[August, 
288 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
to meet hint there. Has had a dusty ride, it is some time 
before the dinner hour, and he orders a bottle of the best 
wine in the house ; he does not like to drink alone, and 
the landlord must help him dispose of the bottle. The 
young man’s chief want seems to be letters, and all the 
next day he asks at every mail’s arrival for letters. At last 
the looked-for letter comes, ho hastily opens it in pres¬ 
ence of the landlord and takes out a check. He curses 
the stupidity of the cashier of the house in New York. 
“ He might have known that there was no bank at this 
place. I charged him to always send money in a regis¬ 
tered letter, and here is a confounded useless check (for 
$100 or $200, as may he). I am notified that a case of 
samples are sent to-(the next town), where I must 
go at once, and here I am with nothing but this check.” 
And more of the same sort. The landlord is good-na¬ 
tured, the young man is good looking, and free with his 
wine, and the chances are that the landlord ends the 
young man’s trouble, and offers to cash the check—minus 
the young man’s wine and board bill. Young man is 
very grateful, gets his check cashed, and starts to the 
next town for his samples. But he does not stop there, 
he goes on to some other place, as may have been agreed 
upon, where the same game is played over again ; the 
same anxiety about letters ; the same disappointment at 
receiving a check instead of money, in a town where there 
was no bank, etc., etc. As the checks are drawn on some 
New York Bank, it is a number of days before the land¬ 
lords discover that they are mere worthless paper, and 
the young man, who, of course, never goes where he 
says he is going, is far out of reach. 
A LARGE NUMBER OF LANDLORDS 
in the Western States hold the worthless checks ol 
“ Smith, Melville & Co., Manufacturing Jewellers in New 
York; factory at Providence, R. 1.” But of course the 
name is changed from time to time. We have some of 
the checks, and can say that, taken as checks, they are 
very pretty_Here we have again 
CLARK & CO. WITH A NEW NAME. 
In some branches of science there are books giving 
synonyms , or the different names by which an animal or 
a plant has been called. We shall soon need such a 
list for Clark & Co.; it would include Russell & Co., 
Hetheridge & Co., Keyes & Co., and we now have to add 
W. P. McCall, who hasn’t a bit of a “ Co.” to his name. 
But W. P. still sends out the same persuasive circular 
headed “ A Decision at Last,” and informs people that 
they can get “ One lot of Gold Jewelry (60 Different 
Pieces), valued at $220.00,” and that “ the percentage due 
is $11.00.” W. P., that, in these hot days, is a little too 
much for such jewelry as yours; seventeen cents apiece 
for Jewelry things! We can go down into the back 
woods of Maine and beat you as to price. No wonder 
your concern changes its name so often if it asks so much 
for Jewelry. One of our friends at Seekonk, Mass., is 
not a little indignant that W. P. McCall should have sent 
him—who never bought a lottery ticket in his life—a cir¬ 
cular pretending to adjust some old lottery claim. This 
is nothing to the case of one of our friends, who is one of 
the most staid and steady goingof theSociety of Friends, 
who received a letter asking if a certain signature was 
his, and if so he was entitled to certain mining shares 1 
It only shows that these chaps who buy their old letters 
by the thousand, for the sake of the signatures, are liable 
to occasionally “ wake up the wrong passenger.”_The 
circulars of that 
CINCINNATI ART CONCERN 
now begin to come in from the Pacific coast. We can 
only say to our friends there, as we have to those nearer 
home—Don't. These people profess to have had a 
“drawing,” and anything that looks like a game of 
chance should repel all right-thinking people. The pic¬ 
tures said to be drawn, are sent for a charge for packing, 
and there will be the express charges to Oregon, etc., 
besides. We feel very sure that nothing can be sent 
under these terms worth paying the freight charges on. 
THE NON-EXPLOSIVE POWDER CHAP 
is around in Central New York with his stuff to put into 
kerosene lamps to prevent explosions. It seems that 
this humbug is not dead yet, though we several years ago 
showed that the powder was only common salt., colored 
with a little Prussian blue, or cheap ultramarine. It can 
have no possible effect upon oil, and if it induces people 
to use poor and cheap oils, it is murderously dangerous. 
The only safety is in good oils and good lamps. Nothing 
can make poor oils safe _A Vermonter saw in a lead¬ 
ing agricultural paper an attractive advertisement of 
“CRYSTAL GLASS GOBLETS,” 
which lie ordered. After much delay, he received a half 
dozen, costing him. including express charges, $2, mid 
he found them such goblets as he “ could buy at any store 
fora dollar a dozen, ne thinks it very wrong for the 
paper to publish such an advertisement. We think so, 
too; but as the advertising columns of our own paper 
are all we control, we don’t see how we can help him. 
... We have had occasion to refer to the 
NOVELTY CATALOGUES, 
so called, in general terms, but to specify these would 
hut serve to advertise them. Some of them are pamph¬ 
lets of 30 or more pages, and offer a remarkable lot of ar¬ 
ticles, some of which are mere toys, or harmless enough, 
but intermingled with these—and hardly concealed by 
them—are offered things of the most pernicious charac¬ 
ter. For example, in a publication of this kind now be¬ 
fore us, we have offered: “ Spy-glasses, an article valu¬ 
able to every farmer;” next, several trashy books, and 
then “ Transparent Cards,” which it is not necessary to 
describe to those who know what they are, and those 
who do not know them, get a very broad hint in the in¬ 
formation that the pictures “ are of such an intensely 
interesting character that our agents retail them at fabu¬ 
lous prices.” Every possible trick is resorted to, to get 
the addresses of school-children of both sexes, and they 
are then plied with advertisements of the kind above 
quoted... .Here is a letter from a lawyer in Washington 
Territory, from which we infer that one of his clients 
has received 
“a package of jewelry” 
from one of the many dealers in the bogus article in 
New York. The lawyer asks ns to investigate the mat¬ 
ter, and if we find the concern to be, as he believes it, a 
fraud, to expose it,—No, we thank you. It is altogether 
too hot weather for us to go up towards Union square, 
to learn what we already know. We know that a con¬ 
cern that sends jewelry to one who has not ordered it, 
especially of that kind which sells for $30, and will bring 
at retail $135, need not be looked after. It is an old 
dodge. A bogus jewelry chap on Broadway sends to J. 
A., in Washington Territory, a parcel by express. J. A. 
receives parcel, pays charges on it. In due time a bill 
comes, which J. A. does not pay. After a while comes a 
shyster lawyer, to collect the bill; he can prove that J. A. 
took the parcel from the Express office; the presump¬ 
tion is that he ordered it, and the chances are that he 
will have to pay for the stuff. The only safe way is, not 
to receive packages from the Express, unless one has 
been previously notified of their contents. We are in¬ 
formed by an officer of wide experience that some of the 
subordinates in the Express offices—well, to say the 
least—do not try very hara to prevent such swindles as 
these ot forwarding packages of iewelry to those who 
have never ordered them— Moral: 
scrutinize all express parcels 
with care_So many letters on medicai matters had ac¬ 
cumulated that we last month treated them in a special 
article on “Medical Matters,” and so 
ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 
we advise every young man who thinks he has some 
trouble—we say, “thinks,” for such troubles arc largely 
imaginary—to let alone an “ doctors ” and combinations 
of doctors calling themselves “Institutes,” and adver¬ 
tising to cure such troubles. We do not know that all 
are equally viie, but we have known of cases in which 
chaps, calling themselves “ doctors,” and “ Institutes,” 
have threatened to expose young men with unfortunate, 
but not immoral troubles, to their families and 
friends, except for a certain weekly pay. Any ene 
who advertises to cure any particular disease, at once 
cuts himself off from all fellowship with regular medicai 
men, and is an outcast from the profession. Have noth¬ 
ing to do with such, whether they are banded together, 
or prey singly on the unsuspecting, but go to some real 
physician, in whom you can have confidence, and let all 
advertisers thoroughly alone ...Abbey, the Buffalo 
quack, who has, under pretence of sending a 
PUZZLE PICTURE, 
succeeded in bringing his nasty book to the knowledge 
of decent people, claims to have sent out millions of his 
“Toll-gate” pictures. His dodge is to offer a “puzzle 
picture,” and family and religious papers have adver¬ 
tised it, apparently without question as to what it would 
lead to. A very coarse “ puzzle ” picture about the size 
of an ordinary envelope is sent, and on the back are the 
announcement of books and medicines, such as no decent 
person has any need of, and which young persons need 
know nothing about. The chap is out with a new pic¬ 
ture, which he sends to every post office in the country 
for distribution. The P.M. at a small office in Massachu¬ 
setts writes that hundreds have come to his little office 
in packages of 25 or 30, with a request that they he dis¬ 
tributed. We are glad to know that there is one Post 
Master—no doubt there are hundreds more—who will not 
engage in any such dirty work_“A Victim” in Penn. 
writes that he lm3 taken half a dozen bottles of some 
“ ANTI-FAT ” COMPOUND, 
with a view to reduce corpulence, and that while taking 
the stuff he lias gained just ten pounds 1 and asks what 
he shall do. Evidently one thing to do is to stop taking 
the stuff', ne may, no doubt, find useful hints as to diet 
and exercise in Banting’s work on Corpulence, which 
has been reprinted in this country. Our general advice, 
to take no secret compound whatever, applies here.... 
We thought that the medical part of our budget was of 
a rather tame kind—but we were wrong. Here we have 
that in “The Little Blue and White Book,” which we 
only before had in a poor shabby black and white cir¬ 
cular. It is ; 
“NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH. 
Truth Stranger than Fiction— (If we mistake not 
that has been mentioned before)— The True History 
of Unokas Pilindias.” That is all on the “ Kiver ” in 
blue and white—and very pretty it looks. We read on 
the first page on the inside “Truth Stranger than Fic¬ 
tion,” which we insist is not an original remark, and 
“Mistaken Identity of a Disease we are all subject to. 
How, after two years of suffering, the Patient was cured 
by an Indian Squaw”— it is a touching story, and 
we have already told it in these columns. Like all such 
stories it has its moral, which is, take “Unokas Pil 
indias and Live”—or “Neglect them and Die.” It is 
too hot this July night to think which we will do, but as 
forUnoka, “Inventor of Unoka’s Pilindias,” of whom 
a portrait is given, she looks as if, had she turned her 
hand to it, could do a powerful amount of washing. But 
on the last page of the cover we have a portrait—not of 
Miss L T noka Pilindias again, but of her arm only. We 
know it is hers, not only because it is so labelled, bufc 
from the big development of muscle, which could only 
come of washing ; that arm has a hand, and that hand- 
squeezes five snakes, such as were never seen before: 
She has an awful power of squeeze, and the way she 
makes them snakes spout fireworks is just stunning. 
There is a most pathetic appeal on the last page of this 
pamphlet to “DearReader” the writer believes, or 
says he does, that should we have “any of the com¬ 
plaints referred to in his little blue and white book, 
we will give Unoka’s Pilindias a trial ”—to which 
we say most assuredly not. We shall avoid, and advise 
all others to avoid all such out-and-out quackery. 
Oleomavgarinc and t-lie Butter Market* 
—It is worth while for dairymen to consider whether 
present low prices of butter and cheese, are influenced 
by oleomargarine. Years ago the American Agriculturist 
pointed out the certain result of its competition with 
honest butter and cheese; viz., lower prices and difficulty 
of sale. Now- the truth of (lie statement is apparent, 
and even the gilt-edged product of the dairy, which can¬ 
not be produced for less than 50 cents per pound, goes a 
begging at 25, while the “ Dairy Company’s ” product, 
olemargarine, buttefine, and other compounds of ren¬ 
dered fat and sour milk, are driving true dairy butter out 
of the market. Well, perhaps dairymen have none to 
thank for it more than themselves. Their leaders in 
conventions, have glorified and advertised this stuffp 
professors have “ essayed ” upon it. and have proved in 
the very teeth of its natural opponents, that it was really 
as good, if not better, than genuine butter: that it pos¬ 
sessed all its virtues, and none of its faults ; while dairy¬ 
men 6tnpidly let this tiling go on, and permitted the 
oleomargarine men to filch away their markets, and cus¬ 
tomers. If dairymen have been willing, who shall say 
nay ? but on behalf of the innocent consumers, we con¬ 
tinue to protest, and shall continue, while waste fat is 
palmed upon them for pure butter. 
The Beet-Sugar Industry of France. 
In 1824, France produced a total of 15,000 tons of beet- 
sugar, in over 100 factories. In 1837, the product was- 
49,000 tons. France, since that time, has doubled the 
product of beet-sugar every ten years. In 1820, the pro¬ 
duct was only 2 lbs. for each inhabitant; in 1865, it was- 
fourteen pounds per capita. Since 1865, except in the- 
immediate vicinity of the seaboard, no sugar is seen or 
used in Franee except the beet-sugar. The same ia 
true of Germany. This is almost the only sugar used 1 
in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Leipsic, or Munich.. 
In 1837. the yield of beets per acre was twelve tons 
priced per ton. In 1865, the yield was sixteen tons per 
acre; price $3.25. The percentage of sugar contained in, 
the beets, in 1837, was 10 per cent; in 1865, 11$ per cent- 
The cost in 1837 was 7 cts. per pound ; in 1865, it was re¬ 
duced to four cents per pound. Thus, it has required, 
nearly a half century to establish this great and valuable- 
industry on the Continent of Europe, on such a basis as 
to defy competition, and we now have tlie benefit of 
their experience. It has been the result of careful and 
continued attention to thus increase the product, as well 
as the percentage of sugar in the beet, and this by 
studying carefully its natural laws, and by the ap¬ 
plication of chemical knowledge and mechanical in¬ 
genuity to extract the sweet therefrom, to purify it,, 
aud render it suitable for the most fastidious tastes. 
This sketch, while relating mainly to France, applies 
also to the rest of Continental Europe ; France only led! 
in the race. Such is a brief history of the growth of the- 
