194 



kernel. You can judge best whether to tell your pupils that the 

 2^art of food known as carbohydrates maintains the animal heat of 

 the body. Starch is one of the carbohydrates. There is anotlier 

 element of food in the potato not shown by the iodine test. It is 

 called protein, which makes blood and muscle. One reason why 

 potatoes cook better wlien placed in liot water instead of in cold 

 water, is that the sudden heat coagulates tlie protein of the surface 

 and retards the entrance of water through the mass of the potato 

 and thus tends to make tliem cook less " soggy." Some potatoes, 

 however, cook ''soggy" even with the greatest care on the part of 

 the cook. This coagulation also prevents tlie extraction of the pro- 

 tein from tlie interior of the potato. This same principle is illn.-- 

 trated in the best method for cooking beefsteak. When the surface 

 is (juickly seared by heat there is a coagulation of the protein at that 

 point of the steak that prevents, as we say, " the escape of the juices." 



JlSrO. W. SPENCER. 



■5f -Sv 4f 



* 



Planting a plant will be the subject of onr solicitude this spring. 

 We want every Junior Naturalist to plant something, if it is noth- 

 ing more than a potato. How many children under 14 years ever 

 planted a plant of their own and cared for it during a season ? Soon 

 Ave shall issue a leaflet on the subject. In the meantime be thinking 

 about interesting the children in planting something. 



•X" ^r vr 



The Teachers Home Nature-Study Course is to be improved and 

 enlarged. Heretofore we have not been able to give it the attention 

 that it deserves. Now we are ready to push it. We want you to 

 co-operate with us. We shall publish a monthly lesson. Any 

 teacher in New York State may enroll. Our Farmers' Reading- 

 Course has over 20,000 readers. We wish that our Teachers' Course 



were as large. 



* * -jf 



The days are lengthening. Before we are aware, there will come 

 a soft and velvet spot in the winter days, known as the February 

 thaw. The streams will be bank-full of roistering, swirling water. 

 The ice will be tilted along the brook margins, and the sleighing 



^94 



