I 860 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
89 
about some common errors in speaking. 
Some older people may find it useful to look over the 
following from our contributor Anna Hope : 
* 4 What a fuss some people make when they are sick, 
a child exclaimed to me, and immediately added, “ why 
don’t you say persons ? you always do.” She remember¬ 
ed that she had been told that people means a nation, and 
should not be used, as it so often is, where persons only 
are referred to. Illy is frequently used instead of ill. 
There is no such word as illy. Persons may be ill pre¬ 
pared for any occasion, but they never can be illy pie- 
pared for anything . Tasty is a vulgarism. Tasteful is 
the proper word.We often hear certain kinds of food 
spoken of as healthy or unhealthy for us. Vegetables may 
be healthy or unhealthy in themselves, just as we may be 
ill or well, but for us they are healthful or unhealthful.... 
Sunthin is sometimes used for something .It is not 
uncommon to hear his’n, her’n, nur’n, your’n , their'n , in¬ 
stead of his, hers, ours, yours, theirs. These words are 
evidently contractions of his own, her own, our own, etc., 
but they are never proper.“I must go up stairs and 
be a getting ready for meeting.” Omit the a and “be 
getting ready.” “ I must be a doing something,” is a 
kindred wrong expression.“Just as live as not,” 
should be “justasfie/' as not.”.Say, “So far as I 
know,” and not “ Fur’s I know.”.“I should like to 
do it,” not “ I should love to do it.” We love that winch 
has life. We may love a cow, but we must like beef. We 
can not love apples and pears, puddings and meats, but 
we may like them. We must not git them for our friends 
although it may be very kind to get them.Do not talk 
about reading the adver-fise-ments in a newspaper—place 
the accent on ver, and say ad-uer-tisements.Tell not 
your friends that your Charley is a mis-c/rten-ous boy, but 
if you wish to mention the fact, you can say that he is 
wus-chiev-ous. If he should try to run away, make no at¬ 
tempt to ketch him. Simply endeavor to catch him. Nei¬ 
ther should you tell him interesfing stories ; those that 
are interesting will please him quite as well. If he tells 
you he would tleather go to see his aunt, you can tell him 
you would rather he should stay at home. If he is dis¬ 
satisfied and cries, do not say to him “ What maksh you 
cry 1” Indeed, never change the sound of s into sh before 
the letter y, as is so frequently done. “ He is a nish young 
man.” “Ash you please.” “We passh your house,” 
etc.“ You may har e the two first, or the two last,’’ 
is often heard, yet there can be but one first and one last. 
It should be the first two and the last two .Do not say 
“have you lit the lamp?” but, “have you lighted the 
lamp?". Elder and eldest are applied to persons, older 
and oldest to things. Less refers to quantity —few to 
numbers. “ No less than a hundred persons were at the 
party,” should be “No fewer than,” etc.Remember 
that you are taught by others, and learn yourself. You 
may teach a child his lessons, but you can not learn them 
to him. He learns by his own efforts. 
Answers to Problems.— Our young friends, and some 
of the old ones too, have had considerable fun over the 
“ Puzzling Pictures ” of last month (No. 4,) judging from 
the number of answers sent, and the odd remarks made. 
D, represents a boy in 
danger of drowning be¬ 
cause he has jumped 
over-board. James S. 
M. Bradley wrote that 
the boy “is in a spring ” 
which was an ingen¬ 
ious answer and per¬ 
haps as good as the one 
, given by the maker of 
the puzzle. Wm. P. Wilson and H. A. Cone, think he is 
sinking, w hich certainly puts him in greater danger. 
E reminds us of a man just getting from his horse, be¬ 
cause he is going to a-light. You see the insect in the pic¬ 
ture is doing the same thing. 
In F we see the cat’s up, very plainly, and catsup is 
generally liked as a table sauce. Andrew Hageman 
wrote “ the cat’s-up, looking rattier saucy too,” which we 
think a spicy suggestion. 
Correct answers to the above were received from S. 
Groosh, M. Bigger, Jefferson Brown, Thomas Montford, 
S. A. Camp, Andrew Hageman, R. Riley. H. A. Cone, 
(thank you for sending the labyrinth. We have, howev¬ 
er, enough of that kind of puzzles on hand), Victoria B. 
Rogers, Otis Wood. Emory Mills (we’ll think about the 
music), George F. Sly, Franklin Adams, J. S. Coles, Geo. 
Emery, Henry W. Kempton, Nathan H. Darby, Aunt 
Sue (sends her love to Willie B., and all the other B s',), 
W H B Frederic Anderson, Thos. H. Phelps, W. J. 
Lane, E. R. Font, W. Virscher. 
No 5 A man contracted to purchase the apples from 
a tree, agreeing \o give $ 10 for them if there were 10 bush¬ 
els, and $18 if there were 20 bushels. 18 bushels were 
gathered. How much ought he in justice to pay ? 
The difficulty here is, to decide whether a reduction 
should be made in the price of each bushel of the whole 
eighteen, or only in the eight additional bushels. A num- 
ber have answered he should pay $10 for the first 10 bush¬ 
els, and 90c. per bushel for the remainder, or $17 20 for 
the whole.” We think not. The purchaser values the 
apples according to the supply. If he has 20 bushels in¬ 
stead of 10, the increased quantity reduces the value of 
the whole. 10 bushels were worth $10, or $1 per bushel, 
but. 20 bushels would be worth only 90 cents per bushel: 
Now 10 bushels added, reduce the price 10 cents per bush¬ 
el, or each bushel added reduces the price 1 cent per bush¬ 
el. Then 8 bushels added, reduce the price of the whole 
8 cents per bushel, and 18 bushels at 92 cents (the reduced 
price) amount to $16.56. This answer was obtained by 
Thos. Montford, S A. Camp, George F. Sly, Geo. L. 
Emery, J. S. Coles, E. R. Font, W. Virscher. 
c c c c 
No. 6. Rebus. - i’LBBBBLEDHIS ^ ^ — 
an D 3 X D-60 minutes T T T T. 
throw 
Interpretation. —Colonel Forbes led his forces over the 
fords, and threatened to overthrow our forts. Read 
aright by Mrs. J. Shallcross, Otis Wood, Fred. Andrews. 
Additional answers to Problems in Jan. To No. 1.— 
Arthur Cunningham. Jacob Montgomery, Geo. Elcock, 
Willard Follett, J. S. Coles, Subscriber at Quakertown, 
A. H., Otis Wood (we find your mistake to be giving 50 lbs. 
to B.; that was A’s portion. Our figures were right). 
NEW PROBLEMS. 
Fig. 2. 
No 7. Wire puzzle. Some ingenious person in this 
city has lately invented a wire puzzle which we like so 
well we have engraved it. and give a description of it, so 
that the Agriculturist boys can make one for themselves. 
Bend two pieces of wire, each say four inches long, to 
the form shown at a, Fig. 1.. the looped endsbeing spread 
an inch and a half apart. The piece b, has sides an inch 
long and the circular piece c, is three fourths of an inch 
in diameter. Loops or hooks are made on the ends, to 
join the pieces as shown in Fig. 2. The loops in a. Fig. 
1 should be large enough to make a loose joint or hinge 
when they are united, so that the two parts ram be doubled 
together easily. Join the loops to complete the ring, and 
also those of piece b. slio the ring over the end of b ; then 
pass one piece of a through the corner of*, below the ring 
to bring them in the position shown in Fig. 2 ; unite the 
loops to make the large jointed piece, and the puzzle is 
completed. 
Now try to remove the ring without unjointing any 
piece and without springing the looped ends of the large 
piece together. It can be taken off and put on easily, 
when you know how. 
We shall not call for answers to this puzzle. Make it 
and keep it for your own amusement and that of your 
friends. _ „ 
No. 8. Economical Fencing. 
Mr. Jacob W. Moore, fur¬ 
nishes the following, which 
may be new to some. A 
farmer has five square fields 
fenced as shown in the Fig. 
He wishes to remove three 
fences and leave three fields 
all completely fenced. 
Which ones shall he remove? 
No. 9. What four United States coins amount to 51 
cents. 
Errors of the Types. —Amusing sentences some¬ 
times occur through the omission or misplacing of a let¬ 
ter. One of the best and most truthful we have seen, was 
the omission of an x in the last word of an advertisement 
of a quack medicine, which made it read thus : “ To be 
efficacious it must be applied internally and eternally.'' 
Everybody likes polite children. Worthy persons will 
pay attention to such, speak well of their good manners, 
and entertain a high opinion of their parents. Children, 
make note of this. Yes, and it would be as well if not a 
few parents wouldffake a note of it likewise. 
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