250 
AMERICAN AQRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
and measure, but iu various put-up articles is there great 
fraud. So bad has this matter of short \seight3 become 
in articles put up in cans, such as tomatoes, fruits, etc., 
that the dealers have had a mectiu^ to agree upon uni- 
formity in packages. Three pound caus of tomatoes sel- 
dom weigh more than two and a half pounds, and unless 
carefully examined, the difference between the two is not 
noticed. Purchasers are partly to blame for this, as they 
buy what seeras to be the cheapest without weighing. 
The whole business of retailing is full of small frauds, 
which all honest dealers will be glad to abolish, but the 
reform must begin with the purchasers, who should in- 
sist in getting just what they pay lor. and if makers or 
pntteraup of any articles in caus, bottles, or parcels give 
Bhort weight, don't buy their goods A friend sends U8 
a lot of advertisements cut from a paper in Ohio and 
asks: "IIow can 
A KESPECTABLE PAPER 
print such things ? "—We really do not know, and advise 
our inquiring friend to aek the paper that does it. Still 
what can bo expected of an ordinary secular paper when 
the Independent, which professes to be a religious jour- 
nal, not only admits quackery into its columns, but 
writes editorials in defence of it. 
MEDICAL MATTERS 
seem to be very quiet. A postmaster iu Kentucky sends 
us the circular of one Dr. Van Meter, and asks us what 
we think about it. We think it about as fine a specimen 
of vanity and quackery ns we have lately seen. He has 
a map showing his route of travel, a certificate of good 
character from certain "ciders," he promises great things 
and will no doubt carry off from the i)laces down upon 
hie map more money in the one or two days he will stop 
at them, than tho well educated, thorouglily competent 
physicians at those places, who are too modest and have 
too much respect for their proTession to resort to such 
means, can make in a year. Whenever a '• Doctor " enu- 
merates what diseases he can cure, he shows the shallow- 
nesa of his acquirements. . Travelling quack doctors 
h»ve long been known, and probably the world will be 
afflicted by them for a long time to come. We have seen 
one of these chaps come into a place where there was an 
abundance of worthy physicians, and by his flourish of 
hand-bills, aud great pretentions attract the most 
wealthy people in the ton-n to the hotel where he re- 
mained a few days, and depart with hundreds of dollars. 
These same wealthy people being ready to run after the 
next quack who comes along. 
FRAUDS IN LIVE-STOCK. 
There have come to ns so many complaints of the doings 
of some live-stock dealers in Chester Co.. Pa., that we 
are very sure that they cannot be accidental, aud have 
no doubt that actual fraud has been practiced, indeed one 
of our contemporaries has published the firm by name 
as swindlers. "W. W. B." asks if in this denunciation 
we refer to Potts Brothers, of Parkersburg, Pa., who arc 
dealers in stock. Certainly not. We have never had 
any complaints of the manner in which Messrs. Potts 
Brothers conduct their business, and should be very 
sorry if our remarks should be construed to their injury, 
as we have reason to believe they are quite different peo- 
ple from those referred to. We have heard, what we 
hope may be true, that the fraudulent chaps have run the 
length of their rope aud gone out of the business. 
SENDERS or CIRCULARS 
must make some funny mistakes ; we happen to know of 
a case in which one of the most thoroughly confirmed 
and inveterate of old bachelors received by mail a pro- 
spectus of somebody's " Marriage Guide." which "points 
oat the perils that beset the inexperienced youth," etc. 
We learn that many postmasters engage in distrib- 
uting circulars of various quacks as well as of lottery and 
other swindling schemes. Such should be aware that 
the present Postmaster General is a man who tolerates 
so nonaense, and should a complaint bo made t^at a 
postmaster engages in any such work as this, such post- 
master would very soon find himself without any post- 
office. We advise our many friends among the postmas- 
ters not to allow their good nature to let them do any 
work of this kind. Mr. Jewell moans business, as a 
postmaster in Wyoming Territory found out to his sor- 
row ; the postmaster was in the pay of a lottery concern, 
and a special agent of the department put a stop to his 
career A concern in St. Louis, Mo., sends out a most 
rascally circular to young men, the whole object of which 
is to work upon their fears, aud as a matter of course 
make them think that their only safety consists in get- 
ting some of the nostrums offered in the circular. It 
would offeud many good people if we were to speak as 
plainly as we would like iu warnini^not only youngmen, 
but old ones, and women too. iigainst the pernicious 
forms of quackery which have reference to sexual mat- 
ters. If young people of both sexes could know that 
at a cortain age new fimctions were developed, and that 
some things which take place iu relation to these are 
perfectly in lue order of nature, and not indications of 
anything wrong, they would be sa^ed much anxiety and 
unhappiness. Mothers usually inform their daughters 
on such miUters, but the boys are mostly kft to jtick up 
such knowledge as they can. If a boy just developing 
into manhood comes across one of these quack circulars, 
he finds there the first information he has had on such 
things. But unfortunately these quacks describe symp- 
toms and occurrences which may be perfectly natural, 
and not of necessity important, as something dangerous 
and alarming. The boy sees his own case described ex- 
actly, and is told that these things point to most unhappy 
results. After tho youtli's fears are excited, and he sees 
himself in imagination going to a premature grave as a 
wreck from debility, he finds to hi:; great comfort the 
assurance that a certain '"Restorer," "Invigorator," or 
other nostrum will bring him sure relief, and he ends by 
writing a letter describing his troubles, and gives to some , 
distant quack that confidence for which he unhappily 
can find no recipient at home. Fortuuate is it if this 
coiTespondence leads only to the clandestine procuring 
and furtive taking of some simple tonic under a high- 
sounding name. Some of these quacks do not let their 
victims off so readily. There is a set of fiends who, if 
they can get the name of and any clue t't a young man 
who has, or thinks he has, any trouble that he would 
not like to have known, set a price upon their silence 
and threaten, unless their victim pays a certain sum 
weekly, to expose him to his parents as under treatment 
for a disease he never thought of- Let every j'oung man 
avoid all such correspondence. The mental effect of dif- 
ferent diseases is very peculiar ; one very ill with an 
affection of the lungs is cheerful and hopeful, and makes 
light of the most severe ailments, while one with any 
trouble, however light, of the sexual organs, is timid, ap- 
prehensive, and always magnifying the merest trifle into 
something of dangerous import. These quacks are well 
aware of the case with which they can excite the fears of 
all, but especially of the young and uninformed, and 
when a boy old enough to know that there are different 
sexes, gets hold of one of these villainous circulars, the 
chances are that his peace of mind will be seriously im- 
paired. Boys who read this, take a bit of advice ! If one 
of these circulars falls in your way, don't read it. If you 
see a book on health advertised to be sent free, don't 
send for it, indeed don't bother with any medical books 
whatever. But if you feel worried about some things 
which you do not understand, go and have a free talk 
with the physician of your family, if there is no one at 
home you had rather confide in. 
Early Bt'siJrire I*eacli.— J. McGregorc. 
This peach has now been largely planted, and it is likely 
that the present season will allow a decision to be made 
as to its value. The trials in a few localities, when first 
introduced, were so promising, that a number of large 
peacli growers, who plant solely for profit, set it in large 
quantities, aud this year will be their first full crop. 
"Wliat's ill a ^ame?"* — We have on 
a former occasion noted F^oine of the remarkable words the 
English have introduced into the nomenclature of horti- 
culture ; those applied to things, but now they are trying 
their hand at persons. We thought the extreme had 
been reached, when one English florist announced him- 
self as " bouqvetist to Her Majesty," but Pooley & Co. go 
ahead of this, for they claim to be " Horticultural Swi- 
dri€smen''''—\mX^ Pooley & Co., why don't you follow 
precedent and preser\-c the unities, by saying *'' sim- 
driesists" I 
^iininiei'-l'^alloAviiig^ for "WUeat.— 
Elder Bros., Darlington. Beaver Co., Penn., write : " The 
wheat crop looks badly in this county. We think we 
were fortunate in not sowing oats last spring on our corn 
stubble, but plowing it in June, and keeping it well cul- 
tivated and sowing it with wheat the last days of August. 
This wheat look well. 
<j!ra<le Cotsi^olil Merino Sliecp. — 
Elder Brothers, of Penn., write : " Our grade Cotswolds 
arc doing well. We have a flock of 80 yearlings, that 
will average over 100 lbs. each. We sold 100 lambs last 
year, at 15 weeks okl, averaging 52 lbs. each. Was not 
that good ? "—It is a remarkably good average, but the 
lambs from these SO yearling ewes, if bred to a pure 
Cotswold this fall, will give a still higher average. At 
least this is our experience. 
So«'ing- "Wln-at alKer and l>clbre 
Rain,—" We sowed a field of whc-iit," writes a corres- 
pondent, in Penn, ''on the ^Grh and •Z%t\\ of last Septem- 
ber, llie ground being very dry. On the 26tli we were 
driven out of the field by heavy rain. Finished sowing 
on the 38th. What we sowed after the rain, up to the 
very drill track, is b<'t(er than what was sown befoi-e. 
What is the reason ?"— Perhaps the drill deposited the 
seed deeper, and covered it better in the moist earth 
after the rain. Or it maybe that the rain only wet the 
surface soil half an inch or so deep, and the wheat was 
in dry soil below, but in drilling after the raiu, the 
moist earth disturbed by the drill coulters, fell into the 
drill row with the seed, and cjuised it t(» germiumte 
quickly. Wheat loves :i compact soil. It maybe that 
the seed sown after the raiti, was broui;ht in chaser con- 
tact with the soil— that tlie moist carih adhered more 
closely to the kernels, or that the drill coultern pressed 
the moist earth, and made a firmer bed for the seed OJid 
young plants. 
€nriiHHQfi for tlte Sou 111. —"Ranger." 
Orchard Grass, {Ductyns rjlonicrata), has been found to 
succL'cd very well in the southern states as a hay grass, 
but it must not be pastured after it has been mown. It 
sliould be cut while in its early blossom, or the hay will 
be inferior in quality. For winter pasture, Kentucky 
Blue-grass, (/'ort'^-a/^ensAO, has been found tlie most de- 
eirahle, but to have a good bite during winter, it should 
not be pastured iu the summer. We know of no grass 
that will siand pasturing tlie year round in the south 
without irrigation. 
Rremeu and China Ocese,— "R. J. 
F. W.," Loudoun Co., Va. The Bremen geese are white 
anil large bodied. China geese are very readily distin- 
guished by their long necks, dark gray bodies, the dark 
stripe down their necks, the bunch on the base of the 
bill, which is most prominent iu the gander, and the 
very coarse noise which they make. 
Inrorination about. Patents.—" O. 
P. W.," Henderson Co., Tenn. We can not give the 
information desired. It will be the least trouble, when 
information about the dates of the issue of patents is 
desired, to write direct to the Commissioner of Patents, 
Washington, D. C. 
rif^li Scrap in Oliio.— "J. F.," Brook- 
lyn, Ohio. Farmers near the sea-coast have learned the 
value of fish scrap, and it is eagerly purchased by them, 
for $2.5 and over per ton. It would be well for those 
near the shores of the great lakes where fish are taken in 
large quantities, and where scrap can be procured for 
nothing, to know that it possesses most of the proper- 
ties of guano, although iu a less concentrated fofcm, and 
may be used in the same manner and for the same pur- 
poses as guano. By composting the fresh scrap with 
five times its quantity of stable manure or swamp rauck, 
a most valuablefertilizermay bemade, of which two tons 
would be about equal to 300 lbs. of guano. 
<'nl»ic Feet of Hay in a Xon. — 
"E. M.," Chalybes, Conn. It has been stated several 
times in the Agriculturist, that 500 cubic feet of ordinary 
timothy aud clover bay, packed in a mow under ordinary 
circumstances, and settled down for three or four mouths, 
will make a ton of 3,000 lbs. A mow of such hay. cut 
when the timothy was in blossom, and with not more 
than one-third of clover iu it, that had remained iu a 
mow 30 feet long, 16 feet wide, 16 feet higli, for nine 
months, when weighed out for sale, was found by us to bo 
a little less than 15 tons. We have baled and weighed 
several mows and stacks of such hay, with the same 
result. Clear clover hay is much lighter, and requires 
nearly 700 cubic feet for a ton. Red-top hay ia still lighter 
than clover, and timothy cut ripe, is heavier than when 
cut in blossom. We know of no author! lative statement 
in any publication as to this matter, but we believe oar 
estimate will agree with that of most persons who hare 
had experience in packing hay. We should be glad to 
hear from those of our readers who have measured and 
weighed hay of different kinds, as to the bulk of a ton. 
Oregon. — Those intereeted will find a very 
good new Map, etc., of this state, advertised by Messrs, 
Gill & Co. Tliis is iu the future to be one of the grand 
states of the Union on the Pacific Coast. 
Consftrnctiou of .Tlill l>ains, by Jas. 
Lcff"el & Co., Springfield, Ohio, is a work that will be 
found very useful to millers and matmfucrurers. who own 
water-powers. The principles upon which dams should 
be constructed, are explained and illustrated by descrip- 
tions and engravings of dams now existing in various 
parts of the country. The authors and publishers are the 
makers of the well known Lcffcl turbine wheels, aud 
understand what they write about. 
Value of fm^icnmed Miilc.— *'H. B. G./' 
For feed for pigs we aliould judge skimmed milk to be 
worth not more than two cents a gallon. Wc should be 
glad to have a record of the feeding of a pig upOR 
skimmed milk and meal, with the quantities of each 
used, and the gain in weight made iu 100 days, by a few 
of our readers, to compj^rc wlta recorJa of our own. 
