Any person competent to make a will can adopt as his own the minor child of another. The consent of both parents, if living and not divorced or separated, and if divorced or separated, or if unmarried, the consent of the parent lawfully having the custody of the child; or if either parent is dead, then the consent of survivor, or if both parents be dead, or the child have been and remain abandoned by them, then the consent of the Mayor of the city where the child is living, or if not in the city, then of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the county shall be given to such adoption by an instrument in writing, signed by the party or parties consenting, and stating the names of the parties, if known, the name of the child, if known, the name of the person adopting such child, and the residence of all, if known, and declaring the name by which the child is hereafter to be called and known, and stating, also, that such child is give to the person adopting, for the purpose of adoption as his own child.

The person adopting shall also sign said instrument, and all the parties shall acknowledge the same in the manner that deeds conveying lands shall be acknowledged.

The instrument shall be recorded in the office of the County Recorder.

SURVEYORS AND SURVEYS

There is in every county elected a Surveyor known as County Surveyor, who has power to appoint deputies, for whose official acts he is responsible. It is the duty of the County Surveyor, either by himself or his Deputy, to make all surveys that he may be called upon to make within his county as soon as may be after application is made. The necessary chainmen and other assistance must be employed by the person requiring the same to be done, and to be by him paid, unless otherwise agreed: but the chainmen must be disinterested persons and approved by the Surveyor and sworn by him to measure justly and impartially. Previous to any survey, he shall furnish himself with a copy of the field notes of the original survey of the same land, if there by any in the office of the County Auditor, and his survey shall be made in accordance therewith.

Their fees are three dollars per day. For certified copies of field notes, twenty-five cents.

SUPORT OF POOR

the father, mother and children of any poor person who has applied for aid, and who is unable to maintain himself by work, shall, jointly or severally, maintain such poor person in such manner as may be approved by the Township Trustees.

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In the absence or inability of nearer relatives, the same liability shall extend to the grandparents, if of ability without personal labor, and to the male grandchildren who are of ability, by personal labor or otherwise.

The Township Trustees may, upon the failure of such relative to maintain a poor person, who has made application for relief, apply to the Circuit Court for an order to compel the same.

Upon ten days' notice, in writing, to the parties sought to be charged, a hearing may be had, and an order made for entire partial support of the poor person.

Appeal may be taken from such judgment as from other judgments of the Circuit Court.

When any person, having any estate, abandons either children, wife or husband, leaving them chargeable, or likely to become chargeable, upon the public for support, upon proof of above fact, an order may be had from the Clerk of the Circuit Court, or Judge, authorizing the Trustees or the Sheriff to take into possession such estate.

The Court may direct such personal estate to be sold, to be applied, as well as the rents and profits of the real estate, if any, to the support of children, wife or husband.

If the party against whom the order is issued return and support the person abandoned, or give security for the same, the order shall be discharged, and the property taken returned.

The mode of relief for the poor, through the action of the Township Trustees, or the action of the Board of Supervisors, is so well known to every township officer, and the circumstances attending application for relief are so varied, that it need now only be said that it is the duty of each county to provide for its poor, no matter at what place they may be.

LANDLORD AND TENANT

A tenant giving notice to quit demised premises at a time named, and afterward holding over, and a tenant or his assignee willfully holding over the premises after the term, and after notice to quit, shall pay double rent.

Any person in possession of real property, with the assent of the owner, is presumed to be a tenant at will until the contrary is shown.

Thirty days' notice, in writing, is necessary to be given by either party before he can terminate a tenancy at will; but when, in any case, a rent is reserved payable at intervals of less than thirty days, the length of notice need not be greater than such interval between the days of payment. In case of tenants occupying and cultivating farms, the notice must fix the termination of the tenancy to take place on the 1st day of March, except in cases of field tenants, or croppers, whose leases shall be held to expire when

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the crop is harvested; provided, that in case of a crop of corn, it shall not be later than the 1st day of December, unless otherwise agreed upon. But when an express agreement is made, whether the same has been reduced to writing or not, the tenancy shall cease at the time agreed upon, without notice.

If such tenant cannot be found in the county, the notices above required may be given to any sub-tenant or other person in possession of the premises; or, if the premises be vacant, by affixing the notice to the principal door of the building or in some conspicuous position on the land, if there be no building.

The landlord shall have a lien for his rent upon all the crops grown on the premises, and upon any other personal property of the tenant used on the premises during the term, and not exempt from execution, for the period of one year after a year's rent or the rent of a shorter period claimed falls due; but such lien shall not continue more than six months after the expiration of the term.

The lien may be effected by the commencement of an action, within the period above described, for the rent alone; the landlord is entitled to a writ of attachment, upon filing an affidavit that the action is commenced to recover rent accrued within one year previous thereto upon the premises described in the affidavit.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Whenever any of the following articles shall be contracted for, or sold or delivered, and no special contract or agreement shall be made to the contrary, the weight per bushel shall be as follows, to-wit:

Apples, Peaches or Quinces	48	Sand	130
Cherries, Grapes, Currants or Gooseberries	40	Sorghum Seed	30
Strawberries, Raspberries or Blackberries	32	Broom Corn Seed	30
Osage Orange Seed	32	Buckwheat	52
Millet Seed	45	Salt	50
Stone Coal	80	Barley	48
Lime	80	Corn Meal	48
Corn in the ear	70	Castor Beans	46
Wheat	60	Timothy Seed	45
Potatoes	60	Hemp Seed	44
Beans	60	Dried Peaches	33
Clover Seed	60	Oats	33
Onions	57	Dried Apples	24
Shelled Corn	56	Bran	20
Rye	56	Blue Grass Seed	14
Sweet Potatoes	46	Hungarian Grass Seed	45
		Flax Seed	56

Penalty for giving less than above standard is treble damages and costs and five dollars addition thereto as a fine.

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$____means dollars, being a contraction of U.S., which was formerly placed before any denomination of money, and meant, as it means now, United States Currency.

L___means pounds, English money.

@ stands for at or to; lb for pounds, and bbl. for barrels; P for per or by the. Thus, Butter sells at 20@30c P lb, and Flour at $8@$12 P bbl.

May 1. Wheat sells at $1.20@$1.25, "seller June." Sell June means that the person who sells the wheat has the privilege of delivering it at any time during the month of June.

Selling short, is contracting to deliver a certain amount of grain or stock, at a fixed price, within a certain length of time, when the seller has not the stock at hand. It is for the interest of the person selling "short" to depress the market as much as possible, in order that he may buy and fill his contract at a profit. Hence the "shorts" are termed "bears."

Buying long, is to contract to purchase a certain amount of grain or shares of stock at a fixed price, deliverable within a stipulated time, expecting to make a profit by the rise in prices. The "longs" are termed "bulls," as it is for their interest to "operate" so as to "toss" the prices upward as much as possible.

NOTES

Form of note is legal, worded in the simplest way, so that the amount and time of payment are mentioned:
#100            CHICAGO, ILL., Sept. 15, 1876.
Sixty days from date I promise to pay to E.F. Brown or order,
one hundred dollars, for value received.         L.D. LOWRY.

A note to be payable in anything else than money needs only the facts substituted for money in the above form.

ORDERS

Orders should be worded simply, thus:

Mr. F.H. COATS:                   CHICAGO, Sept. 15, 1876.
    Please pay to H. Birdsall twenty-five dollars, and charge to
	                                             F.D. SILVA.

RECEIPTS.

Receipts should always state when received and what for, thus:

$100                        CHICAGO, Sept. 15, 1876.
         Received of J.W. Davis, one hundred dollars, for services
   rendered in grading his lot in Fort Madison, on account.
                                                 THOMAS BRADY.

If receipt is in full, it should be so stated.

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BILLS OF PURCHASE

W.N. MASON,                     SALEM, Illinois, Sept. 18, 1876.
          Bought of A.A. GRAHAM.
4 Bushels of Seed Wheat at $1.50..................$6.00
2 seamless Sacks           "  30.....................60
                        Received payment,         $6.60
			        A.A. GRAHAM.

CONFESSION OF JUDGMENT.

$___.                      ______,Iowa,______, 18__.
________after date___promises to pay to the order of_______,_____
dollars, at______, for value received, with interest at ten per cent.
per annum after _____until paid. Interest payable_____, and on
interest not paid when due, interest at same rate and conditions.

    A failure to pay said interest, or any part thereof, within 20 days after
due, shall cause the whole note to become due and collectible at once.
    If this note is sued, or judgment is confessed hereon, $____shall be
allowed as attorney fees.
No.____.                     P.O._______,         ____________,

CONFESSIONS OF JUDGMENT.

________vs._________. In ________Court of __________County, Iowa, ________of ____________County, Iowa, do hereby confess that _________justly indebted to _________, in the sum of ______dollars, and the further sum of $_____as attorney fees, with interest thereon at ten per cent. from ________,and____hereby confess judgment against__________as defendant in favor of said____________, for said sum of $_______, and $_______ as attorney fees, hereby authorizing the Clerk of the __________Court of said county to enter up judgment for said sum against __________ with costs, and interest at 10 per cent. from __________, the interest to be paid _________.      Said debt and judgment being for _________.      It is especially agreed, however, That if this judgment is paid
within twenty days after due, no attorney fees need be paid. And___________hereby sell, convey and release all right of homestead we now occupy in favor of said ___________so far as this judgment is concerned, and agree that it shall be liable on execution for this judgment.
Dated__________, 18__.

______________________,
______________________,

THE STATE OF IOWA,}
_______County,}
___________being duly sworn according to law, depose and say that the foregoing statement and Confession of Judgment was read over to _________, and that ________ understood the contents therof, and

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that the statements contained therein are true, and that the sums therein mentioned are justly to become due said ____________as aforesaid.

_______________.

Sworn to and subscribed before me and in may presence by the said________this_______day of ________, 18__.

__________,Notary Public.

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT.

An agreement is where one party promises to another to do a certain thing in a certain time for a stipulated sum. Good business men always reduce an agreement to writing, which nearly always saves misunderstandings and trouble. No particular form is necessary, but the facts must be clearly and explicitly stated, and there must, to make it valid, be a reasonable consideration.

GENERAL FORM OF AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT, made the second day of June, 1878, between John Jones, of Keokuk, County of Lee, State of Iowa, of the first part, and Thomas Whiteside, of the same place, of the second part---
WITNESSETH, That the said John Jones, in consideration of the agreement of the party of the second part, hereinafter contained, contracts and agrees to and with the said Thomas Whiteside, that he will deliver in good and marketable condition, at the Village of Melrose, Iowa, during the month of November, of this year; One Hundred Tons of Priairie Hay, in the following lots, and at the following specified terms; namely, twenty-five tons by the seventh of November, twenty-five tons additional by the fourteenth of the month, twenty-five tons more by the twenty-first, and the entire one hundred tons to be all delivered by the thirtieth of November.
And the said Thomas Whiteside, in consideration of the prompt fulfillment of this contract, on the part of the party of the first part, contracts to and agrees with the said John Jones, to pay for said hay five dollars per ton, for each ton as soon as delivered.
In case of failure of agreement by either of the parties hereto, it is hereby stipulated and agreed that the party so failing shall pay to the other One Hundred dollars, as fixed and settled damages.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands the day and year first above written.

JOHN JONES,
THOMAS WHITESIDE.

AGREEMENT WITH CLERK FOR SERVICES.

THIS AGREEMENT, made the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, between Reuben Stone, of Dubuque, County of Dubuque, State of Iowa, party of the first part,

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and George Barclay, of McGregor, County of Clayton, State of Iowa,part of the second part---
WITNESSETH, that said George Barclay agrees faithfully and diligently to work as clerk and salesman for the said Reuben Stone, for and during the space of one year from the date therof, should both live such length of time, without absenting himself from his occupation; during which time he, the said Barclay, in the store of said Stone, of Dubuque, will carefully and honestly attend, doing and performing all duties as clerk and salesman aforesaid, in accordance and in all respects as directed and desired by the said Stone.
In consideration of which services, so to be rendered by the said Barclay, the said Stone agrees to pay to said Barclay the annual sum of one thousand dollars, payable in twelve equal monthly payments, each upon the last day of each month; provided that all dues for days of absence from business by said Barclay, shall be deducted from the sum otherwise by the agreement due and payable by the said Stone to the said Barclay.
Witness our hands.

REUBEN STONE
GEORGE BARCLAY

BILLS OF SALE

A bill of sale is a written agreement to another party, for a consideration to convey his right and interest in the personal property. The purchaser must take actual possession of the property, or the bill of sale must be acknowledged and recorded.

COMMON FORM OF BILL OF SALE.

KNOW ALL MEN by this instrument, that I, Louis Clay, of Burlington, Iowa, of the first part, for and in consideration of Five Hundred and Ten Dollars, to me paid by John Floyd, of the same place, of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have sold, and by this instrument do convey unto the said Floyd, party of the second part, his executors, administrators and assigns, my undivided half of ten acres of corn, now growing on the farm of Thomas Tyrell, in the town above mentioned; one pair of horses; sixteen sheep, and five cows, belonging to me and in my possession at the farm aforesaid; to have and to hold the same unto the party of the second part, his executors and assigns forever. And I do, for myself and legal representatives, agree with the said party of second part, and his legal representatives, to warrant and defend the sale of the afore-mentioned property and chattels unto the said party of the second part, and his legal representatives, against all and every person whatsoever.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my hand, this tenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.

LOUIS CLAY

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