I860:] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
219 
able tale. At one time it is a dying man who has just 
strength left to direct his son to the secret drawer that 
contains the recipe ; at another the recipe is picked 
up on the sea shore, it having been placed in a bottle and 
■thrown overboard from a sinking ship ; or one has to 
go to Germany to learn about American plants, but the 
favorite way is to learn, as Eddie Eastman did, of the 
real wild original ab-original—and this turns up in no 
end of forms. Here is the story of Doct. Morse’s 
INDIAN ROOT PELLS, 
and a very touching one it is. Doctor Morse had a 
father, and after spending large amounts in having him 
■educated as a doctor, he sent his son off to get finished 
among the Injins, or as the pamphlet has it “to learn 
their successful manner of curing disease in nature's 
own way from plants and roots.” Father Morse was sick 
and his son was still among the savages, he got sicker, he 
was thought to be dying and “every eye was bathed in 
tears,” but “ a rumbling noise was heard in the distance, 
like a mighty chariot winding its way hither, when aH at 
once a fine span of horses [color not stated, but they 
were “fine”] before a beautiful coach [not behind it] 
stood before the door, out of which alighted a noble and 
elegant looking man.”—The story is soon told.—This 
was Dr. Morse, the son; he just went to his carriage and 
took out some plants and roots that he had learned about 
“ from the Red Men of the Forest,” gave the stuff to 
Morse the father, who didn’t die at all, but at the age of 
95 rode 35 miles “ in order to spend his birthday with the 
celebrated doctor, his son ”—and if you don’t believe it, 
there’s a picture of the Senior Morse reading the Bible. 
THE MORAL OF IT ALL IS. 
If you are sick and want to be well, take these Indian 
®oot Pills. When we wade through all this dreary stuff, 
with which the literature of quackery is filled, we are 
•forced to the conclusion that such stuff is believed, for 
there is scarcly one of these various pills, syrups, and 
other nostrums, that does not give some such ridiculous 
story of its origin. All these stuffs, like their pills, start 
out with the statement, that all disease springs from 
■“ impurity of blood.”—To get well, purify the blood— 
these pills purify the blood, take ’em and he well. Its 
all as plain as logic, and all an outrageous swindle upon 
credulous and ignorant people.Inman is not alone 
IN THE “FREE” RECIPE LINE. 
One is sent out by a person in Rochester, which differs 
from Inmau’s recipe, in using some terms that are well 
known in medicine and pharmacy, but there are others 
that are not. To get the ingredients, one must go to a 
“ botanic drug store,” which are few and far between, 
ft may be that all the constituents of the recipe may he 
had at such a shop, but the names given, are not such as 
are recognized in science, though they may have a mean¬ 
ing in “ botanic drug stores.” But the drugs are at any 
•rate difficult to procure pure, and it all amounts to the 
8ame old,story—The advertiser has “ made arrangements 
ifbr their importation,” he can always have some of the pure 
stuff, which can be had for a certain sum. We are told 
that the “purpose of making the remedy known, is not 
■to realize money,”—of course not, for there is the talk 
about “substituting joy for sorrow,”—“defeating em¬ 
piricism,”—“duty,” — “benefit my fellows,” — “went 
about doing good,”—but the stuff may be had for $3. Is 
■•it possible that the writer of such goody goody talk, can 
-suppose that his hypocritical caut is not all seen 
through ? And yet, alas, it is not. 
The Liver Fluke, or “Sheep Rot.” 
Within the last few months there has been great de¬ 
struction of life among the sheep of Great Britain, from 
•the “ Rot,” which is the result of an unusual development 
of the liver parasite known as the “ Flukes,” (Distoma 
hepaticum). These animal parasites, which are some¬ 
thing more than an inch long when full-grown, take up 
■their abode in the passages leading to the liver, and when 
numerous, choke up the smaller channels, arrest the 
flow of bile, and otherwise derange the action of the liver. 
“ The sheep suffer first from jaundice, which causes the 
«kin and eyes to become yellow. At this stage, the sheep 
thrives and fattens rapidly, and the yellow color of the 
fat of many carcases of mutton that are sold in the mar 
ket is dne to this bilious derangement. In a short time 
the sheep fails, the skin and eyes become white and 
bloodless, a watery tumor appears beneath the jaws, the 
abdomen swells from dropsy, the wool becomes harsh 
■and easily parts from the skin, and after lingering some 
time, the sheep dies completely rotten, with every organ 
diseased.” A pasture can become tainted with and 
communicate Rot to healthy sheep in the following way • 
The sheep infested with Flukes, pass the mature worms 
and their eggs, which lodge in the ground. The eggs 
-soon hatch, and the young worms find a host in the mud 
snails common in low pastures. When these snails are 
-swallowed by sheep—as they frequently are—the “ fluke ” 
■reaches its most desired quarters, where it is most des¬ 
tructive. Sheep that are pastured on dry land, are ex 
empt from this trouble. When the Flukes are already in 
the sheep, a cure may be often found in the use of the 
following mixture : Ground Ginger, 2 oz., Saltpetre, 3 oz., 
Carbonate of Lime, 1 oz., Common Salt, 2 lbs., with 6 
quarts of Water, and the same quantity of Spirits of Tur¬ 
pentine. A dose of two oz. of the mixture, given at in¬ 
tervals of four days, may effect a cure, if used in the 
earliest stages of ihe disease. When the Flukes are suffi¬ 
ciently numerous to produce the symptoms of Rot, the 
animal is past help and should be killed at once. 
Top-Dressing for Grass.—“A. S. P.,” Flat- 
bush, L. I. An excellent artificial fertilizer for grass is 
Peruvian Guano; it contains Phosphoric Acid, Potash, 
and Nitrogen (in the form of Ammonia Salts), the three 
important constituents most frequently lacking when 
grass and other plants are not doing well. The guano 
costs about $60 per ton, and may be used in doses of 
150 to 200 pounds to the acre, at least once a year. Apply 
it now just before a shower, that the rain may take it at 
once to the roots of the plants and quick returns obtained. 
Gadders.—A neighbor of ours wants to trim a vine 
that is running up and over his piazza, and has neglected 
it because there is no means at hand for getting up to the 
much needed work. This is hut an illustration of the 
many cases in which, if a ladder was at hand, important 
work could and would be done, which for the lack of one 
is neglected. There is often more time spent in doing a 
piece of work, in a left-handed and imperfect way, than it 
would have taken to have first constructed the ladder and 
then done the job. In haying and harvesting now soon 
to he upon us, a ladder is often the one thing needful to 
get at some out of the way place, off of some mow, stack, 
or even load, and just before the rush, it would be proper 
to provide a ladder for the emergencies of the season. 
All can not make handsome ladders, hut every one can 
construct a strong one that will serve his purpose. A 
straight pine pole sawed lengthwise through the center, 
and fastened together with “rounds” of oak or other 
hard-wood, makes a good ladder and is quickly done. 
Washing of Hill-Sides.—One of the most suc¬ 
cessful methods of preventing serious damage from 
washing of cultivated hill-sides during heavy storms, is 
to terrace the hill by plowing. At short intervals two or 
three furrows of the soil are turned down hill, thus mak¬ 
ing a nearly level bank at short distances, as you pass 
down the slope. The last furrow makes a channel in which 
the downward water is caught, and may be carried off at 
one side of the hill—at any rate it will arrest the rapid 
downward flow, and give the water more time to soak 
into the soil. A hill-side, specially given to washing, 
should be put into grass after being terraced. With ter¬ 
racing and a firm sod as a covering, very little damage 
may be feared from gullies made by descending water. 
Old Rules iu Old English.—Gervaise Mark¬ 
ham, in his book entitled, “ Of the Hunting Horse,” 
1668. gives directions for “ dressing ” a horse as follows: 
“ For the manner of his dressing after he is uncloathed, 
you shall first curry him from the tips of the ear, to the 
setting on of his tayl, all his whole body most entirely 
over with an iron comb, his leggs under the knees and 
cambrels only excepted ; then you shall dust him, then 
curry him again allover with a round brush of Bristles, 
then dust him the second time, then rub all the loose 
hairs away with your hands wet in clean water, and so 
rub till the horse be as dry as at first, then rub all his 
body and limbs over with an hair-cloath: Lastly, rub him 
over with a fine white linnen rubber, then pick his eyes, 
nostrils, and feet very clean, and so cloath him, and stop 
him round with wisps, if you water within the house, 
otherwise saddle him after his body is wrapt about in a 
Woollen cloath, and so ride him forth to the water.” 
The Test of an Animal.—The blind devotion 
to the pedigree only, that prevailed a few years ago, has 
in great measure passed away, and intelligent breeders 
have come to understand that something more than a 
long line of recorded names is necessary to make an an¬ 
imal of value. A good pedigree is one that has the ani¬ 
mals making it, of the very best quality, and that quali¬ 
ty uniform and identical. Aside from the high standard 
of the ancestry, breeders look more to the animal itself 
—in other words, more to its own record of what it has 
done and can do, than to the fact that its parents, 
through a long line, have their names in the Herd-book. 
Stagger Bush.—Our inquiry about “Stagger- 
Weed” has brought a note from Mr. P. Sutton, Lacka¬ 
wanna Co., Pa., concerning the effects of the shrub pop¬ 
ularly known as “ Stagger-Bush.” This, the Andromeda 
Mariana , is a very showy shrub, from 2 to 4 feet high, 
with pure white flowers, looking very like large Huckle¬ 
berry blossoms. Unlike several of the Andromedas, it is 
deciduous, and when the new foliage comes out in early 
spring, it is greedily eaten by young cattle when first 
turned out. These, Mr. S. says, are made very drunk, 
and sometimes die from the effects of the poison. The 
popular remedies are: bleeding, by slitting the ears and 
the tail; giving salt, or whiskey, and sometimes a half¬ 
pint of melted lard. The plant extends from Southern 
N. England to Florida, and sometimes is very abundant. 
Foot Rot, Scab, etc., in Sheep.—When a 
fertilizer for plants or a remedy for diseases of animals 
is to be advertised in our columns, it is a “ condition 
precedent” as the lawyers say, that we shall know 
exactly what the article is composed of. While we 
wish on general principles that there were no such things 
as secret preparations, yet they are often convenient, 
and it is frequently cheaper to those who would use 
such articles, for them to purchase them ready-prepared 
for use, than it would be for them to undertake to pre¬ 
pare them on a small scale themselves. Buchan’s pre¬ 
parations for sheep can hardly b ; termed secret prepar¬ 
ations, as the terms Cresylic Dip and Cresylic Ointment 
indicate at once that their active ingredient is Cresylic 
Acid—one of the coal-tar products, and whatever else is 
in them is merely for making easy the application of 
this. These preparations have been so long before the 
public that they may be regarded as standard articles, 
and they are successfully used for the various external 
parasites that infest sheep over a wide extent of country. 
44 Kansas Millet.”—It is very difficult to keep 
the run of the common names of the grasses. T. Over- 
ton, Hamilton Co., Kans., sends a package of seed of a 
grass called in his locality, “Kansas Millet.”—An inspec¬ 
tion showed the seed to be that of Panicum Crus-galli, 
the Barn-Yard Grass. This is generally known as a 
weed, but in some localities it is cultivated as a hay crop. 
In Dec., 1875, we gave an account of its culture in Ill., 
and now we are glad to add the testimony of Mr. Over- 
ton, who says, “ It is an excellent forage plant. I think 
it would be good for soiling.” 
Reantiful Dried Fruit.—Those who see the 
dried apples at the stores that have a tempting white¬ 
ness, being about as light colored as the fresh fruit, no 
doubt wonder how they can be dried so nicely. The fact 
is that such fruits are not only dried, but bleached. 
They are subjected to the same agent that is used to give 
hops a bright color, and to impart to straw hats their 
whiteness—viz.—sulphur! It will be recollected that we 
gave last yearan account of the Zimmerman Fruit Dryer 
and its workings ; not long ago the inventor wrote us 
that he had been experimenting in bleaching fruit, and 
sent us a sample of apples, quite the whitest we ever 
saw, bleached in his Dryer. Hereafter the Dryers will 
be sent out with the necessary change in the furnace to 
adapt it for bleaching, and directions for the operation 
will be given. Of course bleaching is only practicable 
with fruit in this or other closed Dryer, and could not bo 
done with fruit in the open air. As the question is sure 
to be asked if the fruit is rendered any the less whole¬ 
some, we anticipate it and say—not in the least. 
A Needle is a Wonderful Thing,—were 
not needles so common and so cheap we should think 
so. If one must have a needle and had only a bar of 
steel, what work it would be to get a needle from it 1 
Notwithstanding great improvement has been made, a 
large share of the work on a needle is done by hand, in¬ 
deed several hands, for the operations from the wire to 
the perfect needle are numerous and each workmen per¬ 
forms hut one. If a simple needle is a wonder, a paper 
of needles is a bundle of wonders. Having occasion to 
use a particular needle for some microscopic work a 
short time ago we selected it from a package of needles 
as put up from the London Needle Co. Here were 100 
ordinary needles of different sizes in papers, and 20 large 
kinds for darning and other uses, and the whole sold, 
sent post-paid, for the ridiculous price of 25c. We came 
near forgetting our microscopic work in view of the 
microscopic profit that must fall not only to those sell¬ 
ing, but especially to those making the needles. Who 
would undertake to make 5 needle-eyes for a cent—let¬ 
ting alone making the rest of the needle.—It is all very 
wonderful—and as for quality—the microscope sustained 
the favorable report of the user of the needle. 
Tlie Seini-Centenuial Anniversary at 
Fima, N. Y., to be held June 6—10, will doubtless 
interest a good many of our readers who have enjoyed 
the educational advantages of the Seminary that has 
flourished there for fifty years past. Probably more than 
ten thousand young men and women have been taught in 
the Institution, many of whom have filled important 
stations of honor and usefulness. All Alumni and Stu¬ 
dents now living are invited to come together at the 
above date for a Grand Reunion, and we hope to be able 
to be present to greet some of those who were class¬ 
mates nearly forty years ago, though of course but a 
small number of the four hundred old comrades are now 
living. For circulars giving particulars, address Rev. 
G. H. Bridgman, Principal, Lima, Livingston Co., N. Y. 
