86 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
shows concisely the action that has been taken in all the 
States and British Provinces on the weight of the bushel. 
There are simple rules for finding the cubical contents of 
round, square, hopper-shaped, and firkin-shaped vessels. 
The articles upon draining, horse-training, poultry, pota- 
toes, scientific progress, veterinary subjects, agricultural 
education, etc., etc., have been before alluded to. There 
is altogether a great deal of information for fifty cents, 
and such as every fanner wants. 
Fuller's Grape Cnlturist — I\ew 
and Enlarged Edition.— Mr. Fuller's work met 
the general want of a plain and practical treatise on grape 
culture. As it was based upon established principles, it 
at once took rank as a standard work. Most of the trea- 
tises that have appeared since are nothing more than 
Fuller modified and diluted. "When the structure and 
mode of growth of the vine is once understood, all sys- 
tems of training become plain, and one may be followed 
as readily as another. Mr. Fuller gives this knowledge 
of the vine most clearly, and illustrates it so plainly that 
no one can fail to understand it, and for this reason his 
book has become remarkably popular, and has not been, 
nor is it likely to be superseded by any other work on the 
same subject. The teachings of the work are all from 
actual practice, and the illustrations are mainly from grow- 
ing vines. As some of the illustrations of unusual meth- 
ods of training have been said to be fancy sketches, we 
will state that we know them to be genuine, as we have 
seen the vines, from which they were taken, growing in 
Mr. Fuller's grounds. To bring this work up to the 
times in respect to varieties, a considerable portion of the 
matter has been re-written. An additional list of varie- 
ties, including synonyms, has been given, and important 
additions have been made all through the volume. Garden 
culture is treated as well as that of the vineyard, and the 
book is equally adapted to the owner of a single vine, or 
the one who has thousands of vines. Ready March 1st. 
Well illustrated. Price, by mail, $1.50. 
S. S. Bressons for Every Sunday 
in the Year, consist of four volumes, containing 5-2 
lessons each. No. 1 embraces the period from the Birth 
of Christ to the end of Acts ; No. 2, the rest of the New 
Testament. No. 3, From Adam to Elijah ; No. 4, From 
Elijah to Christ. The lessons are connected by a running 
history. The value of these books is attested by the de- 
mand for above half a million copies already. They are 
non -sectarian, and are used by all denominations of Chris- 
tians. They are designed to secure the learning of por- 
tions of the Scriptures, to give a connected view of Sacred 
History, and especially to aid S. S. teachers and scholars 
who have not the aid of commentaries and reference 
books. The full scope of the books is stated in the pre- 
face to No. 1. They are sold at a remarkably low price, 
viz., 15 cents each. We send ftdl sample copies, (Nos. 1 T 
3, 3, and 4.) post paid, for 75 cents. 
A "Staple" Article.— While looking 
around among the ironworkers for other articles, we.came 
across one that we have often felt the 
want of, and had we known that it was 
made for sale it would have saved much 
trouble. It is simply a small staple to- 
be used for fastening wire to posts for 
trellises and fences. The engraving 
shows the size and form ; the two ends 
are chamfered in opposite directions, 
so that, when driven, the points tend 
to spread, and hold with great firm- 
ness. These staples, which will be wel- 
comed by all who use horizontal trel- 
lises, are made by machinery by H. 
C. Richardson, "Williamsburg, N. T., 
and are Bold at wholesale at only fifteen cents per 
pound, about one hundred making a pound. 
The Grandest Excursion of this or 
any other age, is projected for the present year. Abont 
one hundred persons will go on hoard a large Steamship 
June 1st, and visit the Azore Islands and Gibraltar ; stop 
eighteen days at Marseilles and Genoa, to allow all de- 
siring it to go up by railway to Paris and visit the Exhi- 
bition, and thence eastward to the Rhine, and down 
through Switzerland to the ship again. Several days will 
be allowed at Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, etc., to visit the 
Quadrilateral fortifications, Venice, Florence, Rome, and 
other Italian cities. The company will visit Caprera, the 
home of Garibaldi, Palermo in Sicily, Athens, Cor- 
inth, Constantinople, the 3 Crimea, see Vesuvius and 
other volcanoes, sail over St. Paul's Route in the Medi- 
terranean, visit Beiroot and Joppa, giving time to go 
down through Palestine from Beiroot to Jerusalem, and 
also from Joppa over, and spend some time around Jeru- 
salem ; next to Alexandria, the Pyramids, etc., in Egypt ; 
thence westward through the Mediterranean, stopping 
at various points of interest; from Gibraltar southward 
to the Madeira Islands ; across to the Bermudas, and 
thence home, after an absence of 4y z to 5 months. The 
excursionists will have their home constantly aboard the 
ship, where physicians, books, music, etc., are to be pro- 
vided free. The expedition is to be under the charge of 
Capt. Duncan — the Captain who has been eighteen years 
at sea, about half the time as master of large ships — who 
never swore an oath — never drank a glass of liquor, and 
though he has crossed the Atlantic fifty-eight times, never 
suffered a shipwreck, nor lost a man by accident. The 
company is to be select— every applicant's name is sub- 
mitted to a committee. If any wish to join the grand ex- 
cursion, let them seud their credentials to Capt. C. C. 
Duncan, 117 Wall street. New York, who will send all 
particulars, and inform them if there are any vacancies. 
The expense will be about $1,250 for adults, for all ex- 
penses on the water, and as much, or a little more, as they 
choose to spend in land excursions. 
Sundry Humbug's. — "We have a large box 
full of letters recently received, describing various swin- 
dles. In two other paragraphs we describe the " ticket 
operators, and Southern swindlers, and have room for but 
few words here." .Some of the operators have stolen our 
cards, or got fac similes of them printed, and enclose 
them in their circulars in a way to make its seem to in- 
dorse their operations. Others pretend to have obtained 
the addresses of individuals from us. Once for all we 
say : No nanus of our subscribers have ever been furnUhed 
to any person for any purpose whatever, good or bad. Xo' 
person except those employed to post books and write wrap- 
pers, are ever permitted even to look into our books. Some 
postmasters, we suspect, have furnished to applicants the 
names of subscribers to this and other journals at their 
offices We again caution our readers against the pre- 
tended cheap sewing machine operators Harris & 
Brothers, of Boston, whom we exposed in October, have 
j been "put under bonds."'... .The "Howard Association, "of 
J Philadelphia, is to be avoided always The " American 
( Artists 1 Association," Pine St., New York, has been often 
j hunted after, but never found t: at home." Ditto, 
I Hodge of 197 Broadway — no such man there ditto, the 
Tea Company at 109 Water street ditto, somebody at 513 
J Broadway Milnor & Co. 206, alias 210 Bowery, appear 
to be the same as Parkinson & Co. 20$ Broadway, whom 
we showed up some time since. There is quite an assort- 
ment of swindlers in several upper rooms of 204, 200 and 
20S Broadway, all entered by one flight of stairs (Rev.) 
Edward Wilson, of Williamsburg, and J.T. Inman, Station 
D, Bible House, continue to come the "pious dodge." 
Our letters contain circulars of about 50 gift and other 
swindles, of a character similar to those already des- 
cribed in this and previous numbers We may stop 
here, by repeating, that all the gift enterprises, for benev- 
olent or other purposes, the Art Union Associations, etc., 
are downright swindles W. Pnrdy, a base wretch, of 
P , N. J., offers vile pictures, books, instruments, 
etc. Any of his class who thus offer to steal the morals 
of the ignorant, will not hesitate to steal any money sent 
them. Among such fellows rank "Reeves & Co.," of 
Nassau street; Beach, Putney & Co. : Somers & Co., Dr. 
Andrews, Birch & Co., White & Co., and many others. 
Gilbert & Co. offer stationery parcels, with watch 
premiums, jewelry, etc., and refer to Cntter, Tower & Co.. 
andSaml. Raynor & Co., both of which firms "don't know 
anything of this Gilbert," or have given no permission to 
refer to them Beware of "Manufacturers 1 Associa- 
tions" who sell by tickets See our previous notes on 
Humbugs for answers to many letters recently sent tons. 
Ticket Swindlers — How They 
Operate.— Among the numerous methods of cheating 
people, the following is one of the most common : The 
operator hires a small upper room so as to have a place to 
receive letters. He buys from some other operator the 
names and P. O. address of a great many thousands of 
people, which have been obtained from postmasters and 
others under honest pretences. He then gets out a very 
plausible circular, or advertisement, pretending to have 
on hand a great many thousands of dollars worth of 
watches, jewelry, dry goods, etc., a bankrupt stock, or 
the consignment of some failing foreign house, which he 
claims must be sold, or will be sold at wonderfully low 
rates. He pretends to put them all together, to be sold by 
lot, at a uniform price of $1, $2, or $3, or $5, or §10 
each. He sends out sealed tickets for these things, pre- 
tending that they have been drawn by lot, and that he does 
not know what any sealed envelope contains. Sometimes 
pay for the tickets is first asked : sometimes they are sent, 
pretending that somebody has ordered and paid for them. 
Sometimes he pretends to desire the recipient to act as 
agent, and promises special facilities, JZveryyerBon open- 
ing these tickets is sure to find among them at least one 
calling for a watch or other valuable article, " marked at" 
§20, $30, $40, $50 or $75, or more, to be obtained by re- 
mitting a tenth of its " marked " value. The recepient 
thinks he has drawn a valuable prize, and so sends 
on the money. This is usually the last he hears of it. 
No answer is returned to the letters of inquiry he 
may write ■ or if hard pressed, the operator pretends the 
money has been lost by mail, or that he has sent the arti- 
cles, and that, they have been lost. He operates at a dis- 
tance, so that few people can call in person to trouble him. 
If one calls, the operator pretends that "the boss is out." 
If cornered, he hands over the watch, which is usually a 
showy, but nearly or quite valueless affair. Sometimes one 
o'f these taking-looking prizes is sent out as-a bait, but in 
99 cases in 100 nothing is returned for money sent them. 
This is an outline of one mode of operating. The same 
rascal operates in half a dozen or more places, under as 
many different names; and, with few exceptions, the name 
is changed every month or two. We have tickets and cir- 
culars, ostensibly from over 200 different operators, though 
not over half a dozen men are at the bottom of the whole 
of them. A man by the name of Todd has operated un- 
der 40 or 50 names probably, but never in his own real 
name. We say, positively, if you give heed to a singlo 
one of these circulars or ticket enterprises, you will lose 
all the money yo\i invest. 
Look Out for Humbugs at the 
South. — We leam from sundry sources, that a score or 
more of the most expert swindlers of this city— the gift 
enterprise men, the watch and jewelry ticket men, etc. — 
having become disconraged by meeting the Ag?icuUu)isfs 
exposures at every turn throughout the North, are now di- 
recting their efforts especially to the Southern States. 
(The Agriculturist^ shut out from those States by the war, 
and by the prejudice of many of the people, does not cir- 
culate so largely in those States as at the North, where it 
goes to nearly every post office. It is, however, now 
making rapid headway all through the South.) These 
Humbug operators, through the aid of postmasters and 
others, unwittingly given, have gathered up the names 
and address of more than a hundred thousand Southern 
people, and they are plying them with their circulars, and 
plausibly told, but nefarious schemes. See descriptions 
elsewhere. Southern Newspapers should sound the alarm 
at once. We are sorry to see that quite a number of them 
are, unsuspectingly we trust, aiding the swindlers, by pub- 
lishing their advertisements. Let every one of our read- 
ers who has friends or acquaintances at the South, send 
them a copy or two of this journal, or better send them 
the paper for a year. A few numbers at any post office 
would soon head off the swindlers. 
Sample Heads of Grain from Oer- 
many.-We are indebted to Mr. Ferdinand Hundert- 
pfund, florist, of 197 Broadway, New York, for samples of 
the mature heads of nearly or quite 100 kinds of Grain — 
Oats, Millet, Wheat, Rye and Barley. Both summer and 
winter varieties. Many of them possess extraordinary 
beauty. They were raised at the Agricultural and Garden 
School at Karlsruhe, in Baden, and were accompanied by 
samples of seed which we shall try, and hope to report 
upon in due time, if any appear to be especially valuable. 
190 Different Kinds of Beans.— 
The same gentleman has left at our office a collection of 
190 samples of Beans. Most of them are true beans, 
though some are of a different but allied species. These 
also are from the gardens of the Karlsruhe School, of which 
institution Mr. Hundertpfund was apnpU. 
The Officers of the If. Y. State 
Agricultural Society for 1S67, elected at the 
annual meeting February 15th are as follows : President^ 
Gen, Marsena E. Patrick. Vice-Presidents, 1st District, 
Thomas H. Faile, Jr., New York ; 2d District, Samuel 
Thorn, Dutchess ; 3d District, Adam Thayer, Rensselaer ; 
4th District, Milo Ingoldsby, Washington ; 5th District, 
Samuel Campbell, Oneida; fith District, Joseph McGaw, 
Jr., Tompkins : 7th District, H. T. E. Foster, Seneca ; 
Sth District, J. H. Plumb, Erie. Corresponding Secretary. 
B. P. Johnson, Albany. Recording Secretary, Erastns 
Corning. Jr., Albany. Treasurer. Luther H. Tucker, Jr., 
Albany. Executive Committee, George H. Brown, Dutchess; 
John Havens, N. T.; S. T. Taber, Qneens ; T. L. Harrison, 
St. Lawrence ; W. M. Ely, Broome ; James Geddes. Onon- 
daga ; W. Chamberlain, Dutchess ; J. G. Masters, Erie. 
How Often Hay a Mare Have 
Colts?— u J. B. S. Hi," Hartford County, Conn. It is 
asnatnralfor a mare to have foals as it is to live, and if sh« 
is kept well, as you say you keep yours, she may have a 
foal every year, as regularly as a cow has calves. Only do 
not overwork her when she is heavy with foal. 
Map of Maryland. — Mr. S. J. Martenet, 
Baltimore, has published a large map of Maryland and an 
Atlas of County maps, each County being accompanied by 
a concise account of its peculiarities, with statistics of 
population, productions, etc. Such a map will be of 
great use to those who contemplate a removal to the State. 
