392 
AMJERICAN AGR1C ULTURIST 
[October, 
mark to show where the surface of the water comes ; now 
turn out the water, and till ihe bottle up to the same 
mark with alcohol, and weigh it; the alcohol, instead of 
weighing 1,090 grains will weigh only about .800 grains. 
If we put honey in place of the alcohol, that will weigh 
1,450; Ihe same of mercury 14,000. If we give the 
specific gravity of mercury as 14,000, or 14, it means that 
mercury is just 14 times heavier than the same bulk of 
water. But we can not proceed in this way in getting at 
TUB SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF SOLIDS. 
In showing how this is done, let fig. 2 bo a narrow 
glass jar, in which the water stands at a. If you now 
Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
place a ball, say of iron, in the water, a quantity of water 
equal to the bulk of iron will be pushed out of place, and 
the liquid will then rise in the jar to b. The water is 
pressing in all directions, and in accordance with a law 
governing the pressure of liquids, helps float the iron 
ball, and if the iron ball were first weighed in the air, and 
then weighed as it hangs in the water, it will be found to 
weigh less. If the jar had a spout at one side, and were 
filled with water exactly up to the spout, when the ball 
was plunged in, the liquid displaced by it would run out 
of the spout, and be caught in the vessel in figure 3. 
It is easy to see that the iron ball displaces, or causes to 
run over from the jar, its own bulk of water. If this 
water that has run over be weighed, it will be found to 
weigh exactly the difference between the weight of the 
Fig. 4. Fig. 5. 
ball in the air, and in the water. The same thing is 
shown in another expet intent. In figure 4 there is a 
cylinder of brass, a, and a brass bucket, 6, into which the 
cylinder exactly fits. The two are attached to the pan of 
a scale, as shown in the engraving. The cylinder and 
bucket are weighed in the air, and it is then so arranged, 
that the cylinder only hangs in the water; when put,into 
the water, the cylinder no longer weighs so much as it 
did before, as shown by the pan, containing the weights 
decending. If now the bucket be filled with water, then 
the balance will be restored, showing that a body in the 
water, weighs as much less than it does in the air, by the 
weight of its own bulk of water. 
TO TAKE THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF A SOLID, 
a delicate balance is required. Figure 5 shows one of 
a common form. One scale-pan is hung much higher 
than the other, and has, at the bottom a small hook, a 
fragment of the material is fastened by a very fine thread 
—a hair is sometimes used.—It is then weighed in the 
air, the weight noted, and then weighed in the water. 
Then find the difference between the two weights, and 
divide the weight in the air by this. That is, divide 
the weight in air by the loss of weight in water; the 
quotient is the specific gravity. If a piece of gold weighs 
19 grains in the air, and 18 grains in the water, the loss 
will be 1, and 19 being divided by this, gives 19, which is 
the specific gravity of gold. When the solid of which we 
desire the Sp. Or ., (the usual abbreviation for specific 
gravity) is lighter, we have to modify the operation. 
—But this “Talk” is already quite too long to allow 
mo to explain that, and some other matters this month. 
The Iloetor's Correspondence. 
In the hot summer days my correspondence has not 
been very large. Well, I do not blame any youngster 
who prefers being out-doors under the shade of trees in 
the daytime, or who, after Ihe sun has gone down, likes 
to sit out-doors in the cool of the evening, watching the 
fire-flies, and listening to the midsummer night’s song. 
... .Every now and then there appear in the news¬ 
papers, descriptions of the growth of 
AN APPLE UPON A GRAPE-VINE, 
and'queer attempts are made to account for it. It occa¬ 
sionally happens that there appears upon the growing 
shoot of the grape, a green, rounded thing about the size 
of a Crab-apple, and looking much like a fruit of some 
kind, as at a, fig. 1. If those who think it is a fruit would 
only cut it, they would see at once that it is nothing but 
a Gall. It is commonly supposed that galls are found 
only upon the oaks, while they are borne upon many dif¬ 
ferent plants. All galls are caused by small insects, gen¬ 
erally like gnats. These insects pierce the young leaf or 
the tender shoot, and de¬ 
posit their eggs. Just as 
your finger swells up when 
you get a splinter in ihe 
flesh, so do these eggs 
cause a swelling, and a 
curious growth is formed 
upon the leaf or stem in 
which the maggot from 
the egg lives and feeds. 
As the maggot grows, the 
swelling, or gall, increases 
in size, and when the in¬ 
sect has made its full 
growth, it goes into the 
chrysalis state, and at 
length comes out a per¬ 
fect fly. If this grape gall 
is cut open, it will be 
found to contain several 
cavities ( b ), in two layers, 
each containing a maggot, 
showing that several eggs 
were laid in the same 
place. If you keep an eye 
open for them, you will Fig. 1.— A GRAPE GAEL, 
find galls upon a great 
number of plants, and however much they may look like 
fruit, they will be found to be due to some insect. There 
is one thing very curious about these galls. Different 
insects deposit their eggs in the same plant, causing 
Oiii* I’uzzIc-llCox. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Hand vise. 
2. Vain concerts. 
3. Lot aside. 
4. Hoes corn. 
5. I am Uncle’s. 
fi. Ann stormed. 
7. Deter Caleb. 
8. Heard a gun. 
9. It ran melted. 
10. It salts a bun. 
pi. 
Etnos lo hot sucsea fo sintyain yam eb lawn fo trinuti- 
sou dofo, gintistainnl skrind. a redray tonymoon fo tilo. 
Bcumural atliusexino, dicsemto stessrid, dan myrise. 
CONUNDRUMS. 
1. What letter provoked my mother '? 
2. What curious effect did ihe letter O have upon sistor 
Mary ? 
NUMERICAL ENIGMAS. 
1. Iam composed of 33 letters ; 
My 1,10, 1(5, 22, 13. is a weapon. 
My 15. 2H, 18. 32. 23, 12, 8, 31, is a rambler. 
My ti. 5, 4. 3, 9, are parts of details. 
My 20, 2. 17. 14. 4, is a well-known animal. 
My 29, 22, 23, 19, is a bird. 
My 20, 30. 33. 28, is found in the woods. 
My 19, 21, 27. is a foreign title. 
My 7, 11, 24, 25, is an insect. 
My whole is a quotation we should do well to re¬ 
member. Denver C. T. 
puzzle. 
Take five and fifty, nothing and one, 
Two-thirds of ten then take, 
And if you do the sum aright, 
A pretty flower ’twill make. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN TIIE AUGUST NUMBER. 
Numerical Enigmas.—1. 
William Cullen Bryant. 2. 
Lafayette. 
Puzzle within a Puzzle. 
—When my third happens to 
be rav second he may tum¬ 
my first applied to him; ray 
whole is a bird.— Whippoor¬ 
will. 
Charade.— Satire. 
Diamond Puzzle. 
L 
BAY 
H ANDY 
S L A C IC E N 
L A N C A SUB 
1» LAST E It 
F A T E S 
T E N 
It 
Acrostic. 
D—euteronomy. 
A—litarctic. 
N—c. 
I —reland. 
E—urope. 
L—upland. 
W—asliington. 
E —nglaiid. 
11 — lion. 
S —T. Lawrence. 
T—opeka. 
IS—vansville. 
It—io Grande. 
Syncopations. — 4. Crow—cow. 2. Cart—cat. 3. Bread— 
bead. 4. Meat—mat. 5. Clock—cock. 6. Pain—pan. 7. 
Coat—col, 8. Load—lad. 9. Dime—die. 
Thanspositions.— 1 . Sharer, rasher. 2. Same, seam. 3, 
Shrub, brush. 4. Dimple, limped. 5. Dirge, ridge. 
An Enigmatical Tea-table.— 1. Ham. 2. Milk (changed 
from silk). 3. Tea (T). 4. Damsons. 5. Tongue, ti. Coffee- 
(rough-fee). 7. Bread (B f read). 8. Molasses. 9. Sausages 
(saw-sages). 10. Radishes (ray). 
Concealed Trees.— 1. Ash. 2. Elm. 3. Pine. 4. Fig. 5, 
Larch. 6. Linden. 7. Maple. 
Pi.—A popular writer, speaking of the ocean-telegraph, 
wonders whether tlie news now transmitted through the 
6alt water, will be fresh. 
GALLS VERY UNLIKE IN SHAPE 
In the grape-vine, for example, several insects pro¬ 
duce leaf-galls, which are quite unlike those found upon 
the stems, and differ among themselves, as do those upon 
the stem... A friend recenlly gave me some speci¬ 
mens from a number sent him from Indiana by a gentle¬ 
man, who stated that they were to he had in large num¬ 
bers in a quarry. Being from a quarry, yon will under¬ 
stand that they are of stone, and if you will look at the 
engraving made of one of them, you will no doubt say: 
“ IT IS A STONE INSECT 1” 
You will not he far out of the way, for though not ex¬ 
actly an insect, it is closely related to that division of an¬ 
imals. It is a fossil creature that was once alive, more 
years ago than we have any idea of, but which has be¬ 
come a fossil, a term applied to animal and vegetable 
forms, that have been either petrified or become changed 
to stone, or has left an impression or cast of itself in the 
sand or mud, which afterwards became hardened into 
stone. The engraving gives it of the real size; you will 
see that it has a distinct head, in which are two prom¬ 
inent eyes, and a body with numerous joints or rings ; 
this has two very deep furrows, making it look three- 
lobed. It is from this peculiarity that it gets its name, 
WHICH IS, TRILOBITE. 
They are found in all parts of the United States, of course 
in rocks, differing greatly in size; some are not larger 
than a pin’s head, while 
others have been found 18 
inches long. No living Tri- 
lobites are known. Among 
familiar animals, the nearest 
to the Trilobite that any of 
yon are likely to see are the 
Horse-shoe or King Crabs, and 
only those living on or near 
the sea-shore will know what 
these are. Nothing like feet 
have ever been noticed on the 
Trilobites, and it is supposed 
that they, when living, had 
Fig. 2. A trilobite. go ft leaf-like bodies to aid 
them in swimming, which they are supposed to have 
done, just below the surface, with their backs down. 
A Aesson is* Hrawins', 
There are many grown persons who often say, “ I wish 
I had been taught to draw when I was young.” It is a fact 
that drawing is one of the important, practical branches 
of an early education, which is sadly neglected, if not en¬ 
tirely overlooked. It lias been said that “ whoever can 
learn to write, can learn to draw,” and this is true so far 
as the most useful kind of drawing goes. One great use 
of drawing, is to describe objects, which a few lines will 
present more clearly than can be done by a great amount 
of writing. We propose to give, now and then, some- 
lessons, with examples to be copied, which will, we 
hope, be useful to both boys and girls. 
It will be observed that all the illustrations here given, 
are purposely made with straight lines. A straight line 
is the easiest for 
any one, old or 
young, to make, 
if provided with 
a ruler, or simply 
a stick which has 
a flat side, to fit 
down upon the 
paper or slate, 
and one edge 
straight, along 
which the slate- 
pencil or lead- 
pencil is to be 
•drawn. We made 
our lines with the 
aid of a folding 
two-foot rule, which we bought not longago for 20 cents. 
Small folding one-foot pocket-rules are sold on the streets 
of New York, for ten cents. It is best then to have a rule, 
as they cost so little, make a nice thing to help fill a boy’s 
pocket, and besides, with it you can measure the length 
of each line and be more exact, making the drawings 
look more like those of an architect, who draws the plane 
of houses, or an engineer, who makes such nice pictures 
of bridges, engines, etc. If a rule of this kind is not con¬ 
venient, you can mark your ruler or straight-edge, with 
inches, halves, and quarters, and perhaps eighths and six¬ 
teenths, if you are careful, using a rule for a guide, aud a 
pencil for the marks. If you can do no better, a piece of 
