1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
27 
E©Yi§ & ©iniiLs ; @©a,wmm 
Our Guessing- School. YYIiat Is It 
3To. 2. 
The engraving; given iu November for yon to study over 
was of such a rarely seen object that only a few boys and 
girls tried to make it out. and some of these came very 
far from the mark. Two or three were so nearly alike in 
merit that it was difficult to choose between them, as one 
mentioned some points that others omitted. The one 
that seemed to be on the whole the best description, is 
by Miss Abbie Adams, of Absecom, Atlantic Co., N. -J. 
Good answers, though not so full as hers, were sent by 
Christopher D. Chandler, Fair Haven, N. J., Harriet J. 
Fisk, Sag Harbor, L, I.,Rollo Shophelt, Niantic, Ct., 
SHELL OF PERIWINKLE. 
Willie Calvert, Culpepper, Va., Townsend Wolcott, S. 
Norwalk, Ct., John B. Price, Stamford, Ct., Clarence E. 
Pennimau, Cromwell, Ct., Robert B. Albertson, Hert- 
ford, N. C. Miss Abbie says : " It is the spawn of a shell- 
fish, called Winkle by many. Some might call it a conk, 
but it is known here bybaymenand oystermen by the 
name of Winkle. The whole length of this curious thing 
(the spawn) is usually about two feet long, and when 
found in the bays in a perfect state, has one end imbedded 
in the sand or mud from 2 to 4 inches deep ; this secures 
it to the bottom, but sometimes by the force of the waves 
and tide it is broken loose from its place and cast upon 
the shore, and the embryo Winkle is destroyed by being 
exposed to the hot rays of the sun in summer or the cold 
freezing of winter. The pods or receptacles, when taken 
from the water, are filled \vi:h a jelly-like substance ; then 
again they are found in a more advanced state, containing 
the young winkles in their complete form, though quite 
small, about the size of duck shot, and a large number in 
each pod. I have seen them and handled them after my 
father has brought them from the bay, they being quite a 
curiosity to us, and I have also heard bim tell how he 
pulled them loose from the bottom of the bay. I don't 
know what you will tliiuk of the name I have given the 
shell-fish that produces the article your .engraving repre- 
sents, but it is known in all these parts by the name of 
Winkle. I have seen numbers of them ; they live in a 
shell, but can turn almost entirely out of it, and can suck 
fast to a board or other snrface, and hold on quite strong. 
I have looked in Webster's Pictorial Dictionary for an en- 
graving of this kind of shell-fish, but can not find any to 
represent it, neither do I find in it the word Winkle.' 1 
As Miss Abbie coidd not find an engraving of the shell, 
we give one here. Had she looked for Periwinkle, she 
would have found that word, which is also used for the 
same animal, though fishermen and market nicn generally 
call it Winkle. There are several species found upon 
our coast, the most common of which we have figured. 
It is from three to six inches long, and of a dark olive 
color. The animal that lives in this shell is very tough 
and coarse, but notwithstanding that, it is eaten, and is 
sometimes offered for sale in the markets. The shell is 
used by sailors and boat-builders to pour tar and pitch 
into the seams of boats, the long portion answering as 
a convenient spout. The English Periwinkle is an entirely 
different animal from ours. The conchologists call the 
one figured PyrulacaaaUcdaUi. The word Pyrula means 
a little pear, and was given because the shell is some- 
what pear-shaped, and ccinalicdata means channeled, or 
like a pipe or gutter. Ton can see that the drawn-out 
part of the shell is channeled, and I have just said that 
the sailors have found out its usefulness as a gutter. 
These strange-looking names that scientific people give 
to shells, plants, insects, and the like, are generally de- 
scriptive. The Doctor. 
The Doctor's Talks — About a 
Candle. 
Perhaps you will wonder what there is to say about a 
candle that you do not know, and will be surprised when 
I tell you that I think that a candle is one of the most 
interesting thing=, and that to explain all about its burn- 
ing would require a great many pages like the one you 
are reading. Many years ago one of the most eminent 
scientific men who ever lived, Sir Michael Faraday, gave 
a whole course of lectures just upon a candle. I do not 
expect to tell you so much as he did, for you would not 
be able to understand it all, but I think I can say some- 
thing about a candle that will interest you. I wonder 
when candles were invented ! It must have been a great 
while ago, for we read about candlesticks in the Old 
Testament. Perhaps torches were used before candles. 
Some of you have probably seen light-wood torches, 
which are often used in pine regions, especially in 
the Southern States. A dead pine will be found to have 
its wood full of turpentine, and when this is cut up into 
torches, it will burn with a bright though rather smoky 
flame. In this case the wood serves for a wick, and 
the turpentine that is dried in the pores of the wood cor- 
responds to tho tallow or other matter that we make cau- 
dles of. There are several kinds of candles, but all agree 
in having a wick, and some solid material that will melt 
readily, and will burn when melted. We have all read 
of rush-lights, which iu early times were in common use 
in England, and I believe that some of the poorer people 
still use them. They were made by peeling the stems of 
rushes so as to leave the light pith. A little strip of 
the outer portion of the rush was left to strengthen the 
pith, which, being very delicate, would break without 
this support. The rush-piths were then dipped in tallow 
or other fat, and formed a very poor, flickering kind of 
candle, for which the pith served as a wick. Onr com- 
monest candles are tallow-dips, and are made by dipping 
the wicks in melted tallow, the dipping being repeated 
after the tallow has hardened, until the candle is large 
enough. Tallow candles arc now generally made in a 
moid. The wick being fastened in the center of a tin 
tube, the melted tallow is poured in, and when cold 
the candle is easily removed from the mold. Tallow 
candles are soft ; mutton suet makes harder ones. Then 
they are made of spermaceti ; paraffine, which is a curious 
product of coal; vegetable wax from Japan, and also 
from a vegetable wax yielded by our native Bayberry. 
It was a wonderful discovery that, by which the solid 
part can be taken out of lard and other fats. This is 
called stearine, and is what the nice, white, hard candles 
of the stores are mostly made of. The moat expensive 
Fig. 2. 
SELF-SNUFFING. 
candles are wax, and these are not made by dipping, nor 
are they molded, but melted wax is ponred over the wicks, 
which are hung on a frame, and the pouring is repeated 
until the candles arc large enough, when they are finished 
and the surface made smooth by rolling on a tabic of 
hard wood. The wick in the common candle is of very 
loosely spun cotton, and after it has been lighted awhile 
we notice in the flame a black, unburned piece of wick 
(fig. 1), the "snuff," as it is called, which has to be re- 
moved by the use of snuffers. It was a very clever person 
that invented the self-snuffing wick. The reason that a 
ennff forms in the candle is because the wick, beingin 
the interior of the flame, is, as I shall show you at another 
time, quite shutout from th _■ air, and can not burn. The 
invention consisted in so braiding or plaiting a wick that 
it would curve over and thus bring the end of it outside 
of the flame, where the air could reach it and it could 
gradually burn away (fig. 2), and thus save the trouble of 
snufling. When we first light a candle, we do not get a 
^ i;- bright light, and we must wait until enough of the 
tallow is melted to supply the flame. Just wateh a burn- 
ing candle, and see how beautifully everything goes on. 
The tallow remains solid until it is needed for burning, 
and theu just enough is kept melted to supply the wick. 
Then the candle itself forma a cup to hold the melted 
tallow. If the candle burns where there is no current of 
air, just see what a nice little cup is formed. The tallow 
melts just close to the flame, but the air keeps the edge 
of the cup cool, so that it does not melt for a while. Ifyou 
were to make a cut right down through a burning candle, 
it would look like figure 3. So the candle is all the time 
turning the solid tallow into a liquid, taking it up in the 
wick, where in burning it gives us a beautiful flame. But 
what makes the melted tallow rise in the wick ? That is 
an interesting point, which I will try to say something 
about another time. Thk Doctor. 
Aunt Sue's Puzzle-Box* 
NUMERICAL ENIGMAS. 
1. I am composed of It letters. 
My 8, 10,9 is a fish. 
My 9, 5, 6, 11, 7 is an adjective which may be 
transposed into a verb and into a noun. 
My 1, 4, 3, 2, 10 is a reptile. 
My whole is a village in Central New York. 
E. L. C. 
2 I am composed of 24 letters. 
My 12, 5, 3, 21, S, 1G, 12 is a continent. 
My 23, 10, 5, 20, 0, IS is a man's name. 
My 3, 10, 13, IS, G is a bird of prey. 
My 11, 15, 13, 2, 1, 15, 11, 13, 4, 18, 6 is a bird. 
My 19, 17, 14, 7, 3, 24, 23 were used as engine* 
of war by the Romans. 
My 9, 2, 22, 11, 4 is a country in Asia. 
My -whole ia Vcfurc jou. "VlKGUttA E. 5. 
SQUARE WORDS. 
1. Square the word "MERIT. 11 
Star ant> Crescent. 
2. *A number. a Corroded. 3 A term in music, mean- 
ing "time." *Topreclude. fi Used in carts. low.-.. 
PROVERB PI. 
With the following forty-seven words make eight well- 
known proverbs : 
A good counsel freely gives a judge his price. 
Necessity never makes a misfortune of wit. 
He who all day gives every dog the go-by, must have 
brevity of soul. 
Twice beginning is to make good ending. 
Virtue, above appearances, is never good ; meet half-way. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Rebel in mince-shop. G. Notes ran. 
2. Agile rust. 
3. Pieced love. 
4. Angel Ziva. 
5. I haul time. 
7. Sung Lot out. 
8. I class them. 
9. Die lying. 
10. Rats put. 
CROSS-WORD. 
My first is in peach but not in plum. 
My next is in hand but not in thumb. 
My third is in rat but not in mouse. 
My fourth is in room but not in house. 
My fifth is in Bill but not in Sam. 
My sixth is in sheep but not in lamb. 
And now, if the letters yon rightly take, 
The name of a little girl they'll make. 
Mart Jacobs. 
double acrostic. 
The initials name a certain kind of Btone used in 
Jewelry, and which derived its name from the river in 
Sicily near which it was first found. 
The finals name that which we have been taught to shun. 
1. One of the signs of the Zodiac. 
2. A Southern State. 4. A plant. 
3. An inBect. 5. Evasion. 
R. T. ISBE6TER. 
PUZZLE. 
An R, an L, an A, and a D, 
Two Ns, three Os, and only one V. 
Now take an M, and add three Ts. 
Four still are left, and they arc Bs. 
By putting these together right, 
A well-known proverb comes to light. AWNEf. 
