106 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[Aniji, 
Sheep and B''eiiees>. —A “ Connecticut” 
corvespondent who approves of dog laws and their rigid 
enforcement, writes feeiingiy in regard to his neighbors’ 
sheep, which range ids rye fieids, and feed down ids pas¬ 
tures, bringing good returns to tiieir owners, but none to 
those who pasture them. This we agree is not fair. In 
fact the whole theory of making farmers fence their 
farms, adjoining proprietors doing half the fencing, is un¬ 
fair and wrong. Every man should fence in ids own 
animals or control them in some w'ay. It is unjust to 
make any man fence out his neigiibor’s cattle on tlie 
highway or anywiiere eise. The laws enforcing it are 
arbitrary, not naturally right, and should be changed. 
WoItcs and <jJop!icrs.—J. Molony, Jr., 
Dubuque Co., Iowa, finds tliat he does not succeed in 
destroying these enemies by means of stryclinine. Can 
any one give him a better remedy ? Will the Kansas 
contributor send on the drawing of his goplier trap ? 
IVImiiire for a ®arden.— “ O. W.” and 
several otliers ask about fertilizers for a garden, as lliey 
object to stable manure on account of the weeds it brings 
in. Spent hops and the barley sprouts from breweries 
are both good manures. Where circumstances will allow, 
home-made poudrette sliould be made. Hen manure 
will be useful for many strong growing plants. Bruce’s 
manure has a good reputation, but we have not tried it, 
and are very cautious about recommending any fertilizer 
of this kind. Cow manure can be used in the liquid 
state, without danger of bringing in weeds, and ground 
bones are always a strong and valuable manure. 
Willow Frauds.— We continue to hear of 
frauds practised upon farmers by selling common swamp 
Willows for the White (or Gray). Tlie fact tliat when 
the cuttings grow they are recognized as a familiar kind, 
is not, however, proof of fraud, for tliis willovv is com¬ 
mon in many parts of the country—not wild, but grown 
in neglected and swampy pl.aces, or for charcoal. 
Turpentine from Fitcli Fisie.—John 
Haist. The Pitch Pine does not afford a resinous juice 
in sufficient quantity to pay to tap the trees. Some lime 
•go a patent was taken out for distilling the wood, but 
we have not heard of its successful application. 
Sorgliiim in Cliina, — Mr. Governcur 
Emerson, of Pa., stated in the Office of the American 
Agriculturist last month that Rev. Mr. Williams, a .Mis 
sionary in China, wrote in answer to some inquiries oi 
hii own : 1st, that Chinamen do not make sugar from the 
cane and do not even make syrup. 2d, tliat it is largely 
cultivated, the leaves and stalks being used for fodder. 
From the seeds a kind of spirituous drink is made. The 
•talks are also used for thatching buildings, and for fuel. 
It is very extensively used for these purposes, and in 
•oroe sections the people could hardly live without it. 
Reports of the Commissioner of 
Agriculture. —“ How can a man who lias no ac¬ 
quaintance in Washington procure a copy? ” asks “ W.” 
—Answer: Write direct to the Commissioner, by his 
title, and ask for one, giving your own address in full. 
The Cork ©ale.— J. H. Morris, Orange Co., 
N. Y. The tree is a native of Southern Europe and 
Northern Africa, and it is doubtful if it would be hardy 
In the Northern Slates. An experiment was made with 
It in California, and the young trees did well for some 
years, but we have not heard about them recently. The 
bark or cork is taken from the tree once in 7 or 8 years. 
Li’Estragon.—“ J. L.” wishes to know the 
English name of the plant the French call L’Estragon. 
It is Tarragon, a perennial herb, which has aromatic 
leaves used for flavoring salads. It is botanically Arte¬ 
misia Dracitncu/us, and own brother to the Wormwood 
and Soutliernwood, but quite different from either in 
flavor. Thorburn advertises the seeds with a note that 
they are very scarce. The plant is hardy and when 
once obtained may be multiplied by dividing the stools. 
“Parle Row ” not “Parle Place.”— 
Many persons address us at 41 Park Place, and the Office 
1$ sometimes looked for on that -street, instead of on 
Park Row. Park Row runs along Ihe southeastern side 
of City Hall Park, from Broadway at the Astor House 
and Barnum’s Museum, to the Times and Tribune offices, 
where Chatham street begins and extends on to Bowery 
at Chatliam square. Park Row is one of the busiest short 
Mreets in the city. The Office of the American Agricul¬ 
turist is at No 41, adjoining the Daily Times office on 
Printing House .Square, as the triangular space is called 
at the junction of Park Row, Nassau, Spruce and Chat¬ 
ham streets. It is an interesting fact that the first Office 
of tka jouraai was opened 23 years ago in the Basement 
of the buildings occupying the very .site of the present 
magnificent “ Times Building,” the'first floor of which is 
now the Headquarters of our journal. The Office was 
subsequently removed to 189 Water street, where it re¬ 
mained until 1860, when we secured a ten years’ lease of 
the present convenient location. Our business office ex¬ 
tends eighty feet through from Park Row to Nassau 
street, opposite the American Tract Society buildings. 
Our folding, stitching and mailing rooms occupy the 
whole basement—a busy bee-hive the last half of every 
month. The composing (type-setting) is done in upper 
rooms. The stereotyping and press-work are done at 
tlie largest establishment of Ihe kind in the country, we 
believe—tliat of Messrs. John .4. Gray & Green, corner 
of Frankfort and Jacob street, a fourth of a mile east¬ 
ward.-Park Place is a short street beginning at a 
Point on Broadway across the Park, opposite oiir of¬ 
fice, and running westward towards the Hudson River. 
Small 4^1adioI»s IBalbs.- Mr. T. P. 
Nelson, Putnam Co., Pa. The little bulbs, about the 
size of wheat grains, will grow and make large bulbs, but 
according to Rand, they need to be kept out of the 
ground a year, otherwise they are not apt to grow. 
Elecampane as a Weed.— James Mc¬ 
Clure, Logan Co., Oliio, is troubled by Elecampane inliis 
pasture, and wishes to know how to eradicate it. Does 
any one know any better way than to grub it up ? 
Sligf ]\ame for a Seed.—J. G. F., Phila., 
has a package of seed marked, “Pied d’ Alouette vivace 
a grand fleur.” “ Delphinium datum et grandiflorum,” 
and wishes to know if it is anything good to eat. All of 
tills French and Latin stands for two very common kinds 
of Larkspur. Both are perennials for ordinary culture. 
Improving’ IBlacSc Currants.— To the 
writer's taste they need it.—Mrs. C. E. Pond, says it is 
done by pouring boiling water upon them, leaving until 
coni, and then drying, whicli will remove the rank disa¬ 
greeable taste. 
Xlie IScne Plant. — Daniel Bender, AVil- 
liarns Co., Oliio, has received from tlie U. S. Patent Office 
some bene seed, and wislies to know what to do witli it. 
The seeds furnisli oil, but at the Nortli the season is not 
long enough to perfect them. Tlie only use made of tlie 
plant among us is a medicinal one. The fresh leaves 
wlien placed in cold water, render it very thick and ropy, 
like gum water. Two or three leaves will convert a 
tumblerful of water into a mucilaginous drink, which may 
be used instead of gum-arabic, or otlier bland drinks, in 
dysentery and otlier bowel complaints. Sow vvhen the 
ground is warm, and tliin to about 8 inches apart. 
Coffee.— A Boston friend 
informs us that the article called “ Massachuselt’s Cof¬ 
fee,” alluded toon page 38, (February,) is the common 
field bean, universally grown in Great Britain, and 
known there as the “ Egyptian” or “ horse” bean. Our 
informant last spring purchased a pint of these beans for 
half a dollar—not knowing that the bargain was to turn 
out an old acquaintance with a new name. Fifty cents 
would almost purchase a bushel of such ‘coffee’ in 
any English market. 
Everlasting Flowers.—If any one does 
not know how pretty these are, he should see a bouquet 
made from these and ornamental grasses, which iMr. 
James Vick of Rochester has sent us, and wliich now 
adorns our new exhibition tables. The plants are all 
hardy annuals and easily grown, and they make most 
beautiful parlor ornaments. 
A Monstrous Capacity any one must 
have wlio can swallow the statements made in the “Good 
Samaritan,” professedly published by Dr, E. Andrews, 
and sent out by the tliousand for distribution by Post¬ 
masters principally at the West. The “ Doctor’’ ■who 
“edits” tlie concern, offers to do almost any thing for 
money—to cure all disea.ses ; tell how to make soap ; 
pander to licentiousness ; make fraud easy by enabling 
persons to remove ink and signatures from every kind of 
paper by invisible means ; to make ink at one cent a 
gallon ; to do all sorts of impossible things. Humbug! 
** A Cat in Oloves Cnf cites no 
Mice,” runs the old adage, but that was before India 
rubber came into general use. The “ Goodyear Rubber 
Glove Company” manufacture gloves, of which some 
are so thin and elastic that they would be no impediment 
to feline hands. We have received some samples, two 
for gentlemen and two for ladies, designed specially for 
work in the garden. They afford admirable protection 
against wet and cold, and are yet so pliable that one can 
work with them among plants almost as dclicatclv at 
without anything upon the hands. One pair of each 
kind is lined with flannel, for cold weather, for driving, 
etc. These gloves will prove a blessing in one respect, 
at least; they will induce ladies afraid of soiling thalt 
hands to engage more frequently in the liealthful and en¬ 
joyable exercise of working in the garden. Tliey are 
sold at a re.asonable rate, lower titan “ kids”, we believe, 
and can be obtained in the usual places for such articles. 
We advise dealers in seeds, implements, pi,ants, etc., to 
keep a supply, and induce thdtr customers to try them. 
Iliimbiig.—Mart & Co. offer to send for 10 
cents a certificate entitling the liolder to buy a fine goid 
watch, a silk dress, a piano-forte, a gent's vest chain, 
looket, pin, ring, etc., etc., for $1, i/liis ticket draws tlie 
name of such an article from a lot of envelopes contain¬ 
ing them. One might as soon expect to catch a pearl 
oyster witli a pin-hook in 70 feet water on the codfish 
banks, as to get hIs money’s wortli in such a venture. 
Beware of tlie IBipsies’ Cliarms.— 
E. F. Mayo wants to humbug the public by selling them 
“ Secret Charms.” He says tliey are in liquid form, pre¬ 
pared from certain roots, and are to be rubbed on the 
hands and forehead, “ as the forehead is the grand cen¬ 
ter of thought and feeling together with the five senses 
of the human system”—including tasting and he.<iring 
of course ! These wonderful liquids “ make you as it 
were a telegraphic battery to .send out and receive com¬ 
munications of thought” ! For all these wonderful pre¬ 
parations he wants fifteen dollars, which fools, and fools 
only, will perliaps send him, and buy hard experience. 
Howard Association.— This a humbug¬ 
ging concern. One of the letters from a so-called “doc¬ 
tor,” attached to it, has been sent. Aside from the stupidity 
of professing to cure diseases by letter, he recommends 
things -which have no existence under the names he gives 
tliem. He repeats the old story, “ you will consult your 
own interest by obtaining the necessary medicines from 
the .4ssocialion, as but few of them are kept in the common 
drug stores, and I find it impossible to administer them 
successfully unless prepared under my directions.” Of 
course not—and he will send the stuff by mail for $20. 
Of course he will. J. Skillin Hougliton, either drop your 
“ M. D.” or stop writing such nonsense and humbug. 
Earms In Iowa, Rosetvood Piano Fortes, 
Gold Watches, and any quantity of Pistols, Jewelry, elc,, 
are to be sold at $2 to $5 each, provided you get one of D. 
M’Dowell’s Business Cards, containing the right numbers. 
Of course he wants the money in advance. His circular 
comes to us from tlie town of Big Flats, where, being a 
sharper, he had sent it hoping to fleece some of the inhab¬ 
itants ; they were not tlie flats lie took tliem for ; tliey read 
tlie American Agriculturist. 
Sorry to See our neighbors of the Country 
Gentleman and Rural New-Yorker advertising a cheap 
jewelry establishment, where you pay for a certificate 
enclosed in a blank envelope and then buy what tlie 
certificate calls for. Humbugs of this sort should be ex¬ 
posed, not encour.nged, by journals professing to give re¬ 
liable reading to farmers. They have repe.atedly been 
shown up in this paper. 
Vinegar in Cement Cisterns.— Geo. 
Nelly, of Burlington, Iowa, inquires “ if common ce¬ 
ment cisterns will keep cider for vinegar through the 
winter without damage to the cider or cistern ?” They 
will not. The lime in the cement would unite with tlie 
acid of the cider or vinegar, and destroy the solidity of 
the cement, and also spoil the liquid. A large wooden 
tub, about four feet high, and five or six feet in diameter, 
would be quite as cheap and much better. The cider 
needs exposure to the air to change into good vinegar, 
but it should never freeze. 
Keeping' Iron Tessels from Rnst.~ 
“ E, E. M.,” writes that after the vessels are clean and 
dried while still warm, she pours In a little sweet milk, 
rubs it in well, then dries again, will) care not to scorch. 
Sweet Cider.— A. M. Ward, Hartford Co., 
Conn., writes : “ After ye.ars of‘fussing’ with cider to 
‘ make it good’ I have this season found tlie short road to 
perfection. Took cider direct from the press, heated it 
nearly to a scald over tl>e fire, returned it to a barrel, and 
have since made daily use of it with great satisfaction.” 
How to Flant Sorghnm. —J. L. The 
culture of this may be precisely the same as Indian 
corn. When the plants first appear, Ihe leaf is very 
small, and may be mistaken for that of a coarse grass. 
Osier "Willows.—“ Bowring.” These arc 
never raised from seed. Most nurseries supply cutitjig*. 
