170 
AMERICAN AG-RICUETTJRIST. 
Gum ” (Liquidambar stijraciflua), common enough in 
New Jersey, mid still to be found in the few remaining 
pieces of woods in the upper part of the city itself, It is 
a peculiarity of this tree that its young branches bear 
corky wings, often as broad as the diameter of the stem 
itself. Tlie engraving, much reduced in size, shows the 
appearance ora hit of one of these “Alligator Plants.” 
Many cart-loads of them have been sold in the city, 
and a large lot had been sent to Philadelphia. The 
sale began at 25 cents each, but the market closed 
lower, “ in favor of purchasers,” as the reporters have 
it. That large quantities have been sold, is shown 
by seeing the branches placed in water in the windows 
of restaurants, barber’s shops, and such places, as well 
as by the number of people one meets carefully carrying 
their “Alligator Plants” home. To those who do not 
TWIG or THE SO-CALLED “ALLIGATOR PLANT.” 
know the tree we may say that, as to habit and foliage, 
which is star-shaped, it is one of the most beautiful of 
our native forest trees, but the flowers are no more.like 
roses than are those of the Button-ball. They are very 
inconspicuous, the staminate or sterile flowers in little 
conical clusters,the pistillate in small globular heads; they 
have no petals or showy parts, and one unfamiliar with 
such matters, might not even notice the flowers on a tree 
in full bloom. Whether these poor flowers will be pro¬ 
duced in water, we doubt. At any rate they are so unlike 
what are popularly known as flowers, that those who have 
been watching for them will be greatly disappointed, 
should they be produced. We noticed this “ Alligator 
Plant” swindle when it began with a single vender, 
several years ago. That these branches should be sold 
to city people, is not strange, but when we see several 
persons on a ferry boat going to New Jersey, where the 
twigs came from, and to Long Island, where, if we mis¬ 
take not, it is not rare, we wonder what these grown 
men have been doing with their eyes all these years, not 
to know the branches of the “ Bilsted,” the name often 
given to it in New Jersey and around New York. Becom¬ 
ing disgusted with the extent of the swindle, which, 
though small upon each person, was very large in the 
aggregate, we wrote a full explanation to Mayor Ely, who 
courteously replied that he had put it in the hands of the 
Chief of Police, and as we have since seen no more of the 
plants offered, we suppose it was stopped by the proper 
authorities. Those who may be disposed to try the sale 
next spring are hereby notified that we shall be on hand 
to “ nip it in the bud.” The Mayor of Philadelphia will 
do well to note this item, for though the American Agri¬ 
culturist circulates very largely in and about that city, 
there are there, as here, still some hundreds of thousands 
of people who have not got the guardianship of this 
Journal against humbugs, large andsmall. 
■- — ■ »' — -— 
That Butter Compound. 
We knew it several years ago. It was in Ohio, and was 
called the “Golden Butter Compound,” and was put 
forth, being in the “ Buckeye Stnte,” by a “ Buckeye Co.” 
in a small town in Ohio. After much circumlocution, we 
obtained a sample, but not in such a manner that we could 
trace it direct to any particular person or “Co.” Just then 
it turned up in Hartford. Conn., and we thought we were 
sure of it. The friend who kindly undertook to “ inter¬ 
view ” the “ Butter Compound ” chap was very faithful to 
his task ; he went to the place and found an office. “ with 
a hole in the door ” for letters, but our friend could never 
find the “ Butter Compound ” chap in. After a while, the 
“ Butter Compound” turned up in Massachusetts. Then 
we said to ourselves, “ the chap has reached his jumping- 
off place. He is where they don't stand any such non¬ 
sense. He is in the land of ‘ Milch-Cows and Dairy-Farm¬ 
ing,’ where butter, at less than $1 a pound, has no sort of 
chance, beside the gilt-edged,’ ” and we were sure that 
that one offering to produce the “ best of butter,” and 
that at “a cost per pound never exceeding four cents,” 
would either be suddenly squelched, or companies would 
Be formed on State St., only less rapidly than they were 
in the days of the Lake Superior mining times, and this 
butter-business be put upon a regular square-toed basis. 
But we heard of no movement in Boston to make butter 
“at a cost per pound which never exceeds but four 
cents,” and supply the world, nor did we hear of any 
movement to show up the matter. Knowing that the 
gentlemen of the “Mass. State Board of Agriculture,” 
and those of the “ Mass. Society for the Promotion of 
Agriculture” were very much in earnest in all that re¬ 
lates to the agriculture of their State, we made an appeal 
to these bodies, through the American Agriculturist , in all 
earnestness, to look into the matter, as we knew, better 
than they, what mischief was being wrought by this offer 
of the "Butter Compound” from South Framingham, 
“right under their noses,” so to speak. Before these 
bodies were heard from, an Agricultural Editor from Bos¬ 
ton made us a call, and we asked him why this “Butter 
Compound ” business was allowed in Massachusetts and 
—of all places in the world—in the vicinity of Boston. 
This gentleman informed us that all their knowledge of 
the matter was obtained from the American Agriculturist , 
and that these South Framingham circulars did not “ cir¬ 
culate” around home. He had never seen one, though 
living within a few miles of the place whence they are 
issued, while we had them by scores. We certainly can 
not blame the associations above referred to for not 
before acting in the matter, when a gentleman prominent 
on the agricultural press of Boston had never seen one of 
these “Butter Compound” circulars, until we gave him 
one! Recently we have heard that the Trustees of the 
“ Mass. Society for the Promotion of Agriculture ” have 
taken action in the matter. They have procured samples 
of the “ Butter Compound,” and have had analyses made 
by some of the chemists of Boston and vicinity. The 
analyses show the “ Compound ” to consist mainly of 
“Common Salt,” “ Burnt Alum,” and “Sulphate of Soda,” 
and perhaps small quantities of other salts, of little con¬ 
sequence.- The important constituent is the alum, well 
known fer its ability to curdle milk, but through the 
ignorance of the “ Compound ’’-makers, the alum, in the 
samples tested, was over-burnt and thus made nearly in¬ 
soluble. Some of the gentlemen interested in the matter, 
made a trial of the Butter Compound, “according to 
the directions.” We do not know what their directions 
were, but infer that they were essentially those sent out 
by the Ohio “ Buckeye Company,” which are as follows: 
DIRECTIONS FOR USING COMPOUND. 
Take a pint of fresh unskimmed milk, and as much of the 
Compound as you can heap on a nickle cent, and thoroughly 
mix the milk and Compound together, in the churn; add to 
tliis one pound of soft butter, and churn until the whole 
mass has come to butter. If everything is of right tempera¬ 
ture the butter should come in from one to tivo minutes, 
sometimes it takes a little longer. If you desire to give the 
butter a color take a small quantity of annotta and dis¬ 
solve in hot melted butter; a teaspoonful of this will be suf¬ 
ficient to color two pounds of butter. The juice of carrot 
may be used, and is an excellent coloring matter. The yolk 
of an egg is good, hut butter colored with it will not keep 
sweet so long.—Be sure to add salt before churning. Make 
the butter into roll without working. These proportions 
will make two pounds of butter, the extra pound costing 
about five cents. By increasing the proportions any quan¬ 
tity can be made at a time. The cream butter used should 
always be made pliable so the dasher will go through it 
easily; the milk should be lukewarm, same as if just from 
the cow. Churn should always be scalded and warm enough 
to prevent chilling the milk. To make a small quantity a 
small churn should be used. After churning put the butter 
awav and let it get hard, and it will keep as long, and be as 
good, as pure cream butter. If you do not understand mak¬ 
ing butter, get some one who knows liow, to test it for you, 
and you will find the Compound to work like a charm. The 
butter being just as good without being colored, it is not 
essential to use coloring matter except to make it look 
better. 
The gentlemen who made the trial—and who are well 
known as practical dairymen—followed the instructions 
carefully. They took the requisite quantity, 1 pound of 
butter, the pint of milk, the required quantity, “ enough 
to lie on a nickle cent,” of the Compound, and churned 
according to directions. When they had gone through 
with it all and worked the butter In the usual way, they 
had as a result just one pound of Butter! 
As already stated, the analyses showed that the alum 
had been so overburned, as to be insoluble. Had the 
alum been properly “burned”—the water of crystalliza¬ 
tion merely driven off—the alum would have been soluble 
and would have coagulated the milk and made what 
almost every housekeeper knows as an “ alum curd.” 
Now what does all this “ Butter Compound ” amount 
to ? Simply this, when made as it is intended to be, it is 
burnt alum and salt. Wbat does it produce, when used 
according to directions?—Butter—genuine butter— 
“ cream butter,” the directions say—as if there could be 
any other! is swashed about in a churn with milk, to 
which this burnt alum stuff is added. The alum will, of 
course, curdle whatever is coagulable in the milk, and 
this curd, or incipient, cheese, is mixed up With the real 
butter, to increase its weight. At the end you have but¬ 
ter with some very poor cheese mixed through it, or some 
very poor cheese made very greasy with real butter.— 
“You pays your money, and takes your choice.” The 
whole thing is one of the very worst forms of fraud, and 
the gentlemen of the “Board of Trustees of the Mass. 
Society for the Promotion of Agriculture ” are entitled to 
the thanks of the agricultural community of the whole 
country for what they have done in exposing this very 
mean fraud upon farmers. Now let them prosecute the 
South Framingham concern for obtaining money under 
false pretenses—for, sure, their fraud don’t work—the 
alum, Jones, is burnt too much,— and shut that thing up. 
P. S.—Since the above was in type, we learn from good 
authorit , that a complaint has been made to the Post- 
[May, 
Office Department as to Jones & Co., whose business is 
by no means confined to the “ Butter Compound.” 
Hay-making Machinery. 
There is no more profitable expenditure of capi¬ 
tal in agriculture than that for labor-saving machin¬ 
ery, and there is no more useful machine for the 
relief of human labor than the mower. As a mat¬ 
ter of calculation it is easy to show that, where only 
10 acres of grass is to be cut, it will pay to have a 
mowing-machine, hay-rake, and horse-fork. With 
regard to mowers, we have from time to time given 
the results of our experience with different ma¬ 
chines. While old favorites are still excellent and 
have their good points, new improvements are con¬ 
stantly coming out. We now record the experience 
ii of a careful test of the 
Ui Champion mower, for- 
fl v \ mcr '.V mentioned as the 
| U fi Haymaker or the Cham- 
I TORK READY to 1 j j] pion Hay-maker. This 
\ \V adjust in hay J jj machine, being unlike 
' j/' any other, and possess- 
Fig. 1.—fork open. ing a novel motive ap¬ 
paratus, deserved a 
thorough trial. A machine was put through every 
possible test last season, both personally by the 
writer, and by several neighboring farmers, during a 
lengthened season of hay-making, with the result 
that it was found excellent in all circumstances. 
The draft is light, the ease with which it works, 
and the noiselessness of its motion are perfect; the 
knife will run at any angle, and the bar may be 
lifted perpendicularly, while the machine is operat¬ 
ing, so as to pass a tree closely without putting it 
out of gear. It will start in the grass with ease ; it 
will cut low or high, or take up lodged grass ; the 
knife may be raised at either end or altogether, 
from an inch to a foot, so as to pass over stones or 
obstructions, while still cutting. There are no 
gears ; no pitman; the only two cogwheels used 
are enclosed and safe from dirt; there is therefore 
no rattle, and the risk of breakage is reduced to a 
minimum. The absence of machinery is so striking, 
that one fancies the mower consists of a pair of 
wheels, an axle, and a cutting-bar, and a seat for the 
driver, there being nothing else conspicuous about 
it; yet the strength and solidity of all the parts are 
apparent. On the whole it is the most valuable 
improvements in modern harvesting-machinery. 
Another improvement that has come to our no¬ 
tice is the Gardner hay-fork, shown in the illustra¬ 
tions. The advantages of this fork are readily per¬ 
ceived. It can take the largest hold of any fork we 
know. (See fig. 1.) It can be used with hay, straw, 
grain, corn-fodder, manure, or short straw, such as 
buckwheat or clover-seed straw. When closed, as 
seen at figure 2, the load is safely gripped, and the 
arrangement of the draft-rope and carrier is such 
that it cannot be tripped without design. Fig. 3 
shows the position of the fork when tripped. The 
fork, when it ascends, is caught and held in the 
car, and relieves the draft-rope from all strain or 
weight. This apparatus is the invention of an 
ingenious farmer of Orange County, New York. 
