126 
AMERICAN AaRICULTUKIST. 
[April, 
or some other nuisance using the real or assumed name 
of "Dr. Andrews," is now sending out circulars, "Good 
Samaritans;" etc., from 360 Lexington avenue, New Tort, 
promising impossibilities, and offering a great variety of 
medicines, instruments, books, etc. A person must be 
very ignorant and very foolish to patronize such a charla- 
tan, yet there must be such persons, or he would not 
spend so much in printing and mailing these numerous 
advertisements Humbug seeds and plants arc in 
order at this season, and it is well to be on the lookout 
for fraud. A Cincinnati chap has a marvelous corn from 
*' Hungaria " (whore's that ?), of which he received three 
seeds two years ago, planted them in a garden corner, 
got 3 stalks and 13 ears "as large as can be found,* 1 
planted it on less than an acre, and with only ordinary 
culture got 290 bushels ! half of which he wants to sell 
pro bono publico at $13S a bushel ($3 a pint), but won't 
sell over five pints in a county. The absurdity of the 
claims ought to prevent farmers investing in this corn 
seed We have often cautioned our readers respecting 
sundry advertisements emanating from Maine, offering 
great wages to agents, and other brilliant business prom- 
ises. Two of these were from Saco, Me., and Alfred, 
Me. We arc glad to find the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation of Portland taking up the subject and exposing 
the swindlers. We suggest that other branches of this 
noble association, both in Maine and elsewhere, can do 
a good work by following the example of the Portland 
young men. There arc local swindles, specially directed 
to young men, in various parts of the country, which need 
like attention. Some of the religious papers unwittingly 
or carelessly (and therefore criminally) holp on the swin- 
dlers by inserting their advertisements. (Some other 
Maine swindles are under special investigation.) 
D & Co., to be addressed at Maiden, Mass., send out 
circulars offering a vilely attractive book, according to 
their own description. Any party willing to debauch 
morals and steal one's chastity would steal money, and if 
we wanted such a book we should not trust our money to 
such a fellow. The Maiden postmaster or other good citi- 
zens of Maiden should sec to it that their post-office be 
not used by swindlers or venders of obscene books 
41 Sunlight Oil," so often shown up by us, is still offered 
to agents by Michigan operators. We suppose, therefore, 
that customers and victims arc still found in dark corners 
where the sunlight of this journal does not penetrate. 
• What! not dead yet? Pardee & Co.'s Prize 
Sale of Watches, etc., etc., at Binghamhm, N. Y. ! 
Can it be that there are fools enough alive to 
keep this concern going, with its promises of $-350 gold 
watches for $2.24 ? A wonderful magnetic comb for 
curling the hair is advertised out West. Every editor 
who advertises this small swindle ought to have his hair 
combed with a flax-hatchel, and be made to pay $1.21 to 
each of his readers who has lost that amount by patron- 
izing the advertisement The Merchants and Bankers 
Association- great daily distribution of cash gifts— is a 
pure swindle; ditto the "National Exchange Co.," 107 
Fourth avc James Stewart & Co. is the assumed name 
of some swindler who seems to be professedly operating 
in "fancy" cattle, sheep, swine, etc., ostensibly at Ken- 
nett Square, West Chester, Coatesville, Downington, Lan- 
caster, and other places in Pennsylvania. Any one hear- 
ing of him under the above or any other name should 
report him promptly (privately) toll. M. Worth & Co., 
publishers of the Weekly Leader, at Keunett Square, Pa. 
We have circulars of W. H. Chichester, and many 
other humbugs already shown up The "Queer," or 
pretended counterfeit-money operators, still practice their 
swindles upon other would-be swindlers. A fellow at 1G 
South 5th avenue, New York, works under all the follow- 
ing names: Geo. Parker, alias S. S. Flint, alias J. T. 
Wildman, alias Dr. Thos. Walkins, alias Geo. W. Bates, 
alias E. D. Robinsou, alias Edwin Carter, etc., etc. Won- 
der if the letters of his real name would spell E-1-i-a-s ? 
Then we have Geo. Harrington, 172 Broadway ; Chas. W. 
Lawson, 81 Canal st. ; J. T. Spencer & Co., 10 S. St., 
Philadelphia; Amos Wainwright, Trenton, N. J.; John 
Hood, Jr. , Wilmington, Del., and New York City, etc. 
We began investigations upon the "Great Bank- 
rupt Watch Sale " at 763 Broadway, but the Tribune and 
Post are giving a brisk ventilation of the concern, and 
save us the trouble. Wc will only add, that we recently 
spent some time in Geneva, Switzerland, visited the va- 
rious watch manufacturers, aud wc arc sure there was 
no " Great Geneva Watch Company" known t/iere. 
Variejyalett Japanese Honey- 
suckle,-" R. Z.S.," Laclede, Mo. This is perfectly 
hardy and is a capital climber. It is also a very useful 
plant for edgings to flower-beds. 
Plaster on Oalt Openings. — "R.," 
Woodworlh, Wis., asks if plaster will benefit tame mead 
ows on what are called "burr oak openings." Yes. We 
have seen one barrel pc-r acre applied on such land' with 
tho best effects, though in other places a less quantity is 
generally used. It should be sown early in May, when 
the dew is on the grass, or immediately after a shower. 
It is of little benefit to spring wheat. 
Sauerkraut. — tl W. M.," Battle Ground, 
wishes to know if kraut can be made of cabbages that 
mature in August. In our vicinity it is only prepared 
from hard, late-heading cabbages in cold, frosty weather. 
Who can tell him about summer making ? 
Catching Owls.— TV. Emery, Champaign 
Co., Ohio, plants a ten foot 4x4 scantling " near the trees 
the chickens roost on," and on the top of this puts a wolf- 
trap, which catches the marauding owls. Query : Would 
it not be quite as easy to build a chicken-house ? 
Wooil-eating Cattle.— E. Everett, Au- 
burn, Me., wants a remedy to prevent his cattle eating 
their stanchions and boards off the barn, and any other 
wood they can reach. Give them some bones, burnt and 
powdered, with some wood ashes and salt, to lick ; when 
they have enough, they will eat no more boards. 
Spaying Cows-— "C.," Daic t &}'•» wishes 
to spay an Alderney cow, if the operation will not injure 
her for producing milk. Cows, when spayed, continue 
to give a somewhat reduced quantity of richer milk for 
some years, when they gradually fatten and dry up. 
Ora ini ag by Subsoil Plow. — 
" Fanner," Dane Co., Wis., has a piece of land with clay 
subsoil, which he can not afford to underdrain, and asks 
if there is any subsoil plow by which the clay can be 
opened sufficiently to permit the water to pass off, and 
how far apart under ground the furrows should be 
made. The best plow for this purpose is the Miner sub- 
soil plow, made by R. II. Allen & Co., Water street, New 
York. It can be drawn by two horses, at a depth of four- 
teen inches beneath the surface, and costs $S. It leaves 
what is called a mole track, and at twelve to twenty-four 
inches apart these tracks permit the water to escape. 
To Tan Buckskin tor Mittens.— 
lL M. P. B.," Minnesota. The best method is the Indian 
mode. Remove the hair by means of a lye of ashes, and 
then rub them with brains and smoke them. We have 
forgotten the details of the process, but probably some 
of our Western readers can give it to us in full. Indian- 
tanned sktna do not harden after being wetted. 
Bine Uce.— " TV. D.,' 1 Sevastapol, la., wants 
a remedy against blue lice on cattle. See Ilints about 
Work for February, page 43. If crude petroleum can not 
be got, a mixture of lard and kerosene oil will answer as 
a substitute. Kerosene alone is too strong. If carbolic 
acid can not be got, sulphur, ground up with the lard, 
will answer, hut not bo well. 
Feed for Calves and Colts.— "N. 
W.," Pottstown, Pa., asks what is the best feed for young 
calves after weaning, and should yearling colts be fed 
grain ?— The best calves we have raised were fed on early- 
cut clover, hay cut, wetted, and sprinkled with a handful 
of coarse middlings or mill-stuff and some oil-cake meal 
to each feed. They also got the skimmed milk until six 
months old. Yearling colts should have a quart of bruised 
oats per day — it is well repaid. 
Kansas.— " H. R.," Alleghany Co., Md., with 
some friends, arc going to Kansas, to take up homestead 
lands, aud wants a book which gives information about 
farming there. The Kansas Immigration Society, Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, will give all information respecting lands 
and locations of homesteads. The methods of farming 
there arc not much different from those elsewhere, and 
will soon become plain aud easy to any smart man. 
Esparcette, or Saintfoin. — " P. D.," Atlantic 
Co., N. J., asks where Saintfoin seed can be purchased. 
At almost any of the seed-stores in New York, at 50 cents 
per pound (see advertisements). The best grass for 
a li mucky " soil is Red-top. 
Jerusalem Artichoke.— A. Meyer, Dn- 
buqne Co., Iowa. Plant as early in spring as the grouud 
can be worked, the same as potatoes, in rows far enough 
apart to cultivate between them. The tubers maybe dug 
in fall, or be wintered in the ground and fed in spring. 
Sparry. — A. Richardson, Wilmington, Del., 
wants to know all about Spurry. Spurry is a small an- 
nual plant, and useful only on poor, sandy soils, where no 
oilier forage plant will grow. If there are such poor, 
sandy soils in Delaware or Maryland, Spurry may be 
grown on them as a commencement for improvement by 
sowing twenty-four pounds of seed per acre in March, 
again in May and July, thus growing and plowing under 
three crops in one year ; afterwards it may be sown and 
eaten off, the grouud plowed, Bowed, and eaten again, 
until the soil is sufficiently strengthened to grow clover. 
Spurry is said, in the Agricultural Department report of 
18(54, to be a native of this country, which is incorrect. 
It has been introduced from Europe, and has become 
sparingly naturalized iu some States. 
The Best Oil Tor Harness.— A. Jones, 
Smyrna, Tenn., wants the bcEt oil for harness and other 
leather. A non-drying oil is needed. Tanner's oil i* the 
best. Fish oils arc non-drying oils. A mixture of bees- 
wax, lamp-black, and tallow is a good application, well 
rubbed into the leather when damp. 
Fruit Trees.— lt J. T. B.,' 1 West Redding, 
Ct. It does not make any difference whether you procure 
your trees from a nursery near home or far away, provided 
the trees are well grown and the wood properly ripened. 
EIay-Caps. — "II. IV' wants a composition 
to make hay-caps water-tight. Two coats ol linseed oil 
will do it, but when dry, the cloth is apt to crack. Agood 
quality of sheeting will turn water for 24 hours, without 
any coating, if the hay-cock is made pointed at the top. 
Humbugged. — U IL," Ashley, Mass., has 
bought a right to use a secret method of chemicalizing 
manure for $j, and fears he has been humbugged. His 
fears are well founded, doubtless. A mixture of salt, 
plaster, lime, and ashes, in itself, is of very doubtful value 
to mix with manure, to treble its fertilizing properties, 
and $5 is too much to pay for the knowledge. As an hon- 
orable man he will respect the obligation he has volun- 
tarily entered into, but $5 would pay for the Agriculturist 
for four years, and one can learu more thau five dollars' 
worth from its pages in less than that time. 
Spring-Wheat Sections.— TV. F. Atkin- 
son, Boon Hill, N. C, referring to the advice in February 
Agriculturist to farmers in '•spring- wheat sections'" to 
sow largely, asks what are spring-wheat sections, and if 
North Carolina is one. It is not. Spring wheat succeeds 
best in colder climates, as Northern Illinois, Iowa, "Wis- 
consin, and Minnesota. It should be sowed as early as 
possible in the spring. 
Heeling* in. — G. C. Brown. This is a gar- 
dener's term for laying plants in a trench and covering 
the roots with earth. In the case of Osage Orauge, the 
year-old seedlings, if left in the seed-bod. will get badly 
drawn by the frost. If taken up iu the fall and heeled 
in, they may be kept in safety. 
Crannerrics .on Hill*. — C. Blakeslee. 
The berries you saw upon the hills in Labrador were the 
Cowberry (Vaccinium Yitis-Ida>a) y a close relative of the 
true Cranberry, and common in the northern parts of 
both hemispheres. They are much liked by Norwe- 
gians and other natives of Northern Europe, but they are 
too bitter to be popular. It would probably grow on any 
not over-rich upland, and wc have grown it in common 
garden soil. 
The U.S. Signal Scrrice.— The Farm- 
ers' Club of Middlesex Co.. N. J., recently passed a reso- 
lution of confidence in the Signal Service Burean, and 
approving "of the efforts made by that Bureaa to benefit 
the agriculture of the country in a practical manner." 
Everybody will agree with the Middlesex Club ; the 
Bureau is bo well established in popular favor that it 
hardly seems to need resolutions in its favor any more 
than does the law of gravitation. 
Cranberries.— " TV. H. B.," Plainfield, Ct. 
"We can not give a treatise on Cranberry culture in a basket 
item. If you intend to engage in the business on cither 
a large or a small scale, the very best investment yon can 
make will be to put $1.25 in White's Cranberry Culturist. 
Cure for Stin^bonc. — Baxter White, 
Sherboru, Mass. —Foment with warm water for half an 
hour, and then apply a blister of ointment of binoididc 
of mercury or lead ; which must be repeated until an 
active blistering is effected. Another remedy is firing, 
but this should not be attempted but by a skillful veter 
inary surgeon. An old ringbone is incurable, and ia 
better left alone and rest given to the hor6c. 
New Corn. — " TV. A. S.," Will Co., 111., 
eends ns a circular of anew corn, and asks what we think 
of it. As the circular says that the corn in ordinary cul 
ture produced 390 bushels to the acre, we think it very 
fishy. If you touch it at all, do it gently. Do not spend 
any money on this corn unless you can afford to lose it. 
A smaH investment will enable you to test the truth of 
the statement, and give yon seed enough for another year. 
