THE GENESEE FARMER 



281 



WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 



If meat were furnislied as cheap as water, it would 

 be esteemed too severe a task to eat it dm-ing this 

 hot weather. But when it costs so enormously, and 

 has no special merit of wholesomeness to commend 

 it, we certainly should be excused from its use. Still, 

 if one has the money to spare for it, we will not ob- 

 ject to its answering very well to keep the body in 

 respectable condition. Beef, more than any other 

 meat — providing it is from a healthy animal, and is 

 not too tough — is wholesome. But then it is not 

 needed by most people in summer. On the other 

 hand, the meat-eater must sleep longer than the one 

 who lets it alone. We doubt not that men who eat 

 no meat get as much good out of six hours' sleep as 

 they who eat it do out of seven, If so, here is a 

 double waste — of money for the article, aud of time 

 to get over its effects. 



But there is a class of alarmists who ciy out against 

 vegetables whenever an epidemic threatens to ap- 

 proach. They are strong enough in some cities to 

 have secured the prohibition of the sale of vegetables 

 in the markets and groceries, while the cholera pre- 

 vailed. Their intentions were good, of course ; but 

 we shall not believe that ripe, fresh vegetables will 

 prove injurious to mortals any more during an epi- 

 demic than at other times. Of course, unripe fruit, 

 wilted and decaying vegetables, or unseasonable ones, 

 win not be consumed with impimity ; but we speak 

 to sensible folks. 



Potatoes that are potatoes — we mean potatoes that 

 are not made up simply of a squashy pulp, with half 

 their weight in water, surrounded with a dirty peel ; 

 but such as we occasionally find in market under the 

 name of Pink Eyes, or Bermudas, which are plenty 

 now, aud the Mercers, which are always so — are good 

 enough for the best conservative in town. Turnips 

 are good, though there is not much nourishment in 

 them. Cabbages, spinach, and " greens," of all sorts, 

 are good only for those who never have found them 

 indigestible. They should be eaten only under protest. 



Rice is excellent, in milk or with sugar. Do not 

 hinder the children from using the sugar freely. It 

 fattens the slaves of the South, and will fatten them. 

 Never believe that their teeth decay in consequence. 

 Milk is excellent. It satisfies the appetite, is light, 

 wholesome and cheap. Boiling the milk improves its 

 flavor, ripens it, and makes it easy of digestion even 

 for the sick. Simple puddings, fruit puddings, and 

 pies, if not too rich, are economical and good. Then 

 fruit in its season is worthy of thanksgiving. Straw- 

 berries are so plenty that they can better be afforded 

 than meats, and they are as wholesome, as refreshing 

 too. Bananas that are perfectly ripe, and not at all 

 decayed, are safe. Pine apples furnish the palate 

 with a perpetual illusion. You lay hold of one, and 

 its delicious flavor promises great pleasure to the 

 palate, but it seems to fail of meeting the demand 

 exactly ; and though you stuff with the woody, fi- 

 brous body of the apple till your judgment forbids 

 any more, you still experience a craving lor it. They 

 are not worth what they cost to common folks. 



Flour is the staple, after all. In bread and bis- 

 cuits, cakes and puddings, the good housewife can 

 manage to give flom- a relishing and wholesome form, 



though varied daily. Moreover, it is about as cheap 

 as anything we eat, in spite of the high market prices. 

 Corn as Indian, corn as hominy, or corn as samp, is a 

 national dish. Patriotism, economy, health, and a 

 Yankee education, all combine to recommend it in all 

 its forms, excepting perhaps that very delectable 

 combination of it with beans, which men, in honor 

 of the aborigines, still designate succotash. Given in 

 a desert, corn enough, and the usual facilities for 

 preparing it for the table, and no man has a right to 

 ask for manna or quails. Cucumbers and their kind 

 are very dubious ; never should one eat freely of 

 them — and it they ever have played a person a trick, 

 he will do well to avoid them utterly. It is a great 

 pity that their very pleasant flavor could not be ex- 

 tracted and communicated to some such harmless 

 medium as mush, rice or Indian meal. If the Crys- 

 tal Palace does well in its legitimate and promised 

 work of stimulating human industry in all directions, 

 perhaps it may be yet. We shall not patent the 

 suggestion. Eggs fortunately fetch prices that can 

 be afforded. They are very nutritious and very di- 

 gestible, unless cooked to the consistency of bullets. 

 We suspect that egg-fed men make the best thinkers, 

 meat-eaters the best fighters, and strict vegetarians 

 the whitest and most delicate members of society. 

 Physiologists say that the human brain hungers al- 

 ways for phosphorus, and that when it is plentifully 

 supplied, thinking comes easy. Now, phosphorus is 

 plentiful in eggs, whence it seems to be a legitimate 

 deduction that our suspicion is the truth. 



Fish are for the edification of men in hot weather; 

 but they must be fresh fish — as recently as possible 

 from the water. Look sharp before buying them on 

 Mondays, and on Saturdays too ; they are apt to be 

 the unsold remnants. Some citizens make free with 

 salt fish in hot weather. It is a grave objection to 

 them, however, that they provoke thirst, which must 

 be quenched with immoderate draughts of cold wa- 

 ter. — JVew York Times. 



Cultivation of Tobacco in Africa. — The cul- 

 tivation of tobacco continues to increase in a remark- 

 able manner in the African possessions of France. — 

 It results from the report of the Special Inspector of 

 the tobacco manufactory to the Minister of War, 

 that the deliveiy of the crop of 1853 amounted to 

 1,637,523 kilogrammes, valued at l,436,926f., being 

 an average of 87f. 78c. the 100 kilos. The impor- 

 tance of these returns will be seen by comparing 

 them with those of tlie preceding year, which had 

 already exceeded that of 1851 by 500,000 kilos., and 

 was only 904,000 kilos.; so that there was an increase 

 in 1853 of 733,000 kilos., nearly 100 per cent. The 

 quality has moreover improved almost as much as 

 the quantity has increased. In addition to the quan- 

 tity above mentioned, received on account of the 

 State, there have been consumed in the country 317,- 

 COO kilos., and exported 107,787 kilos., making the 

 total production amount to 2,063,000 kilos. 



None are so fond of secrets as those who do not 

 mean to keep them ; such persons covet secrets, as a 

 spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circii- 

 lation. 



