6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
in Pike Co., Mo., have timidly paid the demands ; 
others refused, and told the swindlers to “git.” 
Our Missouri friends are reminded of our often 
repeated caution : 
Farmers—Sign Nothing for a Stranger. 
Do not even give him your Post Office address in 
writing, lest it return to plague you. Those who 
play these tricks should remember that in some 
newly settled countries there is a Judge, whose 
name is “Lynch,” who often disposes of cases. 
“A Pound of Uutter from a Pint of Milk.” 
We supposed that the “ Butter Powder” humbug 
was extiuct, but here it comes anew from—of all 
places in the country—Boston, where they have 
laws and enforce them. Let it alone ! 
A “Newspaper Millenium.” 
... .There are many who have started newspapers, 
and foolishly asked their subscribers to pay for 
them. We are now on the eve of “ A Newspaper 
Millenium,” which will be marked by furnishing a 
newspaper “absolutely free.” It is plainly shown 
by figures—and “ figures won’t lie ”—that wicked 
publishers who charge for their paper don’t know 
their business. “ The Newspaper Millenium ” is to 
begin by sending the paper for nothing, and making 
the advertisers pay for the whole. In reading this 
high pressure circular, we are struck by two facts— 
1st, the paper will be, when it appears, issued at 
Cincinnati, a city unfortunately infested by the 
worst lot of swindlers in the country. And, 2dly, 
There is to be a premium—a premium as is a pre¬ 
mium—so attractive and fascinating—something 
about “Love,” that while the time of issuing the 
first number of this paper is in the dim, uncertain 
future, there is no doubt that every intending sub¬ 
scriber wants, and must have, right off, soon, very 
quick—because “among a gallery of art works it 
would be picked out aud gazed upon and admired 
and loved above all others.” This picture, no doubt 
too utterly utter, ought to be distributed at once. 
But wicked express companies will charge all sorts 
of prices, hence send only 25 cts.—the uniform price 
of delivery, aud get this premium. That 25 cts. 
from each subscriber is at the bottom of this 
plausible scheme. 
Peter Henderson Speaks out in Meeting, 
There are some of the old style gardeners and 
florists, who do not like Mr. Henderson’s way of 
telling whatever he may know that he thinks will 
benefit others. There are still left a few of those 
who believe in keeping “ the secrets of the trade.” 
When these found that Mr. Henderson, in his 
“Gardening for Profit” and “Practical Floricul¬ 
ture,” told all that they knew, and many things 
they had never thought of, they were very angry. 
Still Mr. H. has helped many to be successful, and 
we think has been all the more successful himself. 
Mr. H. having hit upon a method which greatly in¬ 
creased the certainty with which he could raise seed¬ 
ling plants, not only of such rapidly growing things 
as cabbages, but of slower starting greenhouse 
plants and of shrubs ; employed it in his own es¬ 
tablishment, to his great advantage, and might have 
gone on doing this for years before his money-mak¬ 
ing method was discovered. But at the Annual 
Meeting of the Amer. Association of Nurserymen, 
Florists, and Seedsmen, held at Dayton, Ohio, in 
June last—of all places in the world, did he go and 
“ speak right out in meeting,” and tell every com¬ 
petitor of his money-making dodge. It is very 
simple, as most valuable things are. In preparing 
his seed beds, or seed boxes : First, he puts down 
a layer of good loam, run through a half-inch 
sieve, and patted down moderately firm. Over this 
about one-fourth of an inch of dried Sphagnum— 
common peat moss, such as is used for packing, 
thoroughly dried, and run through a wire sieve 
about as fine as a mosquito-wire gauze. This pow¬ 
dered moss, about in the condition of fine sawdust, 
being evenly spread. L T pon this moss was placed 
a coating of loam about three-fourths of an inch 
thick, and well levelled. The seeds were sown 
thickly on the loam, pressed down by a smooth 
board, and fine moss sifted on, sufficient to cover 
the seeds, and the whole watered with a fine rose. 
The top layer of moss keeps the surface always 
moist, preventing all drying and baking, and allows 
the young plants to easily reach the light. The 
layer of soil below it affords nourishment to the 
seedlings, which, as soon as their roots reached the 
layer of fine moss below, form a mass of fibrous 
roots. No one familiar with raising seedlings need 
to have the advantages of this method pointed out. 
This method must have been worth to every mem¬ 
ber of the convention much more than all his ex¬ 
penses in attending it. We commend it to our 
amateur cultivators, who will find it of great ad¬ 
vantage, especially with seeds slow in germinating. 
We have not tried exactly Mr. H.’s plan, but we 
have often covered seed pans with a layer of ordi¬ 
nary sphagnum moss, not pulverized, to prevent the 
soil from becoming hard, and removing it as soon 
as the seeds began to germinate, but Mr. Hender¬ 
son’s method is vastly better, and he deserves the 
thanks of all cultivators for freely giving it. 
Railway Building. 
It is computed that there are between two hun¬ 
dred thousand aud two hundred and twenty-five 
thousand miles of railroads in the whole world, 
of which nearly one hundred thousand are in the 
United States. Over six thousand miles of roads 
have been built in the States during 1881, as against 
five thousand during 1880. People are dazed by 
these large figures and naturally ask: Has the 
thing not been overdone ? Is there not danger of 
another immediate collapse and panic? Perhaps 
there might be were it not that the bulk of this 
railroad building is going on in the West, where 
lines can be constructed much cheaper than in the 
East, and where the right of way is generally given. 
It is interesting to watch the friendly competition 
of the great trunk lines to secure possession and 
control of the country beyond the Missouri river. 
This rivalry promises within a half a dozen years 
to give us as many through lines to the Pacific. 
Unquestionably the western railroads in the matter 
of polite attendance, comfortable coaches, eating 
accommodations, etc., etc., surpass the eastern 
lines. The Chicago and North Western, for exam¬ 
ple, make travel a pleasure rather than a burden, 
whether the passenger be going from Chicago to 
Marquette, St. Paul, Omaha, or to Northern Iowa, 
aud Dakota. We might name other Western roads 
whose management our Eastern lines could pattern 
after with decided advantage to the travelling public. 
The American Agriculturist in the West. 
Two of the proprietors of this journal have for 
weeks been travelling through the Western States 
and Territories, visiting various points of agricul¬ 
tural interest and gathering a vast fund of informa¬ 
tion for our readers. It is our purpose to have one 
or more of our representatives constantly on the 
move in the future through all the great agricultural 
regions of the West and the Northwest. In addi¬ 
tion we have secured the services of leading local 
writers, who will contribute valuable information 
regarding their respective States aud Territories. 
It will thus be seen that we intend in the future 
to make the American Agriculturist specially adapt¬ 
ed to the wants of the West. Those therefore of 
our vast army of readers who have moved and who 
are moving westward, cau continue to subscribe to 
the American Agriculturist , feeling that it will con¬ 
sult their wants and their needs in their new homes. 
We invite all old subscribers who, upon moving 
West, have dropped the paper under the impression 
that it was specially an Eastern journal, to again 
become subscribers and learn that the old favorite 
paper is just as useful and instructive to them now 
as when they resided in the Eastern States. 
Agricultural Lectures In Illinois.— Dur¬ 
ing its winter term — eleven weeks, from Jan. 4—the 
[January, 
College of Agriculture of the Illinois Industrial 
University will receive as special students those 
who desire to attend one or all of the following 
courses of daily lectures : General Farm Manage¬ 
ment ; Animal Husbandry ; Diseases of Animals, 
and Elements of Horticulture. The largest agricul¬ 
tural library in the West will be open to students. 
The Annual Agricultural Institute, to which all are 
invited, will be held the last week in January. 
Provide for Next Summer’s Ice.-It can 
be Very Cheaply Done. 
Ice is now indispensable to good, successful 
dairying, even on a small scale, where cool spring 
water is not abundant. The preservation of food, 
and the less frequent cooking required, and con¬ 
sequent saving of fuel, will go far towards meet¬ 
ing the expense of providing ice, if it do not more 
than cover it. This last is of itself an important 
item on the prairies or wherever fuel is scarce. 
There are few farms so small that it will not pay 
to provide for a supply of ice; and it is quite 
practicable for several small families to combine, 
and store a lot to be drawn upon by each. A fresh 
water lake, pond, or stream, is not indispensable for 
obtaining ice. In the absence of natural resources, 
an artificial bed can be made by excavating the soil 
a foot or less, or by enclosing an area with a small 
bank of earth. A thin grouting of hydraulic lime, 
A CHEAP ICE-HOUSE ORNAMENTED. 
spread thinly over the bottom and against the sides 
will hold the water until it freezes an ice flooring. 
Small additions of water daily or ofteuer in cold 
weather will soon give a thick mass of ice. Straw 
may be thrown over during a hot mid-day, or a 
temporary thaw. This water may be drawn from 
cisterns, or wells. Every four small hogsheads of 
water (63 gallons each), will give over a ton of ice, 
or 2,105 lbs.—Even on the prairies, there are gen¬ 
erally frequent sloughs which can be utilized for 
an ice pond with little trouble aud expense. 
A Straw' Heap for Keeping Ice.— Last sum¬ 
mer a “ Prairie Farmer ” informed us that he dam¬ 
med a slough, and took out some 25 loads of ice 
aud piled it up closely on a dry spot. He then 
covered it with several feet in thickness of wheat 
straw which would otherwise have been “ burned 
to get rid of it.” The heap was sloped to shed 
most rain, and some boards and weighted fence 
wire put on to keep it from blowing away. About 
once a week, one side of the heap was opened, a 
week’s supply of ice taken out, and the opening 
closed by ramming in straw. He had plenty of ice 
left near the close of August. The ice removed 
was kept in a large double box, with ten or twelve 
inches of dry wheat chaff between the outer and 
inner box. It stood in the shade on the north side 
of the house, with some straw thrown over it to 
ward off the morning and evening sun. His labor 
he did not reckon. The total outlay was less than 
S4 for rough boards aud nails to make the box. 
An Ice-House that will keep a large supply of 
ice is a small matter. We have described several 
that cost only $20 or $30 all complete, which hold 20 
tons of ice, aud are serviceable for a dozen to a 
score of years. This is equal to 217 lbs. a day from 
