802 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



it in an oven, and have to be a little more particular about the 

 process than with Java or Rio, because the berry is smaller, but 

 otherwise use it the same as with other coffee, using eggs to set- 

 tle, or other substances, as people prefer. When we commenced 

 using it we mixed half and half with Rio, but now use clear bar- 

 ley. I think that barley coffee contains that peculiar aromatic 

 principle that is so fascinating in Java or Rio, and that people 

 will not detect any greater difference in changing to barley coffee 

 than from Rio to Java, and then you will avoid all the difficulty 

 of the preparation of bran. We believe barley coffee to be much 

 more healthy, and beside it is worth in our market only about 

 thirty cents per bushel." 



Mr. Pardee defended the preparation of bran as a substitute 

 for coffee. Since the last meeting of the Club he has tried the . 

 baked bran cakes that he spoke of some weeks since, and was 

 very much pleased with it. He could discover no difference 

 between this and Java coffee. He advises every farmer to try it. 



Mr. Carpenter asked what quantity was used. 



Mr. Pardee. — A little more than of coffee. The cakes are baked 

 in the oven until they are the color of well roasted coffee, and 

 have the same odor. They granulate like coarsely ground coffee, 

 and the beverage is prepared in the usual way, 



" THE ILLINOIS COFFEE." » 



Solon Robinson. — A good deal has been said lately about a 

 new plant in Illinois, the seeds of which were fully equal to coffee. 

 This seed has been examined by Dr. J. A. Warden, of Cincinnati. 

 He says : 



" Thanks to the gentleman who has introduced this article, 

 Geo. R, Huffman, of Effingham, Illinois. I have received a few 

 seeds of this plant, which he has grown for two years past, hav- 

 ing received it as the coffee of Australia. An examination of the 

 seed shows it to be a vetch — natural order Vicia, genus Cicer. 

 Hence it is an annual herb. The species to which these seeds 

 belong is the Cicer arietimm, the chick pea, a native of Syria, 

 Egypt, Italy, the Levant, found among the corn or grain. The 

 seed has a projecting cheek, hence its resemblance to a ram's 

 head, which gives the name. The seeds are eatable, raw or boiled, 

 and constitute a considerable part of the food of those countries. 

 It flowers in June and ripens in August ; is grown in drills or 

 sown broadcast." 



