68 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[FEBUUABr, 
the question, but owing to the rush of rivers that mouth 
my notice was crowded out. Perhaps " belter late than 
never" will apply iu this case. Spread a thin layer of 
raw cottou upon a sheet of note-paper. Upon this place 
your flower, which must then be flattened with the 
fingers, arranging itgracefully into shape. Draw 
carefully between the petals, where they touch 
each other, " the least little bit" of raw cotton. ' " 
Place another thin layer of cotton over the whole, 
thou put the flower sandwich between the leaves | 
of a book, and leave it, for not less than a week. | 
under a heavy weight. At the end of Hint time 
you may takeoff t lie cotton, and with a needle " 
carefully withdraw the fibers of cotton from j 
between the leaves. Should you wish to pre- 
serve the flowers in their original shape lay them 1 
(where they will not touch each other) in a box 
one-eighth full of fine, white, clean sand which ' 
has been thoroughly dried in an oven. Then 
gently dust sand over them until they are entire]} 
covered. Place the box in the hot sun (or in a 
moderately warm oven for two or three nights). 
When you wish to remove them from the box 
lift it so as to let the sand run off very gradu- 
ally until the flower is released. Some flowers 
preserve their color and shape wonderfully well 
under this treatment, and may be made up into 
bouquets which will last all the winter. The 
flowers must be quite dry when taken out of 
the box or they will not keep. Some may take 
a week or two before it will be safe to disturb theni 
with the fine brick and brown-stone houses of the wealthy. 
To every shanty belong numerous children, several dogs, 
and one or more goats, not to mention the grown peo- 
ple, and it may be conceived that a neighborhood of them 
A Piece about Goats. 
Goats, in this country at least, are mostly to be found 
in towns and cities, and as they for most part are the 
TROUBLE FOB THE LAUNDRESS. 
is not especially pleasant. As the goats often run loose in 
spite of law they are a source of no little anuoyance to 
the whole vicinity. The monkey is regarded as the most 
mischievous of animals and perhaps he is, but the goat 
is not much his inferior, and goats are common while 
monkeys are not. Goats are kept for their milk, which 
account of his troubles with that goat, which he said, 
" had barked everything upon tbe place except the crow- 
bar." The goat takes especial delight in barking trees, 
as many a one who has planted trees iu front of his house 
and has delayed in getting tree-boxes knows to 
his sorrow ; perhaps the next best thing to a 
goat's mind to spoiling trees is despoiling 
shrubs. The rascals wait until the little city 
front- yard is nicely put in order with flowering 
shrubs and vines, and then when in an un- 
guardedmoment the gate is left open the demoli- 
tion is accomplished in short order. If no green 
thing can be had the goats content themselves 
with paper and cloth. We have seen posters 
and placards stripped from a fence as high up as 
they could reach by standing on their hind legs, 
and if a washing is left unguarded upon the line 
the sheets and tablecloths will be found in a 
sad plight. The green-grocers, who are very apt 
to set their vegetables and fruit upon the side- 
walk, have to keep a special lookout for their 
property or a sudden attack may bring them 
to grief, and many a workman upon the streets 
who has put his dinner kettle in what he thought 
was a safe place, has been unintentionally pro- 
viding a meal for these street Arabs. We some- 
~~^- times see a pair of goats in a fine harness draw- 
ing an elegant little coach which contains some 
rich man's son. These goats are for the most 
part trained by the poor boys of the shanties, 
and begin their education m a harness made of odds 
aud ends of twine, ropes and leather, aud are at- 
tached to a rude wagon made of a boz. After the 
goats have done all the mischief they can think of for 
one day they must rest, and for this purpose they select 
the finest and sunniest door step, where they take their 
LITERARY TASTES. 
property of the poorer Irish and other Europeans who 
live in the cheapest dwellings they abound in the out- 
skirts and are rarely seen in the older parts of the towns. 
In New Tork, for instance, there are many tracts of land 
Vfhich, belonging to unsettled estates or for other rea- 
A RAID UPON THE GREEN-GROCER. 
is by some preferred to cow's milk; they are often 
trained to submit to the harness and to draw small car- 
riages; and kids are eaten. The ostrich is said to eat 
everything that comes in its way and to have a special 
liking for tenpenny nails and broken glass. We never 
pat's dinner. 
ease, and are ready to dispute possession with the occu- 
pants of the house. " Why is not this mischief stopped? " 
you will ask. Sometimes the police do take the goats 
to the pound— and sometimes they do not. especially if 
the goat happens to be a large buck aud has au opi»ion 
A rest after mischief. 
sons, are not occupied by their owners but arc usually 
thickly covered with shanties. It is not a rare thing to 
find a "huddle" of these shanties, built of old lumber, 
packing -boxes, and every conceivable "material, occupy- 
ing land upon a street which in another part is built up 
saw a goat partaking of these delicacies, but should not 
be at all surprised to sec oue at it. 
A number of years ago Horace Greeley had a goat 
upon his farm for the purpose of furnishing milk for a 
weak child. He w rote to the Agriculturist a very funur 
taking him in. 
of his own on the subject. Besides these collections of 
shanties turn out a great many voters, and it sometimes 
is the case magistrates do not care to gain their ill- 
will by euforciug a law that is unpopular with ouch a 
large number of their constituents. 
