4=50 
AMERICAN AQPtlCULTURIST. 
[December, 
caees. however, stand upon a Llitfcrent footing from tliose 
downri^lil swindles of tlio class of Bliuuk-rbuss & Co. 
''TUB GKEAT AMEllICAN LITEKART ASSOCIATION"' 
of Ohio, proposes to "fnriiish .npplicants on short nolici: 
with all kinds, stylos, and grados of literary exercises, 
consisting of essays, lectures, orations, sermons, saUita- 
torics, valedictories," and much more. Those connected 
with the " Association " are graduates, and " having 
gone through 'the mill,' know just what kind of exercises 
students need and desire."— While we have no reason to 
donht that this " Great American" concern will do as it 
agrees to. it deserves a place in the humhug column, as 
an accessory to the meanest kind of fraud. A " lunk- 
head " at college, whose parents furnish him with plenty 
of money, but no brains, can scud to this shop for '• ora- 
tions, eseays, lectures, etc., intended for Commencements, 
Anniversaries, Contests, and Society Meetings," for 
"they know jnst what kind of exorcises students need 
and desire."— The class dunce with money, can f>trut in 
borrowed plumes, and perhaps take precedence of llie 
honest, liardworkiug student, whose performance may 
not be so brilliant, hut it is his own. If it were not for 
advertising this aider and abettor of getting literary 
credit under false pretenses, we sliould give its location, 
and express to tlie president and faculty of the college in 
the same town, our Kegrets that such a literary nuisance 
exists in their vicinity. The concern thanks the various 
persons, including "ministers of the gospel," who have 
*' patronized ns so extensively," which we regard as a 
libel upon a clr.ss of hard-working men, and we hope 
there is not a minister of the gospel in the country 
capable of the practical lie of buying a sermon at this 
"Great American " shop, and standing up before his peo- 
ple and preaching it as his own. . . .The various subjects 
npon whicli our advice is asked in the course of a year 
■would make an amusing catalogue; we probably have 
more in relation to change of location for farming than 
oji any otlier topic ; but those about going into business 
of all kinds, especially the purchase of certain patent^-, 
are numerous, and it is not unusual for our advici' to be 
aeked in regard to mining. 
BE CAREPtn, WHAT TOU SIGN. 
In former articles we have exposed the swindle of pre- 
tended venders of mowers and otlier agricultural imple- 
ments, who show samples and take orders ; they ask the 
farmer to sign an agreement to take the article when de- 
livered, at a certain price ; he unthinkingly does so, and 
in 30 or CO days receives a notice from the bank in the 
next town that his note for a certain sum falls due on a 
given date : the astonished farmer, npon investigating the 
matter, finds that the bank has his note in due form, and 
signed by himself. The "agreement" was soingenion^ly 
arranged, that cutting oti' an inch or two from tlie end, 
lefta regular promissory note. Of late wc have complaints 
that operators in some kind of a " iirc-proof roofing" 
have been playing the same game in some parts of the 
tonntry. Let every one be careful what he signs; 
in a transaction of this kind, there is no need of signing 
anything. If thouglit desirable to buy an article in this 
way, if your word, in the presence of witnesses if need 
be, is not sufficient, let the vender go his way; if he is 
really honest, and wishes to make a trade, he can easily 
satisfy himself of your responsibility. The number of 
WALL STREET OPKRATOKS, 
who are advertising all through the country and Canada, 
aeems to be on the increase, and they must be doing a 
fair business to pay for their paper and printing; they 
are fairly flooding tlie country with all sorts of documents, 
from a simple card or circular, up to reviews and treatibes 
on money making. A large numl>er of letters of inquiry 
are at liand, some requesting us to show up this or that 
firm as humbugs, and others ask if it will be safe to send 
money to some particular firm as au investment. The 
whole matter is surrounded by difficulties, as there are 
brokers in good standing, who advertise to operate for 
persons at a distance ; at the same time, there are others 
of no standing at all, who make a great flourish of adver- 
tisemenis and circulars, and this class no doubt includes 
some downright rogues, who take advantage of the fact 
tliat much interest has been created in the country at 
large in Wall street operations, to carry on a regular 
scheme of swindling. We find it very difficult to get any 
positive information in regard to the various parties who 
are making themselves so prominently known throngh- 
©ut the country by the great inducements they oft'er. It 
ia not our custom to write down a person— or a firm— as 
dangerous, unless wc have positive proof of our state- 
ments. As yet, the matter is undeveloped ; those persons 
who have been swindled in operations of this kind, 
"pocket the loss," and keep quiet about it; they think 
ihat they will forfeit their reputation fen* shrewdness if 
they let it he known that they have, even by proxy, been 
" on the street " and lost. Wc can at pres<'nt only speak 
of the matter in general terms. These persons who ad- 
vertise so loudly are, to say the least, not among the best 
known brokers in Wall street ; they are nof, so far as wc 
have inquired, members of the regular "Board of Bro- 
kers." Even the best brokers, and the men best known 
on "the street" for their thorough knowledge of all its 
" ins and outs," the shrewdest and longest headed, often 
make serious and disastrous failuros. Sloreover, and 
mark this. If a person in regular mercinlile business is 
known to be " dabbling in stocks," his credit is at once 
impaired, both al bank and in the line of trade in which 
he is engaged. If a business man, usually regarded as 
prosperous, suddenly makes a bad failure, and the state- 
ment of his affairs offers a bad show for his creditors, tlie 
remark is likely to he, "■He has been on Wall street." 
It is well kno^^ n to business men, that a very large pro- 
portion of the bad failures that have titken ]i]ace in New 
York of late years, have been due to the fact that the 
person, or in case ofa firm, some member of it, has been 
engaged in Wall street, or other speculations outside 
of their legitimate business. Tlie fact is, that a large 
share of stock operations are, wdien divested of all 
externals, nothing more or less than gambling, and 
they are regarded as such by the solid portion of 
the business commuBity. So far as we have seen 
and understand the circulars witli which these Wall 
street brokers are loading the mails, they are invitations 
to participate in stock gambling. To the many who 
have written us letters of inquiry in regard to this matter, 
we cannot do better than repeat the well known dialogue 
between the fnrmer and his sou, who were engaged in 
hoeing corn : '"^'on, ''Father, the fish will bite right sharp 
this afternoon." Father, "Yes. my son, hut if you keep 
on hoeing corn they wim'tbite ?/o?/." — There are many 
who inquire about the extensively advertised 
GENERAL AVERAGE SALES, 
which have before been described; it is a sort of prize 
package lottery over again. If any are foolish enough 
to believe that through this or any other machinery, the 
runners of tlie machine will give a dollar's worth of anj'- 
thing f(u- 50 cents, they have a poor knowledge of the 
world, and can only be taught better in the school of 
experience. 
QCEER, OR COUNTERFEIT MONEY 
dealers are still at work. They have improved in the 
style of their circulars, but use so many diftcrent names 
and addresses, that it is of no use to keep the run of 
them. Those who can bo caught by these dealers are 
as big rascals as they are, and it is useless to waste time 
and space in warning persons against that which it re- 
quires tn'O parties to make a crime of. Ever since green- 
backs were first issued, this offering for sale— for there is 
no selling— of counlcrfeits has been going on, and though 
we have given a full histury of the matter from the begin- 
ning, and there has been hardly a month passed without 
some allusion to it, there arc still persons to whom this 
best known of humbugs is a novelty. We frequently 
receive letters from excellent persons who are highly 
indignant that they should be the recipient of such a 
proposition, and write ns in hot haste to show such a 
man up as " a bad character," while wc may have 20 of 
self-same circular, with a difierent card in each. The 
good, honest man who writes in this way does not know 
that Iris name is on a list, collected in one way or another 
in his town, which is for sale to every scamp who wishes 
to send out circulars for any purpose whatever. 
MEDICAL MATTERS, 
though they pcesent little novelty, appear to be "look- 
ing up," as the market reports say, and the old and 
familiar humbugs seem to show signs of activity. The 
various methods taken by quacks to bring themselves to 
notice, show great ingenuity on their part, but what shall 
we say of corporations and papers which lend themselves 
to such uses? The great Erie Railway allows its depots to 
be used as distributing points for the circulars of one of 
these advertising " Doctors." and the '' Dutchess Farmer" 
issues a 4-page supplement in the interest of another, who 
modestly calls liimself " undoubtedly the most successful 
physician living, and has been during the past 16 3'ears." 
These phenomenon do not often live long, but this one 
has stood it for 16 years, and may reach manhood if he 
keeps on Our exposures of hmnbugs bring us more or 
less of annoyance, more especially the medical ones ; but 
it is gratifying to know that our warnings are productive 
of good, as we often learn from unoxpect(Hl quarters. A 
lady in Louisiana writes: "A friend of mine (who now 
reads the Amencun AgrkuUinist)^ says slie is angiy with 
herself, every time she thinks of sewing to make money 
to buy * Old Mother Nol^le ' fur an invalid husband ; and 
who, since he has quit taking so mucli physic, is now a 
healthy man. B s Cordial is all the rage here now, but 
my children have never taken a dose of patent medicine 
ill their lives." That is right, Mrs. T., never give your 
children, or take j'ourself. any stuff whatever, the compo- 
sition of which you do not know all about The "Cen- 
tennial Year" is likely to be made a harvest one by the 
"swindling fraternity;" we are " sharpening our stick" 
anew, and shall take as much care as possible, that 
the readers of the Ati^erkan AgHcuUvrist are duly 
warned against humbugging schemes of every kind. 
PsiteiftC Corii-l>ropper.— "£. W. W.,'* 
Caroline Co.. Md. Tliere are several hand machines, for 
dropping corn and covering it at the same time, that have 
been patented and are in common use in the west. 
A ^uekliiig- ^qiiasli, which may beat 
'•the squash in harness." A liotton pajicr say's: "A 
farmer at Orrington, Me., lias been for some time feeding 
a squash, in the hope of being able to brinir it up to 2(W 
pounds. The feeding is done by cutting ofl' the vine 
about six feet from the squasli, and placing the end in a 
pan into which fresh milk is daily ])oured. By this 
means the vine absorbs about two quartsof milk per day, 
and the squash gains about a pound a day in weight." It 
docs not say which end of the vine is cut off. If the butt 
end, this might be fastened directly to the teat by an in- 
dia-rubber .attachment, the vine trained over the cow's 
back, with the growing squash secured between the 
liorus. The squash should somehow be fed on eggs witli 
the milk, and thus furnish" pumpkin" pies ready grown." 
ATCrill's Clieiuical Paint was of 
course intended when last month wc had it "Avery's." 
The Chemical Paint is so generally and favorably known as 
Averill's, that no harm can result from the slip of the pen. 
Ifiiiltei 
Es 
»■, a,ci4l FE*»it»i»reserT« 
iog Processes.— Several circulars offering to sell 
recipes, or the articles for preserving butter, eggs, and 
fruit, have been sent for an opinion, but as these date 
from some far distant localities, wo are unable to inves- 
tigate them. It may be that some " Butter Restorative " 
will render rancid butter sweet, but wo should prefer to 
go without butter, whieii we always do, unless the article 
is good, to eating this restored product. The claims of 
some of the egg-pi'eseiTatives do not look unreasonable, 
forby any one of several methods of closing the pores of 
the shell, eggs may bo kept for several months As we 
do not know the composition of the fruit-preserving 
powder exhibited at the St. Louis Fair, wc cannot answer 
the questions of a correspondent. We know that a fruit- 
preserving powder was made in New Y'ork several years 
ago, which gave satisfactory results, and_ apparently a 
harmless addition to the fruit. 
Youiiiaus^ i"\e\r CHeiDiisti*y, by Prof. 
E. L. Youmans. N. Y". : D. Appleton &■ Co. When the 
previous edition of this work appeared in 1863. we com- 
mended it at the time as the only popular work which 
gave the student a glimpse of the newer views of chem- 
ists, and the modification which the old theroies were 
undergoing. The present edition keeps up with the 
most advanced state of the science. As the author says, 
it is not intended as u hand-book for the laboratory, or a 
manual for special students in chemistry, hut to give 
such an outline of the leading principles and most im- 
portant facts of the science as shall meet the wants of 
the higher schools, and those persons who would have 
that acquaintance with the Bubject which is a necessary 
part of a liberal education. We do not know where the 
modern views are so compactly Dnd clearly presented as 
in this little volume. That wonderful aid to modem 
chemical research, the Spectroscope, is popularly ex- 
plained in a very full and abundantly illustrated chapter 
en spectrum analysis, and the later views on heat, and 
other physical agents which have so close a relation to 
chemistry, arc introduced. The mechanical appearance 
of the work in paper, type, and engravings, is excellent. 
RaBM Ciwsige.— " J. J. L.,»' Turner's Falls, 
Mass. A rain guage was described and illustrated in the 
Amerkan Agrkultarid for June, 1873. It consists of 
a receptacle of a certain area of surface, in which the 
rain is collected as it falls. Tlie rain is conveyed into a 
reservoir— closed so as to prevent evaporation— and of 
the same, or some readily ciilculated proportionate, area 
as the receptacle, in which the depth of water serves to 
denote the amount that has fallen. 
A CeiBK'saa ICoot*. — '' J. M. K.," Camptown, 
Pa. For a cement roof tlie roof hoards should be laid as 
usual, hut the roof should have but little slope. The 
hoards should be well seasoned and hiid close. Lath 
should ho nailed across the boards (o furnish a hold for 
the cement, or broad headed nails sliould be driven in, 
leaving half au inch and the head projecting. Cement 
mixed with three times it.:- bulk of fine clean sand, may 
be laid upon the roof, and a " floating " coat hud for a 
finish. When dry, thoroughly saturate the roof with hot 
gas tar. This makes a fire-proof and durable roof. 
FeodiMs* Stocic upon a ^Vlioat 
Field.— ^-E. C," Huntington. O. It would be of no 
advantage to the wheat, but probably an injury, to herd 
and feed stock upon it during the winter. It would be 
far hotter to feed the stock in a yard, and (^ave the ma- 
nure to spread it upon the wheat in spring, or even dur- 
ing the winter, although the former would be preferable. 
