350 
AMERICAN AaKICULTURIST. 
[Septembee, 
plant can be managed in a i 
is to be kept well supplied 
become at all dry, and it 
full, llcre 18 an engraving 
plant, that will give an idi 
countries, and growing in t 
15 feet or more long, but in 
over four feet high. At the 
short leaves, wiiich cliug to 
[^'reenhouse. All tliat it needs 
with water, so that it will not 
will flourish witliout a river 
made from some stems of my 
■a of how it looks. In warm 
he water, its stems arc often 
the greenhouse they are not 
boltom of the stem arc some 
it like a sheath ; there are no 
some of them in very good preservalion, while others 
were so brittle that they could not be handled until first 
moistened by steam. The Doctor. 
THE PAPYKUS PLANT. 
branches, except at the top, where it bears a large, hand- 
some tuft of slender branches, upon which are the small 
clusters of greenish flowers. The plant, besides being 
interesting on account of its history, is really attractive 
and graceful. You will perhaps think that to make paper 
IVom this plant, it was ground up inamill, just as rags now 
are, bat the process was much simpler, and, though very 
slow, required no machinery other than a knife. The pa- 
per made from it being called papyrus, as well as the plant, 
I will now use the word as meaning the paper. The stem 
first had its rind removed, and tlie central portion, or 
pith, was carefully sliced lengthwise, making very Ihiu 
slices ; these narrow strips were placed side by side on a 
smooth table, with their edges close together, until they 
made a piece about a foot wide ; then other pieces were 
laid upon and across these, their edges tonching in the 
same manner. The sheet was then sprinkled with water, 
and pressed by putting on a broad boai-d and heavy 
weights ; after it was properly pressed, it was then ham- 
mered with wooden mallets, and when dry, finished by 
smoolhiug it with an ivory instrument. It is said that 
the strips of the best papyrus would s'ick together by .i 
gummy matter contained in the plant itself, but where 
this was not sufficient, some kind of glue was used. So 
you see that the first paper was really pith made solid by 
pressing and hammering, and given a good surface by 
rubbing until smooth. Tlio sheets, though only a foot 
wide, were made of any dcpired length, one 23 feet long 
has been found. They were not cut up and made into 
books, but were rolled, and when read, the papyrus was 
gradually unrolled in one hand, and rolled np in the 
other. It is not known when papyrus was fir.-^t made, 
but it was several hundred years before Christ, and some 
antiquarians claim that Memphis in Egypt was the 
place where it was invented; it remained in use mitil 
the eighth century, when it gradually -jave place to parch- 
ment, which you know is sheep-skin prepared for writing 
upon, and is in use for some purposes at the present day. 
The ancient papyri, (plural of papyrus), found in the 
Egyptian tombs, and in the ruins of Ilerculaneum, were 
Xlie Ficc Question. 
Perhaps you will recollect that in my ''Answers to 
CorrcBitondeuts '' in July last there came the question 
" What is a Fice ? "—not being able to 
give a satisfactory answer myself, I 
asked some of my boys to help me— it 
being more likely that boys would 
know more about it than girls.— I tell 
you what it is, boys, a paper is a won- 
derful thing ; (and of course I think 
the Agiiculturist the most wonderful 
of papers, only I had r;:fher some one 
else would ^ay it.) I have long had a 
belief that if a thing could be found 
out at all, it could be through the 
AgricidturUt. I have tried it many a 
time, simply putting in a question of 
two or three lines asking something I 
wished to know about. Then it is 
fun to see the answers come in ; those 
from the eastern and middle states 
firtrt. then from the states at the south, 
nntil we reach the Gulf of Mexico ; 
then from the west, and farther west, 
until the skores of the Pacific send in 
their answers. After this come our 
ontlying provinces. Answers come 
from various parts of Europe, from 
Asia, from Australia, New Zealand, and 
Japan and China, send along their 
contributions. When a youngster, I 
used to think how fine it would be to 
have Aladdin's wonderful lamp, and 
with a rub call up mighty genii and all 
that sort of thing. But it is quite as 
wonderful, to sit in the office, and 
with a scratch of the quill, bring an- 
swers from all over the world. It does 
not summon genii, and the answers 
are slower in coming, but they are a 
great deal better when they do come ; 
genii are well enough in the story, 
but real boys and girls are much 
plcasanter company. But I did not 
start to tell you of the wonderful pow- 
er of the newspaper, only the question 
about the Fice suggested it. A school- 
boy in Salt Lake City docs not know 
what a Fice is ; he writes to "The 
Doctor,' in New York, who does not 
know, so the Doctor plays Aladdin, 
and rubs on his wonderful lamp, 
the Agriculturist, and waits. After 
a while the genii— I mean, of course, letters from 
the youngsters — begin to come, they come from 
North and South Carolina, from Georgia and almost 
every southern state, including Missouri and Texas, 
and if The Doctor now doesn't know what a fice is 
it won't be because the boys have not tried to tell him. 
One of the answers wns from a rather "old boy," and 
oh, so long 1 I think it would, if printed, CU nearly one 
of these pages, too long, and not quite in the style 
that would suit young folks. I select from the several 
answers the two which will best meet the case, and 
thank the others who have kindly helped. I give first a 
reply by M. Hightowcr, Texas, who writes : "There are 
a good many fice in this country. A fice is a very small 
common cur dog I think, that from some cause has de- 
generated in size. They 
are about the size of a 
small lap-dog, but differ- 
ently made, having small, 
keen limbs and body, and 
erect ears. They arc very 
noisy, and pretend to be 
ver}'' brave. Nothing seems 
to please them better than 
to be at a meeting of sev- 
eral large dogs. If there 
seems to be any disposi- 
tion among the large dogs 
to fight, the fice is im- 
mediately in his greatest 
glory. He erects his ears 
and tail, begins to growl 
most savpgely.flies around 
among the big dogs, scratches up the ground, and 
uses every art to bring on a fight. He has not cour- 
age cnovtgh to take the responsibility for a disturbance 
upon himself, but if there happens to be any particular 
dog in the crowd that all the others seem to be angry 
with, he soon finds it out. and will probably slip up be- 
hind tbat dos and slyly pinch him, and slip back among 
the crowd, and this he will repeat several times if nec^- 
sary, to bring on a fight. The big dogs rarely ever bite a 
fice. He is so small that they seem to think it beneath 
their dignity to notice him, and he seems to know this, 
and being aware that he is not in any danger, he acts as 
he does. The Georgia boy meant by his comparison that 
the one to whom he applied it was pusillanimous. "'—So 
much for Texas, we will now hi.-ar what Harry Stribling, 
of South Carolina, knows about the fice : Harry writes : 
"Father says that with us a fice is a mixture of any of 
the smaller dogs. The one thing he is good at is getting 
up a big row among big dogs and then sneaking out just 
as the snaps begin. We have some boys with ns that 
we sometimes call "ficety,"' they are those enthusiastic, 
knowing kind of boys. Sometimes they grow up in this 
nature, then we call them fice-dogs. Mr. R., who Uvea 
near a church, has one of these smart fices, and on one 
church week it so happened that most every day some 
preacher drove up in his buggy to Jlr. H.'s house to take 
a meal, and this fice was called upon to catch a chicken. 
The next week my uncle, who was not a preacher, drove 
up to Mr. R.'s, and no sooner had my uncle stopped^ 
than the fice went for a chicken, but he was too ficety 
that time, as my uncle did not stay for dinner.^""— Harry 
gives us a new adjective, "ficety," which none of the 
others use. All the letters agree in giving the fice a 
mischief -making character, and that he is always ready 
to promote a fight, and to back out as soon as trouble 
begins — It seems that fice is after all only a local 
name for a small cur. The Doctob. 
IIoiT I Ijcai-ncd to Siivim. 
[The following comes from one of the friends of our 
boys, but reached us just too late for last month. We 
give it now, and thote who live where the swimming 
season ends early in September, can make a note of and 
remember it for next season. The p'an is a very good 
one, and few know, until they have tried it, how slight 
an aid wiil keep one afloat.— Ed.] 
When I was a boy, I leanii^d to swim by means of a 
swimming board, such as is shown in the sketch. This 
is the safest method possible. If corks are used, they 
may slip from around tlie breast down beneutli the body, 
throwing the head below the surface, and putting the 
wearer in danger of drowning. Sonic country boys 
get two bla ^lers and tie them together with a short coi'd, 
and use these as supports. They are the most dangerous 
tilings possible for a boy to have. The board is perfectly 
salt, and one may learu to swim in a very short time by 
using one. It should bo about 4 feet long, over n foot 
wide, and two inches thick, madu of soft white pine or 
ST^IMMTNG BOARD. 
cedar. To use it, a boy wades out into the water np to 
his shoulders, then taking liol 1 of the end of the board, 
as shown in the engraving, he pushes it before him — 
towards the bank and not into deep water— springs for- 
ward with his feet and throws liimself flat upon the wa- 
ter. This movement carries him along a few feet. He 
tl:en draws up both legs at the same time, keeping the 
knees as far apart as possible, and then strikes out with 
both feet, not straight backwards, but sideways, just as a 
frog does. The stroke is made slowly and is repeated 
ag:;in, dmwing up the legs slowly and steadily. The 
board keeps the head above water. When the leg stroke 
has been learned; one hand is taken from the board and 
the stroke learned, or the chin may be rested on the 
board while the stroke is made with both hands. This is 
a very good plan, as it compels the swimmer to keep hifl 
SWIMMING WITH THE BOARD. 
hands under the water, which he should always do. By- 
and-by the board may be pushed ahead, and the youHg 
swimmer may swim afler it, always keeping it within 
reach. When a number of boys go to swim, althougli 
they may be good swimmers, Ihoy should always have 
two or three of these boards with them for use in case 
of accident. S. 
