518 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



effected by heavy rollers running in a trough, 

 wherein the seeds are put. The mill is work- 

 ed by cattle. The seeds are afterwards win- 

 nowed to separate the chaff, and if any among 

 them appear to have escaped the action of the 

 roller, they are again passed through the mill." 



In the British West Indies the berries when 

 gathered are immediately fed in the hopper of 

 a mill, which consists of two wooden rollers 

 revolving over a third, which strips the berries 

 of their pulp. These fall into a sieve, which 

 sifts them from the outer skin. They are then 

 steeped in water over night, washed and again 

 dried, when they are subjected to the peeling 

 mill, which is a large wooden wheel made to 

 revolve vertically by means of a horse yoked 

 to the end of the prolonged axis. This, pass- 

 ing over the beans, crushing off the parchment 

 like skin. The whole is then subjected to a 

 rude winnowing mill. 



The quantities of coffee imported in the last 

 official years into the leading nations were as 

 follows : 



Great Britain lb 34,518,555 



France 26,325,500 



United States 240,243,684 



Hamburg 96,012,101 



Bremen 13,700,000 



Lnbec 8,836,106 



Zollverein 130.111,110 



Denmark 16,716,741 



Holland, ifi 167,661,014 



Russia 7,814^865 



Norway 682,061 



Switzerland 12,285,000 



Trieste 77,726,880 



Spain 91,171,101 



Smyrna 4,6(J7,111 



Galatz I,42ljl02 



Ibralia 281,101 



Sardinia 41,352,438 



Greece ^ 6,661 101 



Total 068,132,571 



These, of course, to a considerable extent, 

 embrace re-imports, as the receipts in the Zoll- 

 verein and Switzerland are repetitions of the 

 imports into the Ilanse towns, Holland and 

 Trieste. The figures indicate, however, the 

 direction in whicli coffee finds its destination, 

 and the localities which have the greatest ulti- 

 mate interest in the supply. The U. States, 

 where the article is free of duty are by far the 

 largest consumers. The consumption is, how- 

 ever, elsewhere increasing. In England, in 

 1840, the consumption was 1 ft), per head, at a 

 duty of 6|d. per ib., and it has risen to 1} ft), 

 per head with the duty at 3d. In Europe the 

 use of coffee is increasing, although it has been 

 much retarded by the use of chicory, which 

 became extensive in Europe, under the Conti- 

 nental system of Napoleon, when colonial pro- 

 duce of all kinds was difficult to be had. The 

 chicory coffee, as it is called, is still used, be- 

 cause it can be made a much cheaper coffee, and 



is an excellent article for adulteration. 

 Economist. 



U. S. 



From the Maine Farmer. 



Suckers Among Corn— Query. 



Jfr. Editor — We read that — 



'•Man wants but little here below, 

 Nor wants that little long." 



The "Old Man Eloquent" expressed my mind 

 when he remarked — ■ 



"'Tis not with me exactly so, 

 Though 'tis so in the song." 



I was looking at my corn this day, and find 

 suckers upon it, which, with the leaves straight- 

 ened up, measure twelve inches. Are not these 

 a great drawback to the main stalk? I have 

 half an acre that looks very well; several of 

 the hills measured, whole length, twenty-four, 

 and a few thirty inches in height, — a half acre 

 with sheep dung in the hill is very poor, while 

 a half acre on " old dung" looks very fair. So 

 much for the 2d July, 1858. M. T. B. 



North Prospect. 



Note. — We formerly practiced pulling off 

 the suckers when large enough for fodder, and 

 fed them to stock. We do not do it now for the 

 following reasons. By chance we observed that 

 those rows of corn which we had deprived of 

 suckers, had, at harvest time, more ears with 

 long snouts, as we say — or tops of cobs with- 

 out any corn on them, than did those rows not 

 robbed of suckers. Finding this to be a fact 

 we concluded that there was a use for suckers, 

 and that their part of the play was to furnish 

 pollen or fertilizing dust from the spindles, la- 

 ter than did the main stalks. You probably 

 are aware that as the kernels form on the cob, 

 each one throws out a green slendev thread 

 which comes out over the top end of the husks. 

 This is called the silk or beard. They are in 

 fact, what Botanists call the pistil or female 

 part of the plant, and receive the pollen which 

 falls from the spindle, and fertilizes the kernel 

 from which it starts. If a single thread fails 

 to catch any of this dust the kernel from which 

 it starts never fills out. Further observation 

 shows you that the lower kernels first throw 

 out threads which, when they have performed 

 their office dry up and become brown, and that 

 a succession of them come out all along the 

 ear to the tip. Now those at the' tip are be- 

 hind the others, and some do not f^iirly show 

 themselves until after the spindles on the main 

 stalks have become exhausted. The pollen 

 then from the suckers which come along in 

 succession supplies their place, and thus the 

 whole ear by their means becomes filled out 

 with corn, plump and sound, whereas if it had 

 not received that aid from the suckers it would 

 have presented an ear with the corn part way 



