1878 .] 
AME RIGAN AGRICULT [BIST, 
287 
Lachanne , white, with a blush of pink; Madame Victor 
Verdier, brilliant carmine; Paul Neyron , rose, and of 
great size. We might go on and pick out other sets of 
•six, but we should not like to be without either of the 
above. As to the best white rose, perhaps Madame Plan¬ 
ner will give most general satisfaction. It is classed as a 
•“Hybrid China,” is with us perfectly hardy, and though 
•the flowers are not very large, they are in great abun¬ 
dance. Several climbing remontants have been offered of 
late years, which we have not tried. The best climber 
we have is Queen of the Prairies , for vigor and abundance 
of bloom, but the Gem of the Prairies, fairly vigorous, is 
fragrant, and on that account preferred by many. As to 
crimsons, General Jacqueminot , already mentioned, is one 
of the reliable sorts; it is not so double as some, but a 
free bloomer, and most brilliant. Wc advise our Iowa 
friend to get the catalogues of those dealers who make a 
specialty of roses, and to test those varieties which 
promise to be hardy in his severe climate. 
Agricultural Education at the Mass. Agricul¬ 
tural College, has at last been placed practically on the 
basis of free tuition by a recent action of the trustees, 
who voted “ that each graduate [of which there are now 
•over 150] of the institution be allowed the privilege of 
■nominating one student to a free scholarship for the full 
■course of four years.” A friend has also offered to pay 
the tuition for the course of every worthy student present¬ 
ing himself for admission to the next class, who shall 
meet the requirements as to scholarship, etc. The ex¬ 
penses of living have also been so reduced, that the cost 
to those having the scholarships need not be over $150 a 
year, a portion of which can be earned by work upon the 
farm. A farmer’s son, or any young man who desires to 
get a good agricultural education, has in these offers an 
-exceptional opportunity. Applicants should address 
President W. S. Clark, Amherst, Mass, 
How to Carry a Watermelon. —We feel very 
sure that when a thing is really needed, it will be sup¬ 
plied by some inventor. No one article in the market is 
more unmanageable than a watermelon. There was no 
difficulty in raising watermelons in Florida and Georgia, 
no trouble in placing them on sale in New York—and good 
melons too, by the way—at about the time that people in 
the vicinity were putting in their seeds. Melons were 
easily raised, easily irinsported and placed on sale, but 
there was a great, obstacle to soiling them, and that was 
in the melon itself. It was too large for the average 
basket, too troublesome to carry under the arm, and 
though.it might be easily carried on the shoulder, the 
people would not “tote.” In short, there must be an 
easy way of carrying melons, or they must remain un¬ 
sold. Last season melons were offered, lushed with 
tarred spnnyarn, evidently the work of sailors; this 
helped somewhat, but this year the fruit has appeared, 
furnished with a regular handle. Evidently the idea was 
borrowed from the now popular shawl-strip. At all 
-events, some genius has hit the popular want, and sup¬ 
plied, what nature failed to do, a handle, by which the 
watermelon can be as easily carried as any other parcel. 
The essential part is the handle made of bass wood. 
This has a sufficient supply of strong twine, and two 
“buckets ” of the same wood to distribute the pressure. 
■When the melon is harnessed and ready for travel, it ap¬ 
pears as in the figure. We have more than oncesaul that 
the raising of vegetables and fruits was a small matter, 
as compared with the proper selling of them. Some 
genius] by meaiis'of this simple contrivance, has greatly 
facilitated the’ selling of watermelons, and has thus 
added to the value of many acres in the Southern States. 
About Preserving- Green Corn.— We have 
several times stated that fl-e knew of no method of can¬ 
ning green corn that was practicable in families. Mrs. 
•C. C. It., who writes a very pleasant letter, thinks we are 
in error in this, and sends us her method, which is not in 
•the proper sense, canning at all, but a method of pick¬ 
ling. By canning fruits or vegetables of any kind, we 
■understand the putting of them up by the thorough ex¬ 
clusion of air, with sugar, salt, or other seasoning suffi¬ 
cient to make them acceptable when eaten, fait which| 
Stas nothing to do with their preservation. Mrs. R. uses 
tartaric acid, which is really jyickling the corn, just as 
other vegetables are pickled in acetic acid, or vinegar, 
but it is not canning the corn in the proper sense of the 
term, or by the method followed by those who put it up 
for market. We have, in former years, given the method 
of preserving green corn by means of salt, and also by 
the use of tartaric acid, but as this last was several years 
ago, we give Mrs. R.’s method, with the remark that it 
has been commended to us by several other housekeep¬ 
ers, though we never happened to try it ourselves. It is 
really Pickling Green Corn in Tartaric Acid. Mrs.R. says; 
“Cut the corn from the cob, and cook it in a plenty of 
water for about 5 minutes. To every 6 quarts of corn 
(measured before cooking or adding water) add one ounce 
of Tartaric Acid, dissolved in a little water. Put the acid 
in while cooking. Dip into the cans, and seal immedi¬ 
ately. It will keep for years. To prepare this for the 
table, pour off the sour water (which is to be saved),.and 
put, in fresh cold water. To a quart, of corn add half a 
teaspoonful of soda, and a teaspoonful of sugar. If you 
should add too much soda, the corn will turn yellow. In 
that case, add enough of the acid water (to be saved for 
the purpose) to turn it back again to the proper color.” 
A Rustic Cliair, Easily Made, and quite 
ornamental, in even a small lawn or yard, is here illustra¬ 
ted. The sketch is from a 
chair we saw on the 
grounds ofDr. R. S. Bacon, 
at Flushing. It is most 
durable if made of cedar, 
but any wood will answer. 
The main piece is a pole 
say iy feet long, Zy to 4 
inches in diameter at the 
base, and an inch less at 
the top. This stands in¬ 
clined 25° to 30’ from a 
perpendicular. Three 
other short pieces nailed 
upon it, supply the neces¬ 
sary legs or supports. The 
other round sticks are 
added as shown. The 
Seat has four side-pieces, 
filled in with the parallel 
pieces which are nailed 
to the front and rear 
border piece. The side pieces come forward far enough 
to supply arm rests. The vyhole is made of round, un¬ 
dressed limbs, ,or small- saplings, nailed together. A 
hatchet to cut the sticks, with hammer and nails to fast¬ 
en them together, are all the tools needed. Any smart boy 
can put together a trial chair, on a rainy day, and after¬ 
wards make up as many as he chooses from any wood. 
Remarkable Shooting.— On July 13 we wit¬ 
nessed for an hour the shooting feat of Dr. W. F. Carver, 
who during 7 hours and 38 minutes (or 8 hours and 10 
minutes, including resting spells), fired 6,213 times at 
glass balls flying, in the air. Of these he hit and broke 
5,500, and missed 712. He attempted to break the 5,500 
glass balls in 500 minutes, and accomplished it in 480 
minutes (11 A. M. to 7:0 P. M.). The wind blowing from 
the front drove much smoke into his eyes, causing many 
of the misses. Those present at the finish say be seemed 
to suffer no inconvenience from the effort, except that 
produced upon his eyes by the smoke. The glass balls 
were 2 y inches in diameter, and filled with feathers, 
which flew out in all directions, as the balls were 
broken. They were tossed up by hand 20 to 30 feet in 
front of him, and each ball had to be aimed at and hit on 
the fly, with a single bullet (not with a handful of shot), 
and between each shot the gun was lowered, the old shell 
thrown out, and a new one inserted, and the gun then 
raised and aim d. We noted several instances where 16 
shots were fired in 19 to 24 seconds. As the loaded rifle 
weighs 10 lbs., the raising of the guu 6.212 times was 
equivalent to lifting 62,120 lbs., or 31 tons. The strain 
upon the eye and nerves of taking sight so many times 
must have been very great. This experiment shows the 
power of endurance which the human body and mind are 
capable of. and in this respect is interesting. It can be 
of little practical utility for others to learn to shoot on 
the wing with the rifle. 
Another Clover-Weed Seed.— On p. 103, 
March No., magnified engravings arc given of the 
seeds of the weeds common in clover in this country as 
well as in England. It is there remarked- that some of 
the commonest weeds of the English' clover fields are 
scarcely known here, while we have a number of pests 
unknown in England. We expected that the article re¬ 
ferred to would cause our readers to look sharp to their 
clover-seed, but some have anticipated us, and long before 
the article reached them, several have forwarded us sam¬ 
ples of clover-seed, to inquire as to the foreign seeds mix¬ 
ed with it. Two or three of these samples contained a 
small flattened, shining black seed, shown in the engrav¬ 
ing here given, of the natural size, and magnified. In one 
case the clover contained so much of this as to attract the 
attention of even the most careless. The seed is evidently 
that of one of the “ Knot-weeds,” or Polygonums. The 
genus Polygonum is a large one, and includes species very 
unlike in appearance, from the little “ Knot-grass,” or 
“ Door-weed,” (P. aviculare ), round in almost every yard, 
up to the showy “ Ragged-sailor,” or “ Princes’ Feather,” 
(P. orientate), often seen in old gardens, and growing 5 to 
8 feet high. Other well-known species are the acrid 
“Smart-weeds,” or “ Water-Peppers,” of which two ate 
common in moist places. Another very frequent weed in 
fields and gardens, is a branching species 2 feet or more 
high, with a usually reddish stem, and leaves shaped so 
much like those of the peacli that it is named Polygonum 
Persicaria, and is known in England as “Persicary,” or 
“Peacli-wort,” but with us, on account of a large blackish 
spot (usually present) in the center of each leaf, ns if it 
had been pressed by an inky thumb, it is in this country 
usually called “Lady’s Thumb’’and “BlackHeart ; ” its 
small greenish purple flowers are crowded in close oblong 
spikes at the ends of the branches. Besides this, there 
are three other species of a very similar habit and aspect, 
and only distinguished from this by botanical characters, 
which we need not give, for so far as the cultivator is 
concerned, the plants are practically alike. All have 
similar seeds, though differing in size, and some minute 
particulars, but they are sufficiently like the seed here 
engraved, (which is apparently that of P. Persicaria), to 
allow them to be recognized under the American Agri¬ 
culturist. Microscope. They arc all annuals, and on that 
account less to be dreaded than some perennial weeds. 
But they are weeds , and will, if each one gets a start, 
occupy the place that belongs to a clover plant. For 
this reason, clover-seed that contains any other seeds 
than clover, is to be regarded as foul, and should not be 
sown. It is true that there is a choice of evils, and these 
weeds are of little importance as compared to “Viper’s 
Bugloss,” Toad-Flax, “Canada Thistle,” and others. 
Still they rob the crop of nutriment, and rob the farmer 
by occupying the land unprofftably. Soiv clean seeds. 
Basket Items continued on page 313. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
In our warnings against 
humbugs, we have confined 
ourselves to those practised 
upon the community in 
general, and especially upon 
the agricultural or rural por¬ 
tion thereof. By doing 
this, we leave the field of 
special humbugs untouched, 
for there is hardly a general 
H occupation or trade that is 
J» not afflicted by its peculiar 
frauds.In investigating 
the various humbngb we are 
brought in contact with local 
as well as United States 
officers, from whom we 
sometimes learn new and 
special forms of rascality, 
but as they do not, as a 
general thing, affect the 
readers of the American 
Agriculturist, we do not mention them. Among the 
specialties are the various tricks played upon 
KEEPERS OP HOTELS; 
indeed one of these has become a regular thing with a 
certain set of sharpers. As keepers of hotels, especially 
in small towns, are farmers also, and a good number of 
them are readers of the American Agriculturist, we give 
an account of one which has recently been the means of 
swindling many inn keepers, especially in the Western 
States. Scene, a hotel in a small town—but a flourishing 
town—in Illinois.. A young man arrives, calls for the 
best room in the house. He enters his name in a bold 
hand on the register as Turner, of the jeweiry house of 
“Smith & Co., New York. Manufactory at Providence, 
R. I.” The first thing lie asks for is letters ; finding that 
there are none, lie particularly inquiries of the times for 
the arrival of the mail, as letters of great importance were 
