116 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



April 



green fodder in the south part of the State, we 

 would call special attention to it. It can be 

 sown at almost any spason of the year, but the 

 spring is the best and the roots will be stronger 

 and prodvice better crops of foliage. The leaves 

 are two to four inches wide and average one foot 

 long. The flowers bloom for a long time, every 

 morning, and shut up before noon ; they are of 

 a pale blue color. The soil must be deeply mel- 

 lowed, as the roots are long. Ten thousand 

 pounds of dry roots may not be considered a 

 large yield, which, at two cents a pound, would 

 pay a handsome profit over the cost of culture, 

 drying, roasting and grinding. 



SWEET POTATOES. 



For a long time the sweet potato has been used 

 among our hoosier neighbors as a substitute for 

 and with which to adulterate cofiFee. For this 

 purpose the small tubers are used; consequently 

 the cist is the picking up, drying, roasting and 

 grinding. In this respect they are treated like 

 chiccory, and used in equal quantity w;th ground 

 coffee. Many p-jrsons prefer the flavor of the 

 new combination to that of the pure ber<y, and 

 so complete is the disguise that few persons 

 would detect the adulteration. There is a rich- 

 ness added to the coff"eethat pretty fully compen- 

 sa*es for the want of all coffee. For some weeks 

 we have been using this substance, and must say 

 that it is so near tho pure Java that we have no 

 particular choice between them. 



The potatoes were sent us by J. W. Tenbrook 

 of RockviUe, Indiana, an extensive grower of 

 this vegetable. We do not suppose that full 

 grown potatoes kept through the w nter f r ^eed, 

 could be economcally used for this purpose; 

 but in the fill, when the sweet potatoes are dug, 

 a large amount of the small potatoes can be 

 saved at a trifling cost. Mr. T. says: " I send 

 you from Egypt, the product, (six and a half 

 pounds) of half a bushel of sweet potatoes, 

 which you will please brown to &li(/ht brown color 

 when broken, grind and use as coffee, mixing one- 

 third to one-half of it with coftee. I woul 1 sug- 

 gest that the Nansemond sweet pctatoe will make 

 the richest and most nourishing beverage, and 

 requires less sugar than other varieties. That 

 the small potatoes can be used profitably for this 

 purpose there can be no doubt. The skin need 

 not be taken off, ^s it adds to the richnes^ of 

 color. This is without doubt the best and most 

 healthy substance yet used to adulterate coffee. 

 The sample sent you was dried in my heating 

 oven." Mr. T. further says that at the pticeof 

 potatoes for seed, the dried potatoe could not be 

 afforded at a reasonable price, as only twelve to 

 fourteen pounds of the dry article is produced 

 from a bushel of potatoes, and as these are worth 

 two dollars a bushell, the dry product would 

 cost nearly as much as coffee, and therefore this 

 substitute is not at present available, unless the 

 potatoes are furnished in Kentucky, dried and 

 sent north. From trial we can recommend this 

 substance as valuable to mix with coffee, and all 

 farmers growing sweet potatoes can make a sav- 

 ing of the small tubers, before useless. These 

 can be dried in on oven, roasted, grouni and 

 packed away in boxes or jars ready lor use. 



Mr. T. also suggest that these small potatoes 

 could be prepared in the same manner as the Irish 

 potatoe and ussed as food for our soldiers and for 

 emigrants to California. These two uses should 

 stimulate the culture of the sweet potatoe, so 

 that it should be as common in our gardens as 

 the beet or parsnip. In this neighborhood are 

 several families who for years have been in the 

 habit of drying the small roots of the sweet po- 

 tatoe for the purpose of mixing with coffee, not 

 so much for the purpose of saving the cost of the 

 coffee, buf, as they aver, that it adds to its rich- 

 ness. The Nansemond is a cream-colored yellow 

 potatoe, rich in sugar, and the most desirable for 

 the purpose. It is also best adapted to this cli- 

 mate, and is both hardy and productive. 



With coffee at twenty five to thirty cents at 

 retail, and tea a doll. r to a dollar and fifty cents, 

 it is natural that adulterations should be used 

 more largely thnn usual, when we take into con- 

 sideration that at twelve to fifteen cents the cof- 

 fee roasters have used hundreds of tons of peas 

 and chiccory annually, and of course will at this 

 time make no abatement in their efforts. Next 

 Autumn the farmer can have an abundant supply 

 of the sweet potatoe and also the young plants 

 of the chiccory, and the following season in large 

 quantity for sale, at 3 price that will f ay a good 

 profit and beyond competition. Thousands of 

 dollars can thus be saved to our farmers that are 

 now sent abroad. 



The careful housewife who roasts her own cof- 

 fee can easily appreciate the difference between 

 that and the substance that her husband brings 

 from the grocery ready ground, composed of cof- 

 fee .2, peas .4, and chiccory .4, or one-fifth pure 

 coffee. Barley, oats and corn are also used for 

 cofiee, but are of so little value compared with 

 those named above that we will pass them by. 



RUK.4L. 



-•••- 



— The following sign on "Western Row, Cin- 

 cinnatti, is original . "Kaixs, Krackers, Kan- 

 dies, Konfeckshennarys, Holesail and Retaile." 



— A distinguished divine, on a certlon occa- 

 sion, while preaching with his usual eloquence 

 and power, said, "Brethern, I sometimes illus- 

 trate my subject in this manner:" and putting 

 his handkerchief to his nose, blew a blasi, loud 

 enough to wake the seven sleepers. That was 

 not the intended illustration, but some of his 

 hearers thought it was. 



< a> 



— A young medical student, who had been 

 screwed very hard at his examination for ad- 

 mission to the faculty, on a very warm day, was 

 nearly overcome by the numerous questions put 

 to him, when the following querry whs added : 

 "What course would you adopt to produce a 

 copious perspiration ?" After a long breath, he 

 observed, wiping his forehead "I would have 

 the patient examined before the Medical So- 

 ciety !" 



