107 



HORSE-CHESTNUT TREE. 



B. D., Oswego, New York. I understand that horse-chestnuts are raised in con- 

 siderable quantities in France, and are used as food for horses, cattle, and hogs to 

 fatten them. The nut has a bitter taste, and it is said that the French people use 

 some kind of alkali to kill this bitter taste and thus make it palatable to their cattle. 

 I wish to find this out, and my reason is that in this city and county horse-chestnuts 

 are grown for shade trees, and thus large quantities of the nuts are grown and go to 

 waste, and we want to know how to use them. Also, the wood is white and could be 

 used for fancy work and finishing furniture. Have you data on the utilization of 

 the horse-chestnut tree? 



Answer. The nuts of the horse-cliestnuttree, &8culus Jiippocastanum, contain about 

 20 per cent of starch, but contain a bitter principle, which makes them unpalatable 

 to most animals, although it is stated that goats, sheep, and deer eat them. They 

 are some times boiled, whicli reduces their bitterness, and are then fed to poultry. 

 When the nuts are dried and reduced to a coarse flour the bitterness is removed by 

 simply washing the flour with water. A paste made with this flour before washing 

 is used by bookbinders and pasteboard manufacturers, its bitterness saving it from 

 the attacks of insects. The bitter principle is called esculin. 



The following products are obtained from the nuts in France : 



(1) An alkali lye from the burnt seed vessels. 



(2) A charcoal from the skin of the nut, which forms the base of different printing 

 inks. 



(3) From the amylaceous pulp the fecula is extracted, which can be transformed 

 into dextrine, glucose, alcohol, or vinegar. 



(4) A fatty matter, which serves to make a kind of soap, and which is also em- 

 ployed to render certain mineral colors more fixed and solid. 



(5) A yellow coloring matter, which serves for various purposes of dyeing. 



(6) The ashes of the burnt nut contains 75 per cent of potash. 



(7) The bark has been used as a substitute for cinchona. 



(8) Tannin is found in all parts of the tree, leaves, bark, and fruit. 



(9) Water in which the nuts are boiled is used for bleaching hemp, flax, and other 

 fibers. 



INDIA GRAINS. 



M.H.N., Texas. During a residence in India I became acquainted with several 

 kinds of gram which are superior to anything grown in this country as feed for stock. 

 These grains are grown in the dry regions, and for that reason I think, they would be 

 specially adapted to southwestern Texas. There is a kind called Gram grown in 

 central India, and in southern India another kind also called Gram. These are ground 

 before fed to stock. Then there is a grain called Bajery, which is used for making 

 bread, of which the yield per acre is very large. 



The Department might procure these seeds through the consular service or from 

 merchants in Bombay. If they can be secured I will have them tried in southwestern 

 Texas and make known the result. 



Answer. The word Gram is used in India to designate various kinds of peas and 

 beans grown for food, just as we use the word grain to designate various useful seeds. 

 Among the species known as Gram the following are noted : Cicer arietinum, Phaseolus 

 of many kinds, Dolichos uniflorus, Soja hispida, and various species of Vigua, which 

 are largely grown in the Southern States under the name of cowpeas. These, how- 

 ever, are not peas ; they are small beans. 



Bajery or Bajree is a name applied to the seeds of Penicillaria spicata, which is 

 well known here as pearl millet, and may be procured from most dealers in agricul- 

 tural seeds in the United States. 



