258 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
Two Acres—What can be done on them. 
—There are books on “Ten Acres Enough,” “Five 
Acres too Mnch,” “ My Farm of Four Acres,” etc., all 
interesting and Instructive to many people; but for a 
short, concentrated, telling account of what has been 
done, is being done, and can be done on “Two Acres,” 
we commend the reader to go through with the Essay on 
“ Keeping One Cow.” on page 270 of this paper.—There 
is hardly a cultivator in all the country, whether of a 
large or small farm, or of the smallest village plot, that 
may not get some useful hints from Mr. Battles’ plain 
account of his method and the results. 
The Dog for the Farm.— If a farmer stands in 
need of a dog, he should have a good one. The farm dog 
to be a profitable adjunct of the farm should have duties 
to perform, and should possess certain valuable qualities 
that will enable him to do his duties well. He should be 
a faithful watcher of persons and property, and at the 
same time of a kind disposition. He should be gentle to 
the live-stock of the farm, and above all, obedient to his 
master. A good farm dog is a very knowing one. 
Pig Labor. —Some one has recommended the pig, 
as just the creature to work upon the compost heap, and 
keep it thoroughly stirred up by frequent rooting for 
stray ears of corn, that are purposely placed in the heap. 
Swine only pay on the farm, when all their efforts are 
bent, first towards making a frame, and next to the laying 
on of fat, and anything that leads them away from this 
work, is a source of loss. The pig as a farm laborer, to he 
used for turning the compost heap, is a failure, and the 
farmer who goes on the principle that pigs may be made 
“beasts of burden” in the sense of getting profitable 
work out of them, is,to say the least, not on the right track. 
Poll Evil. —This trouble is an abscess at the back 
of the head where it joins the neck, and is not serious 
unless it reaches the bones or joints of the neck. The 
remedy consists in opening the abscess, to allow the ac¬ 
cumulated pus to escape, after which the cavity is dressed 
with a solution of half a dram of Chloride of Zinc, to a 
quart of water. If the neck becomes stiff before any rem¬ 
edy is applied, the animal is in many cases beyond help. 
Slimmer ©ay Comforts.— Many of our readers 
have promptly availed themselves of our proposal, in the 
June number, to furnish substantial “Hammocks,”— 
now so popular as summer day comforts,—at a moderate 
price. We make, of these articles, a special offer for 
July, which will interest our subscribers and others, and 
will be found on the last cover page. 
Paper Darrels. —Machines capable of making 200 
paper barrels daily are now in operation. Strange as it 
may seem, barrels for sugar, kerosene oil, lard, and even 
gun powder, are now made out of a paper pulp. 
Stones in tlie Meadow.— As the knives in the 
mowing machine strike against the loose stones in the 
meadow, or become broken by the small ones that get 
between the guards, they are not pleasant reminders that 
these obstructions should be removed from the surface of 
the meadow. There is no better time for doing this, than 
just after the grass crop has been taken off, while the sur¬ 
face is comparatively bare, and the stones often loosened 
by the horse rake, and other haying implements. A few 
hours now spent in gathering up the loose surface stones, 
will be well spent, and may prevent a serious break to 
the mowing machine, and that in a hurried time of work. 
“A Vine.”— “ W. S. H.” The specimen was noth¬ 
ing but fragments when it reached us; when the plant 
flowers send again. While sometimes we can guess from 
the leaves only, we never feel sure unless we have the 
flowers; the fruit is often necessary for determination. 
Success witli Small Fruits, by Edward P. 
Roe, New York: Dodd, Mead and Company. This book 
is phenomenal in every respect. The art of our best 
artists, and the highest skill of the wood engraver are 
here made to illustrate such prosaic subjects as grubbing 
a stony field or to make beautiful and attractive the most 
stupid and monotonous work of berry picking. The 
author brings the graces of a style that have given him 
a place among the popular writers of the day, to tell how 
berries are grown, picked, and marketed, and quotations 
from books upon his business desk are more frequent 
than are those from the books of his library. A large 
share of the work appeared as a series of articles in 
“Scribner’s Monthly.” These are brought together, 
copiously augmented by other matter, and form a sump¬ 
tuous volume of over 300 ample pages. The engravings 
may be regarded as of two kinds, fruits and fruit-grow¬ 
ing scenes. In representing the fruits, while a great 
amount of skill is shown in presenting them artistically, 
any tendency to exaggeration has been wisely repressed, 
and they show the varieties at their best without sacri¬ 
fice of their accuracy as pomological portraits. These 
are the most important engravings, the others being 
mere embellishments—and beautiful ones they are. 
Both the humorous and the sentimental aspects and sug¬ 
gestions of fruit culture have afforded themes to such 
artists as Homer, Gibson, Sheppard, Mrs. Foote, and 
others. As to the text of such a work, the author can 
hardly hope to give much that is new. Its great value 
consists in its foundation of hard facts. If the facts are 
not sure, no graces of literature, or charm of illustration 
can make the book of any value. The title of the work, 
“Success with Small Fruits” indicates its scope. The 
author Jhas been successful; he tells the methods which 
led to that success, and gives instructions that may be 
safely followed, and gives them in an attractive form, as 
he well understands the art of “putting things.” Not 
the least interesting portion of the work, and that which 
has the best claim to novelty, is the description of straw¬ 
berry culture in the Southern States, and it has also 
afforded themes for some of the most pleasing pictures. 
In a work of this kind the author’s most difficult task is 
to give his estimate of the relative value of varieties ; 
he is sure to invite discussion if not make some enemies. 
If he is a dealer in plants, he is placed in a delicate po¬ 
sition, as there are those who are ready to attribute even 
moderate praise of a variety to a desire to make sales. 
Fortunately for this author, he has already established a 
reputation for fairness in this respect, and has been 
quite as ready to point out the faults of his own seed¬ 
lings as those of others, and in the present work he has 
given the opinions of others as well as his own. We 
may sum up our opinion of this work in two words - 
Beautiful and Useful. Sent by mail from this office at 
the publishers’ price, $5.00. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
For once we are dis¬ 
appointed — we were 
about to write agreea¬ 
bly disappointed, but re¬ 
frain out of deference to 
those who hold that the 
term expresses an im¬ 
possible condition, and 
that whoever claims 
that disappointment 
can under any condi¬ 
tions be agreeable, commits a 
solecism. Nevertheless, we are 
disappointed that things did not 
turn out as we expected they 
would, and are glad that they did 
not. With the general revival of 
business that set in when specie 
payment became an assured fact, we expected that the 
large class who get their living by their wits would ex¬ 
perience a renewed activity; that the old trade of getting 
something for nothing would start with new life, and that 
fraud and swindling would present themselves in new 
disguises to all the more readily ply their calling. But 
while honest trade and labor are prosperous, humbugs 
do not “ boom ” at all. In all these past years of dullness, 
in no year, including that of “ the panic,” has there been 
such a lack of activity, such an utter dearth of novelty, than 
various circulars that have been sent out in the prosecu¬ 
tion of this swindle through all these years, it would be 
as great a curiosity in the literature, as is 
THE ROGUES GALLERY IN THE PORTRAITURE, 
of rascality. One of Dickens’ characters, Miss Moucher, 
had a great variety of names for the rouge and other beau- 
tifiers she sold to her lady patrons, but the vocabulary of 
counterfeit money is much larger. Just now the favorite 
name is “ Cigars.” The cigar circular is too long to copy 
in full, but we give sufficient of it to show its style and 
drift: 
“Dear Sir:—My traveling agent, who passed through 
your section recently, informed me that you were a man 
of a speculative disposition like myself, and that you 
were willing to make money rapidly, provided it could 
be dotie safely. To come to the point at once, I am a 
manufacturer of Cigars made of Green Tobacco. I 
am the only person who has been engaged in this busi¬ 
ness in this vicinity for years. I am not only an expert 
in the business myself, but I employ none but the best 
talent in the country to assist me. Everything in con¬ 
nection with my business is as well organized and as 
well conducted as any business in the land. My Cigar# 
though not genuine, are as difficult to detect as anything 
can be. I presume that you understand me. I do not 
ask you to send money in advance, nor will I send my 
goods on credit, as I can sell all I wish to persons for cash. 
* * * I desire you to come on to the city and examine 
my stock at your leisure. * * * My prices are as follows : 
—For $150 I will allow you $1,200 ; for $850 I will allow 
you $3,500; for $3501 will allow you $5,500. The sizes 
of my Cigars are Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 10. You will under¬ 
stand I am willing to allow you $300 in goods for your 
railroad expenses. You are at liberty to bring a friend 
with you if he has money. But bring a man who can 
keep a still tongue. If you make up your mind to come, 
notify me at what hotel you may stop here. If you are 
not familiar with the name of a suitable hotel here, write 
to me and I will furnish you all the information you 
desire. * * * Do not bother me about small orders 
or samples which are usually sent by mail. An inquisi¬ 
tive postmaster, or some one who is in the habit of get¬ 
ting your mail for you, may be tempted to open your let¬ 
ters. In case you intend coming on immediately notify 
me three or four days in advance of your starting, so that 
I can be prepared for you. Read the printed slip inside 
very carefully. Remember that this circular is sent to 
very few. * * * It is printed in my private office.” 
The “printed slip ” referred to is a new dodge. The 
slip, apparently cut from some paper, gives an account 
of the arrest of a man who had $8 ,000 in new money in 
his valise, on suspicion of being a counterfeiter. But 
the “ Cashier of the Third National Bank was sent for, 
who, after a critical examination of the bills, pronounced 
them to be genuine ”—and the man was discharged. A 
very neat way that, of showing how excellent was this 
batch of “ cigars.” But all do not beat around the bush 
and have other names ; 
THEY OFFER COUNTERFEIT MONEY 
in their circulars, which set forth its great excellence, 
and coolly inform the one who receives the document 
that he has already taken and passed some of the very 
same bills without knowing it. These circulars, in all 
their different forms, have a few features in common. 
They all present the chances of making money rapidly 
and without risk, in a taking manner. All claim that the 
senders will act in the most honorable and upright man¬ 
ner, and all warn the one who receives them that the 
business can not be done through the mails, but only in 
a personal interview. We can imagine the indignation 
which our readers, especially those who have not known 
of the matter, must feel at receiving such a circular, 
which contains nothing less thau a proposition to 
THE LAST FISCAL YEAR— 
beginning with July last—has shown, and the last quar¬ 
ter of that year has been marked by a dullness that is al¬ 
most painful in its intensity. We doubt if in the past 15 
years there has been a trimester (as they say at Cornell 
University) that did not produce some entirely new 
swindling scheme, or at least an old one so rehabilitated 
that it was as good as new, except this last. Are we to 
infer from this that the world is growing better? We 
wish we could. But we fear that it is only the hush that 
precedes the outburst of the storm. It must not be in¬ 
ferred from what we have said that no swindling is going 
on, and that money no longer passes from the pockets of 
the credulous to those of the sharper who gives no 
equivalent in return. We refer only to the utter absence 
of new tricks. Perhaps the most marked feature of the 
humbug marketjust at this time is a partial revival of one 
of the oldest of frauds. The offerers of 
THE QUEER, OR COUNTERFEIT MONEY, 
were, just after the war, more numerous than any other 
class of swindlers. In our humbug column of those days 
it was not rare to give the names of a dozen or more 
chaps or firms claiming to have bad money which they 
wished to sell for good. The game flourished for a time, 
but it was so thoroughly exposed in all parts of the coun¬ 
try that it dwindled and finally quite died out. There 
was a period of a year or two in which we heard nothing 
of it; then it gradually resuscitated, and of late it has re¬ 
gained some measure of its old-time activity. Indeed, in 
a budget of letters relating to humbugs, which, consider¬ 
ing the season, is quite large, about half relate to this 
fraud. As this old affair is new to many of our readers, 
we describe it in brief. If we had a collection of the 
BECOME A COUNTERFEITER’S ACCOMPLICE. 
It is quite natural that an honest person should’feel that 
he is doing wrong, knowing what lie does (or what he 
thinks he does) in not doing something to bring the 
rascally maker of the proposal to justice. Some of the 
letters we receive are quite amusing. The writer usually 
suggests that we hand the matter to the police authori¬ 
ties, but sometimes one will propose a regular plan for 
the capture of the counterfeiter and his money, and offers 
to come to the city for the purpose of putting it into ex¬ 
ecution. The matter seems to be beyond the reach of 
the law. If one of the chaps could be detected in selling 
his “Cigars” or counterfeit money, he could be easily 
brought up, but in the whole affair, notwithstanding the 
minute description in the circulars, there is 
NO COUNTERFEIT MONEY IN THE CASE. 
Among the thousands of such circulars sent monthly to 
all parts of the country, now and then one will fall into the 
hands of a person who is ready to make money dishon¬ 
estly if he can do it without detection, or one of obtuse 
moral sense who does not consider anything wrong that 
pays. The sharper arranges the preliminaries with a 
person, who is to go to a designated third-class hotel and 
engage a room; he is to have his $100 of good money 
ready and to receive $1,000 of “ Cigars ” in exchange. It 
all works well—buyer pays his good money, and gets his 
counterfeit, in a neat packet. Eager to see his new pur¬ 
chase, he is about to open his parcel, when he is stopped 
by the other, who tells him that as he came into the hotel 
below he “ saw that there were a couple of detectives ou 
the look-out; I heard some talk about counterfeiters, 
and I would advise you, with all that counterfeit money 
in your possession, to be a little careful; I would advise 
