1882 .] 
257 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
these illustrations will show you how all the unusual 
forms may be traced back to the simple structure of the 
Buttercup. I can say no more about the shapes of the 
calyx and the corolla for we must consider the more im¬ 
portant changes that take place in the seed vessel or fruit. 
Eiiling' Horse to Plow Out (lorn. 
Wonder if our farm boys of the present day have any 
idea of how much the improvements in farm machinery 
have done for them, as well as for their fathers! Re¬ 
cently the writer revisited, for the first time in about 
forty years, the old homestead, and there he saw a man 
“cleaning” corn with a nice cultivator, drawn by a 
horse, with handles to guide it close to the rows, and it 
did the work quite as well as it was done in that same 
field fifty years ago, by running a plow twice between 
the rows, and then following with a good deal of hard 
work with the hoes.—But what came to mind most 
vividly was the riding of the horse, as, with the narrow 
plow then in use, and the many stones in the soil, it was 
as much as the man could do to keep the plow from 
bobbing side to side and destroying the corn. The hoy 
that rode and guided the horse (that's the writer) re¬ 
members, almost with a returning ache, going back and 
forth, back and forth, all those long hot June days ; 
what trouble it was to turn round at the ends without 
trampling down one or more thrifty corn hills ; and 
the being often thrown on the horse’s neck, and not uu- 
frequently to the ground, when the plow struck a fast 
stone. How we felt when beginning the first row of 
a ten-acre field, and knew it had to be gone all over two, 
often three times during the season, twice in the row. 
• Didn’t you have a nice soft saddle to ride on? ” 
Oh, no; the saddle was two or three folds of a horse 
blanket, with no stirrups. How we hoys did have to 
shift round, first on one side a little, and then on the 
other ; sometimes sitting sidewise, if there was a row 
known to be clear of stones; sometimes, indeed, one 
had to go to “choring” or other work for a day, if not 
into “hospital for repairs.” Some boys of to-day know 
well, by experience, all about the above ; but most of 
them know nothing about it. They can hardly guess 
how much improvements have done for them. 
Two Problems About the Above. 
Those corn-fields were usually 40 rods square (ten 
acres). The rows were three-nnd-a-half feet apart. The 
plow went back and forth between each two rows. 1st. 
How many miles did the riding boy travel in plowing 
out one such a field of corn twice?—2d. If the horses 
travelled 3 miles an hour, 11 hours a day, how many days’ 
riding was there ?—Generally, a span of horses was used 
by each plowman and rider, first one horse awhile, 
and then it rested while the other horse took a turn. 
This boy had no span mate to change with him. The 
plowing began very early, to get some rows ready in ad¬ 
vance for the hoers, and those days were “awful long.” 
flow Large is Alaska? 
bast month we took a look at Italy, and at the size of 
Mexico. How many of our younger readers, or older 
ones even, have any definite conception of our piece of 
land tucked away up in the north-west corner of the 
continent, named Alaska, which the United States pur¬ 
chased of Russia in 1867, paying for it seven million two 
hundred thousand dollars ($7,200,000). Look on the map, 
and you wi.l see that it extends north and south about 700 
miles, between latitudes 60° and 70° ; and that its main 
part lies between about 141° and 168° of west longitude, 
covering 26 degrees. But the lines of longitude keep com¬ 
ing nearer together, all the way from the equator to the 
North Pole when they run out, so that in the middle of 
of Alaska a degree of longitude is only about 25 miles, 
and the distance across its middle, east and west, is 
only about 700 miles. It is somewhat square, with a 
long narrow peninsula, like a tail piece, running off 
south-west 300 or 400 miles to a point. 
Alaska borders on three seas, the Pacific and Arctic 
Oceans and Behring Sea, and the coast line measures 
about 4,000 miles. The River Yerkon (which the Rus¬ 
sians called the Kwickpak) rises in British Columbia, is 
over 1,800 miles long, is over a mile broad 600 miles up, 
and is navigable by light-draught steamers nearly 1,400 
miles from its mouth. The Kuskoquim River has been 
explored 600 miles from its mouth. There are other quite 
large rivers. The highest mountain in North America, 
we think, is Mount Elias, in Alaska. 
We have known little about Alaska until just now. 
At the recent census-taking, men were sent up there to 
find out more concerning it. Their maps and figures are 
not yet printed, but we learn that, with the Islands be¬ 
longing to it, Alaska covers about 565,868 square miles, 
or 362,151,680 acres. So we paid Russia a very trifle less 
than two cents an acre. Whether this was cheap or not 
is yet to be learned, but probably it was, as there are 
good fisheries, minerals, fine timber, etc. 
How can we think of the real size ? Let us see. Well, 
Alaska is ten times as large as the great State of Illinois. 
Or it is Si times as large as all the six New England 
States. Or it is two-thirds as large as all the United 
States east of the Mississippi River. Or it is as large 
as all of our country east of the Mississippi, north of the 
southern line of Virginia and Tennessee. Or Alaska is 
as large as all New England, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
Iowa, and one-third of Nebraska thrown in. 
About the population of Alaska wo can not say much. 
The census men estimate that there are, in alOthe terri¬ 
tory, about 332 white men, 1,6S3 Creoles, or those having 
part Russian aud part savage blood ; and 30,614 savages 
—making the total population 32,680. If divided equally 
between them there would be over 17 square miles, or 
about 110.800 acres for each one of the population, young 
and old. There is no territorial government yet estab¬ 
lished, but Congress now in session is talking about 
organizing one. 
Oiir l*iizzle BSox. 
Anagrams. — 1. Interees 
sion. 2. Imperial. 3. Tol 
crate. 4. Remedial. 5. Re 
bounding. 6. Detrimental 
7. Sentimental. 8. Desper 
ate. 9. Peppermint. 10 
Resources. 
Diamond.— 
T 
MIT 
CAMEL 
TIMBREL 
CORAL 
EEL 
L 
THE SHIPWRECK PUZZLE. 
A ship was caught in a storm, her rigging was swept 
away, she sprang"a leak, and began to sink. The cap¬ 
tain ordered the boats lowered, but such was the force 
of the storm that only one boat was seaworthy. The 
crew consisted of thirty men, fifteen white men and 
fifteen negroes. The boat would only hold fifteen men, 
the rest must perish. The captain drew them up in 
line, and told them he would begin at the head and 
count; when he reached the foot, he would begin at the 
head of the line again. Every tenth man was to be 
thrown overboard. The crew agreed. How did the cap¬ 
tain arrange them so that every tenth one was a negro ? 
Take backgammon men or black and white buttons, 
and arrange them in a row to find the answer. We think 
it. will take longer than you imagine. This was told to 
me by an old sailor. I think it has never been in print. 
D. A. K. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Their woes. 6. One is a brig. 
2. A slide purse. 7. Actors' pet. 
3. Is Abe clever? 8. A fat chin Dr. 
4. Magic dot. 9. Gusty one. 
5. No mere ices. 10. Crab holes. 
SQUARE WORD. 
A singing bird. A beautiful flower 
A tropical plant. Part of a ship. Isola 
PATCHWORK. 
(Explained on page 27, January Number.) 
1. To interweave, to form of platted twigs. 
2. Deck on which cables are stowed in ships. 
3. Beginning, source. 
4. To provide, to buy provisions. 
5. To form with ridges, like quills. 
6. Weak and slender. 
METAGRAM. 
Fill the blanks with words made from a word of six 
letters. 
(Example.—F ill the following blanks from the word 
daisy: 
Ellen-it was-for her when she had to 
-“ no.” Said, a, sad, day, say.) 
As I walked through the-I saw a wild-and a 
piece of —— ; I took the latter to a-to have it- 
in a ring —— my father. It-him to wear it, and he 
frequently takes it oil' to-himself; he says perhaps 
his finger will be smaller when the-comes. He is 
stationed at the-. 
CROSS-WORD. 
My first is in anguish, but not in woe. 
My next is in feather, but not in bow. 
My third is in shilling, but not in dime, 
My fourth is in murder, but not in crime. 
My fifth is in parsnip, but not in beet, 
My sixth is in ankle, but not in feet, 
My seventh is in venison, but not in ham, 
My whole is no counterfeit, fiction or sham. 
Answers to Puzzles in the April Number. 
Numerical Enigma.— Do little helpful things, and 
speak helpful words whenever you can. 
Cross Word.— Godliness. 
Riddle.— The letter S. 
Letter Enigma. —The letter S. 
Zig Zag.— Flower Honeysuckle. 1. Hog. 2. Dog. 
■3. Pen. 4. Hen. 5. Yew. 6. Ass. 7. Gnu. 8. Ice. 
9. Kid. 10. Old. 11. Die. 
Decapitations.— 1. Glass—lass. 2. Maid — aid. 3. 
Fowl—owl. 
Answers to tlie 11 Scliool Children Prob¬ 
lems ” in May American Agriculturist : 
No. 1: 11,596 miles, and 1,556 feet over. 
No. 2: Three times across the continent, and 1,096 
miles over ; or nearly 3J times across. 
No. 3: $14,541,753.55.. 
No. 4: $398,750,189.45. 
No. 5 : 79,750 farms, and $189.45 over ; or 79,750 farms, 
and 8f- acres more, with a plot 8 feet square besides. 
No. 6 : 1.530,710 years, and 157J school days over. 
I-oiig- Biijs.—How lo Slioi'icu 
'IT lie in. 
To most Boys and Girls the days seem a great deal 
longer than they do to most grown-up people, and they 
generally seem longer to boys than to girls—not always. 
Y'oung people have lively imaginations, and bright hopes 
and anticipations of something in the future, and they 
are anxious for time to fly swifter than it does. But our 
" note of passing time ” depends a great deal upon what 
we are doing, how much we want to do before noon, or 
night, and especially how much we have to think about. 
Older people, full of business or work that they are 
anxious to finish, and with much to occupy their minds, 
feel that time flies too fast. Boys engaged in fishing, or 
some interesting sport, do not find the days long; but 
when following the harrow, or at other steady work, 
they do find the days very long—yes, very long. So do 
the girls, when rocking the cradle for hours, or in other 
steady occupation. The girls, however, generally have 
more variety, have their dolls, their patchwork, etc., and 
think less about the hours and minutes.—The writer of 
! this, when a boy, had a great deal of harrowing to 
do, and oh how long were the days of going round 
and round and round those fields that seemed very large 
then. But when the Sunday School Library came in, 
and he could get plenty of books, and also read those 
drawn by his brothers and sisters each week, he used to 
carry one of these with him in a cloth wrapping to keep 
it clean, and whenever the team stopped to rest, catch a 
few paragraphs of history or description. This gave 
something fresh lo think of every hour, and it shortened 
the days wonderfully. What was read then was so 
much thought over that it has been well remembered 
and very useful ever since.—Our recipe for shortening 
the days is, to get plenty to think of all the time — by 
reading good books, not fiotitious stories, but histories, 
descriptions of common things, etc.—We try in these 
columns to give our young readers something to think 
about. Let us see what we can learn 
About Common Suit. 
All of you kuow how it looks and how it tastes. It 
you use even a small magnifying glass, or microscope, 
I you will see that it is made up of very beautiful little 
| crystals of regular form, though in ground table salt 
these are broken into very irregular pieces. In unground 
“ Rock Salt,” you see these crystals in large size.—But 
what is salt made oe ? 
If we put salt in a cup and pour on it a little sulphu¬ 
ric acid (oil of vitriol), a yellowish gas will rise up, a 
very little of which will set you to coughing if breathed 
with the air, and to breathe much of it would be fatal. 
This gas is called CHLORINE. It it about 2* times as 
heavy as air. It destroys most colors, and is therefore 
used for bleaching colored articles white.—By another 
more difficult process, the chemists will get out of salt a 
very interesting metal, which is called SODIUM.—It 
looks so much like pure Silver, that you can hardly see 
any difference. It is pretty hard when cooled down to 
zero, but at ordinary temperatures it is as soft as bees¬ 
wax. It is very light, so light that it will even float on 
water. Its specific gravity is .935 to .972, averaging, say 
.95 , that is, a cup of water weighing 10 ounces, would 
weigh only 9$ ounces if filled with the metal Sodium. 
a wonderful change. 
Now, if we put together 23 ounces of this pure metal 
Sodium and 351 ounces of that very noxious gas Chlorine, 
they will unite perfectly, and both be entirely changed 
In fact, there will be 58i ounces of pure salt, just such 
as we use on the table. Usually, in crystalizing, salt 
catches and holds little particles of water, and when 
heated, this water expands and bursts the crystals with 
a snapping sound, like the bursting of so many little 
steam boilers. There is 
a great deal of salt in the world. 
On the average, every gallon of ocean water contains 
about 4 ounces of salt. Drying out the water leaves the 
salt. It has been estimated that if all the salt in the 
ocean was separated, it would form a mass of 3,000,000 
cubic miles, or a great block of salt 100 miles wide, 1,000 
miles long, and 30 miles high. It would cover all the 
great States of New York and Pennsylvania, and most 
of New Jersey, with a solid block of salt 30 miles high. 
Or it would cover the whole of the United States and 
j Territories (except Alaska,) with a solid block of salt 
one mile thick! 
to get salt, 
they dry out the water by the sun’s heat or fire heat, aud 
the salt is left.—Many salt springs exist, aud a vast 
supply of salt water is found by digging wells down 
to it, as at Syracuse, N. Y., where from six to ten mil¬ 
lion bushels of salt are produced every year, and from 
30 to 50 gallons of the salt water are required for each 
bushel.—Bat having told you what salt is, and about 
salt water, we must tell you about mines of solid salt in 
another number, including our visit to the Cracow Mines 
in Poland, which you have often heard of, no doubt. 
