1866.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
49 
to send on the particulars of his own experience, and 
that of others which may'be reliable. Attested affidavits 
^•uld be desirable also. Our request includes all clas¬ 
ses of swindlers—jewelry dealers, gift enterprises, lot¬ 
teries, book or map publishers, inkless pens, gift parcels, 
commission merchants, etc., etc. We have now a Mayor 
and police officers who will lend a willing hand to a 
determined effort to stop or curtail the humbug ope¬ 
rators, or drive them elsewhere at least.—A Suggestion; 
If every one sending money would send a bank draft, 
orP. O. order, payable to the order of the party remitted 
to, the reception and endorsement of the draft would 
furnish evidence, sufficient to convict any swindler. 
Sontitern Agricultural «?onrnalg. 
—As an indication of returning prosperity to the South¬ 
ern States, we are glad to note the appearance of South¬ 
ern agricultural papers. The Southern Cultivator, pub¬ 
lished at Athens, Ga., has already been referred to, and 
we now have the first number of the Farmer, published 
by Elliot & Shields, Richmond, Va. It is in the mag¬ 
azine form, containing 48 pages besides advertisements, 
and gives evidence of ability in its management. The 
Southern Ruralist, a weekly, is edited and published by 
II. A. Swasey, M. D., at Amite City, La. Its first ,num¬ 
ber is mainly devoted to Southern horticulture. We wish 
all these enterprises much success. 
Catalogues, etc., Keceived.—Trans¬ 
actions Illinois State Horticultural Society for 1864.... 
Illustrated Catalogue and Floral Guide, from James Vick, 
Rochester, N. Y., a very clever specimen of catalogue 
making_Premiums awarded at-the Oregon State Fair, 
1865 ; a neat pamphlet containing besides the premiums, 
several addresses and essays, and all showing a most 
creditable state of agricultural prosperity in our far-off 
sister State_Addresses before the Pennsylvania Stale 
Agricultural Society, at its exhibition in 1865, by Hon. Ed¬ 
gar Cowan & Wra. H. Allen, L. L. D.A fine engrav¬ 
ing of the Israella Grape, natural size, Doct. C. W. 
Grant ...Transactions Indiana State Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, January 1866_Journal of the Cincinnati Horti¬ 
cultural Society, September and October, 1865.De¬ 
scriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees, etc., Barnes & Kelly, 
Coal Creek (Kansas) Nursery. 
Plants Named.,—A. J. Nash, Fairflelcl Co., 
Conn. The little evergreen is Lycopodium liicidulum, 
one of the Club-mosses, one species of which was 
described in January_G. Hurd, Erie Co., Pa. Do- 
decatheon Meadia, American Cowslip or Shooting Star. 
You are right in valuing it as a garden plant; it is more 
common at the West_“ Subscriber,” Forest Hill. The 
leaf is apparently that of some Cassia; the grass is 
iluhlenbsTgia Mexicana, Mexican Drop-seed. We never 
knew it to be troublesome in cultivated grounds. Its 
strong scaly root-stock indicates that it would be difficult 
to eradicate. It would probably yield to the treat¬ 
ment advised for Couch grass in November last. 
Xhings we Cannot do.— We cannot un¬ 
dertake to answer questions about plants or insects 
which are merely described by our correspondents. They 
should send good specimens. Nor can we readily de. 
termine plants from the leaves only. 
Ouesses at Plants.—We have several 
times requested our friends, who send specimens, to take 
a little pains with them and give us some material from 
which to determine the plants. The best we can do with 
poor .specimens and single leaves is, to guess, and it is 
often the case that not enough is sent to even guess at_ 
“Subscriber,” Philadelphia. Your vine may be Cy- 
nanchum nigrum, one of the Asclepias or Milk Weed 
Family. Send the flowers next summer_A. V. D. B. 
The leaf looks like what was sent out as Variegated B-alm. 
Never saw the flower and therefore cannot give the 
botanical name_T. F. Brady, Minn. We cannot guess 
what the plants inquired about are_D. Blair, Hunting¬ 
don, Pa. The grass referred to as restraining the blow¬ 
ing sands is probably Sea-Sand-Reed, Calamagrostis 
arenarm.. common on our coasts and on the shores of the 
great lakes. We do not know of the seed being for sale. 
_Sarah M., North Haven, Conn. Probably the leaf of 
the Balsam Apple, Momordica Balsamima, sometimes 
cultivated in gardens. 
Scndin" Plamts by Mail.—M. T. Greg- 
ary, St. Croix Co., Wis., asks us to call the attention of 
nurserymen to the importance of better packing the 
plants they send by mail, and gives several instances in 
which he received only dried leaves and sticks in return 
for his money. It is a difficult matter to fix upon the best 
plan for all plants. In warm weather the plants will heat 
if kept close, and dryout if exposed. The use of wooden 
boxes for strawberry plants, when only a few- were sent 
in each, was quite satisfactory. We recently had some 
plants from Washington Territory come in good order 
by mail. They were in a tin box, which had holes 
punched in the cover, and were packed in plenty of 
moss. Probably there would be less complaint, if dealers 
put fewer plants in a parcel and used more moss. 
Dcatbof an Ag^riciilturaL Slditor.— 
Prof. James J. Mapes, the founder and until quite recent¬ 
ly editor of the Working Farmer, died in this city January 
10th, at the age of 60 years. 
ISeport of the department of Agri¬ 
culture.— Several inquire how they can get the report. 
Write to the Commissioner, or to your Representative in 
Congress, and ask for it. 
Mis “System.” —A contemporary or tem¬ 
porary sheet, has a powerful leader, written to show the 
superiority of his paper over others. It opens thus ; 
“ Our system of making a good practical and reliable 
agricultural and horticultural paper, is not as some edi¬ 
tors do, to refuse to publish anything, unless it comes to 
them original! ” That is almost as good as the Portugese 
sailor’s grammar, w-hena piratical craft was approaching 
his ship, he asked : “ What do her want of we, us want 
nothing of she.” 
Anonymous Communications. —Let¬ 
ters giving information of any kind, and especially those 
criticising articles which we have published, or intended 
to throw doubt on statements which we have made, 
ought always to be signed with the true name of the 
writer. We may wish to write to him and ascertain the 
facts accurately, for we are always ready to change out- 
views if we are wrong—and to say so if it will do any 
good. We are virtually debarred from investigation if 
our correspondents only sign “ H. T.”, “ A. H. S.”, or 
similar initials, or nommes de plume. 
Ireverit tite Picture. —All must have 
noticed and admired the beautiful engravings given last 
month. The one on page 20 presents a new phase (not 
intended), on looking at it up-side down. Thus seen, the 
turkeys appear like soldiers (Turcos,) in line of battle, 
with the shells bursting in their front. 
due Sausages.— A box of sausages, re¬ 
ceived from Canaan, Columbia Co., N. Y., in season for 
New- Year's day, were as good as the best “country 
home-made,” we have ever eaten—the meat just lean 
enough—not mixed with lumps of fat—cut fine and very 
uniformly—well, but not over-seasoned. We would 
like to publish the directions, though we suppose these 
will hardly be furnished by the maker. Geo. E. Lovejoy, 
as we understand he makes a speciality of providing 
such sausages for the market. 
Sliaver’s Pencil SUarpener is con¬ 
venient for artists and others, who use pencils withmov- 
able leads, also for sharpening slate pencils. 
Ives’ SSeroseme i.amps, of two or three 
forms, we have found very convenient. In the hanging 
pattern the lamp is readily drawn down from the chimney, 
for lighting or trimming, and in the table and wall lamps 
the chimney turns down upon the side. 
Mefective Letters of ome May.—In 
over a hundred thousand letters received at this office 
annually, it is not surprising that there should be some 
errors on the part of the writers, yet it would save us 
much annoyance, and some unjust discredit, if people 
would be more careful. Here is one d.ay’s record of 
defects in 583 letters, viz. : 2 letters w-ith money but no 
signatures ; 2 letters w-ith no place of date ; 2 with State 
not given ; 1 with no State, and no legible post-mark on 
the outside ; 1 with no post-office ; 1 with the County but 
no P. O.; 1 with the “ given” name only, but no surname ; 
1 with several bills and currency notes all counterfeit ; 
2 with the letters unsealed but the money safe (a temp¬ 
tation to post-masters) ; 1 with money said to be inclos¬ 
ed, but left out by mi.stake, as the envelope had evident¬ 
ly not been opened since first sealed. This is an unusual 
record (1 letter in 42 defective), but almost every day 
brings one or more such, and the Publishers are blamed 
for not responding, when they have no clue to tlie address 
of the writer. How' many letters miscarry from similar 
errors in the superscription, tlie,clerks in the Dead Letter 
Office can best explain. 
E>o Sign Yonr Name.—We never publish 
a name when requested not to do so, nor when the writer 
indicates by initials, or otherwise, the signature he pre¬ 
fers to have published ; but we often wish to communi¬ 
cate with the writer, and sometimes have articles we 
should use, had we the means of identifying the author. 
A statement has but little value when it comes anony¬ 
mously. Will “ Henry,” whose letter is post marked 
Reading, Mass., let us know who he is ? 
Tlie S. S. ^^ucstion Mooks, entitled 
“Lessons for every Sunday in the Year,” continue to re¬ 
ceive m^ny favorable commendations, and are about 
equaiiy used by all Christian Denominations. The series 
is completed— No. 1. On the Four Gospels and Acts; 
No. 2. On the rest of tlie New Testament; No. 3. 
From Adam to Elijah; No. 4. From Elijah to Christ. 
Price 15 cents each ; $1.50 per dozen ; $12 per 100. If 
sent by mail, 3 cents each extra, in packages of ten or 
more ; and 4 cents each, when less then ten are sent. 
Four sample copies (No. 1,2, 3, and 4), for exami¬ 
nation, mailed post-paid, for 65 cents. 
Excellent: Books.— The list on page 44 
gives the title and price of most of the books publislied 
on Farm and Garden work. Many of these are very 
good.—To sum up answers to a multitude of letters of 
inquiry, we may say that the following will certainly dis¬ 
appoint no one desiring first-rate books on the the topics 
indicated;— American Weeds and Plants; Barry's Fruit 
Garden; Downing’s Landscape Gardening and Rural 
Architecture; Downing’s Fruits and Fruit Trees of Amer¬ 
ica; Flax Culture; French’s Farm Drainage; Flint on. 
Cows; Flint on Grasses; Fuller’s Grape Culturist; Fuller’s 
Strawberry Culturist; Harris’ Insects; Herbert's Hints to 
Horsekeepers; Mayhem’s Horse Doctor; Onion Culture; 
Quinby’s Mysteries of Bee-keeping- {entirely new edition 
just out); Rural Register; Rural Annual; Saunder’s Do¬ 
mestic Poultry {new); Skillful Housewife; Tobacco Cul¬ 
ture; Watson’s American Home Garden; Youman’s House¬ 
hold Science, etc., etc. The prices of these, and of other 
books, may be found on page 44. Every family, almost, 
would find the money required to purchase such books 
a paying investment. 
Potatoes Mixing^ in tke Mill.— Tobias 
Marten, Mercersburgh, Pa., sends a red and yellow sweet 
potato, which grew on the same vine, and asks, if they 
will help decide the question whether potatoes will mix 
in the hill. It helps very much to decide that they will 
not mix in the hill, for it disposes of the only argument 
of the advocates of mixing. The mixers claim that when 
potatoes of different colors are found in the same hill, 
it is caused, by a mixing through the blossom. Now, 
here is a case of two distinct colors from a sweet potato, 
which never blossoms at the North. How will the ad¬ 
vocates of mixing explain this ? We regard these in¬ 
stances as sports, which are due to some cause which is 
not understood, and probably never will be any more than 
why we have white black birds. These sports in color oc¬ 
cur in leaves, stems and flowers without exciting any great 
wonder, or any suspicion of mixing ; but when a sport 
happens to take place below ground, we are asked to ac¬ 
cept the most improbable reasons for it. 
Potatoes—^Piantingf Single Eyes.— 
Abel Stedman, of Herkimer Co., N. Y., says, that for 
four years he has practised using only large seed cut to 
single eyes,planted 2'K feet apart each way, 4 inches deep, 
and cultivated flat. With Garnet Chili his result this 
season was only one bushel of small potatoes to eleven 
large, the product of a single hill (one eye) being in one 
case five pounds, all large potatoes. 
Oak “Knots” good for Mom 
Knobs.— Hiram Holt, of Windham Co., Conn., writes, 
that he has been in the habit of using the great black 
knotty excrescences which grow often on the black oak, 
and are vulgarly called “ nigger-heads,” for making horn 
knobs, and thinks they are much better titan if made of 
any of the woods mentioned on page 13. He saws out 
rectangular blocks of the right size, turns out the knobs 
and applies them about as we directed. The knobs 
outlast the lives of the animals. 
Sew and Bip.— One of the nufsery legends 
told us about the good old lady who “knit all day to 
hear it purr at night.” Many happy possessors of sew¬ 
ing m,achines in these days are so pleased with them that 
they would perhaps sew all day, if cloth was not so dear, 
or if they could rip the stitches out as easily as the old 
lady unraveled her stockings. This fortunately, perhaps 
unfortunately, is not the case with most of the good ma¬ 
chines, though it can be done with those making the chain 
stitch, and this is often claimed as an advantage. The 
matter is of no consequence, however, to any one pos¬ 
sessing a little implement invented by W. A. Fitch, which 
he calls a “ Ripper.” One of them was tried at home 
before we accepted an advertisement of it, and has since 
been used with a good deal of satisfaction. With a little 
practice it can be run rapidly along a seam and sever 
the stitches fast£r than a rapid machine can make them. 
