1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
24:5 
ing season was oyer. Prices have gradually settled, and 
the market closes decidedly dull. Of course the prices of 
sheep are all given for shorn lots. Lambs have a wide 
range, some poor lots of 37 lbs. selling at 8!4c, common 
to fair Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky at 10c. @ lie. ; fair to 
prime Jerseys and State at lie. @ 11 ^c, a few extras of 
60 lbs. reaching 30c. Poor to medium sheep are quoted 
at 5Hc. @ 6c. 3 lb. ; fair to good at 654c. (3 7c, and 
choice 7&C Swlue.— Hogs still come forward too 
fast for any improvement in prices. They have continued 
quite uniform during the entire month. The Western 
country is said to be full of hogs, made by a bountiful 
crop of corn last season. Live are worth 4^c. @ iy t c. ; 
city-dressed Western, 5'/5c @ 5fto. 
SPECIAL. PREMIUMS 
STILL OFFERED. 
MULTUM IN PAKVO KNIFE, OPEN.— WEIGHT 2 OZ. 
The General Premium Lilt closed July 1st. The 
following Special Premiums are continued until 
further notice : 
The "rlultum in Parvo Knife for 8 
subscribers to American Agriculturist at $1.50 a 
year ; or 4 subscribers to Hearth and Home at $3.00 
a year ; or 5 subscribers for one year to both the 
above papers at $4.00 a year. (Knife sent post-paid.) 
The «e<-kiviili $1© Sewing Ma- 
chine for 12 subscribers to A?ncrican Agriculturist 
at $1.50 a year; or 6 subscribers to Hearth and 
Home at $3.00 a year ; or for 10 subscribers to both 
papers at $4.00 a year. 
Hi. B. — Two half-year subscribers in all 
the above cases may count for one full year in a 
Premium Club List. 
MULTUM IN PARVO KNOTS, CLOSED. — 3 inches long 
Pnmp for a Deep Well. — "A. 8.," 
Mercer Co., Pa., has a well 40 feet deep, and wishes to 
know the best pump for it. The American Submerged 
Pump is calculated for wells of this depth ; the price is 
$15, without the pipe. The Bridgeport Manufacturing 
Co., 55 Chambers St., New York, are the manufacturers. 
containing a great variety of Items, including many 
good Bints and Suggestions ichich we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form, for want of space elsewhere. 
Remitting Money : — Checks on 
New Yorlt City Banks or Bankers are best 
for large sums ; make payable to the order of Orange 
Jndil & Co Post-Office Money Orders, 
for $50 or less, are cheap and safe also. When these are not 
obtainable, register letters, affixing stamps for post- 
age and registry ; put in the money and seal the letter in 
the presence of the postmaster, and take his receipt for it. 
Money sent in the above three methods is safe against loss. 
Postage : On American Agriculturist, 3 cents 
a quarter, in advance ; on Hearth and Home, 5 cents per 
quarter. Double rates if not paid in advance at the 
office where the papers are received. For subscribers in 
British America, the postage must be sent to this office 
for prepayment here. 
Bound Copies of Volume Thirty 
arc now ready. Price, $2, at our office ; or $8.50 
each, if sent by mail. Any of thela6t fifteen volumes 
(16 to 30) will also be forwarded at same price. Sets of 
numbers sent to our office will be neatly bound in our 
regular style, at 75 cents per vol. (50 cents extra, if return- 
ed by mail.) Missing numbers supplied at 13 cents each. 
Onus can at any time be increased by remitting 
for each addition the price paid by the original memberB ; 
or a small club may be increased to a larger one ; thus : 
a person having sent 10 subscribers and $12, may after- 
ward send 10 more subscribers with only $8 ; making a 
club of 20 at $1 each ; and so of the other club rates. 
Potato Queries. — When a branch of a 
rose-bush that has usually borne white roses bears red 
ones, we call that a Eport. When a shrub that usually 
bears green leaves pushes out a twig npon which the 
leaves are all veined with yellow, we call that a sport. 
When a potato that usually bears long and white tubers 
produces a short and red one, or one that differs in any 
marked manuer from the ordinary character of the vari- 
ety, we call that a sport of the potato. There is no proof 
that the impregnation of the blossoms of a potato plant 
with the pollen of another variety will effect any change 
in the tubers of that plant. 
Northern Pacific R.B.— A Good 
Record. — "Investigating committees" have been the 
order of the day during a year past, and in most cases 
their necessity has been proved. A notable exception 
has occurred in the case of the Congressional Committee 
directed to examine thoroughly the affairs of the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad Company. The report completely 
vindicates the officers and agents of the Company, and is 
In every sense very satisfactory. The workis thoroughly 
done, In the best manner, and no one is found dipping 
his own hand into the treasury, directly or indirectly, by 
means of contracts or supplies furnished. 
Teterinary Education. — "Orphan 
Boy," WaverleyHights, Pa.— Write to New York College 
of Veterinary Surgeons, Lexington ave., near 33d St., 
New York, for circular. 
Lane's Beet. — " Subscriber," Chattanooga, 
Tenn.— This will grow where other root crops will suc- 
ceed. There is no more seed to be had, and you can not 
try it this year. 
Asparagus Bed. — "A. A. B.," Ontario. — 
Spring is the most convenient season for making an As- 
paragus bed. You will find directions at the proper 
season in our hints under Kitchen Garden. When well 
set, the bed will, if properly cared for, last many years. 
Large Immigration. — Ten thousand 
immigrants landed in New York on Monday, May 20th. 
This is the largest number that has ever arrived in any 
one day. 
Ginseng.— "A. E. T.," Havre de Grace, Md. 
— Ginseng is the root of Aralia quinquefolia {Panax quin- 
guefolium of the older botanists), a plant wbich grows in 
rich, moist woods, especially in mountainous districts. 
It is comparatively rare in the Eastern States, but is still 
abundant in some parts of the South and West. The 
root is from three to nine inches long, and as big round 
as one's finger. It has a peculiar aromatic and a some- 
what sweetish and mucilaginous taste. Medicinally, it 
is of no value save as a mild aromatic. The Chinese 
Ginseng is the root of Panax Schinseng, and is highly 
valued by the Chinese, it being sometimes sold for its 
weight in gold. The word ginseng in Chinese signifies the 
" Wonder of the World," and we do not wonder at it, as 
it has power, according to the Chinese physicians, " to 
make old people young," and to " render a man immor- 
tal, if anything on earth can do so." As our Ginseng is 
not essentially different from the Chinese, and probably 
quite as efficacious, it is exported iu considerable quan- 
tities to Immortalize the Celestials. We have not known 
of any attempts to cultivate it for commercial purposes. 
Pairs in Angust. — Our regular list of 
fairs is published in September, as the majority occur in 
that month and later. We have received notice of two 
which take place in August, which are : Boone Co., Mo., 
at Columbia, Aug. 27-31, and Mahaska Co., Iowa, at 
Oskaloosa, Aug. 87-30. 
Donble>fnrrow Plow. — The double- 
furrow plow is no new invention, as is often supposed. 
It was in use in England 200 years ago, seventy years 
ago the first patent was taken out for improvements on 
the old form, sixty years ago several patterns were made 
by different makers, and now they are said to be used by 
ten thousand farmers in Great Britain. 
We Give it up. — We have again and 
again requested that persons making inquiries to bo 
answered by mail, should inclose only the return postage. 
Heretofore we have, when 25c, 50c, $1, etc., have been 
eent " for information," returned tho amount minus the 
three cents for postage. We find that this costs altogether 
too much time and trouble. If people will disregard our 
repeated request, we give notice that while we have no 
information to sell at any price, we can not bother with 
making return change. If they put in more than a three- 
cent stamp, it is so much money thrown away. We wish it 
to be very distinctly understood that we do not accept the 
excess over the amount required for return postage as a 
compensation, and that we incur no obligation whatever 
in retaining what we have frequently requested shoidd 
not be sent. 
SI \DKV HUMBUGS.— An unusually 
light job we have this month, for though we have tho 
basket full of letters and circulars, those referring to 
swindles not previously exposed in these columns belong 
largely to one class— the "Queer" operators At 
Bridgeport, Ct., in the " Land of Steady Habits," they 
have a Mammoth Lottery, got up with no little ingenuity 
in the use of printer's ink, and pretty well calculated to 
draw in the dollars from the Micawber class, which is 
large everywhere. It is claimed that every payer gets his 
money's worth, to start with, and, in addition, a chance 
in a Grand Distribution of more than half a million dol- 
lars' worth of all sorts of things, such as houses, lots, 
engravings, carriages, pianos, shawls ($S50 to $1,000 
each), oil paintings ($S00 each), point-lace collars ($40 
each), a $125 saddle, $20 family Bibles, etc., etc., etc., 
etc.— a grand melange of gifts surely— when all the tickets 
are sold, amounting to " several hundred thousands "—we 
don't know how many hundreds of thousands 1 Lots of 
indorsements of the manager are printed from Mayors, 
Congressmen, etc., down (or up) to " respectable citi- 
zens." Probably "several hundred thousand" people 
will rush in with their $1, $2, and $3 each. Sensible 
people will buy what they want at regular prices. If we 
granted all that the manager claims for this scheme, we 
should still advise all people to let it alone Beverely. 
Lotteries, and all schemes and games of chance, arc bad 
in their influence. They cultivate a proclivity to look for 
chance fortune, rather than to honest effort and industry. 
Every person who invests a dollar iu any chance scheme 
— be it lottery, gift enterprise, or otherwise — is posi- 
tively and permanently injured thereby Thomas D. 
Thorp, the note swindler described last month, offers at 
737 Broadway cigar Revenue Stamps at one fifth their 
value, on the pretense that his cousin is in the Govern- 
ment printing-office at Washington, and supplies him 
with extra sheets surreptitiously printed. He, of course, 
pockets all the receipts, and is not come-at-able when 
sought for. We have received a lot more of his swin- 
dling $965 " notes " scattered over the country, as de- 
scribed last month A chap at Charlotte, Mich., calling 
himself F. A. Ellis & Co., successor to J. Y. Johnson, is, 
or recently was, offering disgusting books, pictures, im- 
plements, etc. The good people of Charlotte, if there are 
any there, should clear out this disgraceful nuisance ; 
parents should guard their sons from getting his numer- 
ous circulars, and only those who believe there is "honor 
among thieves" will forward money for his "goods," if 
they are themselves depraved enough to want them for 
use or sale A Missouri subscriber writes that he 
sent 25c. for Borne fine watermelon seeds advertised in 
