1877 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
34,7 
diamond. This plant is a very old one, and is not a na¬ 
tive of this country, but a wanderer from Europe. 
ITS COMMON NAME IS “ MUG WORT ” ; 
its botanical name is Artemisia vulgaris. It was named 
Artemisia in honor of Artemis, a goddess of the ancient 
Greeks, who was the same as the Roman Diana. As 
there are several Artemisias, this was named vulgaris, 
meaning common, it probably being the most abundant 
in Europe. The Wormwood is another Artemisia, the 
“ Southern Wood,” or “ Old-man,” or “ Boy’s Love,” 
another, both found more or less in old gardens, while 
the common shrub on the western plains, called “ Sage- 
bush,” from its color, is still another and a native Arte¬ 
misia. Before beer or ale were used in England, the 
people made various bitter drinks, and this was called 
Mugwort, because it was used to flavor the contents of 
the mugs out of which our forefathers’ forefathers drank. 
In olden times, when people used to dose much more 
than they do now, almost every plant that had a strong 
smell or a disagreeable taste, was supposed to be good 
for some disease, and this, with many others, was culti¬ 
vated in gardens. This was probably first brought to the, 
country as a garden plant, and it is now found here and 
there, scattered along roa 1-sides and in such places, but 
m*t very abundant... .Master Norton, of New Jersey, 
wishes me to toll him 
THE NAME OP A TOAD OR A PROG, 
which he found in the woods. If my young friend had 
sent a drawing—and every boy and girl should learn to 
Fig. 3.—GBEEN TREE-FROG. 
draw—or even a full description, I might have made a 
pretty near guess, but all the description he gives is: 
“ It was a dull lead-color, just about the color of the dead 
leaves in the woods, and could hardly be told from 
them.”—From this I guess Tree-frog, or as it is generally 
called, Tree-toad, a little animal that is quite common in 
all the Northern and Middle States. This is able to 
change its color to a remarkable extent, and it is for this 
reason that it is so seldom seen, as it becomes so near 
the color of the bark or dead leaves, that even a sharp- 
eyed boy would pass without noticing it. But it makes 
up in being heard, and almost anywhere its voice goes 
far to help make up the general hum, so noticeable in tbe 
country on summer nights. It is particularly noisy before 
a rain. I can tell master Norton and all the rest, how to 
surely know the Hyla, or Tree-frog, as that has the end 
of each of its fingers and toes spread out as a round flat 
disk, as in figure 3; this is quite sticky, and helps the 
animal to cling to smooth surfaces. The toes have a web 1 
extending between them for more than three-fourths of 
their length. In the southernmost States, another spe¬ 
cies is found in place of ours, and differs from it in being 
of a bright green. This is the Tree-frog shown in the en¬ 
graving, which is given here to show the feet and toes, 
those of the more northern species being like these. 
One inquiring boy wishes me to describe the 
METRICAL SYSTEM OP WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, 
and I am glad to see an interest felt in this, for it is some¬ 
thing that every boy and girl should know about, as the 
time will come when it will be in general use in this 
country. It is perhaps a rather dry subject to tell all 
about at once, and I will give a part at a time, but first I 
think it will be well to say something about the weights 
and measures we have in use. All savage people, if they 
have measures and weights at all. take them from some 
natural objects, and in less advanced oriental countries, 
seeds are still used for weights. Some tribes use a tor¬ 
toise-shell for a measure, and even in civilized countries 
women measure by fingers. Many years ago I bought 
some wagon-loads of corn from the Pimo Indians, a 
farming tribe in what is now Arizona. The corn was 
brought in small lots, and paid for in cotton cloth. It 
was agreed that I would give a vara of cloth for a certain 
basketful of corn. A vara is the Mexican yard, and 
shorter than four yard by about three inches. But we 
could not go on with our trade until we had agreed on 
what the vara should be—inches they knew -nothing 
about; their idea of the measure was, that it was the dis¬ 
tance from a man’s nose lo the ends of his fingers, when 
the arm was stretched out as far as possible. My nose 
and fingers would not suit, and it was only after getting 
the longest-armed Indian of the tribe to stretch his very 
utmost, that we fixed upon a vara that would suit, and 
when this was marked upon a stick to the satisfaction of 
all the head men, who all talked their jabber at once, 
that business went on smoothly. You may think this a 
droll way of fixing upon a measure, but when we use a 
rule or a yard-stick, we measure with something that had 
quite as rude a start. You read in your tables that 
“ THREE BARLEY-CORNS MAKE AN INCH,” 
perhaps without thinking that the measures of length 
we now use, are established upon three grains of barley 
—or barley-corns. Then in the table of weights, we find 
a similar starting point: 24 grains make a penny-weight, 
and 20 penny-weights make an ounce. The weight of the 
coin was first fixed, and the coin served for the starting 
point of the larger weights. In England, in the reign of 
Henry III. (1266), a'law was enacted that the penny “ shall 
weigh 32 grains of wheat well dried, and out of the middle 
of the ear.”* Later this was altered to 24 grains for the 
weight of the penny. From the penny, ounces and pounds 
were derived; then from pounds came both liquid and 
dry measure; eight pounds were a gallon of wine, and 
eight gallons of wine, a bushel. This, with 24 grains to 
the pennyweight, 20 pennyweights to the ounce, and 12 
ounces to the pound, was originally the only kind of 
weight used in England, but is now used almost solely 
for the precious metals, and called Troy weight; what is 
known as Apothecaries weight, has the same pound, 
ounce, and grain, but the ounce is divided into scruples 
and drams. It was many years afterwards that the Nor¬ 
mans brought the Avoirdupois weight into England, 
where its use was by law confined to certain articles, in¬ 
cluding butcher’s meat,but it finally became the general 
weight used in nearly all trading. The pound Avoir¬ 
dupois is 7,000 grains, while the pound Troy is 5,760 
grains. There being different weights in use, and no 
means of finding out if any were correct, the British 
Government in 1824 had a standard pound, and a standard 
yard made, with which all others must agree, and these 
were to be in the care of the Clerk of the House of Com¬ 
mons. But the Houses of Parliament were burned in 
1834, and away went Britannia’s yard-stick and weights, 
and there was the greatest possible trouble in fixing upon 
new ones. As in all such matters, our customs came 
from England, we . had, originally, and still continue to 
use these old weights and measures, which started with 
barley-corns and wheat grains. There is nothing to be 
said in their favor, except that we are used to them, and 
no objection to a much better system, other than that 
IT IS TOO MUCH TROUBLE TO LEARN IT. 
The greatest objection to our present system is, that 
there is no true standard by which we can test them, and 
if the particular weight and measure which the Govern¬ 
ment procured from England, to serve as the standards 
from which all others must be copied, and with which all 
others must agree, should get destroyed, there is no very 
certain way of renewing them. This short talk about our 
present weights and measures, will show you some of the 
reasons why we should have a better system, and it is 
agreed by all who have thoroughly studied it, that what 
is known as the Metrical System, is vastly better than 
any other. I will try at another time to tell you some¬ 
thing about this Metrical System. 
Aunt Sue’s l*uzz!e-Uox. 
COMPOUND CROSS WORD. 
My first is in figure but not in sum, 
My next is in finger but not in thumb, 
My third is in George bu^uot in Bill, 
My fourth is in garden but not in hill, 
My fifth is in eager but not in rash, 
My sixth is in girdle but not in sash, 
My seventh is in paint but not in dye, 
My eighth is in cunning but not in sly. 
My ninth is in cake but not in pie. 
Now, if these letters you will duly place, 
A girl’s name and a boy’s name you may trace. 
Nip. 
DIAMOND PUZZLE. 
1. Part of Spain. 2. An age. 3. Strong. 4. A Euro¬ 
pean country. 5. A bird. 6. A cover. 7. Part of France. 
The central letters, horizontal and perpendicular, name 
a country. Italian Boy. 
DECAPITATIONS. 
1. Behead-to rebuke, and leave-to. conceal. 
2. Behead to draggle and leave a piece of timber. 
3. Behead to leap forth and leave to unite. 
4. Behead a vision and leave to stretch out. 
5. Behead a kind of sand and leave a musical instrument. 
6. Behead to long for and leave to merit. 
7. Behead immense and leave a model. 
George H. Fuller. 
BIBLICAL ENIGMA. 
I am composed of 24 letters: 
My 3,16, 23, 9, 17, was a province of Arabia. 
My 10, 4, 19, 13, 22, was a city of Baslian. 
My 11, 17, 21, 5, 19, was a mountain of Palestine. 
My 12, 7,15, 20, 8, was a companion of Paul. 
My 16, 2,14,17, 6, was a king of Tyre. 
My 18,17,16, 20, 6, was a Jewish prophet. 
My 24,11,14,17,1, was used by the children of Israel 
in making brick. 
My whole is a biblical maxim. Isola. 
PUZZLE. 
Take half of a bird, two-thirds of a cat, three-quarters 
of a lion, half of a bear, and a quarter of a yard, and 
make a book. Belle. 
ALPHABETICAL ARITHMETIC. 
GAY)OEFLL(LLO 
O G L 
OEL 
O G L 
E S L 
WYE 
O W Annie Farmer. 
CONCEALED SQUARE WORD. 
1. That Bass’s ale makes him sick, and no wonder. 
2. Did Emma bid Edward good-bye ? 
3. After a counsel, I mitigated his punishment. 
4. He led, I led, and we both led the party at different 
times. 
5. We met Erastns on the avenue driving a sorrel 
horse. Belly Button. 
CONCEALED PROVERB. 
That is a long time ago, O I Dan. Villains do especial¬ 
ly congregate in that den : I saw a knot of them come to 
grief early this morning. Their respectable appearance 
is all a sham,—mere humbug. T. E. D. 
A toneforapi-krame yass hatt, fo lal durtufaceman 
nights, soapin brea het stoblen tharcrace, inces heytrea 
clifdesasi sa begin drang, ripthug, dan quears. 
METAGRAM. 
Select a word of four letters in which may be found 
(inclusive) four verbs, four substantives, three adverbs, 
one preposition, and one exclamation. 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
The initials and finals form the name of a favorite 
authoress.—1. Agirl’sname. 2. A Hebrew proper name. 
3. A Saxon proper name. 4. A Spanish proper name. 
5. The name of a Scottish novelist. 6. A precious stone. 
Beatrice. 
SYNCOPATIONS. 
1. Syncopate very swift, and leave a hostile incursion. 
2. Syncopate a gum, and leave part of a harness. 
3. Syncopate a black-man, and leave a cruel tyrant. 
4. Syncopate to surround, and leave a vegetable. 
5. Syncopate a useful article in the kitchen,and leave ire. 
6. Syncopate something laughable, and leave the front. 
Italian Boy. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. See tin harps. 
2. Song verse. 
8. Arouse gout. 
4. Rent tubes. 
6. O 1 redeem bird. 
6. In clam pots. 
7. Beach trial. 
8. Cure babe. 
9. Absurd tales. 
10. ’Tis odd lace. Emily. 
ENIGMATICAL BOUQUET. 
1. A source of great vexation to a lone man. 2. A 
perennial and a wine. 3. A metal cane or stick. 4. A 
boy’s name and something connected with most birds. 
5. A sugared letter. 6. A rich man made of baked clay. 
7. The fountain of contentment. 8. The head-covering 
of a certain man. 9. Two things often seen on the 
breakfast-table. 
BLANK REVERSALS. 
(Fill the second blank in each sentence with the word 
which fills the first blank, reversed. Example— He heard 
raps upon the spar.) 
1. Would you not —-to see-if he were living ? 
2. During the-we could only get-food. 
3. We occupied a large-on the-. 
4. She-there, for I-her. 
g. The-fell into the bucket of-. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE JULY NUMBER. 
Anagrams.— 1. Yesterday. 2. Dignified. 3. Endeavor. 
4. Solicited. 5. Destroyed. 6. Afterwards. 7. Gymnasium. 
8. Physician. 9. Entertains. 10. Commissioner. 
Easy Anagrams— 1. Horse. 2. Ivory. 3. Table. 4. Chain. 
5. Eeason. 6. Contain. 7. Potatoes. 8. Through. 9. Be¬ 
tween. 10. Reader. 
Numerical Enigma.—W here there’s a will there’s a way. 
Send communications intended for Aunt Sue, to Box 111, 
P. O., Brooklyn , N. Y., and not to 245 Broadway. 
S3P” Correspondents will save time, if they will ad¬ 
dress their letters to me, until the first of November (not 
afterwards), to “ Rowayton, Fairfield Co., Conn.” 
