1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
800 
erly separated from the genus Solanum. We 
know of no instance in which the character of 
the immediate fruit is affected by a cross fertil¬ 
ization, the influence being confined to the seed, 
and showing its effects in the next generation, 
from the seed. We do not assert that this is a 
settled point; we have had statements to the 
contrary, but have seen no proof. It is an in¬ 
teresting subject for experiment and observation. 
TEE rojgKroUO). 
“ Bitters ’’—Worse than a Humbug. 
The land is full of bitterness. We speak not now 
of the woe and anguish caused by war, but of what 
promises to be scarcely less disastrous in its results 
upon individuals and families. During the present 
year we have traveled four or five thousand miles, 
through different parts of the country. In all that 
route there has hardly been a point where the eye 
did not meet an advertisement of somebody’s 
“ Bitters.” Upon every available space, on the 
walls of buildings, on the fences, on the surface of 
rocks and stones, upon the bridges and telegraph 
poles, indeed every where “ Bitters,”—“ Strength¬ 
ening Bitters,” “Healing Bitters,” “Invigorating 
Bitters,” “ Life Saving Bitters,” or some other 
“ Bitters ”—stare one in the face. This is most 
strikingly the case in some portions of Illinois. 
So, too, the newspapers abound in advertisements 
of these various bitters ; and in every hotel, tavern, 
and down to the smallest 3 by 4 drinking shop, at¬ 
tractive rows of bottles labeled “Bitters” are every 
where to be seen. We know of large glass manu¬ 
factories run almost exclusively in the manufacture 
of bottles for Bitters.—Now all this costs a “ mint 
of money,” and this money has already come and 
is coming from those who buy and drink those 
Bitters—showing an immense consumption. 
But what are these “ Bitters ” ?—With scarcely an 
exception, they are essentially a cheap form of al¬ 
cohol-whiskey, gin, or rum. Most contain a little 
bitter extract—some more, some less—added as a 
blind, or as a slight tonic. Take out the alcohol, 
and all that remains would not amount to much— 
good or bad. Whiskey, or gin, that under its own 
proper name would not sell for fifty cents a gallon, 
is put into bottles costing 4 to 7 cents each, five to 
eight bottles to the gallon, labeled at the cost of a 
pennjq and sold at a dollar a bottle, or at least five 
dollars a gallon. The attractive label, the great 
stories told of the healing and strengthening prop¬ 
erties, lead people to pay these prices. This much 
;s sheer humbug.—But there is a worse feature. 
We stopped at the house of a western farmer who 
would not for the world incite in his children a 
taste for and love of alcoholic drinks. Yet influ¬ 
enced by the advertisement in his family paper, and 
a religions one at that, he had bought and used 
several bottles of these bitters, and supposing us to 
be wearied with a long day’s travel, he prolfered us 
a glass of “strengthening bitters.” Two of his 
little boys were given a spoonful each before break¬ 
fast—“to keep off the chills.” We told him he 
was feeding them with gin, and laying the founda¬ 
tion for a drunkard’s life and a drunkard’s grave. 
We constantly meet with persons who daily use 
these “ bitters.” The temporary stimulant afforded 
by the alcohol, deceives them into the belief that 
they are “invigorating,” or “strengthening.” When 
the excitement subsides, and the natural reaction 
and lassitude follow, they take another dose, and 
so go on. We say in all seriousness, that the enor¬ 
mous sale and use of these “ bitters ” is doing more 
to produce wide-spread dissipation and drunken¬ 
ness, by begetting a taste for alcohol, than can be 
counteracted by the efforts of all the Temperance 
Societies that have yet been organized. Let us beg 
of every man who would not bring up his family to 
be druukards, and who would keep out of temp¬ 
tation himself, to banish these “ bitters ” of every 
kind from his house, and discourage their sale in 
the community. We have had column after column 
of advertisements of them offered for the Agricul¬ 
turist , but we would as soon admit advertisements 
of sugar pellets which we knew to contain conceal¬ 
ed arsenic or strychnine. 
■-- ---.-•>- 
A Lung Protector. 
A very absurd fashion requires men, while wear¬ 
ing four to eight thicknesses of. cloth around most 
of the upper part of the bod}', to leave an open 
place in front of the lungs for the display of their 
white linen bosoms, and gold studs—if they have 
them. This front of the neck and upper chest is 
the very part that should be most carefully guarded 
from changes of temperature, for the lungs lie just 
back of and under the collar bone. As we can not 
compel the correction of the fashions, by anything 
we may say in the unfashionable American Agricul¬ 
turist, let us give our antidote, one which has to 
our certain knowledge proved efficacious in several 
instances.—There is a species of soft leather, some¬ 
times real “ Chamois ” skin, but usually a sheep¬ 
skin imitation, which is sold almost every -where 
for 25 to 50 cents per skin. The imitation answers 
as well as the real Chamois (pronounced shammy). 
From the smaller end of the skin, cut oft a piece 
like the engraving above. The rest of the skin 
may be used for cleaning carriages, windows, silver, 
etc. Put strings on each corner, to fasten it around 
the neck and waist. This kind of leather is so open 
that one can blow a light out through it, aud on 
this account it is valuable to shut out cold, and at 
the same time not retain perspiration. It can be 
washed when soiled, the same as flannel, except 
that the suds and rinsing water should not be quite 
so hot as for flannel. 
For a Sore Throat- 
The best remedy we have found for a sore throat, 
is, on retiring to rest, to rub on the outside a little 
“ Volatile Liniment ,” and swallow slowly a few drops 
of paregoric, letting it dissolve in the saliva, and 
spread along down the inflamed parts. The lini¬ 
ment is generally sufficient alone. Volatile Lini¬ 
ment is simply a mixture of sweet oil and aqua 
ammonia (called liquid hartshorn). These arc put 
in a vial and shaken, using such proportion as to 
form a semi-liquid soap. An ounce or two can be 
got cheaply at the druggist’s, and if tightly corked, 
it will keep for months. Rub it on with the fingers. 
We find nothing better than this for soreness of the 
chest or joints, or for lameness, stiff neck, etc. 
To Stop Coughing. 
Slight irritation of the throat may be relieved by 
sipping a little thick slippery elm tea, or by suck¬ 
ing a piece of gum arabic. These articles coat over 
the mucous membrane, and prevent the irritation 
of the air. A very few drops of paregoric held in 
the mouth, and allowed to trickle down the throat, 
will allay coughing. The best cough medicine 
for children, one which we have used for several 
years with entire satisfaction is the following: 
Mix in a vial equal parts of paregoric , castor oil , and 
syrup of ipecac. Always shake well just before using. 
A few drops of this swallowed, but not washed 
down by water or other fluid, will almost always 
soothe a cough. Repeat the dose as often as the 
coughing returns. From one-fourth to one-half a 
teaspoonful, or even a whole teaspoonful may be 
given when a lesser quantity does not suffice. A 
large dose after a full meal may produce a little 
nausea. Children subject to coughs should cat 
very light suppers, and indeed all children should 
eat much less, and simpler food, at night than at 
morning or noon. The above mixture may bo 
kept on hand ready prepared, as it does not deterio¬ 
rate if kept corked. It may interest those afraid 
of mineral medicines (though they partake freely 
of common salt which is a mineral) to know that 
the ingredients are all “ vegetable.” 
Soda and Mineral Waters. 
If properly prepared, “ soda water” is a refresh 
ing and harmless drink. Though it contains no 
soda, it is called “ soda water” because soda was 
formerly used in its preparation; as made at 
present, it is simply a solution of carbonic acid in 
water. Carbonic acid is a gas which is very soluble 
in water: it is the ingredient which gives the effer¬ 
vescence or sparkling quality to bottled cider, 
ale, beer, etc., and is very strikingly perceptible 
when a little saleratus or cooking soda is dropped 
into vinegar. It is seen bubbling up from the 
liquid, and making it to froth and foam. Under 
ordinary circumstances, water absorbs its own 
bulk of this gas; it is present, to a greater or 
less extent, in all drinking water, and it is its ab¬ 
sence which gives water that has been boiled so 
flat a taste. Under pressure, water will absorb a 
much larger quantity of carbonic acid, and by 
means of a force-pump, the gas may be forced into 
water in a strong closed vessel, and it is thus 
made to dissolve many times its own bulk of the 
gas. This is the way in which soda water is made. 
The fountain, a strong vessel of iron or of copper 
lined with tin, contains pure water, and the gas is 
driven in by means of a force-pump, until 15 or 
more times its bulk of gas has beqn absorbed by the 
water. When an outlet is afforded by opening the 
stop-cock of the fountain, the elastic gas forces 
the water out, and its escape, from its solution in 
water under pressure, causes the foaming which 
we see in a glass of soda water. When taken iuto 
the stomach, carbonic acid is not only a pleasant 
tonic, in health, but very useful in some forms of 
disease, and we often have prescribed in fevers, 
soda powders, which are made of carbonate of 
soda aud tartaric acid, and produce soda water iu 
an extempo¬ 
raneous way. 
“ M i neral 
waters ” are 
those natur¬ 
al waters 
which con¬ 
tain so much 
mineral mat¬ 
ter in solu¬ 
tion as to 
affect the 
taste,and im¬ 
part a medi- 
L . , PORTABLE GLASS SODA FOUNTAIN, 
cmal quality. 
These waters hold in solution various salts, iron, 
sulphur, etc., and various springs of water of this 
character have a high reputation. In our own 
country, the Saratoga and several other noted 
springs are places of great resort for invalids ; and 
in Europe there are certain springs of even greater 
reputation. It is probable that the good effects of 
these waters are in great measure counteracted by 
the miserable hotel life which is followed at such 
places. All the celebrated waters have been accu¬ 
rately analyzed, aud chemical skill has succeeded 
iu making them artificially, and in reproducing 
exactly similar water to that furnished by the 
celebrated medicinal springs. Now, one can drink 
