1881 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
513 
in name, they are one in person, and the one that a 
caller wishes to see always happens to be out. We 
think that Georgia oilers many attractions to set¬ 
tlers, but not through this Colony Company. Avoid 
all schemes that promise too much. If looking 
towards Georgia with a view to settle there, write 
to the Commissioner of Agriculture at Atlanta for 
information. Do not buy land without first seeing 
it. A friend of ours purchased a large tract in 
North Carolina. He went to look at his purchase ; 
the title was all right, but he could not get upon 
his tract. As he expressed it 
“The hand was Set up Edgewise,” 
it being upon the steep flank of a mountain. In 
the Official List of Frauds published last month, 
the name of “The Enterprise Publishing Co.” is 
given as one of the many aliases of L. A. Kendall ; 
as his address is Boston, we presume that of his 
synonyms is the same, though the “list” does not 
directly say so. At all events it is proper to state 
that the address is not Philadelphia, where there is 
a publishing concern with the same name. 
Electric Hair Brushes. 
A correspondent quotes our former view of the 
brushes called “ electric,” i. e. “ they are good or 
bad according to the bristles used in making them,” 
aud asks if our opinion has changed since then. 
Not at all. These brushes, as the venders show, 
put the needle of a small compass (sent with each 
brush) into a state of great agitation. This is to 
many sufficient proof of the electric character of 
the brush. A jack-knife or a tenpenny nail will be 
found on trial to be equally “ electric.” 
Medical Humbugs. 
The authorities of Philadelphia deserve the 
thanks of the community, indeed of all civilized 
communities, for the manner in which they have 
followed up, arrested, and finally sentenced “ Doc¬ 
tor” Buchanan. The most the law allowed was a 
tine of $1,000 and imprisonment for one year, both 
of which were given him, and will no doubt thor¬ 
oughly close the mill where he ground out 
Those Bosnia Medical Diplomas, 
under cover of which ignorant fellows practised in 
this country, while many were sent abroad to any 
adventurer in Europe, who could pay for them. 
As authorities abroad could not know that the 
diplomas were false, great discredit was thus 
brought upon our medical colleges. Happily this 
avenue to quackery is closed. Just now the pre¬ 
vailing styles in medical humbugs are cures for tits, 
and sending of recipes for 11 Restorative Remedies. ” 
We must dispose of these briefly. So we say, that 
when any one offers to cure tits (or anything else) 
for a price, so much down, and the balance when 
cured—Don’t accept. 
The Free Recipe Dodge, 
is no longer monopolized by the veteran Inman. 
Doctor Churchill is in the field with his “Restor¬ 
ative Remedies.” The difference between the two 
is this: Inman prescribes things that do not 
exist, while Churchill prescribes things that 
may be found (though they are not always properly 
spelled), and puts great stress on their proper 
preparation. The directions for preparing the pre¬ 
scriptions after the drugs are procured, are to one 
having a knowledge of pharmacy, “ just too funny 
for any thing. ” It all amounts to the same in the 
end. Inman has laid in a lot of the stuffs with un¬ 
meaning names, which he will sell for a price, and 
the Churchill chaps, foreseeing that no live mortal 
can follow the directions, tell the patient of the 
risk of not having the prescriptions compounded 
on “scientific principles” (oh!) and, foreseeing 
this, they, “ for the accommodation of such per¬ 
sons” (!) will go and do it. If patient is out of 
cash, he can get the stuff by sending 30 cents to pay 
“packing,” etc., and signing the enclosed note for 
$3.00. The stuff sent may possibly pay a profit 
even at 30c. One firm in Cincinnati are “Sole 
Proprietors ” of these remedies, but a concern not 
far from New York offers the same ; the circulars 
of the two are, in the main, word for word alike, 
though the Cincinnati document is the hardest on 
the orthography. Their descriptions of the drugs 
used in the prescriptions are alike, and decidedly 
“ original.” Thus we have “ Hydrastus ” (meaning 
Hydrastis) which we are told is a “ bright golden- 
colored substance, pleasant taste, without odor.” 
Every boy at the west who has dug up “Golden 
Seal,” for that is what it is, knows that if there ever 
was a bitter that deserved to be called “ narsty,” it 
is that “golden-colored substance.” But there are 
enough unfortunate frightened young men who, 
instead of confiding their cases to an intelligent phy¬ 
sician, and learning whether they have any trouble 
except in their own imaginations, will run after all 
such things as these Inman and Churchill recipes 
.... It is really too bad that any should be allowed to 
Practise Quackery upon Cattle, 
who cannot be warned like two-legged creatures. 
We have the circular of a Kansas chap, who signs 
V. S. to his name, to which title we are sure he has 
no right. He proposes to cure all sorts of diseases 
in animals with his “ infallible vaccine.” He has 
discovered that poisons, when taken into the sys¬ 
tem, tmd “matter of kindred affinity in what are 
called Vnzportean (!) compounds of the food and the 
blood elements”—and “that’s what’s the matter.” 
He goes and finds the same poisons “in certain 
plants and other substances,” sticks this poison, 
“ as a vaccine,” into the sick animal. On the well- 
known principle that two things cannot occupy the 
same space at the same time, one of the poisons 
has to “get up and get,” and as he says, “I have 
never lost a case,” we may infer that his pizen out- 
pizens the other pizen. If we had more real vet¬ 
erinary surgeons, such chaps as this with his 
vaccine would have less chance to impose their 
false science upon the public. 
What Foods are Most Economical? 
--O- 
With an advance of 20 to 100 per cent, and more, 
in the price of staple foods, the above is now a most 
important question to over 40 Millions of our peo¬ 
ple, and one of much interest to 7 or 8 millions 
more. Probably there are not two millions who 
take no thought or care as to the cost of their daily 
diet. Meats, flour, potatoes, corn-meal, and milk, 
are the main articles of sustenance for the great 
masses. Fish, rice, beaus, and oat-meal (recently), 
with lesser amounts of some other articles, are con¬ 
sumed ; but these altogether do not, we judge, con¬ 
stitute one-tenth of the food of the. entire people, 
perhaps not more than five or six per cent. 
The comparative value, as food,of different meats 
and fish are given in an important article on page 
511, and particular attention is directed to the last 
column in the table, showing the relative value of 
each article, compared with 100 lbs. of medium 
fresh beef. Dried or smoked beef, ham, and cheese, 
rank high, but dried fish outranks all others. The 
nutritive value of dried codfish is remarkable, and 
it deserves special attention, 100 lbs. of it supply¬ 
ing as much nutriment as 341 lbs. of beef! It is 
cheap and abundant everywhere, because very port¬ 
able, and easily kept. It yields labor-sustaining 
aliment at from one-third down to one-ninth of the 
cost of beef in different sections of the country. 
It is easily digestible, and if properly freshened 
and cooked, it can be made palatable and acceptable 
to a very large class needing to practice economy. 
Of the relative value of potatoes, flour, and corn- 
meal, we speak elsewhere. At the average price 
of beans, these are the cheapest strength-sustaining 
of all direct products of the soil, if not charred or 
hardened in baking. The drouth has greatly di¬ 
minished the yield, and the present price is high, 
but they are still comparatively economical. 
Flesh-Formers—Heat-Producers. 
The occupation of any class of persons has much 
to do with deciding the most economical foods. 
It is estimated that, in a temperate climate, an av¬ 
erage man needs, each 24 hours, simply to sustain 
life without increasing his weight, about lli ounces 
of heat-producing, and 41 ounces of flesh-forming 
foods. Laborers, and those putting forth much 
exertion, need most of the flesh-forming food, 
such as lean meats of all kinds, eggs, cheese, fish, 
beans, peas, oat-meal, bread, cabbage, roots, etc. 
Those exposed to cold, need more of the heat- 
producing foods, as fat meats, corn-meal, and gen¬ 
erally those articles containing large amounts of 
oil or starch or both, of sugar, etc. 
Those working hard, in cold weather, need much 
of both kinds combined, as in pork and beans. 
Wheat contains about 09 per cent of heat-pro¬ 
ducing, and 11 per cent of flesh-forming elements. 
Indian corn about 70 per cent of heat-producing 
starch and oil, aud 9 per cent of flesh-formers. 
Beans and peas, about 52 per cent of heat-produc¬ 
ing oil and starch, and 25 per cent of flesh-formers. 
Milk admirably combines flesh-forming curd or 
cheese, and the heat-producing oil (butter) and 
sugar. All kinds of cheese, including the cottage 
or sour-milk cheese, are excellent strength-giving 
food. All skimmed milk may be very economical¬ 
ly used in supplying cottage or soft cheese as a 
strength-giving human food. This soft cheese is, 
in utility and value, very like lean meats. 
Sundry Food Items. 
Maccaroni makes an excellent variety in the 
scarcity of vegetables, and should be much better 
known, and more used by the masses here. It is 
the staple food of the common people in Italy, in¬ 
deed of most classes. It is made of strongly 
glutenous wheat flour ; hence is flesh-forming, while 
its starch supplies heat. It may be cooked tender 
in boiling water, seasoned with salt, and eaten 
with or even without cream sauce, or milk or but¬ 
ter.—After boiling it can be put in a pudding dish, 
with about a quarter of its weight of grated cheese 
sprinkled over it, and lightly baked. The addition 
of cheese makes this diet about equal to lean meat 
as a flesh-former. 
Ripe Peas should be more commonly used. A 
bowl of good pea soup is as satisfying as a hearty 
dinner on a cold day. To make a gallon of it, wash 
a pint of peas and soak them over night; then boil 
in five pints of water, gently simmering three hours 
or so, until thoroughly soft. With a potato masher 
rub the soup through a colander or wire sieve. A 
pound of beef or ham bone may be boiled with 
the peas. The soup maybe seasoned in various 
ways—with onions, cloves, pepper, sugar, any or 
all of them, to make them most palatable.—Bean 
soup may be made similarly. 
Stewed Carrots are a far more nourishing and 
economical human food than is generally known, 
and they should not be mainly left for animals. 
Scrape the roots, chop into small pieces, and stew 
in water until very tender. They may be seasoned 
with flour-and-butter sauce—all the better with 
cream added—and in various other ways. Some 
like them made piquant with a dash of Cayenne. 
Catching Cold—Remedies. 
While it is easy to take cold in midsummer, colds 
are usually more prevalent when low temperature 
prevails, though less in clear, steady winter than 
during the variable spring and autumn. “Catch¬ 
ing cold,” is usually the result of inequality of 
temperature in two parts of the body, especially 
adjacent parts, which disturbs the uniform circula¬ 
tion of the blood. At the place where this disturb¬ 
ance occurs, “congestion ” arises, that is, a rush of 
blood to a part from one direction faster than it is 
carried off by the chilled blood vessels in the other 
direction, and this produces serious results if not 
speedily remedied. This diseased condition may 
extend over the whole body, affecting most severe¬ 
ly any organ already weak. 
Thus a cold may come from damp or chilled feet; 
from even a slight draft of air blowing through a 
crack, upon one side or portion of the body and 
cooling it; from standing near a fire or stove, and 
heating one side while the other remains compara¬ 
tively cold; from warmer clothing on one part of the 
body than on another; from lightly dressing the 
arms and lower limbs, or leaving them naked ; 
from standing over a hot register; from the chil¬ 
ling evaporation of water or moisture, from a por¬ 
tion only of one’s clothing—; in general, from 
any cause producing inequality of temperature. 
The causes of a cold, named, indicate how to 
