170 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[May, 
The 'Value of Timber Lands.- 
“ Amateur.” There is a large scope for profitable settle¬ 
ment in the timber lands of Michigan, for those who do 
not dislike the labor of clearing the land. Timber is 
now so valuable that in almost any locality it can be sold 
for enough to pay the cost of clearing and fencing. A 
new beginner could not expect to cut more than half a 
cord of wood a day at first, he will soon be able to cut 
one to two cords a day if he is industrious, and the wood 
is of fair quality. The best crops at first are wheat for 
two years, and then grass until the stumps rot out. 
Venlilatiosi of Stables. —Proper ven¬ 
tilation does not consist in wide cracks in the doors, nor 
holes in the walls, which let in a stream of cold air upon 
the animals. Unless there is ample space above, to 
allow the impure air to escape, the stable is filled with 
eddies and currents below, which are injurious to cattle. 
Ventilation should be by means of many small spaces, 
which admit numerous small streams of fresh air. If 
there is an open space above the cattle, these small 
streams intermingle without causing any perceptible 
draft of cold air. Proper ventilation consists in having 
the air within in exactly the same condition as it is with¬ 
out; pure, fresh, abundant in quantity, and equal in 
quality, so that the air that the animals breathe is as 
pure as that which flows about their feet and legs. 
Stray Cattle.— “W. W.” If farmers or 
stock men would use the ear marks or labels made by C. 
H. Dana, of West Lebanon, N. H., which cost only 5 
cents each, there would be no stray cattle lost. These 
labels may be stamped with the owner’s address, and be¬ 
ing of metal, will not wear out. Cattle bearing these 
labels, carry their owner’s name and address wherever 
they go, and the fact of their straying can be sent to him 
by a letter or postal card. 
Windmills .— 1 “ J. G. P.” The best wind¬ 
mill we. know of, is that made by the United States Wind- 
engine Co., of Batavia, Ill. They are made of all sizes 
up to those powerful enough to work two or more sets 
of mill stones. 
Jerseys for Cheese.— The Winthrop, 
(Maine), cheese factory, during a season of 83 days, 
averaged only 8.07 lbs. of milk to a pound of cheese. 
The milk was chiefly that of Jersey and grade Jersey 
cows. The cheese was also of high quality. We have 
heard of no other factory that averaged much less than 
10 lbs. of milk to a pound of cheese. The three best 
cows whose milk went to this factory, were pure Jerseys, 
and yielded from 35 to 37% lbs. of milk per day. It has 
been generally supposed that Jerseys were useless for 
the cheese dairy, but this success will doubtless encour¬ 
age other tests. 
Color of Ayrshires and Alder¬ 
ney*.— “P. L. F.” Alderneys and Jerseys are distin¬ 
guished from Ayrshires, by their slighter form ; a fawn 
or mouse color, either solid or mixed with white; slen¬ 
der horns; black or mealy muzzle, with a yellowish ring 
around it, and around the eyes; large eyes ; slender neck 
and deer-like head; while Ayrshires are generally white 
and red, larger in the body, coarser in the horn, neck, and 
head, and white about the muzzle. 
Salt or Plaster.—“ J. W. K.,” Ontario. 
It is doubtful if salt is of much use except under special 
oircumstances, which can only be discovered by experi¬ 
menting. Plaster is far more widely useful, and should 
be used on peas in preference to salt. 
Adulteration of Cheese.— Nothing is 
more surprising or more censurable than the recent 
attempts at some of the Dairy Conventions, to familiarize 
dairymen with the knowledge that cheese may be adulter¬ 
ated with a preparat ion of tallow. There is scarcely any¬ 
thing made that may not be adulterated, if it is not already. 
The substance known as oleo-margarine, which is simply 
the liquid part of animal fats or tallow, is mixed with 
skimmed milk, and a cheese made from the mixture 
which competes with honest cheese from the whole milk. 
The knowledge of this fact should be sufficient to raise 
* united protest from all dairymen, against the sale of 
this stuff as a dairy product. The simple knowledge 
that such a compound is made, must put. consumers of 
cheese on their guard, for they well know that if cheeso 
Is now adulterated with tallow, the tallow in its turn 
will soon be adulterated with something cheaper yet, 
and this may be the product of rendering establishments 
where dead horses and offal are worked into grease. 
Then no one will eat cheese, and the dairymen will have 
killed their business for the sake of a few dollars. The 
true course for the dairymen, is to procure a law to com¬ 
pel such cheese, and what is known as butter made from 
this stuff, to be sold under distinct and conspicuous 
brands, which shall represent exactly what they are. It 
is to the interest of the dairymen, who must suffer seri¬ 
ously from this competition, to do this. Those leaders 
of this industry, who have so far been misled as to give 
an endorsement and favorable opinion of the manufac¬ 
ture of sophisticated cheese, will surely regret it when 
the inevitable injury to their business begins to be felt. 
Food must be above suspicion of adulteration, and to 
unguardedly announce to the world, the fact that adul¬ 
teration is not only easy and cheap, but advisable, is one 
of the greatest possible mistakes. We are glad to notice 
that the Ohio, North Western, and Maine Dairymen 
have set themselves in opposition to skimming milk for 
cheese, and of course these are not the men to bring oleo¬ 
margarine into their dairies. 
Tar for Shingle ffSoofs.— “ S. P.,” 
Dutchess Co., N. Y., says in 1834 a shingle roof that had 
been laid in 1803, became leaky, and was treated to a coat 
of boiling hot tar, with a common broom, and then sand¬ 
ed. The roof is now in good order. 
Poultry B>iseases. — Gapes, cholera, and 
other diseases of fowls, are caused solely by want of 
cleanliness, by dampness, improper food or water, ill ven¬ 
tilated houses and vermin. Fowls can not take care of 
themselves, even if supplied with unlimited food, but will 
become affected with all those ills that ail wild fowls. 
But with skillful management they may be kept for years 
without any disease whatever. Fresh ground is necessary 
to cleanliness. 
Paints for Tools.—“ G. W. S.,” Ulster 
Co., N. Y. White paint is simply white lead ground in 
oil, and when used diluted with boiled linseed oil, until 
thin enough to spread well. If a dead white is wanted, 
turpentine is used in place of the oil, or equal parts of 
each. Colored paints are made with white lead for the 
basis, and sufficient red lead or Venetian red for reds, 
Prussian blue for blue, Brunswick or chrome green for 
dark and light green, and raw or burnt, umber, or raw or 
burnt sienna for the various browns. These are added to 
the white lead in sufficient quantities to make the required 
color. For outbuildings and tools, crude petroleum, 
costing 15 cents a gallon, will make a dark brownish 
color, which is not unsightly, and is a good preservative, 
but it is not a paint. 
STAB* lit A HOIBUGS.— As we look 
over the budget of humbug documents, it seems surpris¬ 
ing that people are content to plod along year after year, 
the majority getting scarcely more than a living, when 
there are so many ways by which one can get rich at 
once, by making a very small investment, 
THE AVENUES TO WEALTH 
here pointed out are so many that one is puzzled which 
to take, as each promises to be shorter than the other. 
He must be a poor fellow who cannot raise the few dol¬ 
lars required to pay the toll. If farmers will be so fool¬ 
ish as to follow farming, why do they not get some of the 
wonderful wheat and oats, the compound to make but¬ 
ter, and the fruit-growing stuff: and as for along life, if 
that is desirable, or if one wishes health while he does 
live, here are no end of remedies. Long life, health, 
wealth, profound knowledge, and many other desirable 
things are offered, and if the statements are true, within 
easy reach of all. 
“there’s virtue in an ip.” 
There is nothing new in all these things; the same 
hopes of easy acquirement of wealth, health, and other 
desirable things were held out before any of us were 
born, and if reference be made to our humbug articles of 
ten years ago, it will be seen that precisely similar in¬ 
ducements were offered then, though under different 
forms and names. A reference to the earlier records 
will show another thing,—that none of the enterprises 
apparently so flourishing then, are in existence now, 
with the exception, it may be, of a very few medical 
humbugs. That these things should in one form or an¬ 
other be always before the people, is explained by the 
melancholy fact that there is always and everywhere a 
large class who are not only willing, but desirous to be 
humbugged. It is one of the strange phenomenon of 
human nature, but it is as true that certain men are 
constitutionally gullible as it is that others are naturally 
shrewd. It is upon this gullible class that these various 
swindling enterprises subsist; and upon these we do not 
expect our exposures of humbugs will have the slightest 
effect. If swindled by one scheme, they are just as 
ready for another. Strange as it may seem, there are 
men and women who pass their lives in trying one quack 
medicine after another, and that they still live is strong 
evidence of the general inertness of these compounds. 
Wc have no hope cf changing these confirmed cases, but 
our aim is to warn the unsuspecting, those who, guile¬ 
less themselves, do not distrust the motives of others ; 
the young whose imagination being excited by plausible 
statements do not sufficiently reason upon them as to see 
the impossibility of their truthfulness ; and those who 
by adversity have been brought into that desperate 
state of mind that leads them to catch at anything, how¬ 
ever wild and improbable, that promises relief. It is to 
these and to similar classes that our warnings are ad¬ 
dressed, and the many assurances on all sides that our 
exposures have been of the greatest benefit, especially in 
rural communities, induce us to continue in the course 
that the Agriculturist was the first to adopt, and expose 
the numerous swindling schemes however small they 
may be ; indeed it is really more important to our read¬ 
ers that they should be warned against the minor swin¬ 
dles than the larger ones, which can only defraud capi¬ 
talists. As an illustration of the many schemes for 
MAKING MONEY EASILY, 
a catalogue now before us is a good illustration ; it is 
published in that flourishing manufacturing place, New¬ 
ark, N. J., but as we do not advertise this kind of trash, 
we do not say by whom. It is a “ Catalogue of Books 
and valuable Money Making Discoveries.” Here is a 
“Book of Secrets” which is a “complete guide to 
wealth,” which will teach any one to make §3,000 to 
§10,000 a year. If one doesn't fancy that, he can get the 
“New Secret Art of Making Money whereby $5,000 to 
$10,000 can be made annually, or if artistically inclined, 
‘$1,000 every month ’ can be made by the great English 
Art of Making and Drawing Oil Paintings." But these 
and others are nothing to “ The Greatest Discoveries of 
the Age—Pays better than a Gold Mine. $1,000 to 
$3,000 per day ” ! 11 “ An easy, certain, and quick way to 
get rich within the Reach of All,” and it all costs only $6. 
The business is one that perhaps every one would not 
like to engage in, as it is the making of artificial brandy, 
whiskey, and other things which are bad enough in their 
pure state. No doubt these books have a considerable 
sale, and it never occurs to those who buy the “ secrets ” 
to make money readily, that if they had really any value 
their possessors would not part with them at a dollar a 
bookful, up to $6, for the liquor stuff. Selling these 
books cannot be so very remunerative—certainly nothing 
like the $1,000 to $3,000 per day which they assure oth¬ 
ers can be made by preparing, what is in the slang of the 
day called “rot-gut” and “40-rod whiskey.”_Iu the 
spring we always expect a set of humbugs expressly to 
CATCH FARMERS AND GARDENERS, 
and we have a few at this time, though probably because 
it is a backward season they are not so numerous as they 
sometimes are. Among these the “compound” for 
making butter at 4c. a pound seems to be perennial. 
The amusing thing about this circular is the claim that 
the “ compound ” is the result of a scientific discovery, 
while science teaches very plainly that there is only just 
a given quantity of butter in a pound of milk, and no 
hocus-pocusing will get any more from it_All insects 
are hereby warned that their lives are short, as a man in 
Ohio has gone and invented a “ Socotra Insect Destroyer 
and Tropical Fruit Producer,” and he tells how to do it 
for $2, only you must sign “ a bond ” not to divulge, and 
all that,as the “right to this discovery is absolutely se¬ 
cured to me by law.” Now, Mr. insect man, what do 
you mean by that ? The stuff isn't patented, if it were, 
every one who chose could get a copy of the patent by 
paying the usual fee ; so what is the use of talking about 
the “law.” We advise no one to invest in any 
preparation for destroying insects unless it is backed 
up by well known names. In Ohio there are many well 
known fruit-growers whose endorsement would carry 
great weight. We know nothing about this man's “ de¬ 
stroyer," but we think his circular and its talk about the 
“law,” deserves a place among the humbugs_There 
are as usual several seeds offered with the most 
HIFALUTIN DESCRIPTIONS, 
and this is a class of subjects that it is very difficult to 
treat properly. For instance, there is a tso-called “ Jap¬ 
anese pea,” widely advertised, and in some instances the 
most extravagant claims made for it. The pea itself is, 
to begin with, nothing new, and as to its being “ the 
finest pea grown for the table,” that is simply bosh. 
Were this a good table pea, the small size of seed and 
pod, and the hairiness of the pods would be serious objec¬ 
tions. Still the pea produces a great amount of forage 
and grain, and no doubt will be found useful in some of 
the southern states, to grow for feeding stock. In this 
case the article evidently has some merit, and we can not 
properly place it among the humbugs, but use it to show 
how a plant that in certain localities may be valuable, is 
injured by inconsiderate advertising... .Japan is prolific 
in wonders; here is the “ Mammoth Japanese Seed 
Corn.” We have not seen this corn, but when we read 
among its claims to superiority over other varieties, 
“ This corn will yield from twice to three times as many 
bushels to the acre, on the same soil and with the same 
culture,” we think we will wait a bit... Then there is a 
new corn that claims to have come—of all places in the 
world—from the Isle of Wight, where they know as 
much about Indian corn as an Esquimaux docs of pine- 
