Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-29

island cotton cannot be distinguished
from the best Java, unless by its superb
GRITTY, while the seed of the ordinary var
lety is found to be not whit behind the
best Rio"
What futter of excitement and JOY
1t raised in many household-and doubt
less the scene of ours was typical-to find
that the great national plant, the very
symbol of the confederacy, was indeed
SO many sided! It gave US greater conf
dence, if it were possible to have greater,
in the power and possibilities of the
south, now that cotton, the great king,
had had another crown laid on its brow.
So opportune was the discovery, too, that
it struck us as almost divine revelation,
| indicating the interposition of Provi-
dence in our favor. So eager were we to
test it-or rather to confirm it, for it was
too good not to be true-that we could
not await meal time. Residing in North
Carolina and up the country, we had never
seen any sea-island cotton, but the pros
pect of being confined to Rio was by no
means appalling. A pickaninny was
forthwith hurried off to the cotton patch,
then sparsely fecked with newly opened
boes. The apronful of precious stuff,
now a veritable mama, was hardly in
doors before a dozen hands, of all sizes
and colOrs, were tearing, picking, at the
discredited fibre, in quest of the more
priceless seed. Despite the sorghum
sweetening, the verdict was unanimous in
its favor. [ hope that the communication
of this stupendous discovery to our
neighbors added as immensely to our hap.
piness as to our self-impOrtance. But if
in the last respect we sinned, retribution
could not have been laggard. For al
though, owing to the fact that happily
the recollection Of disappOintments and
humiliatiOns is less abiding than the OPP
posite feelings, am unable to tell exact
ly why and when we returned to parched
bran; it is nevertheless true that we did.
Receipts for making "coffee without
coffee" when the real article was alluded
to, strong emphasis on the word left no
doubt as to which kind was meant) where
extensively advertised in the newspapers,
and in some instances sold by canvassing
agents. But rye, Okra seed, and meal or
bran held in the long run the popular
favor. Those who could afford an in
fnitsimal quantity of the real article,
counted out by the grain to favor the
substitute, were the envy of the neighbor-
hood. A cup of pure and genuine coffee
would in the eyes of many have been an
extravaganza akin to Cleapatra's famous
draught itself. The contents of small
gourd, which held our entire stock of the
genuine article for many months before
the close of the war, must have gone to-
ward the making of an incredible lake of
coffee.
The few votaries of tea consoled them
selves as best they could on decOction
of raspberry leaves or sasafras root.
Some genius DISCOVERED in corn-fodder
the exact flavor of black tea. Sugar, after
the fall of Vicksburg, was almost as scarce
as coffee, but in sorghum the people
| found a substitute which came perhaps
nearer a success than any of the number
less makeshifts of the period. Sorghum
or Chinese sugar-cane, as it was then
known, had been raised to some small ex-
tent in the State as early as 1857. 1t be-
gan to be largely planted in 1862, and
during the two succeeding years its cul-
tivation became general; sorghum-boil
ing adding another to the great Southern
| festivals of constructing and hog-kill-
ing. It was about the sole thing of
which there was no stint in the COnfeder-
acy. Verify the land was Submerged in
sorghum" It sweetened the coffee, tea,
and all the time sorghum candy was the
national cOnfection, sosghum ''stews'' the
national festival. The strange, creaking
hum of the cane-mills pervaded the land.
Every place was redolent of it; every
thing was sticking with it.