362 
[September, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Osceola. 
Page. 
Poweshiek. 
Scott. 
Stuart District, 
Taylor. 
Onion. 
Onion. 
Onion. 
Onion. 
Onion. 
VanBuren. 
Wapello. 
Warren. 
Washington.... 
Wayne. 
Winneshiek.. . 
Worth. 
Allen. 
Anderson. 
Burlingame. 
Butler. 
Brown. 
Cherokee. 
Cloud. 
Cowley. 
Crawford. 
Dickinson. 
Doniphan. 
Ellsworth. 
Franklin. 
Greenwood. 
Harvey. 
Jackson. 
Jefferson. 
Jefferson.. 
Kansas Valley_ 
Labette. 
Linn. 
Linn A. & M. 
Lvon . 
Marion. 
Marshall. 
Montgomery. 
Morris. 
Neosho Valley Dis 
Osage... 
Pawnee. 
Riley. 
Sedgwick. 
7th Judicial Dist .. 
Shawnee . 
Spring River. 
Washington. 
Cass. 
Central. 
Colfax. 
Dodge. 
Fremont... 
Hamilton... 
Jefferson... 
Otoe. 
Richardson 
Bourbon.. 
Christian. 
Eminence. 
Mercer.... 
Nelson.... 
Simpson.. 
Union. 
Warren... 
Barton. 
Boone. 
Callaway. 
Cape Girardeau.... 
Harrison. 
Jefferson. 
Miami. 
Moberly. 
Newton. 
St. Francois. 
St. Joseph. 
St. Louis. 
Saline. 
Shelby. 
Sturgeon. 
Sweet Springs. 
Alleghany... 
Baltimore_ 
Dorchester.. 
Harford. 
Moutgomery. 
Kent. 
.Sept. 9-11 
.Sept. 1- 5 
.Sept. 10-13 
.Sept. 9-12 
.Sept. 10-13 
.Sept. 9-13 
.Aug. 26-28 
KANSAS. 
.Iola. 
.Sept. 15-18 
.Burlingame. 
.Sept. 10-12 
.Sept. 24-26 
.Winfield. 
.Oct. 8-11 
.Oct. 8-11 
.Sept. 23-26 
.Oct. 1- 4 
.Sept. 10-12 
..Oct. 1-3 
.Sept. 2- 5 
.Sept. 9-12 
.Sept. 17-19 
.Oct. 1- 4 
.Oct. 1- 3 
_Independence_ 
.Sept. 25-27 
.Sept. 22-27 
.Sept. 17-19 
.Oct. 1- 3 
.Sept. 10-12 
NEBRASKA. 
.Sept. 23-26 
. Fairbury. 
.Sept. 17-19 
.Sept. 24-26 
KENTUCKY. 
.Oct. 8-12 
.Aug. 12-16 
.Sept. 11-14 
MISSOURI. 
.Oct. 14-18 
.. .Bethany. 
.Aug. 26-29 
.Sept. 25-27 
...St. Joseph. 
.Sept. 15-21 
.Aug. 26-29 
.Aug. 19-23 
MARYLAND. 
.Oct. 7-10 
.Sept. 9-12 
...Bel Air. 
The New York Horticultural Society.— 
Members should keep in mind the fact that the monthly 
meetings are held on the first Tuesday in each month. 
There are often exhibited at these meetings, choice spec¬ 
imens of plants, flowers, and fruits, and the doors are 
opened to the public, at 2 o’clock p. M. at each meeting. 
The locality—“Republican Ilall.” No 55 West 33rd St— 
is readily accessible by the elevated and other rail-roads. 
The Jack Rabbit, or the Mule Rabbit, as it is 
•called, from the great length of its ears, is very common 
in the Southwestern parts of the country. “A. B.,” of 
Texas, asks how to make a trap to catch it; if any of 
our readers have successfully trapped it, we hope they 
will tell how. From the way in which it leaps across 
the country, we should think it difficult game to trap. 
Sunflower-Seed fake.— Professor Bergstrand, 
of the Royal Agricultural Academy, Sweden, has re¬ 
cently investigated the feeding value of oil-cake from 
the seeds of the Sunflower. It contains 13 to 16 per cent 
of fat, and 35 to 36 per cent of nitrogenous matter, 
which is very rich for an oil-cake. It, has an agreeable 
taste and is relished by cattle. When fed to milch cows 
it has improved the quality and increased the quantity of 
milk. It is valuable also for fattening animals. Of the 
value of sunflower seeds for various uses, we have no 
doubt, and in view of tbis, farmers are frequently advised 
to cultivate them. It should be recollected that the 
plant of the sunflower is remarkably rich in potash, and 
would rob the soil of this most valuable constituent more 
rapidly than almost any other crop. If raised for the 
sake of the seeds, the stalks and all refuse should be 
gathered and burned, and the ashes returned to the land, 
otherwise it will impoverish the soil to a greater ex¬ 
tent than the value of the seeds will compensate for. 
X Fruit Dryer.—The “ Zimmerman.”— 
This fruit dryer has been sent for trial, butit is rather too 
early to put it to a practical test for a report the present 
month, as fruit proper for drying, corn, etc, are not 
quite in season with us. An examination of it, shows it 
to be constructed upon the correct principle, and almost 
exactly like a dryer which we constructed some 30 years 
ago, but not for fruit, and which we did not have patented. 
From former experience with a dryer closely resembling 
this, we feel almost as sure of the excellence of the 
“Zimmerman,”as if we had put it to the test, which 
we propose to give it. The immense number now in 
use, show that it has exactly hit the popular want. 
Ail Elevator in a Building.—“D. D. K.,” 
Bethel. Ct. There is no difficulty in arranging an eleva¬ 
tor. A well in which it works is to be provided, fitted 
with a slide at each corner made of a piece of half-round 
2-inch wooden rod. These receive the thrust of grooved 
wheels fastened to the corners of the box, and which are 
forced against the rods by spiral springs. The box is 
made as may be convenient for shape and size, and the 
hoisting apparatus is an endless rope passing over a pair 
of pulleys and by which the box is drawn up and down. 
A balance counter weight should hang so as to rise and 
fall as the box goes down or up. This should work be¬ 
tween slides similarly to the box to avoid noise. 
Drinking Sour Milk.— The people in the rural 
districts of the Southern States, prefer sour milk to 
sweet, and will offer it to a traveller unless he expressly 
asks for sweet milk. This preference appears to be the 
out-growth of necessity, as in warm climates, sour milk 
is the rule, and not the exception. With better methods 
of keepingmilk, which the modern inventions provide, it 
is probable that the preference for sweet milk will come 
with the ability to preserve it in that condition. 
Archery.— That archery is becoming an “ institu¬ 
tion ” in this country, is indicated by the appearance of 
a journal devoted to its interests. The “ American Toxo- 
philite,” a monthly, comes to us from Kansas City, Mo., 
and is a bright and lively sheet fill el with archery items. 
If any of our readers are puzzled over the title, we may 
save them some trouble by saying that Toxophilite is 
made up from the Greek words meaning a bow, and to 
love, i.e., a lover of the bow. 
“Raising Water up Hill.”— An article with 
this title, appeared in our number for July last, on page 
261. It contained a most stupid typographical error, 
which, late as it is, we desire to correct. Those who 
keep their numbers—which includes the great majority 
of readers, are requested to turn to the page named, and 
bn the third line from the bottom of the left-hand column, 
cross out with a pencil, the word “water,” and insert 
winter, so that it will read, “for use in the winter.” 
About Notices.— Strangers sometimes make mis¬ 
takes. Not long ago, some one sent his “ crinkum,” 
with a note saying that he would advertise it if we would 
give it a favorable notice. It should be understood that 
sending an article, machine, implement, or whatever 
thing it may be, to the American Agriculturist for trial, 
does not put us under any obligation whatever to notice 
it. When one pays for his advertisement as agreed, there 
all obligation ceases. If one sends an article, whatever 
it may be, to this office, for trial, it is sent to one of the 
several farms or gardens intimately connected with the 
paper, where it receives a full and careful trial at the 
hands of practical men. If the implement, after being 
thus tested, appears to be one we think our readers 
should know more about, we are then very apt to say 
so; but we wish it understood that in accepting an ar¬ 
ticle for trial, we enter into no obligation to give it a no¬ 
tice. The editorial pages are for the benefit of our read¬ 
ers ; whatever is published there is with a view to its 
usefulness to them ; if a notice that we may give there 
benefits another, that is his good fortune. 
Basket Willows. —Wehave several times replied 
to inquiries, that there was no difficulty in growing wil¬ 
lows, but that the trouble was to find a market for them. 
The willow trade is in the hands of a few importers, who, 
from the airs they put on, must be foreign counts or prin¬ 
ces out of the royalty business just now. If they inform 
one that willows can’t be grown in this country, it is a 
remarkable condescension, and some will not unbend 
sufficiently to say that. Our inquiries among these fel¬ 
lows taught us two things—how disagreeable people can 
be when they give what little mind they have to it, and 
that an American grower could not give—much less sell, 
his willows to their High Mightinesses. Seeing no chance 
of selling, we have not encouraged the growing. A few 
days ago, happening in at the Commission house of E. & 
O. Ward, No. 279 Washington St., whose card has been 
in our advertising columns these many years, we saw 
bundles of willows, and found that it was not an unusual 
thing for them to receive these among other produce —- 
and that basket makers do not agree with the importers’ 
view that willows can not be grown here, as they 
purchase them, knowing that they are American. The 
fact that willows can be disposed of through the Com¬ 
mission houses, will give encouragement to those who 
wish to cultivate them. 
Vinegar Eels.—' “ A. B. K.,” Taunton, Mass. The 
minute animals called vinegar eels, are entirely harmless, 
but if the idea of eating them is unpleasant, they may be 
destroyed by heating the vinegar. As it acts upon 
metallic vessels, it should be heated in earthenware or 
glass. Set a jar or jug containing the vinegar in a kettle 
with some chips or other material under it, to keep it 
from actual contact with the bottom of the kettle, nearly 
fill this with cold water, place upon the fire, and when 
the water boils, keep it at that temperature, until the 
vinegar is well heated through. If cooked eels are ob¬ 
jected to, filter through flannH, or fine cotton cloth. 
Tlie Edelweiss.— This plant, figured and described 
last month on page 307, is one about which a great deal 
of unnecessary fuss is made in some parts of Europe. 
“C. B.,” Bloomfield, N. J., sends us an item from the 
'•Deutsche Zeitung," of Vienna. From this it appears, 
that the government of Bern, (Switzerland), has prohib¬ 
ited the sale of the Edelweiss, probably with a view to 
prevent its extermination. The object of the item is, to 
show that this prohibition is superfluous, as the plant 
has long been cultivated in the park of Prince Camille 
Rohan, in Bohemia, and that a nursery at Turman, sends 
out thousands of the plants, which are raised there. 
New Books. 
The Botanical Text Book. — Part I. Structur¬ 
al Botany. By Asa Gray. New York. Ivison, Blake- 
man, Taylor & Co. This is the sixth edition of a work 
which first appeared under the above title in 1842, and 
which was preceded by “ The Elements of Botany,” some 
six years earlier. Its successive editions have been wel¬ 
comed by botanists, not only in this country, but in Eng¬ 
land, as the best exponent of the state of knowledge 
upon the topics of which it treated. The former edition, 
the fifth, was issued in 1857, and those familiar with the 
subject will not be surprised to. learn that the present 
edition is entirely re-written. Twelve years ago, one vol¬ 
ume sufficed for all that the average student need know 
of Structural Botany. At present, a series of four vol¬ 
umes is contemplated, of which this is the first. This is 
devoted to the structure of plants, the various shapes 
their parts assume, and the relations of their various or¬ 
gans to one another. It will be followed by a volume on 
Physiological Botany (vegetable Histology and Physiol¬ 
ogy). by Prof. Goodale. This will give the minute struc¬ 
ture of plants, and the methods of growth. A third vol¬ 
ume, by Prof. Fallow, will be devoted to the Flowerless 
Plants, Cryptogamic Botany—the Ferns, Mosses, Sea¬ 
weeds, Fungi, etc. The series will be completed.by a 
fourth volume on Systematic Botany—the natural orders 
of plants, their Classification, Distribution, Products, 
etc., by Prof. Gray. While the beginnevean have no better 
guide in studying the structure of plants, as a preparation 
for their determination in systematic works, than the 
“First Lessons,” by tlie same author, the advanced stu¬ 
dent will gladly welcome the present “Text Book.” He 
will find here the same clearness of statement, the same 
happy method which clears up obscurities, the facility in 
presenting recondite matters “as clear as daylight,” 
which characterized the former editions, and for which the 
author is unequalled among teachers of science. A crit¬ 
ical review of the work is not called for in this place, and 
we need only say that the botanical student who would 
know the latest views of Organography and Morphology, 
and all that relates to the structure of flowering plants, 
will find them given here with a clearness and attractive¬ 
ness not to be found elsewhere in the language. The intel¬ 
ligent general reader who would know something about 
plants and their structure, will find the subject presented 
in the most attractive manner, as the author is not one of 
those who, to appear profound, finds it necessary to be 
obscure. The Glossary of Botanical Terms is remarkably 
full, and the work is abundantly illustrated. Sent from 
this office at the publishers’ price, $3.00. 
The Parks and Gardens of Paris.—B y W. Robin¬ 
son, F.L.S. London: Macmillian & Co. Second edition 
