Wi)t J^ctissmmt. 
A PRIZE HEIFER. 
The Short horn cattle have held their place 
wonderfully well, in spite of the fact that they 
have been bred at different times for every 
conceivable purpose. They have taken num¬ 
berless prizes at beef contests, and more than 
once they have taken dairy prizes away from 
the regular butter breeds. There are plenty 
of practical stockmen who claim that the best 
and cheapest “general-purpose cow” will be 
fouud in the Short-horn thoroughbred or high 
grade. Out of the thousands of graded cattle 
in this country, it is probable that as many 
trace their “blue blood” to Short horn parent¬ 
age, as to all other breeds. In every neighbor¬ 
hood where good, shapely cattle are appreci¬ 
ated the “red, white a5:d roan” are to be 
found. Short-horns are really divided into 
two classes: dairy animals, and those bred for 
beef exclusively. We give at Fig. 463, an 
illustration of the latter class. Lady Carew, 
13th, re-engraved from the London Live Stock 
Journal. This fine three-year-old heifer was 
bred by her owner, Mr. B. 8t. John Ackers. 
She is by the fine Booth bull Royal Gloucester, 
45,525, out of Lady Carew 5th. She won the 
champion prize for the best Short-horn female 
at the Royal Show last July, and has secured 
many other honors. She is of magnificent 
shape with the least possible waste. “Beef¬ 
steak down to the heel” would about describe 
her legs. 
A letter from Easton Pa., last Thursday 
thus pithily tells of a swindle practiced on a 
farmer at that place: 
“A well-dressed man 
visited John Fulmer, a 
wealthy farmer, in Up¬ 
per Nazareth, on Mon¬ 
day. and said he was a 
son of Theophllius 
Hackett, a broker of 
Easton. He talked 
about shrep raising. 
Soon after another man 
came and talked of sell¬ 
ing Texas cattle. Ful¬ 
mer says he looked 
every inch a Texan. 
After u time No. 2 pro¬ 
duced eards and tried 
the old three eard mon¬ 
te game. He and No 1 
bet on the result. FI 
nally No 2 said to Ful¬ 
mer, ''I’ll bet you $5,000 
you eanuot turn the 
right card." Fulmer 
had noticed the mark 
on the right card, and 
said, "Oh, yes. I can, but 
I won’t bet. ” No. i said 
he would bet, and he 
drew the right card.aud 
No. 2 pul $.5,00o In his 
handa. No 1 then asked 
Fulmer, "Would you 
have paid If you had 
lost?’’ Fulmer said, 
"Yes, 1 have money In 
bank." Finally on the 
suggestion of No. x, 
who professed to be 
Fulmer's friend, Fulmer 
and No. 1 went to Enston 
drew $5,1(0 from the 
batik, and returned to 
meet No. 2. The cards 
were produced and the 
money was put In No. 1 
hands. Fulmer named 
his card and lost. The 
two strangers Jumped 
into a wagon and 
drove off, leaving Ful¬ 
mer alone In the road. 
A reward of *1,000 is of¬ 
fered for them." 
We frequently see accounts of similar swin¬ 
dles either iu the New York papex^s or in our 
“exchunges" from all parts of the country. 
There are several variations in the details of 
the roguish operations, but the general mo¬ 
dus operandi Is alwuys the same. As a rule, 
there are at least two sharpers engaged m the 
swindle. No. 1 is well dressed, glib-tougued 
and insinuating, lie passes himself off as the 
rolativoor partner of some prominent roan, 
known by reputation at least, in the section, 
and sometimes he represents himself to be the 
man himself. He wishes to buy stock or a 
farm, or make some other heavy investment 
in the neighborhood, and he calls for advice 
or consultation on some farmer who, as he 
has alwuys learnt beforehand, is pretty 
“warm.” Sometimes instead of appearing to 
call on purpose, he gets intoconvei’sation with 
his intended dupe incidentally; but in nine 
cases out of ten he has selected his victim be¬ 
forehand,; in whatever way he may manage 
to make his acquaintance. When “crook” 
No. 1 has gained the confidence of big pro¬ 
posed dupe by his courteous conversation, 
pretended acquaintance with respectable peo¬ 
ple known to the latter personally or by repu¬ 
tation, and a liberal display or talk of bis 
great wealth, crook No. 2 appears. Of course 
he is a “perfect stranger” to crook No. 1; but 
he manages to get into conversation with the 
other two, and aided by his confederate, soon 
gives rise to a dispute about the amount of 
money at the command of their prey. There 
are a large number of ways in which this is 
done, but the above is one of the most common 
of them. Within the last month we have seen 
accounts of three other cases in which farmers 
went to the banks and drew money to “show 
off" in response to th^ bantering or persuasions 
of sharpers. In two of them the money was 
intrusted to crook No. 1, who, with his con¬ 
federate, at once ran off; in the third case, 
the farmer refused to part with his cash 
($1,200), but one of the rascals grabbed it, and 
both jumped into a waiting buggy and drove 
off, leaving their viotim open-mouthed, but 
dumfounded, until it was too late to overtake 
them. In some cases crook No. 1, instead of 
running off, remains for some time and sym¬ 
pathizes with his dupe, delaying or misdirect¬ 
ing the pursuit of his confederate. It not un- 
freqnently happens that he takes a day or 
two or more in “laying pipes" for the swindle, 
meeting his intended victim several times and 
sometimes even becoming a guest at bis house. 
In all cases he remains his firm friend against 
crook No. 3, until they have secured the 
boodle; but all his friendly advice is directed 
toward hastening this happy consummation. 
George Wright, of Columbia, Conn., a 
farmer of 80 (old euough to know better!), was 
swindled the other day in the same way, and 
probably by the same rascals. He met a 
“gentlemanly young man” at the Williaman- 
tic Fair. The g. y. m. wanted to buy a farm; 
Wright was willing to sell bis. Next day the 
g. y. m. called on him at Columbia, and was 
shown over the farm. Another stranger 
stopped to chat with them, and advised 
Wright to sell his farm, as he would never get 
another chance to handle so much money as 
the $1,500 the g. y. in, offered him for the 
place. Thisuettled Wright, who said he had 
as much already. Crook No. 2 showed sever¬ 
al rolls of bills, the price of a drove of Texan 
cattle he had just sold, and offered to bet tbat 
he had more money than the old man and the 
youug man combined. The g. y. m. at first 
resented the interference of the “stranger,” 
but gradually influenced the octogenarian to 
take the bet. He bad met the Texan a few 
days before and knew he had only $1,800. He 
himself had $500 with him, and if the old man 
would raise $1,500, they would club together 
and win $1,800. The old simpleton went to the 
bank, drew $1,500, which he handed to the 
g. y. m. to put up $2,000 with the Texau. 
The bank was at Williamantie, and they 
had driven back nearly to Columbia, when 
the g. y. m. said that, after all, he hadn’t 
money enough, but he could get more from 
friends at Williamantie, and he would come 
right back and win the Texan’s money. The 
old dupe trudged home, leaving his $1,500 
with the g. y. m.; but since then he has never 
caught a glimpse of either the money or the 
g. y. m. And the Texan? Oh! he vanished, 
too. 
Moral. First, don’t trust strangers, how¬ 
ever courteous, glib-tongued and gentlemanly; 
second, third, fourth, fifth, etc., etc., don’t 
be a ■■ 
•fttisccUcmeous. 
CATALOGUES. ETC., RECEIVED. 
J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, Monmonth Co., 
New Jersey. Every catalogue that Mr. Lov¬ 
ett publishes is spicier than any of its prede¬ 
cessors. The present one gives special promi¬ 
nence to the New Golden Qneen RaspbeiTy, 
Raneocas Raspberry, Jewell Strawberry, 
Early Harvest Blackberry, Lueretia Dewber¬ 
ry, Salome Apple. Lawson-Comet Pear, Sim¬ 
on’s Plum, etc. The lists of grapes and straw¬ 
berries and larger fruits are certainly well 
selected. 
Berkshire Record. —We are indebted to 
the secretary, PhiL M. Springer, of the Amer¬ 
ican Berkshire Association, for the seventh 
volume of this work. It contains the names 
of 3,000 animals owned by 825 persons in 36 
States and Territories, and also in Canada 
and England. Among the largest breedere 
are T. R. Proctor, New York; N. H. Genty, 
Missouri; A. M, Fulford, Maryland; George 
W. Penney, Ohio: A. W. Rollins, Kansas, and 
W. Warren Morton, Kentucky—who own 
441 of the entire number. The work is gotten 
up in the Secretary's best style, and should be 
in the hands of every person desiring to pur¬ 
chase hogs of this breed. Price $5, to be had 
by sending this amount to the Secretary at 
Springfield, HL 
Transactions of the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society for 1885. This 
pamphlet of 210 pages contains much valu¬ 
able, practical information in the form of 
essays read at the meetings of the society. 
Not the least interesting are the discussions 
which follow every essay and bnng out the 
views of those who speak from experience. 
Among other subjects discussed iu this vol¬ 
ume are. Forest Tree Planting, Old and New 
Roses, Garden Flowers, Potash in Agriculture, 
The Leaf as a Physical Study, and Comparison 
of Manures. It is a fact that much of the 
most valuable information we have on horti¬ 
cultural topics is to be found in these volumes. 
Robert Manning, Secretary, Boston, Mass. 
Modification of Plants by Climate. 
A. A. Crozier. Price 25 cents. This little 
book was prepared by the author as a thesis 
for the degree of Master of Science. He has 
succeeded admirably in bringing into a con¬ 
densed form an immense amount of informa¬ 
tion. The subjects treated are, dwarfing, 
change of form, amount of leaf surface, fruit, 
fullness, color, composition, sensitiveness to 
heat and cold, variability and acclimation. 
Mr. Crozier states in .conclusion that it “seems 
to be established that as plants move from the 
locality of their largest development toward 
tbeir northern limit of growth they become 
dwarfed in babit, are rendered more fruitful, 
and all parts become more highly colored. 
Their comparative leaf surface is often in¬ 
creased, their form modified and their compo¬ 
sition changed. Their period of growth is 
also shortened and they are enabled to devel¬ 
op at a lower temperature. These variations, 
if useful, may be accumulated by selection 
and inheritance.” All persons interested in 
this subject should send for * copy of this 
pamphlet. Address A. A. Crozier, Ann Ar¬ 
bor, Michigan. 
How to Avoid Difficulties of Climate. 
By Henry Stewart. Published by Nash & 
Brothers. Millington, N. J. This little pamph¬ 
let is written in the form of a conversation 
between two farmers who are unable to begin 
tbeir spring plowiog in consequence of wet 
weather. Mr. Jones finds fault with the ordi¬ 
nary American Spring, declaring it to be 
ruinous to farmers. Mr. Peters tabes a philo¬ 
sophical view of the matter. We are here to 
stay; we can’t change the climate. If the 
Spring is short and wet, we must make use of 
the long, fine Fall and do our plowing then. 
The great object is to discover some new im¬ 
plement tbat will help us take advantage of 
the short Spring. After some discussion, it 
is about decided that this much wished for 
implement has been found in the “Acme” 
harrow. An excellent description of the 
workings of this useful tool is given. With 
its help the climatic difficulties are to be over¬ 
come, by taking advantage of the long Indian 
Summer, and crowding work into the season 
before Christmas. Send for the pamphlet. 
E. J. Knowlton, Ann Arbor. Mich. Cir¬ 
culars of his universal bathing apparatus and 
also his little book. Baths and Bathing. Here 
are some very common-sense articles on an 
important subject. When we consider wb at 
a frightful source of diseaseis dirt and a want 
of snffi cient attention to cleanliness, and what 
a great lnxury a full bath is after a hard 
dflv’s wo^k. we can do no less than to urge 
every one to 
send for these 
books and circu¬ 
lars and to read 
them. They will 
be sent to all 
who mention the 
Rural. 
The Vermont 
Farm Machine 
Company, Bel 
lows Falls. Ver¬ 
mont, A copy of 
the Dairyman, a 
paper published 
by this firm,and 
also catalogues 
of the Cooley 
Cream ers, 
Davis's SwiDg 
Churn and Eu¬ 
reka Butter- 
worker. These 
dairy imple- 
m e n t s are be¬ 
coming so well 
known where 
cows are kept or 
butter made, 
that to describe 
them would be 
useless. Send 
for these circu¬ 
lars and the 
Dairyman, and 
read all about 
them. We are 
sure they tell no 
more than the 
truth; for these 
are all superior 
tools. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS.-XL T I. 
ALASKAN CRUISE. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
The Sitkans claim that however much fine 
weather they may have, it always rains when 
the steamer arrives and “steamer-weather” 
has come to be a proverb. But on this occa¬ 
sion the weather was superb during the 48 
hours the “Idaho” lay in port, and the next 
morning the captain invited us all, with vari¬ 
ous officers stationed iu Sitka, to go off to 
Silver Bay for a picnic. Two life-boats were 
tied to the steam launch of the “Pinta” and a 
ride of two hours brought us to this beautiful 
bay, distinguished by a lovelv waterfall and 
the site of a quartz mill over 525 feet up hill, 
which has never, I think, been operated. The 
road to it is dilapidated, and we xvonder'why 
the mill was not built on the beach and the 
quartz sent down to it, in a [chute—an easy 
SHORTHORN HEIFER, LADY CAREW 13tq. Re-engraved from the London Live Stock Journal. Fig. 462. 
