VOl,. XV. NO- S9. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



22'J 



uses thirty thousand dollars worth per year. A 

 war with France would raise the article to thirty 

 one cents ppr lb. in the New York inaiket. One 

 small estahlishinent in Otsego County, New York, 

 uses equal, eacli year, to three-fourths of all that 

 is raised in the Northern States at this time. 



The reader will now inquire why have not the 

 farmers in the United States, entered into the cul- 

 ture of this article, and completely glutted the 

 market ? I will answer, that most of them want 

 their profit at the expiration of each year, not;^tliink- 

 ing that the horse or ox is four years old before it 

 is profitable to sell. But there is another difficul- 

 ty. I have before observed that there was want- 

 ing, for the cousuniption in the United States, from 

 45 to 75,000 acres. The amount of Madder roots, 

 for planting, dug last fall, was 1000 bushels. There 

 will be planted this spring, say something more 

 than 100 acres ; next fall there will be for sale, 

 roots amounting to 250 bushels, and next year, 

 enough to plant 200 acres. Probably it will take 

 ten years or more, to procure a supply of roots to 

 plant, equal to the consumption of 1835 — 6 or 7. 

 1 have before me a communication from a respec- 

 table correspondent, detailing the mode of cultiva- 

 tion in Holland and France, together witli queries, 

 requesting my answers, which 1 will most cheer- 

 fully give, and which will be forwarded to be in- 

 serted in your paper, should you deem the above 

 worthy of publication. 



1 have, for many years past, believed that the 

 soil and climate of Ohio, was peculiarly favorable 

 to the culture of silk, madder, and the grajje for 

 making wine ; anil having resided here in course 

 of the last and present years, several months, I 

 have been more and more confirmed in that o|)in- 

 ion. What hinders this State from rising in rank 

 above New York ? Let every farmer take an ag- 

 ricultural paper, and improve the privileges that 

 nature has given them. 1 have examined thesoil 

 and privileges of this county in particular, and do 

 not hesitate to say, I believe that it equals any 

 part of the United States. There is, I believe, no 

 desirable fruit or grain that grows north of Phila- 

 delphia, but what flourishes here. It is certainly 

 a most desirible soil and clunate, compared with 

 that of the middle counties of New York. Many 

 of the farmers of this -section, only skim the sur- 

 face of the land with the plough. What hinders 

 the water, in the spring and fall, from sefling in 

 the ground through the sub soil, ;.nd bjirsting out 

 in springs 1 Shallow ploughing. What hin- 

 ders the farmer from obtaining thirty bushels of 



wheat to the acre? Shallow [iloughing. ! 



wish I were able to couunit to paper all I feel in 

 favor of manual labor, or agricultural schools, back- 

 ed by numerous agricultural papers, containing 

 communications from a Buel, a Colnian, and a 

 host of other scientific and practical farmers. I 

 am not a practical farmer, in a large way, myself, 

 hut the aid I have received from perusing those 

 papers, for a few years past, has been of great ben- 

 efit to me — yes, ten times the expense of four ag- 

 ricultural papers per year. 



Not being brought up on a farm, how could I 

 exercise judgment in the selection of a horse, ox, 

 sheep, or hog ? I read the comnumications of 

 writers of acknowledged reputation, on the sub. 

 ject, and compared their arguments with my own 

 reason, improved by previous reading, and made 

 my choice. How should I be able to select and 

 cultivate the various grains and grasses, or to till 

 the ground to a proper rotation of crops, or select 



and engraft with my own hands the best fruits in 

 the country, and last, though not least, to have a 

 good garden ? 



I might go on and multiply reasons why I will 

 patronize agricultural papers; but knov. ing my 

 inability to do justice to the subject, and fearing 

 your readers will think I am fishing for some par- 

 tic<ilat individual, I will conclude with wishing 

 you and your brethren in the cause, many sub- 

 scribers, and that you « ill consider me one of 

 them. " R- BRONSON. 



Birmingham, Huron County, Ohio. 



[From the Mechanic &. Farmer.] 

 TEMPERANCE. 



The following letters were writen in answer to 

 inquiries, proposed by a Committee of the Bangor 

 Temperance Association, to gentlemen of science 

 and experience in the medical profession. Other 

 conmiunications on the same sidiject may be pub- 

 lished at a future time. The questions proposed 

 wer.; as follows : 



1st. Whether the habitual use of cider has 



any tendency, without the aid of other intoxica- 

 ting liquors, to form the habit of intemperate drink- 

 ing. 



2d. Its influence in reproducing mtemperate 



habits, which had been for a time abandoned. 



3(1. Its influence upon diseases, and upon the 



general health of the community. 



To Dr Mnssey was also proposed the question, 

 whether the alcohol of fermented liquors is set 

 free, so as to set directly upon the system, or is 

 carried off" by the digestive process. 



My Dear Sir,— In reply to your inquiries, I 

 may say, 



1. That we have no evidence whatever, that al- 

 cohol, in any form, or taken under any variety of 

 admixture, is capable of being digested or conver- 

 ted into nourishment. 



2d. That it is capable of passing into the blood 

 and existing in it in the state of alcohol, and pas- 

 sing out again in the same state, along with watery 



va))or in so far as we can judge from the flavoi- 



of the breath, and the persi)irable matter of the 

 skin, when abundant. I bled a drunkard last Sat- 

 urday, whose blood, as well as skin, had distinctly 

 the alcoholic color. 



This odor exists in the breath of the wine, ci- 

 der and porter drinker. Every fact we possess 

 on this subject goes to prove that alcohol is a 

 |,oison — that it is always injurious to the machi- 

 nery of life, when habitually taken — and that, 

 when used as a medicine, it operates like other 

 a<;tive medicines, which are poisons, by making a 

 temporary impression, unhealthy m itself, but 

 which may supplant the impression made by the 

 disease, and then be made to subside, by with- 

 drawing the stimulus which caused it. 



'J hat cider, witje and beer can bring back the 

 relish for distilled spirit, in a reclaimed drunkard, 

 is certain. A glass of cider, beer or wine, has 

 brought back to sottishness and destruction, many 

 a man who seemed te have been reformed. A 

 man now walks our streets with a red face and 

 glassy eye, who abstained from strong drink for 

 three years — who is a member of our Tenqjer- 

 ance Society, and drinks no distilleil li(iu()rs, and 

 whose appetite was resuscitated by wine and beer, 

 and whose destruction is now regarded as almost 

 certain. He is said to have taken more than 20 

 glasses of wine last Friday. 



There cannot, I think, be left a reasonable doubt 



that as much mischief to health, results from th > 

 use of any kind of fermented liquor, as from dis- 

 tilled spirit equally diluted with water. Indeed, 

 the strong tendency to disorders of the joints, as 

 gout, and what is called chronic rheumatism, or 

 neuralgia, in the drinkers of wine and beer, and 

 to apoplexy and drnp.sy in beer drinkers, would 

 induce me, if 1 must drink any given amount of 

 Alcohol in a given series of years, to prefer dis- 

 tilled spirit to any sort of fermented liquor. 



It is the alcohol in fermented liquors which 

 causes man to prefer them "to water, and doubt- 

 less lh« only reason why deep drunkenness is not 

 as common in comnumitics purely wine or cider 

 drinking, as in those who employ chiefly, or whol- 

 ly, distilled spirit, is, that tlie alcohol cannot be 

 had in a slate so concentrated. Fewer drunk- 

 ards, perhaps, are made by cider drinking, than 

 by the use of wine — at least, some kinds of wine ; 

 and it is understood that pure wine made from 

 rich grapes, contains from 10 to 15, or more, per 

 cent, of Alcohol, while the Alcohol in cider ran- 

 ges from 6 to 10 per cent. — It will be perceived 

 that 10 per cent, of Alcohol will make wine or 

 cider of the same strength with a liquor com- 

 posed of one part of i)roof spirit and four parts of 

 water. 



How can there be a drink so good as water ? 

 We have a plenty of evidence from fact that it is 

 better and safer than any other. It seems to have 

 been made just right at first, and if, for some 

 lhou.sands of years, mankind have been in vain 

 attempting to make it better by various additions, 

 it may be safely predicted, that as many more 

 thousands of years will roll away before their ef- 

 forts will be followed with better success. 



1 believe that something like a reply to all the 

 questions is contained in the foregoing remarks. 

 With much regard, yours, 



K. D. MUSSEY. 



Burn your Coal Ashes. — Mr Editor:^! 

 have always regarded the statement that there was 

 any thing combustible iu anthracite coal ashes, as 

 a mere whim ; and I have been lately induced to 

 try the experiment, more to prove the fallacy of 

 the notion than from any expectation of a success- 

 ful result. But "I give it up." In these hard 

 times, perhaps some of your readers may be dis- 

 posed to try the experiment ; and without attempt- 

 ing an explanation of the thing, I will briefly state 

 the method and result of my own trial : Before 

 making the fire in the morning, or when wishing 

 to replenish it, I stir the ashes and fine coal thor- 

 ouglily out of the grate, leaving in the grate all 

 the coal that will irot fall through — add enough 

 fresh coal to make the fire, and when it burns 

 freelv, cover it about an inch thick with the fine 

 coal and ashes mixed together, and wet with as 

 much water as they will hold — and as that burns 

 out, [Hit on another coat. Possibly this cannot 

 be done in open grates where there is not much 

 draft; but a fair trial will, 1 think, convince the 

 most sce|)tical that there is much that is valuable 

 in the ashes which are ordinarily thrown into the 

 streets. Many will undoubtedly cavil, but let the 

 candid TRY. 



The New York Commercial Advertiser of the 

 18th uU. states, that within the three preceding 

 days twenty thousand, five hundred bushels of 

 German wheat had been sold in that city at from 

 $2 to $2,50 per bushel. 



