1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
271 
and uninformed persons fairly filled with sur- 
prise at what they behold. Many a gardener, 
wise in his own conceit, has had his eyes opened 
to the difference between poor vegetablea, ap- 
ples, pears, plums, cherries, etc., and good ones. 
Many a man, who had thought the Fox grape 
the best of all grapes, or at least good enough, 
lias got a new idea or two on tasting the Dela- 
ware, Diana, etc. And these men go home 
with new impulses, resolved to adopt and rea- 
lize their new ideas in their own practice. 
There is, however, room for improvement in 
our Fairs. Would it not be well to discourage 
more and more the accompanying shows of 
three-legged calves, double-headed sheep, learn- 
ed bears and monkeys, and manifold monstros- 
ities and humbugs? Female equestrianism is 
no proper part of an agricultural exhibition. 
Might not some further means be used to con- 
vey useful information to those seeking it ? If 
fine-looking fruit garnishes the tables, why not 
let us know something of its quality ? Aud if 
any one wishes, why not let him know some- 
thing as to the mode of pruning and training, 
the fertilizers used, etc., etc.? Perhaps an after- 
noon or evening might be set apart for answer- 
ing all such questions and giving other infor- 
mation. This would send the people home in- 
structed and pleased. The practice sometimes 
adopted of devoting an evening to discussion of 
practical topics, is highly commendable. We 
should have some simple plan for communi- 
cating information to the uninformed. The 
practice of awarding premiums for the best- 
managed farm or garden, or fruit orchard, for 
the best written essays on practical topics, for 
the best new seedling of any fruit, are all move- 
ments ill the right direction, and might well be 
adopted by all such societies. Ruealist. 
»-. »■ « — »-» 
Various Humbugs. 
It is a thankless task to fight humbug in its 
various phases. No sooner is it killed in one 
form, than it rises in another guise more specious 
than before. — One theory which quack doctors 
most make use of is, that all diseases arise from 
impurity of the blood — if we can only purify 
the blood, all diseases will disappear. This is 
beautiful in theory, and takes readily with 
the ignorant and easily gullible. The only 
objection to it is, that it has not the least foun- 
dation in fact. If any man, whether calling him- 
self a physician or not, talks about purifying the 
blood, it is safe to set him down as a humbug of 
the rankest kind. Some weeks ago we saw a 
long article in the N. Y. Tribune, recommend- 
ing the root of Veronica quinquefolia, as a grand 
panacea for scrofula in all its forms. We felt 
grieved to see such a quackish article in so wide- 
ly circulated a paper, but let it pass unno- 
ticed. Now that we see in our esteemed cotem- 
porary, the Rural New-Yorker, another article 
by the author of the one which appeared in the 
Tribune, we feel called upon to expose the thing. 
On reading these articles we, of course, suspect- 
ed that there was a cat hidden under the meal, 
and upon making an inquiry, we ascertained 
that the writer of the articles was selling the 
root at three dollars an ounce, or two ounces for 
five dollars. The price of the article in the 
New-York drag and herb stores, is less than 
one dollar a pound! The editors of the 
Tribune and Rural New-Yorker, have unwit- 
tingly allowed the use of their columns to aid a 
private and extortionate speculation. It is a 
sort of spasmodic revival of an old thing which 
has been before the public in one way or anoth- 
er for the past 20 years. The medicine in ques- 
tion is the root of a plant, the proper botanical 
name of which is Veronica Virginica, and has 
been called Leptandra Virginica, and Veronica 
quinquefolia. The common name is Culver's 
Root, and it is sometimes called Indian physic. 
Though not very common around New- York, 
it is abundant enough through the West. 
Iu regard to the medicinal qualities of the 
plant, we have only to say, that it is much used 
by the so-called " herb doctors," and it possesses 
powerful cathartic and emetic properties. We 
judge it to be altogether too active an agent to 
be used unadvisedly. If one is ill enough to 
require a medicine of this kind, he is in a con- 
dition to need the advice of an intelligent phy- 
sician. We are decidedly opposed to indiscrim- 
inate dosing, hence we exclude from our col- 
umns all advertisements of patent or quack 
medicines, although people who have these to 
sell, can, from the large profit they make, afford 
to offer very high prices for advertisements. 
We find by an occasional advertisement in 
some journals published at distant points that 
"Dr. James, a well-known retired physician, discovered, 
while in India, a sure remedy for Consumption, Bron- 
chitis, Colds, etc. To help suffering humanity the recipe 
will be sent for 2 stamps to pay expenses." 
He may truthfully say he is well known. His 
plan of operations, and that of many others of 
his class, have been repeatedly exposed in these 
columns and elsewhere. Upon applying for 
the remedy you will receive a pamphlet re- 
cording marvelous cures, with the information 
that you can best procure the prepared remedy 
by forwarding a dollar or more to him, or his 
agents, and upon taking said remedy you will 
discover that both it and yourself have been 
sold, and that the advertiser has made all the 
profits. A correspondent inquires how such 
parties obtain the addresses of private individu- 
als at distant points, to whom they mail their 
circulars, pamphlets, etc. In various ways. 
Sometimes by means of the postmasters ; but 
usually from parties that make a business of 
collecting names by agents in the various 
towns. For a consideration, these parties will 
address circulars to any part of the country. 
One of the most prevalent methods of swind- 
ling now in vogue, is seen in the following ad- 
vertisement which with others of the same im- 
port, has recently appeared in some City papers. 
" The undersigned will for one dollar send private in- 
structions to any party, how he may escape the draft 
without risk, at a cost of only 37 cents." 
From appearances, this advertiser will reap 
quite a harvest from the cowardly renegades 
who are willing to enjoy the benefits of a good 
government, and are unwilling to give their 
services for its maintenance. Perhaps it is as 
well to allow such to send their dollar and find 
that their pusillanimity costs more than courage 
would do. We have little sympathy for them, 
but we are not willing that scoundrels should 
fatten even at their expense, and therefore give 
notice that any party advertising that he can 
give exemption from military liability by any 
device, by false certificate of physical weakness 
or otherwise, is a swindler. We would also 
hint to the said advertisers, that the Provost Mar- 
shal is on the track of some of them, and that 
they are liable to a draft which will entail hard- 
er service than even the military are usually 
called upon to perform. The penalty for inter- 
fering with, or in any way discouraging the pro- 
curement of men for the army, is, as it should 
be, proportioned to the enormity of the offence. 
There are a few distinguishing marks by 
which one may, with great certainty, distinguish 
between legitimate advertisements of bona fide 
concerns, and the schemes of plundering swind- 
lers. When a "secret" of any kind is adver- 
tised, look out for humbug. Honest men are 
willing at the first to make known the nature of 
the articles they offer for sale. The old adage 
" Never buy a pig in a bag," applies with pecu- 
liar force to such cases. Advertisements that 
promise more than a dollar's worth for a dollar, 
that offer to ensure a fortune or a good living 
with little or no capital, and without much la- 
bor, are traps for the unwary. Finally the 
whole class of advertising physicians who per- 
form wondrous cures on paper, are men who 
seek to gain a living by duping the credulous. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Country Cemeteries— Good Hints. 
Some time ago I was riding to a village in 
one of the Western States, and had my attention 
called to the cemetery just outside the village, 
by the exclamation : " That's where they plant 
'em." Indeed, from the cemetery and its sur- 
roundings, the remark did not shock me. A 
desolate, sandy knoll had been chosen as the 
last resting place of those who had lived in the 
village. Its scanty growth was cut off, and the 
stumps stood more numerous than the grave 
stones ; and to crown all, it was surrounded by 
a wooden fence, painted bright red. "That's 
where they plant those whom they expect to 
bloom in immortality," said I to myself. My 
mind wandered to the quiet beauty of Mount 
Auburn, Swan Point, and Laurel Hill, and to 
the charming and commanding views of Green- 
wood, and I thought that we of the cities 
" planted " our dead in more attractive spots. 
Having travelled largely through the country, I 
have been exceedingly pained at the general 
desolateness of the village cemeteries. Why is 
it not just as easy to choose for them a pleasant 
place, as a cheerless one? It is a melancholy 
satisfaction to most of us, to visit the last rest- 
ing place of those who were dear to us in life, 
and, though it will make little difference to those 
who lie there, it is vastly to the comfort of sur- 
viving friends that they can go to a pleasant 
and attractive place to see all that earth has left 
of those dear to them. To sensitive minds it is 
a horrible thought that their bodies shall be 
laid in the bleak cold grave-yard ; if they could 
know that they should be buried in the shade 
of trees, and that flowers would bloom around 
and birds sing above their graves, death would 
lose many of its terrors. I am far from justi- 
fying this feeling, but we know that it exists to 
a great extent. I would, through the widely cir- 
culated Agriculturist, call upon the influential 
men in every town and village, to see that their 
cemetery is made an attractive place — one where 
the living can cheerfully hold silent communion 
with the departed, a place which will show to 
strangers that the dead are not merely " plant- 
ed." A few people of taste and energy can in 
any community effect a reform in this matter. 
The most beautiful cemetery that I know of 
owes its existence to my old schoolmaster. 
There is one thing which I would have changed 
in all cemeteries ; that is the placing of fences 
around private lots. It breaks up the general 
design, and gives a formal and gloomy aspect 
which should be avoided. Death levels all 
distinctions, and if it is necessary to designate 
between mine and thine, even in the grave- 
yard, it can be done by small corner stones 
which will not obtrude themselves unpleasant- 
ly upon the visitor. T. G. 
