1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
405 
age and registry; put in the money and seal the letter in 
the presence of the postmaster, and take his receipt for it. 
Money sent in the above three methods is safe against loss. 
Speak a Word for tlie German 
American Agriculturist.— For 17 years past an 
edition of this journal has been issued in the German 
language for the benefit of the large number of our citi¬ 
zens who read only the language of Vatcrland. It con¬ 
tains the engravings and all the principal reading of the 
English edition. Several pages devoted to the adver¬ 
tisements in the English edition, are in the German 
edition occupied by a special extra Department, edited by 
the Hon. Frederick Munch, a distinguished cultivator of 
Missouri, which gives it additional value to the German 
reader. The colored cover only is omitted from the 
German edition. Many of our subscribers take the Ger¬ 
man copy for their gardener or their workmen. Will our 
friends make this edition known to their German friends 
and neighbors ? Having the advantage of the engravings 
of the English edition, it is larger, better, and cheaper, 
than it could be if published independently. Both edi¬ 
tions are issued on the same terms, and clubs may con¬ 
sist of either edition, or a part of both. 
Kiuiiul Copies of Volume Tlalrty- 
four are now ready. Price, $2, at our office; or $2.50 
each, if sent by mail. Any of the last nineteen volumes 
(16 to 34) will also be forwarded at same price. Sets of 
numbers sent to our office will be neatly bound in our 
regular style, at 75 cents per vol. (50 cents extra, if return¬ 
ed by mail.) Missing numbers supplied at 12 cents each. 
The Centennial Poimolojjical ex¬ 
hibition. —In spite of various untoward influences, 
and the lack of the cooperation of many who should have 
aided, the show of fruit in the Pomological Building, from 
Sept. 11 to 16, was a great success. Fifteen thousand 
plates of fruit is an immense number, and as much of it 
was of the greatest excellence, it will be seen that the 
exhibition, if not what it might have been, was highly 
creditable. It would take too much space to enumerate 
the leading exhibitors, which in many cases were State 
and other societies, and associations and individuals 
from Canada. The general arrangement of the fruits was 
by States, and served to show the fruit raising capabili¬ 
ties of the different portions of the country. Kansas, be¬ 
sides contributing to the general exhibition, made an im¬ 
portant and remarkable supplementary display at the 
Kansas house. The California fruit seemed to have been 
sent for sale rather than for show, and so impatient were 
those who had it in charge, that ranch of it was sold be¬ 
fore the judges had a chance to inspect it. 
TBic Pennsylvania Horticial4 sural 
Society held its Annual Exhibition on Sept. 15 to 18. 
As one of its officers remarked, it was “ the best show 
and the poorest attendance ” they had had in many years; 
the slim attendance might have been expected, and what¬ 
ever reasons induced the Society to withhold its coopera¬ 
tion from the Centennial, the fact is to he regretted, and 
is deplored by some of the Socioly’s most useful mem¬ 
bers. At the meeting of the American Pomological So¬ 
ciety held last year in Chicago, a delegation from the 
Pennsylvania Society invited the members of the Pomo¬ 
logical to a reception to be given by them during the 
Centennial Exhibition. This reception was held on 
Sept. 18. It would not be according to the rules of good 
breeding for one to speak slightingly of a private enter¬ 
tainment which ho had attended, but in this case, where 
the matter was published from one end of the country to 
the other, it is different, and we must state it as a matter 
of fact that the affair was simply a failure. 
Forestry Associations. —The Associa¬ 
tion, of which Dr. John A. Warder is President, held its 
Annual Meeting on the Centennial Grounds in September. 
Another association met about the same time at Cape 
May. The first-named is composed of persons who are 
themselves actively engaged in forest culture. The other, 
so far ns we are informed, is mainly interested in trying 
to induce the General Government to do something. The 
general impression seems to be that people will plant 
forest trees or care for those they already have, when 
convinced that doing so will pay, and that no action of 
the government and no commissioners or other officers 
of forestry are needed. 
Artificial Incnkator. — “ J. Q., Jr.,” 
Romney, N. H. We have no doubt that a sharp boy of 
fourteen years old could manage one of the Day & Co.’s 
incubators with great case. Everything is very simple 
about it, and if attention is only given with regularity, 
eggs mav be hatched in the winter without difficulty. 
Tour building, lighted and heated, would answer very 
well for use at this season. Messrs. Day & Co.’s address 
is 92 Linden avenue, Baltimore, Md. 
Subscribe this month 
for all of 1877 , and get 
Becesiiki’ Number FREE. 
See the Premium Mst Table 
on Page 438. c= JgI[) 
SAlLMAGtJ^iE>I. — Many a good hand¬ 
shake and greeting have we had this autumn with our 
readers of five to twenty-five years past, who have come 
from their distant homes to see the “ Centennial Exposi¬ 
tion,” and taken New York City in their return route, 
and, of course, they have dropped in at 215 Broadway. 
Not a few say they came this way for that special pur¬ 
pose.—It makes the older editors feel young again, and 
gives to them a new stimulus for future work and effort, 
to hear so many tell of the valuable hints, suggestions, 
and useful information, they have gleaned from these 
pages.No one thing we have written lately, has called 
out more hearty thanks, than our advice in September to 
“ go to tlie Centennial, if possible.” Multitudes say they 
■would not have gone, but for our “ clinching” advice, 
and now they would not have missed seeing it for the 
price of “ several acres.” (If any one went on account of 
what we said, and now regrets it, by all means let us 
know it.).One of the above callers, from a some¬ 
what distant State, after speaking of the usefulness 
of this journal to himself, said : “I have tried to get my 
townsmen to take it with me, but the usual answer 
is, that paper is issued dowrtin New York and can’t be 
adapted to our region 1’ ” Such reports have come from 
other quarters. Our friend was surprised to learn that 
some of our editors actually lived, and “ farmed it for a 
living,” in his own section of the country. Let us here 
say that though the American Agriculturist is printed 
and issued for convenience in the great Central or Metro¬ 
politan city of America, none of its editors live in New 
York City, and only one of them in this State. No other 
journal of its kind in the world has so large a number 
of practical Editors scattered over a wide territory, where 
they are not only practicing soil culture, but arc observ¬ 
ing and gathering information for every section. Our 
large circle of readers in distant Australia, among the 
colonists all round Africa, in Central Europe, in Russia, 
and even in far off India, all tell us it meets their wants. 
The fact is, the great principles of soil culture are every¬ 
where the same, and improved implements and conveni¬ 
ences arc alike useful everywhere... .A good illustration 
of this was in a journal nearly a thousand miles west¬ 
ward, which, in a double-leaded editorial, advised its read¬ 
ers not to go to an eastern city for an agricultural paper, 
but to patronize one at home, adapted to their own wants. 
Yet in that very paper, of the Hi columns of reading mat¬ 
ter , 14 columns were taken from original matter prepar¬ 
ed for and published in the American Agriculturist. 
Tlac MHarylatual IHortieaaltaral So¬ 
ciety held its Exhibition from Sept. 19 to 26, and wo re¬ 
gret our inability to accept the invitation politely ten¬ 
dered, to be present. Maryland has made great progress 
in horticultural matters within a few years, towards 
which this Society has helped. 
A Mew Work on Irs-igjmlioii.—Dur, 
ing the past few years, the serious losses experienced by 
gardeners and fruit raisers at the East; the failure of 
meadows over a large portion of the country, and the 
gradual settlement of the partially arid and rainless dis¬ 
tricts on the western slope of the continent, and in the 
plains and valleys adjacent to the Rocky Mountains, have 
made it clearly apparent that the practice of irrigation 
must be resorted to, both to prevent these losses, and to 
utilize vast areas of the most fertile lands, wanting only 
water to make them productive. Hitherto there has been 
no work upon irrigation published in the United States, 
and nolle in the English language sufficiently compre¬ 
hensive to meet our wants. The books that relate to 
irrigation, are chiefly in the French and Italian languages, 
for it is in those countries that the art is practiced most 
generally and most scientifically, and few Americans can 
procure the information they need from these works. To 
meet the want, now so extensively experienced, and fill 
the void hitherto existing, as far as may perhaps he prac¬ 
ticable at the present time, a work has been specially 
prepared, and is now in the press, to be shortly published 
by the Orange Judd Company, entitled “ Irrigation for 
the Farm, Garden and Orchard, by Henry Stewart,” 
one of the editors of the American Agriculturist , and a 
Practical Civil Engineer. In this book arc gathered the 
history and practice of irrigation in America, up to the 
present time; the practice of irrigation of meadows in 
England, France, Germany, and Italy ; the methods of lay¬ 
ing out and managing water meadows ; the irrigation o'\ 
cultivated fields in those countries where crops are grown 
chiefly by artificial watering, the construction of irriga¬ 
tion works, dams, canals, and reservoirs; the special 
management to be given to the various field and garden 
crops, orchards and vineyards under irrigation; the re¬ 
claiming of salt marshes, and submerged or washed river 
flats ; with whatever of foreign practice that may be use¬ 
fully or economically applied to the conditions of surface, 
soil, climate, and locality in the United States, and other 
countries similarly situated in these respects. The work 
is copiously illustrated, that the text may be readily un¬ 
derstood by any person, even if he knows nothing of 
engineering; and is purposely kept free from technical 
terms or ambiguous instructions. At the same time it 
offers to the scientific engineer such an introduction to 
the necessities of the cuhivatorof the soil, whether of the 
garden or the farm, as may assist him to lay out plans for 
such works as he may be called upon to construct in the 
exercise of his profession. 
Feea! lbs* Potiltry per ¥car.—“C. A. 
R.,” Fredericksburg, Va. One bushel of corn or corn 
and wheat mixed per head is a fairallowance forcommon 
fowls for a year. They will pick up enough in addition 
to this to keep them in good condition if they have arun 
at large every day. If kept shut up some scraps of meat 
and vegetables will be needed in addition to the grain. 
American .Jersey Effersl IBook.—The 
5th Yol. of the American Jersey Herd Book just pub¬ 
lished contains 124 pages, and with the preceding vol- 
mes 3,224 pedigrees. The 6th volume is now in course 
of compilation, and pedigrees for entry are received by 
O. B. Iladwen, Worcester, Mass. The 5th vol. is sent by- 
mail for $2. 
XSie Clawson Wheat.—Some foolish 
and malicious statements which have been made in a 
Western paper “ to the effect that the Clawson wheat has 
turned out to be very inferior in the West, and especially 
in Michigan.” It has been ascertained that the injurious 
report originated with a party who had other kinds of 
wheat to sell, and who wished to injure the popularity of 
the Clawson wheat. Those of our readers who have sown 
this wheat need not be disturbed about it. The numer¬ 
ous favorable statements which the report has called out, 
show that the Clawson wheat is just as good a wheat hi 
the Western States as it is in New York, where in some 
localities it is almost the only kind sown. 
Skelter for WIbiesat.—“ J. W. A,” Hanni¬ 
bal, Mo. To throw a furrow over the wheat in November 
would smother the plants instead of protecting them. A 
better plan would be to get some old straw-stack or pile, 
and scatter the straw over the field ; this would be a very 
useful and effective protection, and a means of using up 
the piles of straw that are scattered over Western fields. 
A B B oeket <j5yminasiiim.—Among tlie 
almost innumerable uses to which that remarkable sub¬ 
stance, India-rubber, has been applied, one of the most 
curious is that of a Pocket Gymnasium, made by the 
Goodyear Rubber Curler Co. All gymnastic appliances 
are arranged so as to present some force to be overcome, 
and developc the muscles in doing it; the obstacle to 
be overcome may be the weight of one’s own body, the 
raising of weights, etc. In the Pocket Gymnasium the 
exercise is gained in overcoming the elasticity of an 
India-rubber cylinder fitted for the purpose, and though 
exceedingly simple, is capable of affording a great variety 
of muscular exercise. 
Fall Plant insg-—CSooice Ornament- 
al Trees and Shrubs.—Those who would plant trees 
and shrubs in their grounds, or have fruit trees in their 
gardens, find it difficult to make a selection. The num¬ 
ber of kinds in a catalogue is quite bewildering to per¬ 
sons not familiar with plants, and such are as likely to 
make an unsuitable selection as a good one. As will be 
seen by our advertising columns, (p. 439), S. B. Parsons 
& Sons, Flushing, N. Y., present a selected list cf fruit 
trees and choice ornamental plants, with their prices at¬ 
tached, so that any one may at a glance order such kinds 
as he may prefer, feeling sure that he can not go astray 
where all are good. Messrs. Parsons & Sons are widely 
known for the excellence and variety of their Camellias, 
Azaleas, Roses, and other plants for the greenhouse or 
window. 
Importation of Stock.—“ J. B.,” Black¬ 
pool, Eng. It would be a risky business for a person who 
understands nothing about importing stock, to bring 
animals to America from England, and a certain loss to 
bring them to the city of New York for sale, there being 
no market in that city for farm or breeding stock. It is 
safe for all persons to avoid investing money in any busi¬ 
ness of which they are entirely ignorant. 
