Sepl., 1859 . 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
281 
there are very curious and ludicrous instances of insanity 
of this kind. An old gentleman, we heard of, after years 
of this imaginary misery, fully believed his bones were 
made of glass and moved around with the greatest care, 
lest he should be broken to pieces. One day a mischiev¬ 
ous young man who was visiting him, thought he would 
try and cure him. As they were about sitting down to 
dinner he stepped behind the old gentleman and slilv 
pulled his chair away, leaving him to come down with a 
crash on the floor ! He was terribly frightened, but find¬ 
ing himself unbroken, he sprang up cured; his insane idea 
had been completely jarred out of him. 
ANSWERS TO PROBLEMS. 
There were so many other matters to print last month, 
that we were compelled to omit the puzzles, and also the 
names of those who had previously sent in correct ans¬ 
wers. This time all arrears are brought up, and a new 
start made. 
no. 41— A genealogical puzzle — The Curious Family. 
In a family of four persons, related by marriage or de¬ 
scent, No. 1 was his own grandson. 
No. 2, the son of No. 1, was his own grandfather. 
No. 3, also son of No. 1, was brother to his own grand¬ 
father. 
No. 4, son of No. 2, was nephew and also uncle to No. 
3—How could this happen ? 
This has not been correctly answered by any of our 
young friends. Several wrote that No. 1 married his 
own grandmother, but that would be out of character. 
The following is the correct explanation. A father, (No. 
1,) married a young woman ; his son, (No. 2,) married the 
mother of the young woman : They each had one child, 
after which both the women died, leaving only four in 
the family. Then, by marriage, No. 1 was the son of his 
own son, and hence his own grandson. In the same way 
No. 2 being father to his own father, was his own grand¬ 
father. No. 3, the son of No. 1, was brother to No. 2, 
who was, by marriage, father to No. 1, lienee he was 
brother to his own grandfather. And No. 4, son of No. 2, 
is nephew to No. 3, because No. 3 is brother to No. 4’s 
father; he is also uncle to No. 3, because No. 3 is No. 4’s 
mother’s daughter's child. 
The following sent in correct answers to the Labyrinth 
puzzle, No. 40, too late for the insertion of their names in 
the July No.: Wm. E. Reiff, Tomas B. Faust, Emerick 
M. Lindstrom, II. P. Sandford, W. A. Buckhout, C. II. 
Turner, George W. Kilmer, Laura V. Alban, G. II. Ho¬ 
gan, A. L. B. 
new problems. 
Uii: 
a y 
NO. 42— ILLUSTRATED REBUS. 
If this be read aright, it will give you a proverb, and a 
very good one too. Don't give it up easily. Remember, 
where there’s a will, there's a way, and keep on trying 
till you find it out. 
no. 43— A REBUS. 
a 
a a 
a a a 
k a a a 
a a. a 
a a ci a a a 
a a a 
a a a 
a a a 
a a a a a a a a a 
The above is a new rendering of an old Scotch proverb, 
which may puzzle you somewhat. 
words, using only the letters s-t-r-a-n-g-e. Edmund A. 
Gross, Brownington, did more than this. lie writes that 
he made 150 w ords from these letters. 
Grandmother with the Little Girls. 
S-t-r-a-n-g-e, again.—C. II. Jones writes that he can 
tell a “ bigger story” about this word than was contained 
in the April Agriculturist. He has made 135 different 
REPORTED BY COUSIN MART. 
Dear Mr. Editor :—Grandmother gave us some pret¬ 
ty sharp hits this afternoon, but I suppose we deserve 
them all. I was half a mind not to say anything about 
this talk, but as you expect me to report her conversations 
faithfully, I have written out what she said, pretty much 
in her own words. Yours truly, Mary. 
I do love to see my girls dressed neatly. I do not mean 
only w hen they go out, or when they have company, but 
always. They needn’t put on their best clothes, nor be 
fixed up much, but what they do wear should be clean, 
whole, and in good order. I’ve seen girls rigged out with 
the nicest of silks and laces, but they were so puckered 
and twisted, and mussed, that they looked as if they had 
craw led through a mantua-maker’s shop, and the frag¬ 
ments had all stuck to them. Their collars were on one¬ 
sided, and their skirts the other-sided ; their bonnets were 
twisted askew, and it almost made me squint to look at 
them. Then I’ve seen other girls dressed only in calico, 
with white or checked aprons, that looked as neat as if 
they had just grown up in the garden, like pinks or lilies. 
A good many little folks and some large ones, too, go 
about home looking anyhow, that is when they are alone. 
Their dresses will be gaping open behind, their shoes 
slipping off at the heels, and their stockings going down 
to keep them company ; their hair will look as if each 
curl had a quarrel with the other one, and altogether one 
would think they had just tumbled out of the rag-bag 
where they belonged. Now a girl always thinks more of 
herself when she is dressed neatly. If her clothing is 
carelessly put on, she will be apt to feel careless all over, 
and her words and actions will show it. 
If a girl is dressed up erer so much she needn’t 
feel proud about it. I think it is right to try to look well. 
God makes the birds and flowers very beautiful, and be 
meant that we should look well also. There’s no sin in 
wanting to appear attractive. But girls make a great 
mistake when they put on airs with their fine things, and 
nip, and twist, and fix, and fuss, to show off. I've seen 
girls act in this way. Their actions all the time seemed 
to say, “ Do look at me ; don’t you think I’ve got on a 
handsome dress ? Don't I look nice! Don’t you wish 
you had such fine things ?” The birds don’t do so, ex¬ 
cept, perhaps, the peacock and the turkey, and every 
body laughs at their silly vanity. When a girl tries to 
show off her dress in this way, she confesses that she is 
not worth noticing particularly, but that her clothes are 
the best part of her. Now we can see handsome dr>- 
goods in the store windows, and anybody with money- 
enough can buy them, but what are they, compared with 
a girl that people respect and love for what she is herself. 
There are too many girls worth nothing but what they 
have on, say, perhaps, twenty or even fifty dollars. I’m 
sure I don’t want a lot of clothes frames for grand-daugh¬ 
ters. 
Although a nice dress may make a girl appear well at 
first sight, she will soon be found out if that is all she 
has to recommend her. Girls must learn to dress up the 
inside handsomely, and the beauty will be sure to work 
out, where people will see and esteem it. Another good 
thing about such beauty is, it will wear well. In a few 
years your nice dresses will all have to go to the rag-bag, 
but real worth, like pure gold, will only shir.e the brighter 
the more you wear and rub it. Now perhaps you will 
think I’ve given you hard rubs enough for once, so I’ll 
stop and give you time to think over what I have said, and 
to try and practice on it. 
Chance —It was once remarked in the hearing of a 
little girl of thirteen, that all tilings came by chance, and 
the world, like a mushroom, sprang up in a night. “I 
should like to know, sir,” asked the child, “where the 
seed came from 
Insect Life. —Some one says: “Insects generally 
must lead a truly jovial life. Think what it must be to 
lodge in a lily. Imagine a palace of ivory or pearl, witli 
pillars of silver and capitals of gold, all exhaling such a 
perfume as never rose from human censer. Fancy again, 
the fun of tucking yourself up for the night in the folds of 
a rose, rocked to sleep by the gentle sighs of a Summer's 
air; and nothing to do when you awake but to wash 
yourself in a dew-drop and fall to and eat your bedclothes ! 
A Mouse in Liquor.— A reformed inebriate gives the 
following as an apology for the folly of drunkards.- A 
mouse falling into a vat of beer, besought a cat to pull 
him out. “What good will lhat do you,” said the cat, 
“ for as soon as I get you out I shall eat you up.” 
“ Well,” says the mouse, “I had rather be eaten up than 
drown here.” Puss reached over and seizing tlie mouse 
by his coat pulled him out, but imbibing some of thebeer, 
let go her hold for an instant to sneeze. The mouse in 
the meantime skulked into his hole. Puss appealed to 
his honor, and asked if he did not promise that she should 
eat him if she pulled him out of the beer. “ True,” says 
the mouse, “but you know I ivas in liquor at the time:’ 
“ I never complained of my condition,” says tiie Persian 
poet, Sadi, “but once, when my feet were bare, and I had 
no money to buy shoes ; but 1 met a man w ithout feet, 
and was contented with my lot.” 
It is a good sign to see the color of health upon a man’s 
face, but not to see it all concentrated in his nose. 
Into which are thrown all sorts of paragraphs—such as 
Notes and Replies to Correspondents, with Useful or 
interesting Extracts from their Letters, together with Glean¬ 
ings of various kinds from various sources. 
Erratum.—For Hoppe read Bosse, on p. 211, July No, 
Campaign for 1860.—Attention is invited to the 
Publisher’s proposals on a subsequent page. 
Native Honeysuckle.— II. K. Spencer, Morgan 
Co., Ind. The specimen sent to our office, is a species 
of the Caprifolium, or Honeysuckle, probably the C. sem- 
pervirens, which is frequently met with in its wild state, 
and is well worth introducing into the flower garden as a 
pretty climbing vine. Were it to be obtained only fiom 
Japan , it would be considered a “great acquisition.” 
Northern Fig's.— 1 To-day (Aug. 11) we have re¬ 
ceived some beautiful luscious ripe figs from Henry Mil¬ 
ler, which he raised in the open ground on his place at 
East New-York, on Long Island, some four miles east of 
this city. His trees are 10 years old and about 10 feet 
high. They are bent down and covered with earth during 
Winter. Each tree bears from a peck to a half bushel 
annually. The fruit resembles in size and form the Ty¬ 
son or the Rostiezer pears, being a little more necked, 
and having the calyx full. The dried fruit gives little 
idea of the fresh juicy article just ripe. They ripen in 
succession on the same tree, from July to October. 
Catalogues of Tree ami Shrub Seeds.— 
We have before us T. Meehan’s sixth annual catalogue 
of the “ Tree and Shrub Seeds,” raised at bis German¬ 
town Nurseries. In it we find enumerated seeds of 57 
varieties of Evergreens ; 172 kinds of deciduous trees and 
shrubs, together with an assortment of climbing vines. 
This enterprise on such an extensive scale is certainly 
worthy of a liberal patronage. 
What are Capers 7— F. D. Ludworth Newport 
Co., R. I. Capers, which are considered, by epicures, a 
great addition to sauces for meats, fish, etc , are ttie flow¬ 
er buds of a small prickly shrub cultivated in Spain, Italy, 
and Southern France, from which places they are im¬ 
ported into this country. The buds are gathered before 
they open, and pickled in strong vinegar, slightly salted. 
