1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
99 
been visited by a good-looking young man, who 
could talk fluently about pictures and art. He had 
seeds for sale, each of which would produce a 
plant, with a most beautiful red, white, and yellow 
flower. As each flower opened it would disclose— 
of all things in the world—an exquisite “ Wash 
Hag.” Some sales were made at six seeds for a 
dollar, each seed warranted to produce three wash 
rags. One lady wrote us that, at that price, the 
flowers ought to produce lace pocket handkerchiefs; 
but some people are unreasonable. It is said that 
the wealthy persons of the neighborhood were pretty 
generally victimized. As the seeds are said to be 
somewhat like those of the pumpkin, but black, we 
suppose they may be those of the old “ Dish Cloth,” 
or “ Bonnet Gourd,” or “Sponge Cucumber” ( Luf - 
Jia) which we figured several years ago. The cucum¬ 
ber-like fruit, when ripe, has a net-work of fibres, 
which may be used in place of a sponge. But wash 
rags in the flowers ! 
Fraudulent Subscriptions. 
Getting subscriptions under false pretenses is an 
old swindle, which has recently been revived in 
several localities, and especially in Pennsylvania. 
The chap at last accounts called himself Loring 
(but his name is sometimes Arlington), and took 
subscriptions for 
“The Milliner and Dressmaker” of Lord dk 
Taylor, 
thus making use of the name of a leading New York 
Dry Goods house, known all over the country. Our 
correspondence shows that the chap has taken 
a good many subscriptions at $2, for a paper 
which has no existence. Messrs. Lord & Tay¬ 
lor publish no paper. The chap is a thorough 
swindler. Look out for him. Now and then we 
hear of a swindler taking subscriptions for the 
American Agriculturist , but the Postmasters have 
helped us a good deal in detecting such chaps, and 
it has got to be a very unsafe business. This Jour¬ 
nal has friends and voluntary canvassers almost 
everywhere, who need to show no false “certificates 
of agency,” and any man operating as an “ agent ” 
where he is unknown, and who has no undoubted 
credentials from parties who are known to those 
.they approach, may as a rule be given a wide berth. 
A Swindler Caged. 
We have often shown how difficult it was to catch 
those swindlers who offer to sell Counterfeit money 
or “ Queer,” but who never have any of the article. 
One William Jones was sent to State Prison for 13 
months in January last, not for offering bad money, 
but for using the mails for swindling purposes. 
These chaps so generally go clear that a conviction 
is worth recording. This good precedent having 
now been established, the determination of the 
Postal Authorities to not let that department aid in 
imposition will greatly aid in checking the operators 
of many varieties of swindling. 
The Marriage Endowment Associations 
are among the most recent of swindles, but they 
bid fair to be short lived. The State Auditor of 
Iowa has notified the Fairfield Association of that 
State, that, being really an Insurance Association, 
it must conform to the laws and make reports to 
the State Superintendent of Insurance, or he will 
proceed against its officers. He says: “The public 
have a right to know what business you do, and 
how you do it.” As such concerns can not stand 
publicity, several in Iowa have given up business. 
“Religious Lotteries.” 
Holding that any lottery, by whatever name it 
may be called, or whatever shape it may assume, 
is wrong in principle, and opposed to the best in¬ 
terests of the community, we do not think that any 
object, however worthy in itself, can be warranted 
in resorting to a lottery for the purpose of raising 
funds. We have received schedules and tickets 
issued in aid of a church in Canada. We might not 
notice this, were we not told that this 
Lottery bas the Episcopal Blessiug, 
While not accustomed to speak lightly of things 
which others hold sacred, yet we must protest when 
told that the purchase of a ticket in a lottery “ enti¬ 
tles the purchaser to the spiritual benefits, and one 
mass weekly for the repose of their deceased friends 
for two years from the date of holding the Bazaar.” 
Comment upon this mixing of the sacred and the 
secular is not necessary. 
The Electric Battery Business 
must be dull, as one of the most prominent makers 
of those useless metallic toys now comes out with 
“Electro-medicated Glasses.” The picture looks 
like common spectacles, but appearances are deceit¬ 
ful. These glasses, we are told, “ are produced by 
heat generated by electricity,” while the medicated 
properties contained in glass make it as hard as 
a diamond.” After that we are prepared to learn 
that several “ Royal Highnesses,” and many Dukes 
and Earls wear these glasses. Electricity is a won¬ 
derful thing ! 
Medical Matters. 
We have several pamphlets, which, professing to 
be for the benefit of young people, are vile, and can 
only be described by the unpleasant epithet “nasty.” 
Some of these are of a sensational kind and would 
no doubt convince many young people that they 
are in a dangerous condition, and that their only 
hope is in the medicines, the 6ale of which they are 
intended to promote. A proper regard for decency 
prevents quoting or minutely describing them. We 
can only advise young people to let all these things 
alone. Do not read them. They are of no use and 
only awaken needless fears. Be assured that all 
these claims to superior knowledge of medicine or 
to the possession of especial curative means are 
false. The chaps who write and publish these vile 
pamphlets have not a tithe of the knowledge of your 
family physician. They only want money. If one 
has a real trouble of any kind, he does not need one 
of these books to tell him of it. Do not send money 
to some far-off quack, but consult, in all confi¬ 
dence, your family physician. Any regular physi¬ 
cian knows at least as much, usually a hundred 
times more, of these secret troubles or private dis¬ 
eases, than any of these advertising chaps. If they 
once get hold of your name they will ply you with 
exaggerated pamphlets, pictures, statements, etc., 
startling enough to make a well person sick, or to 
think he is. Then follow advice, medicine, etc., 
which will be kept up under various pretexts and 
promises, as long as a dollar can be squeezed out of 
the victim. This is the universal practice of all this 
class of private disease men, whether they adver¬ 
tise with a string of (false) medical titles, or as a be¬ 
nevolent association seeking to benefit the afflicted. 
Oregon—Washington Territory. 
If starting out now as a young man or under 
middle age, to engage in farming in a new country, 
and grow with it, we should be strongly tempted to 
pass beyond the Rocky Mountains, and settle on 
the Pacific Coast, in the western portion of Oregon, 
or Washington Territory. The climate, the soil, 
and the location indicate that these will some day 
take a prominent part along with California, not 
only in feeding the Pacific Division of our country, 
but also in contributing materially to the consump¬ 
tion of other lands. The wheat product of 1881 is es¬ 
timated at*over fifteen million bushels, of which 
twelve million bushels will be sent to foreign 
countries. 
Oregon alone, with a population of 174,768, 
contains nearly 61,459,200 acres (96,030 square 
miles), or 1,052,800 acres more than New York and 
Pennsylvania combined. — Washington (popula¬ 
tion 75,116), has 44,275,200 acres (69,180 square 
miles), or 1,737,600 more acres than all the six New 
England States. Together, Oregon and Washington 
equal all New England, New York, and Pennsyl¬ 
vania, with half of New Jersey ; or all of Indiana, 
Illinois, and Iowa, and enough over to make two 
more States nearly as large as Massachusetts. So 
much for the areas of the North-western corner of 
our country. 
Though in the latitude of the Canadas, the cli¬ 
mate of even the northern part averages about that 
of the southern New England States, and seldom 
falls so low in winter. A wide belt runs nearly 500 
miles north and south between the Pacific Ocean 
and the Cascade range of mountains, has a full 
rain-fall, and all farm and garden products grow 
in perfection. A good deal of this is covered with 
majestic pine forests, but there is also a consider¬ 
able area of fertile soil covered with mixed 
forest trees, the removal of which is the only 
obstacle to pioneer farmers, as was the case in 
Michigan and Western New York. — A satisfied 
tone always pervades the letters from the numer¬ 
ous readers of the American Agriculturist in Oregon, 
and especially in Washington Territory. New rail¬ 
roads, projected and building, will soon bring a 
large region into easy communication with the 
East and South, while the numerous rivers and the 
Pacific Coast harbors open ready communication 
with the teeming population of the Islands of the 
Pacific and the Eastern Continent. 
The majestic Columbia River passes directly be¬ 
tween Oregon and Washington Territory to the 
Pacific, and it will perhaps surprise some of our 
eastern readers to be told that Portland, 100 miles 
up the Columbia River, but 10 miles from it on the 
Williamett branch, contains to-day 23,000 inhabi¬ 
tants, has an assessed valuation of ten millions, with 
twenty individuals and corporations each paying 
taxes on one hundred thousand dollars; that its 
exports for November alone were worth $1,500,- 
000, carried in 21 deep-water vessels, and that 
at one time in December, 25 sea-going vessels were 
loading and unloading at its wharves. We noted 
in December that over 26,000,000 lbs. of salmon 
were canned in Columbia River alone during 1881. 
In thus calling attention to these magnificent 
north-western regions, comparatively little known 
by the majority of people, we do not ignore the great 
agricultural attractions of California, and of the 
almost boundless and as yet but partially occupied 
farming regions east of the Rocky Mountains. 
An Ensilage “Congress” was held on the 25th 
and 26th of January, under the management of Mr. 
J. B. Brown, of the New York Plow Co. Mr. Brown 
was early convinced that the important experiments 
and practical results of the Frenchman, Geoffart, 
repeated in this country first by Mr. Francis Mor¬ 
ris, of Baltimore, indicated a revolution in farm 
practice, which, as a manufacturer of agricultural 
implements, he might well take advantage of. 
This revolution seems really imminent. Practical 
farmers, gentlemen farmers, and people who wanted 
to be farmers, to the number of one to two hun¬ 
dred attended this conference. “ Congress” sounds 
very grand ; it was really an “experience meeting.” 
Mr. Brown’s newest and best of all fodder cutters 
were at the rear of the room, where was spread a 
lunch-table of crackers and cookies and cheese, and 
excellent hot coffee. The tables near the chairman 
were covered with specimens of ensiloed crops— 
ensilage of maize, in variety, ensilage of rye, of clo¬ 
ver, of oats, of grass, etc., all well preserved ; most 
of them having a somewhat agreeable odor. Butter 
was shown also made from ensilage-fed cows, not 
one specimen however was of really fine flavor and 
odor. Butter made on good clover hay and com 
meal would have beaten it out and out. All but 
one specimen, brought by the chairman, was col¬ 
ored, but the pale lardy pat had the best flavor of 
all in the judgment of several experts. There was 
considerable diversity of opinion in regard to crops, 
management, cultivation, the amount which could 
be raised per acre, etc., but all agreed as to its val¬ 
ue and as to the great economy of land effected by 
it. After several thoroughly practical farmers had 
declared that the greatest yield of corn fodder 
weighed green, as it was cut, which they could get 
was 15 to 20 or 25 tons to the acre, Mr. Mills, of 
Pompton, declared his belief that he had cut up¬ 
wards of 70 tons. He estimated his crops cut, 
upon 13 acres, by weighing a cubic yard, cut from 
different parts of his silo. The meeting was a very 
pleasant one. Those in attendance represented 
large wealth and intelligence, and had a most earn¬ 
est interest in the subject. The American Agricul¬ 
turist has kept its readers informed in regard to 
the whole subject of ensilation of green crops, and 
the facts presented at this meeting tended to con¬ 
firm the claims made for the practice. 
