44 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



Al'G. ]0, 1842 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



ON DRINKS. 



Will 'y"" indulge inc once more, Mr Editor ? 

 For I wish to make myself understood, and oa you 

 do not appear to have entirely apprehended my 

 meanini;, il is possible, and more than possible, 

 some of your readers may not. As to riding "my 

 hobby fast and far," I need only observe, that, as a 

 general rule, this is said by every one, 0/ every one 

 who rides farther and faster than himself. Il will 

 be soon enough to add to this remark, in the way 

 of reply, when my particular errors are specified. 



It would seem as if no reader of your paper 

 could overlook my sole object in statinif my experi- 

 ments. Still allow me to repeat that I neither re- 

 commend nor wish a repetition of the experiments 

 by any one. To some, in fact to most, they would 

 not be safe. The only general inference I wish 

 to have made is, that if I, who need drink, consti- 

 tutionally, as much as any body else, can abstain 

 entirely from it without any perceptible inconve- 

 nience or suffering, for nine or ten months, others 

 do not need so much as has been usually supposed. 

 1 protest against being understood to recommend 

 to mankind not to drink at all. | 



True it is, that if we use such food as nature I 

 intended, the suffering by total abstinence from all 

 drink, would be neither immediate nor great in the 

 end. In the case of a proper vegetable diet, a la- 

 borer would swallow from two to three quarts of 

 water daily in his food; and in any ordinary diet, 

 from one to two quarts. But then I consider it to 

 be the decree of Heaven that man should drink 

 more or less ; and that if he obey not the decree, 

 (that is, for a great length of time together, and 

 especially when he follows the ordinary usages of 

 society,) he or his posterity or both, must experi- 

 ence a degree of suffering. 



But the idea of gratifying our thirst at pleasure, 

 at any time, whether in hot weather or cold, with- 

 out regard to the causes of thirst, or the circum- 

 stances in which we are placed, ia most manifestly 

 absurd. Yet such is the practice of most laboring 

 people, and 1 am sorry to have intelligent men in 

 any way encourage it. 



To rinse the mouth well and wash the face and 

 hands often with cold water in a hot day, is far 

 better than to drink as largely as many do. A 

 gill of water every half hour, cool but not too cold, 

 swallowed very slowly, will quench the thirst far 

 better than double the quantity, especially il swal- 

 lowed with rapidity. 



Generally speaking, if our habits are as they 

 should be, we need no drink when we first rise in 

 the morning. If our bodies are thoroughly washed 

 with cold water, and our mouths rinsed and throats 

 gargled, we shall lind ourselves better prepared for 

 brc'^lcfast withoot drinking, thin with i'. Then 

 again, if the breakl'ast is what it should be, and we 

 eat slowly enough, we need no drink with that, and 

 it is physiologically wrong to use any. If after 

 breakfast we work properly, however hot and dry 

 the weather may be, we need no drink before the 

 middle of the forenoon or somewhat later. Froiri 

 this time till noun, a hard-working, freely perspi- 

 ring man, however good his habits, may use a little 

 water — not exceeding a pint; and those whose 

 food is salt, need a little more. 



If rules like these are observed, there will be no 

 troublesome thirst at dinner; and the dinner will 

 be enjoyed. If this again contai.is a full amount 

 of fruits or vegetables, and they are well masti- 



cated, no drink ought to be used with it, or for 

 some three hours afterward. I care not how hot 

 the weather mny be, how freely a person perspires, 

 or how thirsty he may imagine himself to be. Let 

 him rinse his mouth and gargle his throat often, and 

 he ought not to drink till three hours or more after 

 dinner. There may be an exception in this case 

 in favor of obvious ill health or a degne of fever. 

 But between 3 and o'clock, P. M., whon the sup- 

 per is taken at 6, and is dry, (as it always ought to 

 be,) some water may be used ; though not by gjil- 

 lons or even quarts. 



It is impossible, however, to give particular di- 

 rections for every case, in a few paragraphs. A 

 few thoughts and general directions must suffice; 

 at least for the present. Enough I trust has been 

 said to show that it is the comfort and happiness of 

 the laborer that I seek, and not his sufiuring. I 

 would not have him injure himself either by indul- 

 gence or denial, though I believe that a degree of 

 self-denial is as salutary as it is virtuous. The 

 truth is that we owe most of our indulgences and 

 excesses to prior ones. One indulgence creates 

 a demand for another, and so does an excess. 

 Drinking too much water causes violent per^^pira- 

 tion ; and the drain, and above all the exhaustion of 

 the vital energise by prof use perspiration again pro- 

 duces thirst. So very cold water cools us, but Jit 

 the same time produces a degree of heat and dry- 

 ness (a species of inflammation) in the passages to 

 which it is applied, that creates new ihir.-^t. 



Let it i\ot then be said that I set forth my own 

 experience to be applied to the case of every body 

 else. The farthest from it possible. I am not — 

 I never was — the individual to do thi«. If I 

 mention my experiments, as I sometimes do, it is 

 for quite another purpose. What I advance, is 

 according to ascertained and settled laws. It is 

 no one man's ipse dixit, nor any one man's expe- 

 rienee. It is science. If I were to use half a 

 pint of cold water every half hour for years, and 

 yet not discover any evil consequences to result 

 from it during that time, I should no more dare 

 to recommend the practice to others, than that of 

 not drinking at all. 



W. A. ALCOTT. 



Dedham, Aug. 1, 1842. 



A LETTER TO US. 

 A subscriber in Worcester county says: — 

 " You will find enclosed two dollars, which I 

 send for the continuance of the New England 

 Farmer another year. It is a publication which I 

 very much value, from which I have derived much 

 valuable information, and for which I hope long to 

 be a subscriber; if it continues to be what it has 

 been, and now is, I know not why 1 may not be 

 able, fur it is not like many of the publications of 

 the day, yearly making a demand from tlie purse, 

 and returning nothing for the benefit of either body 

 or mind, but its valuable articles and useful hints 

 weekly thrown out to put us farmers up to do what 

 we are so apt to neglect, returns four fold, I should 

 say, if we put in practice what js priicticnble. 

 We have this return besides the satisfaction of 

 having work done up in time and as it should be. 

 But the greatest difficulty I meet with is to find 

 ti ne to read all that is valuable and at the same 

 ti lie have every thing attended to abroad which 

 you suggest is well to be, and the wants of my 

 family say muil be." 



[C?"We publish a few only of the business let- 



ters that are sent to uo. The preceding one affords 

 a text upcm which we will say a few words. A 

 portion of our subscribers would be glad to have 

 us give them a summary of the news of the week 

 others would like more anecdotes and pleasant sto 

 ries ; others would prefer more sprighlliness aiic 

 shorter articles ; but we have reason to think thai 

 the mass of our readers are desirou.? to have us gc 

 on in our old course, collecting and publishing as 

 much solid agricultural information as comes with- 

 in our reach. Such is our own taste, and our view 

 of the course in which we can be most useful. I( 

 is hifjhly probable that we might get a wider circu 

 lation and get more money by throwing in more 

 matter tlinl would merely entertain or amuse foi 

 the moment, but we should be guilty of injustice tc 

 those who pay for the paper, if we did not keef 

 instruction foiemost and as our great object: — en 

 tcrtainmcnt can be regarded only as incidental anc 

 unimportant. We will sooner quit our editoria 

 chair than try to get a living in it by catering ti 

 any depraved hankerings of the public for mere 

 amusement; or by any importunities for additim. 

 to our subscription ; or by oft repeated dunnings u 

 subscribers. — Ed. N. E. F. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EXHlBITIOiX OF FRUITS. 



Saturday, July 30, 1842. 



A fine specimen of Currants and Raspberries | 

 from Wm. Mackintosh, Roxbury. 



While and Red Currants, with a specimen bus) 

 in full fruit — large and handsome — from A. I) 

 Williams, Roxbury. 



Early Harvest Apples and Mulberries, from Jno 

 Hovey, Roxliury. 



Gooseberries, from Stephen Glover, Roxbury — i 

 fine specimen. 



Cultivated high bu.^h Blackberries — a fine spcci 

 men, and well worth a place in every garden— b; 

 Eliphalet Thayer, Dorchester. 



Black Hamburg Grapes, from Otis Johnson 

 Lynn. Mr Johnson succeeds in giving his grapei 

 a fine color and bloom. 



Early Scarlet Cherry Plum, from J. F. Trull 

 Dorchester — a fine specimen — a shy bearer, ant 

 judged not worth cultivating from its barrenness. 



Sopsavine Apples, from J. C. Howard, Brookline 



Belle de Choisy Cherries, Hamburg Grapes 

 Goo.ieberrics and Early Pears, from George Walsh 

 Charlestown. 



Late Red Bigareuu and Belle Magnifique Chei 

 ries, from John Koiirick, Newton. 



Gooseberries, from Win. Meller, Roxbury. 



Belle Magnifique and Heath's Early Nonsucli 

 Apples, from B. V. French, Braintree. 



Raspberries, Royal George Peaches, Ogden's 

 larr^e Hlack Currants, fruit of thf Weeping Cherry, 

 and Tomatoes, from J. L. L. F. Warren, Brighton. 

 For the Committee, 



B. V. FRENCH. 



Strawberries. — The soil of Ohio yields strawber- 

 ries in abundance. The Cincinnati Republican 

 says : 



" We have it from unquestionable authority, that 

 one man has raised this season, from two acres, 

 four hundred bushels of strawberries, which have 

 averaged him in our markets, two d<dlai8 per bush- 

 el, his two acres of strawberry patch having thus 

 yielded him eight hundred doliars. A snug little 

 profit this." 



