I860] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
249 
ful, and although what he feared, was only imaginary, to 
him it was as terrible as the reality could be. 
But why do men drink that which is followed by such 
horrors? Because they see no dangeT at first. A little 
wine or other pleasant drink is taken occasionally, then 
daily ; thus habit is strengthened. The appetite increases 
Dy indulgence, and if not restrained, the serpent’s bite is 
felt at last. Boys and girls—God made the best drink 
that can be furnished—it is healthful, safe, and refreshing, 
and nothing oan quench thirst so well. If you would 
grow up strong, virtuous, and happy, drink water. Touch 
not, taste not, handle not any thing that can intoxicate. 
DOG AFRAID OF NOISE. 
One of our young friends is in much trouble about his 
favorite dog. He writes: “ Whenever he hears fire¬ 
crackers, a gun, thunder, or any thing of that kind, he will 
run into the house and as far up stairs as he can get. 
When we try to get him out he is almost crazy with fear. 
Yesterday we shut him out of the house, and he heard a 
cannon, and he jumped right through a glass door and 
broke the sash all to pieces. He is a large Newfoundland 
dog, and was two years old last March. He is a very val¬ 
uable watch dog except for that one thing. I don’t want 
to dispose of him, for we are so much attached to him. If 
you or any of your readers can tell me how to cure him I 
wish you would do so.” 
We do not know that your dog can be taught better ; 
he is probably too old, and you know the old adage “ you 
can not teach an old dog new tricks.” However, we 
should try something like this. Just before feeding him 
every day, explode a torpedo or fire cracker, so that he 
may expect something pleasant after hearing it. When 
he becomes accustomed to this, try him with some louder 
noise, as a pistol or a gun, and in time, perhaps he may 
not only lose his fear, but like the sound. We have seen 
dogs leap and frolic w ith pleasure at sight or hearing of 
firearms, from having been accustomed to hunt with their 
masters, and to share the spoils of the chase. Perhaps if 
the cowardly dog were associated for a while with a 
courageous one who could stand fire, he would be shamed 
out of running away. Hogs as well as boys learn many 
things from their companions. 
LANGUAGE OF FOWLS. 
Mr. C. N. Bement, whose writings on poultry you have 
occasionally seen in the Agriculturist contributes the fol¬ 
lowing interesting communication about the way tur¬ 
keys and hens “ talk.” 
Turkeys have a language of their own, well understood 
by themselves. It may not be Greek, or Hebrew, or 
Dutch, or Esquimaux, but it answers their purpose ; and 
by it, young and old will learn to communicate their 
thoughts to each other in far less time than small chil¬ 
dren in an infant school will learn the elements of our 
vernacular dialect. By a particular nod—to them, it is 
a word—or whistle, or sound, uttered by one of the 
flock, should there be fifty of them, all will stop feed¬ 
ing, and look up to learn what is wanted. This will be 
invariably done if the old cock or one of the older hens 
should discover a hawk a mile distant in the air. How 
do the turkeys know the character of those Goths and 
Vandals of the feathered races, before they have expe- 
perienced their ravages ? They apparently know it from 
instinct. 
My turkeys are mostly fed on Indian corn. One 
morning the man who has charge of the poultry, took 
some corn which had been wet and left in a barrel and 
become a little moldy, and commenced feeding by scat¬ 
tering it on the ground for the turkeys, as he had fre¬ 
quently done before. All as usual seemed delighted 
with their fare. There was great scrambling among 
them, old and young, apparently to see who should get 
the most. All at once the old cock did not like the 
taste of it. He suddenly suspended operations, first turn¬ 
ing his head half way round to take a more careful view 
of it with his right eye, then the other way to scrutinize 
the suspected grain with the left eye. This was repeated 
several times with as much of an air as the school boy 
will look through a piece of smoked glass to observe the 
sun in an eclipse. Quickly he became satisfied that some¬ 
thing was wrong about the corn; this mold might be 
poison from the apothecary shop for aught he knew ; it 
might have been prepared to kill the villainous rats, and 
by accident given to the honest turkeys—at any rate, he 
deemed caution necessary, and resolved to give the 
alarm. He did so by one of his peculiar sounds and nods, 
which have not been translated into the English language, 
holding up his head and looking as wise as the bronze 
Stafte of Confucius. Anon the old lady turkeys 
stopped eating, held up their heads, and repeated the 
same signal of danger. All then, old and young, stopped 
eating, and held up their heads apparently asking what 
was the matter. The old cock now again turned his 
head this way and that way, forst to inspect the corn 
with one eye, and then with the bluer, for them to see. 
The rest all did the same with much accuracy, and in 
five minutes they all left without eating another kernel. 
Hens are like folks. They look, act, and talk like 
folks—that is, like a great many folks we all know. 
There’s one now with precisely two feathers in her tail, 
by actual inventory, and the two sticking directly up 
like a couple .of oars in a fishing boat. She's a fussy 
little body, and goes clucking around with one chicken 
about the size of a wren, quite unconscious of the fig¬ 
ure she cuts, and the .ridicule she provokes wherever 
she goes. Who don’t know some body “ as like her as 
two peas.” She’s everywhere, in every thing; has “a 
word in season,” and out, and for that the “ outs ” have 
it. Nothing going on, that she is'nt there, and has’nt 
something to say, with her short steps but a great many 
of them. Only glance at that wonderful chicken of hers 
and she’s all of a clutter ; ruffles her feathers, and looks 
—so she thinks—very formidable. She is too tough to eat 
or she would have been guillotined long ago. 
The great cry when an egg is laid, is as good as an an¬ 
nouncement in the London Times. The alarm when a 
wing, somewhat broad, sweeps over the barn yard, is as 
significant as the old Saxon Tocsin. The call of some¬ 
thing “ found,” is quite as intelligible as the town crier 
with his bell. The defiant voice of the cock is a chal¬ 
lenge in honest vernacular, and the triumphant crow is 
a “ hurrah ” in plain English. The mother’s incessant 
“cluck,” “cluck,” with her family, is veritable “ baby- 
talk," while her tones gathering the callow wanderers 
together, are as full of love as an old ballad. And the 
notes of the chickens too ! There is not a rural sound 
softer and sweeter than the home notes of the little crea¬ 
tures when nestled at night beneath the mother’s brood¬ 
ing wing. 
NEW PROBLEMS. 
No. 21— Original Rebus, properly read, gives an old 
adage. 
4 00 
No. 22—Word Rebus, by T. M. Hequembourg. The 
Gr 8 B ing M T aim an put:. 
No. 23— Enigma, contributed by a subscriber, who does 
not know the answer—neither do we—perhaps some of 
you can find it out. 
It is as high as all the stars, 
No well was ever sunk so low , 
It is in age five thousand years, 
But was not born an hour ago. 
It is as wet as water is, 
No red-hot iron e’er was drier , 
As dark as night, as cold as ice, 
Shines like the sun, and burns like fire 
No soul, nor body to consume, 
No fox more cunning, dunce more dull, 
’Tis not on earth, ’tis in this room, 
Hard as a stone, and soft as wool. 
’Tis of no color, but of snow, 
Outside and inside black as ink ; 
AH.red, all yellow, green and blue— 
This moment you upon it think. 
In every noise, this strikes your ear, 
’Twill soon expire, ’twill ne’er decay 
Does always in the light appear, 
And yet was never seen by day. 
Than the whole earth it larger is. 
Than a small pin’s point ’tis less, 
I’ll tell you ten times w hat it is, 
Yet after all, you shall not guess. 
’Tis in your mouth, ’twas never nigh, 
Where’er you look, you see it still; 
’Twill make you laugh, ’twill make you cry, 
You feel it plain, touch what you will. 
ANSWERS TO PROBLEMS. 
No. 18— Original Rebus. The solution is : th in k twice 
before u’spea k on ce—or, Think twice before you speak 
once. Read correctly by F. E. Pearce, B S. Payson and 
sister, S. Henry Hickok,T. M. Hequembourg, Isabella C. 
Miller, E. D. Farr, Oppey Donuow, Otway B McCluire. 
No. 19 —Puzzling Bill— Taking the “ cockneyism ” out, 
it reads: 
Alf. Hall 
To A. Howel 
To a horse half a day. 
• • getting him home. 
Answered correcUy by C. C. Dunlap, 
Dr. 
.5s. 6d. 
.2s. 0 
7s. 6d. 
J. Oscar Teel 
(let us hear from you again,) F. E. Pearce, “ Edward,’' 
Wm. Joyce, John Yales, N. H. Nebaugh, B. IC. Northrup, 
S. Henry Ward, B. F. Wallis, Giles E. Stillwell, D. F 
Balph, T. Rogers, Otway B. McCluire, Wm. Macy. 
No. 20— Arithmetical Problem.—Answer, 23 hours 5J- 
minutes. Solved by J. Oscar Teel, Edward Follett, N. 
H. Nebaugh, B. K. Northrup, F. F. Wallis (we have nev¬ 
er seen such a lusus naturae as you describe), Charles 
Farquhar, W. T. Adams, Harrison Frizelle. 
Into which are thrown all sorts of paragraphs—suclk ar 
Note's and Replies to Correspondents, with Useful or 
interesting Extracts from their Letters, <j c., <yc .—to be (Drawn 
from as we have room left here. 
Errata.— In describing the orchid, on page 177, June 
No., Lycusta should have been printed Lycastd, and the 
description credited to Dr. James Knight instead of An- 
drew Knight, as there stated. 
Disease among Cows.— Wm. B. Cary, Essez 
Co., N. J., writes as follows: “A number of cows in this 
vicinity have lately been taken down with great pain 
just after calving, and died in a short time. The disease 
has baffled the skill of the cow doctors about here. I 
made an examination of the last one lost, and found the 
heart considerably enlarged and slightly discolored (yel¬ 
low), the lungs the same, the liver somewhat swollen, 
but natural color, the fat about the kidneys discolored a 
little. When she was first opened, the heart, etc., were- 
lying in a pool of blood, from where I don’t know. The 
external symptoms are : the animal is unable to stand— 
groans with much pain and is very uneasy, eyes lose 
their brilliancy, horns cold, the body very much swollen, 
with wind. The calves seem to do well. Two valuable 
cows have been lost, and the difficulty appears tc be 
spreading. Any information about this disease will be 
gratefully received by this community.” 
liaising Locust Trees.- W. Brown, Cortlandt 
Co., N. Y.—The Yellow Locust makes very valuable 
timber for fencing and other purposes. It is of rapid 
growth, and when once interspersed among other trees, 
gradually gains the ascendency. If practicable to pro- 
cuie small trees or roots, set them out somewhat scatter¬ 
ing, and they will soon throw up shoots from the root and: 
multiply rapidly. Seed may also be gathered from the- 
trees, or obtained at seed stores, and sown in the Fall, in 
a spot especially devoted to the purpose. The small 
trees can be transplanted therefrom as desired. The 
more such a piece is dug over in taking up trees, the mow 
they will multiply, as nearly every mutilated root left in 
the ground will throw up one or more shoots. 
Eye for Trees.— James Jenkins, Hancock Co., Ill., 
writes as follows : “Last Spring after making soap, I took, 
the lye left in the kettle after taking off the soap, and 
washed the bodies of three apple trees, and liking the ef¬ 
fects, this Spring I washed fifteen more. It causes the, 
old bark to scale off, and gives the trees a thrift-y appear¬ 
ance. It kills all small sprouts that may be on the trunk 
of trees or about the roots, and kills all grass upon which 
it falls. It will not do to use on small trees, without first- 
making it very weak.” 
Protecting Trees from Sheep.— J. C. Dodge 
There is little danger of trees being injured by sheep, un¬ 
less the stocks are very young, or the pasture so scarce 
that hunger compels them to browse. They can be pro¬ 
tected by setting stakes around them. This is preferable 
to boxing, which excludes light and air. 
Hop Tree.— J. J- Hawthorne, Dodge Co., Nebras¬ 
ka. Seeds of these were sent out by parties who sup¬ 
posed they were distributing a good article. They will 
not all vegetate, even with careful culture. The tree, or 
shrub, (Ptelia trifoliata) is rather ornamental, but for 
hops, the common vine is every way preferable. 
Budding ©ranges anti Lemons, —C. Hoff¬ 
man, Dauphin Co., Pa. June and July are the proper 
months for budding the orange and lemon. They would 
probably bear, after a while, without budding, but this 
process hastens their maturity, and keeps them of a dwarf 
habit. 
Prolific Gooseberry Bush.— A. Wiley jr., 
Bergen Co., N. J., left at our office (JulyCth) a branch 
from a gooseberry bush well loaded with fruit. It was It 
