164 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
SWEEP. 
A SHEPHERD DOG. 
vegetation. Guano is to the manure from 
our stables what quinine is to the old prepar¬ 
ations of bark—the active principles in the 
one concentrated, and the other diffused.” 
For the American Agriculturist. 
TURTLE-SOUP, LIMA, NEAPOLITAN AND 
OTHER BEANS- 
It has long been a vulgar truism that our 
farmers “ don’t know beans ”—and I am glad 
to see such a portion of your paper of the 
10th of May devoted to so important a sub¬ 
ject as the bean crop, and most heartily con¬ 
cur with you in recommending them as an 
article of food, which it would be much for 
the pecuniary interests of this country, but 
more for the physical strength of the inhab¬ 
itants, were they used in greater quantities 
than they are at present. 
There appears to be a lack of information 
with most of our rural population on the 
properties of food, whether certain kinds are 
for forming muscle or fat; and this is of 
more importance certainly with regard to 
the human family than it is with beasts, and 
yet I think it is not as much attended to. 
Politicians often have much to say about the 
“ bone and muscle of the countrybut 
farmers, where labor is concerned, confine 
their observations to muscle, for that is the 
part which they depend upon for effort. We 
have good reason to believe there is a 
great contrast between the first settlers of 
this country and the present population in 
regard to muscular power and capability for 
endurance ; and has not this change in part 
been the effect of change of food ? Is not 
this a favorable time, when most kinds of 
food command such enormous prices, to per¬ 
suade people “ to go back to the tastes and 
habits of our forefathers, and make beans a 
more common dish at our tables ; for, with 
the exception of peas, they are unquestion¬ 
ably the cheapest food we eat ” 1 
As beans are sent to the table in different 
dishes, and have different properties for such 
dishes, I think Mr. Bement conferred a great 
favor upon your readers in giving his de¬ 
scription of the turtle-soup bean, and the 
manner of cooking it. I have planted it, and 
agree with all that he has said in favor of its 
fine cooking qualities. 
There are two kinds of beans I can not 
dispense with—the Lima, that queen of all 
shell-beans, and those I have known as the 
Neapolitan, which stands at the head of all 
the family as a “ snap ” or string-lean , al¬ 
though it has no string to it. 
The Neapolitan is a dark-colored small 
bean, which might be called a blue-black, a 
free climber, and a plentiful bearer; pods 
round, and of large size—but should not be 
picked until they have changed from a green 
to a light straw-color, when they become 
semi-transparent; should be boiled without 
breaking, like asparagus, when they become 
soft and pulpy, and perfectly destitute of 
fiber. They may be served up as an aspara¬ 
gus dish, or mixed with sweet corn for that 
well-known dish, succotash. G. 
New-Haven, May 13, 1855. 
A New Wrinkle. —It is said to have been 
satisfactorily demonstrated that every time 
a wife scolds her husband she adds a new 
wrinkle to her face ! It is thought that the 
announcement of this fact will have a most 
salutary effect, especially as it is understood 
that every time a wife smiles upon her hus¬ 
band it will remove one of the old wrinkles ! 
Mr. Caudle is delighted with the discovery, 
and anticipates sunshine the year round, as 
Mrs. Caudle has an unquenchable desire to 
appear young and handsome, and mourns 
deeply over the rapid departure of heryouth- 
fulcharms. Poor, curtain-lectured husbands 
are looking up. 
The above engraving is a correct likeness 
of a thoroughbred Scotch shepherd dog, the 
property of Mr. H. A. Lamphere, of Weeds- 
port, Cayuga Co., N. Y. “ Sweep ” is a 
descendant of the celebrated shepherd dogs 
GREAT FRAUD IN GUANO-FARMERS BEWARE! 
We have had frequent occasions to caution 
farmers against frauds practised upon them 
by dealers in guano and the manufacturers 
of “ artificial fertilizers.” A few years since, 
while at work in the Yale College Analyti¬ 
cal Laboratory, we received a sample of an 
article sold extensively in western New- 
York as guano, by a dealer in this city. An 
analysis of the sample was made and pub¬ 
lished, showing the article to be compara¬ 
tively worthless. The dealer immediately 
sent a threatening letter, saying that he had 
lodged positive orders with his attorney to 
commence a prosecution if the article reflect¬ 
ing upon his deception was not retracted 
within a given time. He was politely told 
to “go ahead,” and that is the last we have 
heard of the matter, except sundry letters in 
agricultural journals from the purchasers of 
the above article, condemning Peruvian 
Guano! 
We have under observation some other 
frauds now being practiced by sundry per¬ 
sons, which will be exposed when some fur¬ 
ther facts have been gathered in reference to 
them. Among these are the purchasing of 
damaged cargoes of Peruvian guano, and 
selling it for the best; wetting the genuine 
or mixing foreign substances with it to make 
it weigh ten to twenty per cent more ; send¬ 
ing out one year to certain sections of the 
country superphosphate of lime contain¬ 
ing more than half its weight of guano, and 
the next year supplying orders for the same 
locality, with a mixture of burned bones, 
muck, railroad cinders, and a trifle of guano 
and lime to give it an odor. The fact is, farm¬ 
ers are not safe in purchasing any foreign 
fertilizers except from reliable dealers of es¬ 
tablished reputation and uprightness of char¬ 
acter. 
We have made these remarks at the pres¬ 
ent time to introduce the following article 
from the Country Gentleman, in reference to 
a miserable fraud now being carried on. 
Will not some of the farmers in the neigh¬ 
borhood confer a benefit upon their fellow 
sent to this country by Gen. Youpuse, of 
Scotland, as a present to Joseph Bonaparte, 
of New-Jersey. We have seen Mr. Lam- 
phere’s dogs work in the field, and can tes¬ 
tify to their good training and intelligence in 
bringing up and driving sheep. 
farmers in other parts of the country, by 
watching, ferreting out, and publishing the 
doings of the “ Chilian guano ” manufac¬ 
turers l 
Every one acquainted with the gnano trade 
of Great Britain is aware that adulteration is 
earned on to an enormous extent. The laws 
are stringant, and the penalties in case of de¬ 
tection severe, yet the profits are so large 
and the difficulty of proving the fr_aud so 
great, that numbers of dishonest men are 
willing to brave the chances of detection. 
The agricultural press, when in the hands of 
honest, independent men, untrammeled by 
business connections, is the great safe¬ 
guard against these and other impositions; 
but, though the British agricultural journals 
are mostly of a high tone and chracter, their 
price prevents an extensive circulation; 
and, indeed, comparatively few farmers take 
any agricultural paper whatever. Under 
such circumstances, therefore, it is no won¬ 
der that fraudulent manure dealers reap a 
rich harvest. 
We have long been convinced that there 
were parties in this country engaged in man¬ 
ufacturing various artificial fertilizers which 
are of little value—and we have done our 
part towards exposing their fraudulent prac¬ 
tices. We were also aware that inferior 
guanos are often sold under an assurance 
that they are equal or superior to the best 
Peruvian, but we had no idea that there was 
any one in this country engaged in the manu¬ 
facture of guano. We are sorry to say we 
have been deceived. Numerous as are our 
agricultural papers, great as are their circu¬ 
lation and influence, they are found insuffi¬ 
cient to prevent [unscrupulous men from at¬ 
tempting to palm off on the credulous farm¬ 
ers of our broad domain a comparatively 
worthless article, at a high price, under a 
false name, and, what is most to be regretted, 
it is one of the professed friends and teach¬ 
ers of scientific agriculture, that is engaged 
in this deception. 
How we discovered the fraud, we are not 
at liberty to state. Suffice it to say, that 
some six weeks ago, we were informed that 
an article known as Mexican guano was taken 
to an establishment, near Newark, N. J., 
and there mixed with plaster, salt, sugar- 
house scum, Peruvian guano and quick-lime, 
the whole ground up together and put in 
bags, marked “ Chilian Guano.” 
Following the direction of our informant, 
we proceeded to Newark, and there found a 
