
lar one which occurred at a few years ago. are con- 
Bidered here as premeditated swindles. Ilnndreds of 
people of small means, enticed by the highest rate of in- 
terest paid by these private banks on deposits, invest in 
them, and take a simple note of hand (Deposit Certificate) 
of the private banker, and that is all fhey have as securi- 
ty for UiL-ir hard earned dollars. Thus, with a capital of 
eny $'25,000, tbe private banker receives in some cases 
one half a million of iloUars. It is not strange if, with 
these funds in his possession, upon which he pays a full 
legal rate of interest, he should be tempted to dabble in 
Wall Struct, or in some wild cat scheme, to make 
money, or fail to secure to himself by some sharp prac- 
tice a good sliare of tlie deposits, as was the cas;e here." 
— ^Too much caution can not be exercised by those who 
have earnings to deposit. A regularly incorporated sav- 
ings bank is safer than any private bank can be, and 
though losses sometimes arise from these, it is very 
rare, and they are probably as saf-; as anything that can 
be devised. The offer by a pri%'ate bank to pay a higher 
rate of in'erest than that given by the savings banks, 
Bhould put people on their guard. *' Slow and safe" is 
the best rule in such matters These so-called 
PnjLISniNO COSTPANIES 
arc getting to be a nuisance. They spring up in all sorts 
of obscure towns iu various parts of the country, but the 
New England States seem to be the most infested. Tlie 
circulars of these "compmies" areas near alike as a 
lot of beans. We have before us the circular of one tliat 
calls itself "Union," and it presents aunion of nastiness 
and b.alderdash absolutely disi^nsting. These circulars 
offer various things, from false wOuskers to false playing 
cards, bnt their end and aim is to advertise "Marriage 
Guides." "Ilidden Secrets of the Eu'ypti^ns," "Luvers' 
Own Library." etc.. whir.h arc set forth in the circulars 
in n mann<n- likely to tempt young people into buying 
thnm, atul if the books arc as bad as the circulars would 
lead one to infer, the sellers of them should be set to 
hammering stones in the penitentiary. The trouble with 
tliese miserable things is that we can not expose them as 
they deserve, without doingtlmt which of all other things 
these companies would delight to have ns do— advertise 
them Among the humbugs especially designed to 
CHEAT FARMERS 
is the " Golden ButterCompound," which every now and 
then turns up ; this time it is being run by some chaps in 
Marion, Ohio. This stuff proposes to make butter at a 
cost of four (4) cents a pound, and of a quality which can 
not be distinguished from "cream butter." The com- 
pound is sold in boxes to agents at 50 cts. a box, and is 
to be sold by them to tne farmer at $1. Now, a farmer of 
average shrewdness and hard sense will say, "'Tiiis fel- 
low says butter can be made for four cents a pound ; I 
get 20, 30, and sometimes 40 cents a pound for my butter ; 
why don't he make butter and control the market, and 
not be ho^vling and Bcroaming tbrongh his circulars for 
agents to buy his stuff and sell it all over the conntry? 
This butter compound man doesn't seem lo rae to have 
much confidence in this stuff himself, for if he can make 
butter at that price, he can be a millionaire at once." 
And the shrewd fu'mer would be riglit. We need only 
add that tbe concern which makes this butter compound 
is also engaged iu selling "The Oil Turifyer and Lamp- 
chimney Protector." 
MEDICAL MATTEllS 
seem to be very quiet, and our budget is mainly a repeti- 
tion of the old stories. A Missouri friend sends ns the 
consumption circular of Daniel Adee, and asks us to give 
tlie concern "a call." We thought we had said sufficient 
of Daniel last year. It is the old dodge over again. A 
gentleman's son was in the last stages of consumption ; 
he was of course "given up to die by the most eminent 
physicians," hut a "remedy" saved the son's life, and 
now said "gentleman" will ''gladly make known the 
same," and those who send their address to D. A. can get 
the "recipe" all for nothing. We did not have the con- 
sumption, but not knowing how soon we might have it. 
sent last summer to D. A. for the recipe, aa t must be a 
handy thing in the house. Easy cnongli to cure tiie con- 
sumption now, just take some of the " Indian Cough 
Plant." steep it, and drink thereof, and the consumption 
will "git up and git." There is a slight difficulty in the 
way. The "Indian Cough Plant" is only 'o be had 
among the Indians, and for the benefit of suflering mor- 
tals Daniel A. will furnish the same, all fixed n]i, for $*2 a 
bottle. Onr new readers may not be aware of the ways 
of these benevolent people, who offer to send recipes 
free, and this will serve as a sample of a large lot. It all 
means money. 
'Vriaat to Plant.— See the notes about 
work, under Orchard, Fruit, and Kitchen Garden, wliere 
carcfn'ly considered lists of the best fruits and veget.a- 
tables are given. These notes always embody replies to 
many queries, and tliis month they are unusually full. 
Bono ancl Blootl ^pariu. — " Enquirer," 
Taunton, Mass. Aspavinof long standingis rarely cured, 
being generally either constitutional, or resulting in a 
permanent alteration of the parts. Bog or blood spavin, 
may appear on botli sides of the joint, or the lower part of 
the limb, in which case it is called thoronghpin. When 
it appears below the hock, it is sometimes mistaken ff)r 
windgalls. These soft spavins do not always cause 
lameness, but a bone spavin nearly always does, and it 
ia therefore; the worst. 
X« Romove "%Varts.— "0. P. K.," Ells- 
worth. N. T. Warts upon horses may be removed by the 
daily application of a solution of nitrate of silver (lunar 
caustic^ to their surface. 
XIic Kest Feod Ciittei-.—*' Would you 
buy a Gale's Copper Strip Cutler, in preference to any 
other, to be used either by hand or horse-power?" — For 
cutting by hand, we know of no other machine that 
works so easily, or cuts so rapidly as Gale's Copper Strip 
Cutter. But for horse-power there are machines that can 
be fed more easily and epeedily— and this is an important 
point. Those who have a large horse-power, should get 
a six or eight horse-power feed cutter, and go round 
amongst the farmers to cut fodder, as they now do to 
thrash grain. The feed cutter should have an elevator 
attached, for carrying the cut fodch^r where it is wanted. 
Where the buildings are convenient for storing the cut 
feed, most farmers will find it cheaper to hire such a 
machine, than to do the work themselves. 
$<i1iort-1iorii Statisitics.— The National 
Association of Shorthorn Breeders, which recently met 
at Springfield, 111., having entrusted Alex. Charles. Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa, with the work of procnrinii; complete sta- 
tistics of all Short -horns now living in the United States 
and Canada, for publication in the report of their pro- 
ceedings, we would urge upon every one of our readers 
who are breeding Short-homs, either upon a large or 
small scale, to send in prompt and careful returns, and 
those who have not received blanks for that purpose, 
will be furnished them free of charge promptly, on ap- 
plication to Mr. Charles. Short-horn men will please 
give this their very earliest attention, for by so doing 
the forthcoming report of the American Association of 
Breeders will be made the most valuable and interesting 
publication ever issued in this country. 
Artificial filatcliin^ oC Eggrs-— "J- 
II. C," Huron, Iowa. The process of hatching eggs 
packed iu sand in a tin-bottomed box heated by steam 
from a boiler, would be a very risky one. The eggs 
would become cooked at the outset without much doubt. 
The heat reqnired to hatch eggs is 102 to 104 degrees. A 
higher temperature would kill the embryo. It would oc- 
cupy more space than we could spare to describe the 
mctliods of incubating eggs and caring for the chicks. 
You had better get a copy of Wright's Practical Poultry 
Keeper, price $0.00. 
I>isea*io«» ill Slogps. — "J. F.," Madison, 
Iiid. Want of wat-^r, insufficient shelter from the beat, 
and indigestible food, are frequent canses of diseases 
amongst hogs in the summer and full. The diseases 
thus produced chiefly act upon tlie blood, inducing 
fevers mainly of a typhoid kind, and inflammations or 
congestions of the vital organs. The disease known 
as cholera is one of the most conspicuous of these, but 
that is simply one of the particular manifestations of the 
general disorder. It is rarely of use to try to cure any 
cases. The attack is too sudden and violent for medi- 
cine to avail. The remedy lies in prevention. When 
well cared for, the hog is one of the hardiest of animals, 
and good care means nutritious food, plenty of pure 
water, shelter from tlie burning sun, clean, dry pens 
when they are confined, and a regular allowance of salt. 
ISran or Oats ior Cattle.— "C. A. J.," 
Hudson, Mich., asks if it is better to sell oats at 45 cents 
a bushel, {$-33.13 per ton), and buy bran at $16 per ton, 
or feed the oats ground to cows and young cattle ? "—So 
far as nutriment is concerned, we think the oats the 
cheaper food. But the manure from a ton of bran, is 
worth twice as much as from a ton of oat^. (see table iu 
"Harris on the Pig," page 130). So that at the above 
rates tha same amount of money spent in bran, would 
givemanure worth nearly four times as much as from oats. 
CatarrU iit a Com.—" O. D. S.,'' Dela- 
ware Co., N. Y. Ti)e symptoms of catarrh are a stoppage 
of the nasal passages, and the discharge of mucus from 
the nose, with considerable fever and debility in severe 
cases. Wliere the attack is a light one, bran mashes 
given slightly wann, and a little careful nursing are all 
that are needed to effect a cure. Where there is fever, 
and redness in the eys, and weeping, daily doses of 3 
ounces of sulphate of potash dissolved in a pint of water, 
may be given until the fever disappears. This disease Is 
the result of exposure to cold or damp. 
Barloj-.- "J. D. B." asks, "Wliich is the 
most profitable variety of barley, two, four, or six- 
rowed ? " — There is no such thing aa _/"(?(; r-r owed barley. 
When "fonr-rowed" barley is spoken of. sis-rowed is 
meant. The two-rowed is a later and heavier variety 
than the six-rowed. All the choice malting varieties of 
barley in England are two-rowed, and they command a • 
much higher price than the six-rowed kinds Here the six- 
rowed barley brings about 10 cents a bushel more than 
the two-rowed— and we think it is the most profitable 
kind to grow. But much depends on the soil and climate. 
Six-rowed barley ripens ia this State the same time as 
winter wheat, while two-rowed docs not ripen until we 
are through cutting wheat, and some farmers prefer it on 
this account. It alsoyieldsmore straw than thesix-rowed. 
Irritation or tbe 'rail-~"F. R.," 
Jamestown, V:i. When a horse rubs his tail until the 
hair is worn off, it would be well to apply kerosene oil 
to the part, after washing it with warm water and soap. 
It may be simply irritation of the skin, which this will 
cure. If worms are the cause, an injection of a pint of 
salt water should be given daily for a few days, or a pint 
of linseed oil might be used instead of the salt and water, 
with an ounce of turpentine mixed with it. 
Spaying riuia.— '^ J. B. M.," Medina Co., 
Texas. The advertisement is all wc know about this 
proposed method of spaying sows and cows. The thing 
looks suspicious, but wc cannot give an opinion without 
knowing more about it. 
Basket Items con- 
tinued on page 113. 
