THE LATEST "YANKEE NOTION."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 208, 13 September 1879, Page 5

THE LATEST "YANKEE NOTION."

American ingenuity has recently revealed itself in an entirely new invention, worthy to rank with the wooden nutmegs ana imitation oats which are reported to have made such a brilliant commercial "bit " in the days of Sam Slick. It would appear that a Yankee traveller in "notions" has succeeded in clearing "something handsome" during brief tour through the Canadian frontier districts by selling to the " blue noses " an immense number of neatly made-up packets, at ten cents apiece, bearing the promising inscription, "Certain death to the potato bug, withont the least risk of poisoning to other animals, as is the case with Parisian green ! The packet must not be opened until the momeafe when its contents are to be used. Full instructions as to method of use will be found inside the covering." As the Colorado beetle has been working infinite mischief to the Canadian potato plantations, "Certain death to the potato bug" found a rapid sale among the farmers on the boundary. When the purchasers of this nostrum opened their respective packets with a view to the utilisation of " certain death," they found that they had purchased two thin blocks of plain deal, upon one of which were pasted the following instructions: — " Place the beetle upon this piece of wood ; then squeeze him with the other. If suificient force be applied, his instant demise will ensue."— Daily Telegraph.