66 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[February, 
laugh at them. These pictures are what artists call 
silhouettes. May be you would like to know what sil¬ 
houettes are, aud why they are so called. They are gen¬ 
erally solid black drawings upon a light ground, and in 
modern times were first made known by Etienne 
de Silhouette, who was in 1759 the French Minister 
of Finance, or what we call in this country the 
Secretary of the Treasury. But this style of draw¬ 
ing was known in very early times, and long be¬ 
fore the Christian Era, vases and other pieces of 
pottery were ornamented in the most beautiful 
manner with drawings, made in this way. So after 
this bit of history, let us look at our nonsense 
silhouettes, which quite explain themselves. The 
early bird who found the worm, did not happen 
to be the cockerel. The progress of the story 
is well told, but there does not seem an end to it— 
perhaps you will say that, so far as the worm is 
concerned, the last picture shows that there are two ends. 
“ Green Boys.” 
We have seen a lot of city or village hoys gather around 
a boy from the back country, and make fun of him, and 
talk about his “ greenness,” because he was not up to 
all their ways of acting, and very often ways of mischief. 
Aud very often the country-boy feels chagrined about it, 
and goes home quite sad.Yesterday we were having a 
chat with some city boys, sons of wealthy parents, and in 
our conversation the word buckwheat was mentioned. 
We asked the boys when it was sown, how the plants 
looked, how they get the buckwheat flour out of it, which 
makes their nice morning’s “flat-jacks” — or “flap- 
jacks,” as some call them. Our country friends would 
have laughed at the answers. One large boy said they 
sowed buckwheat in the fall, and cut it the next summer, 
he believed. Another said, he supposed they sowed it the 
same as any wheat, and cut it and ground it the same, 
and he supposed it was only so called, because it was a 
kind first raised by a Mr. Buck. None of these boys 
could tell anything about the appearance of the plant or 
grain—though one thought it looked'more like oats than 
like wheat. (They had all seen oats fed to horses, and 
seen wheat at the city grist-mill.) Now, were not these 
boys just as “ green ” as any country-lad that ever visited 
the city? The truth is, city boys are fully as “green” 
about things in the country, as country boys are about 
things in the city, and the country boys have the advan¬ 
tage of knowing less about mischief. It’s all nonsense, 
tor city boys to put on airs, and laugh at country boys, 
lor the latter know a great many useful things which the 
dormer do not know, and if one of each class should be 
left a homeless, friendless orphan, the farmer boy, with 
his strong, frame, his practical skill, and self-reliance, 
would stand the best chance of taking care of himself. 
Let the city boy and the country boy each have a mu¬ 
tual respect for what the other knows that he him¬ 
self does not know—and remember that one is just as 
“green ” as the other, when he gets into the other’s ter¬ 
ritory. l?y the way, we know of a city boy who is col¬ 
lecting a cabinet of all kinds of grains and seeds, used in 
agriculture and horticulture, and is studying the habits 
of the plants. lie takes two copies of the American Agri¬ 
culturist, one of which he keeps, and from the other he 
cuts out all engravings and descriptions of plants, and 
keeps them with the appropriate seeds. That boy will 
not be so “green ” when he goes out to seehis country 
friends. Tiiis is a good example for many other city boys. 
Magic and Magiciiins. 
In olden times there were certain persons called magi, 
who professed to have relations with genii, and all sorts 
of supernatural beings, the existence of which very few 
persons now believe in. Their performances were called 
magic, and now-a-days those who exhibit very clever and 
astonishing tricks, call'themselves magicians. These tricks 
are sometimes called Legerdemain, which is a French 
word for light of hand, and also sleight of hand. In most 
of the tricks of these performers of “ magic,” there is very 
little “ sleight of hand,” but they depend for the most 
part upon the implements used. Some of the performers 
are exceedingly clever, and at first sight quite bewilder¬ 
ing ; but if one knows how some of the tricks are done, 
and watches closely, he can generally find out how even 
the most mysterious of them are performed. These ex¬ 
hibitors do not pretend that their tricks are anything but 
tricks, and claim no relations with anything but their 
own ingenuity. There are stores in New York, where 
the apparatus for performing these tricks is sold, and in- 
Fig. 2.—THE WAY THE PLATE IS USED. 
struction given, from the simplest to the most difficult, 
and it is astonishing how very simple some of them are, 
when you know how they are done. Two very simple 
tricks are here shown, to give you an idea of the way 
others are done ; one is the multiplying balls. A paper- 
box is shown, into which three small balls are put; the 
cover is put in its place, the performer shakes the box, 
and says " horum quorum sunt divorum,” or any other 
nonsense, then he asks one of the company to blow hard 
upon the box, and at length opens it., and to the surprise 
of the bystanders the balls will 
be six instead of three. By a 
similar process he turns the six 
back to three again. Another 
of these tricks is the magic 
plate, which appears to be only 
a tin pie-plate. One of the com¬ 
pany is asked for three cents, 
which are put into the plate ; 
3 _box. the performer then shakes them 
about, and perhaps holds the 
plate over the lamp, saying, “ltokey, pokey, winltey, 
fum,” or “ hobbelum, gobbelum, sunt, rantobulum,” of 
whatever such jargon he chooses, and then he asks the 
one who has placed the cents in the plate, to hold out his 
hand, and instead of three, he receives six or a dozen. 
These are the simplest possible tricks, and when one 
learns how they are done, he wonders why he did not see 
it all before. In the first trick, that of the balls, the box 
consists of a paste-board ring with two covers. Either 
cover may be made to appear as the top, by holding the 
other tight, so that the ring will remain with that. Upon 
the inside of one of these covers three balls are glued 
first, and In opening the box, this cover is uppermost, 
and must not be turned to show what is in it—three balls 
are place 1 loosely in the box, and after the talk already 
mentioned, the performer having in his movements 
turned the box completely over, what was the top, be¬ 
comes the bottom, and on opening, six balls are seen 
instead of three, and as three of the balls are loose, it 
will not be noticed that the three others will not move. 
So the performer can repeat this as often as he chooses, 
provided he does not expose the three balls fastened to one 
of the covers. Fig. 3 shows the box closed, fig. 4 open, 
with the three balls put in ; the others fastened in the 
other half; fig. 5 shows the balls at the second opening 
of the box. The money-plate is equally simple ; it 
has a double bottom, and between the two bottoms there 
is room for the coin, which is put in at the hole shown in 
fig. 1. When the performer holds out the plate to re¬ 
ceive the cents, he covers this opening with his hand, 
and while going through with his talk, he changes the 
position of his hand, as in fig. 2 , so that when the coin is 
poured out, that beneath and that above the false bottom 
will all run out at the same place. Such simple tricks 
are capable of affording much amusement in a party of 
young folks, provided the one who shows them is skill¬ 
ful. A bungler should not undertake them. In perform¬ 
ing such feats for the entertainment o’f your friends, al¬ 
ways rehearse them, so that they will go off smoothly, 
and have on hand plenty of small talk, for one of the se¬ 
crets of success in these tricks, is to occupy the attention 
of the spectators, and not allow them to examine your 
movements too closely. After you have created great 
wonderment in a party, you can make still more amuse¬ 
ment, by showing them how readily they were deceived. 
Aunt Sue’s Puzzle-Box. 
C. 
WHAT CITIES AND RIVERS MEAN, TRANSPOSED: 
1. A planet. 2. A tree. 3. A vessel. 4. An animal. 
A garment, (i. A hard substance. Herbert J. K. 
1 . 
2 . 
3. 
4. 
5. 
ANAGRAMS OP SCOTT’S CHARACTERS. 
Dine sane Jane. 
Tall Tom Idryo. 
Hob O'Dorin. 
Fruit rack. 
Lean elf. 
6 . Fie I Gilbert B. Tibb. 
7. M r. Bosy—a tar. 
8 . Mr. George H. Clen. 
9. Thadey Hewlit. 
10. Drive on, Anna. 
Ellen M. 
Charade. 
When Rome was in her palmiest day, 
And held an universal sway, 
My first was not. 
And now in this degenerate age, 
—So say the learned and the sage,— 
My next is not. 
And yet ’tis often found in mint, 
(I don’t refer to juleps,) 
It comes from buds of roses too ; 
My whole more oft from tulips. O. U. I. 
SQUARE WORDS. 
1.—1. A mineral. 2. A tree. 3. Erudition. 4. To 
produce. Mocking-bird. 
3.—1. Expanded. 5. Colorless. 3. A girl’s name. 4. 
Approximate. Rally B. P. 
cross WORD. 
My first is in silver but not in gold, 
My next is in hoary but not in old. 
My third is in light but not in dark, 
My fourth is in Matthew but. not in Mark, 
My fifth is in pull but not in jerk. 
My sixth is in smile but not in smirk. 
My seventh is in staff but not in crook. 
My eight is in volume but not in book, 
My ninth is in warrior but not in fame, 
In my whole you will find the composer’s name. 
NUMERICAL ENIGMAS. 
1. I am composed of 13 letters : 
My 1, 11,12, 2. it is gad to need. 
My 10, 3, 8 , 9, is a wonderful instrument. 
My G, 13, 7, 4, 5, is needed to give it motion. 
My whole is the name of a periodical. John C. C. 
(A very easy one.) 
2. T am composed of 11 letters : 
My 7. 6 , 9. 6 , 8 , 6 , 11, is a cape on the coast of Enrope. 
My 11, 6 , 1, 5, 3, 6 , is a city in one of the Eastern 
States. 
My 8 , 10, is a river in Europe. 
Ny 4, 10, 7, is a mountain in the United States. 
My 2, 7, 6 , 5, 6 , is a Western city. 
My whole is a city in England. Vau. 
pi. 
Lapin vilgin nad ghih gnikhint ear on omer, 
Het meyloli yeatub fo eth dogo dol sauce 
Si noge : rou eapee tiro luffare cinnecone, 
Dan rupe glinorie liintbegar shoelohud slaw. 
Wordsworth, Sep. 1802. 
DIAMOND PUZZLE. 
1. Part hT an apple. 2 . A conjunction. 3. A Poet. 
4. A vegetable. . 5. A builder. 6 . A pronoun. 7. One 
third of ten. 
The central letters, perpendicular and horizontal, form 
a vegetable. Yankee Doodle. 
Alphabetical Arithmetic. 
OEY)ANTYEAK(ODDET 
ANO 
O YEA 
O D U E 
YUNK 
Y Y K T 
O O O Nip. 
concealed rivers. 
1. Oh ! Tom, Mabel kicked poor Carlo. 
2. The poor dog ran down into the cellar. 
3. I don't want to go 1 O 1 send Jim, won’t youf 
4. What is the matter ? don’t you feel well ? 
5. The co.v hit Etfie with her tail. 
6 . Mother, O ! guess who is coming to tea. 
7. Either Dan or Thomas Smith. 
8 . No, it is Dick Marshell. 
9. Let us have some ale on the table. 
10. There are dozens of bottles in the closet. 
11. Dick and I said we would agree never to drink an¬ 
other drop of spirits. 
riddle. 
I have no feet, and yet I’m ever going 
From early dawn till setting of the sun, 
And when-the stars with silvery light are glowing, 
My onward course as steadily I run. 
My pallid face, devoid of all expression, 
Yet bears full many a mark of “Father Time,” 
My voice, my richest, best possession, 
Ofttimes rings out with merry, cheerful chime. 
The busy housewife with her cares perplexing, 
Looks on me as a counsellor and friend; 
For when the days are hurrying and vexing, 
Efficient aid my regulations lend. 
I haste the traveller to the intended station, 
Before the headlong train comes steaming in, 
Ah ! many a son and daughter of creation, 
Through me are saved the sad “ It might have been.” 
Mine is a life of busy, ceaseless motion, 
No recompense for services I claim. 
In this fair land—in climes beyond the ocean 
I’m known ; dear children, can you guess my name ? 
Mrs. Lizzna Moore. 
