1864 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
839 
Design for a Weather Vane. 
People are often at a loss to 
find a pretty pattern for this use 
ful as well as ornamental article 
We give an engraving of a very 
tasteful one. The “fly” is of tin, 
shaped and painted like a flag flut¬ 
tering in the wind, and of any 
colors usual to little flags. It is fastened upon 
an iron rod, (or wooden staff if the size he great) 
and this is attached to a cylinder of brass which 
moves loosely upon the pole, and is supported by 
a ring that is fast to the pole. At its lower end 
the rod to which the fly is attached, is stayed to 
the pole by means of a loose ring and wire. 
The top of the pole may be protected by a fer¬ 
rule or cap of any kind. A star and cres¬ 
cent may be constructed by any good tinsmith. 
Humbugs—Immense Sums Saved. 
During the past five years, this journal has ex¬ 
posed about two hundred swindling schemes. 
We have positive evidence showing how and where 
these exposures have saved to the country from 
a million to a million and a half dollars, and 
there is little doubt that the real saving has been 
more than ten millions! For example, one 
operator had distributed 1,200,000 pamphlets by 
mail through the country, describing a humbug 
seed in a very taking manner, and so well as¬ 
sured was he of success, that he contracted for 
100,000 seed bags, for each of which he expect¬ 
ed to receive $3. Just as the sale began vigor¬ 
ously, the scheme was shown up in the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist , which goes to nearly every 
town and Post Office in the United States and 
Territories, and to the greater part of the British 
Provinces. Some one in each neighborhood 
was thus set on guard, and he communicated 
with his neighbors. The result was, the swind¬ 
ler took only the 13,000 bags already made, and 
did not dispose of all of these. He actually 
estimated his loss by the Agriculturist at over 
$200,000, which was of course saved to the coun¬ 
try, direct, to say nothing of the expense of 
freight, loss of time, labor, and use of soil, had 
the seeds been purchased, which would have 
been three or four times as much more. Anoth¬ 
er operator threatened to sue the Publisher for 
$40,000 lost to Mm by having his scheme ex¬ 
posed. He was invited to “ go ahead.” He has 
contented himself, however, with dogging our 
steps, and with somewhat extended efforts to 
destroy the reputation of this paper, which by 
the way has crossed his track two or three times 
since, just as lie started out on a new swindling 
enterprise. We could particularize many dther 
illustrations. The fact is, the exposures and 
warnings in this journal have so opened the 
eyes of the people at large, and made them so 
suspicious of a certain class of circulars and ad¬ 
vertisements, that during a year or two past we 
have had little occasion to go into particular 
details. Lotteries, lottery and chance schemes, 
mining companies, etc., are still in vogue, and 
catch enough of the unreading, class to do a 
moderately prosperous business, but we shall 
soon root out even these—as soon as we can get 
this paper into every family where it ought to 
go. The trouble is, that many of those "who 
most need its teachings and warnings, are the 
very last to take it. But even such persons are 
benefited by the general information diffused and 
the public opinion created. The above is only a 
single item in the work of the Agriculturist , a 
negative work intended to save money, time, 
and annoyance—without taking into account 
the positive useful information given in regard 
to the work of the Farm, Garden, and Household. 
The other Side. —During the past five years 
the circulation of the Agriculturist has ranged 
from 50,000 up to 100,000 (now), or five million 
copies in all, and these have cost the country 
about $350,000 all told, in sums of 80 cents to 
$1 for each subscriber, annually. So much only 
is to be set off against the millions the paper 
has saved negatively, and the untold millions it 
has positively added to the wealth and comfort 
of its readers. One can now scarcely go into a 
village in the country where there are not one 
or more gardens neatly laid out and supplied 
with necessaries and luxuries that have sprung 
up from the influence of the Agriculturist. 
Our Pay. —The paper, while meeting its 
own expenses, has cost an immense amount of 
labor, thought and care. But we have stored 
up a rich treasure of satisfaction, and shall keep 
on in the old way. If we can save the people 
so many millions of hard earned dollars which 
would otherwise go to support vagabond sharp¬ 
ers, and if we can do something towards bet¬ 
tering the condition of our race, something to 
make their labors more effective, to make their 
homes more attractive, and their hearts better, 
we shall die rich, even should we leave behind no 
more gilded dust of our own than constituted 
the entire wealth of the Jewish woman.—O. J. 
“Sheep—Grub in the Head.” 
A correspondent of the American Agricul¬ 
turist “A. P. J.,” of Grant Co., Wis., differs 
essentially from other writers on this sub¬ 
ject. However, he tells simply what he has 
seen and experienced, and if it topples over old 
theories, all the better. Theories that can not 
stand contact with facts are not worth much. 
Mr. J. writes: “ In the August number I see 
an article with the above title, which contains 
the quite common notion that the egg is depos¬ 
ited by the fly in the nose , and that as soon as 
hatched, it ascends, etc. How, watch the gad¬ 
fly carefully, and you will see it light on the 
sheep just above and a little forward of the 
eye. At that place it is an easy matter to stick 
a common pin through the pelt and thin bone 
into a cavity in the head. This cavity is, be¬ 
yond any possibility of mistake, the breeding 
place for the grub, for from a single cavity, I 
have frequently taken six to twelve grubs, in 
all stages, from near maturity to so imperfect a 
state as to be entirely incapable of moving 
themselves about.—About 15 years ago, while 
living in Wyoming Co., N. Y., I lost about one 
sheep in ten by the “grub.” The heads of nearly 
all were dissected, and in every one grubs were 
in the brain —in some cases half a dozen of them— 
while from ten to fifteen remained in the cavi¬ 
ties near the eyes. About the same proportion 
of sheep died all through the neighborhood. 
At the next shearing I bedaubed the forehead 
(face) of each sheep with tar, and about the mid¬ 
dle of July renewed it. The result was, that I 
did not lose one sheep out of eighty the next 
spring. Others who tarred the noses lost many. 
The above statements are facts. I have no 
theory to defend. I could never catch the fly 
that plagues the sheep from the middle of July 
until about the last of August, and do not know 
whether or not it has a borer , like the seventeen- 
year locust, through which to deposit its eggs. 
But this I do know, there is a cavity forward of 
the sheep’s eyes, as large as the end of one’s 
thumb, where the bone covering is not thicker 
than the paper I am writing on, and that the 
grub is found in this cavity as late as in March, 
in such an imperfect slate as to be unable to 
move itself up or down, or out. It would be a 
good thing if farmers as well as others had 
fewer theories and more eyes for facts.” 
A Convenient Smoke-house. 
A good smoke-house should be found upon 
every farm, large or small, and there are many 
other families besides those of farmers which 
would equally be benefited by one. The object 
is to be able to expose meats to the action of 
creosote and the empyreumatic vapors result¬ 
ing from the imperfect combustion of wood, 
etc. The peculiar taste of smoked meat is given 
by the creosote, which is also the preservative 
principle, but sundry flavors, agreeable to those 
who like them, are also imparted by other sub¬ 
stances in the smoke. All that is necessary for 
a smoke-house, is a room, from the size of a bar¬ 
rel to that of a barn, which can be filled with 
smoke and shut up tight, with conveniences for 
suspending the articles to be smoked. In com¬ 
mon smoke-houses the' fire is made on a stone 
slab in the 
middle of the 
floor. In others 
a pit is dug, say 
a foot deep, in 
the ground and 
here the fire is 
placed ; some¬ 
times a stone 
slab covers the 
fire at the liight 
of a common 
table. This is a 
good plan for 
all kinds ot interior of smoke house. 
smoke-houses, as it diffuses the rising smoke, 
and prevents the direct heat of the fire affecting 
the meats hanging immediately above. Anoth¬ 
er plan, engraved above, is a little more expen¬ 
sive, but if properly made, highly approved. 
The house we show a section of, is 8 feet square, 
and built of brick. If of wood it should be plast¬ 
ered on the inside. It has a chimney, B, with 
an eight inch flue; a fire place, C, is on the out¬ 
side below the level of the floor. From this a 
flue, F, is carried under the chimney into the 
middle of the floor where it opens under a stone 
table, E. In kindling the fire a valve is drawn 
directing the draft up the chimney. The green 
chips or cobs are thrown on, and the valve 
then placed so as to throw the smoke into the 
house. Both in the upper and lower parts of 
the chimney there are also openings, G, closed by 
valves regulated from the outside. The door 
has to be made to shut very close, and all parts 
of the building must be as tight as possible. The 
advantage of such a house as this over others 
is, that the smoke is cooled considerably before 
it is admitted; no ashes rise with the smoke; 
meats may be kept in it the year round, and not 
very much smoked either, for the smoking may 
be occasionally renewed, so as to keep the flies 
