734 
October 21 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
pieces. Why is that? In nine cases out of 10, be¬ 
cause some influential member is so fond of the dol¬ 
lar that, rather than open his hands and use his 
nails, he grips on to the coin, lets the rest go, and 
the battle is lost. In these days, when farmers com¬ 
bine, they must understand that they cannot grip on 
to the coin, and at the same time do their most ef¬ 
fective fighting. They must drop the coin when the 
time comes, and use teeth, nails, knuckles, feet, head, 
any part of the body, that can possibly strike a blow. 
ABSORBED FLAVOR IN FRUIT. 
How It Comes from the Outside. 
Mr. Normand told us last week of a melon that ran 
into a patch of peppermint and acquired a taste of that 
pungent plant. Other instances were given to indicate 
that a fruit may take some strong taste by associating 
with other plants. The authorities have their say about 
it. 
MELONS AND SQUASHES—I cannot conceive that 
it is possible for one fruit to absorb flavor from an¬ 
other, or from another plant, simply by contact while 
growing. I think the observation of the peppermint 
flavor in the melon is comparable to most of the ob¬ 
servations concerning the immediate influence of 
pollen from squashes upon the flavor of muskmelons. 
As a matter of fact, this cross has never been made 
under carefully guarded conditions, and I believe 
there is a source of error in the present case. 
Maine. [prof.] w. m. munson. 
EXTERIOR CHANGES.—I should expect that 
melon fruits which grow in a patch of peppermint 
would retain some of the odor of the mint on the 
fruit when it is picked, but certainly there can be no 
such thing as a plant taking up the peppermint odor 
and incorporating it in the tissues of the fruit; nor 
is it possible for peaches to absorb the taste of the 
gourd because gourd vines grow in a peach tree. I 
think that these cases are easily explained by refer¬ 
ring them to the imagination of the party who gath¬ 
ers the fruit under such conditions. 
[prof.] l. h. bailey. 
ON THE OUTSIDE.—Some folks say that cows give 
leeky milk, and that the butter tastes of onions in 
the Spring. Dairy experts assure us that such odors 
and flavors do not come through the cow, but are 
communicated from the outside. I have also been 
able unmistakably to detect the flavor of onions in 
fried apples when the only connection lay in the fact 
that the apples had been sliced with the same knife 
which had recently peeled an onion. These observa¬ 
tions are typical of many others. I feel sure that 
this principle of external communication, plus a vivid 
imagination, will explain the whole story. 
[PROF.] F. A. WAUGH. 
WHAT PLANTS DO.—It is not probable that the 
flavor of fruits is modified materially in this way, 
yet we are not prepared to say that it is not possible 
in some cases. It is now positively known that the 
roots of trees may take up poisons and other dele¬ 
terious matter to which they are exposed. Coloring 
matter and even perfumes may be taken up in the 
water taken in by the root hairs. It is also now 
known that the leaves, and even forming fruits, absorb 
moisture from the air. That with such moisture solu¬ 
ble material, such as perfumes, coal gas, etc., may be 
taken in, cannot be denied. But this occurs to an 
appreciable extent so rarely that we know of no 
recorded facts, such as we have in connection with 
root action. [prof.] j. l. budd. 
Ames, Iowa. 
THE WHOLE STORY.—While I have never ob¬ 
served a case where fruit has absorbed the distinctive 
flavor of another fruit or plant growing near by, it is 
not improbable that this may sometimes occur. This 
would come about through the absorption of the dis¬ 
tinctive flavor after the fruit was mature, however, 
rather than through any mysterious influence of one 
plant upon the other during growth and blossoming, 
as is sometimes asserted. 
We know that most of our delicate fruits, such as 
peaches, pears, mild-flavored apples, strawberries, 
etc., are very quickly tainted if confined in a tight 
box or refrigerator with cucumbers, even though they 
are not in actual contact. In fact, ripe fruits of most 
sorts, if confined, will absorb objectionable odors of 
any kind. Cold storage men recognize this, and store 
fruits apart from meats or vegetables, even when the 
same temperatures are desired. If a gourd vine 
climbed a peach tree I should not be surprised to find 
the peaches tainted wherever the gourd leaves or 
vine brushed against the ripening fruit frequently by 
swaying in the wind. 
The supposed peppermint flavor of the watermelon 
I should presume to be due to the fragrance of the 
peppermint oil upon its rind, caused by the crushing 
of peppermint leaves and stems in picking or hand¬ 
ling the melon, rather than to an actual absorption of 
peppermint flavor by the inner flesh of the melon, for 
its rind is exceedingly dense and impervious. 
The flavor of most fruits is subject to distinct modi¬ 
fication by the application of different fertilizing ele¬ 
ments, various quantities of water, high or low tem¬ 
perature, intensity or dimness of sunlight, etc. There 
is much work yet to be done in determining just what 
treatment is needed to bring out the desirable charac¬ 
teristics of a particular variety in a given soil and 
climate, but I do not believe that in the open air the 
flavor of the crop grown on adjacent ground will need 
to be taken into consideration either by the com¬ 
mercial grower or the experimenter, wm. b. taylor. 
Assistant Pomologist, Dept, of Agriculture. 
THE EARTH EATERS OF SOUTH AMERICA. 
Result of a Craving for Bone Food. 
Most books on foods and feeding refer to the clay or 
dirt-eaters in various parts of the world, who, at some 
seasons of the year, eat quantities of a whitish earth. 
Along the Amazon River are localities where these dirt- 
eaters abound. We often hear of cases where cattle 
gnaw old bones or drink filthy water in order to satisfy 
a craving for bone-forming material which is missing in 
the food. Apparently, the clay-eaters acquire their 
habit from much the same reason. 
I spent eight months in the Amazon Valley in 1879, 
and saw a number of earth-eating children between 
Obidos and Serpa, on the lower Amazon, between 600 
and 800 miles from the coast. They were of all ages, 
from five to 15, and were were gaunt and anaemic in 
appearance, except their swollen and misshapen ab¬ 
domens. They had sickly, pallid, leaden complexions, 
and a dry, scurfy skin, instead of the usual glossy, 
yellowish brown of the Brazilians. The children were 
of both sexes, and of various grades of admixture be¬ 
tween Portuguese white, Indian and negro. The na¬ 
tives deplored the habit, and said it always injured 
the health seriously, and frequently caused death. 
Children of the English and other Europeans acquired 
the habit when allowed to run with the natives. 
A well-educated Brazilian physician, to whom 1 
talked on the subject, expressed doubt as to the clay 
containing any organic nourishment. He said that 
it was a greasy, whitish clay, containing an abun¬ 
dance of fossil diatoms and other minute shellfish, 
and, consequently, considerable phosphate of lime. It 
had a slightly saline taste, and was quite free from 
grit. He attributed the habit to a craving for cal¬ 
careous matters, as the food of the natives in that 
locality consists of coarse mandioca meal, made from 
the root of the cassava plant, fruit and fish, or turtle 
meat. There is little game that can be killed, with¬ 
out a considerable expenditure of time and energy, 
and, except in the grazing districts, very few domestic 
animals are kept. Table salt, in the interior of Brazil, 
is an expensive article, as it must all be imported and 
kept in sealed canisters, on account of the dampness. 
Children seldom get enough of it, and probably begin 
eating saline earths in order to get the taste, and con¬ 
tinue it because the system craves more lime and 
magnesia than they receive in their food. 
Some of the savage tribes in the more remote dis¬ 
tricts, probably eat the earth more extensively to 
satisfy the desire for inorganic salts. Common salt 
is a precious article of commerce with them. They 
burn various rushes and other plants, and use the 
ashes on their food, thereby getting some soda, potash 
and lime salts. They may also use the clay in times 
of scarcity as a “stop-gap” for hunger, to quiet the 
craving for food, but I am quite satisfied that they get 
no appreciable amount of organic nourishment from 
it. Like the slate-pencil habit, to which some of our 
schoolgirls are addicted, earth-eating in Brazil seems 
to be an instinctive effort to supply the deficiencies of 
an “unbalanced ration.” w. v. f. 
WORK OF THE "WATER WITCH.” 
“Is it witchcraft? If not, what is it?” These are 
samples of the queries which were hurled at the 
writer after having described to a party the curious 
workings of the forked green twigs held in the 
hands of a professional “water witch.” In his hands 
the wand would twist itself and pull the point, where 
the two twigs united, downwards, pulling so strongly 
as to twist and loosen the bark upon the green 
branches where he grasped them. This man, by long 
practice of this “gift,” as he called it, could not only 
locate the vein of water, but he could tell how deep 
the subterranean stream lay below the surface, and 
also of the volume of water passing. Why, the wand 
would pull down in his hands and point straight to 
water below the surface, while it was motionless 
when held in my hands. He could not explain, nor 
could he give any reasonable scientific explanation 
for what I saw, only that “it is a gift,” and so it was 
to hundreds of people for whom he located water. 
His fame was known for a radius of 30 miles, and 
many were the farmhouses and buildings supplied 
with fine water from wells he had located on the hills, 
where the water flowed to the buildings from loca¬ 
tions where the existence of veins of water had never 
been suspected. 
The best thing about all this “witchery” was that 
he always hit it right; with him the “gift” was no 
guesswork, but still we lack anything like an intelli¬ 
gent explanation of the phenomenon. In one case a 
man sunk, in solid, hard, blue trap rock to a depth of 
over 40 feet, and then in despair sent for this wizard 
of the witch-hazel wand, who came, and with the 
coolest assurance, pointed to a spot about 15 feet 
from the dry hole, said, “Dig there; right there is a 
large, swift vein of water, 13 feet down,” and so it 
proved, for when the workmen struck the precious 
fluid, it rose to a depth of several feet within a few 
minutes. Perhaps some one can explain this water 
witchery, and who knows but sometime it may be 
listed as an applied science and taught in our agri¬ 
cultural colleges? It might prove fully as useful as 
much that is taught; the lifting power of a squash, 
for instance. r. g. b. 
Connecticut. 
R. N.-Y.—Most practical well-diggers have seen in¬ 
stances of this water witchery. Certain men are 
surely able to find water, but how they do it, is a 
mystery at present too deep for the scientific men. 
AN EXPERIENCE IN STABLE VENTILATION. 
What It Means to Breathe Foul Air. 
I have a recent letter from one of our dairymen, 
which contains some valuable experience regarding 
the importance of ventilating cow stables, and as 
the subject is one which cannot be too thoroughly un¬ 
derstood, I quote from his letter: 
One year ago I built an addition to my basement barn 
the size being 48x52 feet, and will accommodate 11 horses 
and 25 cows. In the horse department there are 10 feet 
between the floors, and nine feet where the cows stand, 
in providing for ventilation your suggestions were carried 
out so far as convenient. I purchased 22 tubes of gal¬ 
vanized iron four inches in diameter, and four feet long, 
with elbow at each end; these tubes were built in the 
stone wall, with lower elbow opening out and upper end 
inward. Near the center of the barn we have a ventila¬ 
tor and hay chute combined about 3% feet square and 40 
feet long, opening into cupola on ridge of barn roof; the 
lower end of the chute is located between two cows. The 
sides of the chute next to the cows are boarded up close, 
two narrow doors on each side reaching within IS inches 
of the floor close the other two sides of chute. 
One cold day in early Winter, the stable being filled 
with stock, doors and windows all closed, I was at work 
making and hanging ventilator doors. I had been at 
work but a short time before I felt sick at the stomach, 
and with difficulty kept from vomiting. I left my work 
to attend to other chores, and had been in the open air 
but a few moments when those disagreeable feelings dis¬ 
appeared. The next morning, upon resuming my work 
on the ventilator those nauseating feelings returned. I 
i hen saw the benefits of ventilation, for I realized that 
all the foul air of the stable was coming my way and 
passing up the ventilator. Several times during the 
Winter I stood in the ventilator shaft and found the air 
very foul. In order to keep the stable sufilciently warm 
during cold weather I found it necessary to close some of 
the fresh air tubes. Once during a very cold spell we 
closed all the tubes, and a strong draft came down the 
ventilator. The front of the manger each side of the 
ventilator is boarded up close 2V 2 feet above the floor. 
This statement of a practical farmer should serve 
in a forceful way to emphasize the importance of 
good ventilation where a large number of animals 
are crowded together in a close, warm stable. It is 
probable that the nauseating effects which the writer 
experienced while standing in his ventilator came as 
a result of poisonous principles which are eliminated 
from the system, rather than from a reduced amount 
of oxygen in the air, or an excess of carbonic acid 
thrown off by the animals. 
If an animal like a mouse be put into a close jar, 
and allowed to remain there until he has consumed 
nearly all of the oxygen, and has charged the re¬ 
maining air with the products thrown off, experience 
shows that it is very difficult to introduce a fresh 
live mouse into this atmosphere and take him out 
quickly enough so that death does not almost im¬ 
mediately follow. The mouse however, could be 
lowered into a similar jar containing pure carbonic 
acid and recovered an indefinite number of times 
without suffering any serious disturbances from it, 
showing that there is in the air once breathed in¬ 
jurious products aside from the carbonic acid, which 
simply dilutes the oxygen, leaving the amount in¬ 
sufficient for the purposes cf respiration. 
[prof.] f. h. king. 
Rape Seed.— The farmers of this country are using 
large quantities of seed of Dwarf Essex rape. During the 
past few years, there has been a wonderful increase in the 
use of this crop. Sheep growers find it a very valuable 
pasture for late Summer and Fall. We had supposed 
that a good deal of seed was grown in the northern States 
and in Canada, but it appears that most of the rape seed 
is imported from England. In the northern States the 
Winters are usually too severe, and the plants are winter- 
killed. As the rape is, at best, a cool weather plant, it 
is not thought that it will produce satisfactory seed in the 
southern States. It does best in a climate like that of 
England, where the Summers are comparatively cool and 
the Winters are mild. It would seem as though some¬ 
one would be well repaid by experimenting with Ameri¬ 
can-grown rape seed, and it ought to be possible to find 
some parts of the country where this seed can be grown 
successfully. 
