14,6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[April, 
rules and regulations with regard to plurals, obsolete 
words, etc., so that the players may be all of one mind. 
The game may be varied by making it sometimes entirely 
geographical or historical; another time it may be based 
upon authors or Bible names. In your anxiety to get 
your ten words, you will study your dictionary, and learn 
many a new word ; and some of you will perhaps be sur¬ 
prised to find that there are such words as mora, moresk, 
nuler, nide, ait, brash, alb, abnet, toggle, etc. 
After the player has finished making all possible com¬ 
binations, it saves time to draw the letter for bis next 
turn, that he may be considering to what words he can 
add it. lie can keep it hidden until his turn comes to 
play. It is well to put a watch upon the table, and de¬ 
cide before commencing the game that three minutes will 
be allowed to each person for consideration. If no 
word is taken from the party having ten words, before 
three minutes are up, the game is finished. If the player 
draws J, V, K, W, X, Z, or Q, or all of these letters, he 
has the privilege of drawing again, even though he has 
been able to add any of them to the others’ words, or to 
letters in the pool. I should be pleased to get a postal 
card from any who try this game, and enjoy it. 
“ C. E. L.”—The “ Square ’’ puzzle you send, was pub¬ 
lished in the American Agriculturist in October, 1877. 
“J. K."—You will need four ounces of chinchilla 
worsted (single zephyr) for the “scarf,” and three ounces 
of scarlet. One ounce of the latter is for the fringe. Set 
up .30 stitches on small wooden knitting needles. The 
“ sontag-stitch ” is a very pretty one for the purpose. 
The advantage of this stitch is, that there is no “right 
or wrong” side. In case you are not familiar with the 
stitch, I can make you acquainted with it in a very few 
words: “ Slip one, thread over, knit two together.” 
Knit ten rows of chinchilla, then half an ounce of scar¬ 
let, then ten more of chinchilla, and half an ounce of 
scarlet, (being careful to join your thread at the com¬ 
mencement of a row, never in the middle). Now knit 
the remainder of your chinchilla worsted, all but enough 
for the twenty rows beyond the scarlet stripes at the 
other end. Tie in your fringe. Bibbed scarfs are also 
pretty, (“ two plain and two purled ”). 
E. B. M. D. asks for “ directions how to piece 1 Log- 
cabin’ quilts, and also how to net tidies, etc. I wish to 
net a bed-spread with white cotton.”—I would not under¬ 
take to tell you how to net., for I know I should “ get all 
tied up in a hard-knot ” myself, if 
I should attempt it. I would re¬ 
commend you to get a book which 
gives “ instruction in knitting, 
netting, and crochet work.” I can, 
however, help you to the “ Log- 
cabin ” pattern, one block of 
which is shown in the figure. Be¬ 
gin with a piece of silk, one 
inch square, for the center piece; then provide four 
pieces 1 by 2 inches, four pieces 1 by 3, four pieces 1 
by 4, and four pieces more 1 by 5 inches. Let half of 
them be of dark, and half of light silk, and arrange them 
as seen in the pattern. When your blocks are all 
completed, you can join them together—being careful to 
keep the dark shades all running the same way—or you 
can separate them by strips, three or four inches wide, of 
black silk. It adds very much to the effectiveness, to 
make the center square (of each block) of black velvet. 
■mi! 
Our Young’ iJIicroseopists’ Clul>. 
I invited you, and you have come. Such a loti Well, 
I am glad to have you tell me what you are doing, but you 
must not expect me to notice you all in these talks, i 
can only find space to notice those who wish their ques¬ 
tions answered, and who tell something of use to the 
rest. One Minnesota boy, to whom a relative gave a 
$50 Microscope, wishes one of our instruments in order 
that he may belong to our “ Club.”... I was reading the 
other day, in a large work, about the Microscope, and 
came across something that I thought would interest 
you. The author stated that many of the figures given of 
the minute objects seen by the costly and powerful Micro¬ 
scopes, were not true, that they were due to what is called 
can not always trust our eyes, but must look at all the 
things that we examine with the Microscope, very care¬ 
fully and in various ways, looking at them as both opaque 
and as transparent objects . .Several have, from time to 
time, asked me about a swift moving, silvery looking little 
creature,now and then found in drawers,and among books 
that have not been disturbed for some time. Some call it 
“ THE SILVER-FISH,” 
as it has a fish-like shape and a silvery color; in England 
it is known as the “ Sugar-Louse.” It is about one-third 
of an inch long, and of the shape shown in figure 2. It is 
really an insect, and belongs in that class of insects that 
have no wings, with the lice, ticks, mites, and others. 
Its scientific name is Lepisma saccharim. Its first, or 
Fig. 2. —lepisma, or “sugar-louse.” 
generic nam e, Lepisma, is from a Greek word, meaning 
“ to scale off,” probably because its scales come oft' so 
easily, and its second, or specific name, sacchariiui, refers 
to its fondness for sugar. It is said to be very fond of 
sweetmeats of all kinds, and is charged with eating silks, 
and with injuring books, though some say that it is only 
found among books, because it is after the mites which do 
the mischief. Ilowever, I have never seen them numer¬ 
ous enough to do much injury. When you catch one, 
you will find that, by a touch, this silvery dust with which 
it is covered, will come off upon your finger; transfer 
some of this to a glass slide and examine it, you will find 
that each minute particle of that which seems like dust 
is a beautiful scale, 
and presents the appearance of figure 3. 'Though a small 
object for your Microscope, you can 
make out the form of the scales; some 
are long and fan-shaped, and others 
circular. You may be able to see the 
lengthwise lines if you are careful. 
This is one of the objects used to test 
the powerful Microscopes; an in¬ 
strument of sufficient power will show 
not only the lengthwise lines, but 
cross markings. The scales on the scale. 
wings of butterflies and moths 
arc much larger than these, and you will find them very 
interesting objects. Something is said about these on 
the circular that goes with the Microscope, and now that 
these insects will soon bo about, you must be on the look 
out for them. Not only the scales of insects, but 
THE SCALES OF SMALL FISHES. 
will be found worth looking at as opaque and transparent 
objects. That you may see what pretty objects the scales 
are, I procured a few from such common fishes as happen¬ 
ed to be in the market, that you may see how they look 
when magnified with our Microscope. Figure 4 is from 
the Smelt, a pretty little fish not found a great ways from 
salt water. When magnified, each scale looks like a 
beautiful shield with its surface wrought in delicate 
lines. A much more common fish is the Pickerel, which, 
in the course of the season, most of you will be likely to 
come across. Its scale is shown in figure 5. The notched 
Fig. 4. —SMELT. Fig. 5.— PICKEREL. 
a knife, and place them in a saucer, or other small dish 
of water. Stir them about gently with the finger, and 
when they settle, pour off the water; repeat the washing 
several times, or until they 
seem to be free from all slime ; 
then place them on a paper— 
newspaper is better than glazed 
writing paper—fold it over, and 
put it under a book, or other 
weight, to dry. When dry', you 
can put them up in a fold of 
nice paper, and label them. In 
examining the scales you will 
often find a number stuck to¬ 
gether, in which case you must 
pick them apart with your needles. Yon must look at 
them both as opaque and as transparent objects, and 
by carefully managing the light, you may find that it 
is not well to have too strong a light to see them best. 
AS TO MOUNTING SCALES. 
I am not quite ready to tell you about this, for I wish 
to try some experiments, to hit upon the way that will 
be easiest and the cheapest for you. They will keep 
perfectly well until you are ready to mount them. 
In the pools of water found almost everywhere, 
especially in spring, even if they dry up later in the 
summer months, you will, if not this month, next 
month or later, find on the surface an abundance of 
GREEN SCUM, OR “ BROOIi-SILK,” 
as it is often called. If you take up a bit of it, you will 
find it is made up of fine threads, as fine as, or finer than, 
the fibres of silk. You will often find this of interest to 
examine with your Microscope. These threads are really 
plants, and belong to the great family of Algee, of which 
the seaweeds form so large 
a part. These Algae are 
flowerless plants, that is, 
have no regular flowers and 
seeds, as do the plants we 
are most familiar with, and 
they are often very simple, 
consisting of just a minute 
little cell, or sac—just a mi¬ 
croscopic bag—without root, 
stem, or leaves, and yet be 
a complete plant, which is 
multiplied by breaking up 
into other little bags like 
itself. But our Brook-silk 
is not so simple as this; it 
consists of longish cells or 
bags, placed end to end, as in 
figure 7. There are many 
kinds to be found in our wa¬ 
ters, and you may not all find 
what I am about to describe. 
The threads of some of the B 
7. BROOK-SILK. 8. 
k-silks, when magnified, 
appear as in figure 7, transparent long cells, with green 
matter inside, and this is often arranged in spiral regular 
coils. The v^hole mass as it floats on the water is like 
A BRIGHT GIIEEN SCUM. 
Later in the season, you will find this scum looking dull, 
and much of its green color faded. Examine it from time 
to time, and you may be fortunate enough to catch it at the 
right time to see its curious manner of multiplying. Sev¬ 
eral of these plants behave in the manner shown in figure 8. 
In two threads laying side by side, the cells (or joints,) 
will bulge out towards one another ; at length the pro¬ 
jecting parts of the cells will meet, and grow together, 
the division between them will break away, and all the 
green matter in one, will run over into the other; the con¬ 
tents of the two cells thus joined will form an oval green 
mass, seen in the upper part of figure 8, which is called' 
a spore, and answers to these plants the same purpose 
as seeds do to common plants. When the cell breaks up 
to allow this to escape, it will probably fall to the bottom 
and wait there until next spring to continue the growth. 
I do not expect that all of you will succeed in seeing 
this, but it is worth while to try.. ..Among the things to 
be looked for in the spring water pools is the 
OPTICAL ILLUSION ; 
that is, the impression upon 
>©©«©©©©©« 
Fig. 1. DECEPTIVE SPOTS. 
six-sided spots. I introduce 
the mind is a false one, and 
we do not always see 
things as they really are. 
He illustrated this by a 
series of round black 
spots, placed equally dis¬ 
tant from one another and 
separated by a white 
space, as in figure 1. If 
you hold this about 18 
inches from the eye, al¬ 
though you know the spots 
to be circles, if you look 
at them steadily, they will 
appear to be hexagons, or 
this to show you that wo 
edge is where it is attached to the skin. Still more com¬ 
mon is the Yellow Perch, found in almost every fresh 
water stream or pond in the country, and though so com¬ 
mon, its scale (fig. 6) is one of the most interesting. 
Here you have some very distinct teeth or notches, and 
the opposite edge, the exposed part—or as carpenters say 
about shingles, the part “ to the weather,”—appears quite 
different from the other; it is finely marked with lines, 
and at the very edge you will be able to see a very 
minute little fringe of points. These will serve as ex¬ 
amples, but you will come across a great many other 
fishes, and no matter if they are said to have no scales— 
for many fishes pass for scaleless, because the scales are 
very small and hidden by the skin—examine the skin 
with your glass. When you come across an interesting 
scale, it is well to preserve a little lot, to have some to 
exchange with your friends. Scrape them off gently with 
“revolving globe.” —Volvox Globator. 
I do not know how plenty it is every where, but when 
I lived in one of the Western States, I could hardly go 
amiss for it. Where there was a water-hole, a pint of 
water dipped up from it, would be very sure to contain 
several of thesi curious globes. It is just large enough 
to be seen by the naked eye, and if you get a jar of water 
from such pools, and can see a very tiny globe swim¬ 
ming around in it, you may be pretty sure that you have 
the volvox. But if your jar holds a quart, how are you to 
catch it ? The microscopists have a very neat trick with 
THE “ DIPPING TUBE.” 
This is a glass tube of six inches or more in length, and 
about the diameter of a common lead pencil. Druggists 
generally keep glass tubes of various sizes, and willt 
supply one fora small price. A tube of this kind is fre- 
