[September, 
AMERICAN AGrRICULTURIST. 
two boxes, containing-speeimens of six elioico varieties 
of European gooseberries, which were grown upon 
standard bushes of the kind described in the article re¬ 
ferred to. The fruit was of large size, thoroughly per¬ 
fect, and presented a sight seldom seen in this country. 
—We learn that Mr. S. received his plants several years 
ago from an importation by Dr. Siedhof, and be is great¬ 
ly pleased with his success. The specimens on the Cen¬ 
tennial grounds are unfortunately placed just outside of 
the current of travel, and are likely to escape notice. A 
path leads from the rear steps of the Horticultural build¬ 
ing directly to the German restaurant. The bed of 
standard gooseberries and currants is upon one path 
further to the right, towards the boundary fence. Though 
the fruit has long been gone, an inspection of the plants 
can not fail to gratify all interested in such matters. 
Evergreens at Auction. — S. B. Parsons 
& Sons, of Flushing, L.I., sent a few hundred choice speci¬ 
mens of the rarer kinds of Conifers, to the auction rooms 
of Messrs. Young & Elliott, in Courtiandt st.., and they 
were sold on August 8th. Although the company of buy¬ 
ers was not large, they showed their confidence in the 
opinion of Messrs. Parsons, that “this season was Hie 
most suitable for transplanting conifers,” by purchasing 
all offered at prices that must have been very satisfactory 
to the owners. 
'jTSae Wnliefflcld Esir-eli Elosct Co. 
—We regret having to say that the Wakefield Earth Closet 
Company, who in months past have advertised their use¬ 
ful manufactures in the columns of this journal, have 
been compelled by financial embarrassments to suspend 
payments. 
I>e«1e>‘sc1f «fe Co. Iffay Presses.—Only 
last month we noticed the destruction by fire of A. B. 
Farquhar's Agricultural Works at York, Pa., and we now 
have to record a similar casualty to the works of P. K. 
Dederick & Co., Albany, N. Y., makers of the celebrated 
bay presses bearing their name. As in the former case, 
the news of the disaster is accompanied by the state¬ 
ment that “ we are now busy rebuilding.” Messrs. 
D. & Co. give us the dimensions of four large brick and 
several frame buildings, which are going up to replace 
the old ones. The fire does not stop their business, as 
they are going on under temporary sheds, and wherever 
they can find shelter, to fill their orders as fast as pos¬ 
sible. There is an admirable spirit among the manu¬ 
facturers of agricultural implements, and they seem to 
take disaster as a matter of course. 
Itopp'g Commercial Calculator, 
is the title of a work by C. Ropp, Jr., Bloomington, Ill., 
intended for the use of farmers, mechanics, and others 
who need to use tables and rapid methods of arriving at 
values and quantities. Thus one can find at a glance the 
value of any number of bushels of wheat or other grain, 
at a given price, wages for a given time, interest at vari¬ 
ous rates, etc. It lias received the endorsement of emi¬ 
nent mathematicians, and appears to be an exceedingly 
complete work. Sent by mail for $1. 
What Bom IPe«li-© Saw.—It would be 
difficult to say what this milch sight-seeing monarch did 
not see. during bis visit to this country. At the Centen¬ 
nial Exhibition be saw the Boynton Lightning Saw, run 
by two men, saw a log of wood a foot in diameter in seven 
seconds. The emperor remarked that it was “fast, very 
fast.” Had lie been better versed in English, he might, 
have said : “ Of all the saws that I ever saw saw, I never 
saw a saw saw as that saw' saws.” 
Poisiolog-Ists tflais OTosaftli.— Every fruit¬ 
grower should hear in mind that the great exhibition of 
fruits comes off at the Centennial this month, from the 
11th to the lGth. Some of the leading societies are tak¬ 
ing measures to exhibit, and each individual fruit-grower 
should aid This can he, and should he, the greatest 
fruit-show the world has ever seen. Articles for exhibi¬ 
tion should be delivered, free of charge, to Burnett 
Landreth, Chief of Bureau of Agriculture, Centennial 
Exhibition, Philadelphia. A special annex has been 
erected, and plates arm ail other facilities for showing 
the fruit will bo provided. We in a former article ex¬ 
pressed our regret that the Pennsylvania Horticultural 
Society should hold a rival exhibition at toe same time. 
Wc have since learned that there are valid reasons why 
this Society should hold their usual exhibition, but that 
at the same time it will co-operate with, and the mem¬ 
bers contribute to the Centennial show. We are glad 
that this seeming obstacle is removed, now let us all pull 
together .—Members of the American homological Society 
will recollect that they are invited to accept the hospi¬ 
talities of the Pennsylvania Society on one evening dur¬ 
ing the exhibition. Of course, every member of the 
Pomological Society, who intends to visit the Centen¬ 
nial, will do so at the time of the exhibition of Pomo¬ 
logical Products. Col. Wilder and the rest of the boys 
from Massachusetts are expected. 
Agricultural Esagfiaeer.—Otto Saek- 
ersdorff, Esq., who has long been Known to ns as standing 
high in his profession as an engineer, proposes to give 
especial attention to farm drainage and other agricultural 
operations where professional skill is required. 
Board sat tlae (DeuaSeiniaial.—We learn 
that Rev. E. M. Long, S. E. Corner of 12th and Berks Sts., 
Philadelphia, is providing in select private families, 
“good sleeping apartments, with the best of board, at 
much lower rates than is asked by ordinary boarding¬ 
houses and hotels, or $5 to $14 per week ” Wc under¬ 
stand that this is designed more especially for ministers 
and Christian families, hut, have not time to ascertain 
particulars before going to press. Those desiring, can 
obtain information by addressing Mr. Long as above. 
©rapes in Missouri.— Messrs. Bush, Son 
& Meissner, Bushberg, Mo., in sending their very full 
price list of vines, write us that their fruit, which set very 
full, was badly damaged by rot in June. They had made 
arrangements to show 80 varieties at the Centennial, but 
with most of them the fruit is entirely destroyed. Ives and 
Perkins mostly escaped. Norton’sVirginia, and Cynthiana 
have good crops, and Elvira, a new variety, of which 
they have great expectations, suffered only partially. 
Mr. I^^iclketl(s , ©rapes.—Mr. J. H. Rick¬ 
etts, whose wonderful success with seedling grapes we 
have before mentioned, informs us that his prospects for 
a crop are very fine. He will he glad to show his seed¬ 
lings to all those interested in grape culture, who will 
visit his garden at Newburgh, N. Y. 
TIae New York Horticultural 
ciety.—The Fall Exhibition begins on September 19th, 
and lasts four days, at Gilmore's Garden, formerly known 
as the Hippodrome. To judge from the spring show, a 
fine display may bo expected. 
.Breeding; ISakkits.— Our friend C. will 
excuse us if we make use of his request as an example of 
a class of very puzzling questions. He writes: that he 
lias had “ poor luck with his rabbits,” and “ would like a 
few Hints in your Basket Items. Please reply in your 
next No.”—We have many queries quite as indefinite as 
this, and no doubt many good people feel neglected be¬ 
cause they get no reply. The only way to answer this is, 
to write a full treatise on rabbit breeding, in the hope 
that something in it might meet the case. The only de¬ 
finite statement is that our friend has “poor luck,” for 
which we know of no special remedy. If our friend will 
state in what particular lie fails, we will try to help him. 
At present, being quite in the dark as to the trouble, we 
can not suggest a remedy. 
A Self-Adjusting 'Watcli-TCcy is a 
small affair upon which to build a large business, yet 
Mr. J. S. Birch, whose key wo have before noticed, in¬ 
forms us that his business has so increased, especially 
from foreign orders, that in order to secure sufficient 
room, he has removed to 38 Dey St., New York City. 
$1.00 Will Pay for this Journal from now, 
away on to the end of 1877, delivered free of postage ! Is 
not that cheap enough. The TOO or more, beautiful, 
and instructive engravings would alone be cheap at that 
price; but there will he over 1,300 Columns of 
good original reading matter, useful and instructive—the 
very best that can be possibly obtained-ail for $1.G0, 
postage included. (See page 325.) 
SI .35 will pay lor all tlae above, when four 
persons unite and send $5.40 for the four. Please tell 
your non-reading neighbors 1 
Bools: ©n Farm Crops.—“ G. T. G.,” 
Fort Smith, Ark. The best book that treats of farm crops 
is L. F. Alien’s New American Farm Book, price $2.50, 
sent postage paid from this office. 
A Horrible Weed !—“A. W.,” Columbus 
City, Iowa. The “ Horse Nettle,” so called, though not 
related to the nettles, hut to the potato, its botanical 
name being Solanum Carolinense. This is probably tire 
very worst weed in the country, and more to he dreaded 
than the Canada Thistle. “ It occupies about two rods 
in length of the road,” says our correspondent. If a 
catamount, a bear, or even a den of rattle-snakes, were 
known to be near Columbus City, what an excitement 
there would he, and the neighbors would not rest until 
the enemy was killed. Here is something worse than all 
these, and all hands should work for its destruction. It 
is the toughest of all weeds to kill, hut repeated and per. 
sistent cutting will destroy it in time. Do not, as you 
value your farms, let a seed ripen. The county had bet¬ 
ter pay $5,000 for the destruction of this patch, than to 
have it spread. When this is once fairly established on 
a farm, the farmer must leave. We have not before heard 
of tins in a locality so far north, and probably the season 
is not long enough for it to perfect its seeds, or it. would 
long ago have left the road for the fields. We have seen 
farms in Delaware and south of that, rendered absolutely 
untenantable by this worst of weeds. There should not 
be a stem or a leaf of the plant visible in 24 hours after 
this paper reaches Columbus City. Destroy this weed 
at whatever cost. 
A Showerful Team at Mowiaij™-.— 
According to the Reading (Pa.) “ Eagle,” Adam L. Fisher, 
of Marion township, engaged the services of eight 
brothers at mowing oats in a thirty-two acre field. Be¬ 
low we give the name, age, and bight, of each of the 
brothers: Benjamin Hoffinger, 41 years old, bight 6 feet 
IX inches ; George, 38 years old, bight 5 feet 11 inches; 
John, 35 years old, bight .G feet; William, 30 years old, 
bight 5 feet 11)4 inches ; Franklin, SG years old, bight 5 
feet 11X inches; Daniel, 24 years old, hight 5 feet 11X 
inches ; Pearse, 23 years old, hight 6 feet 1J4 inches; 
Gabriel, 19 years old, hight 5 feet 11J4 inches. Here were 
48 feet of brothers, the eight averaging six feet in Hight, 
all sound in Health 1 They mowed the thirty-two acres of 
oats in one day, which is an average of four acres to the 
man. They all live in Marion township, the farthest 
within an hour’s walk of Mr. Fisher’s. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
Swindlers are not always 
after small game, some try 
their hand upon business 
men and capitalists. A gen¬ 
tleman who had been en¬ 
gaged in numerous enter¬ 
prises, not long ago received 
a letter informing him that 
the writer had discovered 
that said gentleman was 
owner of ten shares in the 
stock of a certain mining 
concern, which, instead of 
being valueless as had been 
supposed, was really worth 
ft considerable sum, and the 
writer would secure this, 
but of course needed some 
money advanced to pay 
traveling and other ex¬ 
penses. The only attention 
paid to the letter was to 
send it to us, with the note that the recipient never 
owned any such st.oqk. This seems about as stupid an 
attempt at raising the wind as could be devised, and no 
more likely to work than 
THE HOTEL DODGE, 
winch was very commos a few years ago, and now has 
l»ecn revived. Tliis is usually tried upon persons living 
at a distance, especially at the South. A letter is received 
from the proprietor of some hotel in New York, stating 
that so and so arrived at that, hotel on a given date, and a 
week or two later died very suddenly. Upon examining 
the effects of the deceased, letters arc found showing that 
lie is a relative of the person to whom the letter is sent. 
The trunk contains several new suits of clothing, gold 
watch, diamond studs, silver-mounted revolver, etc., all 
of which will he forwarded by express, provided said rela¬ 
tive will forward the small amount of the unpaid board- 
bill of the defunct... .Some of the towns in Connecticut 
have been victimized by 
VENDERS OF TEA, 
the article being put up in very handsome pound parcels, 
and in order that its quality might not be impaired, the 
purchaser was cautioned not to disturb it, but to keep it 
in the original package. About one fifth of the top of 
each package was tea, while the lower part was spent 
log-wood chips, hay, or whatever rubbish that came 
liandy. We areata loss to understand why people will 
purchase of peddlars; if staple articles are offered below 
the usual rates, there is very likely to be something wrong. 
THE WYOMING LOTTERY 
still sends out its circulars and schemes, in spite of the 
law prohibiting the use of the mails for such purposes. 
A correspondent in New Brunswick informs us that, the 
circulars sent him are mailed from the New York P. O. 
The officials there have a sharp eye for such matters, and 
this evasion will not succeed long. The British provinces 
appear to he a favorite ground for these lottery chaps, 
and they offer most flattering inducements to persons to 
take agencies. Still the law begins to pinch, as we no¬ 
tice they caution their correspondents to remit money 
