106 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March , 
to hold very fast to anything it catches, or to a rock if it 
wishes. The cuttle-fish has a shell to strengthen its soft 
body, but strangely enough, carries it inside ; and this 
shell is what is known as cuttle-fish bone. It is very 
light indeed, and if you examine it carefully you will 
see that it is made up of the most delicate little plates of 
bony matter. The cuttle-fishes walk along on the bot¬ 
tom by their many feet or feelers, and when they swim 
they go backwards. Their swimming is done in a very 
droll manner, they take water into their bodies, and send 
it out in a stream with great force, and thus push them¬ 
selves, hind foremost, through the water. Another 
strange thing about them is, that they always carry a bag 
of ink with them, and when chased by a large fish, they 
throw out some of thi3 inky matter, and so cloud ihe 
water that their enemy can not see them. This color¬ 
ing matter, dried and made into canes, is called sepia, 
and is used in makin~ water-color drawings; it has a 
fine, rich, brown tint. The cuttle-fish bone of the shops 
is mostly picked up on the shores of the Mediterranean 
sea, where it washes ashore from the animals which die, 
or which are killed by their enemies. The cuttle-bone is 
put into bird cages because the birds like to rub their 
bills against some such substance, and being, like other 
shells, mostly composed of lime, it furnishes them with 
this, which, like all other birds, they need to form the 
shells to their eggs. The powdered bone is sometimes 
used for tooth-powder, and it has been used to polish 
metals. The bone at the right hand of the engraving is 
about half the usual size ; but there is a cuttle-fish in 
the China seas that has a bone a foot and a half long. 
... I am always glad when parents take an interest in 
these boys and girls columns, as many of them do. The 
mother of some of our boys and girls sends me 
THE NEST OF A BALTIMORE ORIOLE, 
and I give an engraving here, to show you what it is 
like. No doubt that most of you, who live in the coun- 
AN ORIOLE OR HANG-BIRD’S NEST. 
try, know the bird, and from the way in which it hangs 
its bag-like nest, you know it as the “ Hang-bird.” It 
is one of our most brilliant birds, being orange and 
black in color, and it is sometimes called the “ Golden 
Robin.” Its nest is often seen hung to the ends of the 
slender branches of some tall tree. I am always glad 
when I see one of these nests, to know that it is beyond the 
reach of thoughtless boys, and rascally cats, as it is put 
where neither can get at it. The bird is a very useful 
one, as it is very fond of caterpillars. But it is the nest 
rather than the bird that I would now talk about. The 
nest is built of any stringy bark, strings, tow, wool, 
coarse grass, or any strong materials the bird can get. 
The bark of several of our large herbs, such as the 
milk-weed, is very strong, like flax, and this the bird 
uses especially for fastening the nest to the twigs of the 
tree. It works as if it knew that this part must support 
the whole weight of the nest, eggs, and young, besides 
its own, and puts here the very strongest stuff it can find. 
The pair who built this nest, for both birds work at it, 
were very lucky, they had found a strong cord or twine, 
several feet, if not yards long, which was used for fast¬ 
ening the nest to the tree, and most curiously was it 
made fast. The string being long, after it had served to 
secure the nest properly, was carried all through the nest, 
the same string running around in various directions, 
and woven in and out, in a manner that looked as if they 
meant to make the best use of the precious string, as no 
di^ubt they did. We thank the lady for the nest, as it is 
a real curiosity. I hope if any of you see the orioles next 
spring—they come around early in May—that you will 
recollect this nest, and put an abundance of bits of waste 
string, and narrow strips of cloth, where the birds will 
. find them, and yon may be sure that they will be worked 
into the nest. We cultivate so much laud, that the ma¬ 
terials the ori, les need for building are becoming scarce, 
and it is only fair that we should give them strings and 
such things for their nests, to pay for the good they do 
in keeping the caterpillars from injuring the fruit trees. 
ANOTHER CHRYSALIS 
comes from Master Paul, at Rome, Ga.; he is only 8years 
old, yet notices insects, and gets his father to send a spe¬ 
cimen he has found, and to write asking what it is, “ and 
what it will make.” It is the chrysalis or cocoon of the 
Cecropia moth; it was a large green caterpillar, with 
large red and yellow warts that have black bristles on 
them ; it lives on apple and other trees, and in Septem¬ 
ber goes to bed for the winter in the shape in which you 
found it. Had you kept this in the house until spring, 
you would have been surprised some day, to find a very 
large moth—perhaps you would call it butterfly—and the 
cocoon empty. You would find it difficult to believe 
that so large a fellow, with its wings spreading six inch¬ 
es, could have come out of so small a place. The wings 
are folded up very closely, and it takes the moth, when it 
first conies out, a long time to stretch and dry its wings. 
If Paul finds another he can put it away in a cool room 
and forget all about it, until the appearance of the moth 
reminds him of it.Some of the many questions do 
not admit of a simple and brief answer. For instance, 
here is a letter from one boy who asks me to tell him 
HOW TO SHOOT ON THE WING. 
Now this could not be told in a single long article, nor 
would the telling be of use without practice. I have done 
very little shooting of late years, and only know that 
it is something to be learned by practice. You know 
that though a bullet, for instance, moves very rapidly, it 
takes time in going, say 50 yards; though it may seem 
instantaneous, the time can be measured by proper in¬ 
struments. Suppose that the bullet were fired at a bird 
flying at right angles to the line of the shot, if aim be 
taken directly at the bird, the time between the pulling 
of the trigger, the explosion of the cap, the burning of 
the powder, and the travel of the ball to the point aimed 
at, would be sufficient to allow the bird to move several 
feet, and the ball would pass some distance to its rear; 
though shot would scatter some, the result would be the 
same as with a bullet. Aiming directly at the bird on 
the wing will not answer. The sportsman shows his 
skill by aiming at a point ahead of the bird, and just so 
far ahead of it that by the time the shot reaches the spot 
the bird will be there. Of course if a mathematician 
knew the rate-of the flight of the bird, and the rapidity 
of the shot, and the distance, he could calculate to a hair 
the point to be aimed at in order to hit the bird; the 
sportsman learns this by practice. I do not care, as a 
general thing, to encourage boys in shooting, but it is a 
matter that all depends upon where one lives, and the 
wishes of the boy’s parents. In some localities it is very 
necessary for boys to know all about the use of fire-arms, 
not only for defense, but as a help in supporting the fami¬ 
ly. But for those boys who go around with guns, shoot¬ 
ing at— I don’t say shooting—everything that flies, from 
a crow to a butterfly, I have a great dislike. If my young 
friend wishes to study up the matter, he will find in our 
book-list a work, “ Shooting on the Wing,” which gives 
all that can be told in print, but the subject is not one 
suited to the Boys and Girls, nor is it sufficiently agri¬ 
cultural to occupy much space in the other pages 
Aunt Sue’s Puzzle-Box. 
SYNCOPATIONS. 
1. Syncopate a tree and leave an article of food. 
2. Syncopate an article of food and leave a nail. 
3. Syncopate a string and leave a fish. 
4. Syncopate a gem and leave a loud noise. 
5. Syncopate a small river and leave a motive power. 
6. Syncopate anauimal and leave an article of clothing. 
7. Syncopate a measure of surface and leave a measure 
of length. 
8. Syncopate a measure of surface and leave a unit. 
Isola. 
DOUBLE ACROSTICS. 
1—1 A nut. 2. A flower. 3. A city in New Jersey. 
4. Contrary. 5. A city in Africa. 6. A preposition. 
Primals give a large country and the finals give a city 
in the United States. 12 Years. 
2.—1. Resembling the Jacobins. 2. A tool. 3. A re- 
public of South America. 4. A book of faith. 5. A fish. 
6. A river. 7. A number. 
The primals name a President of t.lie United States, and 
the finals a Vice-president. John W. Wheatley. 
NUMERICAL ENIGMA. 
I am composed of just the number of letters of Aunt 
Sue’s post-office box in Brooklyu, N. Y., and that is 111 
(one hundred and eleven). 
My 42,102, 45, 22, can never be used unless connected 
with a 63, 65, 108, 79, 28. 
My 41, 25, 73, 39, is something used at camp-meetings 
to protect from 95, 43, 20, 47. 
My 107, 96, 94, 70, 72, 13, is often put upon my 24, 90, 
53, 30, 99, 38, 87, 88, in jail. 
My 61, 92, 40, 52, is used to 26, 89, 62, 91, 57, 4, the 
ground with in spring. 
My 79, 77, 54, 104, 51, 66, 2, is the man who said he 
preferred 98, 50, 36, 3,10,16, to riches. 
My SI, 84, 32, 31, 48, 103, 23, is a very large city in my 
91, 111, 56, 100, 27, 105, 70, 75, 1, 18, 64, 36. 
My 11, 58, 55, 44, and 68, 59, 76, 92, are the same four 
letters, transposed, making two different words which 
mean about the same thing. 
Many Christians 29,106, 61, 93, for 101, 84, 8, 67, 72, 21. 
A few years ago people used my 23, 21, 15,14, 35, 60, 
109, when they entered my 71,110, 37, 85, 93. 
My 7, 12, 74, 34, 6, 19, 36,-80, 78, 82—86, 33, 97, 17, 79, 
should bo dear to all 49, 5, 74, 69, 8, 85. 
My 83, 44, 8, 46, is what you never saw a live person 
without. 
My whole is a promise that has been made to every 
one that shall overcome. Meda. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Teach men scorn. 6. Vital courts. 
2. Cool in turret. 7. Shove cur. 
3. A crib coat. 8. Coil screen. 
4. Ruin a Gaul. . 9. I entreat pert Ned. 
5. Uuum after cars. 10. O ! pinch dame 1 
PUZZLE. 
Take half of a lion and half of a hand, 
And then please add half of a zone, 
And the letters will show (if correctly they stand) 
~A city that’s very well known. 
POSITIVES AND COMPARATIVES. 
{Example. A story : a workman. Ans. Tale, tailor.) 
1. What the children love: what the flowers love. 
2. What the goat does: what the farmer sells. 
3. An article of jewelry: something used in the laundry. 
4. A poem : a perfume. 
5. An animal: to reel. 
6. What the rivers do: what may grow by the river’s 
brink. Bessie, 
puzzle. 
Write six names, one below the other, each containing 
six letters (three boys* names and three girls’ names), so 
that another boy’s name shall appear in the diagonal let¬ 
ters, reading from the left upper corner to the right lower 
corner. Belle. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE JANUARY NUMBER. 
Geographical Enigma.— Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. 
Metagram.— Scowl, cowl, owl. Scow, cow, Co. 
Puzzle.— Pineapple (p—ine—ap—pi—e). ; 
Cross Word.—The Doctor’s Talk. 
Blank Decapitations.— 1. Hailed, ailed. 2. Howl, owl. 
5. Flight, light. 4. Fit, it. 5. Fold, old. 6. Height, eight. 
Square Word. 
P A P A W 
AZOTE 
POLAR 
A T A P S 
WE R ST 
Diamond Puzzle. 
M 
FAT 
FINIS 
M A N A T U S 
TITHE 
SUE 
S 
Thanks for puzzles, letters, etc., to A. F. G., Emmie, B. T., 
Snip, Ben, Jo Kose, S. S. W„ B. L. A., J. T. G., Wun Moore, 
Mary Gold, and to F. Mill (or Min). 
Send communications intended for Aunt Sue, to Box 111, 
P. O., Brooklyn, N. T., and not to 245 Broadway. 
Amusement for Boys. 
Our friend, Mr. Snook, sends a couple of little mat¬ 
ters, which will no doubt afford amusement to some of 
our youngsters. Probably most of you have seen - 
A Curious Dart, shown in figure 1, which is easily 
made, and may afford much amusement. The shaft is a 
stick about the size and length of a common lead-pencil. 
