388 
EDITORIAL. 
o" evaporation their business demands. The finishing apparatus is analo" 
gous to the vacuum pan of the sugar refiners. We witnessed the operation in 
progress with the thermometer standing at 112° F. They make annually 
about 8000 pounds of extracts from green plants and roots, consisting chiefly 
of Conium 2000 lbs., Dandelion 2000 lbs., Lettuce 1200 lbs., Stramonium 500 
lbs., Butternut 800 lbs., Belladonna 500 lbs., Hyoscyamus 500 lbs., and so on. 
These extracts in the aggregate according to Mr. Tilden's estimate, are de- 
rived from about 300,000 lbs., of green material, and require the evaporation 
of more than 20,000 gallons of juice. 
Besides these, a considerable amount of extracts are made from dry ma- 
terials, both foreign and indigenous as Gentian, Rhubarb, Chamomile, May- 
apple, Ilorehound, Cohosh, etc. They are also about engaging largely in 
the manufacture of extract of Liquorice from foreign root. 
In the powdering department they run burr stones and chasers, and use 
bolting and dusting apparatus. They powder large quantities of material 
on contract, besides that for their special business, amounting annually to 
from 50 to 60,000 pounds. 
In the herb department, the quantity of material handled is very large. 
The plants are brought from the gardens into a large room in the factory 
building, where a number of girls are employed in picking them over to 
remove other plants accidentally present, and separating the decayed parts 
and the stems when desirable. They are then placed on hurdles, and exposed 
in the drying room till properly desiccated. Two presses are kept in ope- 
ration, by which 2000 pounds of material are sometimes pressed in a week, 
and about 75,000 pounds per annum, including near three hundred varie- 
ties of plants. 
At the time of our visit, thirty men and five girls were engaged in the 
several departments of their establishment. 
When we consider the large amount of extracts of important drugs pre- 
pared in vacuo, which are thus thrown into the market to replace the former 
crude products, obtained by boiling down the juices, etc., in open vessels 
with a naked fire, according to the old method, we cannot but believe that 
much good will accrue to the medical practitioner in the increased power of 
these agents. The Messrs. Tilden have, thus far, been directly beneficial to 
the medical interests of the country. But they have also been indirectly use- 
ful by inducing their neighbors, the Shakers, from motives of competition, 
to adopt the vacuum pan, in lieu of the open boiler, in the preparation of 
their extracts. We have some few observations to make in reference to 
the medicine-producing department of this remarkable people, who receiv- 
ed us kindly during a hurried visit whilst sojourning in their beautiful 
valley, but we are compelled to defer them till our next issue. 
Pennsylvania Farm Journal. Edited by S. S. Haldeman, Lancaster, Pa. 
We have received the numbers of this monthly publication, which dates 
its commencement April, 1851. If it is continued in the same spirit and 
