46 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
sold in New York or anywhere else for much less than it 
is worth, and that whoever offers articles for half their 
usual price or less, either came by them dishonestly, the 
articles are not what they are represented to he, or they 
are offered as a bait to cover some ulterior design. 
MEDICAL HUMBUGS. 
“P. M.,’’ of Greencastle, Iud., finds fault because we 
do not shew up Ayer, of Lowell, and several others in 
our humbug column. While we do not approve of the 
manner in which Mr. Ayer introduces his medicines, he 
does not keep the composition of them a secret, but 
publishes the formula; and as we have no doubt that he 
furnishes precisely what he agrees to, we can not class 
his medicines among the humbugs. There are a great 
many proprietary medicines sold which are in them¬ 
selves good and useful. The objection to them is that 
they tempt people to medicate themselves and to dose 
themselves when no medicine is needed. We therefore 
think that, so far as this goes, such medicines are to bo 
discountenanced ; but they stand upon a different foot¬ 
ing from those sent out by the miserable quaGks who 
promise everything and give a useless or worse than 
useless stuff. 
EYE-CUPS AGAIN. 
Of all the special organs bv which the brain receives 
impressions from the outside world, none is so wonder¬ 
ful in its structure or so aelicate and so sensitive as the 
eye. When it is deranged it requires the greatest skill 
to ascertain wha. the trouble is and to properly restore 
St to usefulness. The sellers of these eye-cups them¬ 
selves claim that they do only one thing—restore the 
lost convexity of the eye. It is a box-wood or other cup 
to put over the eye, to which an india-rubber bag is at¬ 
tached. By squeezing the bag and placing the cup over 
the eye, a pressure from within, outward, is created, 
which these people claim will restore the proper shape. 
Now, but very few of the derangements of the eye are 
due to any disturbance of the shape. Some are, but 
there is not the slightest reason to believe that these 
eye-cups will help them. It is astonishing that people 
who would not think they knew enough to repair a 
broken coffee-mill will tinker with their own eyes. We 
have the highest authority in the country for saying that 
these eye-cups are wrong in principle aud mischievous 
in practice. 
THE NATIONAL SURGICAL INSTITUTE 
Is on its travels. It has been to California, and we have 
a show-bill announcing that it will be at Sa’lt Lake City 
and Denver on certain days.' This circular—we beg 
pardon, “journal is a curiosity, and quite beats one 
of Barnum’s circus bills. Two large pages are used to 
ehow all possible human deformities, with the poor 
creatures in every possible kind of harness. The con¬ 
trasted figures of patients as received and as dismissed 
beat the writing masters’ specimens of the chirography 
of pupils before and after taking lessons. The array of 
deformed and ulcerated feet and limbs is repulsive be¬ 
yond description. These institute people claim to be 
'M. D.’s. The more shame for them. These 
“INSTITUTES AND UNIVERSITIES” 
are great things. We have several of them in New 
York. Sometimes one man calls himself a university or 
an institute, and then it happens, thongh rarely, that 
one of these quack chaps really does get, by some hocus- 
pocus, a charter from the legislature. One of these 
lovely concerns is the 
CLINTON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL INSTITUTE, 
?ihich is run by one James Bryan. This Bryan obtained 
a charter in which are mentioned as incorporators Dr. 
.John Harvey, Dr. Robert Bell, Prof. Wm. Draper, and 
©there. It will be noticed that these are names well 
jkcown in the medical world, and are chosen with great 
ingenuity. Mr. Bryan has been summoned by the attor¬ 
ney general of the state of New York to show cause 
why his charter should not be forfeited, as these incor- 
iporatore can not be found, and it is charged that no 
®Bch persons exist. If the charter should not be for¬ 
feited on this account, it should for the vile character of 
the publications of the “Institute.” We have before us 
a small volume entitled, “ Things You Ought to Know,” 
made up of essays by associates of Bryan and aliases, 
which is about as vile as anything among the many vile 
publications that have fallen into our hands. Each essay 
ss followed by advertisements of certain remedies, or 
thatof the “Institute.” Madame Lucille Demarre’s dis¬ 
courses of “Marriage Socially Considered,” and follows 
it with an advertisement of her “Eau d’ Amour,” or 
■•‘Perfume of Love,” which is a most remarkable smell, 
mswe read: “With this celebrated article as a helper, 
no young gentleman or lady need pine in single blessed¬ 
ness. With its help they can win the unchanging affec¬ 
tion of whom they please, and marry happily and speed¬ 
ily, if so desired.” Then comes “ Prof. W. Draper, 
M.D.,” with his “ Philosophy of Marriage,” with adver- 
feements to match. This “Professor” advertises, 
among other things, the “Cordial of Venus,” the uses 
of which a regard for decency prevents us from stating. 
“Dr. John Harvey ” writes about “ Womanhood,” and 
advertises, from this very “ Institute,” female pills, the 
real abject of which is more thinly disguised than usual. 
There are other things offered in this vile work of which 
virtuous people do not know, and which it would hardly 
be proper to name. This Bryan, with his male and fe¬ 
male associates or aliases , whichever they may be, is 
properly under the eye of the authorities. His case 
should induce the legislature to be careful to whom they 
grant charters, for more vile and pernicious quackery 
never existed than is practiced by this chartered “ Insti¬ 
tute." 
COUNTERFEIT MONEY. 
For thefirst timeinmauy months we have only one new 
name as a dealer in “ Queer.” This is sent by a corre¬ 
spondent in Kansas, who proposes to write to the chap 
and have us meet his appointment with an officer. This 
would not be of the slightest use. The man could not 
be arrested unless he passed or sold counterfeit money, 
or had it in his possession. It is not probable that any 
of these chaps make or have any counterfeit money— 
they are quite too sharp for that. Their object is to get 
a victim into their hands; they make a bargain with 
him, get his good money, and put a parcel of paper into 
his hands which turns out to be no counterfeit money at 
all. The victim does not dare to “ squawk,” for he has 
already made himself a party to a criminal transaction, 
and he can not make a complaint without admitting that 
he was ready to go into the counterfeit money business. 
If any get caught in this trap they are rightly served. 
The real dealers in counterfeit money are not such fools 
as to write letters and send out circulars. These chaps 
who pretend to do it know that the cupidity of some 
will lead them into their trap, and when once in, their 
fears will keep them quiet.Some interesting cases 
are now in the hands of the courts, and when they come 
to trial we may expect some developments that will be 
worth noticing in our “ Humbug” column. 
Biroomi Corn. —“R. F. S.,” Beech Grove, 
Ind. It is no more trouble to raise broom corn than 
ordinary field corn. The cultivation is the same, and 
the harvesting and drying is no more trouble, if so 
much, as husking and cribbing corn. The best variety 
is the Missouri evergreen, and the method of cultivation 
and preparation is described in the Agriculturist of May, 
1813. A little pamphlet has been written upon this sub¬ 
ject by R. A. Traver, of Charleston, Rlinois, which con¬ 
tains much valuable information. 
Artificial Fertilizers.—“ D. H.,” Bur¬ 
lington, Ct. The labor of making composts of artificial 
fertilizers and loam will hardly pay. The composting 
may be done far cheaper by spreading the fertilizer upon 
the soil and mixing it with a light harrowing. For sown 
crops the seed and fertilizer should be harrowed in to¬ 
gether. Superphosphate very often fails of any notice¬ 
able effect when used upon soils containing lime. The 
acid or soluble phosphate forms an insoluble compound 
with the lime. This is what is termed “going back,” 
and suffices to explain many disappointments. Muck is 
best composted with lime, or, better still, used as an 
absorbent in the stables and yards. 
E.. Wriglit’s “ ISraluma Fowl.”— 
“F. W. B.," New Haven, Ct. This little work is a 
“ true account ” of the Brahma fowl, its origin, its char¬ 
acter, its habits, its value, and the best method of breed¬ 
ing to preserve all its excellences up to the proper stand¬ 
ard. It is equally devoted to the light and dark Brahmas, 
is handsomely illustrated, and is sold for $2.50. 
G£1P See Pages 73 and 74. 
The American Cyclopaedia.— Ap¬ 
pleton’s Cyclopaedia is one of the most important works 
ever issued from the American press. The first edition, 
which was completed in 1863, found a place in every con¬ 
siderable library: indeed it was a respectable library in 
itself. The publishers are now bringing out a new edi¬ 
tion, which like the former will be comprised in 16 vol¬ 
umes. It is, like the first edition, under the editorial 
charge of Messrs. George Ripley and Charles A. Dana. 
All the articles are thoroughly revised and mostly rewrit¬ 
ten, with many new ones added, so that though the plan 
is the same it is essentially a new work. The first four 
volumes which we have received show a great improve¬ 
ment in the mechanical appearance of the work, and il¬ 
lustrations and maps are introduced where the subject 
requires them. There is no work of its kind so valuable 
to the American reader as this, as it gives special promi¬ 
nence to American matters, and biographical sketches of 
prominent persons still living. The various topics are 
treated by eminent specialists, and in a popular and at¬ 
tractive style. As far as we have examined the work it 
appears to be still more valuable than the first edition. 
Although this edition has been announced but a short 
time, we learn that the sales have been very large. 
ffleKdersosi’s Practical Floi-icul- 
ture.—This work has had a large sale for one of its 
kind, and deservedly so, as it is the only one in the lan¬ 
guage which gives plainly and without any reservation 
the practices and processes of those who grow plants as 
a business and avail themselveB of every economical and 
labor-saving expedient. There are seme florists who 
keep their operations a secret; that this is bad policy is 
shown by the course of Mr. Henderson, who has always 
freely communicated the “secrets” of his business in 
his articles to the Agriculturist and other papers, and es¬ 
pecially in his books. Instead of injuring his business 
by telling others how they can go and do likewise, he 
has constantly increased it. He feels, as every florist 
should, that next to the pleasure of discovering a “ new 
wrinkle ” is the telling of it for the benefit of others. A 
new and much enlarged edition of “Henderson’s Practi¬ 
cal Floriculture ” has just been issued by the Orange 
Judd Company. This, while it is a work indispensable 
to those who raise plants for sale, contains much that is 
given for the special benefit of the amateur cultivator. 
Though the number of pages is considerably greater 
than the old edition, the price remains the same as be¬ 
fore, $1.50. 
Wlaat we Call lean,-That the pub¬ 
lishers of papers should have been, in common with other 
business men, embarrassed by the late panic is not sur¬ 
prising, and we consider it essentially mean that when 
one of our agricultural cotemporaries was pinched more 
closely than was pleasant, some other agricultural papers 
took special pains to give publicity to the matter, not only 
by comments of their own but by quoting items in relation 
to it from other papers. A fair rivalry we believe in, but to 
endeavor to turn the misfortunes of another to one’s own 
benefit is a meanness of which we are sorry to say some 
journals have been guilty. If the publisher in question 
had failed to fulfil his agreements with his subscribers 
that would have been another matter, but so long as his 
paper was furnished as good and as regularly as ever we 
can not see whose business it is to interfere in the matter. 
The Gardener’s ^lotfstlaly opens the 
year with a number of unusual variety and interest. The 
editor gives Recollections of Travel, which being an ac¬ 
count of a journey made last summer, lacks the freshness 
of the rest of the number. It is so seldom we catch our 
friend Meeham napping (even Jove nodded though)that we 
like to pick him up when he gives us a chance. In speak¬ 
ing of the route between Texas and the Indian territory 
he says, “ The line was very gay with the large brush-like 
heads of Centaurea Americana , a beautiful annual which 
it is surprising has not yet got into cultivation.” This 
plant, the common name for which is American Star- 
Thistle, we grew a dozen or more years ago, and the 
seeds are to be found in the catalogues of all the princi¬ 
pal seedsmen, those of Philadelphia included. If our 
friend had studied his Agriculturist with the care that be¬ 
comes every one, especially horticultural editors, who 
wishes to know what is going on, he would have learned 
that a new variety of this Star-Thistle was introduced 
into England last year. 
The michigait Agricultural Col¬ 
lege.— The New York Evening Post says: “It is pro¬ 
posed to make daily manual labor compulsory upon the 
students at the Michigan Agricultural College, and some 
of the kid-gloved young farmers protest.”—Manual labor 
has always been required of the students, except in case 
of sickness or disability, and the young men at the col¬ 
lege, while they can no doubt wear kid gloves as well as 
any other gentlemen should the occasion demand it, are 
as hard-working a set of young farmers as can be found 
anywhere. But this is about as near to the facts as the 
daily papers get when they meddle with agricultural 
matters. 
Wool.— During all the fluctuations of value 
consequent upon the recent financial crisis, now happily 
in a great measure passed over, the market value of wool 
remained almost constant. “ Domestic fleece ” was 
quoted in the New York market on September 10th at 
48 cents per ponnd ; exactly the same quotation was cur¬ 
rent on November 29th, while almost all other staples 
except grain, cotton amongst the rest, had greatly de¬ 
clined. The fact that wool, wheat, corn, and oats thus 
retained their value amidst the most unfavorable cir¬ 
cumstances goes to show that agriculture is the most 
stable of all the industries, aud while all .else may be 
going to wreck the farmer alone can afford to contem¬ 
plate the disaster with comparative serenity. 
