FOREIGN NOTICES. 



95 



known not only to tlie IMcxicans and Peruvians, 

 from whom, as a matter of course, the Spaniards 

 acquired a knowledire of its properties ; but Euro- 

 pean nations also ackiio\vledj:ed its virtues. Tiie 

 Portunjuese, French, Germans and Dutch, consider- 

 ed it an exceeduiirly valualile article of diet, and 

 Holfuian looked upon it both as a food and a medi- 

 cine. In ids monograph, entitled '" lotus Choco- 

 late," he recommends it in all diseases of aeneral 

 weakness, macies, low spirits, and in hypochondri- 

 acal complaints, and what since his time have been 

 termed nervous diseases. As one example of the 

 good eliects of Cocoa, he adduces the case of Car- 

 dinal iiicholien, who was cured cf eremacausis, or 

 a general wasting away of the body, by drinking 

 chocolate. Liebm and other chemists have demon- 

 strated beyond question, that no part of an organ 

 wliich possesses motion and life is destitute of ni- 

 trogen : — "All parts of the animal body which have 

 a decided shape, which form parts of organs, con- 

 tain nitrogen ; and the chief ingredients of the 

 blood contain 17 per cent, of nitrogen, and no part 

 of an organ less tlian 17 per cent. It follows, there- 

 fore, that nitrogen is that principle of the body, 

 wiiich being in the greatest quantity, and pervading 

 all tissues, is that most frequently wasted, and most 

 frequently in need of renewal. Thi- must be ad- 

 mitted. It follows, then, that those substances 

 which possess this principle in the greatest quanti- 

 ty in a given bulk, are those which must be best 

 calculated to renew that which has been lost or 

 wasted by the operations of the body. Now Caf- 

 feine, the principle of Coflee, and Theobromine, 

 the principle of I'heobroma Cacao, are the m.ist 

 highly nitrogenised products in nature, as the fol- 

 lowing analysis will show: Cafl'eine, according to 

 Pfalf and Liebig, contains, 



Carbon 49 77 



Hylrogen, ."i-SS 



Nilroj-eii .■ 28-73 



O.xyseii, 16 12 



Theobromine, according to Woskreseusky, contains 



Carbuu 47 21 



Hydrogen, 4 .'33 



Nilrogeii, 35-38 



O^cygen, 12-80 



— Dr. Biniis, in Symmonds' Colonial Magazine, 

 (abridged.) 



The House of Shakespeare. — The present 

 proprietors of the place of our great poet's birth, 

 are, it appears, compelled to sell it, by the terms 

 of the will of a former owner. The house is a free- 

 hold and is valued at about 2,000 pounds. This 

 valuation has been founded on the numher of visi- 

 tors In 1S46 it was calculated that 3,000 people 

 had visited the house, though not more than 2 5o0 

 had er-lered their names in the book kept for the 

 p irposc. The house will be sold by auction in the 

 course of the summer, and one or two enthusiastic 

 Americans have already arrived, determined to see 

 what dollars can accomplish in taking it away. 

 The timliers, it is said, are all sound, and it would 

 be no dilficult matter to set it on wheels and make 

 an exhibition of it. Every Englishman, however, 

 must hope that no sue!) desecration awaits it. 

 Wholly irre>peetive of Shakespeare, as one of the 

 few existing examples of an English yeoman's resi- 

 dence, of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it deserves 

 to be retained among us. London Chronicle. 



Sale of Milton's House. — On Tuesday, Ber- 

 kin Manor House, which is remarkable for having 

 at one time been the residence of Milton, was put 

 up for sale at the auction mart. It is situated in 

 the rural village of Horton, Bucks, near the church, 

 in which tiie remains of the poet's mother were de- 

 posited, and is about five miles from Windsor Castle 

 and Slough. The estate comprised, besides the 

 house, about 15 acres of rich orchard and meadow 

 land. The sum of 2,700 pounds was the highest 

 otter for it, which was below the reserved price. 

 Ibid. 



To MAKE SouR-KROUT. — Select sound, solid cab- 

 bages, slice them across, and place the slices in a 

 barrel, in layers about four inches high ; over each 

 layer, strew a handlul of salt, and some caraway 

 seeds. Press the whole down very tightly ; and 

 when the barrel is full, place a very heavy weisht 

 upon the end. After standing a week, — more or 

 less according to the temperature — the mass will 

 begin to ferment ; and when the fermentation is 

 over the barrel should be headed up. There is no 

 vinegar used in the preparation. Sour-krout is con- 

 sidered to be an excellent anti-scorbutie, and is 

 used as such on board ships, in long voyages. 

 Gard. Chron. 



Culture of Asparagus i>f Germ.\ny — Num- 

 bers 21, 21, and 22, of the Chronicle, the last I 

 have received, contain sundry articles on the cul- 

 ture of Asparagus, by which it appears that in 

 your country the preference is given to Asparagus 

 which is suffered to grow some inches above the 

 ground and which consequently acquires a green 

 color by atmosj)herical influence. You consider 

 this mode of culture preferable for two reasons: first, 

 because the eatable part of such Asparagus is lar- 

 ger; secondly, because it has a finer flavor. 



Living in a part of Germany where the culture 

 of Asparagus is very common, I hope the following 

 remarks, though from a foreigner, will not be un- 

 welcome. Asparagus which has obtained a green 

 color by its being ex posed to the air, will neither be 

 grown nor eaten here, and, strange enough, exactly 

 for the same reasons which have been alleged by 

 you for growincr it above ground. However, we do 

 not avail ourselves of artificial means, as sup- 

 posed by you, such as tubes of earthenware or me- 

 tal, and still our Asparagus, if well managed, is 

 white and eatable almost the whole length. 



The manner of growing it is as follow s. It is ne- 

 ver planted otherwise than in a deep, light and san- 

 dy soil, which has been trenched to a depth of three 

 feet, well drained and well manured. A thick lay- 

 er of horse-dung is put t)n the bottom of the trench 

 and mixed with the soil. Strong loamy or clayey 

 soil is decidedly disadvantageous to the growth of 

 this vegetable. It will not thrive in it, does not be- 

 come tender, and will very often become brown 

 spotted, which the common people here call iron- 

 mould (Cipuniala,) especially if drainage has been 

 neglected. 



We take plants of two or three years' growth ac- 

 cording to their vigor, and usually plant them in fur- 

 rows, which arc made at 2 feet distance, and from 

 1| to 14 feet deep. The distance between the 

 plants is likewise 2 feet. In these furrows the 



