240 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



cannot be deceived in this way. We can get good coifee, and it 

 is a wholesome beverage. The reason it disagrees with some 

 people is, because they drink it too weak, and too much of it. 

 Coffee should be taken strong, and not much at a time, unless 

 you are taking constant exercise in the open air. 



Mr. Lancaster. — If ladies have been practicing so long in 

 making tea, without success, I think we had better find a substi- 

 tute for it. The best substitute for tea, that I know of, is pure 

 cold water. 



Mr, Gale said that he had been a merchant, dealing in teas 

 forty years ago. Where there is one good box of tea, there are 

 large numbers of boxes not worth the freight. The best tea he 

 had tasted was prepared in this way : Take a large teacup, pure 

 and white, and clean, and put your tea into it; pour on boiling- 

 water; cover it up instantly and let it draw. 



Mr. Carpenter. — Farmers who buy ground coffee buy beans and 

 peas in a damaged condition. If they will take beans and peas 

 in a good condition, and parch them, they will get a better coffee 

 than can now be bought in the market for less than thirty-two 

 to thirty-five cents per pound. 



Mr. Gale said that farmers bought large quantities of ground 

 coffee, and after it is burned and ground peas and beans could 

 not be distinguished from coffee. 



Mr. Robinson. — Then they are just as good. 



Mr. Carpenter. — I believe that ninety-nine lbs. out of every 

 one hundred lbs. of ground coffee are beans, peas and chicory. 

 Chicor}'' is a root largely imported from South America. In 

 England the medical faculty decided that it was detrimental to 

 the health, and a law was passed prohibiting its sale; but thou- 

 sands of tons of it are consumed here by farmers and their fami- 

 lies. It is peddled all through the country to the farmers and to 

 the merchants. 



Prof. Mapes. — The seed of the okra, when burned brown, and 

 not black, is a great deal better than the lower range of coffee. 



PREMIUMS. 



Prof. Mapes offered in competition for the premiums : Cahoon's 

 broadcast seed-sower; the Wethersfield seed-sower; two cut- 

 ting machines; also an improvement in the grinding of grain. 

 It is well known that flour is injured by being ground between 

 two surfaces. This machine appeals to momentum, at a speed 



