1865.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
367 
of the past. If the Institute proposes to hold a fair next 
year, or the year after, let them begin now to prepare for 
It. Organize tlepartments, offer premiums, and even 
select judges. The greatest trouble at the last fair, was, 
lack of organization and lack of workers, and the next 
greatest, was the want of publicity, in making tlie matter 
known sufficiently before hand. One to build a steam 
engine, or grow a geranium, should have at least six 
month's notice. It is very easy to get together a collec- 
liou of advertising exhibitors, but let us for once have a 
real "exposition," as the French say, of American arts 
and manufactures, and to do this it is necessary to begin 
at least a year before hand. Gentlemen of lae Institute- 
let us have something corresponding to your broad title 
of *' American." 
CItarriag: Fence Posts hastens their 
decay. The writer lias tiied the expeiiment, and found 
that charred posts rotted off 4 to 6 years sooner than those 
not charred. There is a thin portion of wood between 
the charcoal and the unbiirned wood. If the thin coating 
of charcoal would exclude the moisture from the un- 
burned timber, it would preserve posts from speedy 
decay, but it usually does not. 
A RiiDdle of Iiiquirie*.— William H. 
Wood, Winebago Co., III., asks the following questions ; 
" Is buckwheat straw injurious to cattle and sheep, and 
will it give sheep the itch ?" No. When properly cured 
it is an excellent foddei. Are pumpkin seeds when 
fed with the pumpkins, injurious to milch cows ? Will 
they tend to dry upthemilk? The fact that pumpkin 
seeds are a diuretic of considerable power, being some 
times administered by physicians as such, led us to be- 
lieve the popular notion was not without foundation. 
However, we know of cases where the experiment has 
been tried and no drying up followed. Is there any 
preparation for keeping plows from rusting? Apply a 
thin coat of any kind of varnish, or boiled linseed oil, or 
lard and rosin melted together, to the polished surface. 
■ When a plow is rusty what is the quickest way of 
taking it {the rust) off, so as to make it bright ? Scour it 
with a piece of grindstone and water, or with a soft brick, 
or piece of wood and sand, keeping the surface wet. 
Marl Tor Fruit Xi*ees.— "E. D.," Roudout, 
N. Y. The term marl is applied very indefinitely If it 
is shell raarl.it would undoubtedly be beneficial on a 
soil deficient in lime, and all the better if the marl is of a 
kind that can be burned to form quick lime. 
Removing: Riist from Sa'ws. — Procure 
at some drug store, a piece of pumice stone as large as a 
hen's egg, grind one side flat on a grindstone, then scour 
off the rust with the pumice stone and soapsuds. Cover 
the surface with lard in which there is no salt. 
Care of Steel Plows. — Wash them clean 
and as soon as dry, apply a thin coat of any kind of var- 
nish, or boiled linseed oil, or lard melted with a little 
rosin, which is good. This will keep the polished sur 
face from rusting during winter, and will slip off 
readily as soon as the plow runs a few rods in the soil. 
Xlie ITIixiug: of Sqnashes,— F. Brooks, 
Winona Co.. Minn. The fertilizing of one kind of 
squash or pumpkins by the pollen of another, probably 
depends entirely upon its being carried from one flower 
to another by bees and other insects^ Where theie are 
many kinds in the same neighborhood, the only way to 
insure purity is to fertilize the flowers artificially before 
the bees get at them. The pistillate flowei s must be ta- 
ken just as they are about to open, when the parts will 
separate by a slight force, and apply pollen from a 
siaminate flower. Tie a bit of muslin over the flower 
thus treated, to Ueep the bees out, and let it remain until 
the fruit begins to swell. 
L<arg;e and Qiiielcly ^jrrown Squash- 
es. — A fine s[tecimen of squash upon our tables bears 
the name of J. W, Somarind>-ck, Glen Cove, L. I. Its 
weight is 145 lbs , but its twin brotlier on the same vine 
weighed 170 lbs. The blossoms dropped September 5lh, 
and the fruit was taken off Oct. 23d. One day this squash 
increased its circumference 5 inches in 24 hours, and it 
did the same at the rate of 43^ inches each day for 7 days. 
Xlio 1*. O. Money Orders, are proving a 
great convenience. At any established Money Onier 
Office one can by simply paying in a sum of money, have 
it paid at any other Order Oflice,to any person indicated. 
As no one else can get it, and duplicated orders are issued 
if the first one is lost, it is a perfectly safe mo'ie of trans- 
miitiiig money by mail, and the leturn of the receipt Is 
positive evidence of the payment of tnoney. The charge 
is 10 cents for a sum umler $1U; 15 cents for $10 to $20 ; 
and 20 cents for $20 to $30. For over $30 more orders 
can be purchased, thus, for $44.50, buy one order of $30 and 
another of $14.50. Many of our club subscriptions are 
forwarded in this way. A Draft on a New York City 
Bank, payable to the order of the Publishers, is equally 
safe and convenient, and usually costs but little more, if 
there is a bank near by. — We append an alphabetical list 
of the new Money Order Offices, established since our 
published list in the Agriculturist for last August ; 
Maine: Winterport New York: Rome New Jer- 
sey: Bordentown, Flemington, Salem Pennsylvania: 
Bethlehem, Clearfield, Mauch Chunk, Titusville Vir- 
ginia : Petersburg, Richmond — North Carolina : Wil- 
mington South Carolina : Charleston Georgia : 
Savannah . . . .Alabama : Mobile — Missisippi : Natchez 
Arkajisas : Little Rock . .Tennessee: Knoxville 
Ohio: Bryan, Chagiin Falls, Garrettsville. Oulville 
Indiana : Anderson Illinois : Aledo, Carlyle, Mon- 
mouth, Wenona Michigan : Bay City, Newaygo, 
Marnita . . Wisconsin : Beaver Dam, Chippewa Falls, 
JanesvlUe, Mineral Port, Richland, Waterfown . . . /oK?a : 
Tipton Missouri: Columbia, Gallatin, Washington. 
.....KaJisas: Fort Scott — California: Denver, Los 
Angelos, Marysville, Mountain City, Nevada City, Sacra- 
mento, San Francisco, San Jose, Senora, Stockton 
Oregon: Portland ...Utah: Salt Lake City. . ..^evarfa ; 
Virgin City. 
Fine Quinces.— Mr. F. Scholer, Brooklyn, 
exhibited upon our tables large and fair quinces, a'sample 
of 108 from a tree which has yielded about the same 
number for years in succession. Why are not more 
quinces grown? At present prices they must pay well. 
Nothing is finer to look at than a tree loaded with this 
golden fruit, and then for preserves there is, to the 
writer's notion, nothing else half so good. 
Keeping: Cider Sweet. — M. M. Hester, 
Huron Co., Ohio, gives the following as his method 
of treating cider : " In gathering apples, avoid getting in 
leaves or rotten apples, and before making, thoroughly 
wash the vat, press, receiving tub, etc. Have clean 
barrels, fill them with cider as soon as it runs from the 
press, avoiding much exposure to air. Place the barrels 
in a position to draw from, and let stand until it settles, 
say 24 hours. .Make a strong brimstone match by dip- 
ping a piece of cloth 2 inches wide, and 1 inch long, in 
melted sulphur. This is to be fastened to a piece of wire 
about 3 feet long, having a small hook on the end. Set 
the sulphur on fire, put it in the empty barrel half way 
down, raising it up gradually till the match burns out, 
then tlrwvk- off the clear ciUor nnd put it in with the 
smoke. Bung it up tight and keep it in a cool place. 
When treated in this way it has always kept sweet with 
us, without any sharp or unpleasant taste." 
"Rev. Edward Wilson."— This man 
keeps on advertising, and of course gets patronage to 
pay for it. If any of our readers patronize him after the 
repeated notices he has had in this jouinal, they deserve 
what they get. Those who want to see his recipe will 
find it in the Agriculturist for July, 1859. He then ad- 
vertised himself as a member of the New Haven Metho- 
dist Conference, but on being told in the Agriculturist that 
there was no such Conference. he transferred his "church 
relationship" to the "New England Conference." 
Will he please tell how he got in or out? As heap- 
pears to be poorly read up in church matters, we will 
kindly inform him that his present professed residence 
is in the bounds of the New York East Conference. 
Medicines.—" K. L. C." and others: We can- 
not answer about these advertised things in any other 
than the general terms often repealed. We would not 
take any of them, nor advise others to do so. 
Fiue Cranberries. — Our office has been 
ornamented for some weeks by a hanging basket filled 
with cranberry vines, loaded with large and finely color- 
ed fruit. This veiy beautiful specimen came from Dr. 
E. H. Stevens. Essex. Conn., who has experimented 
very successfully in the cultivation of the cranberry. 
An Ever-l>looming- Violet.— At the Phil- 
adelphia exhibition was a stand of violets which difl^'used 
a most delicious fragrance. and attracted much attention. 
It is called the Schoenbrunn Violet, and is said by the 
exhibiler, Mr. J. Gerney of Philadelphia, to be ever- 
blooming, affording flowers even in mid-summer. 
Tro«l>le TritU Cabbages.— C. V. Bradey, 
Clearfield Co., Pa., writes to know "the cause of my 
cabbage leaves rotting and sprouts coming out between 
the ground and the head." What is said on page 375. 
with regard to horse-chestnut and other trees, will apply 
to cabbages. The peculiar season caused them to ripen 
prematurely. Weather favorable to growth followed, 
and as the terminal bud (or head) was mature and could 
grow no more, the axillary buds on th£ stump, which usu< 
ally remain dormant, started. We know no other remedy 
than to take them up as soon as they cease to grow. 
Ijeaks fi-oiu l^ater Running; down 
the Sides of Chimneys.— Cut out the mortar an 
inch or more deep, between two courses of the bricks, 
insert a strip of sheet iron 4 inches wide, and fill the 
joint again with good mortar. The iron strips will carry 
rain, which flows down its sides, away from the chimney. 
IIi;;;l> I*i*ice or VToolen Fabrics.— 
"Subscriber,'' of Sidney, O., writes approvingly of our 
advice in October (page 304,) not to buy cotton fabrics 
now, and suggests the same course with reference to 
woolens. Doubtless it would help reduce the present 
exorbitant and uncalled-for high prices of almost alt 
commodities, especially manufactured goods, if people 
would generally economize as far as possible in their use. 
Cotton gooJs are especially to be let alone, when pos- 
sible, because one-fourth to one-half of the present prices 
goes into the hands of a few individuals who manage to 
control the market, owing to the limited supply of manu- 
factured stock on hand. The operatives receive only 
fair wages. At the present price of raw cotton, which is 
abundant, the manufactured goods could be made and 
sold at a profit, for little more than half the prices charg- 
ed for them. This is not quite the case with woolens, 
and their use is less easily dispensed with, especially at 
this season of the year. Still we agree with "Subscrib- 
er," that we should all strike for a reduction in prices by 
purchasing the least possible amount, uniil there is such 
an accumulation of stock that a large reduction in price 
will become necessary in order to eflfect sales. 
l>onble I>oors for Cellars.— Two seta 
of sash with glass in them to each window, will admit 
light into cellars, and exclude tlie cold nearly as well as 
if stopped with the bark or other material. Doors hung 
one on each side of the casing, if made to fit closely, 
will prevent vegetables freezing in most cellars, without 
filling the passage with straw. 
**Xbe Oreat West."— Edward H. HalJ 
has written a book (published by Appleton, price $1.00) 
with the above title. It is a guide and handbook to the 
States and Territories west of the Mississippi, not includ- 
ing Arkansas, Louisiana or Texas. We have so many 
inquiries about these countries and the inducements to 
emigrate, that we are giad to be able to refer our readers 
to a book containing so much that is valuable, and appa- 
rently edited with conscientious care. We can supply it. 
A New Worlf on ]\atural History. 
—A work on Zoology, that branch of natural history 
which treats on animals, by Prof Tenney of the Vassar 
Female College, is just published by Charles Scrib- 
ner & Co., N. Y. Though we have had several more or 
less good works upon zoology, they had the fault that 
their illustrations were mainly, if not altogether drawn 
from foreign animals. Prof. Tenney gives us a work, in 
which the illustrations are in good part those of American 
species. The fault, or rather misfortune, of the work is 
that with such a multitude of objects the notice of each 
one must be very brief. This volume giving us the 
general outlines of classification and a catalogue of the 
species, especially of quadrupeds and birds, will go far 
towards supplying a long felt want. It is a handsome 
and clearly printed work of 540 pages, with over 500 
illustrations. As we consider it will be useful to those 
of our readers, who wish to know about the animals of 
our country, we place it on our book list. 
I%o. 4 or I^essons fi>r Every Sun- 
day in the Year, is completed. This finishes up 
this series which originated with the senior editor of 
the Agriculturist. No. 1 includes the period from the 
birth of Christ to the end of the Acts of the Apostles; 
No. 2, the rest of the New Testament; No. 3 from 
Adam to Elijah, and No. 4 from Elijahto Christ. Each 
book contains 52 lessons, embracing this number of lead- 
ing topics in the order of time, with a running Con- 
necting History, whicli gives an epitome of the whole 
Bible History embraced by each book. The books are 
non-sectarian, and are used about equally by all Chris- 
tian Denominations. That they meet a want is evident 
from the fact that about 200,000 copies of No. i have 
already been called for. In this, Mr. Judd retained no 
copy-right interest, but gave it away to the first publisher 
who asked for it, — the lessons havin^; been prepared at first 
wholly for his own Sabbath School. Editions of all four 
of the books are now prepared for and issued at the Ag- 
riculturist office, where they are supplied at 15 cents 
each; $1.50 per dozen ; or $1'2 per 100. If to be sent 
by mail, prepaid postage must be added, which is 3 cents 
per copy when 10 or more go together, or 4 cents each 
when less than 10 are sent. Four sample copies (Nos. 
I9 2, 3 and 4j) mailed post-paid for C5 cents. 
