1874.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
807 
BFO <k <B®3LI1I§ 0 
A lPigeom-BIonse for ISoys. 
Boys who wish to keep pigeons where there is no barn 
or other building in the loft of which they can make a 
pigeon-house, often put up boxes and coops in the yard 
aud along the fences. These are generally unsightly, and 
are moreover exposed to the attacks of cats, which are 
fond of fat squabs. A friend who had to put up an inde¬ 
pendent pigeon-house sends us drawings of it. This 
house stands upon a very firm post, which should be high 
enough to place it out of the reach of meddlers. The 
manner in which it is arranged will be understood from 
the drawings and his description, which is as follows: 
A pigeon house that may be made safe from the depre¬ 
dations of cats, or owls, and all other enemies, is shown 
in figure 1. It is elevated upon a post set firmly in the 
ground, and not less than 10 feet high. Cross-bars are 
fastened to the post, as shown at fig. 2, for the frame of 
the house. The frame is made of light half-inch clap¬ 
boards. The bottom is boarded in, and the nest-boxes 
are placed upon it. In the figure the alighting-board is 
seen at a , the nests at b, and that portion of the bottom, 
Fig. 1.—ELEVATED PIGEON-HOUSE. 
at c, is fastened with hinges, or strips of leather, so that 
the separate pieces will fall down, when not held'in place 
by buttons. Above the nests a sloping roof is made, and 
above that, on a level with the upper row of holes, the 
upper cross-bars of the frame, of which three form the 
roosts. The droppings fall upon the sloping roof of the 
nests, and slide into the central part, and gather upon the 
bottom boards, c, c. These are cleared by turning the 
button which holds them, when they drop down and dis¬ 
charge themselves of the 
manure. This is very valu¬ 
able, and should be pre¬ 
served for use. The size 
of the house may be G feet 
wide and feet high, 
from the floor to the eaves. 
Each of the three cross¬ 
bars is thus G feet long, 
and each face of the house 
is three feet wide. There 
are three nests in each 
ihee, or eighteen in all, 
but this number may be 
doubled by making two tiers of nests. The alight¬ 
ing-boards are raised up by cords, which pass over 
pulleys at the eaves, and may thus be closed at night to 
keep out owls. The post should be planted firmly enough 
to permit a ladder to be rested against the house, to en¬ 
able the nests to be cleaned out occasionally. 
A Child’s Pun. —Do you know what a 
pun is ? It is rather difficult to describe, but perhaps 
the shortest way is to say that it is a play upon words, 
in which a word with the same sound is used in place of 
another of a different meaning. Thus, when the young 
lady said to Douglas Jerrold, “ I am very sad, you see,” 
and he replied, “No, you are very fair, I see,” he not 
only made a pun himself on Pharisee , but turned her re¬ 
mark into one on Sadducce. This is a very complete pun. 
We heard the other day of nearly as good a pun from a 
little girl. She said to her mother, “ I wish my doll was 
realized.” “ What do you mean, my child? ” asked the 
astonished mother. “ She’s got glass eyes now, and I 
wish her to have real eyes.” That little thing made a 
better pun than some do who try to be funny. 
Aunt gene’s CSaats. 
Mrs. S. G. M. thanks me for furnishing the children 
with so much amusement, but she has to “ help them ” 
with the puzzles, etc., etc., and adds, “ they are restless 
children, and sometimes when lam busy sewing, I don’t 
know how to keep them quiet.” 
Under such circumstances I have amused children for 
a long time with the rhyming game. I will illustrate it, 
although, I dare say, it is familiar to many of you. 
L— Jimmy, I have a bright thought, and it rhymes 
with “ lip.” 
Jim.—- Is it what you do from a cup ? 
2.—’Tis not to “ sip.” 
Mary. —Is it what you do on the ice ? 
2.—’Tis not to “ slip.” 
Jim .—Is it what you do with the scissors ? 
1. —’Tis not to “rip.” 
Jim— Oh ! Aunt Sue missed it; I didn’t mean “rip.” 
2. —’Tis not to “ snip.” 
Mary.— Is it what little lambs do ? 
I .—It is to “•skip." Now it’s Mary’s turn, as she 
guessed it. 
Then Mary has a “ bright thought,” which rhymes with 
“ sky.” After trying fly, shy, cry, my, pie, sly, rye, etc., 
Jimmy says, “Is it what a pig lives in?” “Yes, it’s 
a sty.” 
This, you see, sets both parties guessing, and is a pret¬ 
ty good amusement for a rainy day. Try it, Mrs. M., and 
let me know how it works. 
Nellie A. W. says, she has read lately that there never 
was such a person as William Tell, and the story about 
shooting the apple from his son’s head is all a fable. 
Nellie feels sorry to have to give up her hero. Well 
Nellie, don't give him up: his story is often told in very 
old German songs, and two chapels were erected cen¬ 
turies ago in memory of his exploits. If they believed in 
him, I don’t know what right any one in the nineteenth 
century has to doubt his existence. I always liked Tell, 
but I consider the lad the “ hero.” 
Minnie F. G.—Yes indeed, Barnum’s Hippodrome is 
well “ worth seeing ; ” another month I may “ tell ” you 
“ all about it.” 
Charley Eames.—G old-fish were originally natives of 
China ; silver-fish, though somewhat different in color, 
are the same species. They were introduced into France 
in the time of Madame Pompadour, some of them being 
sent to her for a present. In Portugal they are so abun¬ 
dant, that they are fried and eaten quite commonly. I 
don’t know who imported them to Brooklyn, but the 
boys catch them here in the ponds. Do not fill your 
globe more than three-fourths full of water; do not place 
it in the sun, nor near the fire. Change the water every 
day. Some never give the fish any food, thinking that 
they get enough nutriment from the animalculai con¬ 
tained in the water, while others feed them occasionally 
with little pellets of bread. A niece of mine had half a 
dozen gold-fish in a globe, which she tended very assi¬ 
duously, occasionally dropping a bread-crumb into the 
globe, or a fly, and—it may be as a consequence—the fish 
died one by one, until only one little fish was left. Then 
said Lottie to me : “ Auntie, this fish looks lonesome, 
shan’t I take it over to Mrs. Prince’s, and put it into her 
aquarium?” “Yes, dear, suppose you do.” She did; 
and when she returned, I asked her, if the other fish gave 
him a hospitable reception. “Oh! very,” she replied, 
they took him in, and did for him ; one big fellow opened 
his mouth, and swallowed my little fish whole.” “ Why, 
Lottie 1 ” “ He did, Auntie 1 I was sorry for my poor 
little fellow, but I couldn’t help laughing to see him so 
thoroughly taken in.” 
Moral. —Better be lonely than swallowed. 
M. L. E.—I don’t know much about the stings of bees, 
but if I should be stung by one out in the field or garden, 
I should immediately pull out the sting, if the insect had 
left it in my keeping, and apply a little poultice of mud. 
A few days ago I placed my hand on a wooden railing, 
but thinking I had set my finger on a red-hot needle, I 
took it up a great deal quicker than I had put it down, 
and, lo ! there was a hornet walking sulkily away. Then 
I knew I had been stung, and went down stairs to bewail 
my fate among my friends, (it is so disagreeable to not 
have plenty of people about to witness one’s sufferings 1) 
One good Samarilan immediately went for some cooking 
soda, put a little of it on a strip of rag, moistened it, and 
applied it to my injured digit; it relieved the pain imme¬ 
diately. Alkalies, such as Soda or Ammonia (Hart¬ 
shorn), if quickly applied, appear to have the power to 
neutralize the poison of these stings. 
Now I must express my thanks for puzzles, letters, etc., 
to Giles F., P. A. McL, Tot, Mary J., H. Benson, Miles 
S. W., and Jerry. 
---—■:«■ »— .- 
Wlaat Six S»eclks oi‘ Potatoes I>itlL 
It is not every farmer who reads an agricultural paper 
at all, fewer still read more than one, and it is very rare, 
indeed, that one of our farmers wishes to know what his 
brethren in other countries are doing. Some time ago a 
farmer in Pennsylvania wrote us to know about the best 
paper in England, as ho thought he could learn some¬ 
thing useful from it; at the same time he gave a brief 
story of his life, which he did not intend for publication, 
but thinking it would be of interest to-farmers’ boys, wo 
asked permission to publish it. He replied: “ You are 
at perfect liberty to use my letter as you see fit; if it en¬ 
courages but one boy, it will be so much good accomplish¬ 
ed.” So we let him tell his own story: 
“ When I was a boy of about fourteen, the hogs broke 
into our garden when the ground was wet, and rooted up 
one corner to such an extent, that the soil, being natural¬ 
ly clayey, baked as hard as a brick-bat. The next spring, 
when my father came to spade the garden, he found this 
clay corner so hard and full of clods, that he abandoned 
it, and told me I might take it and do with it as I pleased. 
As I had often longed for a plot of ground of my own, I 
jumped at the chance. I set to work at once with a 
grubbing hoe (for it was too hard to spade), and brought 
it to as fine a condition as I could. Then I applied some 
manure and ashes, and planted it with potatoes. The 
plot was a small one, not more than about 6X12 feet, but 
I raised a bushel and a half of potatoes, which I sold for 
fifty cents per bushel, making 75 cents. This sum, with 
five cents obtained ill some other way, was paid to a, 
neighbor, who was raising a club for the American 
Agriculturist ; the subscription was $1 a year, and 
80 cents in clubs of ten at that time, when the paper 
was much smaller than at present. I had a great 
thirst for agricultural knowledge, and have yet. I have 
taken the paper ever since, subscribing last New Year’s 
for the eleventh time. The money for the paper was ob¬ 
tained the first three years from the plot of ground above 
alluded to, which, by the teachings of the paper, I brought 
to a very high state of cultivation. I afterwards got to 
farming my father’s farm on shares, and this I followed 
up, until in my twenty-fourth year I married, and after¬ 
wards bought the farm. I think the paper has been get¬ 
ting better every year since. I commenced to take it so 
young, and have taken it so long, that I have learned to 
love it and its editors. I am putting its teachings into 
practice as fast as my means will admit. They enabled 
us last summer to get forty cents per pound for all the 
butter we made, while the general market price was, 
through June and July, but fifteen cents, but ours was 
good butter, and no mistake.” 
As the rest of the letter is about his plan for improving 
his stock, it will hardly interest boys. Now let every 
boy, who thinks there is no chance for him to ever be 
anything on the farm, but he must go off to the cities, 
which he mistakenly thinks are full of opportunities, 
just read this story of Miles Wall and take courage. Ho 
began with six pecks of potatoes, and a determination 
not only to be a farmer, but a good farmer, ne found 
out how good farmers managed by reading the papers, 
and now by using his brains as well as his hands, he is 
in a position to talk about improved cattle and other 
improvements. We thank him on behalf of the boys for 
telling them this lesson. 
--a-m -- 
Auaiif; Site’s I®iazzIe»SS©x. 
ALPHABETICAL ARITHMETIC. 
UBY)FTORIY (YERIt 
FYM 
BREI 
B 0 E I 
B R E Y 
B O E I 
MM 
SQUARE WORDS. 
1, -1. A house. 2. Place of contest. 3. At no time. 
4. Active. 5. Soon. 
2. —1. Smallest. 2. Older. 3. Farewell. 4. Appears. 
5. Confidence. The Little Folks. 
TRANSPOSITIONS. 
1. Transpose a heavenly messenger, and leave a place 
where two points meet; again, to collect things thinly 
scattered. 
2. Transpose a descendcnt of the fallen angels, and 
leave the support of an arch; again, meaning fully mature. 
3. Transpose a fiery heavenly body, aud leave far off. 
