144 
AMERICANS AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
inches apart; “ Champion,” 3 feet apart, and pro¬ 
vide plenty of brush, or some kind of trellis, for it, 
3 to 4 feet high. Cover peas 2 to 3 inches deep. 
Vegetables iVot Generally Grown. 
There are a number of vegetables much esteemed 
by some, that do not seem to have made their way 
into the farm garden. 
Kohl-Rabi is one of these. It has been called 
“Turnip-cabbage.” It is like a small cabbage 
with a globular stem ; it is of easy culture, and if 
taken when young, is much superior to early tur¬ 
nips. If left until too old, it is very stringy. When 
rapidly grown it is edible when 4 inches through, 
but 2 or 3 inches is the usual size. It is to be sown 
like beets, and thinned to 6 or 8 inches. 
found on sale, but a blacksmith can easily make it. 
The blade is a triangle, 2 inches across the head 
and the sides 4 inches long, with a shank by which 
to attach it to the handle. Made of good steel and 
kept sharp it will do astonishing work among weeds. 
Tub Steel Rake, one with long, sharp teeth, 
not too close, will do rapid execution where weeds 
are small; its frequent use will avoid much hoeing. 
A Seed Sower.— There are several excellent 
machines which can be easily changed to sow seeds 
of different sizes. Some of these are provided 
with weeding attachments and may be quickly con¬ 
verted into hand cultivators. An implement of 
this kind is needed on the farm, where roots are 
raised, and will be found a great saving of time 
in sowing seeds in the garden. 
Leeks are much valued by many in soups and 
stews. They are hardy, and may be sown early in 
rich soil; when 4 or 5 inches high, thin to 0 inches 
in the row, handling carefully, and transplant the 
thinnings to other rows at the same distance. 
Cardoon is a tall, thistle-like plant, the thick leaf¬ 
stalks of w'hick are blanched and stewed. It is 
rarely seen in this country, but is highly esteemed 
by those who have lived in Europe. 
Sorrel , quite different from the wild plants 
known by the name. Its leaves are somewhat like 
those of a Dock. It is pleasautly acid, and is 
cooked either by itself or mixed with spinach. 
Salsily or “ Vegetable Oyster,” 
It has been said that no matter 
how ingenious a lock may be de¬ 
vised, some one with a little more 
ingenuity than the inventor can be 
found to pick and open it. So, also, 
it would appear that whatever laws 
may be passed to protect the community from 
fraud, the swindlers are ingenious enough to find 
means to evadethem. 
Take the Lottery, for Example. 
Is a very good thing to have. It stands any 
amount of freezing, and comes out perfect in 
spring, just when one wants some succulent root 
for a change from potatoes. Dug, washed clean, 
aud scraped, and boiled soft, it eats well. A few 
bits of salt codfish added, make it resemble cooked 
oysters, in some people’s imagination ; hence its 
common name. It grows very much like carrots, 
and is to be treated similarly. Sow in drills 15 
inches apart, in April; thin to 3 inches, keep the 
weeds down during summer ; and leave it until 
wanted in spring, but it may be drawn upon at 
any time when not frozen in solid. Some pre¬ 
fer the Scorzonera, or Black Salsify, but the com¬ 
mon white seems of equally good quality, and it 
looks better on the dish. We always want a 15 or 
20-foot row of it for each member of the household. 
Helps in the Garden. 
There are several appliances that will help the 
work and save time in the garden, and no where 
are these more needed than in the farm-garden, as 
the lack of time is the common excuse for not 
having a good garden. 
A Garden Line is of great use in marking the 
rows straight, in laying out beds, etc. The line 
should be long enough to reach the length of the 
garden, and not larger than a fourth of au inch. It 
will last longer if tarred. Reels for holding the 
line are sold at the implement stores, but these, 
while handy, are not necessary. Take two hard¬ 
wood pins, 18 or 20 inches long, an inch or so thick, 
and pointed at one end. Tie an end of the line to 
the middle of each and wind up the line, a half on 
each pin, as boys wind a kite string. By setting 
the pins firmly in the ground, the line may be 
stretched very quickly and afford a guide in sow¬ 
ing and planting, etc. 
Markers, to mark several roivs-at once are great 
time-savers. They are made like a large rake, with 
a piece of scantling for the head and wooden 
teeth, about a foot long, with a blunt, triangular 
point below. Two sets of teeth may be put on op¬ 
posite sides of the head (inserting them in holes), 
one set at 12 and the other at 15 inches apart. By- 
using every mark, or every alternate one, distances 
of 12, 15, 24, and 30 inches may be made with this 
one implement. The handle should be well braced. 
Other Measures.— It is well to have the han¬ 
dles of the hoes and rakes marked with feet and 
half feet by notches, or brass or tinned tacks. 
The Triangular Hoe.— This is rarely to be 
While a majority of the States prohibited 'lot¬ 
teries by law, a few tolerated them, and the man¬ 
agers took up their residence in these and carried 
on t heir business through the mails. When Con¬ 
gress passed a law prohibiting the use of the mails 
for all fraudulent purposes, it was supposed that 
an end was made of the lottery. But the managers 
were equal to the occasion. They had only to 
move across the border into Canada, and buy post¬ 
age stamps bearing the head of Queen Victoria 
instead of George Washington, and thus continue 
their business as before. St. Stephens, New Bruns¬ 
wick, and Halifax, N. S., are the present head¬ 
quarters of lotteries, though they are called “Dis¬ 
tributions ” of some kind. Of course the authori¬ 
ties know whether a British stamp will allow a 
letter to be delivered in defiance of our own laws, 
but the fact that such letters pass by thousands 
through the United States mails and are delivered 
at our Post Offices, is well known. The circulars 
are full of appeals to “try your luck,” and hold 
as among the inducements to do so, the secrecy' 
with which the transactions are conducted. 
Offering Counterfeit Money. 
This is an old swindle that dies hard. We say 
“ offering,” for, as we have shown several times, 
there is no selling —indeed, there is no money in the 
operation other than the good money out of which 
the victims are swindled. As the lottery depends 
upon that element in human nature which induces 
persons to “try their luck,” so this counterfeit 
game depends upon a too common desire to get 
something for nothing, and appeals to those who 
do not consider whether the means are right or 
wrong. These schemes, which a few years ago 
might be counted by scores, are still kept up, 
though in much smaller numbers than formerly, 
and with more caution than then. 
Under Cover of the Hook Trade 
is now carried on one of the latest counterfeit 
money schemes. Bargains in books can be adver¬ 
tised without exciting suspicion, and when cata¬ 
logues are sent for, they allow the sender to be 
approached with the following, which one of our 
friends in Missouri received in a catalogue : 
No.- Street, New- York. 
“ Dear Sir:— A short time ago I forwarded to you 
my Circular of Books. Now, to be frank with you, 
I do not think there is a chance for you to make 
much money with that class of goods, as there are 
so many engaged in that business, but I have some¬ 
thing that will enable you to make money, and a 
plenty of it, in a short time. I have 
The United States Cliroinos, 
the best in the market, at $15 per 100. I will send 
30 U. S. C.’s as samples on receipt of $5. In every 
case where goods are ordered C. O. D., one-third of 
the amount must be sent with the order ; the goods 
will then be shipped C. O. D., the balance, not less 
than 100, shipped C. O. D. Yours truly, 
“C. L. 
“If you think well of the above, order at once.” 
But our Missouri friend did not “ think well ” of 
it. Still it is a neater form of the swindle than that 
of the old style of insisting that the purchaser shall 
come to the city and stop at a certain-hotel, etc_ 
The Success of Land Swindles. 
The desire to own land is a commendable one, 
and is especially strong in those who have come 
from European countries where it is difficult to be¬ 
come a landowner. The success of land swindles 
depends upon this common desire, for if the scheme 
is an attractive one, offering ownership of land for 
a small outlay, it makes little difference what the 
land, or where it may be located, it is quite sure to 
be profitable to its projectors for a while, until ex¬ 
posed. One of the most flourishing of these schemes 
was that started in Cincinnati, a few years ago, 
offering lands in a wonderful Texas town ; this 
went on with a rush, until we published the state¬ 
ment of parties living in the vicinity of the alleged 
place, that there was no town there. 
“ Farms at S3 Each” 
are advertised by a Washington concern. It is not 
stated where they are located, but they are adver¬ 
tised by the “Orphan’s Manufacturing Company.” 
Perhaps they manufacture orphans by sending par¬ 
ents to $3-farms, situated no where in particular. 
Avery funny advertisement is that of a paper which 
offers a 
House Lot in Florida 
to every subscriber who sends a dollar for the paper. 
As this does not start in Cincinnati, but in a New 
England city, we have no reason to doubt that the 
subscriber will get his house-lot.; and so much the 
worse for him. A scheme need not be actually 
fraudulent to be a humbug. The offer of a “lot of 
land 40 feet front and 100 feet deep,” in Florida, is 
claimed to be a “wonderful, grand, and princely of¬ 
fer,” but when it is examined it appears very ridicu¬ 
lous. The State, its climate and its orange groves are 
glowingly described, though the township or county 
iu which one’s lot is to be situated can not be 
known, except it is stated that the lots are to be 
given away “in rotation,” which is perhaps as 
good as naming any more definite locality. The lots 
are “40feet front,” but what they “front” on is a 
mystery. Unless in a city or village a lot of that 
size would be of no more use to its owner in Flor¬ 
ida than in Alaska or in the moon. If one wishes 
to subscribe to the journal he is not obliged to take 
the laud : if he chooses, he can be let off according 
to the advertisementby agreeing to take 100 chromos. 
Tlie “Ozone” Business Iteorcanized. 
That Cincinnati Co. send out circulars inform¬ 
ing those who receive them that their advertising 
has brought such an “ avalanche of business ” that 
they must “reorganize their methods.” Their 
first step in reorganization should be to stop call¬ 
ing a mixture of sulphur aud lampblack “ ozone,” 
a name which, thus applied, does violence to chem¬ 
istry and truth. But the “ Co.” will “ reorganize” 
by establishing an “ agency ” in each State, the 
“agent” to pay them a “ royalty of 5 cents per 
pound.” As the stuff does not cost 5 cents per 
pound, that seems a large price to pay for the 
privilege of mixing the materials. We would re¬ 
ply here to all who inquire about this stuff adver¬ 
tised as “Ozone,” that it it is only a revival of the 
old method of 
PreservinR- with Sulphurous Acid, 
which is obtained by burning sulphur. Whatever 
this so-called “ Ozone ” will do, can be done by 
sulphur under its proper name and bought at the 
ordinary price. It has been used for ages to pre¬ 
vent fermentation in wine, but its unpleasant odor 
aud taste prevent its having a wide application in 
preserving articles of food. 
Seed Swindles. 
For a long while we have missed the announce¬ 
ment of those wonderful seeds which come every 
spring from one or two small towns in Tennessee, 
