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From the Homeward Star.]
The Value of Fruit as Food.
The subject of food is oue which has
a very important bearing upon human
health and human happiness. It has
generally been discussed by our physio
logists and chemists from a chemical
and not from a physiological point of
view, and from this stand point, every
thing is reduced to a mathematical
problem rather than to a vital ques
tion. The chemist will, with his retort
and chemicals, tell us just how much
nourishment there is in a pound of
bread, or a bunch of grapes, for he has
weighed them in his balances. Our
physiologists have hitherto accepted
this chemical statement, because they
have had none of their own to offer,
because it was hard to get data from
which to form a new statement; but
does it not seem reasonable, that if we
were to take the chemist’s statement
in estimating the comparative value of
different kinds of food, we would make
a great mistake. For example, the
chemist tells us that beans, wheat, or
rice contain from 80 to 90 per cent of
nutriment, while he passes 'over the
luscious fruits by saying they are
“slightly nutritious.” Now, there are
few persons who would take this state
ment as containing all the truth. I
think the truth is, that each article of
food has its special value for each in
dividual, modified of course by circum
stances as for instance. There are
times when a pound of grapes, an ap
ple, or a peach, is worth more than its
weight in beans, rice or wheat, not be
cause they have more nutriment, but
because they supply a want of the
system. I will say, that 1 believe any
article of food is valuable to the eater
in proportion as he needs it, and that
bread is most valuable when he needs
it most, and fruit more valuable than
bread when it is most needed, to fill
some want in the wonderful and curious
structure of the human body. The
few insignificant hints which have
gradually led me to this conclusion,
may be briefly stated. The first one
was, when quite a little boy, listening
to a conversation between two farmers,
one of t hem said, “1 have been eating
freely of cherries the past six weeks,
and they have cured me of gravel,” a
disease which physicians know is very
distressing ami difficult to manage un
der such treatment as was in vogue at
that time. The other farmer said,
“then I would dry cherries and have
them the year round,” which he did,
and by their frequent use remained
cured. Here was a case where fruit
had a specific, and to this suffering
man, a value not at all in a ratio to the
amount of nutriment the chemist could
extract from it.
The next case, was quite as interest
ing. Soon after 1 began to read medi
| cine, a young man came to me, suffer
ing greatly with constipation, and said
I he had taken all manner of physic for
1 months, without any benefit. What
could be dor I said I thought 1 could
cure him if he would follow my instruc
tions He asked what he should do r
O, said I, eat one or two good apples,
or any other kind of ripe fruit, every
day before breakfast, and throw vour
, physic to the dogs. He did as 1 said,
i and never needed any more pills. The
j next case was my own. I had an at
tack of dysentery, ami instead of tak
ing the usual remedies. 1 went to an
old peach tree, for peaches were then
ripe, and literally stuffed myself with
ripe peaches. M here the disease went
to I don’t know, but I am sure of one
thing, it never bothered me any amre.
Now, I know these are trivial state
ments, but they led me to think that
fruit had a higher value than the
] chemist gave it. My note-book d full
] of cases where I have test'd its w nth
with the sick, anil if trait is gmd f t
H curing the >ick folks, it is better for
I k eping them wed. t'ne great merrit
X* Wl. .-a tl" t • ' M'aS SO>; fot 111 ’< -ib! .
t of f ,s. that it diets rot ciog the
& s ; s:em. A person mav -at tm much
SV
THE GEORGIA GRANGE.
and bowels, but the depurating organs
soon relieve the distension, and the per
son experiences no further inconveni
ence. But let any one constantly over
eat of highly carbonaceous nitrogeneous
food, and besides the distension, there
will be a cloging of the system, dis
turbing all the functions of the body,
producing nine-tenths of all our dis
eases. Fruit taken as a part of our
food, prevents this clogging, indeed one
of its chief virtues is that the acids
seem to have the properties required to
disolve and carry out of the body much
morbid matter that otherwise may be
retained in the system, causing fevers,
skin diseases, and many other serious
affections.
The free use of fresh ripe fruit or
stewed fruits, keeps the blood cool and
prevents feverishness. The juices of
fruits dilute the blood and keep it in a
proper condition of fluidity quite as
well if not better than water. The
kidneys, also, are kept in a high state
of health by the free use of juicy fruits.
There is no sort of artificial drink that
I prize so highly for the sick, as that
made from fresh or dried fruits;
the latter soaked in sufficient water,
six or eight hours, make not only 7 a
pleasant but highly nutricious drink
for convalescent invalids. Apple tea,
made of nice dried apples, with a little
lemon juice, is exceedingly nice and
very beneficial for fever patients.
In districts where the water is bad,
if people would use fruit freely, they
would escape many diseases with which
they are afflicted, and it is a curious
fact that in such districts fruit gener
ally thrives well. I know 7 poor fruit,
such as is often sold in our city mar
kets, from the wagons of city vendors,
at reduced rates, because it is stale, is
very unwholesome, and may often cause
cholera and other diseases of the
stomach and bowels; but good fruit
never does this. Indeed, even in a
cholera season, the moderate use of good
ripe fruit, is a better preventative of
cholera than most of the medicines
given by the doctors to keep the dis
ease off.
If the alimentary canal is perfectly
healthy, and unclogged by constipating
food, those diseases like cholera, which
sweep over the world, taking off those
who are not physiologically righteous,
would not be known, nor would the
children in our large cities die off by
thousands with cholera infantum as
now. ’There is no greater disgrace to
our civilization, than that we sit easily
under the crime of allowing such vast
numbers of helpless children to die
yearly in our large cities, when pure
air, plenty of soap and water, and more
fruit in their diet, would save them to
age and usefulness.
There is one other value to fruit,
wdiich I cannot pass over in this con
nection without notice, one of the com
mon diseases of childhood is worms in
the bowels. If a child’s digestion be
comes impaired, ajid the gastric juice
becomes weakened or deficient in quan
tity, by over eating or bad food, the
whole alimentary canal becomes clogged
up and filthy, and furnishes a nest for
such worms as will breed there. In this
weakened condition of the system, they
cannot be destroyed by the excreta and
great harm often ensues.
Now, it is an interesting fact, that
ripe fruit is the best preventative for
this state of things. Dr. Benjamin
Hush pointed this out nearly 100 years
ago. He made a series of experiments
l on earth-worms, which he regarded as
more nearly allied to those that infest
I the bowels of children than any other,
| with a view to test their power to re
tain life under the influence of various
I substances that might be used as worm
i medicines. The experiment proved that
; worms often live longer in those sub
' stances known as poisonous than in
some of the most harmless articles of
i food. For instance, in a watery solu
i lion of opium, they lived eleven min
. utes ; in infusion of pink root, thirty
three minutes; in claret wine, ten min-
I utes ; but in the juice of red cherries
they died in six minutes ; blackberries,
in five minutes; red currants, in three
minutes ; gooseberries, in four minutes,
i whortleberries, in seven minutes ; rasp
i beriues. five minutes'; plums, thirteen
and peaches twenty-five minutes. From
these experiments. Dr. Rush argued
I “that ripe fruits, of which chi’ Iren are
vt f n 1,” ir th m t speed 1
effectual p< '.son* for worm.-. In • ra<-
ti , this tl s proved rn t,a 1
thos lildrei ■ freelv
' hl ■ ■■ ; . .
clean ci-n 'ion i :. e Cij-•-’.iv-- tr• >.
. v t w
The practice of poisoning worms with
worm medicines so common, while it
may kill the worms, often weakens the
digestion and invites further attacks,
while the remedy proposed by Dr.
Rush works by strengthening diges
tion and preventing further trouble.
Nor is this the only disease that fruit is
a remedy for, at least when coupled with
rational hygiene. In the year 1810,
when Wilson, the omitholigist, was
travelling from Pittsburg to New Or
leans, on the rivers that connect the
two cities, he was attacked with dysen
tery, and reduced to a very weakened
and painful condition. Withoutfriends,
and away from all medical aid, he ap
plied to an Indian doctor, who advised
him to confine himself to a diet of
strawberries, which were then abun
dant ; he did so, and was soon re
stored to health. There are few doc
tors, even now, wise enough to trust to
so simple a remedy. A soldier in the
late war tells of a circumstance that
occurred in Western Virginia in 1861.
There was great suffering among the
soldiers from diarrhrea, dysentery, and
fevers. The hilsl in that region were
then covered with blackberries, soon to
ripen. It is strange to state that the
surgeons forbade the soldiers eating the
fruits, although the army diet was sour
bread, strong coffee, and musty pork.
The soldiers on this diet grew worse,
and a sorrowful state of things en
sued, when, in a state of desperation,
they broke over the guards, rushed
madly to the hills, and ate heartily of
fruit, and continued to do so. When,
10, disease grew less and the sick list
became small, of course the change of
camp life for pure mountain air and
water, did its share in aiding the re
covery, but not greate than the changer
from a diet of sour bread and pork to
one largely of blackberries. Many doc
tors prescribe blackberry wine for
bowel complaints, but the fresh ripe
berries are better than the wine, as
numerous facts will show.
An old physician, in answer to a
query I made to him concerning the
value of fruit for the sick, replied: I
have long since become convinced that
ripe fruit promotes health, and for half
a century have practiced this belief
when from any cause I became ill, and
have found relief sooner by abstaining
from animal food and using of fruit
freshly, than by any other means, and I
am certain that if medical men would
seek in these simple things the means,
of curing disease instead of adminis
tering far-fetched poisons, they would
meet with better success. As a means
of giving muscular strength, fruits are
better than they are generally thought
co be. A friend told me a short time
since,that he could walk more miles in a
day confined to a diet of dried fruits and
crackers than on any other food. If
we may believe what Du. Challieu says,
the gorilla, which far surpasses man in
muscular power and locomotion, lives
almost entirely on fruits.
The friends of temperance may well
look to the increased consumption of
good ripe fruit as an aid to their cause
not found in any other means. The Maine
law, if effectually carried out, only
takes away the liquor, but not the ap
petite for it, but good fruit is so much
better and more lucious than intoxicat
ing drinks, that I believe its general
and abundant use among the poor
would, in time, make strong liquors
distasteful to them, and undesired. Gen
erally, the love of alcoholic stimulants
does not go with the love of fruits, or
at least, the more one loves the former
the less he loves the latter, and -ice
versa. The passions that are developed
in the human race, beyond what is nor
mal, are largely the result of our food
and drink. If we eat and drink hot
and exciting materials the blood be
comes inflamed, the nerves exasperated,
and the brain sends out thoughts that
are base and mean. Lust and passion,
while in part the inheritance of our pa
rents, comes largely from what we eat.
If we would do away with these foods
that only influence the passions, and
substitute more fruit in their place, we
should need less restraint on wrong
doers, for our hea ls would be clearer,
our blood cooler, our nerves steadier,
impulses m r subjt t to reason,
and life would be ahue Ired per cent b-1-
ter than it is to day.
Hast . n the dly th* . • every
ma i st all sit under “his wn vii . 1
fig tree,” what is perhaps a m relit
■ra translation, tl ■ - tic,
' wher. <•.-rym m, w< u... ;;'.d chi’. 1 -ball
have at ibunda go ■ 11 eat
every J.»v of tl. -..' live-.
FABM AND DAISY.
Feed for Producing' Milk.
It is well settled in the opinion of all
tile best dairymen that bran greatly
promotes the milk secretions in cows,
and it is fed almost universally. About
equally mixed with corn-meal in the
usual proportion. This mixture seems
to promote quantity and quality of
milk. From several sources we hear
that buckwheat bran is a great milk
producer, and it is now being used con
siderably among our Chester county
dairymen, in about the same proportions
as the other. Thos. Gawthrop, near
West Grove, Chester county, also by
repeated trials with his own cows, has
fully satisfied himself that they do as
well with corn and cob-meal and bran
as with pure corn-meal and bran. The
amount of nutriment in corn-cobs is so
very small that this result will have to
be explained on the supposition of the
ground cob acting to promote diges
tion by distending the stomach. The
presence of bulky material necessary to
promote distension, and fill up the stom
ach of ruminating animals,before perfect
digestion can be accomplished, is fre
quently lost sight of. Hungarian grass
is also found for milch cows to be rather
superior to the ordinary run of hay.
The last year or two Hungarian grass
I has loomed up wonderfully in the es-
I timation of our dairy farmers ; and a
I very large scope of land will be sowed
j with it the coming season. It matures
: for cutting in about sixty days, and
produces two to four tons per acre —
the latter of course on good soil. Three
pecks to the usual allowance of seed.
Where a good hay market is convenient,
this substitution of Hungarian grass
for common hay in home feeding will
I be a clear additional source of profit. —
I New Yorker.
I * «
The Grasses.
A correspondent from Bedford, Law
rence county, Ind., writes . “I wish to
double my crops next season, not in
acres, but in bushels. I have a field
I of blue grass and red top sod on a heavy
I clay soil. Shall I plow this fall or
winter, or not till spring, and shall I
single plow deep, or double plow?”
I like to hear a farmer talk of doubling
his crops in this way, and think he is
as well able to advise me as I am him,
*Lut my experience is decidedly in favor
of winter plowing on such a soil as he
speaks of, and I would single plow, and
unless the soil was deep and rich would
not plow very deep. It is best not to
bring up too much subsoil at once, and
we want the sod near enough the sur
face to root soon. I have never used
the Bayless wheel-harrow our corres
i pondert asks about, but I believe the
day is past when a good farmer should
be satisfied with one old-fashioned
harrow. On Highland Farm we have
! a shear-harrow and a Thomas smooth
ing-harrow, and find that by using the
shear-harrow first on sod, and then
cross-harrowing with the smoothing
harrow, we get it in fine condition.
It is a good sign of better farming that
there is more attention paid to the
preparation of the soil and a call for
better implements for this purpose.
Agricola.
Tiie Red Woods of California.
The new sources of wealth which
California is discovering in her vast
timber resources have frequently been
dwelt upon in the newspaper. A series
of letters on the subject in the Eureka
Times shows that that wealth is well
nigh inexhaustible. The figures and
facts adduced by the writer are start
ling, as showing the immense amount
of growing red wood timber the State
still possesses, and which is only wait-
I ing for means of transportation to be
■ brought into market. The total esti
mated yield of this timber is the enor
mous sum of 417,000,000,000, or enough
to employ the present mill capacity of
Humboldt county 11,745 years. It is
complained.however,that these lands are
controlled by monopolists through their
j roads and mills, and that consumption
• is greatly checked by the high cost of
I the lumber.
Evaporated Fruits and Vegeta
bles are very much superior for the table
in summer or winter to the same fruits
and vegetables preserved by the canning
process, and co-t le>s than half as much.
And the great beauty of this new pro-
I ces> is, tl at every farmer, fruit-grower,
gti lei ■ mpi ve h < ntir< sur
plus rop as it omes forward
rk at home ■' . ■.. . y, his
■ .. fu< lai hi ' .... - am
• ’i 1 ..- “'I c. . -• ■ a ,r- ' > -r.
are all so light that the outlay will hardly
be felt, even by poor men.
Another important consideration is
that such carefully preserved fruits and
vegetables always command paying
prices in market. After checking off
enough for family use, the excess can be
sent to market at far less cost than in a
green state, and which will bring four or
five times the price of matured fruit in
its natural condition.
»-■•♦■■■<
Have You a Milch Cow ?
If you have your interest in the fol
lowing is secured. Read what follows,
and go to work at once for the develop
ment of your own cow in the daily
yield of milk. Be sure that the effort
is not delayed.
A cow six years old dropped a calf
on the 15th <ff May, and from the 26th
of May to the 27th of July, by a care
ful and exact record, gave 4018 14-16
pounds of milk. The largest yield in
any one day was 76 5-16 pounds (35
1-8 quarts.) In ten days she gave
744 11-16, or an average of 74 47-100
pounds per day. She gave a good flow
of milk during the season, continuing
to the 24th of May following, and on
the succeeding day dropped twins heifer
calves, which weighed 155 pounds. Six
days’ milk of this cow were set for
cream, and the product was seventeen
pounds and fourteen ounces of good
butter, nearly three pounds per day.
Here was developed remarkable abil
. ity at the pail. Though there may be
few such milkers, yet the effort is
worthy a trial. Your cow may reach
four, five or six gallons per day, which
will more than pay for the trouble.
MISCELLANY,
Winy Farmers are so Poor.
It is believed that seven-tenths of the
planters and farmers of this country,
North and South alike, “are staggering
to their fall under a load of debt and
mortgage. AVhat is the matter ? As a
class, farmers are not lazy. They are
seldom idle. They work as hard as
anybody ought to work. They make,
taking one vear with another, what may
be considered, under the present stand
ard of agriculture, fair crops, and they
get, as a rule good prices for the sur
plus products they put into the market;
still they don’t get rich —in fact are get
ting poorer and poorer every year. Why
is it so ? To say nothing of a faulty
system of cropping—all cotton, all
wheat, all something else ; or of credit,
liens and interest, the reason which we
had in mind with which to point this
paragraph is, that it costs too much to
make our crops. We grow poor, not
so much because our incomes are so
small, as because our outgoes arc so
large. There is no strict method in our
operations and close economy of means.
The expense of making a crop has not
been reduced to a minimum. We fence
in too large a field and travel over too
many acres to produce ten bales of cot
ton or hundred bushels of corn. We
pay out too much for labor and for
fertilizers for the result produced.
The remedy must be sought in sounder
methods, labor-saving implements and
better trained labor and less of it.
Ke.udiii" Aloud.
Good readers generally receive atten
tion when reading aloud. In this ex
ercise it is of the first importance that
ministers of the Gospel should read
well, distinctly, in clear, calm tone of
voice. This is doubly important in
view of the fact that there are hundreds
and thousands of people who never
read God’s Word at home, and that all
thev know of the Scriptures arise from
hearing it read from the pulpit. Preach
ers should never omit reading a portion
of Scripture at any public service. They
should select appropriate chapters, or
parts of chapters, and be sure that they
comprehend the subject, to some extent
at least, and then read with due refer
ence to the style and design of the au
thor; with due regard also to punctua
tion. Every public reader should be an
elocutionist to some extent. Siow read
! ing is not the thing, neither is rapid ;
but calm, thoughtful and deliberate, so
: that all listeners may be duly impressed
with the subject, and have a clear un
. | d<-rstanding of the question under con
. sideration. Good readers, in public,
,: are rarelv met with.
Edward Everett, fine scholar as he
' ' was. ha 1 very sound, pratical views of
| the value ■ our mother tmg le. "To
read th- English well.” said he, “to
1 write a •■ ’’.t. ; ■ band, fms own
1 was a m 1 .-tness and 1.-glbiiity>,
■ ' ■ •of the i rst . >ur rul -
rithmetie, as to dis[ se of at
once with accuracy every question of
figures which comes in practice I call
this a good education. And if you
have the ability to write pure, gram
matical English, I regard it as an ex
cellent education. These are tools.
You can do much with them, but you
are helpless without them. They are
the foundation ; and unless you begin
with these, all your flashy attainments
a little geology and all other ologies
and osophies, are ostentatious rub
bish.”
Busiuew* Law.
The following brief compilation of
business law is worth a careful preser
vation, as it contains the essence of a
large amount of legal verbiage :
It is not legally necessary to say on
a note “for value received.”
Contracts made on Sunday can not
be enforced.
A note by a minor is void.
A contract made with a minor is also
void.
A contract made with a lunatic is
void.
A note obtained by fraud, or from a
person in a state of intoxication, can
not be collected.
If a note is lost or stolen, it does not
release the maker ; he must pay it, if
the consideration for which it was given,
and the amount, can be proven.
An indorser of a note is exempt from
liability if not served with notice of
dishonor within twenty-four hours of
its non-payment.
Notes bear interest only when it is so
stated.
Principals are responsible for the
acts of their agents.
Each individual in a partnership is
responsible for the whole amount of
debts of the firm.
Ignorance of the law excuses no one.
It is a fraud to conceal a fraud.
The law compels no one to do impos
sibilities.
An agreement without consideration
is void.
Signatures made with a lead pencil
are good in law.
A receipt for money is not always
conclusive.
The acts of one partner bind all the
rest.
The Worst Punishment.
“Do you not look as if you had
prospered by your wickedness,” said a
gentleman to a vagabond one day.
“ I haven’t prospered at it! ” cried
the man. “ It’s a business that
doesn’t pay. If I had given half the
time to some honest calling which I
have spent in trying to get a living
without work, I might be a man of
property and character, instead of the
homeless wretch I am.” He then told his
history and ended by saying,“l have been
twice in prison, and I have made ac
quaintance with all sorts of miseries in
mv life ; but I tell you my worst pun
ishment is in being what I am.”
Men can steal our money and rob ns
of our reputation, but no man can de
fraud us of what we are.
Uweful ItemM.
An Irish mile is 2,240 yards; a
Scotch mile is 1,984 yards ; an English
or statute mile, 1,760 yards; German,
1,806 ; Turkish,. 1, 826.
An acre is 4,840 square yards, or 60
yards, 1 foot, 8| inches each way. A
square mile, 1,760 yards each way, con
taining 640 acres.
A legal stone ‘weighs [l4 pounds, or
the eighth of a hundred, in England,
and 16 pounds in Holland.
The fathom (six feet) is’derived from
the height of a full grown man.
A hand in horse measure, is 4 inches.
Stanley a* a Commercial Pioneer.
Trade follows discovery. Stanley,
having spied out the land to bis heart s
content, has established himself in bu
siness, and has sent home for goods.
One of our New England manufactur
ing establishments has in hand an
order for five hundred bales of cotton
for African wear, which are to be tick
eted with a well executed portrait of
the senior Bennett, founder of the
Herald, so that the heathen natives can
see whose enterprise it was that brought
them the blessings of civilization and
woven garments, and that they mav
make a beginning in the artistic de
coration of their mud-walled homes.
So the press proves its claim to be the
great civilizer, first seeking out and
finding the b-athen, and then entering
p, t 0 ,->o: -mercial relations with them.
r ? nG ’ 1 verv muih afi i ni g
Ai '■ . i
lespai r, when your h rt is
mad-j oi steeA.
—
3