1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
241 
We procured one of the same kind and dissected 
it. It differed from any other good common brush 
of bristles, in having a fancy back and handle, in 
which was concealed a bit of steel, rendered mag¬ 
netic by drawing it on a permanent magnet, or an 
electro-magnet. There is no possibility of this bit 
of magnetized steel producing sufficient electrical 
influence through the bristles to afford the slight¬ 
est curative effect upon any scalp, or full head of 
hair—except by imagination. But the shrewd ven¬ 
ders of such brushes send along in the box with 
each brush a small pocket compass. When the 
metal in the brush handle is brought near the nee¬ 
dle of this compass, it attracts or repels it, accord¬ 
ing to which end of the wire is presented, and the 
sight of this, with the wonderful cures so strongly 
set forth by advertisement and circular, actually 
captivate the imagination and faith of many other¬ 
wise intelligent people. They buy and advise their 
friends to buy these brushes, at much larger prices 
than equally good brushes sell for when not 
claimed to be “magnetic.” A pocket-knife, or a 
scissors’ blade, or a knitting-needle, especially if 
magnetized, will have the same effect upon the 
■compass needle as does the loaded brush handle. 
There is a large variety of batteries, of magnets, of 
electrical garments, etc., that differ nothing in 
jsrinciple, or in real effect, from the brushes de¬ 
scribed above. It is a pretty safe rule to re¬ 
ject medical articles, if the words “electrical” or 
“electricity” be attached to their names. If you 
wish to pay $3, $5, or $10, for a thing on its 
own merits, all right, but don’t pay extra for hav¬ 
ing “ electricity” added to its name. 
The Latest Fraud upon Farmers, 
Bessarabia Corn—The “New York Agri¬ 
culturist.”—The New York and 
London Oculist.—Boyd's 
Galvanic Batteries. 
It may be wondered why we put the above all to¬ 
gether We can only answer, in the words of the 
poet: “ All are but paits of one stupendous whole.” 
In the navy, the etiquette is for the younger officers 
to precede the admiral, so we put the youngest 
first. Or to take an agricultural view of it, the 
“Battery” is the root, while the latest development, 
the “ consummate flower” (we say “flower” only 
figuratively) is “ Bessarabian Corn.” To begin at 
the root, the “Battery,” we have months ago 
shown that the thing was a mere toy, and could by 
no possibility produce electricity (galvanic or other) 
and could have no curative power. After the 
“Battery” came the “ Medicated Glasses,” to which 
that interesting sheet, the “ New York and Loudon 
Oculist,” is in part devoted. Our view of these 
glasses may be gathered from the “Humbug” ar¬ 
ticle in the present number. Next in ascending 
this remarkable “Family Tree” we have the “New 
York Agriculturist.” Its“Vol. I. No. 1,” came 
in November last; but though we have watched 
with “ waiting eyes,” it has not appeared since. 
Its leading features are : “ The French Detective 
' “ The Elopement, a Tale of Jealousy and Retribu- 
bution “ Baldy, a Story of the Wisconsin River,” 
. and other such highly “ agricultural ” essays. Its 
■ chief advertisements are of “ Boyd’s Galvanic Bat¬ 
teries,’’“Psychomaney, a Book for Curious People,” 
treating of the “ Significance of Dreams,” and some 
things that for sake of decency we omit mentioning. 
It had some advertisements of people who wanted 
to marry, one of a “Court Toilet Powder,” and one 
■ of “Boyd’s Medicated Conserves.” With such a 
.list of “agricultural advertisements,” can it be 
: thought strange that we were anxious to see No. 2? 
iBut as it now appears to us, this “ New York Agri- 
. culturist ” was a brilliant design, a stroke of geDius. 
We have often insisted that a fruit should have 
but one name ; we are now convinced that a paper, 
should have but one. Half or more of our cor¬ 
respondents address us as “Dear Agriculturist,” 
.dropping the “American.” In talking with our 
friends, we observe that they say “ The Agricul¬ 
turist,” and among ourselves, “American” is 
rarely, if ever, used in speaking of the paper. In 
view of the fact that the journal is more frequently 
mentioned by its hosts of readers as “ the Agricul¬ 
turist,” and the other fact that (for convenience) 
it is printed in New York, it is easy to see that 
when “New York Agriculturist” is named or 
quoted, a large share of the people of the United 
States would infer that the American Agriculturist 
was intended. We look upon this, especially since 
we have seen the use made of it, as a very ingeni¬ 
ous dodge. So much for our “New York Agricul¬ 
turist,” of which our one number makes a lone¬ 
some appearance, and we wish we couid get anoth¬ 
er, so that we might have “a file” of it. We 
now come to the full fruition of our family tree : 
The “ Bessarabia Coi’n,” 
the merits of which are set forth in a (yellow) cir¬ 
cular by “ Wm. F. Fowler & Co., 742 Seventh 
Avenue, New York City, Dealers in Agricultural _ 
Implements, Seeds, etc.” The circular is illus¬ 
trated by a cut of the section of an ear, but with 
the exception of the fact that the artist has put in 
a few more rows of kernels than corn usually has, 
there is nothing remarkable about it. This corn is 
“ Guaranteed to Yield One Hundred Per Cent More 
to the Acre than the best American Corn with the 
Same Cultivation.” Now that is “talking busi¬ 
ness.” Some inconsiderate person may ask, “ Who 
guarantees this?” The circular says, in full-faced 
type, “Wm. F. Fowler & Co.” “But who are 
they?” We shall see presently. Of course we 
at once procured samples of this remarkable corn. 
There are an unusual number of small and mis¬ 
shapen kernels, but the best of it seems to be 
nearly as large as the “ horse-tooth ” corn, to be 
found on every Southern farm. But who has tried 
it ? We read : “ We have tried this corn on our 
experimental farms, and find it even better than is 
claimed for it. No farmer in the United States 
should miss purchasing a package of the Bessarabian 
Corn.— New York Agriculturist , Nov. 15th, 1881.” 
“ Ah, ha ! ” said we ; now we know why the “ N. 
Y. Agriculturist” was published—to puff this 
“ Bessarabian Corn,” and at once tunned to our one 
only number (Nov.l3th,) of that agricultural sheet, 
to see the article from which the quotation is made. 
We looked all through its pages, and failed to find 
it. One of the few Agricultural items is “Some 
Facts About Corn,” but that, so to speak, doesn’t 
“Bessarab” once. Wm. F. Fowler & Co., 
how could you take in vain 
the name of the “ New York 
Agriculturist ” — Its very 
youth should have protected 
it.—And, Wm. F. F. & Co., 
are all the other ’quotations 
in praise of this corn, from 
(of all places) English jour¬ 
nals, just as reliable as that 
from the “New York Agri¬ 
culturist?” But Wm. F. F. 
and Co., before we discover¬ 
ed your remarkable way of 
quoting, we went up to make 
the acquaintance of our co¬ 
temporary the “New York 
Agriculturist,” and not wish¬ 
ing to be unknown to any 
“BESSARABIA” HEAD- “Dealers in Agricultural 
quarters, W. 50-st. implements, Seeds, etc,” 
we went to see you. No. 1528 Broadway, be¬ 
tween 44th and 45th streets, was the first objective 
point — the publication office of the “ N. Y. 
Agriculturist.” There was an empty store with 
the sign “ To Let.” The windows were decorated 
with the circulars of Boyd’s Glasses, and there was 
a card saying that Boyd had removed to 203 W. 49th 
street. Baffled in finding “ our respected cotem¬ 
porary,” we would console ourselves with the 
“Implements,” and made forWm. F. Fowler & 
Co., No. 742 Seventh Ave. The building No. 
742 7th Avenue is on the northwest corner of 49th 
Street and_ 7th Avenue ; the upper part of this 
building was occupied by Boyd, but his entrance 
to the house was No. 203 West 49th Street. The 
card on the door of 1528 Broadway directed per¬ 
sons to 203 West 49th Street, as the place where 
Boyd had removed to. The only indication of 
“ Seeds ” to be found at 742 7th Avenue, were the 
6eeds of delirium tremens, in the shape of a low li¬ 
quor store. The bar-tender knew nothing about any 
other “Seeds ” than those sitting around the place. 
On the corner of the house, above the gin-mill, was 
a sign that Boyd would remove on May 1st to 224 
West 50th St., near Broadway. At W. 50th St. wo in¬ 
quired for Messrs.Fowler & Co. Boyd, we knew you 
at sight, and by the way you looked us over, you evi¬ 
dently “ smelt a mice.” We will credit you with hav¬ 
ing kept a straight face when you explained that 
“ Fowler & Co.,” had moved, and that you were at¬ 
tending to their business for a few days, but they, 
(F. & Co.) would at a stated time be at your house. 
Where Fowler & Co., with all their stock of “ Agri¬ 
cultural Implements, Seeds, etc.,” had moved to., 
you omitted to mention. We asked where the 
“ N. Y. Agriculturist ” could be found, and when 
told that “ it was not published any more,” our 
feelings were much like those of the little girl, 
when she found that her doll was stuffed with saw¬ 
dust. What is there left that is real ?—No “ N. Y. 
Agriculturist,”—No “Wm. F. Fowler & Co.”—No 
“ Bessarabia,” but some corn—nothing now seems 
real but Boyd, and if he moves so from place to 
place, we may soon lose sight of him; but, no, 
we shall not. We have perhaps given more space 
than the matter deserves, but if journals will con¬ 
tinue to advertise such stuff as “ Bessarabian Corn,” 
without even inquiring into the matter, we feeL 
obliged to show them occasionally the truth of our 
frequently repeated assertion, that no seed, or plant, 
or fruit of any value, is ever introduced by trans¬ 
ient and unknown parties. When another of these 
turns up, recollect “Bessarabia,” the meanest of 
humbugs, because it lies to farmers in a most out¬ 
rageous manner, and even lies about its own mis¬ 
erable sheet, which was apparently started—one 
number—to mislead the people with the idea that 
they were getting the “American” Agriculturist 
for 75 cents a year; and that it was this Journal 
that commended the Bessarabian Corn, and the 
other humbugs, “ electrical,” and otherwise. 
We specially request all those who have sent 75 
cents for a year’s subscription to the “ New York ” 
Agriculturist, or who know of others having done 
so, to give us the particulars, and let us know if 
they have ever received back their money, or any¬ 
thing else for it, save the single “Vol. 1, No. 1.” 
The names will not be published without the 
writers’ permission. 
Where is Bessarabia ? 
may be asked by those a little rusty in their geo¬ 
graphy. We must ask which Bessarabia ? One is 
a province in southern Russia, and the other is 
pleasantly situated on the banks of the Delaware 
and Schuylkill, and its chief city is Philadelphia. 
Since the foregoing account of this remarkable 
corn was in type, our researches have extended to 
Bessarabian Philadelphia. We there learned from 
a seed house that a few months ago they sold ten 
bushels of “Southern Flint Corn” to J. C. Boyd, 
of New York, and furnished them a copy of their 
engraving. Later the seed house had an order 
for 20 bushels more of the corn, but having seen 
the Bessarabia circulars, they, in view of the use 
made of it, declined to fill it, a fact so creditable, 
that we regret that we are requested to avoid giv¬ 
ing the name. 
This completes- the chain of evidence in this 
latest fraud upon Farmers ; while “ morally sure ” 
that the corn was of some common kind, we 
lacked the evidence which has now so unexpected¬ 
ly turned up. While we can doubtless prove, even 
by Boyd himself, that the corn he bought in Front 
St., Philadelphia, is the same that Boyd, or Fowler, 
sends out as the “Imperial Russian,” and “Bess¬ 
arabian,”—yet who doubts it? Most swindles 
like this are shrewdly managed up to a certain 
point, where they weaken, and, in the slang of the 
day, “give themselves away.” What folly for 
Boyd to locate his “Bessarabia” so near New 
York ! and to buy it as Boyd, or as Fowler & Co l 
—there is no need of it, not the slightest. 
