1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
213 
CROSS WORD. 
My first is in orange but not in plum. 
My next is in finger but not in thumb, 
My third is in harness but not in trace, 
My fourth is in ginger but not in mace, 
My fifth is in father but not in sire, 
My sixth is in anger but not in ire, 
My seventh is in moustache, but not in curls, 
My whole is a fabric worn by girls. 
METAQRAM. 
In a word of five letters,—a flower-bed—may be found 
(1) an animal, (2) a fish, (3) a vegetable, (4) a fruit, (5) a 
kind of cabbage, (6) a portion of land, (7, 8) two articles 
of clothing, (9 1 a fabric, (10) part of an animal, (11, 12) 
two things an animal may do and (13,14, 15, 16, 17), five 
other verbs. 
HIDDEN ANIMALS. 
1. Who found it? I, Gerald Howland. 
2. Give me what you wish, reward me as you choose, 
3. Did I cause you to stumble ? O 1 pardon me, I pray. 
4. Listen to my prayer, Madam, O let me entreat you ! 
6. Then came the storm, a stiff north-easter I 
6. It was a perilous journey. 
7. That night a pirate chased us. 
8. I shall be a very thankful man when I reach home. 
TRANSITIONS. 
(Change only one letter at a time, without altering its 
S osition— e. g. : Change boot to shoe in four moves: 
oot, blot, slot, shot, shoe. 
1. Change bark to bite, in four moves. 
2. Change soar to drop, in six moves. 
3. Change pork to veal, in five moves. 
4. Change curd to whey, in nine moves. 
5. Change leaf to vine, in eight moves. 
6. Change rail to road, in six moves. 
HALF SQUARE. 
1. An inventor. 2. Junction. 9. A legal claim. 4. 
A weight. 5. A preposition. 6. Part of New York. 
Edward Gat. 
ADDITIONS AND TRANSPOSITIONS. 
1. Add a letter to material for lighting a fire, transpose 
and make something we often do not like to take. 
2. Add a letter to a seat for babies, transpose into a 
precious stone. 
3. Add a letter to a certain time of day, transpose into 
a vegetable. 
4. Add a letter to an animal, transpose into a weapon. 
Illustrated Rebus No. 490. — Thoughtful 
words for all to consider. 
Answers to Puzzles in the March Number. 
Additions and Transpositions.—!. Trace + p. car¬ 
pet. 2. Coat r. aclor. 3. Quaint + e. antique. 4. 
Pear + c. caper. 5. Pair-)-1; April. 
Word Building.— Lie—veil, olive, violet. 2. Gas— 
sage, stage, grates, strange. 3. Cut—curt, cruet, curate. 
4. One—cone, ocean, canoes. 5. Hat—thaw, wheat, 
wreath, weather. 6. Mit—mite, mitre, hermit. 7. Cap- 
chap, peach, chapel, chaplet. 8. Fy—fay, fray, fairy, 
aerify. 
Corners Up.Corners 85ovrn. 
Did you ever think how little variation in a single 
feature is required to change the whole expression of 
one's countenance 1 Here is a fair illustration made by a 
few bits of type. If you study the two faceB outlined, 
- -i @ i @ y -{ @ i @ }• 
~ Y “ 
(^) (—) 
you will see that the only difference is that in one the 
“brace” representing the mouth is turned upward, and 
in the other downward. Yet the left-hand face is cheer¬ 
ful and pleasant, while the other is cross and growling. 
It all depends upon whether the “cornersof the mouth” 
are turned up or down. Every one can see living illus¬ 
trations of this difference all around him—among little 
people and grown ones'. Some are almost always cheer¬ 
ful ; they make the best of things; they look for and see 
the good points in their companions ; if disappointed in 
not receiving what they expected, they make the best of 
it, and try to discover some good to come out of ap¬ 
parent evil. Probably their parents early taught them 
to yield to necessary restraint cheerfully, not petulantly; 
not to get angry and go about pouting for an hour. 
They will go through life so, making all others around 
them happy by their own sunny cheerfulness. They 
keep the corners of their mouths always turned up. The 
philosophers call such people “Optimists.”_Then we 
see others who are almost always in a growling mood. 
They are constantly suspecting other people of bad mo¬ 
tives, and looking for flaws and errors in those around 
them—something to find fault with—and are happiest 
when they can dp so. They live in a perpetual growl, 
except when with some particular chosen friends. If 
they grow up to be employers their employees must al¬ 
ways be in a state of abject submission—always on the 
watch lest they get scolded, and do not give a faithful, 
cheerful, loving service. Such people are “ Pessimists,” 
looking npon most things and events as bad. They 
fretted and were allowed to fret, to be petulant, in child¬ 
hood when one's habits of life are forming. The corners 
of their mouths are almost always turned down. We wish 
our young friends would think about this. Suppose 
each of you keep a little account, and see how many 
minutes and how many hours in one day the corners are 
turned up, and how many down. It will be a capital 
lesson to learn. 
A Few Things About Italy. 
It is a very good thing for boys and girls and young 
people to take some country and get fixed in their minds 
a few general ideas, so that they will come up quickly 
whenever the name of the country is mentioned. Let 
us study Italy now. With your pencils make a drawing 
of it from your school or other map. See how nearly it 
is shaped like a boot. The Alps mountains run along 
its north side, and the Appenines run down through it. 
Most of its northern part is a great level plain, the Plains 
of Lombardy. We have been at places on this where, as 
far as we could see every way, the ground was as level 
as a board. Rome stands on a broad flat country running 
far along the shore of the Mediterranean sea.— The Size 
of Italy is 114,409 square miles. It would take 29} ttalys 
to equal the United States, without Alaska. Or Italy is as 
large as New York and New England, leaving out nearly 
half the State of Connecticut; or about the size of Nev¬ 
ada.— The Population of Italy in 1S72 was 26,801,154, and 
is now probably about 28,000,000, or four-sevenths that of 
the United States. Turin city has about a million in¬ 
habitants (972,986 in 1872). A new census being taken 
this year gives other leading cities thus:—Naples, 
480,334 (nearly up to our Chicago); Milan, 321,000 (nearly 
up to our Baltimore, Md.) ; Rome, 300,292; Palermo, 
244,955 (half way between San Francisco and Cincinnati); 
•Genoa, 179,491 (nineteen thousand more than Cleveland, 
Ohio); Florence, 168,000 ; Venice, 130,698 (six thousand 
less than Newark, N. J.); Bologna, 122,884 (about the 
same as Louisville, Ky); Messina, 120,000 (same as Jersey 
City, N. J.); Catania, 101,000 (not quite up to Providence, 
R. I.); Leghorn, 97,615 (seven thousand more than Al¬ 
bany, N.Y.); Ferrara, 77 ; 008 (between Indianapolis, Ind., 
and Allegheny City, Pa.); Padua, 72,174 ; Verona, 68,741 ; 
Lucca. 68,110; Allessandria, 62,634 (nearly same as New 
Haven, Conn.) ; Brescia (60,630, (like Lowell, Mass.); 
Bari, 60,575 ; Ravenna, 60,306. Find these cities on your 
map of Italy. You will perhaps be surprised to notice 
that the larger part of “sunny Italy” is directly east of 
New England. Naples is about six miles further north 
than New York City; and Rome, in central Italy, is 
almost directly east of Boston, Mass. 
Tlie School Children.—Six Problems for 
Boys and Girls.— In the new census figures, the 
numbers reported as of “ legal school age ” in the United 
States and Territories is 15,307,109.—(This age in Cali¬ 
fornia is from 5 to 17 years old ; in Connecticut, 4 to 16 ; 
in Georgia and Louisiana, 6 to 18 ; in New Jersey, 5 to 
18; in Rhode Island, 5 to 15 ; in South Carolina, 6 to 
10 ; in Texas, 8 to 14 ; in most, if not all the other States, 
it is 5 to 20 or 21). 
1. —Suppose all these 15,307,109 were to stand in a 
row and join hands, allowing each one to occupy 4 feet 
in the row, how many miles long would the row be ? 
2. —If we call the distance from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific Ocean 3,500 miles, how many full rows of school 
children would there be across the continent, and what 
part of another row f 
3. — Suppose that each one has a spelling book, cost¬ 
ing 10 cents ; a reading book, costing 30 cents ; a slate, 
costing 20 cents; slate and lead pencils, costing 5 cents; 
pens, ink, and writing books, costing 30 cents a year ; 
how much would all these cost for the whole ? 
4. —If each boy’s coat costs, on the average. $6; his 
pants, $4 ; his vest, $2; his shoes, $1.75; his socks, 60 
cents ; his cap, $1.25; his “ tippet,” 20 cents ; his shirts, 
$1.20; his under garments, $1.05; his over-coat, $8; 
and suppose the girls’ outfits to cost the same as the 
boys: What would be the tota, cost oi clothing for all ? 
5. — How many farms ex i00 acres each would this 
clothing buy, at $50 an acre: 
6 .— If each of these 15,307,109 children and young peo¬ 
ple lose, on an average, 15 minutes during the forenoons, 
and 21 minutes during the afternoons, in listlessness, or 
thinking of something else besides study, how many 
years in all will the lost time reckon up. (N.B.—In 
reckoning the lost time, and in estimating the years, 
take an average of 35 school weeks in a year, 5 days in a 
week, and 6 hours a day). 
The Answers:— Let all our young friends make out 
their answers to the above 6 questions, and write them 
down, and then see how near they come to the answers 
which will be printed in the next number of the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist. You need not send the answers to us, 
unless you wish. If you do, they can be put on a postal 
card, writing against No. 1 its answer, and so on. 
A Good State for Boys and Girls.— Accord¬ 
ing to Senator Logan's speech in the U. S. Senate, 
March 16, California goes ahead of all other States in the 
amount raised by taxation per scholar for public schools, 
viz., $18.06 for every child of school age in the State. 
Massachusetts comes next, with $16.86 per scholar. 
But, come to think of it, California reckons only those 
children of 5 to 17 years old, while Massachusetts 
takes in all between 4 or 5 and 20 or 21. This will make 
quite a difference in the amount for the number actually 
attending school. But, however that may be, California’s 
record is a splendid one for a young State. We will nojt 
give the names of those States which expend only $1.99 
and $2.09 per scholar hoping they’ll see Mr. Logan’s 
comparisons and do better. 
AN ODDLY-COLORED EASTER EGG. 
Peanuts or Ground Peas. 
It is not probable that Peanut culture can be mad© 
profitable north of Virginia, though a few may be grown 
as a curiosity almost anywhere. Children who are fond 
of peanuts, will be much interested in seeing them grow, 
and in raising a few for themselves, even if they do not 
turn out to be of the best kind, and a patch may well 
find a place in the garden. A light sandy soil, especially 
one that has been manured for a previous crop is best, 
and as in field culture, lime or superphosphate are found 
the best fertilizers, these, if at band, may be used in the 
garden. Make the hills about 3 feet apart each way, and 
plant four or five seeds, shelled, in each hill. Recollect 
that baked peanuts can not be raised in the garden, and 
that it is necessary to get raw seed of the last year. 
Cover the seed about 2 inches deep, and when the plants 
are well up, thin out all but two of the strongest, and let 
them run as they will, keeping clear of weeds. It will 
be interesting to the young people to see how, after the 
parts of the flower fall away, the young pod is actually 
pushed into the ground by the lengthening of the stem. 
Eachliitle pod is thus actually buried hy the plant, and 
when fairly under-ground, it grows, and in time reaches 
its full size, becoming a regular peanut. Of course the first 
frosts will put an end to their growth, when the vines, with 
their attached nuts, may be lifted with a fork, and al¬ 
lowed to dry a while in the’ sun. Afterwards the peanuts 
may be picked oft. If in northern localities most of the 
pods are “pops,” i. e., have nothing within them, never 
mind, as they have afforded an opportunity for watching 
a very curious plant. Those who ask about the peanut 
as a field crop, are referred to an article in the Report of 
the U. S. Dep’t. oi Agriculture for 1868, where the expe¬ 
rience of a successful Virginia cultivator is given in full. 
