Another point of great constancy is the position of the pancreas and its relation to the curve of the duodenum. The duodenum always curves round the head of the pancreas and is, as it were, moulded on it and retained in position by it. In birds the duodenum always forms a long loop embracing the pancreas. Further, the ducts of the liver and pancreas always open into the center Of the duodenum, either separately or by a common opening.
Now, the absolute constancy of the curve of the duodenum, the complete fixation of its fourth portion, the position of the pancreas, and the place of entry of the ducts of the pancreas and liver, are all component parts of a siphon trap, whereby gases generated below the duodenum are prevented from passing upward. A reference to the accompanying diagrams will make this quite clear. A is a diagram of a siphon trap copied from Parkes' hygiene. B is a very diagrammatic outline of the stomach and duodenum, a is intended to mark the position of the fibrous band, or musculus suspensorius duodeni; and b the position of entry of the ducts of the liver and pancreas. The duodenum, then, is a siphon trap, and a most efficient one. Now, the efficiency of a siphon trap depends not only on its shape, but what is absolutely essential is that the curve must be kept constantly full of fluid, without which it ceases to be a trap, and would allow gases to ascend freely. The position of the place of entry of the ducts of the pancreas and liver assures that this sine qua non shall be present. The discharge of the secretions of the pancreas and liver, although more active during and after feeding, is practically constant, and so insures in an admirable manner that the curve on which the efficiency of the trap depends shall be constantly kept full not only with fluid, but, as I would suggest, antiseptic fluid. There is no other trap in the intestinal canal, but the peculiar position of the colon would no doubt have more or less effect in preventing gases ascending through the ileo-cæcal valve.—Lancet.
WISCONSIN CRANBERRY CULTURE.
Among the many thousands of well informed persons with whom the cranberry is a staple article of food throughout the autumn and winter, and who especially derive from its pungent flavor sharp relish for their Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey, not one in ten has any definite idea as to where the delicious fruit comes from, or of the method of growing and harvesting it. Most people are, however, aware that it is raised on little "truck patches" somewhere down in New Jersey or about Cape Cod, and some have heard that it is gleaned from the swamps in the Far West by Indians and shipped to market by white traders. But to the great majority its real history is unknown.
Yet the cranberry culture is an industry in which millions of dollars are invested in this country, and it gives employment, for at least a portion of each year, to many thousands of people. In the East, where the value of an acre of even swamp land may run up into the thousands of dollars, a cranberry marsh of five or ten acres is considered a large one, and, cultivated in the careful, frugal style in vogue there, may yield its owner a handsome yearly income. But in the great, boundless West, where land, and more especially swamp land, may be had for from $1 to $5 an acre, we do these things differently, if not better.
The State of Wisconsin produces nearly one-half of the cranberries annually grown in the United States. There are marshes there covering thousands of acres, whereon this fruit grows wild, having done so even as far back as the oldest tradition of the native red man extends. In many cases the land on which the berries grow has been bought from the government by individuals or firms, in vast tracts, and the growth of the fruit promoted and encouraged by a system of dikes and dams whereby the effects of droughts, frost, and heavy rainfalls are counteracted to almost any extent desired. Some of these holdings aggregate many thousands of acres under a single ownership; and after a marsh of this vast extent has been thoroughly ditched and good buildings, water works, etc., are erected on it, its value may reach many thousands of dollars, while the original cost of the land may have been merely nominal.
Large portions of Jackson, Wood, Monroe, Marinette, Juneau, and Green counties are natural cranberry marshes. The Wisconsin Valley division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway runs through a closely continuous marsh, forty miles long and nearly as wide, as level as a floor, which is an almost unbroken series of cranberry farms. The Indians, who inhabited this country before the white man came, used to congregate here every fall, many of them traveling several hundred miles, to lay in their winter supply of berries. Many thousands of barrels are now annually shipped from this region; and thus this vast area, which to the stranger looking upon it would appear utterly worthless, is as valuable as the richest farming lands in the State.
In a few instances, however, this fruit is cultivated in Wisconsin in a style similar to that practiced in the East; that is, by paring the natural sod from the bog, covering the earth to a depth of two or three inches with sand, and then transplanting the vines into soil thus prepared. The weeds are then kept down for a year or two, when the vines take full possession of the soil, and further attention is unnecessary. The natural "stand" of the vines in the sod is so productive, however, and the extent of country over which bountiful nature has distributed them so vast, that few operators have thought it necessary to incur the expense of special culture.