4M6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[December, 
concentrated food with the corn, and are regularly fed 
all they will eat, there will he no necessity for their eat¬ 
ing the droppings, and nothing is to be gained or saved 
by the practice. 
flSye vs. Corn for Slog's. 
—One of our subscribers at York, Pa., asks, “ Which is 
the cheapest or most profitable grain to fatten hogs— 
corn at 10 c. per bushel, rye at 80c., or buckwheat at 80c. 
Some farmers here say they would pay 20 cents a bushel 
more for rye than for corn to fatten hogs, while another 
says buckwheat is the cheapest. For my part I prefer 
solid old corn, ground and cooked, and not new soft 
corn, fed on the ear, as many do.”-You are right. 
There is nothing better than good sound corn-meal for 
fattening hogs. Rye meal is a strong food, and may be 
used with advantage to give a change of diet, and bo will 
barley and peas. If by changing the food occasionally 
we can induce the hogs to eat and digest more of it, we 
can afford to pay a little more per pound for rye, barley 
and peas, than it is actually worth. But so far as nutri¬ 
ment is concerned, when it can be obtained for the same 
price per ton, there is nothing cheaper than good corn- 
meal. See “Harris on the Pig” for some experimen'. - 
in fattening hogs with different foods. 
Mead of IPettypet.—( Concluded from 1 st 
page.) —Pettypet is of a soft yellow dun, with black 
points, and shadings of dark-brown upon the head and 
neck. She has much of the depth of the Guernsey, with 
their milking characteristics. The laotometre indicates 
a richness of 22 per cent cream in her milk. She has had 
two calves, and is now past three years old. Her horns 
are delicate, and tipped with black, and she has no white 
spot upon her, though her legs shade off from dun to 
very light upon the insides, being dark in front. She 
would be taken, half Guernsey as she is, by well posted 
Jersey fanciers, as of the highest and best type of the 
Jerseys. She is owned by Mr. L. A. Chase, and kept at 
Herdsdale Farm, in Florence, Mass. 
Tobacco Worms.-D, O. Ners, Maryland, 
makes the following good suggestion : That gardeners 
and planters who find the tobacco or tomato caterpillars 
with cocoons of parasites upon them, should not destroy 
these, but leave them to give the parasitic insect a chance 
to hatch out and thus multiply the enemies of the de¬ 
structive caterpillar. 
Aclloav Siunia. — “ J. S. D.” Yellow Zin¬ 
nias are not unusual ; wo had several fine ones this year. 
Sbssi.g'e Oriinge “ W. G.” Green 
Co., Mo. Place the balls in a heap where they can freeze, 
thaw, and decay as they will all winter. Next spring 
pound them up and wash the seeds from the pulp, and 
sow as soon as frosts are over. 
S,emoti-’5'ree. — “ W. R.,” Coopersville, 
Mich. In time, your lemon-tree will fruit. The object 
in budding it is to get it into bearing sooner and to have 
a good variety of fruit. As you seem to be unfamiliar 
with the operation, we advise you to send the tree to a 
florist to be budded,or wait until it is large enough to bear. 
A lLavg'c Sqiia.Mli.—J. L. Burt, Tioga, 
Pa., reports having raised a Brazilian squash which 
measure:! 8 feet i '/ 2 inches in circumference, and weighed 
> 21 !) 14 pounds. He asks if this is not the largest yet. We 
do.not recollect the statistics of large squashes, but this 
strikes us as being “ heftier” than any we have heard of. 
Trimming fl’esii’-'BL'Vees.—W. B. Squire. 
Any time during mild winter weather, and before vege¬ 
tation starts in spring. Your other question is referred 
to our Entomological Editor. 
Poultry Blulletiu.—“ W. B. S.” This is 
the only paper exclusively devoted to poultry matters. 
All the agricultural papers treat upon the subject. 
Chestnuts stud MuS6>erries.— J. Van 
Loon, La Crosse Co., Wis. We think that the chestnut 
would be hardy with you, but the cultivated sorts of mul¬ 
berry might not be. The Downing’s Everbearing is 
probably the best variety. It originated at Newburgh, 
N. Y., where the winters are very severe, and it would be 
worth while to make a trial of it. 
Poisonous C:nl»h!ig;o Worm.— Wifi. 
Waters, Anthony, N. J., says: “ Our community is much 
excited over reports of persons having been poisoned to 
death from eating cabbages infected with worms. The 
worm, in appearance, is the same as that described in 
the November number of the Agriculturist." Wo believe 
the excitement entirely unfounded. The “ worm” is no 
pey/ thing, but lute been a pest in Europe for years, and 
if there were anything injurious about it, it would have 
been discovered before this time. Let us know the name 
of a single person who died from eating cabbage infested 
by the “ worm,” and we will send a competent man to 
investigate the matter. As a matter of fancy, we prefer 
our cabbages without any worms; but as far as appre¬ 
hending auy ill effects goes, we should not hesitate to eat 
wormy cabbages if we liked our worms and our cabbage 
together. It is evidently a groundless scare. 
Potatoes from —E. Moore states 
that last spring he planted the seed from two or throe 
potato balls. But a single seed came up, and the plant 
from this, when dug, yielded 25 potatoes, the largest of 
which weighed 14 ounces, with several from Jounces to 
8 ounces each. He asks if there is any thing unusual in 
this result. It is the largest crop of seedling potatoes 
we ever heard of. What say our friends who have ex¬ 
perimented in raising seedlings? 
Titluc of manure from Cotton 
Seed.— “ A. B. F.,” of Georgia, asks : “ Is the manure 
made from cotton seed meal as valuable as that made 
from linseed oil-cake?”-We do not kuow exactly 
what he means by cotton seed meal—whether it is cotton 
seed ground into meal, or whether it is the meal from 
cotton seed cake left after the oil is pressed out of it. The 
mahure from a ton of linseed is estimated to be worth 
$15.05; from a ton of linseed oil-cake, $19.12. From a 
ton of cotton seed meal, after being sifted to remove as 
much of the cotton and husk as possible, the manure is 
worth $13.25; that from a ton of undecorticated cotton 
seed calce, $15.15; while that from a ton of decorticated 
cotton seed cake is worth $21.80. Wo should be glad if 
our correspondents would inform us as to what is being 
done with cotton seed in different sections of the country. 
Maud Thrashing' Machine. —J. T. 
Spooner writes: “ Please send me the addresses of 
persons making or selling the hand thrashing machines 
that were on exhibition at the New England fair.” Those 
parties ought to advertise ; we have had several inquiries. 
JG5.ee oaa Hogs.—“ G. R. W.,” of Boone- 
ville, Ind., asks what he shall do, in the absence of car¬ 
bolic soap, to destroy lice on hogs. Give the hogs a good 
washing with warm soft water and common soap, using 
a brush freely; then, having got the hogs thoroughly 
clean, dust them over with snuff and rub it well into the 
skin ; or, if preferred, wash them with a decoction of to¬ 
bacco ; or, after the washing with soap and water, wash 
them with crude petroleum ; or, if more convenient, put 
half a pint of carbolic acid into a gallon of soft water and 
wash them with that. 
A fi£s»ty«li«l.— Mr. T. J. Bailey, Grape 
Island, W. Va., sends us a specimen of a Katydid which is 
like the figure of Phylloptera oblongifolia in HarrisTnsects. 
This insect is usually green, but one specimen which 
reached us alive, was as red as a boiled lobster. We 
have submitted it to one of our most distinguished 
entomologists. 
5..site Strawberries. — R. S. Haywood 
sends finely ripened specimens from his place at Rye, 
N. Y. The excessive drouth followed by rains has been 
very favorable to the development of late specimens. 
IBo^v Much (Sypsum per Acre?— 
“ Geo. R. W.” The usual quantity is from one to two 
bushels per acre. When plaster is cheap, and when the 
sowing costs more than the plaster, farmers sometimes 
put on three or four bushels per acre, in the belief that it 
will last longer. It is doubtful how far this opinion is 
well founded. Our own practice is to sow two bushels per 
acre, broadcast, on clover, corn, potatoes, peas and barley. 
* JEg'S'*.—From January 1st to October 29, 
Edward Woodman, of Cambridge (no State given), ob¬ 
tained 1,520 eggs from an average of 1254 chickens, mak¬ 
ing 121 and over each—a very good average. 
—“ J. C. McV.,” Sedalia, Mo., has a 
lot of onions that are as large above ground as they are 
below the surface, and asks what can be done with 
them. They are Scallions, and we doubt if they will ever 
make onions. Better leave them in the ground and they 
will probably do next spring to pull for green onions or 
rare-ripes. it is not likely that you will be able to raise 
onions from seed in your climate. You should grow sets. 
Virgalieu, or W5»54e Bttycnue 
H»ear.—“E. W. M.,” Elyria, O., writes; “Last spring 
I grafted a ‘ White Doyenne ’ pear-tree, the fruit of which 
bad always cracked sp much as to bo entirely worthless. 
Those limbs which I did not cut off are now loaded with 
excellent pears, not one of which is cracked. My 
brother has a dozen trees of the same variety, none of 
which ever bore perfect fruit. Last spring he pruned, ten 
of them, lessening their tops about one-third. These ten 
are now loaded with perfect fruit, while the fruit on the 
other two is as badly cracked as ever. Is pruning a 
remedy for this trouble, which I believe is quite general 
with White Doyenne?”-Pruning apparently did some 
good in this case, but as last season was an unusual one, 
it is not safe to attribute the result solely to the pruning. 
Siia&tlry BKcaUBibaig'S. —The “ Queer,” alias 
Counterfeit Money, alias Photographic, alias “ fac-simile ” 
swindle is getting almost too well known to be profitable, 
and the ingenious rascals are busy hatching out other 
plundering schemes, some of which will crop out about 
the holidays. Indeed, a large number of new circulars 
and lithographic letters are now in mailing to distant 
points, and our readers may be prepared to receive sundry 
very tempting and plausible offers of an easy fortune. 
Our “ shadow” reports large numbers of women, girls and 
boys, engaged in folding and mailing letters and circulars 
in the upper story “roosts” and “cupboards” occupied by 
the swindling fraternity. Ourreaders will aid in checking 
their operations by promptly sending any of these circu¬ 
lars, etc., either to our office, or to James Gayler, Esq., 
Special IT. S. Mail Agent (address, N. Y. P. 0). The 
American Agriculturist will be after all these fellows 
during the year to come. We find in our exposures of 
this year no less than & 76 names, real and assumed, of 
these swindlers. Several of them have acknowledged 
that their business would be ton times as profitable if 
they could get rid of this journal, and that with the 
Agricultui'ist and Mr. Gayler out of the way, they could 
soon make a fortune.The money swindle, fully ex¬ 
plained in our October number, is still largely carried on. 
though nearly at the end of its rope, as our explanations 
and exposures are becoming widely disseminated among 
all classes. A bushel, more or less, of these letters, sent 
to us from all parts of the country, within a few days, are 
mainly from a few operators, though under several 
names. Jas. Fisher and Co., (shown up last month,) 
operates also as Williams & Co., Owen Brothers, etc. 
The same or similar lithographic letters are sent out 
largely by one operator, under the assumed names of 
Joseph R. Lee, S3 Nassau St.; Jno. B. Forrest, 20 John 
St.; Frank Fielding, 200 William St.; Edward F. Dickin¬ 
son, 315 Maiden Lane ; Francis II. Randall, 114 Fulton St.; 
Ed. B. Kane, 23 Dutch St. ; Jas. A. Holt, 110 Fulton St.; 
Thos. G. Allison, S5 William St.; Francis Ogden, 39 
Maiden Lane; Jas. B. Sherman, 109 William St. ; Henry 
Hicks & Co., 31 Nassau St., etc., etc. These mostly give 
one place for express parcels, and another (usually 52 
John St.,) for victims to call at—no express messengers 
would take the trouble to climb up to the sixth story 
dens where the victims are robbed, as described by us in 
October. They all pretend that the name of the party 
addressed has been given them by some friend of his, 
which is of course false; they buy the lists of names, as 
before explained, from those who make a business of 
collecting them from all parts of the country to sell to 
just such swindlers. We have a lot of recently mailed 
letter* of Rufus Stockton, showing that Hubbard still 
likes that name to swindle with.S. B. Parks & Co., 
208 Broadway, offer to send “samples” for only $5— 
which means that either you will get nothing, or that, if 
you are supposed to bo green enough, they may send you 
$4 or $5 of genuine money, pretending this is a sample, 
so that you may be led to remit $25 or $50 for more, and 
that they (he) will pocket. This is a frequent trick. B. B. 
Walker & Co., 200 Broadway, is the same party, under 
another name. Another “confidential” letter, offering 
the “ Queer,” attempts to imitate aforeigu idiom, claims 
to print counterfeit money from plates made in Europe, 
and gives the address of McNally & Co., 229 Broadway, 
for express parcels, and S. Y. Adando, 60 Park Place, for 
letters.J. A. Whitfield, 5'/ 2 Bleeclcer St.., makes the 
usual offer, by circulars, to one of which John O’Niel, of 
Deer Lodge City, Montana Territory, responds that such 
money as this Whitfield’s is claimed to be, is too good to 
be exchanged for the kind of greenbacks they have there, 
but he will “ swop ” a ready-made, fire-proof coffin for a 
bundle of it!.Country Postmasters will do well to 
keep a sharp lookout. A fellow is operating in the 
towns along the Hudson River. lie sends out the Litho¬ 
graphic letters giving a variety of names, now at 0110 
Post-office, then at another. The latest one is dated 
at Oblong, Dutchess Co., N. Y. and signed by J. 
N. Adams. But we have no room to continue the list. 
Let all understand that not one of those fellows ever lias 
or sends any counterfeit money. They get in all the 
money they can, but semi nothing in return, unless it be 
an insignificant photograph. The whole story is told in 
our October number.The San Francisco Lottery lias 
“ operated.” 628 persons have got prizes, and 199,372 
others have nothing in return for their $5 or more each, 
