AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
127 
1875 .] 
i Paris, Prance, that great center of art, and there we con¬ 
ceived of the business that we now put before you. 
The coincidence between these two circulars is certainly 
most remarkable, and no doubt one will accuse the other 
• of plagiarism, but to outsiders it is all very funny.... 
The various dodges heretofore resorted to to make per¬ 
sons buy lottery tickets, are eclipsed by Egerton & Co., 
Camden, N. J. One of that concern has 
DREAMED A DREAM. 
We are quite sure of it, for the statement has been lith¬ 
ographed—and very neatly too—and sent all over the 
country 5 very pretty reading it is. It is a confidential 
communication that one of the firm “ night before last 
—there is nothing like being precise—dreamed that he 
saw a $50,000 prize drawn on ticket of such a number and 
class, and that “we bought that ticket with you.” Sin¬ 
gularly enough they found among their tickets one bear¬ 
ing the very number, so Edgerton & Co. write to the 
person who was dreamed about, telling him that a simi¬ 
lar dream came true several years ago, that the ticket is 
$30, and if he will send $10, they will go halves, and 
have labeled the ticket subject to his order and all that. 
As we have quite a lot of these confidential dream letters, 
all giving the same number, we must give “ one of our 
firm ” the credit of being the greatest dreamist of mod¬ 
ern times, or what is more likely, the firm itself is a first 
class humbug... Apropos of what we said some months 
ago, on entering into business relations with perfect 
strangers, a correspondent in Conn, sends an account of 
what happened in his town; two plausible chaps who 
professed to hold a patent right for making 
BUTTER FROM SUET, 
interested one of the citizens, formed a partnership with 
him, got his money, and left him. We do not feel very 
badly over this case. Was not the Connecticut man 
ready to cheat the community by making and selling as 
butter that which was something else ? and now having 
got cheated himself, we can't see what he has to com¬ 
plain about. “Sauce for the goose, etc.”_Some of 
the country papers have been victimized by 
BOGUS ADVERTISING AGENTS, 
and all our country friends are advised to be cautious ; 
one chap in New York is at times an advertising agent, 
again a “ doctor,” a seller of remarkable cabbage seeds, 
and various other occupations. 
IN MEDICAL MATTERS 
there is no novelty to report, and even the old things 
seem to be running very slow.... An amusing application 
was recently made to us by a citizen of Delaware, appa¬ 
rently a man of excellent intentions, but not a reader of 
the Agriculturist. This gentleman has a “ root” which 
for forty years has “ never failed ” to cure pleurisy and 
various other things ; he is a poor man, hopes to make 
some money out of it, and wishes to get his medicines 
properly brought out. Some of our subscribers, he says, 
have advised him to apply to us—of all persons in the 
world—and he proposes to send us some root to try our¬ 
selves or on our friends, and wants us to “ take hold of 
it,” and is sure that with our endorsement it will sell. As 
this man has not read our paper, he of course could not 
know our position in regard to Such matters, but we are 
very sure that any “subscriber” who advised such an 
application to us must be a wag on the look out for a 
chance to play a joke. Our position is very briefly de¬ 
fined: we will not countenance in any manner, any secret 
“ remedy ” or so-called medicinal preparation whatever, 
no matter how put up, or by whom recommended or 
sold, and are fully convinced that public safety demands 
a law for the prevention of the sale of every secret med¬ 
icine. As to “ trying ” any root or other thing which is 
a secret, we would not “ try it on a dog,” much less 
upon any human being. 
“LOAN AND REAL ESTATE BROKERS” 
in New York are advertising largely away from home the 
immense sums they wish to invest on real estate, and 
are flooding portions of the country with their circulars. 
As in most parts of the south and west money is needed 
to carry on agricultural operations, these offers are 
speedily caught at. We have numerous inquiries about 
one of these “ brokers,” as the demand of $10 in advance 
properly arouses suspicion. One would suppose from 
the pretensions of the circulars of this concern that it 
would be doing a large business, in a conspicuous place, 
with clerks, book-keepers, and all that. The fact is that 
the parties occupy an obscure office, with a hole in the 
door for letters to be put through. It looks as if the whole 
end and aim of this concern was, to get that $10 in ad¬ 
vance, and letters from the unfortunates who send it, can 
be poked through that hole in that door very nicely. “ Go 
slow” with these “Loan and Real Estate” chaps, who 
are unknown to you. There are men in the business, 
who are highly honorable, but these do not have a hole in 
the door as the only means of communication with them. 
Tile Heath of M. JL. l>mnloi;>.— 
The news of the demise of Mr. Dunlap, came to us just 
too late for our March number ; it took place at his resi¬ 
dence at Champaign, Ill., on February 12th, last. He 
was born at Cherry Valley, N. Y., removed early to Illi¬ 
nois, and since 1857 has resided at Champaign. He was 
an enthusiastic and successful farmer, an active advocate 
of agricultural education, and a prolific writer upon 
agricultural topics; he had been connected with several 
papers, at one time editing the Illinois Farmer, and of 
late years was the well known correspondent “ Rural,” 
of the Chicago Tribune. Our acquaintance with Mr. 
Dunlap was but slight, but sufficient to show the genial 
qualities which so endeared him to a large circle of friends. 
GOmG RIGHT ON.— For the good 
things in our Premium List, the offers go right on to 
June. If every reader knew and appreciated the real 
value of these various articles, and how easily they are 
to be obtained without money, there would be ten to 
twenty thousand, or more, who would begin now and 
secure one or more of them. A few names of subscribers, 
easily obtained, will secure a selection from a large lot 
of good things. Look over our Illustrated. Premium 
List again, or if you have not one on hand, a postal 
card sent to us will bring you one free. 
Illustrated. Catalogues. —Those Seeds¬ 
men and florists who embellish their catalogues with col¬ 
ored plates, find that they make them too attractive ; not 
only are they sometimes stolen before they reach their 
destination by mail, but they are ordered by persons who 
have no intention of buying a seed or a plant, but merely 
wish to get the showy pictures. School boys and girls 
send for these catalogues, and others who are old enough 
to know better, resort to various dodges to get a number 
of them. A chap at Fountain, Pa., has sent postal cards 
to two of our dealers, some scores of them, asking for 
catalogues ; these cards are all in the same hand, but 
with different signatures. Those chaps at Fountain 
should know that this is very mean business; we have 
the names of some engaged in this kind of pilfering, and 
they had better stop it. 
To use Ashes. —“R. M. B.,” Ogden, W. 
T. Wood ashes should be spread upon the surface of the 
ground at any time that is convenient; it is not proper 
to mix them with manure. 
metallic Butter Package. —“J. W. 
H.,” Oneida County. The numerous inquiries that have 
come to us for a metallic butter package has made it ad¬ 
visable that we should give the accompanying illustration 
of one that seems to 
meet the need of dairy¬ 
men. It is a light pail 
of tin, with a wooden 
cover fitting closely 
and held down by three 
metal straps. An iron 
rim around the bottom 
adds to its durability 
in use. It weighs about 
5 pounds, and holds 50 
lbs. of butter. It is 
made by the Metallic 
Butter Package Com¬ 
pany, 150 Chambers St., 
New York. This package cannot absorb water, and the 
weight is therefore constant, avoiding all trouble about 
disputed tares when the butter is sold. It keeps en¬ 
tirely sweet, and if tightly closed the butter remains per¬ 
fectly sound. There is no leakage of brine, and conse¬ 
quently no loss of weight and no admission of air to the 
butter from shrinkage, to the great damage of the quali¬ 
ty. These packages may be made of any size, and the 
demand for small pails of 6 to 12 pounds can be met by 
this kind of package better than any other we know of. 
Mcffflg'es in Mcmlncky.—“W. H.,” Lou¬ 
isville. A jilant that is native is not likely to make a 
better hedge than one that is not. The Yellow and 
Honey Locusts are very different trees, while the first- 
named is worthless as a hedge-plant, the other is one of 
the best. The Osage Orange will succeed with you even 
if not a native, and so far as suitableness to climate goes, 
there is no choice between this and Honey locust. Osage 
Orange has denser and brighter foliage, the other grows 
more rapidly and is more thorny. The seeds of Honey 
locust often grow without preparation, but it is safest to 
scald them before sowing. The seeds should not be 
sown in the hedge-row, but in a seed-bed, where they are 
to be thinned, weeded, and kept well cared for, if sown 
in place weak and strong will be together, and the strong 
overpower the weak. The seedlings should be taken up 
in the fall, all imperfect and all thornless ones thrown 
away, and the rest assorted into 2 or 3 sizes, so that 
plants as near alike as possible will be in the same part 
of the hedge. The plants are to be heeled-in until spring 
and then set. One foot apart is a suitable distance for 
Honey locust, but some set them six inches and others 
go to the other extreme and plant 2 or 3 feet apart. 
The Snyder Blackberry. —In Febru¬ 
ary last we published a note from Steele Brothers, La- 
porte, Ind., in which it was stated that the Snyder had 
not done well with them. As we can only learn the val¬ 
ue of a new fruit by obtaining evidence from the parties 
who cultivate it in different localities, we gave this as a 
contribution to the history of the Snyder. Mr. J. R. 
Gaston, of Normal, Ill., who, though not a nurseryman, 
has been instrumental in introducing the Snyder, thinks 
that the report of Messrs. Steele shows that they are in 
an unfavorable location for blackberries, rather than that 
the Snyder is not hardy, and sends us abundant evidence 
to show that the variety has proved hardy in various lo¬ 
calities, including letters from those who have cultivated 
the variety at La Porte, and have found it preferable, in 
their view, to the Kittatinny. From the testimony as it 
now stands, it would appear that, as may readily happen, 
the experience of Messrs. Steele was exceptional. We 
cannot give space to the testimony furnished by Mr. 
Gaston, but it is quite as positive for the hardiness, pro¬ 
ductiveness. and good quality of the fruit as that of 
Messrs. Steele is the reverse. With small fruits especi¬ 
ally, soil and locality make a wonderful difference, and 
it would be remarkable to find a blackberry which did 
equally well everywhere. In discussing the merits of a 
new variety, our only object is to give our readers the 
facts, and when, as in thiB case, it is one we have not 
fruited, we furnish the best evidence we can get. The 
fact that we allow Mr. Gaston to advertise the Snyder in 
our columns, is sufficient evidence that we think it 
worthy of a trial. 
A Boole on Farming;. — “Reader,” 
Richmond, Va. Allen’s New American Farm Book, 
(price $2.50), is perhaps the best book on general farming 
we know of. It does not, however, contain any informa¬ 
tion as to preventing fences being stolen for firewood. 
That is a question which has puzzled many, and we 
know no solution for it, except to live where fences are 
not used, or amongst honest people, or use wire fences. 
Tlie Ecraseur.— “T. R.,” White Pine, 
Mich. We would advise you to use the ecraseur in pref¬ 
erence to the torsion forceps and clamp. These were 
described in the Agriculturist because some surgeons 
may be prejudiced in their favor, but for unprofessional 
operators the ecraseur is altogether the easiest, safest, 
and most rapid instrument, and should be used in all 
cases, and as to professional men the great majority of 
them would choose to use it before the clamp and torsion. 
Cool §5»rings after Warm Win¬ 
ters.— Prof. Dove, of Berlin, the veteran meteorologist, 
announces this as a pretty well proved tendency, at least 
for Europe. He says that a mild January is generally 
followed in the interior of continents by a mild May, 
on north and east coasts by a cool May, on the Atlan¬ 
tic Ocean again by a May milder than usual. 
Wlacfliiae Bock Brill. —Thos. C. Baker, 
of Loudoun Co., Va., asks about the Waring Rock Drill— 
whether it would pay him to use one in quarrying 50,000 
bushels of limestone per annum. As fully 75 per cent of 
the cost of quarrying and removing stone is consumed 
by the mere drilling of the holes, and as a good power- 
drill will make these holes for one-tenth the cost of hand¬ 
drilling, there would be a large margin of profit in the 
investment, to say nothing of the fact that the lightness 
and portability of the drill, would allow of its being 
used, when not otherwise needed, in quarrying for other 
people. The drill costs $600. Interest, and all necessary 
renewals to keep it permanently in good condition, 
would not amount to more than $75 per year, or say one 
month’s wages of two strikers. 
IPeacSi 01 IPoplai*. — We thought we had 
heard of all the tricks and lies of the rascally kind of tree 
agents, but there is a chap who has been around Albion, 
HI., who has something quite new. His peaches are 
grafted on the “Columbia,” (whether of the “Hail ” kind 
or not is not stated), “ Poplar.” That there should be men 
wicked enough to make such representations is lamenta- 
able enough, but it is still more melancholy that there 
should be people who believe them. We are glad to 
know that one did not swallow the story. We would not 
say a word to injure honest nursery agents, and it is a 
pity that they are in the same business with the scoun¬ 
drels who sell “ self-pruning grape-vines ” and peach- 
trees grafted on “poplar.” 
Basket Stems con¬ 
tinued ©n page 157 . 
