340 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
engers are at stake must have its influence, 
and as cows can be kept from the track by 
proper precautions, it is probable that their 
owners will in future risk not only their 
value, but such damages as may take place 
in consequence of their getting on the rail¬ 
way track. 
Our farming friends will therefore do well 
to have a care of their live stock in this re¬ 
spect, now that we have a railroad through 
our midst .—Rhode Island Telegraph. 
THE BENE PLANT. 
We make the following extract of a letter 
from a correspondent of the Patent Office, 
dated Monroe, Washita parish, Louisiana, 
which is held in the publication in the forth 
coming agricultural report. It treats of the 
“ bene ” plant, from which oil of a pure qual¬ 
ity is produced in great abundance : 
In 1843 I sent sixteen bushels of seeds of 
the bene plant (sesamum orientale) to a mill 
in Cincinnati to be mauufac'ured into oil. It 
yielded thirty-nine gallons of clear oil, and 
about five quarts of refuse oil, or about two 
and a half gallons to the bushel. 
In consequence of the mill imparting the 
flavor of flax-seed, I could not use it as a sal¬ 
ad oil, for which purpose I am confident it 
would be superior, when pure, to the adulter¬ 
ated imported olive oil. I used it, however, 
as a substitute for castor oil, and gave a con¬ 
siderable quantity of it away for that pur¬ 
pose. All who used it praised it highly, 
both for its gently purgative effect and from 
being free from the nauseous taste peculiar 
to castor oil. 
I cannot state with certainty how much 
seed this plant will produce to the acre, but 
believe that twenty bushels is a moderate 
estimate. 
The leaf of the plant is an excellent rem¬ 
edy for bowel complaints in children, and al¬ 
so in adults. For this purpose, two or three 
leaves are put in a tumbler of water, which 
they immediately render mucilaginous, but 
impart no disagreeable taste. The negroes 
cvltivate it for food, using the parched seeds 
with their meats. 
I consider it so useful that a few stalks 
at least should be raised in every garden. 
And I believe it will soon be extensively cul¬ 
tivated for manufacturing oil, yielding, as it 
does, about a gallon to a bushel more than 
flax-seed. 
I doubt whether it will mature well north 
of latitude 36 degrees. It should be planted 
as soon as the frost is out of the ground. 
Poor land is best suited to its production, as 
it branchf s too much in rich soil, because the 
pods are more likely to shatter from the 
branches than from a single upright stem. 
The seeds should be planted in drills three 
feet apart, and six inches distant along the 
drills. 
Progress of Mormonism. —Twenty-five 
years ago “Prophet ” Joseph Smith organ¬ 
ized the Mormon Church with six members. 
At the present time the Church in Utah Ter¬ 
ritory contains three Presidents, seven apos¬ 
tles, two thousand and twenty-six “ seven¬ 
ties,” seven hundred and fifteen high-priests, 
nine hundred and ninety-four elders, five 
hundred and fourteen priests, four hundred 
and seventy-one teachers, two hundred and 
twenty-seven deacons, besides the usual 
ratio of persons in training for the ministry 
but not yet ordained, and four hundred and 
eighty-nine missionaries abroad. During 
the six months ending with the beginning of 
April last, nine hundred and sixty-five chil¬ 
dren were born in the territory of Utah, two 
hundred and seventy-eight persons died, four 
hundred and seventy-nine were babtized in 
Mormon faith, and eighty-six were excom¬ 
municated from the church. 
THE FRUIT TRADE. 
Some thirty vessels are engaged in the 
fruit trade between Nevv-York and the West 
Indies. A much larger trade is carried on 
with ports in the Mediterranean, which sup¬ 
ply annually something like seventy or 
eighty cargoes—principally oranges. The 
West Indian importations of last year are 
estimated as follows : 75,000 bunches of ba¬ 
nanas from Baracoa, sold here at from $1.25 
to $1.50 p'r bunch—$93,750 to $112,500; 
2,000,000 Baracoa cocoanuts, sold at from 
$25 to $50 per 1,000—$500,000 to $600,000, 
twenty cargoes of pine apples, from Matan- 
zas and Havana, averaging 80.000 dozen per 
cargo, and sold at from $8 to $12 per 100— 
$128,000 to $192,000 ; 20.000 dozen St. Barts 
pines, sold at. from $7 50 to $8 per 100— 
$18,000 to $19,200; 200.000 dozen from the 
Bahama Islands—$15,000 to $16,000; ten 
cargoes of Havana oranges, averaging 
350,000 at 3 cents each—$10,500; have been 
received, thus far, the present season, the 
crop being more abundant than at any time 
during the last fifteen years. West Indian 
oranges arrive in October, and are most 
abundant in January and February. Ban¬ 
anas and pine apples begin to arrive about 
the first of April, and are most plentiful dur¬ 
ing the succeeding three months. Cocoa 
nuts arrive all the year round. Mediterra¬ 
nean oranges, which come in boxes, and are 
most extensively shipped to different parts 
of the United States, begin to be received in 
January, but not extensively until April or 
May. 
The above list comprises but few of the 
foreign fruits imported—and these only from 
the West Indies. A few minutes’ calcula¬ 
tion will show the sum paid for the articles 
enumerated in the list amount to not less 
than $850,000. The total amount paid for 
foreign fruit last year was not less than 
twenty millions of dollars. 
Our exports are comparatively trifling. 
With the very best soil and climate in the 
world for growing fruit, embracing twenty- 
three degrees of latitude, we pay out annual¬ 
ly, to foreign countries, cash enough to stock 
a Territory with the choicest variety of fruit 
trees. 
Besides, fruit grown in our in our own soil 
and climate is better adapted to our people, 
and far more healthful than that which is 
imported from other climates. 
Let us grow our own fruits, and thus save 
the millions paid to foreign countries, now 
almost lost to our nation. 
MEN AND MACHINES. 
The Albany Knickerbocker thus reasons : 
“ Let us compare a little the two modes of 
cutting grass. Day laborers, lured at one 
dollar per day, will probably mow in medium 
grass one-and-a-half acres to the hand ; that 
is, it will cost five dollars or six dollars to 
mow eight acres, and twenty-five cents each 
hand for boarding, will be one dollar and 
fifty cents more—which added to five dollars 
and fifty cents, makes seven dollars for mow¬ 
ing eight acres. Now, hire a man with a 
span of horses and a machine to cut the eight 
acres, at fifty cents per acre, and he will cut 
it in a day—four dollars—and one dollar 
more will pay their boarding, making in all 
five dollars, and the grass will be spread bet¬ 
ter for curing than a man will spread it after 
the five hands, which, in the estimate, will 
make three dollars advantage to the mower. 
At that rate, the machine will pay for itself 
in forty days’ mowing, besides saving so 
much hard labor. But just here st< j ps in Mr. 
Foggy, of the firm of Foggy, Doubt & Co., 
and says if the Mowing Machines do as much 
as eight men it will throw eight men out of 
work. No such thing. Mowing Machines 
increase the demand for labor by quadrup¬ 
ling the size of our farms. A few years ago 
a twenty acre meadow was considered 
“some grass.” We have meadows now of a 
hundred acres, while in Illinois there are 
meadows of five hundred acres. But there 
is another proof that these machines have 
not lessened the demand for labor, and that 
is shown by the fact that during the present 
harvest farm hands have received from $1- 
50 to $2 50 per day. Did Mr. Foggy ever 
know such wages to be paid to such work¬ 
men before the introduction of “ these cus¬ 
sed machines'?” We think not. Still we 
should like to hear from Foggy and find out 
for certain. 
BLACKBERRIES-PRSERVING, SYRUP, WINE. 
During the next two weeks blackberries will 
be in the hight of their season in this lati¬ 
tude ; and while enjoying a present luxury 
it is well to have a care for the future. They 
may be preserved by drying, but do not re¬ 
tain their flavor as well as most other fruits 
kept in this way. Cooked with sugar to a 
somewhat tenacious mass, they may be kept 
for a long time. 
A good syrup or cordial can be prepared 
in the following manner : Mash the selected 
ripe berries to a pomace, put them into a 
linen bag and strain out the juice. Add to 
every quart of the juice about half a pound 
of loaf sugar powdered, a heaped teaspoon 
ful of ground cinnamon, and as much of pow 
dered cloves, and boil all together in a glazed 
preserving kettle. When cold add one-fourth 
of its bulk of fourth proof brandy and bottle 
it for us®. 
To make blackberry wine, press out the 
juice, straining it through a linen cloth or 
bag ; let it stand 24 to 36 hours, skim off what 
rises to the top, and add to each gallon a 
quart of water and three pounds of sugar 
(brown sugar may be used, though it is not 
as good). Let this stand 25 to 30 hours, 
then skim and strain it and barrel it until to¬ 
wards Spring, when it should be racked off 
and bottled. 
We add another recipe, which has been 
extensively published, and is highly com¬ 
mended. It is as follows : 
“ To make a wine equal in value to port, 
take ripe blackberries, or dew-berries, and 
press them; let the juice stand thirty-six 
hours to ferment; skim off whatever rises to 
the top; then to every gallon of the juice 
add a quart of water and three pounds of su¬ 
gar, (brown sugar will do ;) let this stand in 
open vessels for twenty-four hours ; skim 
and strain it; then barrel it until March, 
when it should be carefully racked off and 
bottled. Blackberry cordial is made by add¬ 
ing one pound of white sugar to three 
pounds of ripe blackberries, allowing them 
to stand twelve hours ; then pressing out 
the juice, straining it, adding one-third spirit, 
and putting a teaspoonful of finely-powdered 
allspice in every quart of the cordial, it is at 
once fit for use. This wine and cordial are 
very valuable medicines in the treatment of 
weakness of the stomach and bowels, and 
are especially valuable in the Summer com¬ 
plaints of children.”— N. Y. Times. 
Blackberries. —Blackberries are in great 
demand in Nantucket, the heavy daily im¬ 
portations by steamer meeting with imme¬ 
diate sale, so that in less than an hour after 
their arrival, it is rare to find any on sale. 
At our principal stores names are handed in, 
and the quantity wanted specified, in the 
forenoon. Monday we noticed in front of a 
Main-street store, several boys with baskets 
and tin-kettles, patiently waiting for the ar¬ 
rival of the boat, so as to be sure to get their 
quota of berries. They had to wait over 
two hours. Such occurrences are not un- 
