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102 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



April 



J^|wailtEW. 



From the Ohio Farmer. 



Substitute for the Common Hop. 



BY PEOF. J. P. KIRTLAND, CLEV. MKD. COL. 



The Tatent Office Report for the year 1S61, 

 shows the hop to be one of the valuable species of 

 the vegetable kingdom cultivated in the United 

 States. During that year, it is estimntcd that thei'c 

 were exported of this article, 8,000,000 lbs, valued 

 at S2.500,000. To this amount must be added the 

 large quantities employed in this country tor do- 

 mestic purposes, and by distillers and brewers, of 

 the aggregate of which we are unable to obtain 

 even a reliable estimate. 



The successful cultivation of this plant requires 

 the occupation of extensive tracts of tlie richest 

 and most valuable lands. From Spring until Au- 

 tumn, unceasing attention and a great amount of 

 labor must be devoted to it. With a due employ- 

 ment of all these requisites, the crop is at best, 

 variable and precarious. Attacks from seveial 

 species of destructive insects, the occurrence of 

 vernal and autumnal frosts, and of drougths or 

 protracted rains, often defeat the best arranged 

 designs of the cultivator. This is illustrated by 

 the hop erops in Great Britain for three successive 

 years, when over 50,000 acres of land were devot- 

 ed to the cultivation of this vine. There were pro- 

 duced in the vear 



1833 ■ 31,000,000 lbs. 



1854 9,000,000 " 



1855 83,000,000 " 

 With these facts before us, it is evidently a 



desideratum to obtain a substitute, which will 

 abundantly furnish the essential propeities of the 

 hop, and at the same time can be produced on all 

 Boils, rich or barren, in any waste nook or corner, 

 flourishing under neglect, requiring little or no 

 labor or care, and is, in a great measure, except 

 from the contingencies of untimely frosts, dry or 

 •wet weather, depredations of insects, &c. Our in- 

 digenous vegetation, furnishes this vei; aiticle. 



The Ptelia Trifoliata, or Hop Tree, is occasion- 

 ally met with in Ohio ; and on the waste downs, 

 in the vicinity of the ruins of the lighthouse at 

 New Buffalo, and along the eastern coast of Lake 

 Michigan, it grows in profusion. It is a shrub 

 which sometimes attains the height of 18 to 20 feet, 

 and never fails to produce annually, an immense 

 crop of winged seeds, {^Samara, in Botanic lan- 

 guage,) which abound in a bitter and aromatic 

 principle, akin to that constituting the essential 

 property of the hop. They aparently contain less 

 of the narcotic principle. It is the aroma and bit- 

 ter which imparts value to this last article for pre- 

 serving yeast and malt liquors, and giving to them 

 their palatable flavors. Without the addition of 

 those two properties, the products of the brewery 

 would be insipid and stale, and would soon run into 

 an acetous fermentation. The presence of the nar- 

 cotic principle, is deleterious to the nervous system 

 •when used in malt liquors, except for certain me- 

 dicinal purposes. 



By a suggestion of Mr. Hanford, and of hia good 

 ady, of Columbus, I was induced to institute a 

 gBries of experiments with seeds of the Ptelia, to 



test their value as a substitute for the hop in the 

 forming of yeast for domestic use. The details 

 would not interest your readers. The con- 

 clusions arrived at, were, that in most points 

 of view, they were equal to the hop, and in some 

 its superior. In their employment a caution is 

 neces.sary. They are so much richer in those two , 

 properties than the common hop, that if that cir- 

 cumstance bo overlooked, the bread raised by their 

 yeast is liable to abound in a bitter flavor, not very 

 palatable to the consumer. 



From those experiments I am also convinced that 

 this shrub can furnish a cheaper, and at the same 

 time better substitute for the hop in the processes 

 of brewing and distillation, as they are extensively 

 carried on, botli in this country and in Europe. 

 The subject is worthy of investigation by those who 

 are more interested in it. 



Different parts of this shrub have been empiric- 

 ally employed as a substitute for quinine in the 

 treatment of malarious fever — and it is possible 

 that vegetable chemistry may succeed in obtaining 

 from the seeds, the bark or the roots either a res- 

 enoid or an alkaloid which may prove a valuable 

 addition to our materia medica. 



This shrub is ornamental in the lawn. It can be 

 readily propagated from seed and prefers a moist 

 and sandy location, but will thrive in every soil. 



Cleveland, Feb. 1863. 



Land Sales. 



We recorded last month the active demand for 

 land in this State ; the sales of farms by the Illi- 

 nois Central Company in February exceed in num- 

 ber any ever reached in a single month since the 

 office was opened. Two hundred and sixty-two 

 purchasers, more than half of them Swedes and 

 Germans on forty-acre tracts, some fifteen to twen- 

 ty sales for fruit farms south of Centralia, and, 

 what is better, some sales to good Union men 

 driven out from the South, make up the number of 

 two hundred and sixty-two sales in one month. 

 The Swedish settlement is being made in Ford 

 county, about one hundred miles south of Chicago, 

 on the branch line The founders of this settle- 

 ment have made a purchase of the Company upon 

 the condition that the "Augustana College" shall 

 be established there. This institution has already 

 endowments from Sweden of a valuable library and 

 some funds from contribution in that country. It 

 is intended to take a high rank among the educa- 

 tional institutions of this State. — Chicago Tribune. 



— In addition to the above we hear of a large num- 

 ber of sales of farms and farming lands by private 

 parties, and things now look as though we are on 

 the eve of the largest immigration of farmers to 

 the State that has yet occurred. Let them come, 

 we have the room for them. With the present 

 price of farm products, farming lands must ad- 

 vance. — Ed. 



The St. Louis Republican is advised that the peo- 

 ple of Mississippi county are preparing to plant 

 two thousand acres of their rich soil with cotton. 

 Of its success, in that region, no body has any 

 doubt. 



