2 4=6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
ago, had any of the swindled parties one particle of 
spunk. Each of the many persons who has come to us 
with complaints, appears to have a good case, hut instead 
of bringing the rascals into court, they write to us, and 
ask us to expose the concern, and not give their names. 
We are not in the catspaw business ; and while, when 
convinced that systematic fraud is being practised, we 
are willing to take the risk of exposing it, we can not 
take up cases for which there is a ready remedy. The 
clergyman in Missouri, who thinks he has been de¬ 
frauded in a bee transaction, a correspondent in New 
York, whose ducks’ eggs did not hatch, and the one in 
Massachusetts, who is in trouble about his pigs, will see 
that w r e can not show 7 up certain dealers as humbugs, 
upon their simple accusation, and without having avail¬ 
able witnesses and facts to justify us before a jury, if 
need be. 
HORTICULTURAL HUMBUGS 
have been so frequently exposed in our columns, that we 
supposed no reader of the Agriculturist could be taken 
in by those French scoundrels, who appear each spring 
in our principal cities, sometimes as Lafayette & Co., 
and in other years under other names. These chaps 
have catalogues so similar, and pictures of their won¬ 
derful products so alike, that they are probably all parts 
of one great swindling concern. “ Greenhorn ” sends 
us one of these French-English catalogues, with the 
things marked which he has purchased, and asks if he 
has been “ sold.” Now, friend “ Greenhorn,” you have 
marked on this catalogue, “Mezcl Cherry, eleven in one 
pound;” Pear, “Monstrous of Africa, heavy, four 
pounds;” “Prince’s Plum, without stone,” and other 
equally absurd things. If you do not know that “Tree 
Strawberries,” with fruit weighing a pound ; that apri¬ 
cots, weighing a pound each; that raspberries, with 
“large fruit as a egg of a fowl,” are barefaced frauds, 
you have taken a very sure, but very expensive way of 
learning. Know 7 , O “ Greenhorn,” that our nurserymen 
are as wide-awake as any other dealers; and if there 
were upon the face of the earth, airy such trees or plants 
as are given in the catalogue you sent us, they would 
have them, if they had to send to the most remote coun¬ 
tries. New 7 York City is a great field for these impos¬ 
tors. Gentlemen who have country places, and who 
would, by no means, pay a skilled gardener bricklayer’s 
wages, will spend their money freely upon these novel¬ 
ties, because they are “French,” and their claims are 
set forth with unblushing impudence and lying. We 
confess to feeling very little compassion for those who 
.throw their money away in this manner.A New 
Yorker, who does not give his name, offers “ Two of the 
greatest medicinal and sweet-scented plants in the 
world,” “ presented for the first time to the American 
public.” One is Nigella satire, (intended for saliva), 
“ makes one of the greatest tonic medicines in the world.” 
If the friend who sent us the circular, knows of any old 
grandmother’s garden, where the plants of fifty years 
ago are yet undisturbed, he will find this wonderful 
JXigella, grown under the name of “ Nutmeg flower.” 
Its only novelty consists in its antiquity ; its seeds are 
aromati r, and were formerly used as a spice. The other 
plant is Phillandrium aquaticum, which should be spelled 
Fhellandrium, and is now known as QLnanthe. This, it 
is said, “is used for bronchitis, consumption, and obsti¬ 
nate ulcers.” Now, we advise all afflicted with either of 
these troubles, not to dose themselves at all, but espe¬ 
cially not with this “ Phillandrium,” as it is a dangerous 
narcotic poison, and like related plants needs to be used 
with great caution. While we have no reason to doubt 
that the advertiser will, furnish the plants upon the terms 
he proposes, they are offered under incorrect, and no 
doubt, mistaken ideas of their value ; and so far as this 
goes, they are horticultural humbugs. 
THE NON-EXPLOSIVE POWDER MAN 
has been in Troy, and one Trojan speaks his mind on 
the subject. If any ladies take offence at what is said, 
they must remember that the remarks are not ours, 
but those of our irate correspondent. He, in sub¬ 
stance, says: “I take your paper, and am pretty well 
posted as to the leeches of humbugs, but my wife, 
confiding as women generally are, has been duped 
.by one of them. An ‘Agent’ called at my house, 
with some powder to render kerosene oil non-explosive, 
imd nothing would do but he must try some of it, to con¬ 
vince my wife of its qualities. He put some of it into a 
Perkins & House’s safety lamp, and it has succeeded 
splendidly ! It rendered both the oil and the lamp non¬ 
explosive, as it stopped up the tube which supplies oil 
to the wick, and of course rendered the lamp perfectly 
useless. I am not in the habit of using strong language, 
but if ever that agent comes within range of a‘Spring- 
field ’ that. I brought home from the war, I will try some 
powder that will not be ‘ non-explosive.’ ” Our advice 
to the Trojan friend is, to say nothing, buy a new lamp, 
and set the other aside, as a sort of beacon, to point out. 
shoals and dangerous places. The wife has had her les¬ 
son, and has not paid half so dearly for it, as she would 
had she bought some quack medicine. It might be worse. 
CHEAP AND WORTHLESS SEWING-MACHINES 
are still complained of by those who are victimized by 
the venders. Some complain, that they saw advertise¬ 
ments of these things in a horticultural paper; such 
would do well to present their grievances to the paper, 
through whose agency they were induced to invest. We 
can not help those who have sent money, and receive 
nothing in return. It would require the whole time of 
one man to investigate all the various complaints, and 
amount to nothing. The best way is, to regard the 
amount lost, as so much paid for instruction, and if it 
teaches caution in future, it may not be a bad investment. 
...Cheap Carpets. “J. L. II.,” Kansas. We know 
nothing of the concern you inquire about, but if you suc¬ 
ceed in getting good carpets at 37% cents a yard, we hope 
you will let us know, as we would like some too. 
A GRAND “PRIZE CONCERT ; ” 
this time it is in Texas, and it does not pretend to be for 
any State library, children’s home, or use any other char¬ 
itable cloak to cover its sin. It is a prize concert for the 
benefit of the manager, and so far is above-board, but the 
circular accompanying the tickets, which are sent out 
freely to people in the Western States, says : “ Should 
your State larvs prohibit the sale of ‘ Prize Concert 
tickets,’ (remember that they are concert tickets, and not 
lottery tickets,) you can then advertise for applications for 
tickets.” If any one thinks ho can get around the law 
by following this advice, he would soon discover his 
mistake in any law-abiding community_ That Ken¬ 
tucky Library lottery advertises one more final distribu¬ 
tion, but it will no doubt keep at it so long as a dollar is 
to be made. 
MEDICAL HUMBUGS. 
There is one thing, that we have repeated again and 
again, and yet it does not seem possible to make it 
generally understood. It is, that it is perfectly useless to 
send to us for our opinion of any “ doctors,” who ad¬ 
vertise cures, or advertise their medicines—no matter 
in what papers they advertise, or where they live, or how 
many distinguished names they may have appended to 
their “ certificates,” we hold them all to be unsafe, and 
to be avoided. Notwithstanding we have given this no¬ 
tice so many times, scarcely a day passes, but the mails 
bring us letters, asking about these advertising doctors. 
We have no acquaintance with any of these chaps, and 
we advise every one to let them alone ; we make no ex¬ 
ceptions whatever. Some are out-and-out swindlers, 
others are ignorant pretenders, without any knowledge 
of medicine whatever, and if, by chance, there is one 
among them, who has a right to the title of M. D., the 
very fact of his advertising his claims, and vaunting the 
cures he has performed, shows that he could not make 
himself a position in the medical profession, and has 
gone into quackery to make money.Clark Johnson, 
M.D., Jersey City, turns up again, in the form of a letter 
to an agent in Texas, in which he says of the exposures 
in the “Agriculturalist,” “particularly do we ignore 
them since we know the cause to be jealousy of our un¬ 
precedented success.”—This is pretty good for a man 
who does not exist. If there only was such a person, as 
Clark Johnson, M.D., what a fellow he would be ! — A 
most pernicious little pamphlet bears the title of “ Med¬ 
ical Good Sense,” and claims to be published by the 
“ Manhattan Medical Institute.” This sets forth a delicate 
disease, which no one would care to have, in an alarming 
light, and then gives “an infallible test,” by which those 
who had their fears excited by the description, may 
themselves tell, whether they have the disease or not. 
The test is, to put some urine in a pint-bottle, and 
set it in a cool place, and if at. the end of three days and 
nights there is cloudiness or sediment, there is “ un¬ 
mistakable evidence ” of a serious derangement, and, of 
course, the only safe thing to do. is to send some of the 
sediment to the author of this pamphlet for microscopic 
examination. Now, every one who knows anything 
about such matters, is aware, that cloudiness in the urine, 
after standing in a cool place, is a very likely thing to 
happen, and it is not an “infallible tost" for anything. 
It is just a dodge of this humbug, to frighten people into 
coming to him for treatment.There is a rascally Dr. 
“ & Co.,” in Dalton, Ga., who is using the IT. S. mails 
for a nefarious purpose. The proper officers down that 
way should put a stopper on him or them.... The medical 
humbugs are not a cheerful lot generally, but once in a 
while a bit of drollery turns up among them. A friend 
sends us an advertisement from a daily paper,which reads: 
“TO CAPITALISTS.—DURING THE MEXICAN WAR 
of 1816 I was attached to the Army of the United States, 
and while there in 1847, obtained a very valuable medical 
recipe for purifying the blood, etc., of an aged Aztec 
Indian woman. I have not the means to bring it before 
the public. There is a fortune in it.” 
If any capitalist wishes to make a “fortune” by 
“purifying the blood, etc., of an aged Aztec Indian 
woman,” we will give him the advertiser’s address. 
It. U. Bliss & Sons’ Removal.—This 
seed establishment is on the move to 34 Barclay st. 
Cause, want of sufficient room in the old locality for the 
rapidly increasing business. 
The Patrons of Husbandry have at 
last met with the only thing needed for their complete 
success—persecution. However swimmingly they have 
gone on upon their own merits, having now been thor- 
ougly maligned, and held up as something to be avoided, 
they will prosper with unprecedented vigor. An Anti- 
Secret Society held a meeting a few weeks ago at Syra¬ 
cuse, N. Y., at which a new political party was proposed, 
and at which Mr. Chas. W. Green “ went for ” the 
Patrons and the Granges in the most absurd style. For 
the good he has done their cause, the Patrons should pen¬ 
sion Chas. W. for life. In our view of the matter the 
officers and members of the order make a mistake in re¬ 
plying to him. Let him go on and advertise them. 
Belsiwsarc Reaches.— Last month we 
gave a very favorable report of the prospects of the peach 
crop, since then an unfavorable change has taken place, 
much of the young fruit having fallen. If we accept the 
statements of the local papers, the estimate of 2,500,000 
baskets, has dwindled down to about 100,000. 
Mabbei-d’s ISorticwltiia-al Works. 
—Messrs. Groombridge & Sons, London, send copies of 
“The Amateurs’ Flower Garden,” “The Amateurs’ 
Greenhouse and Conservatory,” “The Fern Garden,” 
“ The Amateurs’ Rose Book ” and “ Field Flowers,” all 
by Shirley Hibberd, a horticultural author who is well 
known for his vigorous style and practical skill. These 
works are issued in a handsome form and finely illustrat¬ 
ed, and are decidedly popular in England. They will be 
useful to such American amatuers as have sufficient horti¬ 
cultural knowledge to enable them to adapt their direc¬ 
tions to the peculiarities of our climate. The same house 
publishes “The Floral World and Garden Guide,” an 
illustrated monthly edited by Mr. Hibberd. The year’s 
numbers of this make a fine volume. 
Sale of Thorough Bred Horses.— 
The sale of horses from the studs of August Belmont, 
Esq., and Messrs. Hunter & Travis, took place at the 
Nursery, near Babylon, L. I., on June 11. There was 
a large attendance and the prices realized were fair on 
the whole. Several of the animals, however, were 
withdrawn for want of bids equal to their estimated value. 
Valuable Reports.— Just as we go to 
press, there come to hand two reports too valuable to be 
disposed of in a hurried note: The Proceedings of the 
American Promological Society for 1873, and the Sixth 
Annual Report, by C. Y. Riley, on the Noxious and Bene- ; 
ficial Insects of Missouri. These will receive attention 
another month. 
Steam on tbe Canals. — The Baxter 
steam canal-boat has been awarded a premium of $35,000 
by the Legislature of New York, on condition that six of 
the boats be put into service forthwith. A company has 
been organized, with a capital of a million dollars, to 
build and run twenty of these boats this season. The 
reduction in the cost of transporting grain between 
Buffalo and New York, by these boats, is about three- 
fourtlis of the former rates. Now we need enlarged canals. 
Skipping Stressed Meats.—The Texas 
and Atlantic Refrigerator Company have now one hun¬ 
dred cars engaged in transporting dressed beef from 
Texas to Eastern cities. One hundred beeves are slaugh¬ 
tered daily at Dennison, Texas, and the number will | 
soon be increased to five hundred. 
The English “ H.ock-oul.” —The 
“lock-out” of English farm laborers still continues, < 
This is really a strike upon the part of the farmers, who 
are the employers of the laborers, the desired effect of 
which is to destroy the agricultural laborers’ union. The 
need for laborers is pressing, and Belgian immigrants 
are being introduced, to take the place of the union 
laborers. The introdaction of Chinese laborers into 1 
England has even been suggested. It is difficult to real- | 
5 .ze°the altered condition of things in England, as evinced i 
by these occurrences. 
The Tobacco SiCaf.- 1 “ J. W. H.,” Hart¬ 
ford. Ct. The “ Tobacco Leaf” is a weekly journal, de¬ 
voted wholly to the tobacco interest, and will be found to 
contain a large amount of special information, of value 
to tobacco growers. It is published at 142 Fulton street, 
New York, for $4 a year. 
Sec l* 5 igc 27il for other Basket Items. 
