VOb. XVI. NO. 3! 



AND G A R D E N E E ' S JOURNAL. 



J 79 



•rices- of hread stuffs in the United States. Of the 

 ontinuance of liijjh prices there can no longer he 

 n_v (loiiht. At New Oileans fli)ur lias suddenly 

 dvanced to $12 l)l>l. In Ualliniore the price is 

 >9 50, and here it is $9 to 9 50, to say the least, 

 n Baltimore wheat sold last week at fully two 

 ollars a hnshel, here it cannot be bought under 

 lat price. Rye has sold very extensively here at 

 25 cents for 56 lbs., and corn would readily cotii- 

 land 112 1-2 cents. We believe the opinion of 

 le dealers is, that lower prices are not to be ex- 

 ected before spring, and that the high prices will 

 e establisheil uulcss kept down by large inipor- 

 itions from abroad. There is no chance that 

 ireign importations will he large enough to de- 

 ress the market materially. All that is expected 

 om them is to prevent a much farther advance, 

 oreign merchants may therefore calculate with 

 jnfidence on present prices, at least, and if oidy 

 ire be taken in putting wheat or other grain on 

 lip- board, in good order it will arrive here so 

 ithout injury. German wheat has established a 

 gh reputation with our millers, and woidd, at 

 ly time, connr.and the highest market rate.'--. As 

 Rye, it is wanted chiefly for the distillers, and 

 turns to little real good. But the worms of the 

 ills must keep running, for men will have whis- 

 !y, whether their families, or even them.selves, 

 ive bread or not. Sorry as we are for the ne- 

 ssity which exists, that necessity will make us 

 id to see foreign bread stuffs coming again free- 

 into our ports. The Baltic sea will be closed 

 3 soon for any shipments on advices now sent 

 t; but in the ports of England there are great 

 antities stored in bond, and from other coun- 

 es accessible through the Me.literranean, the 

 nter will not prevent the movements of com- 

 jrce. — Journal of Cummerct. 



ERGOT JN GRAIN. 



Bread being the acknowledged " staff of life,*' 

 is of the utmost im[iortance that it should be 

 ide of the best of materials. From an Essay 

 the causes and effects of fevers, &c., published 

 London, by Thomas Whitlaw, we take the 

 nexed interesting extracts relating to the effects 

 the ergot in ryi;. — fHorceslcr Pal. 

 "Rye is liable to be diseased by an insect deposit- 

 r its animalculae in the grain, which causes it 

 sprout and produce an excresence like a cock's 

 ir, of a hard te.xture. When ground down with 

 flour, or used in distillation, it proves a nior- 

 poison ; and at titnes has proved a pestilential 

 urge of Euro|)e ; it has been equally fatal in 

 lerica, and is supposed to have been the chief 

 ises of the plague in London. In 1811 and '12, 

 real number of lives were lost from th 

 rye being used as food, and the liquor distilled' 

 m the rye. The great mortality was chiefly 

 ifined >o New York and Vermont. Upwards 

 twenty thousand victims fell a sacrifice to the 

 ages produced by that dreadful poison. Meet- 

 after meeting of the faculty took place to en- 

 vor to discover the cause ; and after the most 

 pure deliberation, it was discovered by Dr Ho- 

 lt and bis party, that it was a poisonous mias- 

 floating in the air, confined to certain pre- 

 hed limits, and affecting certain persons, more 

 ticularly those that were in the habit of drink- 

 gin : — the best apology for their ignorance of 

 true cause — the ergot or spurred rye. What 

 ^e their report the more ridiculous was, that 



there was at the time, a fine, clear, black, hard 

 frost, and the healthiest weather that could he 

 imagined. Many of the members were skeptical, 

 anil could not believe the report; they thoiii;ht, 

 that owing to the fine weather, it was inipo.ssMile 

 for contagion to exist in the air; others were of 

 the same opinion with the doctors. One of the 

 non-coiitagionists wrote and requested me to go to 

 Albany, where the disorder was raging, and wish- 

 e<' tne to endeavor to discover the cause of the 

 afflicting calamity. 



On my journey from New York to Albany, 

 where the legislature of the State was sitting, I 

 stopped at a place called Kinderhook, and being 

 cold, contrary to my usual practice, I thank a 

 glass of gin. I had not drank it many tninutes 

 before it affected me as if I had taken something 

 boiling hot into my stomach. Although I imme- 

 diately took an emetic, which produced the most 

 active effects, the poison had taken so firm a hold 

 of my constitution, that my throat ami rectum 

 were extremely painful. I had a cold perspira- 

 tion towards morning, with a pain in my bones 

 and head, whereas I was in perfect health before 

 I had drank the gin. I accused the tavern kee(i- 

 er of [jutting poison in the gin : a gentleman of 

 the town who hearri me, and had observed that 

 the habitual gin-drinkers in the place had died, 

 seconded me in my charge. The landlord de- 

 clared he was innocent, and referred us to the dis- 

 tillery. Upon our applying, the distiller was niuch 

 alarmed at our charge of putting poison in the 

 gin; and added, it would he his ruin if the report 

 got abroad, in consequence of the great mortality. 

 He took a voluntary oath, and assured us that he 

 put nothing but the pure grain in his gin, and in- 

 vited us to see the grain in the stiil-house loft. 



We found it on inspection, badly cleaned, and 

 probably one tenth of it spurred rye, or rye vitia- 

 ted by being infested with the clavus or ergot. 



I was quite astonished when I saw it, particular- 

 ly as it was so well described by Dr Darwin, as 

 being a pestilential scourge in various parts of 

 Europe, producing what is called by Dr Mason 

 Good, in his history of medicine, mildew morti- 

 fication ; in America it was vulgarly called the 

 dry rot. On dissection, I have observed that the 

 windpipe and rectum were so completely parched 

 by the action of the air stimulating or attracting 

 the (\ffects of the poison to the parts, that when 

 pressed they would give way and apjiear like !>}vick 

 snuff. 



I lost no time in repairing to Albany. On my 

 arrival, the inhabitants were in mourning, on ac- 

 count of the loss of their relatives and friends 

 some of whom had risen in health in the morn- 

 ing, had eaten a hearty breakfast, and at noon were 



all anxious to know the cause. It was no sooner 

 commimicMted, with a detail of my own sufferings, 

 than the n^embcrs searched the book-shops and 

 libraries, and found, to their great satisfaction, that 

 the ergot was capable of conunitting the ravages 



upon Mfaiikind that I had represented to them 



One of the skeptical of the faculty, on being re- 

 quested to analyze the article, and report on the 

 subject, took a few of his acquaintances some dis- 

 tance into the country to dine at his father's farm, 

 where an opportunity offered to prove whether 

 the ergot was injurious or not, fur a large quanti- 

 ty of it that liail been separated from the rye had 

 been given to the pigs, and frotn its fatal effects, 

 (as it caused their (|eath the next day,) the father 

 Ixcame a convert to the opinion. A number of 

 rats, cats and dogs fell sacrifices to its effects be- 

 fore the skeptical were convinced. 



The animalcu'se do not always come to perfec- 

 tion ; when they do, the col.ir is black, and in this 

 state, a few grains would destroy life. Tlie insect 

 resembles that (ound on the potato, with shinmg 

 black crustaceous wings, a greenish yellow belly, 

 and fiery. looking legs; and contrary to the nature 

 of all other insects, it is most ai-tive in frosty wea- 

 ther. The leliiim temulentum, a species of rye- 

 grass, is very subject to he effected with the er- 

 got ; and when eaten by horses, it is sure to kill 

 them." 



''..'^''.'.'.'"'"IF.'" '"'^■""'•y' Such were the rapid effects of that 

 inflammation, which was ascribed by the doctors 

 of New York, to the air of Albany being charged 

 with the damps of death. The members of the 

 Assembly of the State had at the time, under their 

 consideration, a resolution to enable them to re- 

 move the State Legislature from Albany ; it was 

 expected that the re.solution would be carried the 

 same night, to the great and irreparable injury of 

 the inhabitants. To the friend who was wailing 

 for me at tlie hotel, I comnninieated the glad ti- 

 dings of having discovered the cause of the disor- 

 der. He immediately ran to the assembly room 

 and obtained the members' consent to adjourn the 

 question until the following morning. The tavern 

 where I was, was soon crowded by the citiaeus. 



Horses. — When in conversation the other day 

 with a gentleman who had unsuccessfully tried, 

 for a long series of years, to effect the cure of 

 windsuckers in one of his horses, by a variety of 

 ingenious contrivances, he mentioned with satis- 

 faction, that he had at last succeeded in his at- 

 tempt. He said he had employed hardwood man- 

 gers without effect ; he next overlaid them with 

 sheets of iron, still without effect — it was gnaw, 

 graw, gnaw — crunch, crunch, crunch, with the 

 usual pernicious result. But one day lately, when 

 examining the premises of Mr Tenipleton, carpet 

 manufacturer here, he observed a workman re- 

 newing the covering on a wool-cariling inachine, 

 called the driun, and this gave him a hint that 

 proved suecessfid. This covering in outward tex- 

 tme nearly resembles the rough wiry face of a 

 domestic wool-card, and it occurred to our friend 

 that, were he to cover the usually gnawed furni- 

 ture of his stable with this article, the propensity 

 of his "Rosinantc" to make chips rajebt be cured. 

 The application was made — the horse renewed 

 his old practice, but great was his surprise to find 

 his lips come in contact with a whole legion of 

 tormentors, whenever he attempted to get a bite 

 of bis manger. His philosophy was fairly at fault, 

 and after tapping his claret four or five times in 

 succession, to his dee[) chagrin, he gave up the 

 practice. This hint may prove useful to those 

 who possess windsuckers. — Biiet. 



Blood Hor.ses. — The ship Sherbrooke, Cap- 

 tain Longford, has arrived at Mobile from Liver- 

 pool, bringing out to that city, twelve blood hor- 

 ses from the King's stable. Six of them are very 

 beautiful fillies, imported by some enterprising 

 gentleman of Mobile. The others were hi ought 

 out by Captain Longford, for speculation. — ^V. O. 

 paper. 



Mr Zebina Dana, of Northampton, raised this 

 year from one kernel of buckwheat, four thousand 

 eight hundred and twenty kernels ! 



