118 "ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



nutritive matter for paper-making, in the manner here proposed, the cost 

 might, perhaps, be too great at present ; but the quality of straw that 

 would be of the highest value for making yarn would not be that which 

 would be preferred for food ; and for paper-making, the inferior would, in 

 all probability, be quite as useful. It is a common complaint of persons 

 attempting to grow flax in new districts, that they cannot find a market 

 for it, and consequently many have been deterred from growing this plant 

 by having no use for it, nor being able to sell it advantageously. Now, 

 though the cultivators of flax generally will not be able to derive the full 

 advantage of the proposed novel use of the straw by becoming paper- 

 makers, yet it may oftentimes induce them to decide in favor of its culti- 

 vation, to know that both the straw and seed may be used profitably as 

 food, and that an irregular or "ragged" crop, which would be of com- 

 paratively little value to sell to the flax -spinner, would still prove remu- 

 nerative to the grower. 



The liquid portion of the cow- dung having been separated by mechani- 

 cal pressure, and conveyed into tanks, to be from thence distributed upon 

 the land, the solid matter undergoes a washing in. water, and is then 

 subjected to the action of steam in closed vessels ; it is afterwards allowed 

 to macerate in water for some days, (the length of time varying according 

 to the atmospheric temperature,) so as to admit of a certain degree of 

 fermentation, and again washed, by which means the fibre is more perfectly 

 freed from adventitious matter, which, being present, not only deteriorates 

 the color of the paper, but greatly interferes with its quality in strength 

 and softness. In this state it may be regarded as in the condition of what 

 the manufacturers call "half-stuff;" and so far, the work of the rag-en- 

 gine has been performed by the living machine ; and the material is 

 bleached, by means of seme of the ordinary compounds of chlorine, to 

 whatever extent may be desired. 



NEW METHOD OF PRESERVING WHEAT. 



A Mr. Adams, in a late number of The Journal of the London Society 

 of Arts, has made a suggestion for a new kind of granary, by which he 

 thinks that grain may be safely and effectually preserved for any number 

 of years. The great difficulty now is the naUiral moisture contained in 

 all grain, and which it is never entirely divested of, by exposure to the 

 atmosphere at the common temperature, this being the cause of much of 

 the sour, musty flour found in market. 



The following are Mr. Adams's observations upon the subject : 

 " There does not seem to be any difficulty in the matter, if we divest 

 ourselves of preconceived ideas of the notion that a granary or grain 

 receptacle must necessarily be a building with a floor or windows more or 

 less multiplied in altitude. We may reason by analogy as to what is the 

 cheapest and most effective means of securing perishable commodities 

 frpm the action of the atmosphere and vermin. In England we put our 



