FARMERS' REGISTER— LOSS IN COOKING ANIMAL FOOD, &c. 



171 



ter, the true food of plants. It not only serves as 

 a manure, but it benefits mechanically. Its tap 

 roots penetrate and di\ide the soil, and as they 

 ilecay render it friable, and permeable to heat, air, 

 and moisture. A well set clover lay inijiarts to 

 the soil as much benefit, in our opinion, as ten 

 loads of yard manure to the acre. When a broad- 

 cast crop is to be Ibliowcd by a tillage crop, as 

 corn, potatoes, or small grain, there is manifestly 

 a decided advantage in stocking it with clover, 

 though it is to be turned under the ensuing lall or 

 spring. We estimate its value as manure, to saj' 

 nothing of the pasture which it aflbrds, at fron) 

 five to ten dollars per acre, while the cost of the 

 seed does not ordinarily exceed one dollar. I 

 have sown rye and clover, upon a piece of poor 

 sandy land, for which I had no manure to spare, 

 three years in succession with manifest advantage. 



LOSS OF WEIGHT'IN COOKING ANIMAL FOOD. 



It is well known that, in whatever way the flesh 

 of animals is prepared for food, a considerable di- 

 minution takes place in its weight. As it is a sub- 

 ject both useful and curious in domestic economy, 

 we shall give the results of a set of experiments, 

 which were actually made in a public establish- 

 ment: they were not undertaken from mere curiosi- 

 ty, but to serve a purpose of practical utility. 28 

 nieces of beef, weighing 280 lbs., lost in boiling 

 73 lbs. 14 oz. Hence the loss of beef in boiling 

 was about 20| lbs. in 100 lbs.: 19 pieces of beeij 

 weighmg 190 lbs., lost in roasting 61 lbs. 2 oz. 

 The weight of beef lost in roasting appears to be 

 82 lbs. per hundred lbs. 9 pieces of beefj weighing 

 90 lbs., lost in baking 27 lbs. Weight lost by bee] 

 in baking is 30 lbs. per 100 lbs. 27 legs of mutton, 

 Aveighing 2G0 lbs. lost in boiling, and by having 

 the shank-bones taken off, 62 lbs. 4 oz. The shank- 

 bones were estunated at 4 oz. each, therefore the 

 loss in boiling was 55 lbs. 8 oz. The loss of weight 

 in boiling legs of mutton is 21 lbs. j:)er 100 lbs. 35 

 shoulders of nuitton, weighing 350 lbs., lost in 

 roasting 109 lbs, 10 oz. Uiie loss of weight of 

 nuitton in roasting was 31.^ lbs. per 100 lbs. 16 

 loiiis of mutton, weighing 141 lbs., lost in roasting 

 49 lbs. 14 oz. Hence loins of mutton lose by roast- 

 ing about 35^ lbs. per 100 lbs. 10 necks of mut- 

 ton, weighing 100 lbs., lost in roasting .32 lbs. 6oz. 

 From tile foregoing statement, two practical in- 

 ferences may be drawn. 1st. In respect of econo- 

 my, it is more profitable to boil meat than to roast 

 It. 2nd. W^hether we roast or boil meat, it loses 

 by cooking from one-third to one-fifth of its whole 

 weight. — Philosophical Magazine. 



CONJUGAL AFFECTION OF A SHARK. 



From tlie Journal of a West India Proprietor. By the late Mat- 

 thew G. Lewis. 

 'As I am particularly fond of proofs of conjugal 

 attachment between animals (in the human species 

 they are so universal that I set no store by them,) 

 an instance of that kind which the captain related 

 to me this morning gave me great pleasure. While 

 lying in Black River harbor, Jamaica, two sharks 

 were frequently seen playing about the ship; at 

 length the female was killed, and the desolation of 

 the male was excessive: — 



"Che faro senz' Eurydice?" 



What he did xoiihout her remains a secret, but 



what he did with her was clear enough; for scarce 

 was the breath out of his Euiydice's body wbea 

 he stuck his teeth in her, and began to eat her up 

 with all jjossible exj'edition. Even the sailors felt 

 their sensibility excited by so jjeculiar a mark of 

 posthumous attachment; and to enable him to jier- 

 fbrm this melancholy duty the more easily, they of- 

 fered to be his carver.-?, lowered their boat, and |)ro- 

 ceeded to chop his better half in pieces with their 

 hatchets; while the widower opened his jaws as 

 wide as possible, and gulped down pounds u|)on 

 pounds of the dear departed as fast as they were 

 thrown to him, with the greatest delight and all the 

 avitlity imaginable. I make no doubt that all the 

 while he was eating, he was thoroughly persuaded 

 that every morsel which went into his stomach 

 would make its wny to hie heart directly! "She 

 was perfectly consistent," he said to himself; "she 

 was excellent through life, and really she's extreme- 

 ly good now she's dead!" 



WILD ANIStALS OF THE ILLINOIS, NORTH 

 AMERICA. 



Al)riilged from the Illijiois Monthly Magazine. 



The bufTaloc has entirely left us. Before the 

 country was settled, our immense prairies aflbrded 

 pasturage to large herds of this animal, and the 

 traces of them are still remaining, in the "bidla- 

 loe i^aths" which are to be seen in several parts of 

 the state. These are well beaten tracks, leading 

 generally from the prairies ni the interior of the 

 state, to the margins of the large rivers; showing 

 the course of their migrations, as they changed 

 their pastures periodicidly, from the low marshy 

 alluvion, to the dry ui)land plains. In the heat of 

 summer they would be driven from the latter by 

 prairie flies; "in the autumn they would be expelled 

 from the former by the musquitoes; in the spring 

 the grass of the plains would aflfbrd abundant pas- 

 turage, while the herds could enjoy the warmth of 

 the sun, and snuff the breeze that sweeps so freely 

 over them; in the winter the rich cane of the river 

 banks, which is an evergreen, Avould furnish food, 

 while the low grounds, thickly covered with brush 

 and forest, would afford protection from the bleak 

 winds. I know fijw subjects more interesting than 

 the migration of wild animals, connecting, as it 

 does, the singular displajs of brute mstinct, with 

 a wonderful exliibition of the various supplies which 

 nature has provided lor the support of animal life, 

 under an endless variety of circumstances. These 

 paths are narrow, and remarkably direct, showing 

 that the animals travelled in single file through 

 the woods, and pursued the most direct course to 

 their places of destination. 



Deer are more abundant than at the first settle- 

 ment of the country. They increase, to a ceriain 

 extent, Avith the population. The reason of this 

 appears to be, that they find protection in the 

 neighborhood of man, from the beasts of prey 

 that assail them in the wilderness, and from whose 

 attacks their young, particularly, can with difficul- 

 ty escape, They'sufler most from the Avolves, 

 who hunt in packs like hounds, and who seldom 

 give up the chase until a deer is taken. We have 

 often sat, on a moonlight summer night, at the 

 door of a log cabin on one of our ])rairies, and 

 heard the wolves in full chase of a deer, yelling^ 

 very nearly in the same manner as a pack of 

 hounds. Sometimes the cry would be heard at a 



