PRACTICAL FARMER 



141 



vapor — in so far as we can judge fi-otn the flavor 

 of the breatli, and the perspirable matter of the 

 skin, when abundant. I bled a druniinrd last Sat- 

 urday, whoye blood, as well as skin, had distinctly 

 the alcoholic color. 



This odor exists in the breath of the wine, ci- 

 der and porter drinker. Every fact we possess 

 on this subject goes to prove that alcohol is a 

 poison — that it is always injurious to the machi- 

 nery of life, when habitually taken — and that, 

 when used as a medicine, it operates like otlier 

 active medicines, which are poisons, by making a 

 temporary impression, u)ihealthy in itself, but 

 which may supplant the im|)ression made by the 

 disease, and then be made to subside, by with- 

 drawing the stimulus which caused it. 



That cider, wine and beer can bring back the 

 relish for distilled spirit, in a reclaimed drunkard, 

 is certain. A glass of cider, beer or wine, has 

 brought back to sottishness and destruction, many 

 a man who seemed t© have been reformed. A 

 man now walks our streets with a red face and 

 glassy eye, who al)stained from strong drink for 

 three years — who is a member of our Temper- 

 ance Society, and drinks no distilled liquors, and 

 whose appetite was resuscitated by wine and beer, 

 and whose destruction is now regarded as almost 

 certain. He is said to have taken more than 20 

 glasses of wine last Friday. 



There cannot, I think, be left a reasonable doubt 

 that as much mischief to health, results from th ) 

 use of any kind of ff^rmented liquor, as from dis- 

 tilled spirit equally diluted with water. Indeed, 

 the strong tendency to disorders of the joints, as 

 gout, and what is called chronic rheumatism, or 

 neuralgia, in the drinkers of wine and beer, and 

 to apoplexy and dropsy in beer drinkers, would 

 induce me, if I must drink any given amount of 

 Alcohol in a given series of years, to prefer dis- 

 tilled spirit to any sort of fermented liquor. 



It is the alcohol in fermented liquors which 

 causes man to prefer them to water, and doubt- 

 less the only reason why deep drunkenness is not 

 ns common in communities purely wine or cider 

 drinking, as in those who employ chiefly, or whol- 

 ly, distilled spirit, is, that the alcohol cannot be 

 had in a state so concentrated. Fewer drunk- 

 ards, perhaps, are made by cider drinking, than 

 by the use of wine — at least, some kinds of wine ; 

 and it is understood that pure wine made from 

 rich grapes, contains from 10 to 15, or more, per 

 cent, of Alcohol, while the Alcohol in cider ran- 

 ges from 6 to 10 per cent. — It will be perceived 

 that 10 per cent, of Alcohol will make wine or 

 cider of the same strength with a liquor com- 

 posed o? one part of proof spirit and four parts of 

 water. 



How can there be a drink so goad as water? 



We have a plenty of evidence frotn fact that it is 

 better and safer than any other. It seems to have 

 been made just right at first, and if, for some 

 thousands of year:?, mankind have been in vain 

 attempting to n)ake it better by various additions, 

 it may be safely i)redicted, that as many more 

 thousands of years will roll away before their ef- 

 forts will be followed with better success. 



I believe that something like a reply to all the 

 questions is contained in the foregoing remarks. 

 With much regard, yours, 



R. D. MUSSEY. 



Burn your Coal Ashes. — Mr Editor:' — I 

 have always regarded the statement that there was 

 any thing combuBtil)le in anthracite coal ashes, as 

 a mere whim ; and I have been lately induced to 

 try the exjierimeur, more to prove the hdlacy of 

 the notion than frosnany expectation of a success- 

 ful result. But "I give it u]).'''' In ihese hard 

 times, perhaps some of your readers may be dis- 

 posed to try the experiment ; and without attempt- 

 ing an explanation of the thing, i will briefly state 

 the method and result of my own trial : Before 

 making the fire in the morning, or when wishing 

 to replenish it, I stir the ashes and fine coal thor- 

 oughly out of the grate, leaving in the grate all 

 the coal that will not fall through — add enough 

 fresh coal to tnake the fire, and when it burns 

 freely, cover it about an inch thick with the fine 

 coal and ashes mixed together, and wet with as 

 much water as they will hold — and as that burns 

 out, put on another coat. Possibly this cannot 

 be done in open grates where tliere is not much 

 draft; but a fiiir trial will, I think, convince the 

 most sceptical that there is much that is valuable 

 in the ashes which are ordinarily thrown into the 

 streets. Many will undoubtedly cavil, hut lettlie 

 candid TRY. 



The New York Commercial Advertiser of the 

 18th ult. states, that within the three preceding 

 days twenty thousand, five hundred bushels of 

 German wheat had been sold in that city at from 



$2 to $2,50 per bushel. 



Disgraceful. — We learn from statements made in 

 the New York papers, that 150,000 bushels of Grain, is 

 taken monthly from that market for distillation. In this 

 way our meat doth become our poison. We have no- 

 ticed in some of our exchange papers, a call for a meet- 

 ing " to consider ihe causes of the present high prices 

 of bread stufis." Is the above a small consumption ; 

 and for an article highly necessary for the well-being of 

 the community, especially the poor laborer, and conduc- 

 cive to the happiness of wives and children, of inebria- 

 ted husbands .' 



Perhaps this question will be answered in the delib- 

 erations of that meeting. 



