1803.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
309 
erly separated from the genus Solarium. We 
know of no instance in which the character of 
the immediate fruit is affected by a cross fertil- 
ization, the influence being confined to the seed, 
and showing its effects in the next generation, 
from the seed. We do not assert that this is a 
settled point; we have had statements to the 
contrary, but have seen no proof. It is an in- 
teresting subject for experiment and observation. 
Mil IHOT8EM©IL]IDo~ 
" Bitters "—Worse than a Humbug. 
The land is full of bitterness. We speak not now 
of the woe and anguish caused by war, but of what 
promises to be scarcely less disastrous iu its results 
upon individuals and families. During the present 
year we have traveled four or Ave thousand miles, 
through different parts of the country. In all that 
route there has hardly been a point where the eye 
did not meet an advertisement of somebody's 
"Bitters." Upon every available space, on the 
walls of buildings, on the fences, on the surface of 
rocks and stones, upon the bridges aud telegraph 
poles, indeed every where " Bitters," — " Strength- 
ening Bitters," "Healing Bitters," "Invigorating 
Bitters," " Life Saving Bitters," or some other 
"Bitters" — stare one in the face. This is most 
strikingly the case iu some portions of Illinois. 
So, too, the newspapers abound in advertisements 
of these various bitters ; aud in every hotel, tavern, 
and down to the smallest 3 by i drinking shop, at- 
tractive rows of bottles labeled "Bitters" are every 
where to be seen. We know of large glass manu- 
factories run almost exclusively in the manufacture 
of bottles for Bitters. — Now all this costs a " mint 
of money," and this money has already come and 
is coming from those who buy aud drink th06e 
Bitters — showing an immense consumption. 
But what are these " Bitters " ? — With scarcely an 
exception, they are essentially a cheap form of al- 
cohol — whiskey, gin, or rum. Most contain a little 
bitter extract — some more, some less — added as a 
blind, or as a Blight tonic. Take out the alcohol, 
and all that remains would not amount to much — 
good or bad. Whiskey, or giu, that under its own 
proper name would not seil for fifty ceuts a gallon, 
is put into bottles costing 4 to 7 cents each, five to 
eight bottles to the gallon, labeled at the cost of a 
penny, and sold at a dollar a bottle, or at least five 
dollars a gallon. The attractive label, the great 
stories told of the healing and strengthening prop- 
erties, lead people to pay these prices. This much 
;s sheer humbug. — But there is a worse feature. 
We stopped at the house of a western farmer who 
would not for the world incite hi his children a 
taste for and love of afcohotic drinks. Yet influ- 
enced by the advertisement iu his family paper, and 
a religious one at that, he had bought and used 
several bottles of these bitters, and supposing us to 
be wearied with a long day's travel, he proffered us 
a glass of "strengthening bitters." Two of his 
little boys were given a spoonful each before break- 
fast — "to keep off the chills." We told him he 
was feeding them with gin, and faying the founda- 
tion for a drunkard's life and a drunkard's grave. 
We coustautfy meet with persons who daily use 
these "bitters." The temporary stimufaut afforded 
by the alcohol, deceives them into the belief that 
they are "invigorating," or "strengthening." When 
the excitement subsides, and the natural reaction 
and lassitude follow, they take another dose, aud 
so go on. We say in all seriousness, that the enor- 
mous sale and use of these " bitters " is doing more 
to produce wide-spread dissipation and drunken- 
ness, by begetting a taste for alcohol, than can be 
counteracted by the efforts of all the Temperance 
Societies that have yet. been organized. Let us beg 
of every man who would not bring up his family to 
be drunkards, aud who would keep out of temp- 
tation himself, to banish these " bitters " of every 
kind from his house, aud discourage their sale iu 
the community. We have had column after columu 
of advertisements of them offered for the Agricul- 
turist, but we would as soon admit advertisements 
of sugar pellets which we knew to contain conceal- 
ed arsenic or strychnine. 
A Lung Protector. 
A very absurd fashion requires men, while wear- 
ing four to eight thicknesses of cloth around most 
of the upper part of the body, to leave an open 
pface iu front of the fungs for the display of then- 
white linen bosoms, and gold studs — if they have 
them. This front of the neck and upper chest is 
the very part that should be most carefully guarded 
from changes of temperature, for the lungs lie just 
back of aud under the collar bone. As we can not 
compel the correction of the fashions, by anything 
we may say in the unfashiouable American Agricul- 
turist, let us give our antidote, one which has to 
our certain knowledge proved efficacious in several 
instances. — There is a species of soft leather, sonic- 
times real " Chamois " skin, but usually a sheep- 
skin imitation, which is sold almost every where 
for 25 to 50 cents per skin. The imitation answers 
as welt as the real Chamois (pronounced shammy). 
FORM OF TIIE I'HOTECTOIt. 
From the smaller end of the skin, cut off a piece 
tike the engraving above. The rest of the skin 
maybe used for cleaning carriages, windows, silver, 
etc. Put strings ou each corner, to fasten it around 
the neck and waist. This kind of leather is so open 
that one can blow a light out through it, and on 
this account it is valuable to shut out cold, and at 
the same time not retain perspiration. It can be 
washed when soiled, the same as flannel, except 
that the suds aud rinsing water should not be quite 
so hot as for flannel. 
For a Sore Throat 
The best remedy we have found for a sore throat, 
is, ou retiring to rest, to rub on the outside a little 
" Volatile Liniment" and swallow slowly a few drops 
of paregoric, letting it dissolve iu the saliva, and 
spread along down the inflamed parts. The lini- 
ment is generally sufficient atone. Volatile Lini- 
ment is simply a mixture of sweet oif and aqua 
ammonia (called liquid hartshorn). These arc put 
in a vial aud shakeu, using such proportion as to 
form a semi-liquid soap. An ounce or two can be 
got cheapty at the druggist's, and if tightly corked, 
it wilt keep for months. Rub it on with the fingers. 
We find nothing better than this for soreness of the 
chest or joints, or for iameuess, stiff neck, etc. 
To Stop Coughing. 
Siight irritation of the throat may be relieved by 
sippiug a little thick slippery elm tea, or by suck- 
ing a piece of gum arable. These articles coat over 
the mucous membrane, and prevent the irritation 
of the air. A very few drops of paregoric hefd in 
the mouth, and allowed to trickie dowu the throat, 
wiil allay coughing. The best cough medicine 
for children, one which wo have used for several 
years with eutire satisfaction is the following : 
Mix iu a vial equal parts of paregoric, castor oil, and 
syrup of ipecac. Always shake well just before using. 
A few drops of this swallowed, but not washed 
down by water or other fluid, witf almost always 
BOOthe a cough. Repeat the dose as often as (he 
coughing returns. From one-fourth to one-half a 
teaspoonful, or even a whole teaspoonful maybe 
given when a lesser quantity does not suffice. A 
large dose alter a full meal may produce a little 
nausea, Children subject to coughs should cat 
very light suppers, and indeed all children should 
cat much less, aud simpler food, at night than at 
morning or noon. The above mixture may bo 
kept on hand ready prepared, as it does not deterio- 
rate if kept corked. It may interest those afraid 
of mineral medicines (though they partake freely 
of common salt which is a mineral) to know that 
the ingredients arc all " vegetable." 
Soda and Mineral Waters. 
If properly prepared, " soda water" is a refresh 
ing and harmless drink. Though it contains no 
soda, it is called " soda water" because soda was 
formerly used in its preparation ; as made at 
present, it is simply a solution of carbonic acid in 
water. Carbonic acid is a gas which is very soluble 
in water : it is the ingredient which gives the effer- 
vescence or sparkling quality to bottled cider, 
ale, beer, etc., and is very strikingly perceptible 
when a little saleratus or cooking soda is dropped 
into vinegar. It is seen bubbling up from the 
liquid, aud making it to froth and foam. Under 
ordinary circumstances, water absorbs its own 
bulk of this gas; it is present, to a greater or 
less extent, in all drinking water, and it is its ab- 
sence which gives water that has beeu boiled 60 
flat a ta6te. Under pressure, water will absorb a 
much larger quantity of carbonic acid, and by 
means of a force-pump, the gas may be forced into 
water in a strong closed vessel, and it is thus 
made to dissofve many times its own luiik of the 
gas. This is the way in which soda water is made. 
The fountain, a strong vessel of iron or of copper 
fined with tin, contains pure water, and the gas is 
driven in by means of a force-pump, until 15 or 
more times its bulk of gas has been absorbed by the 
water. Wtien an outlet is afforded by opening the 
stop-cock of the fountain, the elastic gas forces 
the water out, and its escape, from its solution in 
water tinder pressure, causes the foaming which 
we see iu a glass of soda water. When taken into 
the stomach, carbonic acid is not only a pleasant 
tonic, in health, but very useful iu some forms of 
disease, and we often have prescribed in fevers, 
soda powders, which are made of carbonate of 
soda aud tartaric acid, and produce soda water in 
an extempo- 
raneous way. 
" M i nerai 
waters " are 
those natur- 
al w a t e r s 
which con- 
tain so much 
mineral mat- 
ter in solu- 
tion as to 
affect the 
taste, and im- 
part a medi- 
cinal quality. 
These waters hold iu solution various salts, iron, 
sulphur, etc., and various springs of water of this 
character have a high reputation. In our own 
country, the Saratoga and several other noted 
springs are places of great resort for invalids ; and 
in Europe there arc certain springs of even greater 
reputation. If is probable that the good effects of 
these waters are in great measure counteracted by 
the miserable hotel life which is followed at such 
pfaces. All the celebrated waters have been accu- 
rately auafyzed, and chemical skill has succeeded 
iu making them artificially, and in reproducing 
exactly similar water to that furnished by the 
celebrated medicinal springs. Now, one can drink 
rOHTACLE GLASS SODA FOUNTAIN. 
