NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



371 



t^ealtlj Pcpartmcnt. 



Pepper. — One of the most useful vegetables 

 in hygiene is red pepper. Especially in warm 

 countries has it been considered invaluable as a stim- 

 alant and auxiliary in digestion. Among the Span- 

 ish and French races it is used in the largest quanti- 

 ties, and they invariably enjoy most excellent health. 

 Of late, particularly since the cholera visited our 

 state, our planters have begun to discover the virtues 

 of this vegetable, and mingle large quantities of it 

 with the food of their negroes. Considerable atten- 

 tion has been drawn to the selection and cultivation 

 of the best kinds of pepper. Among those who have 

 appreciated the importance of this vegetable is that 

 admirable planter, and e.xceedingly practical gentle- 

 man, Col. Maunsel White, the proprietor of " Deer 

 Range," commonly known as the model sugar plan- 

 tation. Col. White has introduced the celebrated 

 tobacco red pepper, the very strongest of all peppers, 

 of which he has cultivated a large quantity, with a 

 view of supplying his neighbors, and diffusing it 

 through the state. The tobacco pepper yields a 

 small red pod, less than an inch in length, and lon- 

 gitudinal in shape. It is exceedingly hot, and but a 

 small quantity of it is sufficient to pepper a large 

 dish of any food. Owing to its oleaginous charac- 

 ter. Col. White found it impossible to preserve it by 

 drying ; but by pouring strong vinegar on it after 

 boiling, he has made a sauce or pepper decoction of 

 it, which possesses, in a most concentrated and in- 

 tense form, all the qualities of the vegetable. A 

 single drop of this sauce will flavor a whole plate of 

 soup or otlier food. The use of a decoction like this, 

 particularly in preparing the food for laboring per- 

 sons, would be found exceedingly beneficial in a 

 relaxing climate like this. Col. White has not had a 

 single case of cholera among his large gang of ne- 

 groes since that disease appeared in the south. He 

 attributes this to the free use of this valuable agent. 

 — N. O. Delta. 



iUccljamcs' Pepartmcut, Qivts, Uc. 



Coating Ikox with Copper. — To coat iron with 

 copper, as well as it has long been done by tin, has 

 occupied the attention of many inventors for centu- 

 ries. Their labors have uniformly failed of success. 

 They have produced a mechanical union between 

 the copper and tin, such as by the electrotype pro- 

 cess, but for all truly useful purposes no good result 

 was produced ; no coppering of tlic iron by a chem- 

 ical union was ever accomplished until within a 

 short period, and a knowledge of tliis discovery has 

 been known to but a very few. The discoverer is 

 Mr. Pomcroy, of Covington, Ky., who secured, after 

 no little trouble, a patent for the same on the 8th of 

 last January. ^Ve have seen samples of plate iron 

 (one of which is in our office) coppered and finished 

 by Mr. Pomcroy's process. Unless the edge of the 

 plate was seen, no one could tell that it was any 

 thing but a coijper plate. The application of this 

 discovery to the coating of iron, so as to make it 

 more durable, and render its apidic^ation to various 

 branches of art more expansive, makes it one of the 

 most valuable discoveries of tliis or any otlier age. 

 The iron can be coated with any thickness of copper, 

 and spikes for ship-l)uilding have been tested, as we 

 have been told, and found to answer as well as those 

 made entirely of copper. As a matter of economy, 

 then, this discovery will greatly cheapen the price of 



sailing vessels. For boilers, roofing, coating of pipes, 

 covering iron with the precious metals, harness plat- 

 ing, &c., this discovery is singularly applicable, and 

 will be the means of increasing the general comforts 

 of the human race. — !Scienti/ic American. 



Water-proof Cloth. — The best water-proof 

 cloth made is that of India rubber ; no other cloth 

 can equal it. Oil cloth comes next in order. Wool- 

 len and cotton cloth may be rendered nearly water- 

 proof by dipping them in a solution of alum and the 

 sulphate of copper. These two substances should be 

 used in about equal quantities. The cloth should 

 be dried in a warm room afterwards. If cotton cloth 

 is dipped into a very weak solution of glue, and 

 afterwards into a hot and strong solution of alum, 

 and then dried at a high temperature, a very good 

 water-proof cloth is the result, ay, and one that is 

 nearly incombustible. — Scientific American. 



ROUGH FODDER. 



Mr. Editor : I do not know whether many of 

 your agricultural readers make much account of 

 their "rough fodder," that is, of their top and but 

 stalks, &c., but one thing I can assert, and without 

 fear of contradiction, I think, by any who have econ- 

 omized this species of feed, and that is, it is mu"h 

 too valuable to be lost. Every farmer should keep 

 on his farm a sufficiency of the various kinds of stock 

 to consume all the vegetable matter his lands pro- 

 duce. In this way he will greatly augment his re- 

 sources, and at all times be supplied with that most 

 essential requisite to successful agricultural enter- 

 prise — an abundance of manure. The belief enter- 

 tained by many, that there is no nutriment in corn- 

 stalks, after the corn has been matured, is altogether 

 a false assumption ; it rests wholly on fallacious data, 

 and should be abjured at once as unworthy of a 

 moment's thought. If we take the stalks of Indian 

 corn, and pass them through a chaffing machine, mix 

 them with a small quantity of rasped ruta baga, 

 carrot, or beet root, and a little Mater, with just 

 sufficient salt to season them well, and feed them to 

 stock, we shall find that the animals will not only 

 hold their own, but actually increase in weight. 

 This demonstrates the actual existence of nutritive 

 matter in this species of fodder, and in large quan- 

 tity ; for the small additament of rasped root can 

 be but a slight accession to the alimentary power of 

 the feed, as but a small quantity is supplied ; the 

 object being not so much to augment the nutritious- 

 ness of the mass by commi.xing it, as to give a more 

 sapent flavor thereto, and to correct, in some meas- 

 ure, any unpleasant taste which may have been en- 

 gendered by mould, or the imperfect curing of the 

 fodder, in the field or barn. It has now become 

 ([uite common in many sections to allow the top 

 stalks to remain till the corn is taken from the fielil, 

 as the filling of the grain is believed to be more per- 

 fectly accomplished under this system of manager 

 ment, than it is when the toj)s are removed. Of 

 course the top stalks are less valuable as fodder ; but 

 they are by no means valueless. Chalied in this 

 manner, they are eagerly devoured by most animals ; 

 and a great advantage resulting from chaHing is, 

 there is no waste or loss. Every particle is con- 

 sumed, and thus all the products of the farm, which 

 have required manure for their support, are converted 

 to an economical use, and in process of time are again 

 resolved into the food of plants, liy having a chatf- 

 ing machine, and a machine for rasping roota, and 



