1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
167 
them, especially those that receive orders by express or 
mail, are just like any other stores, only they put a lot of 
showy articles together that they -will sell for $1, and 
they are seldom cheap at that price All the "cheap 
watches " for $1 to $5, by tickets or otherwise, the mag- 
netic time-keepers, etc., are humbugs. Never buy a 
watch except of a known party, whom you can reach 
readily, and compel him to make good all he promises for 
it It is strange that some very respectable people 
should write to us asking about reliable agents lor the 
Havana and other lotteries. Every lottery, even if genu- 
ine, is a cheat. It takes a great number of people's 
money, pockets half or more, and then gives these people 
a chance to cast lots for what is left. All gift enterprises 
are similar in character and results. St. Joseph, Mich., 
has a flaming one (on paper) ; Boston has a lottery called 
the " Women's Homestead LcagU' 1 ," ostensibly managed 
by a "goddess of the morning," Aurora C. Phelps. "We 
have a lot of presented tickets, between the numbers 
42,003 and £7,000, for sale cheap ! We can't impose on 
our friends by giving them away Among other lotteries 
to be let alone, is the sale of the ''Mount Florence 
Estate," to he sold in 35,000 dollar shares. Wonder how 
many of these " shares " arc to be given to editors to ad- 
vertise it? The Sawdust operators are getting thick 
again, with the new dodge of receiving letters "for 
safety" in some other city (where Mr. Gnylor can't 
watch them so closely they think), but still claiming that 
their head-quarters is in New York. They are all similar. 
Among them are Turner & Wells, 200 Chestnut st., and 
J. T. Spencer & Co., 10 South st., Philadelphia; D. II. 
Dayton and K. S. Turner, Williarasbnrgh, N. Y. ; Sidney 
Messenger, cor. Broadway and John street, New York ; 
Noah Jiulson & Co., 103 William st. ; C. E. Penn, 28 
Bowery; J. P. Gurney, alias J. P. Strange, alias Austin 
Chipman, alias Dr. Wm. S. Cody, alias M. O. Doone, all 
of 10 S. 5th ave., New York; G. M. Washburn, 3 Beek- 
man st., etc., etc. (A gentleman of Barre, Vt., in sending 
this last, says, "Go on in your good work of exposing 
humbugs; for although you may not think it needed, it 
is saving thousands of dollars to the laboring class of 
our country" — yes, hundreds of thousands !) To 
"Subscriber": Yes! you might cut out a thousand just 
snch advertisements, and 00!) of them would he humbugs. 
Seeding; to Grass after Corn.-" A 
Subscriber " asks if he can get a crop of corn off from 
the ground in time to seed down to grass in the fall, and 
cut hay the next season. Not under ordinary circum- 
stances ; but if the ground is very rich, clean, and made 
mellow, and the grass seed sown not later than the middle 
of September, it may be done. Grass and clover have 
been sown on such land in the spring, and mowed for hay 
the same season. 
Twin Cattle.— F. F.Vasey, Dunn Co.,Wis , 
corroborates the assertion that twin cattle arc not neces- 
sarily barren, he having twin cows seven years old which 
have had Ave calves each. 
Lime and Salt Mixture.— u D.V. H.," 
Washington Co., III., asks how lime and salt should he 
mixed for applying to wheat, and when it should be ap- 
plied. Slake the lime with a quantity of water in which 
salt has been dissolved until it can take up no more, 
sufficient to reduce the lime to a fine dry powder. Five 
or six bushels per acre of this mixture may be spread 
early in spring over the wheat. Its effect is generally to 
stiffen the straw. 
Price ot" Chemical Manures, — A 
" Reader " is informed that the following articles can be 
purchased in New York at the prices mentioned— viz. : 
Nitrate of Soda $10, Nit. Potash $15. Sulph. Potash $12, 
Sulph. Ammonia $10 — per 100 pounds ; Superphosphate 
of Lime $45 to $60, Ground Bone $35 to $45, per ton. 
For dealers' names, see advertising columns. 
Cotswoltt Sheep. — John Irwin, Buchanan, 
Mich , has purchased a Cotswold buck, but he is not 
satisfied with his appearance ; his wool islong and grows 
on his foretop, but his legs are of a brownish color. This 
answers to the description of the Cotswold, excepting 
the color of the legs, which may be due to his having 
been kept in a dirty pen, which at this season often 
causes the wool to be stained. 
Concrete Buildings. — "L.," Eastwood, 
Lucas Co., O., asks if the walls of concrete buildings 
need to be lathed before plastering. No ; these walls arc 
absorbent, and do not condense moisture on the surface. 
Washing Fruit-Trees with I^ye. 
— "T. W. S." asks when is the best time to wash apple- 
trees with lye, and whether it is good for peach-trees. — 
The object is to kill moss, lichens, and other parasites, as 
well as the eggs of insects, and the beat time is early in 
the spring, and repeat as often as is necessary to effect 
the object. It is a very old remedy. Carbolic soap added 
to the lye is a great improvement. Wc have this spring 
gone over all our apple-trees with it, using say half a 
pound of the soap to a gallon of lye. It is as beneficial 
on peach-trees as on apple-trees. 
Which Stoclt?— "A Subscriber," Adams 
Co., Pa., wants to improve his stock; he wants that 
breed which will grow large and quickly, and be 
pretty good milkers ; he does not like the Jerseys or 
Devons, as they are loo small. The Durham or Short- 
horn would suit him. In his county there should be pas- 
ture sufficient to raise this stock, which grows quickly to 
a large size, but needs correspondingly good feed. 
"QuacJc" Grass. - M. J. Hughes, St. 
Lawrence Co., N. Y. There is no way of getting rid of 
" Quack " grass but plowing and harrowing, and picking 
up the roots and destroying them; mere plowing and 
harrowing tends to increase the evil. 
A Six-Acre Farm. — "J. C. S." lias six 
acres of land, twenty-five miles from market in Central 
Ohio, and wants to know what he had best do with it ; 
land is dry and rolling. Market-gardening would doubt- 
less be better than poultry-raising. Get Peter Henderson's 
Gardening for Profit for $1.50, and follow his directions. 
Mulching with Wheat-Chaffi'.— " I. 
F." asks if wheat-chaff will compact so closely when 
used as a mulch for fruit-trees, as to injure them. There 
can be no danger of this; chaff is a good matt-rial for 
a mulch. 
Share's Hor-e-Moe.— " F. R. K.," Gallia 
Co., Ohio. Share's Horse-hoe and Perry's Scarifier arc 
both excellent implements; the first is suitable to a 
greater variety of uses than the second— for that reason 
we prefer it. 
Brittany Cattle. — A few months a^o it 
was stated in these columns that we knew of no herd of 
Brittany cattle in the country. We have since learned 
that the non. Charles L. Flint, Secretary of the Massa- 
chusetts State Board of Agriculture, has for some years 
been breeding the Brittany catt'.e, but we are not in- 
formed if he has them for sale. 
Woou Ashes.-" C. L. J., n Saybrook, O., 
has 100 bushels of unlcached wood ashes ; can he use 
them to most profit on clay land, or on sandy land to be 
seeded to clover? — The effect of wood ashes in consider- 
able quantities, as 130 to 100 bushels per acre, is to make 
clay lands looser in texture, and sandy lands more com- 
pact. In small quantities these effects would not be 
very apparent. In any other way, either soil would be 
equally benefited, though probably the light soil may 
need them most, on account of the seeding to clover. Ten 
bushels per acre, sown in spring, would be a proper quan- 
tity under above circumstances. 
I*otatfoes after Corn. — A friend, whose 
garden consists of a heavy clay soil, pays he "forks up 
his corn-stubble into ridges in the fall, burying all the 
stalks and leaves in the trenches, to make the soil mel- 
low for potatoes as the next crop. I cut the stalks into 
pieces about eight inches long, so that they will rot and 
supply potash to the potatoes." Corn-stalks do contain 
about three times aB much potash as wheat straw; but 
we apprehend the advantage of the above plan is due to 
ridging and mellowing the soil rather than to potash. 
Artesian Wells.— J. F. Smith, Sand Point, 
Texas. It is impossible to tell the cost of an Artesian 
well, or of the implements necessary to bore it, unless 
the depth is known. This can only be ascertained by an 
experiment, which after all may be a failure, but if suc- 
cessful, is a guide for others in the same locality. The 
experiment, therefore, should be a joint affair. 
Grub in the Head.— U D. M.,» Ulster 
Co., N. Y., has lost some sheep by grub in the head, and 
wants a remedy. Tobacco-smoke blown up the nostrils 
of the sheep has sometimes been effectual in dislodging 
the grubs ; it is not often that sheep die with grubs, 
though they are often annoyed by them. To prevent them, 
keep the sheep's noses smeared with tar during the warm 
summer months, when the fly abounds. 
Preventing- Hill-Sides from Wash- 
ing.—" J. T. J.," La Crescent, Minn., asks, if a hill-side 
is sowed to clover, whether the clover roots will prevent 
washing of the surface f- No ; clover roots have no bind- 
ing influence on the soil ; the spreading surface roots of a 
close sod, in which white clover is plentiful, tend to pre- 
vent washing ; such land should be laid down with gra*s 
instead of clover, and when plowed the furrows should 
run diagonally up and down the hill. 
Fits, orMesTims.- (l E. D.," Toin'a River, 
N. J., has a pony, which is sometimes taken with fits, or 
blind-staggers (?), and asks what he should do for a cure. 
There is no remedy that can be depended on, if the 
disease is what is often called megrims, and causes the 
horse to fall in convulsions or insensibility. If merely a 
temporary giddiness, it maybe relieved by avoiding rapid 
or heavy work requiringgreat exertion, and administer- 
ing tonics, with the best of food, but not stimulating, 
and securing perfect ventilation of the stable. If the 
disease is the more serious one, it is not safe to use the 
horse, and very wrong to sell him, as one fit is only a 
precursor of others, which will follow until death occurs 
suddenly in one of them. 
Fowl« eating- Feathers. — u Subscriber" 
asks if there is any remedy for fowls eating each other's 
feathers, when they have abundance of fresh meat fed to 
them. We know of none but the effectual one of " Off 
with her head." 
Saltpeter for Cows. — ll Subscriber," 
McKeysport, has been told that a handful of saltpeter, 
given twice a week to cows, will prevent the milk turning 
sour rapidly in hot weather, and asks, " How is it?*" — 
We think it would be a somewhat questionable and dan- 
gerous remedy. Saltpeter is poisonous in large quanti- 
ties ; half an ounce has been known to kill a man, and a 
handful given to a cow, unless for some good reason, as 
medicine, would or might be hurtful. As it operates on 
the kidneys, it would probably reduce the flow of milk. 
With perfect cleanliness, and cooling the milk before 
Btarting, it ought to he carried 100 miles without souring. 
To Seed down Wot Lan<l.-"E.A. 
B.' 1 asks how he shall get a piece of wet land into grass. 
We have succeeded in getting a good stand of red-top on 
such land by burning the stubble of the coarse growth in 
spring, harrowing, and sowing red-top thickly, or about 
a bushel and a half peracre, with a few quarts of timothy 
intermixed. Red-top will linall}* crowd out all the rest. 
$1, or $2, or $3.— One dollar will pay for 
the American Agriculturist from May 1, to the end of 
1872. Two dollars will pay for the weekly Hearth and 
Some from April 20 to the end of 1S72 (including all of 
Edward Eggleston's great Story, " The End of the 
World"). Three dollars will pay for Hearth and Home 
and American Agriculturist for the same time. 
Earth-Closets. 
While farmers enjoy especial advantages for the pre- 
servation of their own health and that of their families, 
it is nevertheless true that in one very important essen- 
tial they are careless and inattentive. We allude to the 
necessary appendage to a household, the closet; with 
which is generally connected a cesspool. This cesspool 
receives, for a number of years, the aggregate waste of 
a family, which is absorbed by the ground and soon satu- 
rates all the soil contiguous to it. The well often re- 
ceives the drainage which finds its way through the soil, 
and the water, becoming contaminated, conveys, as it is 
consumed by the family, the deadliest poison. This pe- 
culiar poisonous matter, in quantities so small as to be 
undetected by taste or smell, produces dysentery, chol- 
era, and typhoid fevers. Here exists an alarming danger 
to which a great proportion of unsuspecting country res- 
idents are subjected. The earth-closet system at once 
does away with this unpleasant and serious evil. Dry 
earth is an absorbent and a disinfectant, and it needB 
only to become generally known, and that there be a sat- 
isfactory means of applying it. to have it introduced into 
use in every country household. The Goux Earth-Closet 
is one of the simplest and most convenient of s-weral 
modes of using dry earth. The tub or vessel used is not 
contaminated, being lined with a thick layer of earth, 
which is made compact by being compressed or beaten 
in around a mold. This lining forms a receptacle which 
receives or absorbs all solid or liquid matter, and a scoop- 
ful of dry earth, thrown in, completes the method. When 
the tub is filled it may be removed and emptied upon a 
heap, under cover, where it may be preserved in a per- 
fectly inodorous condition until needed as a fertilizer. 
In this shape it will be found equal to guano, and spread 
on meadows or on fodder and other crops, it will repre- 
sent a considerable money value, which now is utterly 
wasted, and worse than wasted, rendered injurious. In- 
place of dry earth, sifted coal-ashes may be used. 
