356 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
December, 
Containing a great variety of Hems, including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we give here in small 
type and condensed form, for want of space elsewhere. 
To Use tlie B aid ex— IBisi tiling'.—Instead 
of cutting down the reading matter as usual, we present 
the Title-page and Index on a separate Sheet, involving 
an extra cost of over $500, which is a gift of so much to 
our readers. The Index sheet can be bound or stitched 
in front of the January number, to complete the volume. 
Numbers of any volume sent to the office will be bound 
in neat black covers with gilt backs, for 50 cents each, 
which hardly covers the present cost. Any missing 
numbers will be supplied at 10 cents each. Those de¬ 
siring them can get the Covers for any volume (back to 
and including Vol. XVI.) They are ready prepared for the 
insertion of the numbers by any bookbinder. Price 25 
cents each ; they cannot go by mail. 
VoliiBnes and Numbers for Sale.— 
We have all of the Volumes from 16 to 22 inclusive, 
(1857 to 1863,) and can print more from stereotype plates 
as wanted. Price $1 50 each, if bound —or $1 each if 
not bound. If to go by mail, add 21 cents postage on 
an unbound Volume, qr 48 cents if bound. Any single 
number of the above vffiumes sent post-paid for 10 cents. 
AHundred Cjaoocl Bteisits for this month’s 
Basket are crowded over. The Basket for next volume 
will alone contain perhaps 2,000 or more of these con¬ 
densed practical notes. The present volume has in all 
nearly 4,000 articles and items (40 for a penny !) The 
next volume will be like it, “ only more so.” 
Hints on Sea As sag - Money.—Some 
persons still need to be reminded, in sending money 1st 
to stale how much money is enclosed, and tell plainly 
and briefly just what it is for. 2nd, To see that the 
amount is actually enclosed. 3rd, To put business and 
editorial matters on different pieces of paper, with the 
name, date, and place on each. 4th, To always give 
both the Post-Office and State. 5th, To seal firmly and 
direct very plainly. Attention to these points will save 
much trouble and ill-feeling. In our experience, not 
one letter in ten thousand is miscarried, nor does a mis¬ 
take occur any more frequently, when the above direc¬ 
tions are followed. 
Good. Premiums. —We again invite atten¬ 
tion to the list of good premium articles on page 377. 
We are already sending a large number of these articles 
to persons who have secured them thuseariy, and there is 
plenty of time and room for others to get them. The 
supply is not limited, and there is no competition, except 
where two or more persons in the same neighborhood are 
each trying to get up a list first. Of course they can all 
get premiums in proportion to the number of names sent 
by each. Churches and schools are moving in the matter 
of getting melodeons ; farmers’ clubs are working for li¬ 
braries, and many are at work on their own account. 
Strawberry H*lamts Tor ALIi. — A 
canvasser for a premium writes, that some of his club 
ask “ what will be done with the extra 5 cents required, 
if their names arrive too late for plants ?”—Answer : No 
one will be too late. We shall keep on propagating and 
distributing the plants, until every subscriber for 1864 is 
supplied who applies for them, and provides for the post¬ 
age and packing (5 cents). It is merely a question of 
time. Those names already in, and many thousands 
more, will , certainly be supplied in time to get the plants 
well started next season, and we expect this will be the 
case with all. Those applying last will be supplied last— 
perhaps some of the latest not until the following Spring'; 
it will depend upon the weather next season, but all will 
be supplied as soon as possible. The plants will be sent 
out In the order in which the names stand on our books. 
These plants are not given as premiums for getting sub¬ 
scribers, but are offered to all on the same terms. 
A Word to Advertisers.—It is neces¬ 
sary to repeat to persons who have not seen our previous 
notices, that we cannot take any business cards, at any 
price, for secret remedies, except in special cases, and 
then we must be informed of their composition and 
know this to be good. Advertisers unknown to us per¬ 
sonally, or by reputation, must furnish references. Our 
rule is, to advertise nothing which we would not advise a 
brother or nearest friend to purchase, if in want of any¬ 
thing of the kind; and to admit no advertiser whom we 
have not good reason to believe will do just what he ad¬ 
vertises to do. Advertisements must come in before the 
middle of the previous monlh to be sure of insertion. 
See the terms on page 378. These strict rules are needed 
and adhered to, not only for the protection of our read¬ 
ers, whom we desire to treat as if members of our own 
family, but also to protect good men, who of course pre¬ 
fer not to have their announcements placed among a lot 
of promiscuous advertisements of all sorts—good, bad, 
and indifferent. Considering the selection made, the char¬ 
acter of the paper and style of printing, the length of 
time each number is in the hands of the readers, and the 
large circulation (90,000,) we are sure our terms are 
lower than any other journal in the world. We do not 
specially solicit advertisements—more than enough for 
all the space we can spare are usually offered. We of 
course are thankful for a moderate number of good 
business announcements, as these materially help out the 
finances in these times of high prices. 
To Inquirers.— Numerous letters come to 
the Agriculturist office asking about matters of interest 
only to the writer. Questions upon subjects where 
the answer will be of general interest and will convey 
useful information, we are happy to reply to. It would 
not be' just to the rest of our readers to occupy the col¬ 
umns of the paper with replies to personal queries. Per¬ 
sons who write upon matters of private interest should 
at least provide for the postage on the answer. Just now, 
certain so-called doctors are flooding the papers with 
their advertisements, and we receive numerous queries 
as to the standing of cancer and other special doctors. 
It is a safe general rule, to conclude that the physician 
who can not get patients, save by parading his wonderful 
cures in the papers, is not a man of remarkable skill. A 
physician who has a proaer regard for the dignity of his 
profession, never publishes certificates of his cures. It 
will save our readers the trouble of writing, and us the 
trouble of replying, to recollect that we can not recom¬ 
mend doctors of this sort, the different “ sure cure ” med¬ 
icines, nor the various “beautifiers of the complexion.” 
T 8 se New SsisaAay ScSaool BSooli, 
(“ Lessons for Every Sunday in the year, No. 2, 5 ’) 
was issued Nov. 21, and all copies previously ordered 
sent off soon after.. This book has been prepared with 
great labor and care, and is doubtless free from the typo¬ 
graphical errors occurring in the first edition of No. 1. 
It will be found very complete, and full of information, 
and it seems to be just what is wanted in every Sunday 
School, and in families as well. No. 2 may be used after 
No. 1, or entirely independent of it. The copyright of 
these books was given away to others, but editions are 
prepared for the Publisher of the Agriculturist, who will 
supply them at a price hardly covering cost at the 
present value of printing paper. They are both well 
bound, contain 112 pages each, and are supplied by the 
single copy, or in quantity, at 10 cents each. If to go by 
mail, the postage, to be pre-paid, is 3 cents each copy in 
packages of ten or more. The postage being rated by the 
4 ounces, the price for less than ten sent by mail is : 
1 copy, 14 cents. | 4 copies, 52 cents. | 7 copies, 90 cents. 
2 copies, 28 cents. 5 copies, 66 cents. 8 copies, 1 04 cents. 
3 copies, 42 cents. 1 6 copies, 80 cents. 9 copies, 118 cents. 
Send your Name.— Money for books lias 
been sent from Reading, Pa. No signature to the letter, 
and we are without clue to the owner. The same oc¬ 
curs in another letter, containing $2, from Terre Haute. 
Clotliing for Children Wanted.— 
We have received an earnest appeal from the New-York 
“ Children's Aid Society." The Association provides for 
a large number of homeless children. The wardrobe is 
empty, while clothing is needed to.dress the children for 
sending to the West, and to enter the city Industrial 
Schools. Any common clothing will be very acceptable 
—“shoes, socks, coats, and pants, frocks and under¬ 
clothes. Old clothes can be used to much advantage.” 
Bundles sent for, if address be given, to J. Macy, Assist. 
Secretary, No. 11 Clinton Hall, Astor Place, N. Y. city. 
A Uot of Humbugs. —Never before have 
we known so many schemes in operation to filch people’s 
money. We have written item after item [see pages 359 
and 369] supposing each would be the last needed, but 
every day brings to light some new swindling enterprize, 
and by the time the paper gets well to press, others will 
be discovered. We will group a fewtogether here :—One 
advertises $4 for $1, in gold pens, books, etc., at 186 
Broadway. There is no such number. John Street cuts 
through between 194 and 192 on the east side. So the dol¬ 
lar we sent down there to try the scheme, came back. We 
did not conclude to send it to the Post Office as invited, 
for we like to see into whose hands our money goes and 
what we are to get for it. At another place we did not 
conclude to invest in Gold Lockets, Watches, etc., ad¬ 
vertised at “ half price,” though we could not positively 
say the party would return no equivalent for the money 
so earnestly solicited by mail. Gold is gold, and silver is 
silver, in these days, and nobody lias any to give away at 
half price.—“ Zissing & Co.”, (of Philadelphia we believe) 
send tickets right along with a very honest looking circu¬ 
lar, marked “ Private—To Agents.” We advise that no 
one invest money there, unless he can carry it, and get the 
great prizes offered when he planks down the cash. If 
any one can get, in hand, the great amount of jewelry, 
and know it to be genuine, and if he wants it at the price, 
we have nolliing to say.-If anybody for one dollar 
can get a weekly paper for a whole year, and also a 
grape vine, just such as anybody else can get but must 
pay S2 for ; and the said vine is known to be alone worth 
two dollars, it will do to invest, for it don’t matter wheth¬ 
er the paper is kept up a whole year or not, nor whether 
it is worth more than so much waste paper, when it is go-t. 
-“ Prof. Weslook, Box W, No. 175 Bleecker Street, 
N. Y. City,” (a private boarding house !) advertises two 
swindles at a dollar each. We sent the $2 to catch him, 
but after various excuses, he told our young man he could 
only get the articles through the Post Office 1 We have 
handed him over to Mayor Opdyke, also. 
Ibb Writing- to Advertisers for circu¬ 
lars,' or otherwise, it is well to tell them where their busi¬ 
ness cards were seen ; they are always glad to know where 
their announcements are noticed, or through what chan¬ 
nels they reach the largest number of wide-awake readers. 
New JBoolk for Sheep SSaisers. — 
S. Randall, LL. D., whose Sheep Husbandry at the 
South, published in 1848, and whose essay on fine wool 
sheep read before the N. Y. State Agricultural Society 
last year (1862) have caused him to be recognized as 
authority on Sheep, is again before the public as the 
author of a comprehensive work, adapted to the wants 
of American farmers—entitled The Practical Shepherd. 
It is a 12mo. of 454 pages, fully illustrated. We esteem 
the work highly and while recommending it to our readers, 
regret that it is not yet in the market, but for sale only by 
traveling agents. D. D. T. Moore, Rochester, is the pub¬ 
lisher, and its appearance at this lime is opportune, for 
there is now a great interest in sheep culture. The policy 
of confining its sale to agents is hardly advisable, for 
thousands would obtain it through regular channels, who 
will not be found by agents. When we can get a supply 
it will be announced in our book list. 
TTSue Illinois State H©rticiil4»!ii"al So¬ 
ciety holds its Winter session at Alton, December 15, to 
last 4 days. The meeting will doubtless be a good one, 
and all interested in Horticulture are invited to attend. 
Tbe “Iteport” of tlie Department 
of Agriculture for 1862, is a book of 632 pages, 
far better than any of the previous annuals on Agricul¬ 
ture, issued at Washington. It contains many pictures of 
cattle, sheep, and horses, of fruits and insects, poultry- 
houses, etc., is excellently well adapted to the purpose 
for which it was made, namely, for an attractive and in¬ 
structive volume for members of Congress to send home 
to their friends. It does not comport with the dignity of 
the Government to put forth a picture-book, nor one for 
the purpose above stated. Many subjects are well treated, 
the articles being a little more extended than would ordi¬ 
narily be published in an agricultural Journal. Those on 
sheep, considering the great interest now awakened in 
sheep-raising, will give the book especial value with a 
great many farmers. We do not think this is the place 
for descriptions of a few old and well-known fruits, most 
of which are as well or better described in the fruit- 
books, nor for an essay on marbles, building-stones, or 
coal-oil springs, which are hardly agricultural topics. 
BSook obi Fruits. —Alfred Street, Middle¬ 
sex Co., Canada. Barry’s Fruit Garden, is a very good 
work on the culture of Small Fruits. See our book list. 
Bootes out of Print. —There are several 
orders on file for agricultural books which have not been 
filled, for the reason, that the works are not to be had. 
Where there is a prospect of a new edition being ready 
soon, the money is placed to the credit of the sender, and 
the books forwarded as soon as issued. 
©sage ©rattge Hedge Plants Want- 
ed.—Tobias Martin, of Mercersburg, Pa., wishes to 
secure 50,000 to 100,000 plants. Who can supply him 
and other inquirers ? 
“ Smilla's CauteriBig Horses.”—One 
of these, which came to ®ur children as a “ Christmas 
Present” in advance, has proved a very acceptable and 
interesting gift. Some “ grownup children” enjoy a ride 
occasionally, and the horse manifests no signs of weak¬ 
ness under the load. His rations are not expensive. 
