766 



FARMERS' REGISTER— FLORIDA COFFEE. 



the most perfect responsibility, and in whom this 

 omission has been caused solely by forgetfulness of 

 such small matters — and perhaps there are very many 

 such who are not known. We shall be very unwilling 

 to act (but yet know not how to avoid it,) in the same 

 manner towards this class of debtors, and those persons 

 who subscribed "merely to encourage the work," 

 without caring to read, or intending to pay for it. It 

 will be absolutely necessary to erase the names of all 

 who continue in arrears through two volumes, and 

 who are not known to be responsible debtors: and if 

 in so doing, we should include persons for v.hom that 

 measure was not required, and whom we should be 

 sorry to offend, they ought in justice to acquit us of 

 the blame, and take it to themselves. But whatever 

 reduction of our list may be made in this manner, even 

 should it prove a permanent diminution, it will leave 

 the publication more clear profit than heretofore, when 

 issuing to many more non-paying subscribers, who have 

 swelled the profit of the work only in appearance, and 

 diminished it in reality. The claims on the few and 

 widely scattered subscribers in other states, are mere- 

 ly debts of honor, not secured by any legal responsibil- 

 ity — for they are seldom worth collecting by law, and 

 must be generally lost, unless paid voluntarily. 



INUNDATED LANDS OF LOUISIANA. 



It is stated in the New Orleans Advertiser that 

 upwards of jive millions of acres of land in Lou- 

 isiana are subject to annual inundation, and that 

 that amount comprises about one-sixth of the en- 

 tire territory of the state. From the same paper 

 we learn that the gross amount of land under cul- 

 tivation docs not exceed forty thousand acres, the 

 annual product of which is about ten millions of 

 dollars, or an average of two hundred and fifty 

 dolhirs per acre. In view of these singular and 

 striking facts, the editor urges the necessity of 

 suitable efforts to reclaim the inundated lands, the 

 profits arising from which would, he contends, be 

 enormous. 



FLORIDA COFFEE, NEITHER OKRA NOR COF- 

 FEE, 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Columbia, S. C. j^pril lOth, 1835. 



I see by your Register for this month, a short 

 article on the Florida cofTee, the writer of which 

 presumes it to be okra seed. But he is mistaken: 

 it is neither okra nor coffee. Persons who have 

 had it prepared as coffee, tell me that it does not 

 taste much like coffee; but is, they think, richer, 

 and that the taste is such that it is probable people 

 would become fond of it. It was awkwardly 

 done in the person who sent a quantify of the seed 

 to this country for sale, that he did not send the 

 botanical name of the plant, nor a description of 

 it. As I have planted a little, I shall soon see 

 what it is. Although the price of the seed was 

 very high, ^2 per pound, it seems to have excited 

 here a great deal of curiosity, and I believe there 

 was not seed enough for the purchasers. It was 

 wrong also in the gentleman to have announced 

 it as coffee, giving to understand that it was an 

 annual species of^il; for it does not follow that, 



because it is not coffee, it is without value, Avhicli 

 is an objection made by some persons. But is 

 coffee ihe only good thing of which a good morn- 

 ing and evening drink is made? Tea and choca- 

 late are not collee, and yet they are deservedly 

 held in high estimation, and why should there not 

 be another added — only call it by an a|)propriate 

 name. Should, however, this plant prove worth- 

 less as a substitute for coffee, if the gentleman'3 

 account of it be correct, and I have no reason to 

 doubt its being so, it may prove very beneficial in 

 a totally different interest. The plant is said to 

 grow in poor land, old cultivated land, (and I pre- 

 sume that it grows still better in rich soils,) that 

 it yields a very great abundance of foliage and 

 stems, and thereby returns to the ground more 

 than it takes from it. If it be so, we have found 

 what I have long considered a desideratum in ag- 

 riculture, viz: a plant to turn in the ground lor 

 manure, which cattle will not eat — for, as I know 

 by my own experience, if a plant intended for this 

 purpose is good fodder, it will be more likely to be 

 cut for the latter purpose, than buried for the for- 

 mer. I send you a few seeds of it that you or 

 some of your friends may try whether or not it 

 will grow well in your state. Pray send my old 

 friend H. B. Croom, a few of the seeds of the 

 Florida coffee, that he may see it is not okra. It 

 was not till I came to this part of my letter that I 

 found the communication was from Mr. Croom. 



N. HERBEaiONT, 



N. B. Okra or ocra seed is worthless as a sub- 

 stitute for coffee. 



From the New York Farmer. 

 ON STOCK FOR THE DAIRY.* 



Live stock, incidding horses, neat cattle, sheep, 

 and swine, is as important a subject as any to 

 which the farmer's attention can be directed. 

 That there are distinct breeds of various and pe- 

 culiar properties, which render them adapted to 

 the different purposes of labor and food; that all of 

 them under proper management, are susceptible oi 

 improvement; that by judicious crossing, compar- 

 atively new breeds may be formed, certain desira- 

 ble properties be extended, increased and propa- 

 gated, and what we deem defects or faults, reme- 

 died or entirely abolished, are points so well es- 

 tablished in respect to all the animal creation, so 

 entirely confirmed by experiments within the 

 knowledge of every man who has any pretentiona 

 to intelligence, that it would be idle to was'e one 

 word in attempting to establish them. That like 

 tends to produce hke, and that physical, intellec- 

 tual, and moral qualities are transmitted from the 

 sire to his offspring, are among those established 

 laws of nature Avhich common observation ascer- 

 certained long before science attempted to explore, 

 and teach their wide and universal operation; or 

 experiment, with unhesitating confidence ventured 

 practically to apply them. 



The farmer who disdains or neglects these es- 

 tablished truths, or who fails to act upon them let 

 the sphere of his operations be as humble as it 

 may be, is blind to his true interest, and can lay 



* The writer of this piece is the Rev. Henry Col- 

 man, one of most distinguished agriculturists of Mas- 

 sachusetts. Ed. Farm. Reg. 



