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Grumio has posted two annotations/comments since 10 December 2015.

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Second Reading

About Wednesday 7 June 1665

Grumio  •  Link

The storys about plague and tobacco reminded me that gardeners use solutions of water and tobacco to spray on plants to kill insects with nicotine. Would not the shops and homes of tobacconists have a lot of tobacco on hand, which would kill all of the plague carrying fleas nearby?

About Whey

Grumio  •  Link

Nowadays in the USA we call it buttermilk. People often drank it in the summer months as a cool refreshing drink. Lots of beneficial bacteria in whey that makes it sour like yogurt. This preserves the whey with acidity and good bacterial that crowds out the bad bacteria. This was very useful in an era that did not have much in the way of preserving food except salt. Whey is also used in bakeing. It provides extra rise to the dough.