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Preparation of desiccated vegetables. — A conreiiieiit metliod 

 of preparing desiccated vegetables, as practiced largely in some coun- 

 tries, consists in drying them for a short time and then expovsiug them to 

 a slow heat in ovens. When soaked for cooking, peas, roots, potatoes, 

 beets, corn, and other substances, swell out and show very little change 

 in their esculent properties. A modification of the process consists in 

 l^lacing the substances, after being sun-dried, in paper bags, which are 

 pasted up at the mouth, and then covered with sand and heated until 

 perfectly crisp, but not burned nor materially changed in color. 



Economy of long furrows in plowing. — A German agricultu- 

 ral journal observes that farmers usually pay very little attention to 

 the "length of the fuiTows to be plowed in a field, and yet great waste 

 of time and labor is the necessary consequence of unsuitable arrange- 

 ments in this respect. The turning of the plow and the commencing of 

 a new furrow requires more exertion in the plowman and the team than 

 continued work on a straight line, and how great may really be the loss 

 of time from frequent interruptions in short turns may be shown by the 

 following calculation : In a field 225 feet long, five and a half hours 

 out of ten are used in redirecting the plow ; with a length of 575 feet, 

 four hours are sufficient for the purpose, and when the plow can pro- 

 ceed without interruption for 800 feet, only one and a half hours of the 

 daily working time are consumed. Hence the rule to make the furrows 

 as long as circumstances will admit. 



Pasteur's mode of preparing vinegar. — The researches of Pas- 

 teur, in regard to the microscopic growths that alfect the silk- worm, the 

 Aine, wine, &c., are well known to many of our readers ; but they may 

 not be so familiar with one of his many important practical applications of 

 science to the economical manufacture of an excellent quality of vinegar. 

 His method has been practiced in an extensive establishment in Orleans, 

 France, for some time past, under his direction, although it is but recently 

 that the details of the process have been made known. The apparatus 

 employed consists of as many tubs, holding about thirty gallons each, 

 as can conveniently be accommodated in one room, kept heated to a 

 temperature of 70^ to 80°. These are filled with a mixture of vinegar 

 and wine, and the vinegar fungus is planted, or sown, upon the surface. 

 This is an application of the fact, established by Pasteur, that the con- 

 version of wine into vinegar is caused by the development in the liquid 

 of the so-called vinegar fungus, or Mycoderma aceti. This planting, or 

 sowing, is accomplished by the use of thin wooden spatulas, iireviously 

 moistened to i^reveut adhesion, and then laid on the liquid covered by 

 the fungus, so as to take off a thin layer, and afterward immersing this 

 carefully in the unchanged liquid, and stirring round so as to carry the 

 • fungus to the bottom. This soon rises to the surface, which is completely 

 covered by it in about eighteen hours. With the development of the 

 plant the manufacture begins, accompanied by a considerably concomi- 

 tant development of heat. In the course of nine or ten days, and some- 

 times in eight, the entire liquid is transformed into vinegar, the comple- 

 tion of the operation being shown by the tearing apart of the fungus 

 layer, and its falling to the bottom. The vinegar, which by this time has 

 become cold, is drawn off through an opening near the bottom of the 

 tub ; ninety-five i)arts of vinegar being obtainable from one hundred 

 parts of the wine. When the vinegar is drawn oft" the tubs are to be 

 well scrubbed out with clean water, so as to be entirely free from all 

 particles of fungus ; they are then ready for a new mixture of wine and 

 vinegar. The advantage of this method consists in its simplicity and 



