1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



319 



the Philadelphia cattle market, and whether, or 

 how far they may spread the contagion, time only 

 can show ; and this fact, among others, shows the 

 propriety of immediate inoculation of the herds 

 where the disease appears. The cattle referred 

 to were not from this State. Killing evidently 

 affords no certain, and hardly a probable relief to 

 the disease. It is not improbable that the dis- 

 ease may be communicated from one herd to 

 another in the clothing of drovers, commission- 

 ers, surgeons and attendants of diseased animals. 

 Boston, May 25, i860. D. 



For Vie New England Farmer. 



LETTER FBOM KANSAS. 



How to make Kens lay — Cottonwood Trees — Shingles — Forest 

 Trees in Kansas — Wild or Natural Fruits — Preserves. 



Ms. Editoe : — Last week I was several miles 

 out into the territory, and stopped at night at a 

 cosy log cabin nestling among the timber upon 

 Walnut Creek. The next morning, after break- 

 fast, I was surprised to see my landlady go out, 

 and catching her hens, tie each one's legs togeth- 

 er and throw them upon the ground with "There, 

 be good." "What did you do that for ?" I asked. 

 "To make 'em lay," she answered. "Make them 

 iay, will that do it ?" I inquired. "La, yes," she 

 said, "didn't you ever hearn tell of that before.^" 

 I confessed I had not. In about an hour she went 

 out, and picking up the hens, sure enough, some 

 had laid ; those she let go, and they ran off, not 

 even cackling their gratitude. But those hens 

 who seemed disposed to be contrary, she struck 

 upon the back, saying, "You'd better lay, you'd 

 better lay, for you won't go till you do," and in a 

 while they, too, had recompensed their mistress 

 for feeding them so bountifully. She says that 

 she does so every morning, and that the hens 

 know well enough that "they have got to lay." So 

 you see even invention lives in Kansas. 



But of trees. One of my friends has just cut a 

 Cottonwood tree upon his land in the river bot- 

 tom which measures tlu-ee feet in diameter, eigh- 

 ty-four feet from the ground. He computed that 

 it would make 800,000 shingles, which at $2 per 

 thousand, nets $1600, and there remains the large 

 top for fire-wood, which is three and four dollars a 

 cord. He bought forty acres of bottom land and 

 paid thirty dollars per acre, a year ago. His land 

 is thickly covered with such large trees. Five 

 years ago such timbered land could be had by 

 "squatting" upon it ; now it is worth fifty dollars 

 aii acre, and cannot be got for that. Every owner 

 knows how valuable his land is, since civilization 

 is marching through our forests to erect villages 

 over fallen trunks and upon our Western prairies. 

 The Cottonwood is an inhabitant of the whole 

 Mississippi Valley. It derives its name from the 

 blossom, which flowers out like cotton. The seed 

 is so natural in the territory that if a piece of 

 newly-plowed ground is allowed to remain uncul- 

 tivated a year, young cottonwoods spring up all 

 over it. The trees run up like an arrow to the 

 height of eighty or one hundred feet, and branch 

 out at the top large and full. The leaves are 

 full and shiny. The trunks grow sometimes very 

 large. Not far from our house is one tree meas- 

 uring ten feet in diameter. The young trees make 

 e3Ei;ellent flag-staffs, so straight and stout. Mul- 



berry trees are also abundant, which make the 

 most durable posts, and burn as well green as dry ; 

 oak, black walnut, hickory, ash, hackberry, which 

 is the best for wagons, pecan and sycamores are 

 also abundant. 



In their season, Ave have plenty of wild fruits in 

 Kansas, which is very gratifying to us Yankee pre- 

 serve lovers in this new land of barren orchards, 

 and, perspectively seen, cultivated fruit trees : 

 wild grapes, plums, elderberries, mulberries, 

 strawberries, blackberries, black raspberries or 

 thimbleberries, gooseberries, wild cherries, ground 

 cherries, crab apples, pawpaws, and other fruits, 

 the names of which I cannot now remember. So, 

 if we do give up the orchards of New England, 

 Nature does as well as she can for us here. Many 

 of the people that have been brought up in the 

 woods do not even know how to preserve fruits 

 for winter, and swear at "those Yankees" who are 

 always scouring the woods and "getting their 

 winter's living out of them." They had much rath- 

 er let the fruit decay on the bushes than have us 

 "Yankees" teach them how to preserve them ! 



Susie Vogl. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 ANALYSIS OF THE GAKDEN EHUBAEB. 



Mr. Editor, — Dear Sir: — Perhaps a chemi- 

 cal analysis of the leaf stalks of the garden rhu- 

 barb, (Rheum lihaponticnm,) may not be unac- 

 ceptable to the readers of your paper, and I there- 

 fore take the liberty of sending to you the results 

 of mv analyses of the juice of this plant made 

 June,"' 1859, and May, 1800. 



The leaf stalks of the rhubarb when pressed 

 yield 90 per cent, of juice, and leave 10 per cent, 

 of cellulose and fibrous matter. 



One thousand grains of this juice, after filtra- 

 tion through paper, on being evaporated in a wa- 

 ter-bath to dryness, yield 31 grains of solid mat- 

 ter. This burned gives 3.3 grains of ashes, or sa- 

 line ingredients, which consist of 



Grfiins. 



Potash 1-717 



Phosphate of lime 0.3&0 



Lime 0.002 



Carbonic acid 1.200 



The carbonic acid was combined with the pot- 

 ash and lime, and was produced by combustion of 

 the acid, with which these bases were originally 

 combined. One thousand grains of the filtered 

 juice, analysed for the acids, saccharine matter, 

 and mucilage, yielded 



Grains. 



Oxalic acid 3.53 



Malic acid 7.30 



Glucose, or grape sugar 9.63 



Mucilage 3.30 



The oxalic acid is chiefly combined with potas- 

 sa forming bin-oxalate of potash or salt of sorrel, 

 but there is an excess of this acid, which is not 

 taken up by any base present. 



The malic acid, excepting the very minute quan- 

 tity required to saturate the lime, is in a free state. 

 It is obvious that, since no tartaric acid exists in 

 the juice of the rhubarb stalk, it is not suitable 

 for the manufacture of wine, and that the ferment- 

 ed juice has more the properties of cider. 



Cil!lRles T. Jackson, M. D., 



State Assayer. 



