1863 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
995 
“StMSIii&g'” JLIveFossHSry. —C. J.Waters, 
Broome Co., N. Y. This is practised extensively in 
Europe, and by some poultry raisers in this country. 
Fowls are confined in close dark quarters, and their 
crops are frequently filled with dough forced down their 
throats. By this treatment they may be made excessive¬ 
ly fat, but it is doubtful if the meat can be wholesome, as 
the process is clearly an unnatural one—we need not 
say it is cruel. Plentiful feeding with grain and sour 
milk will make fowls plump enough for our use, “ or any 
other man’s.” 
Keeping Eggs in Bran.—M. A. Hum¬ 
phreys, Delaware Co., Pa., communicates to the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist the following method for preserving 
eggs, w'hich she says has been successfully practised in 
the family from the days of her grandmother of the 17th 
century. Prepare bran by drying it in a pan in the stove, 
to prevent its moulding. Place a layer of this in a box or 
barrel, then the eggs in regular rows, points downward, 
and thus with bran and eggs alternately, fill the vessel. 
They should be kept in a dry place and free from frost. 
SwlpSiiitric AciUl (Oil «f Vitriol).— 
To several querists. This is usually put up in Carboys, 
that is, large, thick glass bottles, which hold about 150 
pounds each. These are each set in square boxes for 
carriage. The present price of sulphuric acid is 2‘£ 
cents per pound, wholesale. The carboys are charged 
for extra, at $1 50 ffl $1 75 each, which price is refunded 
If the carboys are returned empty. This is the acid used 
for dissolving bones for manure. 
To ©ry Up Millie.—Robert H. Martin, Sus¬ 
sex Co., Del. A strong solution of alum in brandy 
rubbed on the udder of an animal a few times daily, will 
usually check the flow of milk, and relieve the animal 
from danger of garget, when the young are weaned, or it 
is desirable, from any cause, to dry them off. The wash 
should be applied as warm as can be borne by the hand. 
Caterpillars.—“ W. G. B.,” of Newark, N. 
J., asks what he shall do with the caterpillars which are 
this year very abundant in his section.—We were in the 
neighborhood of Newark a few weeks ago, and saw large 
trees completely stripped of their foliage. We know of 
no remedy short of actual destruction. The work must 
begin with the season as soon as a nest is discernable.— 
Swabbing out the nest with some cheap oil, or removing 
the caterpillars by means of a spiral brush, sold for the 
purpose, are the usual methods of warfare. 
Not Alome lby Farmers is - this journal 
taken and read, as we have abundant evidence. It is for 
the Household and the Garden, as well as for the Farm. 
Many thousands of copies are taken in this City, and in 
most of the villages in the country, by mechanics, pro¬ 
fessional men, tradesmen, and others. A letter before us, 
from interior Nevv-York, mentions incidentally the occu¬ 
pation of ten subscribers, thus . 3 stone-cutters, 3 teach 
ers, 1 blacksmith, 1 carriage-maker, 1 farmer, 1 editor. 
Seeds X»y Mail. —A letter from the Office 
of the P. M. General informs us that the instructions un¬ 
der the new law are amended, so that packages of seeds, 
cuttings, roots, and cions, weighing not over thirty-two 
ounces may be franked by the Department of Agriculture. 
Heretofore the limit.was fixed at twelve ounces. 
Seeds of AilanlliiBs aiad Sweet (Stans. 
—Irwin Folsom, Rockland Co., N. H. The seeds are 
usually kept by Thorburn & Co., and probably by other 
large seed dealers. 
Insects Received.—I. P. Allen, Whiteside 
Co., Ill., sends us the beetle of the borer, which infests 
the Locust. This is the Clytus piclus of the Entomolo¬ 
gists. Mr. A. says that the borers are entirely ruining 
the Locusts in his county, and is afraid that they will at¬ 
tack the fruit trees. We have never heard that this par¬ 
ticular borer injured any tree except the Locust. Tiie 
perfect insect or beetle feeds upon the Goldenrods and 
some other wild flowers, but the eggs, we believe, are 
deposited in the crevices of the bark of the Locust only. 
_James Strang, Franklin Co., Ohio. The striped in¬ 
sects are Chrysomela vittata, and the black ones Lytta 
Pcnnsylvanica. They are both blistering beetles, and 
have been used as substitutes for the Spanish Flies of 
the shops. They are very destructive to potatoes and 
many other plants. Catching by shaking them into a 
pan of water, or by sweeping the plants with a net of 
muslin and then killing them by heat, has been recom¬ 
mended-Mr. Goodyear, Butler Co., N. Y. The cater¬ 
pillar was too much decayed to make out satisfactorily, 
btit U Is probably the yellow-necked apple tree worm—a 
most voracious fellow. Your method of getting rid of 
them by cutting off the twigs and burning them is cer¬ 
tainly effectual_Vocative, Philadelphia. The insect 
w'hich appeared upon theO ats is probably the grain aphis 
which has been frequently noticed in our pages. The 
young of the Lady-bug is not injurious to vegetation, but 
is one of the farmer’s friends, as It lives upon plant lice. 
Splem«Md Flowers.— There have been sev¬ 
eral collections of flowers upon the exhibition tables at 
the Agriculturist office within a few weeks, w'hich are so 
very fine that they deserve more notice than a mere ac¬ 
knowledgement in our'list of articles exhibited. The 
fine display of gladioluses mentioned last month has been 
kept up. Mr. W. P. Wright, of Hoboken, contributed the 
finest Asters we have ever seen—some were as large as 
a medium sized Dahlia. Mr. W. Davidson, of Brooklyn, 
has paid great attention to the cultivation of the Verbena, 
and has shown a large number of the old kinds and a 
great many of his new seedlings, comprising some very 
fine and distinct sorts. W. & J. Cranston of Hoboken, 
and Mr. Pell of the N. Y. Orphan Asylum, have made 
fine displays of Dahlias, and P. Henderson of Jersey 
City, has showm a collection of new Petunias, many of 
which were remarkably distinct in their markings. 
TTraimiitigj ISs-srpes upon Fesaces.—“T. 
C.” Kinks Co., N. Y. If the fence is a tight one, nail on 
blocks or short pieces of boards, or iron brackets for the 
wires, to keep the vines six to twelve inches from the 
fence. Air should circulate freely behind them. Be¬ 
sides, the leaves would “burn” if in close contact with 
the fence. 
Tlie Betrarre Clairgeass. f’ean —This 
variety bids fair to sustain a good reputation for quality, 
while its great beauty is much in its favor. One of the 
finest sights we have seen in a long time was a dwarf 
tree of this kind in full bearing in the grounds of E. AVil- 
liams at Mont Clair, N. J. 
©roiassLtiUCwlass gstaadles.—A correspon¬ 
dent in Maine questions the correctness of the opinion 
that the amount of light transmitted through a ground- 
glass chimney or globe is as great as that transmitted by 
plain glass, and cites a record of experiments in the 
American Journal of Science and Arts for November, 
1860, on the loss of light by glass shades, from which it 
appears that, while common window and plate glass in¬ 
tercepted from 4 to 13 per cent, of the rays, ground glass 
intercepted about 65 per cent., or in other words, reduced 
the illuminating power nearly two-thirds. 
“ Tlie Portrait MomtiMy.”— T. B. Leg¬ 
gett & Co., Publishers of the N. Y. Illustrated News, 
have commenced issuing under the above name, a 
monthly sheet of 16 pages, of the size of the pages of the 
Agriculturist, giving engravings of the noted men of the 
day, mainly army officers, accompanied with short sketch¬ 
es of the life and acts of each man. The work is w'ell 
printed on heavy paper, and is probably the best thing of 
the kind issued so cheaply (£1 a year). Few of the hast¬ 
ily executed newspaper wood-engraved portraits, can be 
called very accurate, or satisfactory likenesses, yet they 
give some idea of the general features and expression of 
countenance, and hence are better than nothing. Good 
Photographs, or steel engravings are of course prefera¬ 
ble, when they can be obtained. 
“ Teromica qaiiiatiuefolia” rsiiiH tlie 
Mural New-Yorker.— In the September A gricul- 
turist we took occasion to publish an exposition of 
what we supposed came legitimately under the head of 
humbugs, that is, the puffing pf the medicinal qualities 
of a very common herb, by communications in such pa¬ 
pers as would print such matter, and its sale by the 
writer of the articles, at a very exorbitant price. Our 
much respected contemporary, the Rural, quotes our 
article, and then undertakes to prove us in error as to 
our botany. It is not our intention to make any state¬ 
ment that cannot be substantiated, and in the case in 
point we had beforehand abundant evidence of the truth 
of our assertions; evidence which can be produced 
should it ever be necessary. Our statement was, that the 
plant in question, though called Veronica quinquefolia, 
was the well known Veronica Virginica, also called Lep- 
tandra Virginica. We might have added that the name 
Veronica quinquefolia was one unknown to science. The 
Rural says that it has received a specimen of the plant 
from W. R. Prince, and goes on to show, from its botan¬ 
ical characters, that it is not Veronica Virginica, and in¬ 
deed not a Veronica at all. As we do not know what 
plant has been sent to our friend by interested parties, 
we cannot say whether he Is right or wrong in his con¬ 
clusions, though we cannot help thinking that the num¬ 
ber of characters he has made out, to show what the plant 
was not, ought to have enabled him to tell ns what it was. 
Our point wa8, that this “ wonderful remedy,” sold ai a 
high price under the name of Veronica quinquefolia, was 
nothing but the old Veronica or Leptandra Virginica. That 
this is the case we can prove beyond doubt, and as a part 
of our evidence of this we quote from the catalogue ot 
W. R. Prince & Co., published in 1844, where on page 
102 we find the following: 
“Leptandkia Vihginioa.—N. B. This plant is noted for 
purifying the blood, and for cures of salt rheum, leprosy and 
dropsy. For tlie quantity of the root and proscription $5.” 
Aside from the incorrect spelling of the name, Leptan¬ 
dra can any one doubt that this is the same thing ? 
We do not think that our article contained any mis¬ 
statement, except perhaps the price at which the root is 
sold. We learned from two sources that it was sold for 
$3 per ounce and two ounces for $5. We have now be¬ 
fore us a ciroular, in which the price is given “ 3 ounces, 
$3 ; 6 ounces, $5 ; 9 ounces, $7 50 ; and 12 ounces, $10.” 
Prices sufficiently high to warrant our calling them ex- 
orbiant, when the same article is readily obtainable at 
the drug and herb stores at about a dollar a pound. We 
have seen it growing abundantly, and generally along 
water courses. Of its medicinal qualities, the United 
States Dispensatory says : the “ Leptandra Virginica or 
Veronica Virginica, -when recent, acts violently as a 
cathartic, and sometimes as an emetic_It was formerly 
recognized in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, but was omitted 
in the edition of 1840.”. 
TTae ISeaaly Reckoner or Farmer’s 
Manual, is the title of a work issued by Benj. Urner, 
N. Y., containing miscellaneous tables of measurement 
by farmers and others. With much useful matter it con¬ 
tains also information on many subjects of general inter¬ 
est, and is probably worth the price asked, $1. The ar¬ 
rangement is very defective, the different subjects being 
thrown together heterogeneously. 
A Cali£bn»aasi Agricnltfnral IFair. 
—We have the show-bills and programme of the Agricul¬ 
tural, Horticultural and Mechanics’ Society of tiie North¬ 
ern District of California, which held its fourth annual 
fair at Marysville during the week commencing the 7th 
of September. The premiums are ample and the rules 
liberal. As we received the announcement some days 
after the exhibition closed, we could not, of course, at¬ 
tend. We always receive these evidences of the Agri¬ 
cultural prosperity of California with gratification, and 
w-e hope before we are many years older to witness the 
wonderful improvement it has made in the peaceful art. 
Dwarf Broom Corn.. —C. D. Ellis, Essex 
Co., N. J. This variety was first brought to our notice 
by Mr. E. B. Good, of York Co., Pa., from whom seed 
was obtained and distributed free to Agriculturist sub¬ 
scribers. It grows about four feet high, the brush being 
about two feet long. We have not recently heard any¬ 
thing concerning it, and do not know whether it was 
generally liked. The first reports from growers and 
manufacturers were favorable. 
New-«Jersey State Fair a Failure. 
We feel personally mortified at the doings of one of 
the members of the Agriculturist family. For New 
Jersey we have a special regard; it is near “head¬ 
quarters the Agriculturist is peculiarly the agricultu¬ 
ral paper of the State, as none other is permitted to lire 
there. There are plenty of good farms and good farmers 
In the State, and whatever they really undertake, they 
do up well, as a rule. Few other States have done moro 
to furnish men for the national defence. Perhaps it was 
their special interest In the raising of troops just now, 
that led them to forget the State Fair held in the name of 
the New Jersey farmers this year. From our particular 
interest in this State, we were present at the so-called 
State Fair, while we only sent representatives to other 
States. A visit of three hours was enough. If there were 
a county in New Jersey (happily there is not) which 
could not get up a better agricultural show than the 
State af -fair this year, we should advise that county not 
to try. On the “State Fair Grounds” at Patterson the 
agricultural display contained only two sheep; about 
thirty cattle (including calves), such as they were; a 
baker’s dozen of hogs and pigs; any number of fast 
horses ; two plowmen at the plowing match ; one firkin 
of butter and four boxes of cheese, or two of butter and 
three of cheese, we are not certain which ; about a dozen 
melons; a few beets ; less than a bushel of potatoes 
(where was Monmouth County ?) and other vegetables to 
match in quantity.and any number of peddlers 
within the enclosure, including gift enterprises, chance 
operators, and the man- who sang to the crowd, ladies 
included, songs that were little adapted to ears polite, If 
other songs were like one got off, as wo were neces¬ 
sarily passing, about the peculiar effects of lager beer 
upon tire two sexes.—Tbe show as a whole (except the 
horse races, which we did not stop to see,) was such a 
failure that we have no patience to speak of the few good 
