1877 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
2b7 
not to be attained in the ordinary methods. The ma¬ 
chine, made by the “ McKay Metallic Fastening Associa¬ 
tion,” of Boston, is an improvement upon that formerly 
made by the “American Cable Screw Wire Co.,” noticed 
a year or two ago, and while it embodies all the good 
qualities of that, there are important inventions added, 
one of the most essential being that of turning the wire¬ 
fastening into the leather, just as a wood-screw is driven 
into wood. Each machine is capable of bottoming250 to 
300 pairs daily. An inspection of the work will at once 
show its great durability, which is attested by the fact, 
that shoes made in this manner are exclusively used in 
the U. S. army. One of our associates, who had a pair of 
boots, which were fastened in this manner, complains 
that he became tired of them, as they were so long in 
wearing out. Those of our readers, who wish to try 
boots or shoes made with the “ Standard Screw,” should 
not apply to the Company above named, as they make on¬ 
ly the machines to supply to manufacturers, but to their 
shoe-dealer. There are a plenty of such in the market, 
and the dealers can readily procure them, if there is a de-' 
mand for work put together by the “ Standard Screw.” 
Wootlwarfl’s Mrawiug' Sttidies, 
and Alphabets.—'These are two serial works by 
Geo. E. Woodward, and published in monthly parts by 
W. H. Stelle & Co., New York. The Studies in Drawing 
are from original designs by some of the leading French 
artists, and have a freshness that contrasts quite favor¬ 
ably with the old and hackneyed drawing books, and are 
well suited to class or home. instruction. The work on 
Alphabets contains the greatest variety of letters, mono¬ 
grams, and titles. All who have lettering of any kind, 
whether on signs, paper, or embroidery to execute, will 
find here an almost inexhaustible series of examples in 
every known style. Each work will be completed in 24 
parts, five of which are now ready, and two more will be 
added each month. Sold by subscription at 50 cents a 
number, each number containing eight beautifully exe¬ 
cuted quarto plates. 
The FJague of insects.— -The preva¬ 
lence of insects of different kinds and degrees of des¬ 
tructiveness which has been experienced during the 
present season has not been confined wholly to America. 
The French farmers have also suffered from insects. 
Cockchafers have been so abundant in some depart¬ 
ments that rewards have been offered for their destruc¬ 
tion ; $100 procured the capture of 10,000 gallons of the 
insects. These depredations, which have occurred about 
once in every three years, have led to the passage of a 
law for the protection of small birds against the so-called 
sportsmen. It is time we took a lesson from the French. 
American Tcterinaa*y Keview.- 
The fifth number of Vol. 1 is received. With the excep¬ 
tion of a communication of a needlessly severe personal 
nature, and which we are sorry to sec in this otherwise 
excellent'magazine, it is filled with useful matter. A case 
that is interesting to farmers and shepherds, is one of 
some lambs of the Central Park flock, which were'sick 
for a few days, taken with convulsions, turning round in 
a circle, and finally dropping down, would die. On ex- | 
amination, the small intestine was found filled with tape¬ 
worms, (Tcenia expanse), some of them being 15 feet'in 
length. The brain was congested. Although no cause 
is assigned for the presence of these parasites, it is easy 
to fix it as being due to long pasturing the same ground 
by this flock. Every shepherd knows, or should know, 
the danger of this practice to the lambs of the flock. 
Castor Pomace as a FerSilizor.— 
The refuse of the castor-oil mills is a valuable fertilizer. 
It is rich in ammonia, containing by an old analysis of 
Prof. Johnson about 6 per cent, and by a recent analysis 
7>y per cent. It also contains potash and phosphoric 
acid; but its chief value is in its ammonia. It. is now 
largely made in St. Louis, and can be proenred at any 
part of the country from that.central point very cheaply. 
At $10 a ton, 1 which is its price at the oil-mills at St. 
Louis, the ammonia costs less than 7 cents a pound. For 
making compost with swamp muck, earth, or refuse of 
any kind, there is no better or cheaper material than this. 
Messrs. Bobt. B. Brown & Co., of St. Louis, who manu¬ 
facture this substance largely, inform us that it has here¬ 
tofore been shipped to England, where every fertilizer 
that can be procured is eagerly sought and secured. It is 
a pity and a loss that every valuable waste product of this 
kind should be sent out of the country, but there are very 
few farmers or gardeners, who know anything of this pe¬ 
culiar fertilizer. It is furnished as a coarse dry powder, 
in excellent condition for composting, or for applying at 
once to crops in any way that may be desirable. 
B.ol>os <S nano.—Messrs. Hobson, Hurtado 
<fc Co., agents of tbe Peruvian Government, have issued a 
circular intended to show farmers the difference in quali¬ 
ty and uses between the Lobos and other guanos. The 
average composition of Lobos, in percentages, is: am¬ 
monia 6, phosphoric acid, 15 to 20, and potash 3 to 5. 
They commend it as the best and cheapest general fertil¬ 
izer, and superior, except for such crops as require a high¬ 
ly stimulating fertilizer, to the Standard Guano, with 10 
per cent of ammonia. For winter wheat they advise 
200 lbs. of Lobos guano to the acre, with the seed, and in 
the spring, when the growth needs to be accelerated, 
to supplement this with a dressing of high-grade guano, 
at.the rate of 100 lbs. to thelacrei 
Frizes lbs*'i’ret; FSantieeg.—That veil- j 
erable and useful association, the “Massachusetts So- 1 
ciety for Promoting Agriculture” have undertaken, i 
what really belongs to the State to do—to encourage | 
tree planting and cultivation in Massachusetts by offer- j 
ing several premiums each for plantations of White Ash, 
White Pine, Scotch Pine, and European Larch. Not only 
are the premiums, to be awarded in 1878, liberal, but the 
Society goes still further, and offers to gratuitously aid 
competitors in procuring seeds and trees from dealers at 
home and abroad. With all these inducements, added 
to the real value of the plantations when made, we shall 
be surprised if the competitors are not numerous. The 
conditions of the offers and all other information con¬ 
cerning them may be had on application to Francis 
Skinner, Esq., Brookline, Mass. 
A Very ©esirable au«l Attractive 
Homo is advertised on page 316. Probably no more 
eligible place could be found in the whole country, for a 
family of some means, to remove to, temporarily or 
permanently, for the purposes of education, securing 
excellent society, etc. 
Economy in Feeding Flaickens. - 
It is in the small economies that the farmer must look for 
his profits, and a saving can be made even in so small a 
matter as feeding chickens. Where there are many 
fowls raised, throwing the food for chickens directly up¬ 
on the ground, causes a waste, which in the aggregate 
amounts to considerable, and which can be saved by the 
use of Fowler’s “ Economy Iron Feeder.” They are 
very simple in construction, easily kept clean, and keep 
food and water in an accessible and pure condition. 
Blindness in Figs.— “P. & Co.,” Gal¬ 
veston, Texas. There are some poisonous plants which, 
acting strongly upon certain nerves, paralyze them. Tims 
the brain or optic nerve being affected by one or these, 
blindness would be the result. Aplantknown as “ Paint- 
roof,” which is common in the South, acts in thisinanner 
upon white pigs, and possibly also upon very young black 
ones. This plant was described in the American Agri¬ 
culturist of March, 1876. It may possibly be the cause of 
the trouble amongst your swine. Young pigs regain their 
sight when removed from the poison, and old ones, al¬ 
though permanently blind, will fatten readily. 
Convention of Sl&ort-liorn Breed¬ 
ers.— The report of the 5th Annual Convention of the 
breeders of Short-horns, ■which was held at St. Louis, 
Mo., December, 1876, has been received. The proceed¬ 
ings were of great interest, not only to breeders of this 
class of stock, but to farmers generally. Their discus¬ 
sions go to show that the day of enthusiasm, if not of 
extravagance, is past, and that the period of useful 
public service has arrived. There is now a surplus of 
bulls in breeders hands, and a process of weeding may 
be begun. If this is done with regard to intrinsic value, 
and not to pedigree alone, some weeds of high lineage, 
but of very little value, will be got rid of, and some new 
but promising families, may come “ to the fore.” Now 
is the time to popularize the breed; make steers of some 
of tbe bull calves and show what stuff these animals are 
made of in the butcher’s stall. This is the way in which 
their old reputation was made, and in which it was kept 
up, until of recent years, when the Herd-book record 
was made to cover a multitude of imperfections. At 
reasonable prices, good young bulls can be sold to farm¬ 
ers, and good cows to dairymen, and if the modern Short¬ 
horn can be brought to the pail with as much profit as 
was the first Duchess, there is a long and useful history 
ahead for them, as the farmers’ and dairymen’s cattle. 
How Eggs are Preserved.—The 
process of dessicating or drying eggs has given rise to a 
considerable industry. The American Egg Comapny, of 
Keokuk, Iowa, uses daily 3,000 dozen of eggs, although 
the business is as yet in its infaucy. The IT. S. Egg 
Dessicating Company of St. Louis, also does a large 
business, and other factories are being put into opera¬ 
tion. The process is as follows: The eggs after careful 
candling, are broken and cleared of their shells by ma¬ 
chinery and delivered in the form of a batter, the whites 
and yolks thoroughly combined. The batter is then 
discharged by a peculiar arrangement, upon rapidly re¬ 
volving metallic cylinders, under a strong blast of heated 
air. These cylinders are automatically self-cooling, re. 
maining at a temperature of 70° Fahrenheit, and so 
maintaining at that point all the egg dried upon them, 
in spite of the greater heat of the blast. The dried egg 
is scraped from the cylinders in a granulated form, very 
much resembling coarse corn meal, and is subjected to a 
subsequent curing process which lasts about thirty days. 
The dessicated egg readily dissolves and returns to its 
former condition of “batter” when the requisite pro¬ 
portion of water is added, and thus, if beaten the same 
as fresh eggs, it gives the same results in cooking. As 
five hundred dozen of dessicated eggs are packed in a 
single barrel, the saving in transportation is enormous, 
and the other savings from loss by breakage, decay, &c., 
can be more easily imagined than estimated. 
---—» «»■ TO - - 
Sundry Humbugs. 
We have before stated 
that, however we may feel 
indignant at the folly of 
those who allow themselves 
to be victimized, there is 
much in the Humbug cor¬ 
respondence to touch our 
sympathies. It often hap¬ 
pens that people, too honest 
themselves to be suspicious 
of others, are tempted by 
plausible offers to invest all 
their little means in some 
scheme which proves to be 
a swindle, and when they 
become aware of the fact,' 
they write to us for help. 
Of course, money lost in 
this way is irrecoverably 
gone. The’ letters setting 
forth the loss, show so much 
real distress, that we have 
not the heart to say: “Served you right, you ought to 
have known better.” Though we treat many cases with 
ridicule, that being the most efficient method of Showing 
them lip, the writing up of the “Humbugs” is . by no 
means a pleasant occupation. Ve probably read 20 or 30 
letters for every one mentioned in these columns; and 
this correspondence is not calculated to put one. in a 
cheerful mood, or to give him an exalted opinion of hu. 
man nature. To spend hours in going through out 
monthly accumulations of letters, and to read continuous¬ 
ly of schemes of fraud on the one hand, and the com- 
plaints of victims on the other, interspersed by question! 
from persons, as to whether this or that scheme is a hum., 
bug or not, is almost enough to make one, for the time, 
being, think that mankind are divided into two classes, 
the knaves and their dupes, and we turn from the task, 
when completed, with the same feeling that one leaves a 
hospital, which he has visited as a matter of duty. Still 
there is now and then 
A GLEAM OF FUN 
to be met with; perhaps rather sombre fun, but still a 
relief from the otherwise unbroken sadness. The chap 
who offered for 25 cents to tell how to write without pen 
or ink, has met with a rival. The informal ion which 
this chap gave—“Write with a pencil”—was perhaps 
worth the amount to one who did not know it before. A 
later one—or it may be the same in a new guise—pro¬ 
poses for the same modest sum of one-fourth of a dollar, 
to tell people “ How to get rich,” something at all times 
desirable to know, and in these times of general dullness 
likely to be eagerly sought after, and we have no doubt 
that the quarters came in so rapidly, that the advertiser, if 
no one else, became more or less rich fi'om the advertise¬ 
ment. The recipe returned for the money is: “ Increase 
your receipts, and decrease your expenditures.”- 
Volumes could not tell more, and on the whole, we doubt 
if we are right in putting one who gives so much for the 
money, in the Humbugs at all. This man is an improve¬ 
ment upon the New England Judge, who said: “ The 
most compendious way of making money is to buy goods 
very low, on a long credit, and sell them very high for 
cash ”-but this advertising man is the “ compendi- 
ousestest.”....An eminent professor in a leading Uni¬ 
versity writes “ I get 
MANX CUBIOUS LETTERS, 
but this is one of the most curious,” and incloses the fol¬ 
lowing from a town in Saratoga Co., N. Y. : “ Dear Sir, 
could you charge a pease of steel or iron with electricity 
for the purpose of mineing, I would like a bar about 3 ft. 
long and 1 in. in diameter charged for lead, silver, and 
gold,” and wants to know the cost, etc.—Here is the 
cropping out of a humbug, that has existed in one form 
or another since very early times—the divining rod, 
which has been used by those who pretend to discover 
not only water veins, but metallic veins below the sur¬ 
face. Originally the divining rod was of hazel; in this 
