No. 9. 



Dried Strawberries. 



287 



among^ the corn, has ever heen found with 

 the grains. The same stratum has been met 

 with in places distant from this in digging 

 below the surfice. This is all that I could 

 learn relative to this interesting and unac- 

 countable disposition. Why, or how did it 

 get from the cob ? 



"It certainly must have been charred, or 

 it would not have been thus preserved. It 

 could not have been reduced to this black 

 cinder, like the loaves of bread and grains 

 of different kinds found at Pompeii ; or rather 

 it could not have resulted from a like cause. 

 I do believe, that if all the corn raised on 

 the Ohio, and all its tributaries, above this 

 point was collected in one mass, it would not 

 amount to one-tenth of this deposition." 



It would seem that there is a little " poetry" 

 in some of the foregoing statements; and I 

 am not aware that the public has ever been 

 undeceived by any correction of the accounts 

 first published. With this view I am induced 

 to send for publication the following extract 

 from a letter which I received from a friend 

 residing not very distant from the spot, in 

 reply to some inquiries which I had addressed 

 to him in relation to ihe fossil corn. 



" I had not before heard of Dr. Johnson's 

 ' fossil formation' on the Ohio River. In 

 11th month, 1839,1 repaired to the spot, but 

 found no other curiosity than an old battle- 

 ground. In several places, extending from 

 Grave Creek to some distance below Pish 

 Creek, about ten or twelve miles, magazines 

 of corn have been burned, and the freshets 

 in the river overflowing the banks, have 

 washed it along and covered it at different 

 depths from six inches to two feet or more. 

 It was once very plenty, but is now only to 

 be found thinly scattered in the alluvion — 

 the earth where it is found generally having 

 the appearance of having been burned, as it 

 also has in some places where the corn is 

 not found. Fish Creek is about two miles 

 below Baker's Station, one of the oldest mili- 

 tary posts on the Ohio River. Whether the 

 corn belonged to the whites or Indians we 

 cannot now conjecture, there being no other 

 vestige of Baker's Station lef\, except the 

 grave yard. Below the creek people have 

 dug and ploughed up many pieces of gun- 

 barrels, gun-locks, iron axes without any 

 Bteel on them, &c. It is well known that 

 they are not of older date than the emigra- 

 tion of the white people to the banks of the 

 Ohio, for the Indians never wrought iron 

 into any kind of tool. This I feel confident 

 in asserting as far as relates to those of the 

 great valley of the Mississippi, having in 

 my younger days been among five or six na- 

 tions or tribes of them." Respectfully, 



E. MiCHENER. 



Pylvania, 3rd month, 1847. 



Lambs Born Dead. — " A Young Farmer," 



of Genesee, informs us that he had in the 

 winter of 184-5 — 6, 200 ewes, which had 

 been selected for the purpose of raising 

 lambs. " About the 20th of March," lie says, 

 '• they commenced dropping their lambs per- 

 fectly dend, it being one month before their 

 time. They contmued in this manner until 

 the 20th of April, the proper time for the 

 Iambs, when I found that I had lost 100. All 

 that came after that time were alive and 

 apparently healthy. The sheep were fed 

 nothing but plenty of good hay, and were 

 well littered with wheat straw the fore part 

 of the winter, and oat straw the latter part." 

 Can any one give the reason for the abor- 

 tion ? — Cultivator. 



Dried StraAvberries. 



Last summer, by way of experiment, when 

 strawberries were plentiful, I attached 

 threads to their stalks, and hung up a few 

 which were over-ripe, to dry. I placed them 

 inside a w indow facing the south, where they 

 remained from June last to the present time, 

 (March 23 ) They have just been tasted, 

 and the result is most satisfactory. That 

 sweet refreshing acid which is peculiar to 

 the strawberry in full perfection, the flavour 

 of the fruit without any watery taste, is de- 

 licious; it dissolves in the mouth as slowly 

 as a lozenge, and it is infinitely superior to 

 the raisin, which so soon brings on a feeling 

 of satiety. The strawberry thus dried is a 

 stomachic. The experiment may be tried 

 when the fruit is so ripe as to be scarcely 

 worth gathering, without any further ex- 

 pense or trouble than being hung up. — Lon- 

 don Paper. 



From the Ohio Cultivator. 



A Lot of Large Hogs. — I had raised and 

 fatted the past season on my farm, (by Nehe- 

 miah Ga^kill,) a lot of 22 hogs, the weight 

 of which we deem somewhat extraordinary. 

 They were a cross of the Berkshire and 

 Russia breeds; were slaughtered when only 

 19 months old, by Mr. Bimm, of Dayton, and 

 the following is the record of the weight of 

 each ; 528,521, 514, 506,505, 504,48(5,478, 

 420, 446, 45.5, 430, 457, 415, 468, 480, 4-57, 

 41'0, 447, 432, 408, 43.5— total, 10,222. 



If any of your subscribers have beaten us 

 raising pork, we should like to hear from 

 them. Richard Haines. 



Ceiitreville, Montgomery co., March 10, ]p47. 



A drop or two of honey well rubbed on the 

 hands while wet, after washing with soap, pre- 

 vents chapping, and removes the roughness 

 of the skin; it is particularly pleasant for 

 children's hands and faces in cold weather. 



