154 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ October, 



own filth knee deep. In order to overcome 

 this difficulty I put a platform in the stable, 

 about eight inches high, and wide enough for 

 two to lie on comfortably, and bedded clean 

 straw on it every evening, which they kept 

 clean and dry, and I had no trouble. The 

 pig is considered a very tilthy animal, but if 

 given a chance tliey are not as filthy as some 

 people suppose. 



Cornstalks. 



ISIany people leave their cornstalks stand 

 until winter before they cut them ofl". This 

 plan is objectionable chiefly on account of in- 

 convenience in hauling the corn and fodder 

 off, and also in husking. I think there is a 

 better way — that is, cut them off before husk- 

 ing. With a sharp, heavy hoe they can be 

 cut very rapidly. I think it better to delay 

 husking a few days, in order to do this neces- 

 sary work, than to husk early and leave them 

 standing. 



The Papaw. 



Most people are acquainted with the pa- 

 paw, {Ashnina triloba) but very few have as 

 yet cultivated it. As an ornamental shrub it 

 compares favorably with the more costly ones 

 imported, besides it has a most delicious fruit. 

 As the shrub is quite common in our counlj', 

 I think it would be well to plant a few 

 "around the farm, " if not in the lawn, for 

 the fruit. It belongs to the family Anonaac, 

 to which belong the custard apple and Cheri- 

 moya, two of the most esteemed fruits of the 

 tropics. The papaw is the only species of 

 this family which grows north. I think if 

 our nurserymen would take the matter in 

 hand, they might produce some very fine fruit 

 in time, as the original fruit is much more 

 promising than many of those which have 

 been so long cultivated and are now so highly 

 prized. — Buralist, Oct. 1st. 



^ 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 NEBRASKA NOTES. 

 Editor : Nebraska is not only a great agri- 

 cultural State, Init is also an excellent grazing 

 country, especially the western half, where 

 there are about one hundred varieties of 

 grasses, including the famous Buffalo grass, 

 which, after nourishing the hundreds of thous- 

 ands of cattle, sheep and horses all summer, 

 in autumn dries without decay, and becomes 

 hay on the ground for all winter. It has been 

 estimated that this great grazing region, be- 

 tween the Missouri river and Rocky IMoun- 

 tains, sustained fifteen millions of buffaloes, 

 besides, perhaps, a greater number of elk, 

 deer, antelope, wild horses and all herbivorous 

 animals, twenty years ago. However nearly 

 correct this estimate may be, the fact is, Ne- 

 braska could sustain at least six hundred 

 tliousand more cattle, sheep and horses. 

 Throughout the State the present wheat, oats, 

 barley, rye and millet crops, which have just 

 been harvested, are the best ever raised. The 

 acreage of corn is large, crops good, and too 

 nearly matured to be injured by drouth or in- 

 sects, neither of which have damaged any- 

 thing this year. Potatoes, squashes, melons 

 and all kinds of vegetables are doing well ; 

 and fruits, where cultivated, are promising. 

 Young fruit trees grow so rapidly, and so late 

 in autumn, tliat the nnhardened wood is likely 

 to be winter killed ; but by planting on north- 

 ern slopes, and cultivating a compact belt of 

 forest trees around the orchard, apples, pears, 

 peaches, plums, cherries and all kind of berries 

 may be raised here in abundance, as is proven 

 by the success wherever fruit growing has 

 been tried. In a soil so well drained, an at- 

 mosphere so pure, a sunshine so bright and 

 genial; in a land so free from fogs, sleet and un- 

 timely frosts, all manner of delicious fruit, 

 will surely soon abound. The facilities for 

 manufacturing are excellent, as the water 

 power is abmidaut and everlasting, and the re- 

 sources unlimited for producing materials for 

 flour, oil, starch, sugar, salt, soda, cheese, 

 cloth, paper, ropes, paint, crockery, cement 

 and bricks. ^Vhen fully developed, Nebraska's 

 chief wealth will consist of flour, meat and 

 cloth, as her principel productions are wheat, 

 cattle and sheep. The population of the 



State is about three hundred thousand, and 

 during the last fifteen years these people have 

 built sixty thousand houses, besides dug-outs 

 not a few; broke and cultivated more than a 

 million acres of prairie, surveyed over forty 

 million acres of public land, defined and or- 

 ganized seventy-five counties, constructed over 

 twelve hundred miles of railroads, built about 

 one hundred mills and about four miles of 

 bridges, opened six hundred and fifty post- 

 otfices, connected by eleven thousand miles 

 of post road, established and published over 

 one hundred newspapers, built two thousand 

 five hundred school houses, a State House, a 

 State University, Normal school, insane 

 asylum, blind institute, deaf and dumb insti- 

 tute and about two hundred churches. The 

 through freight and passage business over the 

 Union and Central Pacific railroads is im- 

 mense, and rapidly increasing, and enables 

 these roads to make very low rates for the peo- 

 ple along their lines; unlike all other roads that 

 have no trans-continental business, must live 

 from their local traffic. Recently two trains, 

 carrying over one hundred tons of tea, passed 

 over these roads, from San Francisco to New 

 York. Most of tlie teas and spices imported 

 to this country pass over this great World's 

 Highway, because the importers can in this 

 way get their goods through much quicker 

 and without loss from moistm'e and change of 

 climate. The advantages of living in Ne- 

 braska, which is midway between the Atlantic 

 and Pacific oceans, within the great central 

 belt of population, wealth and Christian civili- 

 zation which encircles the earth between the 

 39th and 44th parallels of North latitude, are 

 many and great. Excellent valley, agricultural 

 land, within a mile of railroad, maybe bought 

 here at from two to six dollars per acre on long 

 credit — is cheaper for cash. Mr. O. F. Davis, 

 of Omaha, can give full information about the 

 twelve million acres of land being sold by the 

 Union Pacific Railroad Company, in Nebraska, 

 Wyoming and ITtali. The best route to this 

 country is over the Jloston and Albany, New 

 York, New Haven, Hartford and Springfield, 

 New York and Erie, Atlantic and Great 

 Western, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, 

 and Union Pacific railways, as the Chicago, 

 Burlington and Quincy, and Union Pacific 

 roads from Chicago give special, greatly re- 

 duced rates to immigrants ; and the Eastern 

 roads mentioned are the quickest, cheapest 

 and most comfortable. — Examiner, Omaha, 

 Neb., Awj. 23, 1877. 



POTOMAC FRUIT-GROWERS' ASSOCI- 

 ATION. 



September Meeting. 



A larpre and varied collection of Fruits and Flowers 

 on exhiijition, Juo. Saul leading off with 00 varieties 

 of Pears. 



Dr. McKim read a paper on 



Fruits in Disease. 



I do not intend reading a medical thesis for pro- 

 fessional criticism, but a practical essay for populai- 

 use ; and though I shall run counter to many preju- 

 dices, yet am satisfied that facts invite investigation, 

 and truth fears no criticism. 



Many people walk through the world backward, 

 having their faces turned in the direction whence 

 they came, and not looking the way they are going. 

 Many are surrounded by the walls of prejudice, the 

 result of education or preconceived views ; and as 

 the walls are leveled, so as to enlarge the range of 

 their vision, they bend their knees, or bow their 

 heads, lest the ^nceived orthodoxy of their views 

 be changed. 



The prejudice against cold water, as a suitable 

 drink for i'ever patients, has not entirely yielded to 

 common sense and reason — for almost daily the (ques- 

 tion is i)Ut, "Doctor, can he have cold water ?" So 

 we find a popular impression against the use of fruits 

 and vegetables, and many partake of these healthful 

 and necessary articles of diet "in fear and trend.iliug." 

 That there is usually an increase of deaths during 

 the months that fruits and fresh or new vegetables 

 are in the markets is granted, but let us investigate 

 the cause. 



Tlic Dr. then quotes from the health reports of Dr. 

 Snow, health officer of Providence, K. I., showing 

 that in .July, 1863, the number of deaths was oae less 

 than in the previous mouth ; that of the 30 deaths of 

 natives, 9 were under .5 years; that of the .31 deaths 

 of foreigners, 17 were under i years ; making a total 



of 26 under 5, out of a total of 61. About one-half 

 were of cholera infantum. 



Notice, if you please, the significant disparity be- 

 tween the mortality rate of the children of native- 

 born and foreign-born parents. This fact at once 

 indicates causes due, not to fruit-eating, but to the 

 want of due regard to proper sanitary and hygienic 

 regulations. 



In his report for July, 1860, Dr. Snow says : "We 

 are treated at this season of the year with the usual 

 amount of cautions in the newspapers against the use 

 of fruits and vegetables, and are called upon to 

 believe that the increase of mortality which always 

 occurs during hot weather is almost wholly caused 

 bj' eating them. It is quite likely that eating unripe 

 and wilted fruits and vegetables causes disturbances 

 in the stomach and sickness, but it is of a temporary 

 character, and would generally cure itself if no other 

 cause was present. It is quite as well to use caution 

 in the selection of fruits and vegetables, avoiding 

 those that are wilted and decayed, but it is not well 

 to lie unnecessarily troubled and frightened about 

 them, and it is still worse to avoid them altogether. 



The slightest examination of the causes of death, 

 given above, shows that fruits and vegetables had 

 almost no influence whatever in the mortality re- 

 ported from summer complaints. Nearly all the 

 decedents from these causes were very young children 

 who do not eat fruits and vegetables at all. All but 

 live of the decedents from summer complaints, in 

 .July, were under two years of age, and only two of 

 the whole number were over four years of age. In 

 certain seasons, when epidemic cholera may be pre- 

 sent, and when the systems of the people may be 

 prepared for disease by the poisoned air they breathe, 

 it may be possible that wilted fruits and vegetables 

 may be the exciting causes of fatal sickness, but even 

 tlien the air that is breathed is more truly the cause 

 of death than the food that is eaten. In ordinary 

 seasons, when no epidemic is present, impure air 

 causes a thousand-fold more mortality than fruits 

 and vegetables. In fact, it is probable that total 

 abstinence Irom fruits and vegetables by the whole 

 community would produce more fatal sickness than 

 the most unlimited indulgence in them. The safest 

 ride is, however, '■temperance in all things." Octo- 

 ber, 1869, he says: — "Children are killed by the man- 

 ner in which they are dressed and by the food that is 

 given them as much as by other causes. Infants of 

 the most tender age, ii- our changeable and rough 

 climate, are left with bare arms and legs and with 

 low-neck dresses. The mothers, in the same dress, 

 would shiver and suffer with cold, and would expect 

 a fit of sickness as the result of their culpable care- 

 lessness, and yet the mothers could endure such 

 treatment with far less danger to health and life 

 than their tender infants. A moment's reflection 

 will indicate the effects of this mode of dressing, or 

 want of dressing, on the child. The moment the 

 cold air strikes the bare arms and legs of the child, 

 the blood is driven from their extremities to the in- 

 ternal and more vital organs of the body. The result 

 is congestion, to greater or less extent, of these 

 organs. In warm weather the effect will lie conges- 

 tion of the bowels, causing diarrhoea, dysentery or 

 cholera infantum. We think this mode of dressing 

 must be reckoned as one of the most prominent 

 causes of summer complaints, so called." 



In his report for July, 1873, Dr. Snow says : 



"Of the .5.5 decedents in July, from diari'heal dis- 

 eases, 22 were American anil 33 of foreign parentage. 

 According to age there were 41 under 1 year, 10 from 

 I to 2 years, and 4 over .50 years, making a total of 

 55 decedents from diarrheal diseases. It is certain 

 that these infants under 2 years of age, nearly all of 

 them under 1 year, did not contract their disease 

 from eating fruits and vegetables. We have several 

 times in past years analyzed the mortality from 

 diarrheal diseases, with precisely similar results. As 

 we find, therefore, that considerably more than 

 three-fourths of all mortality from diarrheal diseases, 

 except Asiatic cholera, in Providence, is found in in- 

 fants under two years of age, we are compelled to 

 believe that, in tliis city, at least, neither ripe nor un- 

 ripe fruits and vegetables have any perceptible iuHu- 

 euce upon the mortality of these diseases. The in- 

 fant decedents from diarrheal diseases are killed by 

 the effects of heat and impure air, especially the 

 latter. 



In the District of Columbia the ntortality for July, 

 1877, was 479 — being 78 less than for the correspond- 

 ing month of last year. The mortality from cholera 

 infantum was 85. When we recall the fact, that the 

 rauge of temperature for July in this District was 

 much less than the average in former years, we can 

 easily and naturally account for the low rate of mor- 

 tality during the mouth . Dr. W. II. Vail publishes 

 an article on summer diet, and starts with the follow- 

 ing argument : "God, in his providence, has stocked 

 the Polar regions with the seal, the whale and the 

 bear, all the personification of fat and oil — while 

 vegetation is comparatively unknown. On the other 

 hand, as you api)roaeh the tropics, oranges, bananas, 

 lemons and all our luscious fruits greet you on every 

 hand, and vegetation runs wild. The disposition of 

 Providence teaches us, what our appetites confirm, 

 that in cold weather our diet should consist mainly 

 of oily substances, or such food is converted into fat 



