346 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
A PEEP AT THE SQUIRRELS. 
The operations of the squirrels during the season of the 
nut harvest, used to amuse me exceedingly. The grey 
and red squirrels were rather shy, and did not often ap¬ 
pear on the stage while we boys were present. But the 
little fellow with stripes on his back, familiarly called the 
chipmunk, was more tame and confiding. Many a time, 
I have known him advance within a rod of the spot where 
I stood, and dexterously seizing a nice hickory nut with 
nis teeth, scamper off with it as fast as his legs would 
carry him. Sometimes, instead of depositing the nut 
among his Winter stores, he would walk off a little way, 
run up a stump, seat himself there, like a gentleman of 
leisure, and using his fore paws for hands, would pro¬ 
ceed, with almost incredible rapidity to open the shell, 
and treat himself to its contents. Chippy never appears 
so cunning as when he is occupied in this manner. I 
used to wonder, before I became familiar with him, why 
he should feel so secure, when he was apparently in such 
danger. But I found out that he never performed this 
feat, unless his hole was within a few paces of him. 
Did you know that a squirrel has a way of detecting 
the bad nuts ? He has ; and if you will watch him care¬ 
fully, when he is laying in provisions for the Winter, you 
will see that he weighs each nut in his paw before he se¬ 
lects his load, and if the nut is light, you will notice that 
he throws it away. He knows that the light nuts are 
imperfect, and have no meat in them. 
I am a great lover of the squirrel. But I am forced to 
admit that he is a mischievous fellow. I once had a 
tame squirrel. He was a universal favorite and of course 
a decidedly spoiled squirrel. This chap, although he 
was fed on the daintiest food, every day, used to amuse 
himself, whenever he found an opportunity, with such 
sports as gnawing holes in bags of meal and flour. He 
seemed never more delighted than when he had trans¬ 
formed himself from a red to a white squirrel in this man¬ 
ner. While this pet was a member of our family, my 
brother and I gathered a good many hickory nuts. There 
were not less than half a bushel of them, according to 
my recollection. We nailed them up tight in a box, and 
put them in the garret, where they were to dry and be 
ready for the long Winter evenings. When it was time 
to commence eating the nuts, we went to the depository, 
and lo ! it was empty. That rascally squirrel had made 
a hole in the box, and carried off every single nut it con¬ 
tained. You will wonder what he did with them I’ll 
tell you. He bored a hole in the floor, large enough for 
him to enter, and he had stored these hickory nuts away, 
nobody but himself knows in what nooks and crannies of 
those dark and inaccessible regions. 
HUSKING PARTIES. 
There were some other pleasant things connected with 
this season of the year, when I was a boy, which I can 
not think of now without a thrill of pleasure Such were 
our husking parties. What glorious times we had at 
these Autumnal gatherings. What choice stories were 
told. What sparkling jokes were sent off, rocket-like. 
What peals of laughter startled the quiet cows in the 
Darn yird. What piles of bright corn were husked. 
Wh t heaps of doughnuts and cheese were eaten. I be¬ 
lieve in husking parties, with all my heart. They had a 
humanizing influence on those who shared in them, and 
tended to promote good feeling among neighbors. They i 
are an'Iq' ated now, though, and among the things of the 
past. 
THE CIDER MILL. 
Closely linked in my memory with the huskings of 
New-Er.gland, is the cider mill. It was regarded as one 
of the grandest of all the attractions which Autumn had 
to bestow on the little folks. Connected with that mill, 
were unfailing sources of enjoyment. What a rude con¬ 
trivance the mill was ; though, to my juvenile eye, it 
seemed a very ingenious and complicated affair. The 
press, too, was equally rude. A modern farmer, I prer 
sume, would regard both with much the same 
sensations as he would feel, were he to come 
across a pair of ancient stocks and a well-authen¬ 
ticated whipping post. From the press the cider 
used to run into a tub formed of the halfof a hogs¬ 
head which had been sawed in two cross-wise. 
From this tub we boys made liberal drafts on the 
delicious beverage, which were liquidated “at 
sight,” through the medium of a rye straw. 
A LUDICROUS ESCAPE FROM DROWNING. 
I can hardly resist the inclination to tell you, 
just in this place, a story of an adventure of mine, 
not altogether to my credit, which happened 
while on a visit to my uncle’s, and when, of 
course, I had on my “Sunday suit” of clothes. 
I think it is Watts who says, 
“ We should suspect some danger nigh, 
When we possess delight.” 
If the poet is correct—and I shall not slop now to in¬ 
dulge in doubts on that point-it certainly behooved me 
to be extremely careful at the period which I now allude 
to. I was as happv as a free ticket to my good uncle’s 
mill could make me Well I wasn’t very careful, it would 
seem ; and, while I was at the very zenith of enjoyment, 
calmly and serenely bending over the tub with my straw 
in full operation, I lost my balance, and over 1 went, head 
first, into the cider tub, which, at the time, was about 
three quarters full. I was terribly frightened, as you may 
suppose, and screamed lustily for help. My younger 
brother, who was my companion at the time, ran off after 
my uncle and his men, who were at work in a field not 
far off, and for a whde—it seemed a month—I was left in 
that fearful abyss of cider struggling vainly to get out, 
and wondering whether I should die from drowning, or 
be stung to death by the bees and hornets, multitudes of 
which had fallen into the tub before me. I remember I 
had a sort of indistinct notion that I should die a kind of 
compound or double death. It is said that a drowning 
man catches at straws. That may be true in most cases 
—I don’t doubt it is ; so venerable a proverb must not be 
questioned—but I do assure you that the very reverse of 
this fact was true in my individual case. Instead of 
catching at a straw, I dropped mine. 
Well, my uncle came at last-came with scarcely as 
much gravity and solemnity, I thought, as befitted the oc¬ 
casion—and pulled me out. What a figure I must have 
made. It puzzled me then to see what there was in my 
unfortunate condition, which provoked every body to 
laugh until he was red in the face. But now that memo¬ 
ry carries me back to the scene, I can easily imagine how 
ludicrous the whole affair must have been, notwithstand¬ 
ing its slightly tragical aspects. 
-— ,- - 
Problem No. 31.—Twelve Questions. 
1,283,000,000. 
The latest and best estimate of ihe inhabitants of our 
earth makes the number 1,283,000,000 ; viz., in Asia, 720 - 
000,000 ; in Europe, 272,000.000 : in North and South 
America, 200,000,000; in Africa, 89,000,000; and in Aus¬ 
tralia, 2,000,000. Suppose them all gathered upon one 
plain, and allowed only a yard square of standing room: 
Question 1st.—How many acres would they cover 1 
Quest. 2nd.—How many square miles ? 
Quest. 3d —If standing in a square body how far would 
the multitude extend each way ? 
Quest. 4th.-If they stood in a circular mass, what 
would be the distance through the circle? 
Suppose them to form in marching order, like soldiers 
in single file, and allow only 3 feet for each individual to 
walk in: 
Quest. 5th — How many miles would the line extend ? 
Quest. 6th.—How many times around the globe would 
the line reach ? 
Call the earth to be exactly 25,000 miles in circumfer¬ 
ence, and three-quarters of its surface to be covered wdlh 
water and rocks: 
Quest. 7.—How many acres of tillable land is there left 
for each man, woman and child ? 
Suppose only one person out of thirty die each year fa 
very low estimate): 
Quest. 8.—How many die every year? 
Quest 9.—How many die every day? 
Quest 10 —How many die every hour ? 
Quest 11.—How many die every minute? 
Quest. 12.—If every human being in the whole United 
States (say 25,000,000) were swept off in a single 
year, How many more would die elsewhere each 
year, to equal the whole number of deaths annu¬ 
ally in the human family, allowing as before, only 
qne ip 30 to die ? 
Multum in Parvo (Much in Little).— J. F. Hunt, Lee 
Co., Iowa, writes : “ About that Problem 13, concerning 
the big box of gold, I have a word more to say. The an¬ 
swer given on page 122 differs from that on page 28 only 
by the small decimal fraction of .00027; yet, this is well 
worth consideration, as it makes a difference in value of 
$35,839, which is more than I am worth ; and still there is 
$350 53 left out of the account. It does not take a very 
thick sheet of gold over the 421 yards outside surface of 
the box, about 111 feet,in diameter, to make $350. Thus 
(omitting smallest fraction) : 
Size of Box of Gold. 
11.30027264673 feet 
11.30027264672 “ 
11.30027264 
11.30027 “ 
11.3 “ 
Value of Gold. 
$500,000,000 and 1.027 mill. 
499,999,999 lacks 1 mill. 
499,999,999 lacks 9) cents. 
499,999.646,47 lacks $.350.58 
499,963,810,56 lacks $36,189,50 
If these figures are correct (which our young arithme¬ 
ticians can verify), they certainly show a large difference 
resulting from omitting so small a difference in the diam¬ 
eter of the box, as twenty-seven one-hundred-tliousandths. 
—Ed. 
Tompkins County,” N. Y., sent a very complete 
elucidation of Prob. 12, which we had not room for. 
Into which are thrown all sorts of paragraphs—such as 
Notes and Replies to Correspondents, with Useful or 
Interesting Extracts from their Letters, together with Glean¬ 
ings of various kinds from various sources. 
Personal Requests. —Questions of interest, chief¬ 
ly or only to the proposer, cannot usually be answered 
here ; but we gladly avail ourselves of any queries or 
hints from our readers, a response to which may also be 
of interest to a considerable circle of other readers. The 
greatest good to the greatest number is our aim in pre¬ 
paring or selecting matter for these pages. 
Anonymous Letters attain. —“Amateur,” of 
Philadelphia, takes offence at our refusal to consider 
anonymous letters, and considers the note on this topic 
in our last as addressed to himself. He mistakes. An 
answer was in type, and unless again crowded over, as it 
was last month, it will be found somewhere below. But 
even this was an exception to the general rule, which was 
adopted, because we have too little time to attend to the 
requests and queries of other than known readers ; and 
because the attempt is frequently made by individu¬ 
als interested in the sale of plants, implements, 
fertilizers, &c., to draw out a covert advertisement, or 
“ notice,” by addressing anonymous queries or commu¬ 
nications from a “ subscriber,” respecting this or that 
particular thing. We never “ strain a point,” however, 
and, when convenient, have taken up a hint or sugges¬ 
tion, even from an anonymous writer, as was done in the 
case of “amateur."’ To prevent misunderstanding here • 
after, we will say, that the standing rule for those in 
charge of letters is, to not trouble the editors’ desks with 
documents from persons whose names are not found in 
the regular subscribers’ books. 
Heading' back Peach Trees.— Geo. Smith 
Hancock Co., Ill. The peach, according to Mr Downing 
is benefitted by cutting back the outside branches, in the 
Spring, nearly one half of the previous year’s growth 
thus, if there be two feet of new wood, take off one foot. 
Root Pruning' t> Strengthen Trees.—J. 
O. Reilly, Monroe Co , N. Y. Better tie them to stakes 
set firmly in the ground than to mar the roots. 
Asparagus Seed .—$. Horst, Cumberland Co., Pa. 
The above seed can be had at almost any seed store in 
this city or Philadelphia Full diretions for culture were 
given in the last volume of the Agriculturist, It is to be 
sown in the Spring, and its culture will be described in 
season. 
Mills!ia Leaves, etc.—D. Colklassen, Washing 
ton Co., Md. The petals you forwarded were received, 
but so dried and broken as to preclude all examination. 
I?!ignoneJt.e not Fragrant.— Jane Califf, 
Wineshiek Co., Iowa. We can not account for the want 
of fragrance in the mignonette you had from the Patent 
Office. Such results are not unusual with seeds from the 
“ Government Seed Store.” Our own plants, from some 
of the seed given to our subscribers last Spring, are un¬ 
mistakably fragrant, enough so to abundantly make up 
for any lack of beauty in this species of flower. 
London’s Work.— N. C. Blair, Calhoun Co., 
Texas, suggests that it is very desirable to have a new 
edition of “ Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Plants,” with cor¬ 
rections and alterations to adapt it to this country, and 
bring it down to the present time. Tlye English Edition 
is very costly, and is near ly out of print. He suggests to 
print it in numbers, on pages about the size o, the Agri. 
tmltunst , apd omitting the cuts. We differ with him in 
