350 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[September, 
plant can be managed in a greenhouse. All that it needs 
is to be kept well supplied with water, so that it will not 
become at all dry, and it will flourish without a river 
full. Here is an engraving made from some stems of my 
plaut, that will give an idea of how it looks. In warm 
countries, and growing in the water, its stems are often 
15 feet or more long, but in the greenhouse they are not 
over four feet high. At the bottom of the stem are some 
short leaves, which cling to it like a sheath ; there are no 
THE PAPYRUS PLANT. 
branches, except at the top, where it bears a large, hand¬ 
some tuft of slender branches, upon which are the small 
clusters of greenish flowers. The plant, besides being 
interesting on account of its history, is really attractive 
and graceful. You will perhaps think that to make paper 
from this plant, it was ground up in a mill, just as rags now 
are, but the process was much simpler, and, though very 
slow, required no machinery other than a knife. The pa¬ 
per made from it being called papyrus, as well as the plant, 
I will now use the word as meaning the paper. The stem 
first had its rind removed, and the central portion, or 
pith, was carefully sliced lengthwise, making very thin 
slices ; these narrow strips were placed side by side on a 
smooth table, with their edges close together, until they 
made a piece about a foot wide ; then other pieces were 
laid upon and across these, their edges touching in the 
same manner. The sheet was then sprinkled with water, 
and pressed by putting on a broad board and heavy 
weights ; after it was properly pressed, it was then ham¬ 
mered with wooden mallets, and when, dry, finished by 
smoothing it with an ivory instrument. It is said that 
the strips of the best papyrus would stick together by a 
gummy matter contained in the plant itself, but where 
this was not sufficient, some kind of glue was used. So 
you see that the first paper was really pith made solid by 
pressing and hammering, and given a good surface by 
rubbing until smooth. The sheets, though only a foot 
wide, were made of any desired length, one 23 feet long 
has been found. They were not cut up and made into 
books, but were rolled, and when read, the papyrus was 
gradually unrolled in one hand, and rolled np in the 
other. It is not known when papyrus was first made, 
but it was several hundred years before Christ, and some 
antiquarians claim that Memphis in Egypt was the 
place where it was invented; it remained in use until 
the eighth century, when it gradually gave place to parch¬ 
ment, which you know is sheep-skin prepared for writing 
upon, and is in use for some purposes at the present day. 
The ancient papyri, (plural of papyrus), found in the 
Egyptian tombs, and in the ruins of Herculaneum, were 
some of them in very good preservation, while others 
were so brittle that they could not be handled unfil first 
moistened by steam. The Doctor. 
-— - - 
TTlie Lice Question. 
Perhaps you will recollect that in my “ Answers to 
Correspondents ” in July last there came the question 
“ What is a Fice ? ’’—not being able to 
give a satisfactory answer myself, I 
asked some of my boys to help me—it 
being more likely that boys would 
know more about it than girls.—I tell 
you what it is, boys, a paper is a won¬ 
derful thing ; (and of course I think 
the Agriculturist the most wonderful 
of papers, only I had rather some one 
else would say it.) I have long had a 
belief that if a thing could be found 
out at all, it could be through the 
Agriculturist. I have tried it many a 
time, simply putting in a question of 
two or three lines asking something I 
wished to know about. Then it is 
fun to see the answers come in ; those 
from the eastern and middle states 
first, then from the states at the south, 
until we reach the Gulf of Mexico; 
then from the west, and farther west, 
until the shores of the Pacific send in 
their answers. After this come our 
outlying provinces. Answers come 
from various parts of Europe, from 
Asia, from Australia, New Zealand, and 
Japan and China, send along their 
contributions. When a youngster, I 
used to think how fine it would be to 
have Aladdin’s wonderful lamp, and 
with a rub call up mighty genii and all 
that sort of thing. But it is quite as 
wonderful, to sit in the office, and 
with a scratch of the quill, bring an¬ 
swers from all over the world. It does 
not summon genii, and the answers 
are slower in coming, but they are a 
great deal better when they do come ; 
genii are well enough in the story, 
but real boys and girls are much 
pleasanter company. But I did not 
start to tell you of the wonderful pow¬ 
er of the newspaper, only the question 
about the Fice suggested it. A school¬ 
boy in Salt Lake City does not know 
what a Fice is'; he writes to “The 
Doctor,” in New York, who does not 
know, so the Doctor plays Aladdin, 
and rubs on his wonderful lamp, 
the Agriculturist, and waits. After 
a while the genii—I mean, of course, letters from 
the youngsters — begin to come, they come from 
North and South Carolina, from Georgia and almost 
every southern state, including Missouri and Texas, 
and if The Doctor now doesn’t know what a fice is 
it won’t be because the boys have not tried to tell him. 
One of the answers was from a rather “old boy,” and 
oh, so long! I think it would, if printed, fill nearly one 
of these pages, too long, and not quite in the style 
that would suit young folks. I select from the several 
answers the two which will beet meet the case, and 
thank the others who have kindly helped. I give first a 
reply by M. Hightower, Texas, who writes: “There are 
a good many fice in this country. A fice is a very small 
common cur dog I think, that from some cause has de¬ 
generated in size. They 
are about the size of a 
small lap-dog, but differ¬ 
ently made, having small, 
keen limbs and body, and 
erect ears. They are very 
noisy, and pretend to be 
very brave. Nothing seems 
to please them better than 
to be at a meeting of sev¬ 
eral largo dogs. If there 
seems to be any disposi¬ 
tion among the large dogs 
to fight, the fice is im¬ 
mediately in his greatest 
glory. He erects his cars 
and tail, begins to growl 
most savagely,flies around 
among the big dogs, scratches up the ground, and 
uses every art to bring on a fight. He has not cour¬ 
age enough to take the responsibility for a disturbance 
upon himself, but if there happens to bo any particular 
dog in the crowd that all the others seem to be angry 
with, he soon finds it out, and will probably slip up be¬ 
hind that dog and slyly pinch him, and slip back among 
the crowd, and this he will repeat several times if neces¬ 
sary, to bring on a fight. The big dogs rarely ever bite a 
fice. He is so small that they seem to think it beneath 
their dignity to notice him, and he seems to know this, 
and being aware that he is not in any danger, he acts as 
he does. The Georgia boy meant by his comparison that 
the one to whom he applied it was pusillanimous.”—So 
much for Texas, we will now hear what Harry Stribling, 
of South Carolina, knows about the fice: Harry writes: 
“Father says that with us a fice is a mixture of any of 
the smaller dogs. The one thing he is good at is getting 
up a big row among big dogs and then sneaking out just 
as the snaps begin. We have some boys with us that 
we sometimes call “ ficety,” they are those enthusiastic, 
knowing kind of boys. Sometimes they grow up in this 
nature, then we call them fice-dogs. Mr. R., who lives 
near a church, has one of these smart fices, and on one 
church week it so happened that most every day some 
preacher drove up in his buggy to Mr. R.’s house to take 
a meal, and this fice was called upon to catch a chicken. 
The next week my uncle, who was not a preacher, drove 
up to Mr. R.'s, and no sooner had my uncle stopped, 
than the fice went for a chicken, but he was too ficety 
that time, as my uncle did not stay for dinner.”—Harry 
gives us a new adjective, “ficety,” which none of the 
others use. All the letters agree in giving the fice a 
mischief-making character, and that he is always ready 
to promote a fight, and to back out as soon as trouble 
begins....It seems that fice is after all only a local 
name for a small cur. The Doctor. 
How I Learned to Swim. 
[The following comes from one of the friends of our 
boys, but reached us just too late for last month. We 
give it now, and those who live where the swimming 
season ends early in September, can make a note of and 
remember it for next season. The p'an is a very good 
one, and few know, until they have tried it, how slight 
an aid will keep one afloat.— Ed.] 
When I was a boy, I learned to swim by means of a 
swimming board, such as is shown in the sketch. This 
is the safest method possible. If corks are used, they 
may slip from around the breast down beneath the body, 
throwing the head below the surface, and putting the 
wearer in danger of drowning. Some country boys 
get two bladders and tie them together with a short cord, 
and use these as supports. They are the most dangerous 
tilings possible for a boy to have. The board is perfectly 
safe, and one may learn to swim in a very short time by 
using one. It should be about 4 feet long, over a foot 
wide, and two inches thick, made of soft white pine or 
SWIMMING BOARD. 
cedar. To use it, a boy wades out into the water up to 
his shoulders, then taking hold of the end of the board, 
as shown in the engraving; he pushes it before him— 
towards the bank and not into deep water—springs for¬ 
ward with his feet and throws himself flat upon the wa¬ 
ter. This movement carries him along a few feet. He 
then draws up both legs at the same time, keeping the 
knees as far apart as possible, and then strikes out with 
both feet, not straight backwards, but sideways, just as a 
frog does. The stroke is made slowly and is repeated 
again, drawing up the legs slowly and steadily. The 
board keeps the head above water. When the leg stroke 
has been learned, one hand is taken from the board and 
tlie stroke learned, or the chin may be rested on the 
board while the stroke is made with both hands. This is 
a very good plan, as it compels the swimmer to keep his 
hands under the water, which he should always do. By- 
and-by the board may be pushed ahead, and the young 
swimmer may swim afler it, always keeping it within 
reach. When a number of boys go to swim, although 
they may be good swimmers, they should always have 
two or three of these boards with them for use in case 
of accident. S. 
SWIMMING WITH THE BOARD. 
