1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
2 45 
ing season was over. Prices have gradually settled, and 
the market closes decidedly dull. Of course the prices of 
sheep are all given for shorn lots. Lambs have a wide 
range, some poor lots of 37 lbs. selling at 854c., common 
to fair Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky at 10c. @ 11c.; fair to 
prime Jerseys and State at 11c. ® 1114c., a few extras of 
60 lbs. reaching 30c. Poor to medium sheep are quoted 
at 514c. @ 6c. lb.; fair to good at 614c. ® 7c., and 
choice 7}£c. Swine.— Hogs still come forward too 
fast for any improvement in prices. They have continued 
quite uniform during the entire month. The Western 
country is said to be full of hogs, made by a bountiful 
crop of corn last season. Live are worth 4J4c. @ 414c.; 
city-dressed Western, 5»4c. @ 5%c. 
SPECIAL PREMIUMS 
STILL OFFERED. 
The General Premium List closed July 1st. The 
following Special Premiums are continued until 
further notice: 
The VI ulturn in I’arvo Knife for 8 
subscribers to American Agriculturist at $1.50 a 
year; or 4 subscribers to Hearth and Home at $3.00 
a year; or 5 subscribers for one year to both the 
abovepapers at $4.00 a year. (Knife sent post-paid.) 
The Ilechwith $1© Sewing Via- 
chine for 12 subscribers to American Agriculturist 
at $1.50 a year; or 6 subscribers to Hearth and 
Home at $3.00 a year; or for 10 subscribers to both 
papers at $4.00 a year. 
N. IS.—Two half-year subscribers in all 
the above cases may count for one full year in a 
Premium Club List. 
multum in PAitvo KNIFE, closed.—3 inches long. 
Pump for a Peep Well. — “A. S.,” 
Mercer Co., Pa., has a well 40 feet deep, and wishes to 
know the best pump for it. The American Submerged 
Pump is calculated for wells of this depth ; the price is 
$15, without the pipe. The Bridgeport Manufacturing 
Co., 55 Chambers et., New York, are the manufacturers. 
containing a great variety of Items , including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form , for want of space elsewhere. 
US emitting Money : — Checks on 
New York City Banks or Bankers are best 
for large sums; make payable to the order of Orange 
Judd <fe Co..Post-Office Money Orders, 
for $50 or less, are cheap and safe also. When these are not 
obtainable, register letters, affixing stamps for post¬ 
age and registry ; put in the money and seal the letter in 
the presence of the postmaster, and take his receipt for it. 
Money sent in the above three methods is safe against loss. 
Postage : On American Agriculturist , 3 cents 
a quarter, in advance ; on Hearth and Home, 5 cents per 
quarter. Double rates if not paid in advance at the 
office where the papers are received. For subscribers in 
British America, the postage must he sent to this office 
for prepayment here. 
Round Copies of Volume Thirty 
are now ready. Price, $2, at our office; or $2.50 
each, if sent by mail. Any of the last fifteen volumes 
(16 to 30) will also be forwarded at same price. Sets of 
numbers sent to our office will he neatly hound in our 
regular style, at 75 cents per vol. (50 cents extra, if return¬ 
ed by mail.) Missing numbers supplied at 12 cents each. 
Clubs can at any time be increased by remitting 
for each addition the price paid by the original members; 
or a small club may be increased to a larger one; thus: 
a person having sent 10 subscribers and $12, may after¬ 
ward send 10 more subscribers with only $8 ; making a 
club of 20 at $1 each; and so of the other club rates. 
Potato 4Jneri.es. —When a branch of a 
rose-bush that has usually borne white roses hears red 
ones, we call that a sport. When a shrub that usnally 
hears green leaves pushes out a twig upon which the 
leaves are all veined with yellow, we call that a sport. 
When a potato that usually hears long and white tubers 
produces a short and red one, or one that differs in any 
marked manner from the ordinary character of the vari¬ 
ety, we call that a sport of the potato. There is no proof 
that the impregnation of the blossoms of a potato plant 
with the pollen of another variety will effect any change 
in the tubers of that plant. 
Northern Pacific R.I2.—A Good 
Record.—“ Investigating committees ” have been the 
order of the day during a year past, and in most cases 
their necessity has been proved. A notable exception 
has occurred in the case of the Congressional Committee 
directed to examine thoroughly the affairs of the North¬ 
ern Pacific Railroad Company. The report completely 
vindicates the officers and agents of the Company, and is 
in every sense very satisfactory. L’he work is thoroughly 
done, in the best manner, and no one is found dipping 
bis own band into the treasury, directly or indirectly, by 
means of contracts or supplies furnished. 
Veterinary Education. — “ Orphan 
Boy,” Waverlcy Bights, Pa.—Write to New York College 
of Veterinary Surgeons, Lexington ave., near 33d st., 
New York, for circular. 
Vane’s Reet. —“ Subscriber,” Chattanooga, 
Tenn.—This will grow where other root crops will suc¬ 
ceed. There is no more seed to he had, and you can not 
try it this year. 
Asparagus Red. — “A. A. B.,” Ontario.— 
Spring is the most convenient season for making an As¬ 
paragus bed. Ton will find directions at the proper 
season in our hints under Kitchen Garden. When well 
set, the bed will, if properly cared for, last many years. 
Large Immigration. — Ten thousand 
immigrants landed In New York on Monday, May 20th. 
This is the largest number that has ever arrived in any 
one day. 
Ginseng.— “A. E. T.,” Havre de Grace, Md. 
—Ginseng is the root of Aralia quinquefolia (Panax quin- 
quefolium of the older botanists), a plant which grows in 
rich, moist woods, especially in mountainous districts. 
It is comparatively rare in the Eastern States, hut is still 
abundant in some parts of the South and West. The 
root is from three to nine inches long, and as big round 
as one’s finger. It has a peculiar aromatic and a some¬ 
what sweetish and mucilaginous taste. Medicinally, it 
is of no value save as a mild aromatic. The Chinese 
Ginseng is the root of Panax Schinseng, and is highly 
valued by the Chinese, it being sometimes sold for its 
weight in gold. The word ginseng in Chinese signifies ttie 
“ Wonder of the World,” and wc do not wonder at it, as 
it has power, according to the Chinese physicians, “ to 
make old people young,” and to “ render a man immor¬ 
tal, if anything on earth can do so.” As our Ginseng is 
not essentially different from the Chinese, and probably 
quite as efficacious, it is exported in considerable quan¬ 
tities to immortalize the Celestials. We have not knoYn 
of any attempts to cultivate it for commercial purposes. 
Pairs isi Aagast.—Our regular list of 
fairs is published in September, as the majority occur in 
that month and later. We have received notice of two 
which take place iii August, which are: Boone Co., Mo., 
at Columbia, Aug. 27-31, and Mahaska Co., Iowa, at 
Oskaloosa, Aug. 27-30. 
Donble>fnrrow Plow. — The double¬ 
furrow plow is no new invention, as is often supposed. 
It was in use in England 200 years ago, seventy years 
ago the first patent was taken out for improvements on 
the old form, sixty years ago several patterns were made 
by different makers, and now they are said to he used by 
ten thousand farmers in Groat Britain. 
We Give i$ np.—We have again and 
again requested that persons making inquiries to bo 
answered by mail, should inclose only the return postage. 
Heretofore we have, when 25c., 50c., $1, etc., have been 
sent “ for information,” returned the amount minus the 
three cents for postage. Wc find that this costs altogether 
too much time and trouble. If people will disregard our 
repeated request, we give notice that while we have no 
information to sell at any price, we can not bother with 
making return change. If they put in more than a three- 
cent stamp, it is so much money thrown away. We wish it 
to he very distinctly understood that we do not accept the 
excess over the amount required for return postage as a 
compensation, and that we incur no obligation whatever 
in retaining what wc have frequently requested should 
not he sent. 
SIJNWRY IIUMRUGS.—An unusually 
light job we have this month, for though we have the 
basket full of letters and circulars, those referring to 
swindles not previously exposed in these columns belong 
largely to one class—the “Queer” operators.At 
Bridgeport, Ct., in the “ Land of Steady Habits,” they 
have a Mammoth Lottery, got up with no little ingenuity 
in the use of printer’s ink, and pretty well calculated to 
draw in the dollars from the Micawber class, which is 
large everywhere. It is claimed that every payer gets his 
money’s worth, to start with, and, in addition, a chance 
in a Grand Distribution of more than half a million dol¬ 
lars’ worth of all sorts of things, such as houses, lots, 
engravings, carriages, pianos, shawls ($850 to $1,000 
each), oil paintings ($800 each), point-lace collars ($10 
each), a $125 saddle, $20 family Bibles, etc., etc., etc., 
etc.—a grand melange of gifts surely—when all the tickets 
are sold, amounting to “ several hundred thousands ”—we 
don’t know how many hundreds of thousands 1 Lots of 
indorsements of the manager are printed from Mayors, 
Congressmen, etc., down (or up) to “ respectable citi¬ 
zens.” Probably “several hundred thousand people 
will rush in with their $1, $2, and $3 each. Sensible 
people will buy what they want at regular prices. If we 
granted all that the manager claims for this scheme, wo 
should still advise all people to let it alone severely. 
Lotteries, and all schemes and games of chance, are had 
in their influence. They cultivate a proclivity to look for 
chance fortune, rather than to honest effort and industry. 
Every person who invests a dollar in any chance scheme 
—he it lottery, gift enterprise, or otherwise — is posi¬ 
tively and permanently injured thereby.Thomas D. 
Thorp, the note swindler described last month, offers at 
737 Broadway cigar Revenue Stamps at one fifth their 
value, on the pretense that his cousin is in the Govern¬ 
ment printing-office at Washington, and supplies him 
with extra sheets surreptitiously printed. He, of course, 
pockets all the receipts, and is not comc-at-able when 
sought for. We have received a lot more of his swin¬ 
dling $065 “ notes ” scattered over the country, as de¬ 
scribed last month_A chap at'Charlotte, Mich., calling 
himself F. A. Ellis & Co., successor to J. Y. Johnson, is, 
or recently was, offering disgusting boek" pictures, im¬ 
plements, etc. The good people of Charlouo, if there are 
any there, should clear out this disgraceful nuisance; 
parents should guard their sons from getting his numer¬ 
ous circulars, and only those who believe there is “ honor 
among thieves” will forward money for his “goods,” if 
they are themselves depraved enough to want them for 
use or sale.A Missouri subscriber writes that he 
sent 25c. for some fine watermelon seeds advertised in. 
