Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1868 — Soap Growing on Trees. [ARTICLE]

Soap Growing on Trees.

Soap berries are being found in immense quantities throughout Alaska they grow on a bush about the same in appearance as whortleberries. When ripe they are red, of a juicy and quinine taste, and are generally biennial. One quart taken and placed in a tub the size of a barrel will, when, stirred completely fill the tub with a froth, and the more it is stirred with the naked hand and arm the stiffer it becomes, until you can cut it with a knife. It is eaten with horn or wooden spoons, all the family sitting round the tub. It is undoubtedly an acquired taste, but the commodity is much sought for. The froth is of a beauMful pink color. Green berries will make nearly the same amount of froth, but it is of a white color, and is not so highly flavored. Foreigners stir it with'port or sherry wines, and add sugar, in which case it is a delicious luxury. Large quantities are dried, by being placed in a tub with their leaves, forming a cake, which is placed in wicker tables, with light fires under and the sun overhead. When dried they will keep in a dry place for some years. The dried berries are black and look dirty. A piece two inches square, beaten in a water pool, will fill it full of froth, of a dark pink color. T •

Sagacity pF a Hobsb. —An old family horse that has been running at will through the streets and commons lost one of his .shoes, and with the intelligence of a human being, the old horse walked up to the blacksmith’s where he had been shod for the last twenty years, and to the best of his ability asked the smith shoe him, by raising his foot and stamping the ground. The smith being busy, drove him away several time* 'during the day, and thought nothing of it. The. next morning on going to the shop he found the old horse at the door; again he drove him off, but the horse came back, and entering the shop, walked up to the anvil, and there raised his foot, thus attracting the particular notice of the smith, who examined the foot, and finding it worn off to the “quick,” kindly picked up an old horse shoe and fitting it to his foot, nailed it on; when the., gfeteful animal frisking his tail by way of thanks, trotted off contentedly.—.Vodiwa (Ohio) Courier. A Splendid Palace.— If there is an ilInstrious name at Venice,a.name surrounded by all the prestige of history, .poetry, legends and art, it is that of Foscari. The Palace Foscari is the finelit inVenice, where there are only fine palaces. It has 365 windows, one for each day in the year. It is built of marble. A great discovery has jn*t been made: a Foscari, a true Foscari in a is to-dap the concierge of the palace of his ancestors. A subscription, ,headed by the King and Princes, is being circulated among<he ranks of the aristocracy, and the last of the Foscari will not long remain th? first of portm, ’