26 
AMERICAN’ AGRICULTURIST, 
pushing down the knob at the top, both will start off 
alike, but soon b will “ slow up ” and soon stop, while a 
is going on almost as lively as ever. The whole is then 
placed upon an air-pump, and the air is pumped out of 
the glass. The wheels are then started, and both will 
•continue to go alike, and one will not stop before the 
■other. But you can easily test the resistance the air 
makes to moving bodies without such an apparatus, by 
taking a piece of pasteboard, or even this number of the 
paper, and move it first edgewise, and then flat-wise 
against the air. That a body in motion requires a force 
to stop it may be shown in a striking manner by trying 
to stop a grindstone that you have set to turning rapidly, 
by taking hold of the handle. 
FOR ILLUSTRATING INERTIA 
there is an old fashioned piece of apparatus, shown in fig. 
2. Upon a little pillar at the right hand is placed a card, 
c, and upon this is set a marble. There is a contrivance 
seen at the other side by 
which a spring is bent by 
a lever, when that is press¬ 
ed down by the finger, the 
spring is suddenly let go, 
hits the card, which flies 
out from under the marble, 
leaving that in its place. 
You can, with a little 
practice, show the same 
thing wi thout this arrange¬ 
ment. Place a smooth card, and on this a coin, like an 
old fashioned cent, ora silver quarter dollar. Then hit 
the end of the card a smart fillip by snapping the thumb 
and finger of the other hand in a manner to give the edge 
of the card a sudden blow, when the card will fly out, 
leaving the coin upon the top of the finger. It can be 
•easily learned with a little practice. If the card were 
slowly pushed, instead of struck a sharp blow, the motion 
would be communicated to the coin, and both would go 
•off together. Inertia, or 
UNWILLINGNESS OF BODIES TO MOVE, 
is sometimes unpleasantly illustrated in our own bodies. 
If we are seated in a wagon and the horse starts with a 
sudden jump, we go with a thump against the back of 
the seat, or if the seat has no back we fall over backwards 
completely. In the same manner if the horse is going 
rapidly and makes a sudden stop, we are thrown forward. 
The injuries in some railroad collisions are due to the 
inertia of moving bodies. The car coming in collision 
with other cars, stops very suddenly; the passengers be¬ 
ing in motion, go forward with great volocity, and being 
thrown against one another, and against the seats and 
sides of the cars, causing frightful injuries. If you 
quite fill a cup or glass with water and move it sud¬ 
denly, or if carrying a cup or glass and are suddenly 
stopped, the liquid in either case will be spilled. If a 
boy throws a stone and hits a window, the pane will be 
shattered—as many a boy knows to his sorrow, but if a rifle 
ball hits the glass, generally, only a small hole is made, 
the inertia of the surrounding glass holding it in place, 
the ball passing so rapidly that motion is not communi¬ 
cated to the rest of the glass. We will not go beyond 
this—which is in some books called 
THE FIRST LAW OF MOTION, 
which is “ The inability of a body, whether when at rest, 
or in motion, to change its state.” There is more to say 
about motion, and in the nest talk on the subject I can 
give you more illustrations on this, one of the Common 
Things. The two here given are from Mr. John J. Thomas’ 
excellent work on “ Farm Implements and Machinery.” 
Fig. 2. 
A Little Puzzling, 
If one takes 10 objects, as grains of wheat, or beans, 
and arranges them in the position shown in the accom¬ 
panying engraving, it will be seen that there are four 
rows of beans of six in a row, that is—there is a row of 
[January, 
six on each side. This may be made clear by simply 
covering up all but one side or row. Four more beans, 
or whatever may be used for the puzzle, are now to be 
put into these four rows of six in a row, so that there 
will be no more rows, and no more in each row. If it is 
thought necessary to move the objects already arranged, 
the liberty is granted, but remember that the 20 beans are 
to be put in four rows of six in a row. Remember that. 
Can a Thing; Move and Remain 
Still? 
This question was proposed in May last, as those who 
have last year’s volume can see by turning to page 193. 
It was there shown that a figure, which was printed upon 
the page, could be made to appear to be in rapid motion, 
while you were all the while sure that it did not move at 
all. This is only one of many cases in which we do not 
see things as they really are, or as it is commonly called 
“ an optical illusion.” If we try we can cheat our own 
eyes and those of others very readily; the illustration 
given in May last shows one method, and we have, in 
former years, given several others. In May there was a 
single figure of circles within one another. Prof. J. P. 
Thompson, of Bristol, Eng., has improved upon that in 
the manner shown by the engraving here given. You 
have only to lay the paper upon the table, or hold it flat 
before you, and move it in a circle, when you will see 
the whole series of Ijlack rings going around in a most 
amusing manner, while the toothed wheel in the center 
goes in the opposite direction. It will be all the more 
interesting if yon copy the figure on a white card in ink, 
as it is more easily moved than the paper, and other 
things are not around it to take away the attention. 
A Boy’s Toot-Tray. 
One of our young friends, “ W. R. L.,” Stottville, N. 
Y., sends a very neat drawing of a Tool-Tray, together 
with a very nicely written letter. We have had an en¬ 
graving made from the sketch, though on a smaller scale, 
and are sure many of the boys of the American Agricul¬ 
turist family will be pleased to see Master L.'s Tool-Tray. 
Most boys have a pocket-knife for their first mechanical 
tool, and this is carried in the pocket. A hammer usual¬ 
ly comes next, and if the work was at all in proportion 
to the noise it turns out, would be a wonderful tool. 
Other tools are added, some of which go into the all ca¬ 
pacious pocket, while others are kept here and there, 
usually where they were last used—if one could only 
recollect where that is. As tools accumulate, there must 
be, after a while, a place to keep them—a chest is hardly 
needed yet, and a tool-tray will answer at first. Master 
“ W. R. L.” thus describes his Tray!—“It is 18 inches 
long, 12 inches wide, and 3 inches deep. The central di¬ 
vision forming the handle, should be 6 inches high in the 
center, and worked down to 3 inches at each end. In 
the center of this a piece is sawed out large enough to 
admit the fingers to pass through, thus allowing the tray 
to be carried with ease. In one of the two divisions 
thus formed, another piece is inserted, making two 
smaller divisions, and in this, as well as at each end of 
the.tray, places are sawed down to the depth of about 2 
inches, to admit the square, saws, and tools of that kind. 
By placing the saws and square in these slots, they are 
always held in their proper places. The other tools may 
be earned on the other side of the tray.”—The Tray 
should be made of |-inch stuff. The measurements are 
all of the inside.—W. R. says: “ I have always been very 
fond of tools, and have always used them more or less, 
and this tray is one of my own devising, and I find it 
very convenient for carrying tools from one place to 
another on the farm.”—Here is a strong argument in fa¬ 
vor of parents encouraging the boys to become handy 
with the tools in the shop, accustoming their hands to 
make, and their wits to contrive, the many little conven¬ 
ient things that go so far in the farmer’s every-day life. 
Oui* 1‘iizzlc-ltox. 
ADDED HEADS. 
(To the word which fills the first blank, add a primal 
letter for the second blank— e. g., “ The-made the 
-grow finely.” “Rain, grain.” 
1. The little-tore all the-off his sister’s dress. 
2. We often-through that lovely-. 
3. Round the-of the field was a beautiful-. 
4. He ran the-into his finger and began to-. 
5. The dog had a sore-and was as cross as a-. 
G. When I went to the-1 took my cousin-with me. 
STORE-KEEPER’S PUZZLE. 
Fiye letters are all that are needed to form an impor¬ 
tant request. 
The first and last letter name a vegetable. 
The second letter is the initial of a large snake. 
The third letter is your own initial. 
The fourth letter is the initial of the first name of one 
of our Presidents. 
The fifth letter is the same as the first. 
Obey the injunction of my whole. 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
The initials name a famous General, the finals, where 
he was defeated. 
1. Of little breadth. 
2. A city in Pennsylvania. 
3. A river in North America. 
4. A river of Asia. 
5. A city jn England. 
6. The residence of the Spanish Kings. 
7. A river of South America. 
8. A territory. John W. Wheatley. 
CONCEALED BIRDS. 
1. I caught the owl in Netley Abbey. 
2. Who now rents the Mansion House ? 
3. The widow Drummond over the way. 
4. Her only son keeps it. 
5. I think it equal to the very best. 
6. Cousin Tom now lets lodgings. 
7. He never fails to attend the concerts. 
8. Crowds attend nightly. 
9. The pond teas overgrown with rushes. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Oh ! bam feed. 
2. Rites abound. 
3. Eminent crape. 
4. Rail, O big chap ! 
5. Five fines? No ! 
6. Candle in it. 
7. Fine edict. 
8. 1 suit a bore. 
9. I suit Bonum. 
10. Laird Clincy. 
Eh how snimd ton shi now nibsuses si ton tif ot eb 
tinduster thiw throe sel’pope. 
ALPHABETICAL ARITHMETIC. 
AREB)ITOPLEF(ABP 
I E F I T 
I B T 0 E 
IATTF 
L T T F 
A R E B 
R F I T 
BIBLICAL NUMERICAL ENIGMA. 
I am composed of 29 letters: 
My 1, 12, 19, 4, 13, 28, 15, was a province of Syria. 
My 5, 17, 1, 8,11, 7, 8, was a Corinthian convert under 
Paul’s preaching. 
My S, 21,16, 4, 24,10,14, is a bird which feeds mostly 
on winged insects. 
My 12,16, 18, 6, 17, 5,15, is an evergreen tree. 
My 16. 12, 1, 25, 3, 26, 20, is a fallen angel referred to in 
Revelations. 
My 17, 1, 27, 9, 12, 26, 14, is a beautiful natural phe¬ 
nomenon. 
My 22, 2,17, 10, 29, 13, 23, was a reservoir of water at 
the foot of Mount Zion. 
My whole is part of a verse of the Bible. Isola. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE NOVEMBER NUMBER. 
Numerical Enigmas.— 1. Honesty is the best policy. 2. 
Constantinople, in Turkey. 
Decapitations. —1. Wheat, heat. 2. Ebony, bony. 3. 
Atom, Tom. 4. Turn, urn. 5. Hour, our. 6. Eat, at. 7. 
Roar, oar.= Weather. 
Metagram.— Breath, in which can be found—hear, bat, hart, 
rat; hat, heat,herb, heart, rate, tar, tea, bar, ear, earth, era, 
bath, tear, and tare; are, ate, bare, bet, eat, beat; bate, 
bathe, hate, and hear. 
Drop-letter Puzzle.— 1. Groundless. 2. Condescension. 
3. Procrastination. 4. Impracticable. 5. Incarcerated. 6. 
Characteristic. 7. Expostulate. 8. Incapacitated. 9. Dis¬ 
ciplinarian. 
Cross-word.—B e careful. 
Anagrams.— 1. Incandescent. 2. Anthracite. 3. Torpedoes. 
4. Volunteers. 5. Reservoir. 6. Longitudinal. 7. Abstracts. 
8. Pilgrimages. 9. Troublesome. 10. Grievances. 
Illustrated Rebus, No. 470.—I show myself deserving 
of misfortune in deriding it. 
A Cocoanut Xree Afloat. 
One of our young friends, “T. A. S.,” who lives in 
Jamaica, thinks that the following may interest his 
“young fellow readers outside of the tropics.” How 
many of you can tell, without looking, what and where 
Jamaica is? to what country it belongs, and what its 
principal city ?—“ T. A. S.” has already given you a hint 
that he lives in “the Tropics.” Let us hope that he may 
tell us more about tropical matters. Here is his account: 
“ Sometime last year, when the barometer indicated 
foul weather in the vicinity, the inhabitants of a small 
port In one of the Bahama Isles, had their attention di- 
