1866 .] 
AMERICAN ACRICULTURIST, 
173 
teiy operators, agents, etc. It is just the same as if six 
men put a dollar each into a box to be drawn out by iot. 
If they draw the whole with perfectly fair chances, they 
would stand an equal chance of getting their money 
bade, but if the holder of the box takes out and puts in his 
own pocket $4 of the money, and leaves the who^e six men 
who put in a dollar each, a sixth of a chance at only $2, 
their chance would be a slim one and hardly -on the 
square. Yet this is just what is done in this “Royal 
Havana Lottery ” to those who buy their tickets here at 
“ $40 for whole tickets ; $20 for halves ; $10 for quarters ; 
$5 for eigliths, and $2.50 for sixteenths.”—You pay your 
share of $1,200,000 for the privilege of a chance share in 
§400,000.-And this is about the chance one has in any 
lottery, however much the managers may mystify their 
figures, and it shows how they make such enormous prof¬ 
its, and why they run such risks and struggle so hard 
against just laws. The ticket buyers really have a very 
slim chance at best, or hardly a third of a chance when 
they pay for a whole one—yet the foolish hope that they 
may be successful, and so keep on investing money, be¬ 
cause somebody somewhere has drawn a prize.—A word 
more. What is a man’s chance in the above drawing, 
for example. Only 437 persons in 30,000 can by any pos¬ 
sibility get any prize, that is one person in sixty-nine. 
To pay $40 for one sixty-nintli of a chance to get even 
$200 is not a very promising investment.-Again, there 
are only 44 of the 30,000 ticket buyers, or about 1 in 700 
wito can by any possibility get over $500.—Surely a man 
must liave large faith in his luck to put down $40 for only 
one chance in 700 to get one of the prizes.—Unfortunate¬ 
ly, it is only those who have always been “ unlucky,” 
and are likely to be, and those who do not or can not 
look into the arithmetic of the thing, that will and do 
patronize lotteries. 
'About “Doctors.”— Old subscribers are- 
well aware of our position concerning advertising “ doc¬ 
tors,” but as we get many letters asking about this or 
that one, we presume that our many new readers do not 
understand it. We put all those who set forth their own 
abilities-in print—who give accounts of remarkable 
cures, and who propose to treat cases by mail, in one 
class. They are persons whom we would not employ, 
nor would we advise any one else to do so. We know 
nothing of them individually, for they are not the kind of 
people whose company we seek, and they are very sure 
to keep clear of us. A personal application by letter 
can only bring the reply; we know nothing of the person. 
Fitting^ tlie Journals to Balance 
TYIieels.—A balance wheel which it is necessary to 
lake off from its journal, sliould have its hub bored out 
and the hole made tapering. The journal should have a 
corresponding taper, and a nut on tlie end for securing 
tlie wheel, instead of a key fitting a slot. The taper 
should corre.spond with the hole and should not be more 
than one-eighth of an inch in the diameter of the hub. 
More Ditcliing” Plows. — Those who 
have good ones should advertise them ; we have numer¬ 
ous inquiries. They are little used at the East, and we 
are not sufficiently familiar with the best modern ones to 
recommend any particular plow. 
Caloric Eugines Ibr Farm Use.— 
Dr. “C. H. R..” Springfield, 111. We value so highly a 
steam ioiler on a farm that for our own part we would 
hardly think to inquire into the merits of an engine 
which ran without a boiler. However, for some farms, 
where the steaming of fodder, cooking of hog feed, etc., 
is not now considered desirable, the case is different. If 
any one has used a caloric engine for farm purposes, we 
shall be glad to hear from him concerning its merits. 
It certainly has the advantage of greater portability, 
Staclcing Geer fbr Horse Forlcs.— 
J. P. Dudley, S.an Jose, Cal. We figured an arrangement 
for stacking with a horse fork, (p. 177, June,) in the last 
volume of tlie Agriculturist. There are other good 
plans, however, one of which is simply a pair of tall 
■ shears, guyed so as to have a play each side of the 
I perpendicular of a few, say 4, feet. Two tall poles are 
j chained together at the top where the fork is hung, and 
the blits are spread 12 to 15 feet apart. Oak pins are 
thrust through the buts, about 6 inches from the ends, 
I so that they may easily be shifted along with a crowbar, 
I a few feet at a time, as the stack grows. Some 8 feet in 
I length of the stack is made at once ; then the shears are 
j shifted. This makes a long stack. 
Corn Markers. —These implements are al- 
I most always home-made. So we give some hints about 
I them almost every year, for corn ought to be planted in 
' very true rows. We gave an engraving and description 
of an excellent one last year (p. 149, May). An improve¬ 
ment is suggested by P. L. Thompson, of Morris Co., N. 
J. The marker consists of three runners, the outside 
ones being movable on the cross pieces, to mark rows 
different distances ap.irt. -A pole is hinged in the middle 
and falls on either side, and to this a chain is attached, 
where it will mark the path of one of the outside run¬ 
ners in coming back. Mr. T. suggests that the chain 
track ought to be made for the middle runner to follow, 
for the driver in this case would have only to look ahead. 
A Convenient Xool Sled.— Every farmer 
should have one or more tool sleds, according to the 
number of teams employed on the farm, as they are far 
more convenient for transporting plows, harrows, and 
many other implements to and from the field, than 
wheeled vehicles. The illustration herewith given re¬ 
presents one of these sleds. There are two pieces of 
hard wood scantling, two inches wide, four inches thick, 
and eight feet long, with the forward ends dressed off on 
the under side like a sleigh runner, and chamfered as 
shown at the rear end, so that the sled will pass over 
obstructions more easily tlian if the bottom were straiglit. 
Hard-wood planks, 1% inches thick and three feet long, 
are pinned, bolted, or spiked to the runners, and upon 
these 2X3 strips (raves) should be nailed. Four or five 
carriage bolts should pass through the runners, planks 
and raves on eacli side, and as the wood shrinks, the nuts 
should be screwed up tight. A clevis may be taken from 
a plow and attached to the forward end, as shown by the 
illustration, or a clasp and ring may be bolted on rigidly. 
When making such a sled, those parts of the runners, 
planks and raves, which are brought in contact with each 
other, shouid be well smeared with coal tar to exclude 
water, which will cause rapid decay if permitted to enter 
the seams. The advantages of such a sled over a wagon, 
or cart, are, that it can be employed for hauling stones, 
stumps, sods, and manure for short distances, and boys 
can load plows, harrows, or bags of grain on it, when 
they would not be able to put such things on a wagon or 
cart: and more than all, the injurious exposure of 
wheeled vehicles to storms and sunshine is thus avoided. 
When a team is driven to the field to plow’, no vehicle is 
more convenient than such a sied for carrying all neces¬ 
sary tools, extra plow points, the water jug, etc. 
Xlie Miniature Frnit-Garden. — 
By Thomas Rivers.—This is a reprint of a work by one 
of the most widely known fruit-growers in the world. 
It has been reproduced entire from the I3th London edi¬ 
tion. Every one who grows fruit trees in the garden 
will find in this some useful hints, and it contains the most 
complete directions for treating dwarf trees as dwarfs, of 
any book with which we are acquainted. Price, $1.00. 
Garden Culture of tlie Xomato.— 
Tomatoes grown in field culture, lie about without any 
supports, but in the'garden the plants pay well for the 
trouble of training. In former numbers we have given 
several trellises and supports, and we now give the plan 
followed by the French gardeners, which they claim 
gives very early and large fruit, as well as abundant 
crops. The plants are started in the usual way under 
glass, and at the proper 
season are set out, each 
one being furnished with 
a single stake about six 
feet high. The plant, as 
it grows, is tied to the 
stake. When the first 
cluster of blossom buds 
appears, the lateral shoots 
which appear in the axil 
of each leaf below it, are 
carefully pinched out, 
leaving but a single stem, 
surmounted by a cluster 
of flowers, and a bud 
which will serve to con¬ 
tinue the stem. This bud 
will develop three leaves 
and a cluster of flowers, 
and all the axillary 
shoots upon it are remov¬ 
ed, and the stem is kept 
carefully tied up ; and so on. The vine is kept to a 
single stem, without branches, and bearing only leaves 
and clusters of fruit. The writer who describes this 
method in the Revue Horticole, states that he gets an 
average of 60 large tomatoes from each plant, and that 
their greater earliness brings him a price which pays 
well for the increased trouble over ordinary culture. 
The same writer has a plan for covering his plants, 
when first put out, to protect them from late frosts and 
cool nights, which will be readily understood from the 
figure. A double handful of straw, -with the buts evened, 
is placed around the stake in the form of a cone, tied, 
and the upper ends bent down and tied again. This, 
when closed, forms a shelter which may be opened 
in the dav time toward the south, and closed at night. 
Milk for Children — Not al'ways 
Good.— We have long thought it not best to use, espec¬ 
ially for young children, the milk from breeding cows. 
Analysis, by Lasigne, showed that as cows approach 
calving time, their milk is essentially changed in its con¬ 
stituents, being deficient in caseine and milk sugar, and 
abounding in albumen and uncombined soda. From 
what is well known in regard to the human subject, we 
might well infer that milk of breeding cows is not whole¬ 
some. Our own practice, for ten years past, has been 
to keep a farrow cow specially for supplying milk for 
our children. A second rate, but healthy cow, one not 
loo valuable to slaughter, is kept for this purpose, and 
after 6 to 10 months, according to her milking capacity, 
she is dried up and fattened for the butcher, and a new 
milk cow substituted. The fattened cow about pays for 
the fresh one, so that this involves little extra expense, 
and the result upon the little ones certainly seems to be 
favorable. This is of course more important where in¬ 
fants are wholly brought up by hand, and we commend 
the subject to those thus situated. The matter is dis¬ 
cussed more fully in the Agriculturist for February, 1856 
(Vol. XV, page 117).—Unfortunately we have not a copy 
of that date to supply. 
Coal Xar on Walls.— E. C. Hubbard, 
Erie Co., N. Y. Coal Tar on the outside of a brick wall, 
will not prevent its absorbing water from below. But 
probably in laying a brick wall, coal tar might be so in¬ 
corporated with the mortar, that a few courses laid in 
this tar mortar would be an effectual barrier to the ascent 
of moisture from the ground. Perhaps, even bricks 
might be dipped in tar and laid so as not to weaken the 
wall. Asphaltum has been used for mortar ever since 
the town of Babel was built — at least it was used there, 
and has stood very well, considering the circumstances. 
Xhe Fractical Entomologfist.— This 
little sheet is very cleverly conducted, and endeavors to 
be, as its name indicates, “practical.” It was started by 
some enthusiastic naturalists upon the plan of sending it 
free to all who would remit postage. Its circulation 
being much larger than was anticipated, and involving 
an unexpected amount of labor, its publishers have wisely 
concluded to charge 50 cents a year hereafter. Send 
subscriptions to E. T. Cresson, 518 South 13th-st., Phila. 
Tegetable Queries.— “A. L. G.,” Jasper, 
Tenn. Martynia is exclusively for pickles, the ripe fruit 
being used. The plant is figured on page 113, and direc¬ 
tions for pickles given on page 104 of the Agriculturist 
for April 1864. Chervil. Of this there are two kinds, the 
common Chervil, of which the leaves are used for flavor¬ 
ing in the same manner as Parsley, and the Parsnip Cher¬ 
vil, which has an eatable root and is cooked like the po¬ 
tato. This last is sown in September or October, the 
same as carrots, and is ready to harvest the next year in 
August. Cauliflower is raised like cabbage ; the head is 
boiled tender in water, and dressed with drawn butter. 
A Musical Feople.—Music in the house¬ 
hold is something more than a luxury. It refines, ele¬ 
vates and soothes, while affording unexceptionable pleas¬ 
ure. A growing taste for it is an encouraging indication 
of healthy growth in civilization. The Internal Rev¬ 
enue Taxes, returned by the principal manufacturers of 
Cabinet Organs, Harmoniums, Melodeons, and similar 
instruments, for the months of October, November and 
December, 1865, are of interest as showing the amount 
of business done in a single branch of the trade. The 
whole aggregate of Pianos and other musical instru¬ 
ments sold annually in this country must be immense. 
The total taxes paid were reported as follows : Mason 
& Hamlin, $6,382.92 ; Geo. A. Prince & Co., $3,139.86 ; 
S. D. & H. W. Smith, $2,522.76 ; Carhart, Needham & 
Co., $2,177.16 , Estey & Co., $1,218.18 ; X. Spang, $987.42 ; 
Taylor & Farley, $933.07 ; B. Shoninger Melodeon Co., 
$925.66; Peloubet & Son, $898.14 ; Jewett & Goodman, 
$771.72 ; Treat & Linsley, $769.20; Kinnard, Dreher & 
Co., $498.72 ; A. C. Chase, $436.08 ; H. R. Phelps, $343.80, 
or a total of over $22,000 paid by these firms alone on 
melodeons. This is 5 per cent, on $440,000. The value 
of Pianos made is of course vastly greater. 
