187R.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



89 



most equal to that of 1B7.'!, wliidi was tlie 

 best ever juit into tlic market by I.Miicastei- 

 county. Tlie 1S77 crop soM at all prices, 

 varying from li and (j to S and :2rp, and some 

 choice lots as hii^li as 31), but a fair average 

 vv'Onld prol)ably be T) and "Jd, that is one pound 

 of tillers at ."> and two of wrappers at L'lt, an 

 average of l'> cents. On tin: estimates lierein 

 made tlie acreage of hist year would ligiire 

 at about 10,00(1, and there is no i)robability 

 that the iilant of 1878 will Ije les.s. The 

 average jiroduct of $-J2o per acre repre.sents 

 an outlay of not more than !irl2."), counting all 

 expenses, and until tlat average l,:incasler 

 county farmer is shown how he can realize 

 more than §10(1 per acre net |irolit from lanil 

 worth IgiiOd, he is uot likely to l.'l his hold slij) 

 on the good thiug he now has of it. IJut ;dl 

 the far-sighted of our tobacco growers have 

 begun to realize that it is iu the careful atten- 

 tion to the crop, in iilantiiig, raising, cutting 

 and curing, that the chief scuirce of prolit lies, 

 ratlier than in tlie extent of acreage, and, if 

 their (-ounsels prevail an improvement in these 

 respects rather than an increase iu the extent 

 of the plant will be the disliuguishing feature 

 of the tobaeco-growiugiudustry here for years 

 to come. When $-iW to 5f">0(l can be realized 

 from an acre by increased attention, and a 

 comparatively slight outlay over that recpured 

 fora $-J.")0 product, true econouiy will suggest 

 more caretul attention to tlie quality. Thi^ 

 young jdants are now fieing set out, and with 

 favorable temperature following prolonged 

 moistening of the ground they will get a lair 

 start ; lait the few recent days of compara- 

 tively cool weather have been unfavorable to 

 the setting out of plants and untoward to the 

 growtli of those already in the ground, many 

 of which have hail to be replanted. 



The industry of cigar-making is on the in- 

 crease througliout this city and county, and 

 the annual product is now about 50,000,000. 

 In these much of our local tobacco -is used, 

 and an article made of Havana filler and 

 Lanca.ster wrapper is manufactured here that 

 sells for fivm .^(iO to .•S70 per 1,(J00; but most 

 of the cigars made here are of low grades, 

 running from .S13 to iSiO, and of these a large 

 number are shiiiped to St. Louis. 



'NVIiether our patrons oppose or favor tobacco 

 growing, the weed itself is too conspicuous a 

 factor in the agricultural productions of Lan- 

 caster county to be in any vvise ignored. 

 Therefore, as a mere niatter'of information on 

 the subject, tlie above resiune from the Phila- 

 deli>hia Jicford, may be of interest to readers 

 of any and every grade. If it is a "good 

 tiling," then every farmer ought to know it, 

 in (mler that he may iiartieipate in itsbeiielits. 

 If it is an "evil thing," then he ought to 

 know something of its magnitude, in order to 

 measure his streiigtli properly against it. 

 Until it becomes contraband of law we must 

 let people do'as they plea.se in cultivating it. 

 Its s(a(i(.s, therefore, is interesting as a mere 

 matter of h-nmclahje, and knowledge on any 

 subject is always an clement of power. 



A SIMPLE REFRIGERATOR. 

 A correspondent of an exchange writes : I 

 performed a simple cxiieriineiit a few days 

 ago, and when explained the public will 

 jnoperly aiipreciate it. I procured an air- 

 tight barrel and ]nit a cake of ice into it ; also 

 about a quart of salt. On this ice and salt I 

 put a tin bucket tw'o-thirds full of lukewarm 

 water. I then covered tlie barrel with a 

 blanket folded two or tliree times and a sack 

 half tilled with sawdust ; this covering made 

 the barrel air-tight. !My object was to fieeze 

 the air inside the barrel. The salt melting 

 the ice took the heat from the air. Ice can- 

 not melt without heat. Salt has a great 

 atVmity for water, and attacks or forces the 

 ice to melt. A solid cannot become a licjuid, 

 nor a liquid a gas, without heat — for instance, 

 water cannot become steam without heat. 

 The ice melting took heat from the air inside 

 the barrel, which took the heat from the lukc- 

 waiTD water, it giving otf the heat to equalize 

 the temperature in the barrel. The water 

 became frozen or formed ice by giving away 



heat to melt the ice. Tlius, you see, ice was 

 turned into water, and water (in the tin 

 bucket) into ice. Wlial 1 wanted to get at 

 was a cheap and simple refrigerator. Every 

 one coidd make or have a relVigerator of this 

 kind. A small (piantity of ice and salt would 

 freeze an air-tight room full of air, but it 

 would take a room full of iceand salt to freeze 

 a room ftdl of water. Any one can put a box 

 in a box and surround it on all sides witli saw- 

 dust and cover it over as I did. The other 

 points to walcli are only two, viz. : To keep 

 air out and jireserve temperature, and by 

 freezing the air inside the box, barrel or 

 chamber, the latent heat of all ol)jcc(s inside 

 of thes(^ chambers is given off, and they in 

 turn become frozen. This idea ol' principle 

 could be aii|ilied to a box, house or barn, or 

 carried to any magnitude. Kefrigeraling 

 cars, slaughter-houses, etc., could be con- 

 ducted on this plan, and in fact by adding 

 salt and ice enough any temperature could be 

 awpiired, and all arti(des at any .--eason, insi<le 

 of this air-tight chamber, would lie fnrzen. 

 The (pieer part of my experiment was that I 

 thought by freezing the air in the barrel I 

 would liiul ice on the top of the bucket of 

 water, Imt to my astonishment, at the time, 

 it had t<jrmed at the bottom more than two 

 inches. If I had imt a non-conductor between 

 the ice, salt and water, the ice would have 

 formed on top. 



For The I^ancasteb Kaumfu. 

 BLACK SNAKE-ROOT. 



This plant has numerous synonyms — bug- 

 Imiie, black-cohnsh, squaw-root, &c. Also, in 

 dillif'rent localities, applied to tlifferent plants, 

 as with the generic name, Arka rarcniosa, 



Lin., but PKr.s/i puts it in the genus Cimici- 

 fuga of lAn. It is now know^n scicntifi ally 

 as the CiMiciri'o.\ rackmosa. This is com- 

 mon in open woods and hillsides, dowering in 

 June and July, when its long, spike-like 

 racemes of small white flowers, make it con- 

 spicuous. This plant does not strictly agree 

 with- either the generic character civen by 

 IJnna'US to Actdc' nov Cimirifiitiit. Kalineipie, 

 in 1808, made it the type of ins genus Mncrn- 

 ti/s. DeCandolle, who recognized it as a sub- 

 genus of Addn , the name was changed to 

 Mdcroli/f: (irtfroidcs. Still not .satisfied, in 

 1828, IJafinesqne bestows an entire new aji- 

 jiellation on it. describing it in the ^fr(lic(tI 

 Flora as Bolrophis serpcntaria. Drs. Torrey 



and Gray consider it a sub-genus or section 

 of Ciiiiirifniju. This shows the dillicully in 

 classifying plants that seein to inteibleml 

 with other types of the orcKr Itdiiiiiirulai-ni-, 

 i-onimoidy called the crow-foot family. It has 

 an unplea.sant snn II when handled, and a di.sa- 

 greeable, nauseous tate. The portion em- 

 ployed medicinally is the root, which should 

 lie gatheieil early in the autunm, and dried in 

 tlie shade. The root is in short, rugged Ibini, 

 outside blackish brown, with numerous long, 

 slender radicles, nnieh wrinkled ; anil when 

 fre.--li a bitter, nauseous and astringent taste ; 

 whi'ii dry less ap)iarent. This is oni' of the 

 medical plants of' the aborigines, being in 

 high repute among the Indi.ins in the treat- 

 ment of rheumatism, and as an iiniiienagogue 

 given in decoction made willi an ounce of the 

 root to a pint of water, the dose being one or 

 more lliiiil ounces several times a day. It is 

 considered a stinmlatiiig tonic and capable of 

 increasing the secretions from the skin, kid- 

 neys and lungs ; and hiis really proved useful 

 from its ellicacy in rheuiiialisin and aflVctions 

 of the lungs, and truly worthy of more atten- 

 tion than it receives. Dr. llildreth, of Ohio, 

 {Amirican Jourwd nf Mulicul S'-icnrc, Octo- 

 ber, 1842,)found it very useful in phtliisis{eon- 

 snmption). in eombinalioii with iodine. The 

 reason it is called "snake-root'' arises from 

 the fact that the Indians used it as an anti- 

 doti^ against the bites of venemous snakes, 

 and from its stimulating ili.-iphoretic pi-oper- 

 ties no donlit proved useful. The Jiowers of 

 the root .seem to depend on a somewhat vola- 

 tile oil and a bitter resin, botb soluble in alco- 

 hol and )iartially .so in water. 



Many farmers use it iu various combina- 

 tions forliorses and i-attle in the spring season, 

 as a ]iurilier of the blood without much re- 

 gard to the natuii! or necessity of the case. 

 The name (,'imcifuga isderived from the Latin 

 (Jiiiirx, a bug, and./«(/o, to drive away, hence 

 bug-bane, having been used for that purpo.se ; 

 and we see no reason why it would not be 

 equal to the celebrated insect powder, brought 

 from a ureal distance and expensive ; but un- 

 less a thing costs soniething we do not apprei'i- 

 ate it, so high priced commodities will be 

 used and the cheaper abused. — J. Stauffek. 



THE UTILIZATION OF ^WASTE MAT- 

 TERS. 

 The .strict economy of nature, which never 

 allows a particleof matter to be either wasled 

 or lost, is so manifest that it could scarcely 

 have esftqied the atti'iilion of man : and so, 

 when circumstanees compel him. it is not sur- 

 prising to see hiin ]mtting in practice the les- 

 son she has taught him, and striving to ))ut 

 every scrap to the best accoimt. In China, 

 owing to the crowdeil state of the population, 

 this economical husbanding of material has, 

 of necessity, long been in vogue ; and to such 

 an extent is it carried that what would be 

 considered strict economy in Europe or 

 America would there be regarded as absolute 

 waste. The .same causes have been slowly 

 operating to bring about a similsr slate of 

 things in Europe, Thousands of materials 

 that were hut a few years ago thnnvn away as 

 utterly useless are now carefully saved and 

 turned to some account either for imriioses of 

 luxury or nece.sstiy. Hosts of costly products 

 of distant climes can now be produced at 

 home, at an insignificant expense, from the 

 most unpromising sources. For instance, sci- 

 ence has evoked the most delightful perfumes 

 from the most offensive refuse, and extracted 

 dyes of the most goriieous huis from a most 

 unlikely looking material— pitchy black lar. 

 Accidental discoveries, no less than active re- 

 searches, are continnally transforming some 

 article comparatively worthless into some- 

 thing else that stands high in commercial 

 estimation, and su|iplenientary factories arc 

 gradually springing up to utilize the by- 

 products of other.s. So numerous are the dis- 

 coveries that soniething u.selcss may be con- 

 verted into something useful, and .so ra|iidly 

 does one follow in the wake of another,tliat it 

 is ditlicult to keej) \>nce with them. Scarcely a 

 scientific exchange reaches us that does not 



