Cflur. 
“Every Man is presumed to know the Law. 
Nine-tenths of all Litigation arises from Ig¬ 
norance of Law 
11. L., Lexington , Ky .—A sold B a vacant 
lot fox’ cash; A’s wife refused to sign the deed; 
B has since built, a frame house on the land. 
In case A dies, can his wife claim a dower 
right in the house as well as in the land; or 
can she only claim in the laml one-third of the 
price it was sold for? A sold C a vacant lot, 
price payable,some in cash, balance by install¬ 
ments. B executed a title bond signed only 
by himself, binding his executors and admin¬ 
istrators to make C a warranty deed in case 
he died before the deferred payments are 
made. C has erected a house on the lot. 
Suppose A dies first, what can the wife 
claim as dower, or can she prevent a. deed 
being made if the payments are made after 
A’s death? 
Ans.— The Kentucky Revised Statutes en¬ 
act, in the first of these cases, that the wife 
shall have dower only in the laud at its value 
when sold. The second case is perhaps not 
quite so clear, bub as C’s wife, in case of his 
death holding the bond for a deed, would be 
entitled to dower, wo thiuk A’s wife could 
claim dower only, as in the former case, in 
the value of the land at the time the bond was 
given. She could not prevent the making of 
the deed in accordance with the bond. 
B. L. y New York City.—A leases a country 
place; within a month of expiration of lease 
he starts to remove the manure that has accu¬ 
mulated in rear of stable on premises; the 
owner of the property gives A notice to stop 
the removal and claims the manure is as much 
a portion of the property as fences, trees etc. 
Is the owner right? 
Ans.— New-Yorkers own country places in 
New Jersey, Connecticut and other States as 
well as in Now York, and the question is defi¬ 
cient in failing to mention in which of the 
States the place in question is situates!. In 
New Jersey, for example, mauure lying in the 
yard, not spread upon the laud, Is personal 
property, and therefore belongs fix tenant; in 
New York, in legal phrase, it “savors of the 
realty,” and belongs to the landlord so far 
that it cannot bo removed off the place by the 
tenant. The New Yurk rule prevails in Con¬ 
necticut and Massachusetts. 
W. F. fl.. Champaign City , III.—A opened 
an account with B in Ohio in 1858, and had 
an open account with him there till 18*15, 
when he moved to Illinois and rented land 
which B has owned from 18('»5 to 1887. During 
all this time A has been improving the land 
and paying taxes for B; would that keep the 
account open uutil now, the fii'st part of it 
having never been settled? 
Ans. —By the statute of limitations an ac¬ 
count becomes void in six years from the time 
it became flue, unless proper action is taken 
upon it. After that, it can Ire collected only 
by an acknowledgment of the indebtedness. 
The renting of land by A from B would in 
itself be no acknowledgment of any previous 
debt, and without some specific ackuowldg- 
meut the previous account would probably 
fall under the statute. (Parsons on Contracts, 
pp. 71.) 
It. S., Syracuse, N. Y. —After general condi¬ 
tions have been given in a bond an# mortgage as 
to terms of payment, if the words “and it is 
understood ami agreed that all interest duo 
aud unpaid shall become, from and after said 
date of coming due, part and in addition to 
said mortgage," are added, can it be called 
usurious under the statutes of this State? 
Ans.— It cannot be called usurious, but the 
courts will not enforce a contract to pay com¬ 
pound interest. “In tills State an agreement 
in advance, to pay interest upon interest, 
while not usurious, caunot be enforced; an 
agreement to pay interest on interest already 
accrued and iu default is valid.” (Mowry v. 
Bishop, 5 Paige, 98; Van Rensselaer v. Jones, 
2 Barb., 648.) 
L. M. .S'., Lancaster, I'a .—Is there a law iu 
Wisconsin compelling a non resident land¬ 
owner of unimproved lund to build or pay for 
buildlug one-half the line fence, where other 
persons improve or desire to improve adjoin¬ 
ing lund? If other parties are also non-resi¬ 
dents and desire their laud fenced iu for pas¬ 
ture, can they' avail themselves of the law, 
and can any such law be enforced against 
non-resident minors? 
Ans. —An owner of unimproved land in 
Wisconsin is not obliged to pay part of the 
cost of making partition fences until he him¬ 
self wants his land 1110108101. Then lie must 
pay his share, whether the fence is to be built 
or has boon built already. 
L. .1 S. x Broadman , Ohio .—Is there any 
law which compels those who make maple 
sirup to put labels ou their caus or other yes- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
sels before the sirup in them is offered for 
sale? 
Ans. —There is no such law; but it would 
be of advantage for those who make a prime 
article t.o have some distinguishing mark on 
their packages. After this has been done 
some time, ami the brand has become known, 
the courts would prevent others from counter¬ 
feiting it, especially if it had been registered 
at the Patent Office as a “trade mark.” 
I). (I. S., Kalkaska , Mich. —A woman in 
this State owns 320 acres and mortgages 80 
acres of it (with notes accompanying the 
mortgage); has the mortgagee any claim ou 
the other 10 acres not mortgaged, and can he 
collect from her husband? 
Ans. —If sutlicient money is not obtaiued 
from the foreclosure and sale to satisfy the 
mortgage, any other property which the mort¬ 
gagor may possess is liable for the balance 
due on the notes. The husband is not liable 
on contracts made by his wife. (Comp. Laws 
of Mich., 6,298.) 
E, D. B., Seneca Falls, N. Y. —Is it the 
duty of the Highway Commissioner t.i cut 
the weeds, etc., along roadsides, or must he 
notify the owners of adjacent land to do so? 
Ans. —It is the duty of the Highway Com¬ 
missioner to require the Overseer of Highways 
to cause all uoxious weeds within the highways 
to be cut down or destroyed twice a year. If 
the owner of the adjacent land refuses to do 
this, the Overseer can have it done by another, 
and the laud owner must pay the bill. 
C. B. LI., Perry, N. I".—A sells to B a cow 
which is again sold to C, who, after the deal 
is closed is told that E holds a chattel mort¬ 
gage on the beast; who is liable for the 
mortgage, A or B ? 
Ans. —The laws of New York provide that 
all mortgages shall be recorded, and that 
without such record, in the proper place, they 
are void If the mortgage is properly re¬ 
corded, C is liable for its payment. (Revised 
Statutes of 1875, pp. 143?) 
W. Me. L., PlattsbUrg, N. Y. —A married 
woman dies intestate having had children 
who died before her, leaving a husband, 
brother aud sister. How is the personal prop¬ 
erty divided? 
Ans.—A s the deceased has borne children 
to the husband, and they are dead, he can ad¬ 
minister,in this State, upon her personal prop¬ 
erty and is not required to account for it to 
any one else. 
A short time ago one of the Police Captains 
here was informed that a gang of “green- 
goods” swindlers had hired the entire second 
floor of a “flat” nearly opposite his station. 
It was taken for granted that the rascals had 
scattered throughout, the country the usual 
number of circulars, pretending to offer coun¬ 
terfeit money for sale, aud would receive let¬ 
ters from iguoraut, greedy, dishonest dupes. 
The first point was to settle the method of col¬ 
lecting these letters. The three detectives put 
on the case soon ascertained that all the let¬ 
ters for the band were received at cigar ami 
liquor stores in Seventh and Eighth Avenues 
aud cross streets. Fearing the swindlers 
would move away without giving him an op¬ 
portunity to catch them iu company' with any 
of their victims, the Police Captain invaded 
their rooms and captured four of them—sup¬ 
posed to be all the gang, though they had sent 
out circulars bearing over two dozen different 
fictitious names. The Captain found the 
swindlers addressing “green goods” circulars 
to correspondents in small towns in various 
parts of the United States and Canada. These 
circulars wore in the usual wheedling form, 
offering counterfeit greenbacks for sale at re¬ 
duced prices, and inviting the dupes to come 
to the city ami get rich. There were also bo¬ 
gus extracts from newspapers, alleging that 
Government experts could not tell the coun¬ 
terfeits from genuine bank notes. These were 
to be mailed with the circulars. In the rooms 
also were found materials which showed how 
the greenhorns were deceived. Six black 
leather satchels, all alike, were in a closet. 
Two of them contained bricks and brown pa¬ 
per. Others con tamed packages of “sawdust” 
money, each package having a genuine bank 
note on top aud waste paper inside. There 
was no counterfeit money, but the police 
seized $2,060 in good greenbacks, which the 
swindlers had on hand to be counted out be¬ 
fore the couutrymen who were to be fleeced. 
There were hundreds of letters from dupes in 
distant towns. The addresses of most of them 
had beeu culled from seventeen mercantile 
agency books which the police seized. The 
rogues hail a curious system of keeping track 
of their victims. Each correspondent’s name 
was written in a separate small note-book. 
One book contained the following: 
W. A. Blade, Kennedy, Ala., wants to do business In 
room-will let him name hotel—lias money with clerk 
and will let him pay at hotel. 
This record showed that the rascals were 
dealing with a cautious man: 
Louis Qerstner, Morgan. Miss., wants to let the wo¬ 
men know—about f260 or &«M)—will put his money in 
a bank. 
One entry showed that a rival firm of 
swindlers had gobbled up a dupe. 
Robert D. Sands, Frloinl Post Offloo, Neb., came on 
without waiting for Instructions—picked up and beat. 
The prisoners cheerfully admitted that they 
were in the business of swindling country¬ 
men, but they knew that the police could not 
make a charge of swindling in the absence of 
victims who could make complaints. In the 
afternoon they were taken before United 
States Commissioner Shields on a charge of 
violating the postal laws. They were held in 
$2,500 each for examination. 
In spite of the frequent exposures of such 
swindles, aud the absolute certainty that the 
would-be buyer of “green-goods” must be 
swindled if he once parts with his money, the 
E.-O. every week notices reports of the ex¬ 
posures of such frauds in this aud other cities. 
No exposure cau occur unless the victims 
“squeal,” aud as they have been engaged in a 
rascally, dishonest transaction, and the law is 
very reluctant to afford them any redress, not 
one victim in 100 is foolish enough to 
“squeal.” 
The other day about 100 young men in Ban¬ 
gor, Me., were losers by the bursting of the 
bubble of the Young Men’s Marriage Endow¬ 
ment Association which had its headquarters 
at Minneapolis; but which sought dupes in 
all parts of the country,and found a multitude 
in cute Yankee-Iand. The association was to 
give $1,000 to any member of it who was mar¬ 
ried, not within two years after joiuing, and 
the members were to be assessed at each mar¬ 
riage to meet the amount. Announcements 
would be received that John Smith, of some¬ 
where or other, had been married and that 
the assessment was duo, aud it would be sent 
on by the various members. Of course,it was 
all moonshine, aud clear profit for the princi¬ 
pals In Bangor there were several cases, in 
which $75 were lost, and doubtless the dupes 
in Bangor fared no worse tnan other dupes. 
Braces of rascals arc swindling farmers in 
different parts of the country, but especially 
in Pennsylvania just now, in an inglorious 
way: They read the local papers carefully, 
and when a farmer publishes an estray notice, 
No. 1 calls to look at the animal. The farmer 
shows the beast, and the fellow decides it is 
not his; then he returns to his partner and de¬ 
scribes it minutely to him. No. 2 goes to the 
farmer, and after proving by a thorough de¬ 
scription that he is the owner of the animal, 
says he cannot take it away and offers to sell 
it at a bargain. The farmer buys it, and in a 
few days the rightful owner comes and claims 
it. 
To Several Inquirers —From all we can 
learn we infer that the Mutual Reserve Fund 
Life Association of this city is all right; but 
its plan of insurance is a novel one.The 
“solid gold watch,” price “only $8.50,” offered 
by the International Watch Company, of this 
city, is of course, a humbug. An idiot alone 
could expect a “solid gold watch," or a good 
watch of any kind at that price.We 
believe S. H. Moore & Co., of this city will do 
what they promise .We eamiot re¬ 
commend the “Egg Pressing Company” of 
Rochester, N. Y., which offers for sale county 
rights of G. W. Mo wry's patent for a process 
for preserving eggs. It’s a humbug. 
iVUsccUoucous. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED 
Holstein-Friesian Cattle. — Catalogue 
from Smiths, Powell & Lamb, Syracuse, N. 
Y.—One of the best catalogues we have ever 
examined. It contains 245 pages, and is of 
such convenient size that it can be carried in 
the pocket, or placed in the ordinary book¬ 
case. There are 14 beautiful illustrations. 
The introduction to the catalogue we regard 
as the strongest urgumeut in support of the 
claims made for Holstein-Friesian cattle, that 
we have ever read. The language is strong 
and sensible aud at ouce gives the reader the 
impression that is hacked by practical experi¬ 
ence. It is impressible iu this short article to 
do justice to the volume. It will, of course, 
be studied by all who are interested in this 
grand breed of cattle. It will be of interest 
and service to the groat number of farmers 
who have not yet decided which breed of cat¬ 
tle to use in improving their herds. 
Live Stock Tonic. —Circular from the Live 
Stock Tonic Co., 56 S. Peuu St., 1 ndiauapolis, 
lud.—The common diseases of live stock are 
well described iu this circular. It is inipos- 
IMPORTANT 
TO 
HOUSEKEEPERS 
AND 
HOTEL PROPRIETORS. 
JAMES McCREERY & CO. 
offer Special Inducements to 
Housekeepers and Hotel proprie- 
tors In the following lines of 
Housekeeping Goods'- 
TABLE DAMASKS, 
50 cts., 05 ots., 75 cte., 85 cts. and §1.00. 
TABLE NAPKINS, 
$1, $1.35, $1.50, $1.75, $3.00 per dozen. 
TOWELS-ALL LINEN, 
$1, $1.25, $1.50, $1.75, $3 per dozen. 
TOWELINCS, 
5 cts., 8 cts., 10 cts.. 12 Vs cts. per yard. 
CLASS TOWELINCS, 
10 cts., 12V<j cts., 15 cts., 20 cts. per yard. 
BLANKETS, 
$1.25, $1.50, $1.75, $3.00 per pair. 
BED SPREADS, 
85 cents, $1.00, $1.25, $1.50 each. 
UTICA SHEETINGS, 
5-4 6-4 8-4 9-4 10-4 
14 cts., 16 cts., 21 cts., 23 cts., 25 cts. 
together with an extensive variety 
of finer qualities, including new 
and elegant designs in fine Table 
Cloths, Napkins, Lunch Cloths, 
etc. 
Orders by Mall or Express 
from auy part of the country will receive care¬ 
ful aud prompt attention. 
Jas. McCreery & Co. 
Broadway aud 11th St., 
New York. 
sible for any farmer to make too much of a 
veterinarian out of himself. Many a disease 
can be ietected in its earlier symptoms by a 
little observation and study. The proper time 
to give medicine is before the disease is seated. 
Treatment is then comparatively easy. It is 
claimed for this tonic, by those who have used 
it. that it is just the thing to keep in the stable 
for use whenever animals are “run down” or 
out of sorts. It is claimed to be a condensed 
medicine—not bulked out with food stuffs as 
some medicines are. It is also claimed to 
retain its strength iu a superior mauner. An 
excellent horse brush is sent with every large 
package and a curry-comb with every small 
package. Fanners and stockmen will do best 
to deal directly with the company. They 
should send for these circulars and read them 
over. 
Wind-Mills and Pumps.— Catalogues from 
the U. S. Wind Engine and Pump Co., Ba¬ 
tavia. Ills.—These elegant, pamphlets describe 
and illustrate the agricultural implements 
made by the above firm. The Halladay wind¬ 
mill, made by this firm is considered by many 
as being the best mill ever made. Some very 
strong testimonials are printed in this cata¬ 
logue. They come from all parts of the world. 
Two 13-feet Halladays iu South Africa are rais¬ 
ing 30,600 gallons of water per day. It. would 
require an entire page to tell the story of this 
mill properly. Small, geared mills are sold, 
which can be made to do a vast amount of 
work at grinding, sawing, etc. Feed mills, 
eoru-shellers, wood-saws, feed cutters and 
other implements arranged to be run by these 
mills, are furnished. A full liue of pumps 
cau be found illustrated in this catalogue, 
which ought to be read by all who desire to 
utilize the wind. 
Baugh & Sons, No. 20 S. Delaware Avenue, 
Philadelphia, Pa.—This is au old firm and 
many analyses of their fertilizers show that 
they are fully worth the price asked for them. 
Their $25 phosphate is guaranteed to contain 
3Jf per cent, of ammonia, seven per cent, of 
soluble and reverted phosphoric acid, five per 
cent, of mi sol able aud about half of one per 
cent, of potash. The firm advises that when 
the land needs potash farmers buy German 
jretash salts (kainit) at 50 cents per 100 
pounds,'aud’add’it to'the’$25 phosphate. |This 
Ann manufactures all .kinds ^ofjehemicaPfer- 
