Vol. VI.— No. 48. 



NEW ENGLAND FARlVlER. 



379 



^v■ill be from six to ten per cent, cleaner, and as 

 i\lr Dickinson very justly remarks— " The farmer 

 iiicd not fear watsliin,'; money ont of liis pocket 

 into thut of the muiuiliictiirer, as it adds greatly 

 to the rei)iitatii)n of his wool to have the tleeces 

 \vc\l washed." The place which we occupy is 

 located beside a very small stream, and the whole 

 expense of fixinj; it some six years since, was not 

 over five or six dollars, and as many as fifteen or 

 twenty farmers wash their sheep there. This is 

 the seasiin fur washing slieep with us, and we 

 farmers take some encouragement from the tariti" 

 bill recently passed by Congress. In regard to 

 wool we think the duly high enough, but the 

 fnanulUcturer will doubtless need some further 

 encouragement, which they will doubtless receive 

 hereafter, as tlie principles of the Americati sys- 

 tem forms one of the strong pillars necessary to 

 the support of every free government. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



SAM'L HURLBUT, Jr. 

 Ilincheater, Con. May 29, 1828. 



COFFEE. ] 



An interesting analysis of coftee was made 

 by Mous. Cadet, apothecary in ordinary to the i 

 household of Napoleon, when Emperor ; from 

 which it appears, that the berries contain mucilage 

 in abundance, much gallic acid, a resiii, a con- 

 crete essential oil, some albumen, and a volatile 

 aromatic principle, with a portion of lime, potash, ' 

 t^harcoa!, and iron. Roastuig develop.s the solu- : 

 ble principles. 3Iocha cotfee, is, of all kinds, the ! 

 most aromatic ami resinous. M. Cadet advises \ 

 that coffee be neither roasted nor infused till the 1 

 day it be drunk, and that the roasting be moder- 

 ate. Dr. Moseley, in his learned and ingenious | 

 treatise, states that "the chemical analysis of c^f- { 

 fee evinces that it possesses a great portion of i 

 mildly bitter, and lightly astringent gummous alid ! 

 resinous extract, a considerable quantity of oil, a '■ 

 fixed salt, and a volatile salt. These are its me- | 

 dicinal constituent principles. The intention of 

 torrefaction is not only to make it deliver those 

 principles, and make them soluble in water, but 

 to give it a property it does not possess in the na- 

 tural state of the berry. By the action of fire, its 

 legiuninous taste, and the aqueous part of its mu- 

 cilage, are destroyed ; its saline properties are 

 created, and disengaged, and its oil is rendered 

 empyrenmatical. From thence arises the pung- 

 ent smell, and exhilarating flavor not found In its 

 natural state. 



"The roasting of the berry to a proper degree, 

 requires great nicety. If it be underdone, its vir- 

 tues will not be unparted, and in use it will load 

 and oppress the stomach ; if it be overdone, it 

 will yield a flat, biu-nt, and bitter taste ; its vir- 

 tues will be destroyed, and in use it will heat the 

 body, and act as an astringent. The closer it is 

 confined at the thne of roasting, and till used, the 

 better will its volatile pungency, flavor, and vir- 

 tues, be preserved. 



"The influence which coffee, judiciously pre- 

 pared, imparts to the stomach, from its invigorat- 

 ing qualities, is strongly exemplified by the imme- 

 diate eftect i)roduced on taking it when the stom- 

 ach is overloaded \vith food, or nauseated with 

 surfeit, or debilitated by intemperance, or languid 

 from inanition. 



"In vertigo, lethargy, catarrh, and all disorders 

 of the head, from obstructions in the capillaries, 

 long experience has proved it to be a powerful 



medicine ; and in certaui cases of apoplexy, it has 

 been found serviceable even when given in clys- 

 ters, where it has not been convenient to convey- 

 its effect to the stomach. Mons. Malebranche 

 restored a person from ajwplcxy by repeated clys- 

 ters of cofl'ee. 



"Du Four relates an extraordinary instance of 

 tlie effect of coffee in the gout ; he says, Mons. 

 Doverau was attacked with the gout at twenty- 

 five years of age, and had it severely until he was 

 upwards of fif^y, with chalk stones in the joints 

 of his hands and feet ; he was reconnnended the 

 use of coffee, which he adojjted, and had no re- 

 turn of the gout. 



"A small cup or two of cofl'ee, inmiediately af- \ 

 ter dinner, promotes digestion. 



"With a draught of water previously drunk, 

 according to the eastern custom, coiFee is service- 

 able to those who are of a costive habit." 



The generality of the English famihes make 

 their coffee too weak, and use too much sugar, 

 which often causes it to turn acid on the stomach. 

 Almost every housekeeper has a pecuhar niethod 

 of making coffee ; but it never can be excellent, 

 unless it be made strong of the berry, any more 

 than our English wines can be good, -n long as 

 we continue to form the principal of tliiui oii'SU- 

 gar and water. 



Count Rumford says, "coffee may be too bit- 

 ter — but it is impossible that it should ever be too 

 fragrant. The very smell of it is reviving, and 

 has often been found to be useful to sick persuus:, 

 and to those who are afflicted with the head-;nhc. 

 In short, every thing proves that the volatile, aro- 

 matic matter, whatevei' it may be, that gives Rs.- 

 vor to coffee, is what is most valuable in it, and 

 should be preserved with the greatest care, and 

 that, in estimating the strength or richness of that 

 beverage, its fragrance should be much more at- 

 tended to, than either its bitterness or astringency. 

 This aromatic substance which is sujiposed to be 

 an oil, is extremely volatile, and escapes into the 

 air with great facility, as is observed by its filUng 

 the room with its fragrance, if suffered to remain 

 uncovered, and at the same time losing much of 

 its flavor." — Philip's History of Vegetables. 



loot high, and one wide, turinng on its long axle 

 (it does not run through the box, but is screwed 

 on each end,) by means of a crank at the end, 

 which a child may turn : one side opens on hin- 

 ges, the inside is divided by means of one or two 

 moveable partitions for diflerent sorts of bread af 

 one tinje. The lump of (l<,ugh is thrown in, and 

 the crank turned in the maimer of a coflee-roast- 

 er. No hooks or bars or any thing inside ; u hiss- 

 ing noise, occasioned by the carbonic gas escap- 

 ing, indicates the working of the dough ; and in 

 about half an hour (less in warm weather) it is fit 

 tor the oven. The fauh, if any, is that the bread 

 is too nmch raised : I need not say that this is a 

 much cleaner process of bread-making than the 

 common one. Tliis machine, neatly executed, 

 with its stands, iron fastenings, &c., costs, af. 

 Lausanne, forty filings sterling ; one might be 

 made any«)vhere, and, however coarsely, it would 

 answer the same purpose. — Simon's Switzerland. 



JWiEciicine.— Professor Delpech of Montpelier, as 

 serfs that six thousand soldiers, afflicted with the 

 itch, were cured in a few days " by washing their 

 bodies twice a day first with soap and water, and 

 afterwards with a solution of the sulphuret of pot- 

 ash (about four drachms of the sulphuret to a pint 

 of (lif tilled or fresh rose water.") The Professor 

 also sttitps, that he has discovered, by comparative 

 trials made in the hospital at Montpelier, that olive 

 oil, rubbed over the skin, wdl as speedily cure 

 those labouring under the disease, as the most 

 powerful sulphurous preparations in common use. 

 ill' says, that one hundred soldiers were entirely 

 cured in an average period of seventeen days by 

 this treatment. 



LEAD MINE. 



It is now about two years since a vem of lead 

 ore was accidentally discovered on a barren tract 

 of land in the town of Eaton, N. H. on the bor- 

 ders of this state, a few miles west of Saco River. 

 A certain proportion of the mine was disposed of 

 some time since to a gentleman of Boston, on con- 

 dition that he should spend a specified sum ui 

 commencing operations, to ascertain the expedi- 

 ency of workljig the mine. A shaft of forty feet 

 has since been sunk and a large quantity of ore 

 extracted, the value of which has been tested and 

 found to average about 75 per cent, in weight of 

 pure lead. A barrel of it received here a few 

 days since, weighed one thousand and four pounds; 

 {the barrel was of the common size of those used 

 for putting up i)ork.) This quantity was recently 

 taken from the mine and is supposed to contain 

 nearly 90 per cent, of lead. The proprietors 

 have a fair prospect of finding the mine a profita- 

 ble concern. 



Season of blossoms. — Our horticultural friends 

 have been extremely polite m sendmg us some of 

 the splendid products of their gardens. Yesterday, 

 a lady of New-Jersey conferred the special honor 

 of presenting a cluster of roses, comprising four- 

 teen beautiful buds growing upon a single stem, 

 the crimson petals just beginning to peep through 

 then- green envelopes. This morning Mr. Par- 

 mentier brought us, from his rural and tasteful re- 

 treat on Long Island, a most brilliant bouquet, 

 composed of a great variety of roses and other 

 flowers of gorgeous hues and deUcious fragrance. 

 Blessed be the hands that thus occasionally strew^ 

 with flowers the editorial path which is too often 

 beset with thorns ! — jV. Y. Statesman. 



KNEADING MACHINE 



I have seen here (in Geneva) a kneading-ma- 

 chine, so simple and effectual, as to make it de- 

 serving notice. A deal box, two feet long, one 



The Season. — The hay harvest was so abundant, 

 the last season, that farmers generally predicted 

 that the crop would be short, the present season. 

 These predictions, we think, will not be fulfilled. 

 The growth of grass is luxuriant, and, judging 

 from present appearances, the first crop of hay 

 will not be inferior to that of last year. Grain 

 promises well. The growth of Indian corn is very 

 slow, owing to the cold and wet weather. The 

 depredations of the crows have been more exten- 

 sive than usual. The farmers say that these birds 

 are much more bold and active in cloudy than iu 

 fair weather. — Hamp. Gaz. 



An English gentleman now at Lockport, Niag- 

 ara CO. is engaged, when in his own country, in 

 planting and cultivatmg American forest trees, 

 such as the black walnut, sugar maple, wliite elm, 

 &c. He is gettmg out plank, from trees of the lar- 

 gest size, to recommend his nursery.— A". I'. 

 Statesman. 



