86 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[March, 
to all until next June, and all the names sent in by any 
person between October 1 and June .30, can be counted 
together for premiums. The premium desired for any 
list of names up to any day, will be sent whenever de¬ 
sired. March and April are both good months for making 
np premium clubs or enlarging those already begun. 
Spring work is opening, and those beginning to plan out 
their work will all the more feel the need of the aid of 
such a journal as this. If any one has failed to receive a 
copy of the Illustrated Premium List, please send for 
a free copy at once, by Postal-Card or otherwise. 
SPECIAL OFFER. 
The Beautiful Chromo, “The Strawberry Girl.” 
[Size, 14x20, in 18 colors.] 
To every subscriber, whether new or old, whose sub¬ 
scription for the year 1875, whether single or in a club, 
shall be received while this offer lasts, and who shall 
send with his subscription 50 cents extra to pay for 
mounting, postage, etc., we will send one of the beauti¬ 
ful pictures, “ Tlie Strawberry Girl,” which 
has so delighted those who have seen or received it. 
This chromo will be mounted on muslin , with directions 
*for putting it on a stretcher for framing. We have but a 
limited number of these fine pictures in stock, and this 
offer will continue only while any remain. 
Help !— Do somebody help us to find out where 
a person lives who writes letters, and forgets his State, 
sometimes his town, and not rarely his name. Probably 
50 persons are now looking for letters which we can not 
send to them, simply because be do not know where to 
direct or to whom. 
A Great Coilveiliesice is the present 
facility for sending parcels through the mails. Any pack¬ 
age of seeds, plants, books, merchandise, etc., not weigh¬ 
ing over four pounds can be sent to the most distant 
and most secluded localities for 8 cents a pound—if the 
package be not perishable and will not be injurious to 
other mail matter. This for example gives the dweller 
in a remote section of Washington Territory a chance to 
secure good seeds from the best eastern dealers, or a 
dress pattern from New York City at a very trifling cost 
for carriage. We are very glad to pay our share of any 
deficit in Post-Office revenue while it affords such conve¬ 
niences to our pioneers and other less favored inhabi¬ 
tants. Our readers, wherever located, can look over our 
advertising pages, filled by trustworthy men, and select 
And receive whatever they may wish in the way of spring 
supplies, and if mailable at all, obtain it in one place as 
well as another. A peck of choice seed wheat, for exam¬ 
ple, can be put in 4 pound parcels and carried anywhere 
within the United States for 32 cents a parcel. 
The Catalogues.— On page 113 will be 
found a long list of catalogues of dealers, and another is 
given on page 8 of January last. These two lists should 
be studied by all about to purchase implements, seeds, 
trees, plants, etc., and one can not go amiss in ordering 
from any of the dealers there named, as we do not notice 
establishments that are not in our opinion trustworthy. 
We are often asked by letter to say which is the best 
nursery, seedsman, etc. ; this we can not do. In former 
years we have given a brief description of each catalogue, 
but we have not space for that now. It is well to remem¬ 
ber that the nurserymen try to keep all the regular kinds 
of fruit and other trees, and seedsmen all the well tested 
kinds of seeds. In novelties each has his specialties. 
“ Targe and Respectable.” —A news¬ 
paper having printed that on a certain occasion “ there 
was a large and respectable meeting, etc.,” the reporter 
was called to account by the statement that there was 
only one*other person besides himself present. But he 
insisted that his report was literally true, for, said he, “ I 
was large and the other man was respectable.” 
Advertising for Advertising.— The 
business of advertising agents is a comparatively new 
one. Messrs. Geo. P. Rowell & Co., have built up an 
immense business as advertising agents, by doing what 
they advise others to do. They advertise largely that 
they will advertise of others, and great is their reward. 
Where to Buy Things.” —The hun¬ 
dred thousand or more letters annually coming to this 
office, contain almost numberless inquiries as to where 
ithis, that, and the other thing can be procured from 
•trustworthy dealers. We try to answer many of these 
•questions just as if they came from relatives, for we aim 
to treat, all our readers as personal friends. But the hours 
of a whole year are too few and too short for us to corre¬ 
spond with a tithe of them individually. Much of this 
correspondence can be saved if our readers, before writ¬ 
ing, will look through the pages allotted to business or 
advertisements. There hundreds of dealers in a great va¬ 
riety of articles tell what they have to part with, and 
generally give prices and terms, or offer circulars or cata¬ 
logues giving particulars. From the care exercised in 
admitting advertisers (not half of those wishing to use 
these columns can get in at any price, because unworthy), 
we believe that, as a whole, no superior or more trust¬ 
worthy class of dealers were ever found together. Those 
in charge of that department are positively directed to 
admit no advertiser to whom they would not themselves 
send an order with cash in advance. As previously 
stated, we think it will pay every reader to look all 
through tlie advertisements in every number. One can 
hardly do so without getting some suggestion or busi¬ 
ness hint that will be directly or indirectly useful. When 
ordering of any of our advertisers, or sending to them for 
information or circulars, catalogues, etc., let them know 
that you belong to the great American Agriculturist fam¬ 
ily of readers, and you may expect, and will receive, good 
treatment. If you don’t, please let us know it. 
Post-OlSice Statistics.— A statement 
from the Post-Office authorities at Washington, gives the 
amount of mail matter of all classes, sent from 50 of the 
largest cities, for a period of four weeks, commencing 
Dec. 1st, 1874. From this we learn that while New York 
sends by far the largest number of pounds of mail matter, 
amounting to 1,639,753 lbs., Washington is greatly ahead 
in the amount of books and seeds sent through the mails. 
Of books Washington sends 71.075 lbs., against 35,349 
lbs. from New York. Of seeds Washington sends 23,040 
lbs., while New York sends only 814 lbs. New York 
sends 3,770,175 letters, this number being much larger 
than that of any other city ; Philadelphia ranks second, 
and Boston third. Of newspaper packages New York 
sends 242,311 pounds, this amount being nearly 15 times 
as large as St. Louis, which in this respect ranks next to 
New York ; the grand total in number of pieces sent 
from the 50 cities named, is 41,241,990, which weighed 
4,543,048 lbs. The government seed shop and book pub¬ 
lishing establishment tell upon the mails. 
“ Fiimagatioai.” — All articles, especially 
where other persons are mentioned by name, should 
have full address—not necessarily for publication. 
Carr & Hobson. — This firm has been 
strengthened by the addition of Mr. Geo. S. Parsons, 
who has had a long business experience. The firm will 
continue in the agricultural implement business under 
the old name, and at the old place, 56 Beekman St. 
lloosac Thornless Blackberry.— 
We can not reply to inquiries in regard to this from our 
own experience. Our plants are not, old enough to bear. 
The canes are smooth, though there are a few small 
prickles on the under side of the leaf-stalks, but no 
proper thorns. The variety was discovered near the 
Iloosac Mt., Mass., by Mr. Frank Ford, who took it home 
to Ravenna, Ohio, where he has since fruited and propa¬ 
gated it. We have not seen the fruit, but several of the 
Western papers speak highly of its quality, and Samuel 
Miller, and Col. Harris, both well known to the horticul¬ 
tural community, are quoted in commendation. Mr. 
Ford claims it is superior to the varieties usually culti¬ 
vated. In view of the lack of thorns, most persons 
would be content with a little less excellence in the 
fruit ; but if this combines superior fruit with unarmed 
stems, it can not fail to become popular. 
Subsoil II*low aial Pronged Sloe, 
—The subsoil plow commended in Mr. Henderson’s 
article, is made by R. n. Allen & Co., of this city, and 
sold by the dealers generally_“ L. T.,” Hexamer’s 
Pronged Hoe, is also made by Allen & Co., and is one of 
the most useful implements ever devised. 
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroatf.— 
We have always had strong faith in this through line be¬ 
tween the great West and the Seaboard, and we hold 
some of its bonds bought for cash at full prices. When 
the “ panic ” put it in temporary embarrassment we 
promptly acceded to the proposals which looked to bridg¬ 
ing over the immediate difficulty, and opening the way to 
its future prosperity, convinced then, as we now are, that 
that would in the end be the best for all parties concerned, 
and we hope all who hold the securities of the road will 
speedily embrace the proposition so that there shall be 
no delay in carrying out the enterprise. Those interested 
should send to Messrs. Fisk & Hatch and get the annual 
report issued February 1st, showing what the road is 
doing and its future prospects. 
“Several Ppeaehcrs.”- The latest re¬ 
ports give the number of Wesleyan, or Methodist Preach¬ 
ers throughout the world as 23.514 ; and the number of 
Methodist communicar; "t 3,692.768, not including sev¬ 
eral hundred thousan probationary members.” Place 
the ministers one mile apart in a row, and the line would 
nearly encircle the earth. If the regular members were 
placed in the same way, they would be only 35 feet, or a 
little more than two rods apart. An “Amen,” or “Hal¬ 
lelujah,” could therefore be readily ‘ passed along the 
line ” clear round the world 1 
IFcairlsall Mortality.— A Sunday School 
Journal, having some 75,000 circulation, announced in 
Dec., that “All our Subscribers will expire Jan. 1,1875.” 
A BSenaisn-kallvllc Statement is that 
made by the N. Y. Mutual Life Insurance Co. It speaks 
for itself upon another column, and all interested in Life 
Insurance are advised to look over its figures. 
SUTOKY MttJMRUCJS.— Within the 
limits allowed to the Humbugs, we have not much space 
for the discussion of general principles, or to argue 
points in morals. We assume that all gambling, in the 
form of lotteries or any other shape, is wrong, and the 
great majority of thinking people agree with us. Now 
and then one disputes this position, and asserts that a 
lottery fairly conducted, is not gambling, and that one 
who buys a ticket takes his chances of getting back 
nothing, or receiving more than he paid, and that as he 
does this knowingly, there is no harm in it. Let us 
suppose, what is very rarely the case, that a lottery is 
conducted fairly, we still find it a pernicious affair. 
To illustrate: If ten men put in a dollar each, and agree 
that one of them who draws a white bean, that has been 
placed in a box with nine black ones, shall have the 
whole $10, it would be in the view of these persons, a 
fair arrangement, and as a lottery, vastly more upright 
and above board than any lotteries are, and some persons 
would say that as all went into it understanding the 
terms, no wrong was done. We look beyond the thing 
itself, to its influences. We will suppose that these ten 
men are laborers, or men whose work brings them $1 a 
day. Nine of them have received nothing in return, 
while the tenth man has gained $9 and done nothing for 
it; he has not done a stroke of work, exercised a particle 
of skill, or done anything that the rest have not, to 
entitle him to the $10, but blind chance or luck has put 
them into his hands. The dollar that each put into the 
game, was needed at home, the family of each unlucky 
one suffers on account of its loss; the losers, half 
ashamed and half angry, are determined at the very 
next opportunity to try it again, and get their lost 
money back with interest, while the winner, hav'jg 
easily made, without effort, what he would have had to 
work nine days for, is not at all inclined to go to wo . 
he has found an easier method of getting money: he 
will take a day or two for himself, perhaps console the 
unlucky ones by “treating” them, and be on the look¬ 
out for another chance. Does any one with a fair 
knowledge of human character, fail to see that the 
effects of this simple and honestly conducted lottery, 
must be altogether bad, demoralizing to those taking a 
part in it, and a source of discomfort to their families. 
The loss of the money is the least important, but the pas¬ 
sions aroused, the whole effect upon these men can not 
be other than to make them less valuable members of 
the community. We have supposed a very simple 
lottery, with trifling sums at stake, but increase the 
ten dollars to hundreds or thousands, as in the large 
lotteries, the evil effects upon those who engage in 
them, and consequent injury to the community in which 
they are tolerated, will be correspondingly increased. In 
the assumed case of the ten men, the whole affair was 
managed by themselves, and all the money put in was 
paid out to the lucky mr Let us suppose that another, 
an eleventh man, proposes the game or lottery to the 
ten, each of whom pu,s in his dollar as before, but the 
lucky one is to have only $5, the eleventh man keeping 
$5 for his trouble of receiving the dollars, providing the 
beans, and paying out the $5 to the lucky one who 
draws the white bean. The result in this a r ■ will be 
that nine men will lose $! each, one man gaU. with¬ 
out having done anything to earn it, and another man 
gets $5 for doing no useful work, but a really harmful 
one in inducing the others to engage in the game. It is 
not the least of the bad features of the lottery in all its 
forms, that it allows a few men who produce nothing, 
and who instead of promoting industry by legitimate 
business, carry unhappiness to hundreds of homes ; to 
grow rich at the expense of the industrious. Looking at 
it in all its bearings, we regard the lottery as pernicious 
in its effects to those few who draw prizes, as well as to 
the many who draw blanks ; and we include in this all 
the forms and disguises of the lottery, whether called 
gift concerts, distributions, or what not, and ea 'matt 
what charitable, or in itself worthy, object' 
cloak its ugly shape. Indeed, we regard the op ut of the 
declared lottery more respectable than the scheniwter hr 
skulks behind some other name, and„ni-etends to be 
working for a charity, while its whole eno and aim is to 
make money for the managers. But few greater misfor¬ 
tunes ca befall a young man just starting in life, than 
