144 'rh^ Journal of Forestry. 



Bread from Wood. — In an article on Dietetics in No. CIV. of the Qnarferly 

 Revieio there is an account of an experiment made by a German professor to 

 utilize wood as a bread-making substance. To make wood flour to perfection 

 the learned experimentalist said, the wood, after being stripped of its bark, 

 was to be sawn transversely into discs of about aa inch in diameter. The 

 sawdust was to be preserved, and the discs beaten to fibres in a pounding mill. 

 The fibres and the sawdust, mixed together, were next deprived of every- 

 thing harsh and bitter soluble in water by boiling or by subjecting thern to 

 the action of cold water, which was done by enclosing them in a sack and 

 beating the sack with a stick or treading it with the feet in a rivulet. After 

 this pulping operation, the dust and fibre were completely dried, either by the 

 sun or by fire, and repeatedly ground in a flour mill. The ground wood was 

 next baked into small flat cakes, with water rendered slightly mucilaginous by 

 the addition of some decoction of linseed, mallow stalks and leaves, lime tree 

 bark, or any other similar substance. The professor preferred marshmallow 

 roots, one ounce of which rendered eight quarts of water sufficiently mucila- 

 ginoiis, and these served to form four pounds and a half of wood flour into 

 cakes. These cakes were baked until they were well browned on the surface, 

 and afterwards broken into pieces and ground until the flour was sufficiently 

 pulverized to pass through a fine bolting cloth ; for on the fineness of the flour 

 depended its suitability for bread-making. The flour of a hard wood, such as 

 beech, was found to require the process of baking and grinding to be repeated. 

 The wood flour, it was found, did not ferment so readily as wheaten flour, but 

 the professor ascertained that fifteen pounds of beechwood flour mixed with 

 three pounds of some wheaten leaven and two pounds of wheat flour mixed 

 with new milk, yielded thirty-six pounds of very good bread. The learned 

 gentleman first tried the nutritious qualities of the produce of his wood flour 

 upon a young dog ; afterwards he fed two pigs upon it ; and then taking 

 courage, he attacked himself, in the form of gruel, soup, dumplings, and pan- 

 cakes, with as little, if any, other ingredient as possible. The family party 

 which conducted the experiment found the dishes palatable and quite whole- 

 some, but this form onigneous farina does not seem to have found much favour 

 beyond the limits of the inventor's household. — Miller, 



The estate of Balmuir has been purchased by Mr. John Sharp, of Fernhall, 

 for the sum of £64,000. The estate is situated within two miles of the town 

 of Dundee, and contains 693 imperial acres, whereof about 600 are arable and 

 50 are underwood. 



Ash Trees and Horseshoes. — Mr. Edward Peacock, writing in the North 

 British Advertizer, says — " I was informed yesterday that in felling a wood in 

 the parish of Scotton, near Kirton-in-Lindsey, several horseshoes had been 

 found buried under the roots of ash trees. It seemed, said my informant, that 

 a horse shoe had been put into the hole and the young tree planted on it. 

 Have any of your readers ever heard of such a practice, and can any motive* 

 magical or otherwise, be suggested for the custom, if custom it be ? " 



The Planes in the Green Park. — The relief of some of these by thin- 

 ning was effected during the winter, and the trees promise to afford a 

 noble shady grove for one side of Piccadilly in good time. It is to be hoped 

 the rest will shortly be thinned also. A very fine line of young trees has also 

 been planted alongside the drive in Hyde Park. They are planted at distances 

 which will admit of their becoming stately trees and affording pleasant shade. — 

 The Garden. 



