1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
291 
" French willows," or pear-trees on the maple, or any 
such stuff, don't believe him about these, and be ver^' 
snre that whatever else he may have is likely to be bo- 
gus Here comes a complaint all the way from Vir- 
ginia about a 
DOLLAB-STORE IN BOSTON. 
The writer's daughter sent $-31, and '^ received a misera- 
ble lot of cheap stuffs and imitations, any and all of 
which can be bought at any cross-roads store for the 
same, or less'"— then there was the cost of freight and 
boxing added. The letter, and the New York references 
given, 3how that the writer is a gentleman of intelli- 
gence and good social standing. Now, when such as he 
can be induced to suppose that any one can sell more 
than a dollar's worth for a dollar, we do not wonder that 
the less intelligent are so often swindled. We do not 
see how we can help our frieud ; his money is past ro- 
covery. but he can console himself with the thought that 
the lepson may be worth all it cost to the daughter. 
There is at least one family in Fairfax Co. to whom all 
such schemes will hereafter appeal in vain — The alert- 
ness with which the sharps seize hold of every possible 
"bait to catch the flats, is shown in the case of a 
BLACK HILLS MINING COMPANT. 
The vague reports that gold had been found in the 
Black Hills were enough. Notwithstanding that the 
goremment had given warning that all whites would be 
kept out by the military forces, the word "'gold" was 
sufficient to start with. Circulars containing every report 
and guess at its occurrence in the Black Hills, are sent 
out, inviting subscribers to a mining company— only ;^10 
a share, and "Fortunes for the Original Subscribers" — 
and we hope they may get them— the fortunes we mean. 
The latest account from the Black Hills does not much 
encourage this little scheme for getting $10 out of the 
credulous A friend in Kansas who received one of the 
Geneva watch circulars— by the way, Geneva watches 
" is riz," they used to be only $4, but now $8— says that 
if the vender will take dead grasshoppers for a watch, he 
■will trade. Don't do any such thing, Mr. Kansas man. 
In time of scarcity you could eat the grasshoppers, but 
we don't know what earthly use the watch would be. 
MEDICAL MATTERS 
are not at all lively under a July sun. Several have in- 
quired about one "Dr." Price, who is sending around 
circulars, setting forth, though not in the precise words, 
that he is "death on fits," accompanied with a form of 
agreement that he will return the $20 if the patient is 
not cured. We are asked if he is responsible, and will 
return the money in case of failure to cure as agreed. 
We do not know, and look upon that as a matter of sec- 
ondary importance. The great point is, what kind of a 
*' Doctor" can one be who will "guarantee" a cure of 
any disease ? or who will say of any medicine, " it will 
fiurcly cure any case," and all this without even seeing 
the patient. If one who does this was educated as a 
doctor, he has lost all claims to the title. 
ABOITT PATENT MEDICINEg. 
A correspondent, "M. N.." Crawford Co., El., writes 
that be considers onr humbng exposures of great value, 
but cannot agree with us in denouncing all "Patent 
Medicines" as humbugs, and mentions some which he 
thinks should be excepted, especially a certain "Pain 
Killer." As our friend may be taken as a representative 
of a class of intelligent persona, who hold similar no- 
tions, we give his letter the respectful consideration its 
€vident sincerity deserves. We may state that but few 
of the so-called patent medicines are patented at all. If 
it were so. every one could know their composition, and 
all secrecy- in which their great value to the proprietor 
consists— would be at an end. Our objections to these 
secret medicines are several, but first and mainly because 
they are secret. We object to taking or giving anything 
whatever, the composition of which is not fully known. 
We would not treat a dumb animal or a plant with an 
nnknown drug, much less a human being. These medi- 
cinea may be divided into two classes ; those which pos- 
sess really active properties and have a positive effect 
when administered : and those which are practicallv 
inert, or consist of some stimulant or tonic, and act 
more upon the imagination throu[^h the remarkable 
circulars which accompany them than by virtue of any 
medicinal agent they contain. This last class are the 
worst swindles, as they give a stuff that costs a mere 
trifle for a hijch price, but many of them are so nearly 
nothing tliat the harm they do is more to the pocket 
than to the system. The whole class may be sot down 
■as worthless trash, and in the main are agents to draw 
money from the nervous, timid, and credulous for tho ben- 
efit of a few ignorant pretenders, who, with their flashy 
diamonds, fast horses, and fast life gencrallv. are a sail 
blotch upon our civilization. As to the other class, those 
medicines which have some potency, we object to these 
because they are powerful, and those who use them are 
working in the dark. Morphine is a useful remedy, but 
should always be given knowing that it is morphine, antj 
just as dangerous as it is useful. Not one mother in a 
hundred would apply a solution of morphine to the 
mouth of her teethinji babe did she know that it was 
morphine, but mix it up with sugar, aud call it some- 
body's " Soothing Syrup,'' it is used without a question, 
and thousands of little white gravestones all the way 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific attest its soothing power. 
Certain worm lozenges were popular ."iO years ago, aud 
their advertisement was headed " Children Cry for 
Them," and hundreds of parents who would have been 
horror-stricken had their physicians prescribed a dose of 
calomel, fed their children on these lozenges. The wri- 
ter, at a ])ublic lecture exhibited the quantity of calomel 
he had separated from a box of these lozenges, and had 
the satisfaction of checking their sale in that city. Now 
while we do not deny that in some cases these remedies 
may be useful, we emphatically and wholly object to 
them on account of their secrecy. They may he hurtful, 
and are always needless. When we say needless. 
we mean in the secret form in which tliey are 
put up. None of this active class of secret medi- 
cines contain anything of any m^didnal value that 
is not to be found at all decent drug stores, or which 
is not at the command of every one. Compounds of 
common drugs put up as secret remedies, are sold at a 
very high price, as they must be to pay for the enormous 
advertising and all the machinery of agents and circulars, 
and the customer buying them in this form pays many 
times more for them tlian he would to get them under 
their proper names. Take the " Puin Killer" in ques- 
tion. The writer was for many years a druggist, and 
sold the original maker of the stuff the drugs from 
which he compounded it. and knows that there is noth- 
ing in it that is not within reach of every one. Every 
family should have a few of the leading simple remedies 
at hand to nse in an emergency, and all intelligent per- 
sons should know their properties as well as what to do 
in ordinary illness, but we do not think any one has a 
right to administer to another an article of nnknown 
composition. These are in brief some of the reasons 
why we class them all, and without any exceptions, as 
humbugs... We quite agree with what our correspond- 
ent says about 
SELLING LIQUOn IN DRUG STORES, 
which is undoubtedly a great and growing evil, but this 
hardly comes under the head of humbugs Medical 
humbugs have been distressingly tame of late ; we 
were looking over our budget, thinking how refreshing 
it would be to get hold of some "soul-harrowing" nar- 
rative, something say in the Eddie Eastman style, that 
would make c<'ld shivers run down one's back, and his 
toes to tingle, when we came across the next best thing 
to a new friend, a long absent old one. 
OLD MOTHER NOBLE, 
bless her dear old heart, turned up once more I We 
thought the good old critter had gone the way of all good 
old mothers, but here she is as fresh as she was in lSf>8, 
and tells the same dear, delightful story. There is the 
same picture of the old stone-wall where this remark.-ible 
discovery was made, with the well-sweep in the distance. 
Ah that we should have had to dispel all this romance 
and tell what the stuff was made of ! So Huyler still 
waves, but Clark Johnson, M. D., where is he? 
Plants Named. — B. Hassett, Iowa. The 
grass sent is Foa pmtf/i^is, or Kentucky Blue Grass. 
Tfou are right in supposing it would make a good lawn. 
It is one of the best lawn grasses wc have "A. D.,'** 
Port Hnron, Mich. The plant is a Meadow-Rue, 
27iaiic(rinn ivirpurascens, and very common. 
An Eri-atic Itose-— *' P. R.," Saugerties, 
sends a ?peeiini.Mi for us to " make out what it is, and 
give the cause." — It is a rose, on whicli the end of the 
stem not content with producing one flower, li;is pushed 
upwards and has prepared to produce another flower. 
This is not at all rai'c among roses ; we see more or less 
cases of it amon^; our own every year, and a few years 
asjo wo gave a figure of one which had n-pcated this, and 
miirht be called a three-storied rose. Some bushes do so 
habitnally ; we once knew one which bore no other roses. 
As lo the canse— wc can no more tell that than we can 
why th<; rose is double. In cultivation wc have encour- 
aged an unnatural conflition, as we like double roses 
better than wc flo those in their natural stale, which is 
s'nL'le ; but it is no more strange that the stem should 
take on an unnatural development, than that theslamens 
should turn into petals, as they do in double roses. 
Talne of C«oat lUannro.-*' B. P. T.," 
Placer Co., Cal. The value of Koat manure so far as we 
know, has not bet^n thoroughly investigated. So far as 
it has been expnrimented with, it has been found very 
similar to the manure of sheep, and it improbably of equal 
value. Sheep manure is rich, and re.'ulily ferments and 
decomposes. When fresh, it consists of fiS parts of wa- 
ter, 19..3 per cent of organic matter, and 13.7 per cent of 
salts in 100. Payen & Boussingault estimate that equal 
effects are produced by :J6 parts of sheep manure, 54 of 
horse manure. 63 of pig manure, and Vlo of cow manure. 
In field experiments sheep manure has given a nine-fold 
increase of crop, and horse manure, seven-fold. It has 
also been found in effect to come next in value to oi 
blood. In our own experience we have found the manure 
from the sheep-yard to give better crops than any other. 
r.eaf^.'VIoId as Mannre.— *'T.," New- 
castle, Cal. Leaf-mold is of no use unless thoroughly 
rotted. It la then cool and moist and very suitable to 
mix with the soil about the roots in planting fruit-trees. 
Rotted cow manure is very useful for this purpose. Al- 
falfa can scarcely be grown in an orchard without injury 
to the trees. It is a deep-rooted and long-lived plant, 
and will exhaust the subsoil too much for the good of 
the trees. Where clover cannot be grown, we would 
keep the soil of an orchard clean, or in hoed crops. 
Tlift ** ^Vyanrtolle'^ Corn.— *'T. A. 
B.," Little Rock. Ark., writes that some years ago he had 
a kind of corn known as the Wyandotte, which produced 
t'xjL or seven stalks, each bearing an ear, from one grain. 
He wishes to know where he can procure seed of this 
corn now. As we are not acquainted with this com, 
which should be a very valuable kind, we should be glad 
to hear from any of our readers who may know of it. 
Xo Train a Horse to Trot.—" H. H. 
R.." Peekskill, N. Y. The Orange Co. Stud Book con- 
tains many useful hints as to tnxiiiing and managing 
horses. It can be had at this office, or sent by mail, for 
$1.00. The information contained in this book, may 
perhaps answer yonr purpose ; if not. and you believe 
your horse to be worth the cost, the best plan would be 
to employ a professional trainer. 
I>ril]in$? 4^rass Seed.— " W. K," Cecil 
Co., Md. It is a *^a\ing of trouble to drill the grass seed 
along with the grain, but we do not like the plan, as it 
crowds tlie young grass too much. We would rather take 
the extra trouble to sow the grass by hand or by broad- 
cast sower, immediately after the gronnd is harrowed, 
and while the soil is fine and mellow, and then drill the 
grain and roll. We have always got a better stand in 
this manner, than by sowing with the drill. 
Poisoneil Cats. — "A Mississippi Subscri- 
ber." The symptoms described, viz., dullness, loss of 
appetite, moping, vomiting of oft'ensive matter, would 
lead to the supposition th.it the cats were poisoned by 
some means. Cats have few or no diseases, except in 
their early life, and are remarkably hardy; nor do we 
know of any reason except the one indicated, for the 
unhappy fate of your seven pets. There is no book 
known to us wliieh treats of ihe man.agement of cats. 
The only remedy we ever heard of being given to these 
animals, is sulphur in milk, at the period when they are 
passing throu'/h their youthful troubles. A few pinches 
of flowers of sulphur is stirred in milk and given to them. 
HoiT to \'se a l>ead Horse.— " J. E. 
E.," Carrollton, Ga. A read horse or other animal should 
b"; skinned, and roughly cut up into as many small pieces 
as possible. A plot of ground a few rods square, 
should then be plowed deeply, and the carcass thrown 
upon the soil in the center of the plowed gronnd. Some 
freshly dry-slacked lime should then be scattered upon 
the heap, so as to cover it thinly bnt wholly. The loose 
earth is then to be heaped over it a foot in depth, and 
the pile covered with boards, so that dogs can not get at 
the heap and tear it up. If the least smell is perceived, 
more earth should be thrown upon the heap. In three 
months tlic heap may be dug over or turned over with the 
plow, and well mixed. The bones that can not be broken 
up should betaken from the heap, and the fine matter 
will be worth at least :S'3D per ton. to use in the hill for 
corn or cotton. The larger bones may be broken up 
and buried among the voot.s of grape vines or fruit trees. 
Time tor Cutting: Tinil»er.— "A. 
W.." Cecil Co.. Md. We have found that timber cut when 
in full leaf, aud rot trimmed, but left with the leaves upon 
the tree until they are dried, will be more durable than 
when the trees are ent in the winter. This is the case 
with pine as well as hard wood. In sawing into lumber 
an extensive wind-fall, which wasblown down in August 
and lay for several years, the timber was found per- 
fectly sound, while some logs which were cut in the win- 
ter, and lay for two years only, were considerabl\ affected 
with dry rot. If the Iol'S are thrown into water soon 
after they arc cut. the lumlier is nineh improved as to 
durabilily, and will season very quickly after it is cut. 
Basket Items con- 
tinued on page 317. 
