THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Oninj 
BEAUTIFUL JERSEYS. 
We once heard a noted Jersey breeder say 
that the man who would not get up in the 
night to admire his stock had no business to 
beep Jerseys. The enthusiastic Jersey breed¬ 
er has a love for bis cattie, that few men 
appreciate. There is something about these 
graceful, affectionate creatures that makes 
them seem almost human. Every famous 
cow has been almost a member of the family 
in which she was raised. The Jerseys seem 
to have about monopolized most of the poetry 
to be found in stock breeding. Though of later 
years, the famous “buter cow” has again and 
again proved herself to be one of the most 
practical of all animals, she has inspired the 
poet and the artist as no other breed has ever 
done. 
“Shu stouU nt the bars as the pud went down 
Behind the hills on a summer’s day; 
Her eyes were tender and big and brown, 
Her breath as sweet us the new-mown hay." 
The writer of the above lines might well 
have had in mind one of the beautiful heifers 
shown at Fig. 499. These little animals, 
Progress Belle and Derby Belle, are the proper¬ 
ty of Mr. James Blyth of England. They have 
won several prizes at the most noted shows, 
and will doubtless make a sensation a few 
years hence. Nothing could be liner than the 
position of the heifers in the picture. Who 
has not seen calves stand in just this way ? 
They are just ready to jump and run, or to 
advance and play as they chance to feel. 
"Never Sign a Paper for a Stranger,” is 
a bit of advice we have often given, and the 
more we bear of 
tricks of swind¬ 
lers in country 
places, the more 
wisdom we see 
in these seven 
words. 
Most of the 
Western States, 
but especially 
Indiaua, Illi¬ 
nois, and Iowa, 
are now infested 
by several sets 
of swindling- 
ras'als who 
should, when¬ 
ever met with, 
be introduced to 
the watch dog 
or the calaboose. 
We have several 
reports of their 
operations, aud 
all represent 
them as slick¬ 
looking, glib- 
tongued, ptau- 
sible fellows. 
They represent 
themselves as 
agents for a 
combined corn- 
sheller and feed- 
grinder made in 
Cleveland,Ohio, 
Their method of 
swindling is al¬ 
ways substan¬ 
tially the same; 
though there 
wiaUonsiude: JERSKY HEIFER 
tails. Here, in 
brief, is what a farmer in Knox County, In¬ 
diana, says of the gang who tried to cheat him: 
‘‘One inerning a slick-looking fellow drove up 
to my place, represented himself as the ageut 
of a splendid combined corn sheller and feed- 
grinder, for which he wanted me to take the 
local ageuoy. It would sell very readily and 1 
would make a good thing of it. On my em¬ 
phatic refusal, he begged me to allow him to 
set up one on my farm so that, while canvass¬ 
ing for it in the neighborhood, he might send 
farmers to examine it, and that I could use it 
aud make what I could out of it, and that it 
would not cost me a cent. To this I consented. 
Then he showed me a card on which was 
printed in small type, the following: 
“I own, in my own name, 160 acres or land In the 
county oT Knox, State of lmlluuu, worth #— per acre, 
clear of all Incumbrances.” 
He asked me to sign my name at the bottom 
of it, merely as an acknowledgment that 1 had 
seme property, and I did so. He then drove 
off, and said the machine would be here in a 
few days. 
A few days later I received from the manu¬ 
facturers a postal card advising me that the 
machine had been shipped to my address, 
and urging me to remove it immediately on 
its arrival, to avoid charges. About a week 
later another man drove up and asked to see 
the machine, I told him it had not yet ar¬ 
rived. He said he bad come to settle for it. 
I told him I bad nothing to settle for; but he 
insisted that I owed the firm for it. On my 
emphatic denial, he pulled out a card wnich 
read as follows: 
"Gextokmen—P lease ship me by frelftht, via E. &T. 
H. B. R.,to-Station, Kdox County. 8ta(e of 
Indiana, onecomblned corn-sheller and feed-grtnderi 
for all further shipments I aru to pay the above- 
named company seven-eighths the retail price when 
a sale is trade by mo. I am to receive the combined 
mill when it arrives, and pay the freight, which the 
cotnpa'ny Is to allow me on settlement. Retail price 
of combined mill is tilKl each, extra set of grinding 
burrs, *:• each. I own, In my own name, 1«0 acres of 
land In the County of Knox. Slate of Indiana worth 
♦-per acr<: clear of all Incumbrance, except 
a mortgage of t-. Any verbal understanding 
differing from the above will not be recognized." 
And to this my name was signed. I deDied 
very forcibly that l had ever signed any such 
order. The stranger declared that he had my 
obligation, and wanted me to sign notes for 
$400 to pay for the purchases I had made. 
I asked him to let me see the card bearing my 
name. After a world of persuasion, beheld it 
up, and I snatched it from him and pocketed 
it, and, pulling out my revolver, told him to 
go at once or I would make a riddle of him. 
He begged for mercy and implored me not to 
expose him. I told him I would show him up, 
and that if he didn't go at once he would leave 
the township with a coat of tar and feathers. 
He went, and I have seen none of the gavg 
since.” 
How are such swindles perpetrated ? Why, 
bless you, there is nothing easier. The paper 
offered for signature has always been prepared 
beforehand with a special view of swindling 
the signer. Generally it is so folded that only 
a part of It is exposed to view, though there 
party. The deluded farmer might be worse 
off, however—he still has the straw. 
We do not reccommend the United States 
Medical Company, of this city, which adver¬ 
tises extensively through the mails and in 
the country papers. It is a rule with no ex¬ 
ception that the people who advertise reme¬ 
dies for unmentionable diseases are all frauds, 
not necessarily because what they offer is 
worthless, but because they overrate its effi¬ 
cacy, belittle all other medicaments and ex¬ 
aggerate the danger of t6e patient in order 
to frighten him into dealing with them; while 
the prices they charge for their nostrums are 
simply prepcstrous. Growing fat on the vices 
of humanity, they have no conscience in 
charging the wretches who apply to them ex¬ 
travagant prices for medicines which, so far 
as their curative virtues are concerned, can 
be obtained for a mere trifle at, the nearest 
drug store. 
Several Inquirers ask as to the merits of 
various proprietory medicines. Thank Godl 
we have never had occasion to test many of 
this sort. Some of them, no doubt, are good, 
for special cases; others, if not very beneficial, 
are not very injurious; while others, which are 
represented as panaceas for nearly all diseases 
to which human flesh is heir, must do more 
evil than good in man}’ instances. In nothing 
do people seem to be more reckless and care¬ 
less as to results than in the experiments they 
are ready to make in the way of curing them¬ 
selves of real or fancied ailments. Now that 
medical colleges are yearly turning out grad¬ 
uates by the thousands, and practitioners are 
found everywhere, there seems no reason why 
proprietory medicines, that are claimed to be 
specifics for various complaints, should find 
such extensive sale. According to the Census 
nearly $15,000,000of such medicines were sold 
by 563 establishments in 1S80, and the business 
i3 steadily growing. In many cases the deal¬ 
ers merely put up good ordinary prescriptions 
for certain diseases, on a grand scale, adding, 
now and then, some harmless drugs to disguise 
the nostrums. In such cases the stuff could be 
obtained at the nearest drug store for a frac¬ 
JERSEY HEIFERS: PROGRESS BELLE, DERBY BELLE. (Re-engraved from the London Live Stock Journal.) Fig. 499. 
are no signs of folding. Frequently it is in 
the following iunocent-lookiug form: 
tion of the cost of the advertised medicaments. 
Rarely these patent medicines are the results 
Smithville, Ind , Nov 14, 1SS5. 
One year after date, I promise to pay John Jones, or bearer. Ten Dollars when I sell 
One tiunOred and Ten Dollars and Fifty Cents worth of patent seeding machines 
for value received, eight percent, per annum after maturity, said Teu Dollars when due to be 
payable at Stnitbville, Ind. John Smith. 
Run the scissors through this note in a line (up and down) with the word “or” in the first 
line, and see what the left part of it says. 
In Iowa gangs of swindlers are “working” 
the farmers iu the same way with the “Stand¬ 
ard” mill. Iu Michigan, especially in the 
southern oounties, agents are busy buying 
straw stacks for paper mills. They never 
haggle at prices, but give notes at a gen- 
erous figure, askiug for a receipt “to seud to 
their employers to show that they have made 
purchases.” Or course, the paper to which 
the farmer’s signature is thus obtained gener¬ 
ally turns up a promissory note, left at some 
bank for’oollectiou, or sold to some "innocent” 
of a good deal of study or a lucky hit in the 
way of discovering some drug or combination 
of drugs of unusual advantage in certain ail¬ 
ments; but, as a rule, it would be much wiser 
to take the advice of a regular physician than 
to trust to these nostrums. The vast bulk of 
them are taken by people who are ready to 
take auy thing that is cosily available )aod pre¬ 
tends to cure their ailments... .We cannot re¬ 
commend the Crescent Art Company, of Bos¬ 
ton. It is one of the work-at home humbugs. 
— We do.not recommend the U. S. Building 
Association, nor Franklin Putnam, dealer in 
photographers’supplies, both of this city. 
Peter Duryee & Co . of this city, are quite 
trustworthy ... We have never heard any 
complaints of the dealings of the World M’f’g 
Co. of this city ..8 H. & E H, Frost, of 
this city, are quite trustworthy. 
•Wiscelliraeoits. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS—XLV. 
ALASKAN CRUISE. 
MARY WAGER FISHER. 
POOR BUSINESS OUTLOOK. 
The various officials at Sitka from the Gov¬ 
ernor to the Post-master (who is a young 
woman) receive maDy letters from persons all 
over the country asking a multitude of ques¬ 
tions about Alaska, aud after I bad read 15 
or 20 of t^ese missives, I was greatly amused 
and greatly amazed at the ignorance of man¬ 
kind—no women wrote making inquiries—con¬ 
cerning this Territory. Some ask about stock 
raising in Ounalaska, some about bookkeep¬ 
ing, the newspapers, the doctors, the schools 
to be taught, wages paid to miners, the mer¬ 
cantile enterprises, investments for money, 
etc., etc. There is not a newspaper now 
published iu Alaska an l there are not probably 
500 people in the whole Territory wbo could 
read an American paper. Ounalaska Island, 
which is reported to have some grazing land, 
is 1,200 miles west of Sitka, and one can judge 
how much possible profit there might be in the 
stock raising business a thousand miles from 
everywhere, and more, to say notning of the 
probability that the “grazing lands” are limited 
to ten acres or so. Although ridiculously 
absurd to my mind, still it seems necessary to 
say, with emphasis, that there is no demand 
in this Territory for any body of any trade or 
profession whatever,beyond whatare now here 
and are sent by the Government, except a 
dentist. Even mining is very uncertain and 
limited and afew Indians, creoles and Chinese 
readily absorb much of this, and, as I have 
said before, you 
might as well 
go to the moon 
as to come to 
Alaska for em¬ 
ployment. The 
average sum¬ 
mer 
CLIMATE OF 
SITKA 
is about that of 
Minnesota, and 
the winter cli¬ 
mate much like 
that of Ken¬ 
tucky. As to 
heat aDd cold, 
the rainfall is 
heavy, about IS 
_ inehesannuallv, 
? and there are 
on an average 
about 200 rainy 
or snowy days 
in the year. 
From October 
to April it rains 
pk much of the 
r* time—or snows 
“ —and there are 
from four to six 
hours of day¬ 
light. During 
our 34 days in 
Sitka we had, 
in all, not more 
than six full 
days of rain, 
the majority of 
the days being 
— clear and sun- 
ournal.) Fig. 499. I"! 
° shade, but hot 
in the sun in the 
middle of the day, the merrury, on some days, 
running up, iu the sun, to 90 degrees; but the 
beat was never oppressive. I thought the 
weather altogether perfect. We soon fell into 
the habit of putting up green shades to the 
bed room windows when !)p. m. came, and 
calling it bed time, and getting up iu the 
morning when we bad had sleep enough, al¬ 
though the sun rose not far from three o’clock. 
OUR FURNISHED HOUSE 
proved a great success, its only defect being 
its too great spaciousness for us 1 The large 
parlor was lighted by five windows, each with 
six panes of glass a foot square, and the four 
lower panes opened like a French window. 
An old Russian mahogany sofa, a bureau, a 
mahogany table, a sort of side-board of yellow 
cedar, three rickety chairs, a number of solid 
stools, a big box stove, made in Philadelphia, 
a skin of the mountain goat on the floor, a 
picture of the Holy Virgin .and a.painting cf 
