1876.] 
407 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
hope of bettering their condition in the city. Many of 
the advertisements offering employment are intended 
solely to work upon the necessities or the desperation of 
persons of these classes. Whenever there appears an 
•advertisement under “Help Wanted,” in which “a 
young man ” is requested to apply in the “ handwriting 
of the applicant ” and “ enclose a 3-cent stamp for an 
answer,” it is safe to put it down as a swindle. Three 
cents is but little, but cases are known where over 500 
replies have been sent in one day to a single advertise¬ 
ment of this kind; the advertisement, even if put in sev¬ 
eral papers, with all other expenses, need not cost over 
$5—and the advertiser clears $10, with but little trouble. 
Another form of the swindle is to offer -to put one in the 
way of employment for 25c., 50c., or $1, as the case may 
be, the lower sums being found the most productive to 
swindlers, as there are more poor dupes who can raise 
the smaller than can the larger amount. If the applicant 
gets any reply at all, it is to advise him lo engage in the 
sale of some ladies’ bogus jewelry, or other nonsense. 
Many of these advertisements offering employment come 
from those trashy variety stores, where the applicant 
must deposit $5 for an outfit of stuff to sell, and if he 
doe3 it, is himself thoroughly sold. Some of the bolder 
operators allow the applicant to call at their office, where 
•employment will be secured by the payment of $5. The 
poor fellow pays the $5, probably his very last, and is 
told to “ call after dinner.” When he calls no one there 
knows him, and he cannot pick out the man to whom ho 
paid the money (ho being, of course, at another shop of 
the same kind) ; the chaps in the office bluff the poor fel¬ 
low, tell him he is a swindler, and if he doesn’t get out 
they will call in a policeman. What can the poor, penny¬ 
less and friendless stranger do? Our friends in the coun¬ 
try should understand that all large cities have whole 
armies of unemployed men, women, boys and girls, and 
should pay no heed whatever to any advertisements offer¬ 
ing employment, however tempting it may seem_In¬ 
quiries are still made about the 
“GRANITE AGRICULTURAL WORKS,” 
and one friend took the trouble to write out the manner 
of operating by tht agents of these remarkable “works.” 
As this adds nothing new to what was given in these 
columns last month, we need not publish it. Connecti¬ 
cut appears to have been a productive field (not an oat, 
but-a aote field) for these fellows, and the victims have 
tak n, as stated last month, united action. Since the 
meeting there referred to, another has been held: it may 
be called an “ experience meeting,” and the accounts 
given, by those present, of the ways in which they were 
“ taken in and done for ” are amusingreading to any but 
those who paid from $200 to $300, for their experience. 
These men are firm in their resistance to payment of the 
notes they gave, have fully organized for mutual help, 
have created a fund to defray expenses and, what is 
quite as important as anything, appointed a committee 
on correspondence. Messrs. John S. Kirkham, Newing¬ 
ton, Geo. W. Bidwell, Manchester, and Fred. P. Bissell, 
Newington, all in Conn. They invite any interested 
party to write and state his case, and as it is not stated 
as being restricted - to citizens of Connecticut, we infer 
that they invite correspondence from those in other 
States, and we can not do better than to refer those who 
have written us to this committee. 
FARMERS BEWARE OF WONDERFUL SEEDS ! 
Swindlers in seeds too often find easy victims among 
farmers for this reason. One who grows grain and finds 
that his crop of wheatfor instance is only 15 or 20 bushels 
to the acre, is desirous of doing better; he reads of a 
variety that is said to produce 40 or GO bushels to the 
acre ; that is what he wants to make grain-growing pro¬ 
fitable, he thinks, and sends for it, paying a round price. 
Farmers are not the only people who attribute a result 
to the wrong cause, and it is easier to lay the poor wheat 
crops to the seed, than to their land or to themselves. 
: Tbe farmer who is caught by the 40-or-60-bnshels-to-the- 
acrc wheat, will no doubt, in time, learn that he has here¬ 
tofore taken off his fields all the wheat there was in them. 
That is, no matter what the variety of wheat, there is 
. not raw material enough in an acre of his land, to make 
more than 15 or 20 bushels of any kind. The humbug 
column is not the place to discuss the principles of agri¬ 
culture. but it is a want, of knowledge, or a forgetfulness, 
of these that makes it so easy to humbug farmers. We 
do not mean to say that all grains offered as very produc¬ 
tive are frauds, but are quite sure that the manner of 
• offering some of them is liable to deceive. Tennessee 
seems to be the head quarters of most remarkable deal¬ 
ers in most remarkable seeds, and we have the circulars 
and advertising sheets of several concerns offering things 
which the advertisers very truly say are not to bo had 
elsewhere. It is well for farmers everywhere to remem¬ 
ber that really valuable grains, and other seeds, do not 
first make their anpearance in some obscure town in 
■Tennessee, Now York, or other State, and things that 
hail from such localities can not have been tested in 
such a manner as will warrant any one in depending 
upon them/o? - a crop. We encourage experiments, but 
discourage the abandoning a well tried kind for a novel¬ 
ty. If any one can affcrrd to test these Tennessee agri¬ 
cultural wonders, by all means let him do so and report 
the results. We had occasion to show up the pretensions 
of a Virginia chap with his true “ Sugar Cane, sacchanim 
offidnaram." One of the Tennessee concerns offers 
“ West India Sugar Cano Seed” in very similar terms, 
but does not tell what it is. They say it is “ adapted to 
any variety of soil or climate that will produce Indian 
Corn, Irish Potatoes or Sorghum.”—Now then gentle¬ 
men, what is it ? 
MEDICAL MATTERS. 
On several occasions we have remarked that the quack 
medicine chaps were not up to our expectations in this 
Centennial year. We have had a nauseating repetition 
of the Doctor-Clark-Johnson-Seven-Barks-Bell-Tongue- 
Mother-Noble style, but these are wearying,and the whole 
thing seemed to be “playedout” us it were. Though 
late in the year, Geo. Hutchison comes to the rescue. 
George lives—well we don’t want to be sectional—in the 
United States.—George is rich—i. e., he owns up to a 
“ little fortune.” George isn’t above owning it, he’s none 
of your stuck-up millionaires, George isn’t, he “ hauled 
in his dibs,” “ raked in his pile,” not at the stock hoard, 
nor yet as an “operator on the curbstone” of “the 
street,”—George didn’t get his little fortune by “ selling 
short,” whatever that may he, uor did he “heir it” as 
they say in the Jerseys, hut it was a gradual accretion, a 
slow aggregation—cents grew to dimes, dimes to quar¬ 
ters, and quarters to dollars. Not to dilate (he don’t say 
if his costumers died late or early), George went from 
house lo house and sold “ Indian Purgative Pills,” (show¬ 
ing much Indianooity in the name). “Prof. Davis Pain 
Killer,” (if.old Perry D. had only caught him at it!) and, 
more than all, “ Purifying Syrup.” We haven’t a column 
or so to spare to record the things that syrup cures, but 
we do not wonder that it “gained a great name.” George 
made 18c. on each box of pills, 20c. on each bottle of 
“killer” and 90c. on each bottle of the “syrup.” It 
would be easy, did we know the extent of that “ little for¬ 
tune,” to cypher out how many he sold, or did we know 
how many he sold, we could cypher the size of that “ little 
fortune,”—hut this is left in mystery. One thing we are 
glad to hear, he says “ 1 have made all the money I shall 
want to carry me through life, provided I continue my 
present economical habits.” George—continue and 
economize 1 Well after setting forth all this in the best 
style of lithograph, which the unskilled might think was 
writing, he tells the one who receives it, that “A mutual 
friend has requested me to assist yon ” (George isn’t that 
a—well a—little romancy ?) and goes on to set forth how 
he has made that “little fortune,” he proposes that the 
person aforesaid—What, make the medicine ?—No. Take 
it?—No. Share the “ little fortune ?”—Not a bit of it.— 
Only “Write meand express a desire (whether by Adams’ 
or American not stated), to engage in this enterprise.”— 
Ah George,notwithstanding that you “ take pleasure in 
devoting time and attention to helping others to help 
themselves,” it looks very much as if you were “ on the 
make,” you don’t tell any one anything after all, hut re¬ 
peat your request for correspondence. It is the old, old 
story, George, only you are rather worse than the rest. 
Most of the quacks try to sell their medicines, your plan 
is to increase the number of pill peddlers. 
A Word from the Editors. 
Though editors address thousands of persons they 
never saw, and never expect to see, they are neverthe¬ 
less not “insensible to the grateful incense of praise,” 
and one of the pleasant rewards of editorial labor is the 
satisfaction of knowing that our work is acceptable, 
and that others have been benefited by our teachings, 
and the record of our experience. While we are in al¬ 
most daily receipt of kind words of encouragement, not 
only from friends in this country, but from those abroad, 
it is rare that we publish the good things said to us and 
of us, yet they are not unheeded. They have the effect 
to make us all the more desirous to deserve the good 
opinions thus expressed, and serve as incentives to re¬ 
newed exertions. At this Lime, on the eve of a new 
volume, when the Publishers are taking measures to ex¬ 
tend the circulation of the American Agriculturist, we 
feel that a few extracts from our editorial correspon¬ 
dence may appropriately be given, that those who are 
not already readers, may learn what is said by those to 
whom wo have for a long time made our monthly visits. 
A friend in Portsmouth, O., writes: “I have been a 
subscriber to and reader of the American Agriculturist 
for 3 ’ears, and find that you give information in almost 
every number that is worth the subscription price for 
the whole year.” 
Another writes from Robertson Co., Texas: “ I highly 
appreciate your journal : it is worth the price of sub¬ 
scription, if only for its exposure of humbugs, for the 
benefit of those who do not ‘know the ropes.’ I shall 
endeavor to obtain some subscribers for next year.” 
From “ Near the North Pole,” a Canada friend, who 
thus describes his locality, writes: “I have now sub¬ 
scribed for your journal for two years, and, with thou¬ 
sands of others, have been delighted with its contents; 
I am in hopes of securing some of my neighbors as sub¬ 
scribers for next year, as we find there is much that suits 
us, though so near the North Pole._While on a visit 
last year to England, your journal was particularly ad¬ 
mired by some of my friends, who thought it a fine 
thing for us to have such help.” 
The following is from Crawford Co., Pa.: “ Some ten 
years ago, as I was opening the fence to go in from the 
road to build the house where I now live, and try to 
make a living from the land I now occupy, a man of un¬ 
usual intelligence came along, and asked what I was in¬ 
tending to do. When I told him, he said : ‘I would not 
take that piece of land, and try to live on it, if it were 
given to me.’ Now I am frequently told that X have a fine 
place. Why I speak of it is this : I find that many, in¬ 
deed most all, of my ideas of doing things have been 
taken from your most valuable paper. Every year I got 
a book or so from you. It was through your paper that 
I learned how to raise strawberries. I had some this 
year that measured eight inches round. It was from 
your paper that I learned of Peter Henderson’s hook, 
which I got; in the same way I learned of J. J. H. Gre¬ 
gory, and his method of raising squashes and cabbages. 
But in speaking of these out-door matters, I have not 
told you half. My wife loves the American Agriculturist, 
and our table has been enriched by many new and ex¬ 
cellent dishes, made from recipes found in its pages. I 
once got up a large club for your paper, but as I did not 
see much improvement in those who took it, I became 
discouraged, but I have changed my mind, and thinking 
that a good thing should be persevered in, I am going to 
work again steadily.” 
We might go on and fill column after column with ex¬ 
tracts of similar import, which, like these, show how 
the American Agriculturist is regarded by those who 
have known it the longest. There are hundreds, and 
probably thousands, in all parts of the country, who 
trace their success directly to its teachings—success not 
only in a business view, but in the great addition to 
their home comforts. As large as our circle of readers 
always is, it is capable of indefinite extension, and both 
publishers and editors will see to it that whatever has 
made the paper valuable in tlie past, shall be retained, 
and that whatever may increase its usefulness, shall be 
added. 
TTlae Bls&i-ttffonl —In Oct. 1874 we 
gave an illustrated description of a most ingenious in¬ 
vention for raising water by means of compressed air. 
Tlie power is obtained by a wind-mill situated wherever 
most convenient, and is conveyed to tlie pump itself, 
which may bo a quarter of a mile, or more, distant, by 
means of compressed air sent through a tube from tlie 
mill. The apparatus lias given much satisfaction where 
it lias been introduced, the fact that the pump may be at 
a distance from the power—which in many cases may lie 
other than wind—adapting it to localities where the 
usual form of pump cannot be employed. Tlie pump, 
while remaining the same in principle and essentially so 
in structure, as the one illustrated, has received numer¬ 
ous improvements, suggested by the experience of the 
past two years ; these consist in the use of iron and steel 
in parts of tlie windmill which were formerly of wood, a 
more effective oiling of the working parts, and essential 
modifications of tlie valves, all of which contribute to the 
efficiency of the machine. The apparatus is made by the 
Hartford Pump Co., of Conn. 
The CeintcEaaafsal.—But ten days more, and 
the greatest gathering of tlie products of human art and 
labor that tlie world lias ever seen, will he closed. To 
those who can j'et go, we say do not fail even at this late 
day to make even a short visit. Read what lias been said 
in former numbers. We have been twice since our last 
article was written, and can emphasize everything we 
have already said. 
Basinet Items e©st® 
tinniest ©it page 4HH® 
National Agricultural Congress. 
The fifth session of the National Agricultural Congress 
was held at tlie Centennial Exhibition, in tlie Judges’ 
Paviilion, on the 12th, 13th. and 14th of September. The 
President, Hon. W. C. Flagg, of Illinois, read a paper on 
the “ Past Condition and Progress of American Agricul¬ 
ture,” in which a rather gloomy view was given of ths 
present status of agricultural affairs—at least so far aa 
