78 
SOUTHERN cultivator 
“DEATH IH THE POT” 
Messrs. Editors — ''Death in the pot” has long been a 
common expression among all classes of society. When, 
or under what circumstances it originated, is a matter of 
no consequence to my present purpose. There is doubt- 
less as much truth in the expression at the present day as 
at any former time— far more, indeed than is generally 
thought of. There is disease and death in nearly every 
pot ! And yet how few of those who complain of “bad 
health” ever look in that dii’ection for the cause of their 
Bufferings — how few ever once think of the fact that the 
many ailments of which they are continually complaining, 
proceed from disordered digestion, brought on, in a vast 
number of cases, by the silly practice of saturating their 
food with alkaline componnds. 
The fearful increase of that “familiar complaint,” Dis- 
pepsia, within the last fifteen or twenty years, calls aloud 
for reform. And who that values bis own health and that 
of his family can be indifferent upon this subject'? Many i 
ignorant people, however, do not know that the alkalies, 
such as they use every day in their food, possess any 
poisonous or other mischievious property at all. Physicians 
understand this matte:’, and they are everywhere agreed 
as to the pernicious r.ffecLs of the long continued use of 
alkaline compounos. Some of these I will enumerate. 
They are : aphthse and ulcers in the mouth ; tender gums •, 
early decay of the teeth ; feetid breath ! dimculty of breath 
ing; sallowness of the countenance ; weariness; functional 
derangement of the liver : impaired digestion; dyspepsia, 
with its innuvierable concomitmds. 
Alkalies were formerly used only in making dour 
bread, and to a limited extent. Now they are indiscrimi- 
nately and lavishly used in all sorts of bread, as well as 
all sorts of pies, tarts, puddings, saikds, meats, and near- 
ly everything else ! Is it any wonder that so many peo- 
ple complain of hurting" in their stomachs'? Is it 
any wonder they have “go/, a misery" in tlieir sides, and 
frequently become alarmed with the notion that they are 
Lg take the breast complaint 7" 0, ye dyspeptics, 
ye lean bypocdoriacs, and ye melancholy, look to your 
pots and tables, for it is here, and only here, that the 
source of all your misery is to be discovered. Take care 
what you eat. There is death in the pot. 
Reason, experience, observation, all teach us that these 
corroding and highly offensive alkaline substances were 
never designed (except as medicine) for the stomach of 
of any living creature. Besides tlieir corroding and irri- 
tating qualities, they are chemically incompoiiuLe with the 
healthy secretions of the stomach upon which digestion 
mainly depends, and will necessarily always weaken that 
process exactly in the proportion that they weaken or alter 
the healthy acid of the stomach. If the alkali is sufficient 
to neutralize, perfectly, this natural secretion of the stom- 
ach, of course digestion cannot fake place at all. The 
same thing happens from over-eating. The result in either 
case is the same — indigestion, and here Is the whole secret 
of that very common and much dreaded complaint, dys- 
pepsia. It is brought on by the improper use of alkalies, 
over-eating and indolence. Tire remedy is too obvious to 
need me ntion. 
But wiiy do people use alkalies in their food 1 I con- 
fess my total inability to solve this question ; to me, it is 
a perfect mystery. Surely no one will pretend that any 
article of food is in any way improved by the addition of 
these things. On the contrary, they always spoil it. It is 
well known that bread made up with any alkaline sub- 
stance always loses its natural sweetness and relish; 
and if butter or lard be added, it acquires a strong disa- 
greeable odor, as ci' nevo soap. And here I would suggest 
to such as are deiermlned to continue the practice of spoil 
ing. their bread, that when soda or sa'ceratus is not at hand, 
a little soft soap will answer the purpose pretty well. 
In conclusion, good flour bread can only be made at 
the expense of much kneading. With corn bread it is 
different, it only requires to be made up with simple wa- 
ter (better without salt) and to be w^ell baked. 
Quinati, 
Mississippi, 1854. 
“RESCIJE GEASS”-»-EEPLY TO “ALGERNON.” 
Messrs. Editors — A friend has just placed in my 
hands your excellent paper for January, 1855. I find in 
it a communication signed “Algernon,” in which that 
writer takes the liberty to assert “ That the origin of the 
so called Rescue Grass is fully established by irrefragible 
testimony as the Texas Oat Grass.” I have seen and read 
several letters of late publislied in your very able journal 
under different assumed names, all making the above posi- 
tive assertion ; I have good rccisons for knowing that all of 
these letters are from one and the some source. If am not 
mistaken as to the author, I must confess to some surprise 
at these continued assertions. With the author of two or 
three of them I have, since their publication, had several 
friendly conversations, in which 1 fully gave him positive 
and reliable evidence that he wms wrong in his statement 
about the identity of the grass. If he is the “Algernon”’in 
your January number, then I must believe his motive is 
unfriendly either to me, personally, or . to the excellent 
Winter Grass which I have endeavored to introduce. 
W^hat irrefragible testimony this v/riter may have for his 
bold assertions, I find he takes good care to keep to him- 
self. I call upon “Algernon” to produce this irrefragible 
testimony. 
Assertion, and assertion alone, no matter how often re- 
peated amounts to nothing. There is a way (and it is the 
correct way) to determine w’hat the Rescue Grass, or pro- 
perly “The Ceratochloa B reviaristal a" really is. Let 
specimens be submitted to Professars Torrey and Grat 
or to any other eminent Botanist, and if they, or any one 
of them shall say that the “Rescue Grass” is the “Texas 
Oat Grass,” or any other “oat grass,” or any kin of the 
“ Avena,”then I will yield, but not until then. This pro- 
position to submit the Rescue Grass to the ablest Botanist 
of the country for examination and classification, is cer- 
tainly fair, and every way the proper course If “Alger- 
non” refuses or rejects it, then his motive will appear 
plain to everyone. As to the test he speaks of betweeri 
his patch of Rye and the Rescue, I have nothing to say. 
I do not know, indeed, whether “Algernon" planted seeds 
of the Rescue Grass or not. I will say, however, that the 
fall and winter, so far. have been entirely too dry for it. As 
an evidence of this I find my grass now not over 20 inches 
high, while at the same period last year it was over 30 
inches, in tiie same ground. I am well satisfied “Alger- 
non” will yet admit before i\Tay next thajL the Rescue (if 
in truth he has it) is the most valuable wu’nter grass he 
ever planted. I am sure of it when be comes to give it a 
tail' trial and the season sliall be more propitious. He 
will find, in time, tiiat his stock of all kinds will eat it in 
preference to Barley itself, which, we all know, is a greater 
favorite with them than Rye. 
I will now, Messrs. Editors, make an assertion about 
the Rescue Grass (so called by me,' but whose proper 
name is '■’■Ceratochloa Brcv.iaristaia'') whicli has irrefrog- 
ihle testimony to support it. I say lli^it it is not an oat, 
never was nor, indeed, ever will be. 1 say it is a distinct 
variety of grass and ever w'ill remain so. 1 will give high 
and reliable authority, irrefragible testimony, against 
wliich. the mere “ipse dixit” of “Algernon,” unaccom- 
panied Muth proof, cannot, and ought not to weigh a fath- 
er. In the m.mth of May, 1853, 1 got iny friend, Dr, 
Hugh NEisi.;:n, of7\.la , (of very considerable rejaitation 
as a Botanist, but who was unable tos;:y wliat the. grass 
was) to write Professor Torrey, of New Ycrk, accompau- 
