76 



of chlorine varied very niucli ; namely, from two to nearly eight per 

 cent. The quantitative difference in the percentage of chlorine in the 

 ashes was found throughout to have a direct relationship to the amount 

 of the crop itself. Should this inference, which the author now presents 

 as provisional only, be substantiated by the further experiments he 

 proposes to make, it may be considered that the combinations of chlorine 

 have the same significance in the cultivation of the potato, that gypsum 

 has to various other cultivated plants. 



impeovemejN^t of the breed of cattle. 



According to Prof. Schmied, a permanent improvement of the breed 

 of cattle is inseparably connected with the following pro])osition, 

 namely : that calves must be nourished with a sufficient quantity of their 

 mother's milk for a much longer period than has hitherto been the cus- 

 tom ; all other methods having reference to this same object being 

 insufficieut without a proper adherence to this fundamental considera- 

 tion. 



GREN'DES^G FODDER FOR DO]MESTIC ANIMALS. 



The practice of grinding or crushing hay and straw, instead of the 

 usual method of chopping it, as an arti<;le of food for domestic animals, 

 is coming very much into favor. The digestibility of these substances, 

 as is well known, is much increased by steaming and softening with 

 water; but a very marked improvement in the condition of cattle, it is 

 said, is speedily observed in consequence of the adoption of the process 

 referred to. It is maintained, also, that horses fed with ground hay 

 are much less liable to suffer from attacks of colic than when the food 

 is chopped, and that an appreciably smaller quantity will supply suffi- 

 cient nutriment, less passing off in the form of undigested fiber. The 

 operation of grinding is effected by means of millstones, or any other 

 conveniently -adapted arrangement, a very soft article of food being pro- 

 duced, which is extremely acceptable to the cattle. 



PRESERVATION OF BEER. 



The method of preserving wine devised by Pasteur, which consists in 

 heating it after having been bottled or put up in casks, to a temperature 

 sufficient to destroy the vitality of any existing spores of the wine fun- 

 gus, and thereby to prevent their development, marked a new era in the 

 business of wine-making, the treatment recommeudetl- having been fol- 

 lowed with great success, and coming more and more into use. Quite 

 recently the same principle has been made use of in regard to beer, 

 which is still more liable than wine to become sour. In this case, too, 

 the success has been complete, and immense quantities of malt liquors 

 of various kinds, after having been subjected to the process, are now 

 shipped from Germany to all parts of the world. The bottles, after 

 being filled and well corked, are ke])t for about half an hour in a water- 

 bath having a temperature of 122° Fahrenheit, after which the warm 

 water is gradually replaced by cold, so as to prevent too rapid cooling. 

 In one of the experiments instituted for determining the feasibility of 

 the operation, four bottles of the same kind of beer were well corked, 

 and two of them were submitted to the process in question, after which 

 all were introduced into a heated room in the vicinity of a stove, and 

 kept at a temperature of between 70° and 80° for four weeks. At the 

 end of this time the prepared beer was found to be perfectly clear and 



