AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
a few days, exposing attempted swindles, mauy of which 
have already been referred to. We wish our new readers 
could see our last dozen articles. Wo can not well go 
over the old ground again A widely circulated adver- 
tisement offers to "give $-5,000 to any respectable person 
who will adopt a fine healthy child five months old," as a 
temptation to ever so many thousands of unwary, child- 
less, or impecunious persons to send 25 cents each for a 
photograph of the said child— an ingenious humbug, 
purely! The Brooklyn Postmaster, under instructions 
from the P. O. Department, now sends all their letters 
to the Dead Letter Office A May-fair man in 
Brooklyn confesses the sins of his youth, in a plausible 
story told to get $2 from various people for his medi- 
cines. Bah!. . . An unknown villain, who gives his ad- 
dress as li Box 356, Jersey City, N. J.," is baiting boys 
and young men on to ruin by his private circulars, offer- 
ing them villainous books, pictures, etc. Parents, watch 
what your children get through the Post of this sort. 
A " short-hand writing " professor is scattering 
his circulars widely, and earnestly pleading fox farmers* 
merchants, clergymen, etc. etc., to invest $2 in his sys- 
tem. We doubt its value to farmers or merchants, no 
matter how perfect it may be. As the professor gives 
no location, except a Post-Office bos, and as— after in- 
quiries of leading short-hand reporters— no one appears 
to know him, we can give no opinion of his work ; but it 
is nonsense for any man to expect to become an expert 
or even a proficient in ehort-hand in one month. Short- 
hand writing or reporting is an art, to be acquired only 
after long and patient practice ; and it is not worth while 
for any one to undertake it, except as a business pursuit 
requiring much time and practice Getting Names 
of People.— Many persons wonder Jtoio the Swindlers 
have obtained their names. Very often some one thinks 
his name could only have come from our subscription 
books. Never ! We carefully guard against this. These 
swindlers send out circulars to Postmasters and others 
asking for the names of different classes of persons to be 
inserted in a pretended "Business Directory," and 
offering 5 to 10 cents for each name— which is seldom, if 
ever, paid. Again, numerous dealers, advertising doctors, 
and patent medicine men, by offering free circulars, etc., 
get hundreds of thousands of letters, and these they sell 
by the thousand. One made a fortune by offering a won- 
derful hook to any one sending him two 3-cent postage 
stamps for postage on it. He pocketed the stamps and 
wold them, making no reply to the letters. He then 
sold the letters to swindlers at 5 to 8 cents each, thus 
clearing about $19 on every hundred names, or $36,000 
on 300,000, out of which he paid $6,000 for adver- 
tising—leaving him a net profit of $30,000! In the 
above and other ways, the names and address of a large 
proportion of all the people throughout the country have 
been secured by the swindlers. One operator boasted of 
having distributed 1,200,000 circulars of a single 
kind A dealer in patent medicines is "coming the 
pious dodge" by sending a very confidential circular 
"to the Preacher," and addressing him as "Dear 
Brother," etc. He has a great deal to say about the piety 
of the inventor— all of which should lead the "Dear 
Brother" to look out for the wolfs claws under the 
sheep's skin, before he sends any money, or orders any 
C'.O.D. packages, or advises any body else to do so, not- 
withstanding the tempting offer of ever so many hundreds 
and thousands of dollars a year commission or profits . . . 
Recipes.— A large pile of letters before us contain very 
plausible propositions to people to buy recipes for mak- 
ing soap at 2 or 3 cents a pound ; honey ditto ; vinegar at 
a trifling cost, etc. etc. If the half that is stated in these 
circulars be true, there are a thousand persons in every 
county in the country making immense fortunes by sell- 
ing these recipes. In every case the swindlers require a 
certain sum of money in advance. Every person sending 
a dime to a single one of these recipe operators, does so 
foolishly. Their circulars and printed sheets in news- 
paper form are very plausible, but as a rule they are a 
fraud We can't spare Mr. Gayler from hereabouts, 
though Cincinnati needs liim badly. The swindlers by 
mail are getting thick out there. Lotteries, alias Gift 
Enterprises, arc widely and hugely advertised in th«j 
newspapers, and by circulars. A. B W. Taylor, L. D. 
Sine, Lewis A. Boll, etc., fairly rival the " Royal Ha- 
vana" and " Covington, Ky." lotteries, in the gorgeous- 
uess of their prize-lists, and in what they promise to do. 
They operate in Cincinnati, but have their drawings in 
St. Louis. Only very foolish people will invest. You 
are far more in danger of being struck by lightning than 
yon are of drawing one of the $2,000 or $5,000 or other 
valuable prizes, or an Aiken farm; so if you have any 
spare change, better invest it in a lightning-rod 
"C.O.D."- A great many swindlers gain confidence 
by offering to send packages by express CO. D.— that is, 
money not to be paid until the articles are delivered. 
But it must be paid for before the ExpresB will deliver 
the parcels, and allow them to be opened and examined ; 
and bo, how is one better off than If he had forwarded his 
money direct to the swindler at first? Wise ladies 
will buy their articles of known responsible dealers, 
instead of risking money forwarded to " Garland &> Co.," 
Brooklyn, E. D., or anywhere else, especially where the 
circular issuers fail to give street and number. (We ex- 
pect a new subscriber from Hamlet, N. Y. ! and she will 
probably get more particulars about certain parties who 
are under investigation. If she don't find that $25 badly 
invested, we hope she will let us know it.) — Oroide 
Watches. — There is so much swindling in articles under 
this name, that we advise letting them alone entirely, 
unless you choose to try something bought and warranted 
by a well-known, reliable, and responsible dealer always 
within your reach James T. Barton, 509 Broadway, 
N. Y., seems to be running a "Spanish Lottery ' right 
here in New York. None but consummate fools will 
send a dime to his address " Aluminum Watches " 
at $3, or $5 each, are humbugs Ditto every $5 
sewing machine S. D. Benson, 77 Nassau street, 
N. Y., is trying to humbug "Dear Lady" and other 
people into the idea that for a dollar or two he can send 
them a sure prize ticket in an Havana Lottery The 
Empire Watch Company is a fraud ; and the use of the 
names of Bradstreet & Co., Rowell & Co., Pettengill & 
Co. as references, entirely unwarranted. These parties 
know no such company A gentleman in Louisville, 
Ky., writes us complaining bitterly, and justly, of Harp- 
er's Weekly for admitting an advertisement of Brooks 
& Co.'s Music-boxes. Relying upon the character of the 
publishers, and not dreaming that they would admit a 
swindle even into their advertising columns, he sent $5 
for a box to play 24 tunes, and received a 10-cent harmo- 
nicum. To say nothing about any conscience in the mat- 
ter, if these and other publishers will shut out humbugs 
from their columns, they will soon gain more in sub- 
scriptions than they will lose in advertising money 
We have taken an unusual amount of space on this sub- 
ject, but have not nearly exhausted the mass of letters 
and material before us. To sum up part of the balance, 
we add, avoid: "Journal of Beauty ;" Hill & Co. ; Cheap 
Bourbon Whiskey Distillers; unknown, and not well- 
known advertising agents ; ^advertising Doctors ; and 
the following money swindlers (concerning whom we 
have over 300 letters just at hand): Bell & Son, Thos. 
W. Pierce, Owen Brothers, Jas. Fisher & Co., Wra. J. 
Ferguson, Williams & Co., B. B. Walker & Co., John B. 
Forrest, John F. Hamilton, Jas. R. Lee, S. B. Parks, H. 
Colter & Co., Rufns Stockton, Charles Humble, Horace 
Madden, P. Mayborn & Co., Ed. F. Dickinson, Jas. P. 
Barker & Co., Henry E.Merton,Klug & Co., etc P.S.— a 
professedly benevolent individual calling himself " Mrs. 
Mary C. Leggett," hailing from the "National College 
of Health, N. Y." (where's that?), offers a free recipe 
for deafness, catarrh, and scrofula, which she (he) does 
send, but no mortal can find the materials, and of course 
must send the dollars to her (him) for the medicines, if 
foolish enough to have any faith in them. This is of the 
(Rev.) Edward Wilson class Gift Book enterprises are 
not quite out of date, because the fools are not all dead. 
. . . .The " $1,000 a Week," of Rood & Co., is undoubt- 
edly the counterfeit money swindle referred to above 
Certain "Family Association" circulars, ostensibly to 
look after family estates in England, have come to hand, 
which have a "Fishy" look, but we have not time to 
investigate. In each of these, some one man's bread is 
to be "buttered" on both sides, certainly. We never 
heard of anything but expense to como from such efforts. 
C. C. Corey & Co.'s ticket enterprise is an outright 
swindle. Money comes in but nothing goes out. 
Water-tight Cellar Floors. —When 
floors arc not subjected to a great pressure of water, a 
good hydraulic cement or water-lime will form a tight 
cellar bottom and sides ; but when the whole soil is full, 
and the cellar is like a basin in it, as in a case proposed 
to us, the pressure of the water upward will surely find 
crevices where it will ooze up. The cure for this stale of 
things is to get drainage, if possible, and if this cannot 
be had and repeated patching will not stop the leaks, in a 
very dry time take up the top of the floor, and after cov- 
ering the whole with a layer of gravel, pour into it melt- 
ed asphaltum, which should be rolled and pounded dowu 
while warm, and one or two more layers applied, topping 
with sand. If the gravel can be hot also, it will make a 
much better floor; but if it can not be, some coal tar may 
be mingled with the asphaltum, and the gravel coated 
slightly with it before the hot asphaltum is applied. 
Secret Manure Recipes* — We see con- 
tinuallyin the agricultural papers very attractive adver- 
tisements of secret recipes, for sale for $1 to $5, for com- 
pounds which will restore fertility to worn out land, 
bring orchards into bearing, drive away insect.-;, gave, la- 
bo»\ produce great crops, ftad do wonders generally for 
the farmer. We arc often pressed to advertise these 
things and always refuse. Not because, the venders of 
the secrets are not or may not be honest, and not be- 
cause the recipes are worthless, but because the real in- 
formation is readily obtained from other sources at a 
much lower price, and because the effects are always 
overstated. A judicious mixture of lime and salt, with 
ashes, and bone-dust, will do wonders almost any where, 
if properly applied. The admixture of hen dung, or 
other highly nitrogenous manure will greatly increase the 
effects. Any of our careful readers ought, we think, to 
be able to raako a compost for grass, potatoes, corn, or 
roots, out of the above ingredients which would be worth 
more than any one of these 5-dollar recipes. 
Fowls Poisoned toy Lead.-D. S. 
Hartman, of Winfield, West Va., enggests that the fowls of 
" G. K. T.,*' mentioned on page 405, (Nov.) are poisoned 
by lead. He says : " I have lost several in this way. and in 
every instance I have found a shot or piece of lead in the 
crop. As yet I have found no cure."— Fowls pick up 
many insalubrious things, like lead, putty, glass, etc. 
When this is surmised, and several fowls are ailing, it 
would probably be worth while to open the crop (an 
operation which may be easily done), the contents taken 
out and examined, and the crop sewed up again, after 
being washed out. Crop-bound chickens are frequently 
cured in this way. 
Swivel Plows lor ILevel Land.— 
L. B. Green writes: " In your last issue of the Agricul- 
turist I notice an advertisement of swivel plows for 
level laud and side-hill, leaving ' no dead furrows, 
etc.' I think such a plow is just what we need on 
farms where machinery of various kinds is used, and 
many of my neighbors are thinking the same thing. We 
would venture to purchase if we were sure that they 
wt-re all right." — The plows referred to are indeed "alt 
right," even for level land. The writer considers them 
almost indispensable on his own farm. 
Whiffletree Yoke.-R. K. Fowle. We 
have considerable confidence in the principle involved 
in this harness for horses; but there seems to be lack of 
energy in the parties who own the patent, or something 
defective in the construction, or it would have been be- 
fore this put upon the market. 
Training Bird Dogs.— 1 ' Subscriber of 
1871." — A good pointer or setter must not only have good 
blood, but be well trained. Sufficient training will make 
an inferior dog tolerably good— but the time wasted upon 
him would train two or three good ones! A good trainer 
will tell within a few days what a dog's capacities are, and 
it will never pay to train a stupid one if another can be 
got. A professional trainer will train a dog much better 
than any one else ; and it will always pay to employ one, 
or to buy a well-trained dog. 
When to Dry a Heifer.— (( W. R," 
Maine. It is generally conceded nowadays that to raiso 
a cow which will give the most milk in proportion to the 
amount of feed she gets, the heifer should come in at 2 
years old, or earlier; that for months previous to her 
calving, her udder should bo frequently manipulated, so 
as to cause a tendency of blood to it, and its larger de- 
velopment; that she should calve fat : that after calving, 
she should be milked three times a day, as near eight 
hours apart as possible ; that this should be kept up as 
long as her udder fills, and after this twice a day; that 
she should be milked close up to her second calving, 
which should take place at the end of a year. All this is 
to develop to as high a degree as possible the milk pro- 
ducing tendency. Of course the growing, young bearing, 
and milk producing animal should be fed with nutritious 
food in abundance, and be warmly stabled in winter. 
4Srade Essex Pigs.-A firmer at Troy, 
Ohio, writes that he thinks the advice given in " Harris 
on the Pig," to select large, common sows, and breed 
them to a refined, small-boned, thorough-bred boar, is 
correct. He bought an Esses boar, but the farmers in 
the vicinity did not think much of him. They thought, 
him small, and were prejudiced against the color. Since 
they have seen his stock, and observed how rapidly he 
improved Kit a year old he weighed nearly 400 H>s.l, many 
of them began to change their minds. All the strong, 
healthy sows that were brought to him had fine litters of 
pigs, some of them jet black, and all more or less color- 
ed, showing that he strongly impresses his characteristics 
upon his offspring, as all thorough-bred male animals do 
when crossed with common stock. Crossed with a Berk- 
shire sow, more or less pure, he got piga that "have 
grown faster than any pigs he ever saw." The hogs 
mostly raised in hie neighborhood are of the large Magie 
breed. At the County Fair, last fall, he exhibited his 
E^sex boar, and it attracted much attention, being some- 
thingnew to most present. Knowing that his boar would 
be considered small, he put a tape-line in his pocket. 
"There was the best show of hogs ever had in the 
