48 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[ February, 
Market Tendencies.— Those who have watched 
the markets for the last ten, or even five, years, are im¬ 
pressed with the fact that there is now a much greater 
discrimination than formerly as to quality. This is true 
in all departments, fruits, vegetables, etc., but perhaps 
more marked among meats than elsewhere. Butchers as 
a class are getting to be very observant and particular, 
and this is certainly a movement in the right direction. 
Loading Logs. —“L. M.," Canajoharie, N. Y., 
sends a sketch and description of a method of loading 
LOADING LOGS UPON A SLED. 
logs upon a sled, which he has found to be entirely satis¬ 
factory. The whole malter is so self evident from the 
engraving, that an explanation is not called for. 
Tbe Bank of a Creek in York Co., Pa., is mar¬ 
gined by bushes 10 to 15 feet high; the owner, “A. L.,” 
does not like the looks of it and desires to use the land : 
he wishes to know wbat he can put in place of the pres¬ 
ent growth that will prevent the stream from washing 
the banks, which are in some places nearly perpendicu¬ 
lar and in others sloping... Were the place ours, we 
should try to modify the present growth rather than to 
replace it by another, which, as the land is now full of 
roots would be a most difficult matter. No doubt the 
thicket can be narrowed, by taking out some of the shrubs 
tipon the land side ; then if the remaining shrubs would 
be more pleasing if more formal, we would convert them 
into a broad hedge, by cutting them back to a line, mak¬ 
ing the present shrubs some two feet shorter than the 
hight is to be finally. Now is the best time to cut them, 
and by an annual clipping a dense and comparatively 
narrow hedge screen may be very readily formed. 
Killing the Live-Forever.— There is probably 
no other weed more tenacious of life than Live-forever. 
Among the various suggestions for its destruction that we 
have published, is that of smothering it with refuse hay, 
to exclude light and air. Mr. J. Northop, writes from 
Vermont, that he tried to smother it, and though he put 
wild hay over it, to the depth of 6 feet, he thought the 
weed increased under the treatment. One of his neigh¬ 
bors tried to burn it out, using load after load of wood, 
with no good results. Another neighbor got rid of the 
plant, by pouring boiling brine upon it. Mr. N. suggests 
digging up the plants, and putting them in the road, 
where they will die very quickly. He also says, if the 
land be rolled with a heavy roller, while the Live-forever 
is wet, and the field be pastured at the same time, the 
plant will disappear. The trouble in digging it up is to 
get all the roots; every fragment left in the soil will grow. 
Ice-cold Water should not be taken in large 
quantities by horses just after they have been driven and 
are warm. Let them rest a while and cool off. 
Bo Thoroughbreds Revert ?— In order to ob¬ 
tain facts on this important question, W. H. Brewer, Pro¬ 
fessor of Agriculture in Yale Scientific School, issues a 
circular containing the following inquiries:—“ 1. Have 
yon personally ever lmowu any case where thoroughbred 
Shorthorn cattle, because of climate, poor feed, neglect, 
or any other cause, have become in character anything 
else than Shorthorns—in other words, where, from any 
cause, thoroughbred Shorthorns have degenerated into 
animals of any other breed or type ?—2. Do you personal¬ 
ly know of thoroughbred animals of any other breeds so 
changing or reverting?—3. Have you ever heard of such 
a thing taking place, in the experience of othef breeders, 
so well authenticated that you believe it to be a fact ? ”— 
If fully responded to, the answers to will furnish material 
for a valuable report at the hands of Prof. Brewer. 
In-and-in Breeding.— “ A. E. L.” This term 
has heen variously defined as far as words go, but the 
idea is about the same with all, namely: A breeding to¬ 
gether of animals that are closely related, such as cousins 
and those bound by ties of even closer kinship. 
Tlie Beo Moth.— -This insect is very destructive 
to the honey bee, the larvie or “ worms,” working their 
way through the combs, and in time, if not attended to, 
becoming so abundant, that the bees are obliged to aban¬ 
don the hive. The only effective way to meet this enemy, 
is to be “first on the ground," and prevent the moths 
from entering the hives. The insects may be found 
resting about the hives in early morning, and being slug¬ 
gish at that time can be easily caught and destroyed. 
Where to Get This and That.— Many (ta¬ 
rn* of letters come to the Editors every year (some 
with and some without “ return postage ”), asking where 
they can obtain from trustworthy parties, implements, 
animals, poultry, seeds, plants, fertilizers, and a great 
variety of other things, all of which questions we try to 
answer when we can. But nine out of ten of these let¬ 
ters, and much valuable time of both writers and re¬ 
spondents, would be saved, if the inquirers would take 
the little trouble required to just look through the adver¬ 
tising columns, where usually, in one number or another, 
several parties announce the very things asked about. 
We try to keep out all parties not trustworthy—and do 
not admit any advertisers whom we would not ourselves 
patronize when wanting the things they offer. (The 
Editors have the “veto power” over any and every ad¬ 
vertisement proposed for these columns.) It will always 
pay to read through the business columns to see what is 
offered and by whom, and useful hints are often derived 
from reading what others say and how they say it. New 
ideas are thus started up in one’s mind.—When corre¬ 
sponding with any of our advertisers, or sending for 
catalogues, etc., it is well to state that you arc a reader 
of this Journal. They will know what we expect, and 
what you expect of them as to prompt and fair treatment. 
Heavy Pigs.— “Dr. C. E. B.,” Stonington, Ct., 
sends an account of some pigs raised by him, crossed 
Berkshire and Chester Whites, which weighed when 
dressed546, 532, and 437 lbs. respectively, being 14 mouths 
old; also two spring pigs 8 months old, which weighed 
370 and 404 lbs. They were fed on milk and meal, and 
were sold at 6 cents a pound, which left no profit. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
The readers of this 
column are aware of the 
frequency with which 
we have referred to 
Wall Street specula¬ 
tions. For over a year 
there has been no one 
subject upon which we 
have had so many in¬ 
quiries as those relat¬ 
ing to the circulars sent 
by parties in and near Wall 
Street. These circulars, in some 
cases a single sheet, and others a 
handsome pamphlet, showed very 
plainly that, were their figures 
true and did everything work as 
_ promised, a small investment 
would soon give a large return; and it was made so clear, 
that one with a few hundred dollars to start with could 
soon become a millionaire, that very many sent their 
money without hesitation to those issuing the tempting 
circulars; others more cautious wrote to us to inquire. 
LETTERS CAME BY HUNDREDS, 
all of the same purport; with scarcely an exception the 
writers wished to know the “ responsibility” of the par¬ 
ties. So well were the schemes presented that no one 
seemed to doubt that it was all true, and each seemed to 
feel that if the parties could be trusted to use his money 
in “ puts and calls,” “ special privileges,” and all the 
rest, his fortune was sure. Our carefully made inquiries 
only discovered that the various parties kept large bank 
accounts and had abundant capital. Indeed, some of 
these parties brought us strong recommendations aB to 
their responsibility and even respectability, and made us 
the tempting offer of many hundreds of dollars to insert 
their advertisements in the American Agriulturist. But 
we could not accept the lucrative offers, and thus be¬ 
come accessory to what seemed to us would be bad for 
any of our readers thus invited to invest. A singular fea¬ 
ture in the matter all along has been that in all this corres¬ 
pondence there came not a single complaint. Though all 
seemed favorable, we all the while felt that there was a 
screw loose somewhere. According to the statements, 
investments of $5 and $10 were welcome; the Brokers 
would make these into $50 and $100, and gladly, for a 
small commission. Now if these brokers had abundant 
capital, why didn’t they invest that, and get the whole 
profit for themselves, instead of asking for $5 and $10 
from the farmers in Kansas, Minnesota, and everywhere 
else to use, when they had a plenty of their own ? 
A LITTLE COMMON SENSE 
is a capital thing to apply in such cases. Common sense 
taught us that these circulars showed that money could 
be made altogether too easily. Common sense indicated 
that were there such easy and safe methods of making 
money, those who discovered them would not tell all the 
world and advertise for strangers to come in, but keep 
the secret for themselves and intimate friends. This 
view of the matter, and the general “ ear-marks ’’ that 
one can hardly describe, but which, whoever has had 
long to do with such schemes, “ feels in his bones ’’ 
rather than sees with his eyes, made us quite confident 
that there was something rotten about it. We had had 
not a single complaint, and their bank account was large, 
so we had no grounds upon which to base an exposure 
of the parties themselves. (It took months of careful, 
earnest investigation and trap-setting by sharp detectives 
to finally unearth their swindling.) But we could help our 
readers, and warn them against the persuasive circulars by 
an exposure of the business without reference to the par¬ 
ties engaged in it. Nearly every month, for a long time, we 
have endeavored to show how stock speculations of the 
kind proposed were regarded in business circles, and that 
the sound, reputable merchants, bankers, brokers, etc., 
all looked upon the “ put and call ” business as the 
meanest foiun of gambling. But the end has come, our 
suspicions, or presentiment of wrong doing, are more 
than fulfilled. All of these remarkable “ Brokers," who 
occupied such stately offices, and sent out pictures of 
them, who had such special advantages, and who could 
invest the money for others so profitably, turn out to be 
THE MEANEST KIND OP SWINDLERS, 
and must take their place with those who “shove the 
queer; ” those who sell $15 Bibles for a dollar; the man 
who is in search of his cousin—in fact, they step to their 
places in the ranks of the great army of cheats, frauds, 
and swindlers, who prey upon the honest and unsuspect¬ 
ing, dealing in bogus stuff of all kinds, from flash jewelry 
to bogus lottery tickets to which there is no lottery aud 
every ticket bound to draw, a prize. In fact, it is al¬ 
leged that the great Pattee, who a few years ago was 
the head and front of the Wyoming and various kin¬ 
dred lottery schemes, was actually the capitalist of 
TWO OP THESE BROKERS’ SHOPS. 
Four of the leading establishments in this “stock” 
business are said to have been practically under the 
management of one man, Bnckwalter by name. These 
were Lawrence & Co., Adams, Brown & Co., Allen, 
Jordan & Co., and Barnes, Garrison & Co., Buckwalter 
owning the first two entirely, and half of the others. 
Much trouble was caused by these scamps taking 
THE NAMES OP REPUTABLE BROKERS. 
Thus the house of Lawrence Bros. & Co. stands high, 
and the name of Lawrence & Co. was sufficiently like it 
to be very annoying; so one of the largest houses in the 
city is A. Belmont & Co.; the name of another of the 
concerns, Thatcher, Belmont & Co., conveyed to those 
abroad the idea that they were the Belmont & Co. The 
annoyance caused by these establishments, and their 
operations bringing discredit upon those engaged in 
legitimate stock brokerage, induced the Law Committee 
of the Stock Exchange to employ.a law firm to collect 
information as to these operators and to endeavor to put 
a stop to them. At the proper point the services of Mr. 
Anthony Comstock, Special Agent of the Post-Office 
Department, were called in, and as a result the dis¬ 
reputable firms were hit in their most vital point— 
THEIR LETTERS WERE STOPPED 1 
The case being reported at Washington an order came 
from the Postmaster General to the Postmaster at New 
York forbidding the delivery of all letters directed to the 
firms named above, and to half a dozen more all in the 
same game. Of course stopping their letters ended their 
business, for these chaps operated entirely through the 
mails. Next to the stoppage of the delivery of their 
letters the most important step is the seizure of the lists 
of names of persons all over the country; books con¬ 
taining thousands and thousands of names were seized, 
and these are the most important of all the assets of 
these concerns—the chief stock in trade. It is gratify¬ 
ing to know that this wicked business has come to an 
end, at least for the present. Perhaps those who made 
remittances to these firms would like to know 
HOW THEIR MONEY WAS USED, 
whether on “special privilege” or “ put and call.” They 
used the money very judiciously—one of the chaps 
“put” it in his pocket and it wasn’t possible to “call” 
it out again. Stocks? they had nothing to do with them. 
They knew a trick worth two of that; besides, stock 
speculations are risky and some think immoral. It was a 
very neat business—all profit. Mr. Buckwalter’s mouthy 
income from the four concerns named above was to be 
over $22,000.—It must be a highly consoling reflection to 
those who have contributed their $10 or $20 to make up 
this amount, to read that he “ is said to be handsome in 
appearance and singularly winning in manner.”—“Win¬ 
ning I ”—we should say so. How he did win I 
When these schemes for making money so readily, are 
presented, no matter how persuasively to those living at 
a distance, when the figures show with convincing cer- 
