322 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
unless you first; see it for yourselves, or have 
resident in the city a considerate and tried 
friend to do it for you. Some of these schemes 
may prove profitable to a few, but many of them 
are part and parcel of the Gift Enterprises and 
Lotteries, which no one should have the least to 
do with, for he will be certain to lose 99 cents 
of every dollar invested. 
New-York City is situated on the south end 
of an island which is nearly fourteen miles long, 
and with a width varying from half a mile to 
two miles. The more compact part of the city 
occupies five to six miles of the south end, but 
the whole island is laid out with streets, many 
of them yet unopened ; and the blocks formed 
by these streets are cut up into small lots, usu¬ 
ally 25 by 100 feet, being 25 feet on the end 
fronting the street. It takes about 12 of these 
lots, with the ground allotted to streets, to form 
an acre. These lots are held very high, there 
being few on the whole island which can be 
bought for less than $500, while some of them 
on the south sell as high as $20,000 to $50,000 
and higher, exclusive of buildings. The high 
price of these lots, necessarily adds much to 
the rent of buildings erected upon them, so that 
a comfortable family dwelling, which in a coun¬ 
try village could be hired for $150 a year, here 
rents for $500 to $1000, and in some localities 
for several times this price. 
Since the opening of convenient railways in 
different directions from the city, many persons 
have gone out a few miles in the country where 
land could be purchased at a lower price. In 
the immediate vicinity of this city a number ol 
large cities and villages have recently sprung 
up, and in these small lots of land already com¬ 
mand almost the New-York prices. The effect 
has been to drive the city population still far¬ 
ther into the country, so that at this time, pro¬ 
bably 20,000 persons do business in the city 
who reside from 10 to 30 miles from their places 
of business. A few years past this mode of 
living had become quite fashionable, but a reac 
tion is already taking place. Those who can 
leave their homes late in the morning and re¬ 
turn early in the afternoon, are beginning to 
find it no small tax upon their time and pa¬ 
tience to ride a dozen or twenty miles morning 
and evening three hundred days in the year; 
while the great mass of mechanics and retail 
dealers, who must be here early and late, find 
living in the country almost entirely impractica¬ 
ble, and there is little probability that any con¬ 
siderable portion of the population of New-York 
city will live far away from the center of theii 
business. We think there is little hope that 
village lots in the vicinity will rise greatly above 
their present selling prices till population 
presses much more upon them. 
Farms adapted to raising garden truck which 
will not bear transportation, will doubtless in 
crease in value as the growing wants of the 
city increase the demand for such kinds of pro¬ 
duce. 
Lot and Land Speculators. —Within a few 
years past a class of shrewd speculators have 
taken advantage of the popular leaning towards 
counry residences, and have pr etty well filled 
their own pockets, by fleecing a poorer class of 
laborers and mechanics. We will give a history 
of the operations of one of these, which will 
indicate the plan pursued by the larger portion 
of them. 
Mr. Speculator went out some forty or more 
miles from the city, and purchased a pleasantly- 
located farm of 260 acres, for $17 per acre. 
The soil was very poor, but by an application of 
special manures a portion of it was made tran¬ 
siently to yield a good crop of grass; and a few 
spots were specially prepared for gardens, and 
made to appear very fine. The farm was map¬ 
ped out into streets and avenues, some of which 
were opened. The whole was divided by 
stakes into lots 25 by 100 feet, making, with 
the streets, about twelve lots to the acre. Be¬ 
fore a single house was erected, a beautiful 
name was given to the village (in prospect,) and 
a costly engraved map of street's, avenues, 
churches, public buildings, with a “ view” of 
what the village would be when “finished.” 
Lots in different parts of the “village” were 
given to leading merchants and professional 
men, to throw around the affair an air of impor¬ 
tance. A few individuals—themselves hum¬ 
bugs—were drawn out from a certain associa¬ 
tion for an afternoon excursion, during which 
champaign, and other things “ to match,” were 
liberally supplied; and this self-appointed “com¬ 
mittee” were of course ready to report favora¬ 
bly upon the soil and location of the “ new vil¬ 
lage.” In the vicinity, a few plots of nearly 
worthless land, consisting of five to ten acre:- 
each, were purchased and labeled “farms to be 
distributed by lot among the purchasers in the 
new village.” All things thus arranged, a sale 
of splendid “ lots,” “ homesteads,” and “ farms,” 
was advertised at exceedingly low prices, rang 
ing from $15 to $100 per lot, with a “ chance” 
for a farm. The bait took with a multitude, 
who were carried away with the idea of owning 
a lot of land, and especially one in such a beau¬ 
tiful location. Some thought little of it at first, 
but as they went to their labor in the morning, 
and as they returned at evening, a large picturi 
and map of the beautiful “ village” was before 
them at every corner, and daily the impression 
grew stronger upon them to become proprietors. 
The pleading bills of Mr. Speculator, the fac> 
that Messrs. B, O, and D, who were wealthy 
and shrewd men, had purchased homesteads in 
this new paradise was too much for them. The 
few dollars they had saved in the Sixpenny Sav¬ 
ings Bank was drawn out, and transferred to the 
pocket of Mr. Speculator for a lot of ground not 
worth to them as many cents as they have paid 
out dollars for it. 
This is no fancy sketch. Within sixty miles 
there are now owned many thousands of such 
lots, which will never be worth five dollars to 
the purchasers. The same advertisements and 
inducements which have been successfully used 
at home, have been circulated broadcast 
through the country. Mechanics in Cincinnati, 
and other places as distant, have sent their hard 
earnings to be invested in 25 by 100 feet of a 
sand ridge, which is “ so far from any place,” 
as to be of no value. These sales are perfectly 
legal. The seller gives a bona fide title, and the 
buyer is absolutely owner of his lot, and we see 
no remedy for him. The sum he has expended 
is comparatively small, and it would not be ad¬ 
visable to expend a larger sum in making out a 
case of fraud or swindling. Mr. Speculator is 
ahead of them in the means of evading the 
law. 
To those at a distance who have been taken 
in, we can only say that of these various yillages 
that have sprung up by hundreds here about, 
some will doubtless be worth something in the 
future, and it is probably best to leave your 
deed in the hands of some friend in New-York, 
who may, perhaps, turn it to some little account 
for you; though we must frankly say, that if 
your “ village lot” is more that 20 miles from 
New-York, your chance for future returns is 
exceedingly small. We have not now farther 
space to devote to this subject. We cannot 
chase the thousand humbugs that are daily 
springing up, though having passed most of our 
lives as farmers, we are quite aware of the im¬ 
positions continually practised upon them as a 
class; and our pen shall not be idle in showing 
up these impostors in their true light, as we 
may have opportunity. 
---© ® €- 
HOW TO KNOW THE AGE OF A HORSE. 
The colt is born with twelve grinders. When 
four front- teeth have made their appearance, 
the colt is twelve days old; and when the next 
four come forth, it is four weeks old. When 
the corner- teeth appear, the colt is eight months, 
and, when the latter have attained to the height 
of the/rorai-teeth, it is one year old. The two 
year old colt has the Tcernal (the dark substance 
in the middle of the tooth’s crown) ground out 
of all the front teeth. In the third year the 
middle front- teeth are being shifted ; and when 
three years old these are substituted by the 
horse- teeth. The next four teeth are shifted in 
the fourth year, and the corner- teeth in the 
dfth. At six years the Icernel is worn out of 
the lower middle front- teeth, and the bridle- 
rneth have now attained to their full growth. 
At seven years a hook has been formed on the 
corner-teeth of the upper-jaw; the kernel of 
the teeth next at the middle fronts is worn out, 
and the hidle teeth begin to wear off. At 
eight years of age, the Icernel is worn out of all 
the lower front- teeth, and begins to decrease in 
the middle upper fronts. In the ninth year, 
the Icernel has wholly disappeared from the 
upper middle front- teeth, the ho oh on the cor¬ 
ner-teeth has increasee in size, and the bridle- 
teeth lose their points. In the tenth year the 
Icernel is worn out of the teeth next to the mid¬ 
dle fronts of the upper jaw; and in the eleventh 
year the Icernel has entirely vanished from the 
corner- teeth of the same jaw. At twelve years 
old, the crown of all the front teeth in the 
ower jaw, has become triangular, and the 
bridle teeth are much worn down. As the 
horse advances in age the gums shrink away 
from the teeth, which, consequently, receive a 
long, narrow appearance, and their kernels have 
become metamorphosed into a darkish point, 
gray hairs increase in the forehead, over the 
eyes, and the chin assumes the form of an an¬ 
gle.— Practical Farmer. 
DEATH OF HORSE “EMPIRE STATE.'' 
POST MORTEM EXAMINATION BY DR. DADD. 
We find in a recent number of the Practical 
Farmer , an account of the above examination, 
a part of which we give below. The horse ap¬ 
pears to have been affected with a species of 
“staggers” called vertigo, or megrims. We 
have known two stallions which being very pop¬ 
ular, were used during the fore part of the 
summer quite beyond their strength; and, al¬ 
though death did not immediately ensue, they 
soon lost their natural vivacity, and exhibited a 
species of staggering and dullness, very like a 
human subject afflicted with a severe head-ache. 
The remarks of Dr. D. are quite important and 
should be studied by every owner of a stallion. 
Many cases are on record of horses being 
