1880.] 
AMEH 1 CAN AGrKICrJLTCJIilST 
7 
ton, he of the wonderful “Stump Extracting Powder.” 
To be sure, the Chicago Horton was a “ C. G.,” while our 
Horton was a “ W. V.,” but the difficulty of finding any 
■ Horton, the presence of some one else to answer ques¬ 
tions in both cases, lead to the fearful suspicion, that one 
who was on so familiar terms with lightning, as to cause 
it to come up a wire with “a pinch of salt on its tail,” 
and annihilate a veteran stump, would be able to convert a 
“ w. V.,” into a “ C. G.”_In Chicago, where the great 
interest is grain, and they make “ comers in corn,” they 
play their little games of 
PUTS AND CALLS IN WHEAT 
after the manner that is done on stocks in New York, 
and the business there, as in New York, is done by par¬ 
ties who find their customers at a distance from the 
city, and among the rural population, or “grangers,” 
which is the slang name of the city papers for farmers. 
THE BIBLE AND DICTIONARY OFFERS, 
notwithstanding that it was Jong ago exposed, is still 
• carried on by parties near New York, though the origina¬ 
tors of this scheme, in small places, have been stopped 
Jong ago. The plan is to advertise a dictionary worth 
$5 or $6, for 35, or 54 cents. In the cases that have come 
to onr knowledge, the book sent has not been worth in 
the trade, as much as 25c. wholesale. If, in cases like 
this, people would recollect, that really valuable things 
are never sold for less than they are really worth, such 
games could not last. When the parties who advertise 
these ’$6.00 Dictionaries for 35 cents, actually send the 
book they really advertise, one gets near his money’s 
worth ; the fraud is in representing the book as a Six- 
Dollar one.—A “wounded bird” in Brooklyn, who ap¬ 
plied to himself our hit at this misrepresentation in 
May last, tries very hard to strike back by sending on 
this postal card a statement that his “ little book ” is 
worth so much more than the publications of O. J. & Co. 
Keep on doing so, Mr. Blank, if it does you any good. 
We never object to such free advertising ...When an 
article is offered for much less than its real value, it is 
safe to conclude, that its value 
IS NOT AS REPRESENTED, 
■or that there is some object in making the offer which is 
not apparent.. It is safe to let alone all articles, that, like 
these dictionaries, are offered at less than a tenth their 
■ alleged worth.A chap in Philadelphia, offers a “New 
Domestic Bible.” He describes a large Bible, the con¬ 
tents, number of engravings, size of pages, and all that, 
and claims it to be “as good as those sold for $15 in any 
book store,” and says: “To introduce our Bibles, we 
agree, upon the receipt of $1, to pay the postage and 
other expenses, to send a copy of the Holy Bible” etc. 
This is too thin.We have already had batteries of 
-.many sorts, but never before have we had the 
“MINIATURE battery.” 
A long circular in very fine print, tells all about it. 
The pictures are only three, but telling. One is a man, 
or the upper part of him, heavy as to beard, and nothing 
as to clothes, with one of these batteries right over his 
breast-bone, and he don’t seem to mind it a bit. The 
second is a picture of the earth; that respectable old planet 
is being badly struck by just the crookedest kind of light¬ 
ning. Tiie third is a picture of the Battery, “ of the ex¬ 
act size,” which is that of half a dollar. The “ Professor” 
who has this miniature Battery, is down upon all Electric 
■Chains, Belts, and Bands—and we should think he would 
be—for they give down only common, plain electricity, 
■ old-fashioned lightning as it were, but this Battery is up 
to the times with a new sort, the 
REAL GIMLET-POINTED LIGHTNING 1 
This, absurd as it may seem, is an actual claim ; we are 
told that the Professor said : “ That the various blocks of 
metal were so placed, that when the electricity was 
formed, it would be farmed in gimlet shape, and he said 
It would enter the system in that form, and pass on twist¬ 
ing, until it spent its force.” Yes, the lightning is not 
only “gimlet pinted.” but it goes on a “twistin.” On 
. the whole, we prefer the old style. Yet people will read 
nonsense like this, and believe it. Boyd, you are the 
worst electrical humbug yet. ...In medical matters, the 
RECIPE NUISANCE 
■ seems to be the most prominent. We would say to our 
newer readers ; if tempted by the advertisement of any 
young fellow, whose “ sands of life are fast running out,” 
or any “retired missionary,” or any chap who met a 
missionary in foreign lands,” or of any one else, to send 
for his or her recipe, 
don’t 1 
This recipe business is one of the meanest forms of 
quackery. The chaps offer a Recipe. It will be entirely 
in unmeaning jargon, or all the articles but one or two 
will be well known things, hut these, the most important 
will be names, unknown to medical, or any other science. 
The chaps inform the person to whom the recipe is sent, 
-that said articles are very difficult to obtain, that druggists 
• tnever have them fresh, (nor at all, as their “ain’t no sich ”) 
..and that they, at great trouble and expense, have im¬ 
ported a lot of the “ Original Jacobs,” which they will 
put up for the sufferer, at what will barely cover the cost 
—$3 or $5.—We would say a word to our new friends, 
ABOUT ADVERTISING DOCTORS, 
which may save them some trouble in writing to ask our 
opinion of this or that one. We regard every doctor who 
advertises that he can cure this or that, especially those 
who warrant a cure, as an enemy to the public welfare, 
and to be avoided. We do not know any of them, and 
advise every one to keep clear of all of them. Moreover, 
every medical compound, the composition of which is 
kept secret, we regard as dangerous to the public wel¬ 
fare, and instead of being taken by the people should be 
taken by the police and destroyed ; as our laws are not up 
to our needs in this respect, we can only advise every 
reader of the American Agi'iculturist, to let everything of 
the kind entirely alone. 
LATER—ABOUT STOCK GAMBLING. 
We have alluded above to the general excitement on 
the subject of stock speculations, as indicated by the 
numerous letters to us. It seems to be an all-pervading 
mauia, and it is said that even women participate in this 
form of gambling. A recent paper states that one lady’s 
operations were far from encouraging. She gave her 
broker $1,000 with which to operate ; her investment 
brought her nothing, but the broker brought in a bill for 
$5,000 for his commissions. This looks like a large 
story, but it appears in a commercial paper of good stand¬ 
ing. A friend who knows about such matters informs us 
that the extent to which the country people are engaged 
in these speculations is astounding; they are known in 
THE SLANG OF THE STREET AS “ THE LAMBS,” 
and the knowing ones talk of “ shearing ” their country 
customers. A farmer of our acquaintance has called in 
to request us to present our warning with still greater 
force. He says that a neighboring farmer, who, in spite 
of his warnings, has engaged in the “ put and call ” husi 
ness, has just been sold out under a chattel mortgage 
made to those from whom he borrowed money to specu¬ 
late with, in the vain hope of getting back that which 
had gone before. It is the same old, old story; when one 
once becomes infatuated with the desire to get rich sud¬ 
denly, by some lucky chance, whether in the lottery, or 
by stock gambling, he is already on the high road to ruin. 
To those who have become engaged, ever so little, we 
say, stop short. To those who are hesitating on the edge, 
we say: Touch notl The motto appropriate to all the 
avenues to Wall street is: 
“Let him who enters here leave Hope behind.” 
Shape of Meat-Producing; Animals.— The 
best animals for producing meat are those with large 
and healthy organs of nutrition, and sufficient room near 
by for the storing away of the meat. These two and 
other reasons determine that the best meat-producing 
animals are built on the plan of a square when viewed 
from before or behind, and a parallelogram in side view 
—or what is called the “rectangular type.” 
Self-Sharpening Horse Shoes.— By the simple 
expedient of rolling a steel plate in the center of the iron 
from which the shoe is made, the calks of the shoe have a 
hard steel center, and as the soft iron wears away by use, 
the sharp steel is left to prevent slipping. The manu¬ 
facturers, Messrs. Shoenberger & Co., of Pittsburgh, Pa., 
send us a part of a shoe that was worn all winter, which 
shows the effect of wear in exposing the steel center. 
Those who travel upon icy and frozen roads know the 
difficulty of keeping the horses properly “sharp,” especi¬ 
ally if they live at a distance from a blacksmith ; with a 
set of these shoes, the animal is prepared for all weathers, 
and can travel and work more effectively than when in 
danger of slipping, and with greater safety to the driver. 
The firm make self-sharpening shoes of the ordinary form, 
and also the “ Snow-shoe Pattern” in which the shape 
is su :h that the snow can not ball upon the animal’s feet, 
Ensilage: Silo Opening. — The first Silo in 
America, built on the French plan, of M. A. Goffart, was 
opened at “Winning Farm,” J. W. Bailey, proprietor, 
Billerica, Mass., on Dec. 3, last. This Silo, or fodder 
pit, is 40 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 16 feet deep, roofed, 
and having a capacity of 500 tons. It was partly filled 
with green corn stalks, cut by an ensilage cutter, the 
pieces being 4!4 inches in length. After this cut fodder 
had been thoroughly tramped down by men, a layer of 
straw, 12 inches thick, was spread over it all, and the 
whole covered closely with planks, upon which about 50 
tons of stones were placed. This was done early in Octo¬ 
ber. At the opening of the silo, the fodder was found to 
be in an excellent state of preservation; at first a little 
sour, hut in a short time this sourness passed away, and 
when fed to cattle or sheep was eaten with a relish. A 
number of agriculturists and members of the press were 
present, in fact, the “opening” of the silo was well at¬ 
tended, and voted a success.—Mr. Bailey is so well pleased 
with his experiment that he will practice this method of 
preserving green fodder in a green state to a larger extent 
the coming season. Others have also expressed their 
intention to erect silos at an early date. This is one of 
the most important of recent improvements in agriculture, 
and one which every one who raises corn fodder should 
investigate before the next crop is harvested. 
A Safe and Handy Knot.— It frequently hap¬ 
pens that a rope, strap, or even string, breaks, and it is 
necessary that the parts separated should be securely 
fastened together. One of the best methods of tying a' 
Fig. 1.—TYING THE KNOT. 
firm knot consists of forming a loop of one broken end, 
after which the other portion of the rope is passed 
through it, as shown in figure 1. If the rope or strap is 
long, the same knot may be tied by passing the broken 
Fig. 2. —PARTLY DRAWN UP. 
end under, and then around the loop, and under itself, 
thus saving the trouble of drawing the whole length of 
the rope through the loop, a back-handed way of arriving 
Fig. 3. —THE COMPLETE KNOT. 
at the same result. This knot when tied, and still loose, 
is as shown in figure 2 ; when drawn up tight, it is as In 
figure 3. This knot is especially adapted for tying pieces 
of harness, halters, etc. 
Twin Lady A pples. — Our notice of twin apples 
last month, reminded Mr. \V. W. Young, Jefferson Co., 
Ky., that his Lady Apple trees frequently bore twin fruit, 
and sends us three specimens of this doubling. He 
thinks the variety given to producing such freaks, as he 
frequently finds them in picking the fruit. We quite 
agree with him when he says, “ We consider it about 
Christmas a very fine apple.” 
Hardened Glass, from which great things were 
expected, has been but little mentioned of late. Recent¬ 
ly, in view of the great losses by hail in England, it is 
proposed to use the Bastie, or hardened glass, in green¬ 
houses and for other horticultural buildings. 
Hard-Pan-What is It?— “ M. E. C,” Soils are 
divided into three classes: Surface Soil, Subsoil, and 
Hard-pan. The surface soil is the upper portion and 
that which is turned by the plow ; in fact, the soil that 
interests the farmer most. The subsoil is below the 
surface soil, more compact and often of a different color. 
Sometimes the line between the surface and subsoil is 
quite distinct, but generally not. Hard-pan is a still 
harder layer than the subsoil, and lying below it. This 
hard stratum may be but a short distance below the 
surface, while in other places it is not to be found. It is 
a very hard soil, or one that is approaching the nature 
and texture of a rock. 
Michigan State Farmers’ Institutes.— The 
State Board of Agriculture has decided upon the times 
and places for holding a series of Farmers’ Institutes for 
1880. There will be six such gatherings for lectures and 
discussions, held at widely separated points in the State, 
during the month of January. The Professors of the Agri¬ 
cultural College will take a prominent part in the meet¬ 
ings, two or more of them are to bo present and give ad¬ 
dresses at each Institute.. 
Largest Yield of Wheat. —The Territorial Fair 
Association of Montana has awarded the first premium 
for the best acre of wheat, the yield being 102 bushels. 
This is believed to be the largest known yield of wheat. 
