1866.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
277 
New Horticultural Books. 
' Orange Judd & Co,, Publishers, announce the follow¬ 
ing new and iniportatit works, which will be issued as 
soon as practicable : 
American Pomology. —Part I. The Apple. 
By Boot. J. A. Warder. The announcement that the 
first installment of Doct. Warder’s long promised work on 
Pomology is already in the publislieis’ hands will be re¬ 
ceived with pleasure by all fruit growers. Our present 
fruit books are all behind the time, and a work that shall 
post up our present stale of knowledge concerning litem, 
especially with regard to the apple, is much needed. Our 
poinologisls will agree that Doct. Warder is of all others 
the man to supply the want, and will be glad to learn that 
the results of his large experience and extended observa¬ 
tions are to be made accessible to otliers. 
Barry’s Fruit Garden. —The work bearing tliis 
title, by P. Barry, of the Mount Hope Nurseries, Ro¬ 
chester, N. Y.. has long been the standard, and indeed the 
only work of its kind. It will be entirely revised with 
such additions as the progress of horticulture may require. 
Practical and Scientilic Gardening.— By 
Win. N. White, Editor of the Southern Cultivator,- 
Athens, Ga. This is a completely re-written work, upon 
the plan of Gardening for the South, by the same author. 
While especially adapted to tlie States south of Virginia, 
its utility will not be confined to that section of the 
country. It will include all the various departments of 
gardening. Now in hand. 
'JPUe Small Fruit Culturist.— By A. S, Fuller, 
Woodside Nursery, Ridgewood, N. J. The practical 
and scientific character of Mr. Fuller’s Grape Culturist 
caused it to take at once tlie position of a standard work. 
The other small fruits will in this book be treated in the 
same manner, and we predict for it an equal popularity. 
market and Family Gardeuiiig.— By a New 
Jersey Market Gardener. Tnis work was briefly an¬ 
nounced last month. There is no book in the country 
upon managing a garden for profit, and we are glad to 
be able to meet a long existing want, by presenting one 
from one of our most clear and practical writers and ex¬ 
perienced and successful cultivators. 
It is with much satisfaction that we announce these 
contributions to horticultural literature. We have others 
in contemplation w liich we are not yet prepared to name. 
These works will all be fully illustrated and produced in 
a neat and serviceable style. We do not propose to issue 
works of reference for practical men, in fancy paper, 
binding, and price, which put them beyond the reach of 
all but the wealthy*, but to give good substantial books, 
to be used rather than to be looked at, illustrated with 
engravings which sliall aim to be correct, as well as ar¬ 
tistic, and at a price that shall render them accessible to 
the general public. 
At the “N. \. Farmers’ Club,” the Barometer has been 
condemned, first, by one farmer who thought the barom¬ 
eter was something designed to make w eather ; 2d, by a 
reporter who pronounced the rules and observations of 
all really scientific men as ‘-all utterly fallacious,” and 
3d, by another reporter who talked much about experi¬ 
ence, and observation, but who by his own confe.ssion, 
had never tried a good mercurial barometer. So much 
for the opinion of the farmers of the Club. On tlie con¬ 
trary, we have the united testimony of all the leading sci¬ 
entific men of this country, and the world over, that the 
barometer is exceedingly valuable to indicate approach¬ 
ing clianges in the weather, which it does with a great 
degree of certainty. A sea-captain would be considered 
as utterly incompetent,who should go on a voyage without 
a barometer to indicate approaching storms, and these 
are governed by similar laws on land and sea, not always 
the same. The Smithsonian Institution is constantly 
having recorded, in all pans of the country, the fluctua¬ 
tions of the barometer, and the tens of ihousands of ob¬ 
servations thus gathered, show the intimate connection 
of the rise and fall of the mercury, and va.riations of the 
weather.—We have watched the barometer for many 
years, and seldom if ever knew a change from wet to dry, 
or the reverse, that was not indicated by a rise or fall of 
the meicuiy. And most Of these changes are gov'ern- 
ed liy definite rules, upon which alt scientilic men have 
agreed. There are local or general exceptions to these 
rules, as w hen the atmospheric pressure is modified by the 
direction or velocity of the wind. But these are only 
exceptions, which careful observers must necessarily 
learn partly by experience, and must take into account. 
We assert positively and without fear of successful refu¬ 
tation by the *■ Farmers’ Club,” or others, that any care¬ 
ful, observant man, who wiil riglitly watch a good ba¬ 
rometer, will soon learn to predict the approach of wet 
or dry vicnlli.?!-, from two to twenty hours in advance, in 
a very large ... Mority of cases, A wateh is useless to a 
savage who can’t tell the time. We repeat unhesitating¬ 
ly, that a barometer is of very great value to every farm¬ 
er or other person, on land or sea, to whom it is import¬ 
ant to be forewarned of the immediate approach of a 
storm. To be most highly useful, it must of course be 
carefully observed. The novice may, and probably will, 
sometimes fail, and the careless man will often do so, 
owing to the occasional exceptions to general rules 
w'Llch he may not have learned to provide for in his cal¬ 
culations ; yet with this drawback, it will be of great 
use to any one who is willing to devote the slightest care 
and attention to the instrument.—It will be useful to oth¬ 
ers, if such of our readers as have used barometers wdll 
send us an account of their successes and failures in re¬ 
lying upon them. We would like the opinion of a real 
‘•Farmers’ Club,” that is, of our agricultural readers 
who can speak from actual experience. We have no 
personal interest in any particular former manufacture, 
but we have latterly commended and placed in our pre¬ 
mium list those made by Charles Wilder and called 
“WoodrufTs Mercurial Barometer,” because its partic¬ 
ular form renders it so portable and convenient, as well 
as for its general good make, and we shall do so again. 
The Aneroid is still more portable, and we continue 
the use of one at home with satisfactory results. But 
owing to complaints that its spring depreciated in elastici¬ 
ty in some cases, we ceased to commend it to general 
use. The permanent character and portability of the 
WoodruflT instrument, impels us to place that above all 
others of similar cost for common use. 
•J 
Containing a great variety of Items, including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form, for want of space elsewhere, 
Sajuidry —Some 300 letters, re¬ 
ceived recently, refer to 28 different swindling concerns, 
of which half or more have been already described by us, 
directly or indirectly. Too many correspondents re¬ 
quest answers by mail to admit of replying in that way. 
Suffice it to say that w hen no answer by letter is received, 
put down the thing inquired about as a humbug. Pray 
don’t send us so much money to try these humbugs with. 
We have returned large amounts,—all that has come. 
If anyboily must try any promising concern, just send the 
tickets to us and we will advance the money, if for a 
good thing, and then send fur it when we gel the prize, 
for such grand prizes as are offered wiil surely be securi¬ 
ty enough to us. This will save risk of sending money 
both ways in 9S)9 cases in 1000 ... When one asks, is such 
and such an enterprise a humbug, our silence means 
” Yes,” in our opinion at least _ One swindler is trying 
to bother us by writing from ditferent points, under as- 
.sumed names, that he has recently forwarded us $.a to 
invest in his concern, and asking us to return tlie money 
or the prize. “ O/d iirds... GAq^.”... That bogus '' Mer¬ 
chants' and Manufacturers' Depository," is still troubling 
a good many people's quiet, by writing that they have 
drawn “$150,” and upw ard, and asking merely the "$5” 
for the ticket; a big swindle! ...Rev. E. Wilson, has a 
twin brother in Brooklyn, Dagnall by name ...Among 
new humbugs, we find Sarah D. Lambert; Morehouse 
& Co.; Thos. II. Scott; and particularly Mackey <k Co., 
who in two sets of tickets otfer several of our subscri¬ 
bers articles valued at near $400.00, all for less than $30 
in cash 1 We have plenty of their tickets of similar im¬ 
port_But space fails to describe a lot more of similar 
character, or to speak of the old ink, vinegar, and otlier 
recipes, selling as something new and valuable ; of Lind¬ 
say & Co., Bain & Co., and Haber & Co., the San 
Fiancisco operators, etc., etc. See items under this 
head in our previous half dozen papers, w hich explain 
the various swindling schemes.-P. S.—July 13th. We 
can't find Mackey & Co., to-day. 
TIieN. Y. litclepeudcut ou Cttljl»as'e 
Seed,—The Independent, in its desire to supply an 
*■ agricultural column,” has published far too much trash 
and error for a journal of its high standing and aims; 
even on agriculture and horticulture it can not afford to 
be independent of accuracy and reliability. We have 
referred to one or two of its items, and several intelligent 
correspondents, who read both papers, have written us 
quite sharply about the Independent’s defects, desiring us 
to correct them. We can not afford the space required 
to keep the agriculture of that paper straight. Its re¬ 
sponsible editors, if not practical cultivators, are liable 
to be imposed upon by pretentious, unreliable penny-a- 
liners.—As a moral and religious journarhowever, we 
suggest that the editors of the Independent should not, 
on their Qwit account, allow these scribblers to stoop to 
low slurs, and to dishonest garbling. Take an examole 
from its issue of June 14. Omitting its slang, which fat- 
more concerns its own editors than us, we give paral¬ 
lel quotations from our language and from the Inde¬ 
pendent, as it pretends to quote us. To caution people 
against the Independent’s advice to plant only cabbage 
stumps for seed, we said : 
June Agriculturist : 
“ If there is any seed that 
needs care in raising, it is 
that of the cabbage, as this 
plant is ar removed from 
its natural condition and 
will revert to it, more or 
less, with the least neglect. 
Therefore don't follow this 
wise man of the Indepen¬ 
dent, land plant stumps 
only,] but use only the best 
developed and be t kept 
cabbages, with the head on 
the stump, for seed raising, 
and then allow only the 
central flower stalk to grow. 
Any other course will sure¬ 
ly degenerate the variety.” 
Independent, June 14. 
“As the seed of apples, 
pears, peaches, and squash¬ 
es is found within the fruit, 
or vegetables, the editor 
[of the Agriculturist] rea¬ 
soning from analogy, con¬ 
cludes that the seed of cab¬ 
bages must be enclosed 
within the head of this ve¬ 
getable ! !_It [tlie Agri¬ 
culturist] says: 'Put out 
the cabbagesWith the heads 
on the stump, and select the 
seed from the sprouts that 
spring from the center of 
theAead.'.’’ If this is not 
the most illu.strious piece of 
stupidity that a gardener 
ever read of!_The edi¬ 
tors of that journal (the 
Agriculturist] state that the 
sprouts from the center of 
the head are the only ones 
that produce seed suitable 
for propagating cabbages.” 
We italicise the word head in the quotation from the 
Independent, to show more definitely what it aims at. 
The reader has before him, in the left half column, just 
what we did say. Here is a deliberate and labored at¬ 
tempt to make the readers of the Independent believe 
that the editors of the Agriculturist were so “illustriously 
stupid,” as to think that the seed springs from the head of 
the cabbage, and our language is misquoted to favor this 
end. Was that sheer ignorance on the part of the writer, 
or malicious falsehood ?—We at first put in type the en¬ 
tire article of the Independent, its slang, bad grammar, 
and all, but concluded it would not only deface our own 
columns, but would be too severe upon the responsible 
editors of the Independent themselves, wlio are personal¬ 
ly our friends, and whom we would not hold directly re¬ 
sponsible for what has hitherto appeared in its agricul¬ 
tural department. We will simply hint that tliey will do 
well to make a little inquiry into the previous history and 
animus of their “agricultural writer,” before they allow 
him the free use of llieir columns from week to week.—- 
To our correspondents, who have written on the subject 
of this and other items in the Independent, vve say, be¬ 
fore being anxious about what they see quoted in that 
paper as from this journal, they will do well to first con- 
s-jli the original.—In respect to the question at issue, we 
reiterate our former caution : “ Use only the best de¬ 
veloped and best kept cabbages, i«if/t the heads on the 
stumps, for seed raising, and then allow oidy the central 
flower stalk to grow.” The retention of the head to 
nourish the seed stalks has been found by experience to 
be neces.sary to the production of perfect seed that will 
propagate the original well. Our best seed growers use 
the largest and best heads entire on the stalk, for produc¬ 
ing .seed No. 1, and seed fi-om anything but the best whole 
cabbages is markeil No. 2, or inferior. We speak not 
only fr om our past know leilge, but from recent inquiry of 
large seed growers, as Mr. Brill, of Newark, and others. 
Tlie Great Implement Trial, at Au¬ 
burn, is in progress as we go to press, and is to continue 
for an indefinite time. The valuable results arrived at 
will be duly placed before our readers. 
I’ractieal and. Scientilic Fruit Cul- 
ture,—By Charles R. Baker, of the Dorchester Nur¬ 
series. Boston : Lee <fc Shepard. This is a work, the 
appearance of which has been looked for by pomologists 
with no little interest, as it was supposed, from the ■ 
auihor’s relations with the Hon Marshal P. Wilder, it 
would embody many of that gentleman’s ideas upon fruit 
culture. The preface relieves Mr. Wilder from any 
sponsorship, and the work stands on its own merits. It 
can only be considered as an industrious compilation of 
the views of writers on horticulture, and subjects htiving 
a relation thereto, such as melerology, geology, etc. We 
never saw a book so full of quotation marks, and one 
looks over page after page filled witli extracts of old and 
familiar writers — mainly Europeans by the way—in 
search of wliat the autiior has to say for himself. We do 
not object to a judicious use of quotations, but when 
thirty or forty pages are taken bodily out of the book of 
another and put in Mr. Baker’s, some other name would 
be more appropriate than quotation. A book should 
either present old facts in a belter form tiian hail been 
done before, or add to our knowledge by giving us new 
ones. This work does neither, but only serves to add to 
the size of a horticultural library without increasing its 
value, Price by mail $4, 
