AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
22 
method, which we have found most satisfactory is 
to apply melted tallow freely to the soles of the 
hoots and shoes, and to the upper leather about an 
inch high around the soles. In this way the great- 
er part of the upper leather is left in its natural 
condition, and will allow the perspiration to escape 
through the pores, while the soles are kept pliable 
and waterproof. The application of hot tar, as 
reconnneuded in an article going the rounds of the 
press, makes the sole leather stiff, and, being' un¬ 
yielding', it wears off in contact with stones and 
frozen ground more rapidly than when rendered 
pliable by tallow. Neat’s foot oil, when accessible, 
is preferable to tallow. When one is walking or 
working in deep snow or mud, it may be necessary 
to apply a single coat of grease or oil over the 
whole upper leather. We have found from expe¬ 
rience that ungrcased boots and shoes last much 
longer, and arc more comfortable than those made 
air and waterproof by oil or by impervious blacking. 
“ Keep the head cool and the feet warm,” is a 
trite prescription for health. The feet are always 
in a colder atmosphere near the ground, as well as 
exposed to dampness ; and, worse than all, a foolish 
Chinese fashion, requires them to be cramped in 
shoes too small to admit free circulation of the 
blood which is the source, or rather the convey¬ 
or of animal heat. Special care is therefore 
needed to keep them warm. India-rubber over¬ 
shoes are very good if worn only out of doors, and 
removed when coming in. Sandals, open over the 
foot are best, except when obliged to wade in snow 
or mud. Nothing contributes more to health and 
comfort than a frequent change of stockings, 
When stopping exercise at the close of a day’s 
work, we invariably remove the socks filled with 
perspiration through the day, and put on dry ones 
for our long ride home to the country. Much 
comfort, and greater freedom from cold has result¬ 
ed from this practice. The current opinion, in 
some parts of the country, is, that wet socks should 
be dried on the feet. This is not philosophical. 
Humbug 1 Doctors. 
We are heartily tired of answering private letters 
inquiring about the character of this, that, and the 
other New-York “Doctor,” whose flaming cards fill 
up so many columns of the papers, (often unpaid 
for,) and whose circulars are sent broadcast over 
the land. There are electrical doctors, Indian doc¬ 
tors, doctors of eyes, doctors of ears, doctors of 
“specific diseases” of the male sex and of the fe¬ 
male sex, doctors of the feet, com doctors, and 
more abundant than all others, the lung doctors. 
We do not advertise their cards, though frequently 
offered large sums to do so, aud it is hardly fair that 
we should be called upon for so much time in in¬ 
vestigating and replying to particular chses. Let 
us say, once for all, to the readers of the American 
Agriculturist, that we do not know a single one of 
these large advertising so-called “ doctors,” whom 
we would employ in any case ourselves, or re¬ 
commend to others to do so. The hall of them are 
not to be found at home when we hunt for them ; 
and the other half are charlatans, who seize upon 
some particular ailment, and announce themselves 
as Specific Doctors for that disease. Their opera¬ 
tions are carried on mainly through the mails. 
Some have an office or rooms, and by artful words 
beguile their patrons iuto submitting to their oper¬ 
ations, after paying well for it. As a rule, those 
who make the greatest show in advertisements arc 
the veriest quacks, without skill or ability to suc¬ 
ceed in regular practice. Not a few of these are 
scapegraces, figuratively, if not literally, kicked out 
of the back door of medical colleges, for lack of ap¬ 
plication to study, or for other just causes. We 
may say more on this point, but one illustration 
will serve now : A family had a son who began to 
be a little hard of hearing. Seeing a spread-eagle 
advertisement of a Specific Ear Doctor, the parents 
opened a correspondence with him, and were by 
his letters, exciting their fears, aud parading his 
own superhuman skill, induced to take the boy 
three hundred miles, and stay several weeks. Cer¬ 
tain mystical applications of au electric machine 
were made daily for a month, and the parents 
aud child were kept away from home at a heavy ex¬ 
pense. After making a sufficient show to warrant 
him in charging 8150, the so-called doctor applied a 
mysterious wash, and in an hour after, the deafness 
was gone. The parents went home joyful, though 
it had cost them the savings of several years, and 
much disturbance of their business for the season. 
Why should they not rejoice, when their only son 
had been restored to soundness. They proclaimed 
the doctor’s skill, gave him a glaring certificate, 
and induced others to follow their example. Now 
for the secret. The electrical applications were all 
a sham, used for effect upon the parents. The 
drums of the boys’s ears had become a little thick¬ 
ened with wax, and incipient deafness had resulted, 
the same as if they had been filled with cotton. 
The mysterious ear-wash used in the end, was sim¬ 
ply a little warm soap aud water, which washed out 
the wax, and restored the hearing. Any half-skilled 
country physician, if applied to, could have dis¬ 
covered the cause, and prescribed the simple reme¬ 
dy. We notice by advertisements in our exchanges, 
that just now a large number of these quack doc¬ 
tors are perambulating the country, stopping a day 
or two at a time, now here, now there—just long 
enough to gather up the spare money of the credu¬ 
lous, nervous people, and then they are off. A few 
temporary stimulants, and the faith of the people in 
pretentious advertisements, give them a temporary 
credit, and then they take care to get out of reach 
of their victims. We caution our readers against 
any faith in “ Electric Physicians,” et id wane genus. 
Gizzards—Teeth—Stomachs. 
Plato having defined Man to be a “ biped without 
■feathers,” Diogenes threw before his pupils a 
plucked fowl, saying: “There is Plato’s man.”—- 
Notwithstanding the fact that the Agriculturist has 
Diogones redivivus , as a critic, we shall venture an 
improvement upon Plato’s definition, thus : “ Man 
is a biped without feathers and without a gizzard.'" 
This definition applies to man as he is constructed, 
though not perhaps as he ought to be. Indeed, most 
people seem to act upom the idea that Nature has 
made a mistake in not placing a gizzard at the en- 
tr^pce to the stomach ; rather they act as if there 
was one really there. Let us see: 
The stomach is a receptacle with soft thin mem¬ 
branous walls, fitted for holding and dissolving food 
after it is reduced to a fine pulpy state. In this or¬ 
gan the food, if properly prepared previously, is 
mixed with a fluid called gastric juice; then it pass¬ 
es into the duodenum, (the little stomach or enlarge¬ 
ment of the upper intestine) where it is mixed with 
bile from the liver, and with the pancreatic fluid. 
These fluids combining with the nutritious portion 
change it into chyle or a milk-like fluid. As the 
food moves on through the 35 feet of intestines, the 
chyle is extracted by myriads of little tubes with 
mouths opening upon the inner surface of the in¬ 
testine. These tubes couvey the chyle into a re¬ 
ceptacle in front of the spine, near the small of the 
back, whence it is carried by a larger tube and pour¬ 
ed into the blood in a vein just below the left col¬ 
lar bone. The blood distributes the nutriment to 
all parts of the body as needed. But suppose a 
piece of meat, or a lump of potato, or of apple, the 
size of a large marrowfat pea, happens to get into 
the stomach. Having no crushing power, it can 
only roll the lump over aud over, wearing and dis¬ 
solving off a little from the surface, perhaps. The 
food heats and sours, if not dissolved, producing 
pains aud dullness, and heartburn, and if there be 
much of it in this condition, sickness and vomiting, 
followed by a natural effort to eject the irritant. But 
usually, the undissolved lumps pass on after a time, 
and make their way through the entire intestines. 
As these have a peristaltic or worm-like motion, 
they are constantly irritated by contact with the 
hard substances, producing pains, colic, inflamma¬ 
tion, resulting often in diarrhoea, or perhaps in dys¬ 
entery. Every lump of food voided in an undigested 
condition has been a source of derangement—per- 
[ January, 
haps not serious to a vigorous person, but still in¬ 
jurious. Most of the headaches result indirectly 
from undigested food in the stomach or intestines. 
But a gizzard at the entrance, with its strong hard 
sides aud supplied with gravel stones,.would mash 
up the lumps, and leave the stomach to go on with 
its natural functions ; more nourishment would 
come from the same food ; heartburn or stomach¬ 
ache and irritation of the bowels would not usual¬ 
ly be produced. Fowls swallow their food whole, 
and the gizzard docs the grinding. 
Shouldn’t man have a gizzard then? Not nec¬ 
essarily. Nature, in her wisdom, has given him a 
“gristmill” right at the entrance of the alimen¬ 
tary canal—sharp incisors in front to cut the food, 
aud back of them molars or grinders to crush it 
as between an upper and nether millstoue. Let 
these do theirfull workupon everymorsel of food, 
mashing it to powder and half dissolving it in the 
saliva of the mouth, and the troubles below will 
cease—if only so much be swallowed as the stom¬ 
ach can conveniently hold and work up. If the 
teeth be sore or defective, cut or mash every atom 
of food to the smallest possible fragments, while 
still on the plate. This course rigidly followed will 
lessen the physician’s bills, will aid to prevent or 
cure dyspepsia, will save aches and pains in the 
stomach, in the bowels, and in the head, and will 
produce far more nutriment, strength and vigor, 
from the same amount of food. 
children’s eating. 
What is said above, applies with especial force to 
children. How often their evacuations are filled 
with undigested food, yet these lumps of apples, of 
potatoes, and other vegetables, etc., can not pass 
through the body without producing disturbance 
and pain all along the alimentary channel. No 
wonder they suffer so much “pain under the 
apron.” No wonder they are so often sick, are so 
often puny, and that so many of them die with 
summer complaints. The writer’s rule is this: Un¬ 
til children are old enough to understand the subject, 
or become habituated to masticate every item of 
food swallowed, care is taken to have their meat 
cut fine, thepotatoes mashed on the plate, and other 
vegetables either cut or mashed. At breakfast aud 
dinner they eat what others eat, if prepared as 
above. As they retire early, the last meal is a very 
light one, consisting of a small quantity of bread 
aud milk, or mush and milk, or bread slightly but¬ 
tered. Since we learned to adopt the above pre¬ 
caution in regard to preparation of food, and light 
suppers, they have scarcely been sick at all, they do 
not complain of pain, have had no bowel com¬ 
plaints, Summer or Winter, they show no signs of 
“starvation,” but are vigorous in body and mind 
beyond their years; aud they sleep sweetly and 
soundly, very seldom waking from 7 P. M. to near 
or after 6 A. M. Any variation from uniform good 
health lias been traced directly to failure in carry¬ 
ing out our rules. We firmly believe that if these 
rules were generally adopted and thoroughly prac¬ 
tised out, nine-tenths of the pain, sickness, and 
deaths among children would be prevented. 
How to Prepare Hominy. 
R. Avery writes to the American Agriculturist: 
“ As we are frequently inquired of at the table, how 
we treat hominy to make it so white and soft, I 
send you the process for publication. Take strong- 
lye, put it over a brisk fire and when boiling, turn 
in sound white shelled corn as much as the lye will 
cover. Boil and stir briskly, until the bran is loose 
(from 1 to 3 miuutes), hurry it into clean water and 
wash and rub it thoroughly, to remove all specks of 
bran. Soak it several hours, changing the water 
each hour: it will then look white and clean. As 
much may be hulled at a time as there is lye to cov¬ 
er, and after the lye is out, it can be spread and 
dried for use.—In boiling the hominy, par-boil for 
a short time, then put it in boiling water, and as you 
fill up, do it with boiling water. Cold water would 
set it and it would get no softer. Boil very mod¬ 
erately 8 or 10 hours without stirring , or it will burn 
In preparing it for the table, put some in a frying 
