180 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Decenber, 



visiting Philadelpliia (ou foot) brought home 

 some seeds called by them "Chocolate 

 corn," or "Chinese Chocolate" used as a 

 substitute for coffee, and we have a faint im- 

 pression that these seeds were obtained from 

 Landreth. Tlie country had not yet recover- 

 ed from the great linancial crisis of 1817, and 

 coffee was so dear that most people were com- 

 pelled to use " browned rye" instead of coffee. 

 Our mother obtained some of these seeds and 

 cultivated the corn to fruition. It grew some, 

 thing like " broom corn," but the head was 

 compact and .so heavy that it bent over and 

 hung with the apex downward. When fully 

 ripe the seeds were large, and had a purple 

 color, and the leaves and stalk were streaked 

 with purple. It was roasted the same as 

 coffee, and to our juvenile taste it was as 

 good, and tasted like chocolate— at any rate, 

 far superior to rye coffee. After coffee 

 " came down" in price, chocolate corn "went 

 under." For fifty years we heard nothing 

 more of it, but within the last five years we 

 saw several varieties of it sent in from Cali- 

 fornia, one of which strongly resembled it. It 

 belongs to the Sorghum family. 



When the Landreth seed farm was first es- 

 tablished, there were " only thirteen sparsely 

 populated States" in the Union (that was 

 about 17S9— 03 years ago). An establishment 

 which has sustained itself so long with con- 

 stantly increasing facilities and reputation, 

 must surely be worthy the patronage of the 

 country; and we can freely allow them the priv- 

 ilege of "blowing their own trumpet, "without 

 subjecting them to the charge of egotism, or 

 self-laudation. 



EXCERPTS. 



Health Hints. — Try popcorn for nausea. 



Try cranberries for malaria. 



Try a sun-bath for rheumatism. 



Try ginger ale for stomach cramps. 



Try clam broth for a weak stomach. 



Try cranberry poultice for erysipelas. 



Try eating fresh radishes and yellow turnips 

 for gravel. 



Try swallowing saliva when troubled with 

 sour stomach. 



Try a wet towel to the back of the neck 

 when sleepless. 



Try buttermilk for removal of freckles, tan 

 and butternut stains. 



Try eating onions and horseradish to re- 

 lieve dropsical swellings. 



Try to cultivate an equable temper and 

 don't borrow trouble ahead. 



Try taking your codliver oil iu tomato 

 catsup, if you want to make it palatable. 



Try breathing the fumes of turpentine or 

 carbolic acid to relieve whooping cough. 



Try taking a nap iu the afternoon if you 

 are going to be out late in the evening. 



Try a cloth wrung out from cold water put 

 about the neck at night for sore throat. — Dr. 

 look. 



Daniel Murphy, tiie noted pioneer who 

 went to California in 1844, died recently 

 at San Jose. He was the owner of immense 

 herds of cattle and thousands of acres of land. 

 He owned 200,1 00 acres in Nevada, some 

 6,000,000 acres in Mexico and large tracts of 

 land in Arizona. 



Much of the sugar sold in English markets 



is from the beet. It is not an uncommon 

 event in Europe to gain a yield of twelve 

 tons of beets from an acre of ground, and 

 from twelve tons of beets about one and a 

 fifth tons of sugar is extracted. 



The French Minister of Agriculture has 

 placed aj: M. Pasteur's disposal a further sum 

 of $10,000 to enable him to continue his 

 investigations into the nature, cause, and pre- 

 vention of contagious diseases among animals. 



In England and Scotland where there 

 are many steam ploughs at work, the most 

 popular sorts are those drawn by stationary 

 engines at each side of the field. 



Extensive lumber fires are becoming 

 alarmingly numerous of late, aud a large 

 amount of lumber has been destroyed in this 

 manner. 



It is estimated that the California fruit and 

 vegetable pack this year will amount to about 

 20 per cent, more than that of 1881. 



Pbof. Beal says that all our species of 

 bats are not only harmless, but positively 

 useful, as they are great insect destroyers. 



SiiEEP-GROWEES of Los Angcles county, 

 Cal., report heavy losses from a poisonous 

 weed on which the sheep fed. 



The quality of the corn crop throughout 

 the South is superior, and most of the South- 

 ern States report large yields. 



A Missouri sheep-grower, after some years 

 of experience, advises breeding from polled 

 rams. 



During the past year agricultural imple- 

 ments to the amount of .f68,C00,000 have 

 been made in this country. 



We are informed by old farmers, and they 

 are not far from correct, that next year's 

 wheat crop will be more than double that of 

 any previous year in Umatilla county. The 

 increase of acreage is astonishing, and the 

 amount of land that was summer-fallowed is 

 immense. — Pendleton, Oregon, Tribune. 



The oxygen of the air aids and facilitates 

 the germination of seeds, and seeds buried so 

 deeply in the ground as to be out of reach of 

 the atmospheric air will exhibit no signs of 

 life. 



Animals when first confined, and supplied 

 with fattening food, always increase largely in 

 weight during the first few weeks, after 

 which the rate of increase diminishes to a 

 considerable extent. 



Texas has five million head of horned cat- 

 tle aud a superabundance of mast and corn, 

 aud thousands thoroughly educated men and 

 women, yet she imports butter, lard and 

 school teachers from Kansas City. 



D. Briggs, of Davisville, Tolo Co., Cal., 

 has a plantation of 460 acres of graperies 

 from four to eight years, on which he has 

 raised forty-six car loads of raisins, most of 

 which were sent East. 



If those farmers whose farms are soils un- 

 derlaid with clay would sell one-half of their 

 land and put the proceeds into the judicious 

 tile drainage of the rest, they would make 

 more money from the one-half of the farm 

 under improvement than they now do from 

 the whole area. 



Jute Seed.— The Florida Tones says that 

 about a year ago Mr. Hamilton Disston sent 



to India for a supply of jute seed, but the 

 difficulties attending the export of seed pre- 

 vented the obtaining of a larger quantity I 

 than 1,200 pounds. This amount of seed was 

 distribulinl throughout the State by Mr. Dis- 

 ston, with the offer of liberal premiums for 

 the best exhibit of prepared jute. The com- 

 petition under the terms of this offer will 

 shortly take place at Jacksonville, and the 

 Times says that the planters of the seed 

 promise some choice samples, that will no 

 doubt attract sutticient attention to this in- 

 dustry to warrant the business being taken 

 hold of by capitalists on a large scale. 



A Queer Industry.— One of the queer in- 

 dustries of New York, says the United States 

 culler, is gathering the stale bread from large 

 hotels aud restaurants, and grinding it up 

 into food for poultry and pigs. The Astor 

 House sells its stale bread for .$800 annually. 

 The contractor has SI 00. 000 invested iu the 

 business, and keeps nine teams at work. We 

 are not posted on the system of reduction em- 

 ployed, whether stones or rolls. Certainly a 

 purifier would be essential. 



Our Varied Industries.— According to 

 the census report there were iu the United 

 States, in 1880, 2,686 wool establishments, 

 employing 161,489 hands, and bringing out 

 annually products to the value of $267, 182,914; 

 1,005 cotton establishments, employing 185,- 

 472 hands, aud turning out products of the 

 value of $210,950,383 ; 1,005 iron and steel 

 establishments, employing 140,978 hands, and 

 turning out products of the value of $296,- 

 557,6H5. 



The honey market is assuming greater im- 

 portance every year. Now that the foreign 

 trade is clearly established, the demand is 

 almost unlimited, and no fears are entertained 

 of glutting the markets. At preseui the 

 home markets are fully supplied, but the for- 

 eign demand will soon reduce them and 

 increase prices. 



Now is a good time to lay in a stock of 

 vegetables to feed fowls during the winter 

 months. Such food promotes their health, 

 and will induce hens to lay much earlier in 

 the spiing than when grain is their only food. 

 Cabbages, turnips, onions, and such vegeta- 

 bles, which need not be of the best quality, are 

 the best for this purpose. Do not forget that 

 bones are of great value to fowls, especially if 

 the poultry is kept closely confined. 



The cellar for roots and apples should be 

 kept cool and rather close and damp to pre- 

 vent wilting ; the temperature should be as 

 near freezing as may be without actual frost, 

 and in warm weather the cellar should be 

 kept close to prevent it from getting too 

 warm. These conditions are more easily ob- 

 tained in a cellar under the barn or carriage- 

 house than under the dwelling, and moreover 

 the disagreeable, not to say dangerous, smells 

 arising from neglect of the vegetable cellar 

 in spring, and summer point out some other 

 spot as amore proper place than our dwelling- 

 house cellar. — Concord (New Hampshire) 

 Patriot. 



The Canned Fruits. — The canned fruit 

 product of California has largely increased 

 within the last decade. The i)roduct of 1875 

 aggregated in value about $500,000. In 1878 

 it had reached $1,250,000. In 1880 $1,500,- 



