464 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



principles, serving as a vehicle for air and heat 

 and being converted by cold into ice; by these 

 several properties it greatly iacilitatcs decomposi- 

 tion: the second portion, from which no evil oi 

 the kind arises, is found combined and solidifi- 

 ed in the plants, and its actio:) is thus neutra- 

 lized." 



Drying fruits, then, in order to preserve them, 

 consists in depriving them of the water contained 

 in them in a free state. This may be done by 

 subjecting them to heal, not exceeding 95 or 113 

 degrees; either by exposing them to the sun, or 

 in a stove room, or in ovens, which latter practice 

 is resorted to, even in the warmest countries, at 

 the commencement of the drying process. In 

 preserving the apple, for instance, our author adds, 

 that by depriving their surface of all moisture be- 

 fore putting them up; keeping them in dry places, 

 where the temperature will be constantly between 

 50 and 54 degrees, and by separating the fruits 

 that they shall not come in contact, they may 

 sometimes be preserved IS mom lis. The farmer 

 in Schoharie, who has been in the habit of bring- 

 ing the Spitzenberg to our market on the 4th of 

 July, owes his success to the observance of these 

 rules. 



On the preservation of the. fruits of the earth by 

 secluding them from the action of air, water and 

 heat, M. Chaptal enumerates the following lead- 

 ing causes of decay. 



"The atmospheric air, coming in contact with 

 fruits, deprives them of their carbon, and forms 

 carbonic acid. 



"Fruits exposed to the solvent action of water 

 suffer decomposition, by having the affinity exist- 

 ing between their constituent principles weakened, 

 and at length destroyed. 



"Heat dilates the particles of bodies, and thus 

 diminishes the force of cohesion and attraction, 

 and favors the admission of air and water. 



"The combined action of these three agents 

 produces very speedy decomposition; the effect 

 produced by any one of them is slower, and 

 the results different. So that in order to pre- 

 serve fruits from decomposition, it is necessary 

 to guard them lrom the power of these three de- 

 stroyers." 



Practically applied, these axioms teach, that to 

 preserve roots in good condition, the following pre- 

 cautions should be observed: 



1st. That their surfaces be entirely freed from 

 moisture before they are housed or buried, and that 

 they be deposited in a dry situation, where water 

 will not have access to them. 



2d. That they be excluded from the. air, by bu- 

 rying them in dry earth, or slightly covering them 

 in the cellar with earth. And 



3d. That they be kept in a cool temperature; 

 the best ranging from 34 to 45 degrees. 



We frequently hear housekeepers complain. 

 that their potatoes, turnips, and other vegetables 

 soon deteriorate, and lose their fine flavor, after 

 they have been a short time in their cellars. This 

 is a natural consequence of the injudicious way 

 in which they are too frequently kept: exposed to 

 the atmosphere, and to a high temperature, in a 

 cellar adjoining the kitchen, or perhaps in the 

 kitchen itself. Again, potatoes or turnips buried 

 in a wet condition, or the latter with parts ■ 

 tops left on, are very liable to ferment and spoil. 

 We find it to be a necessary precaution in bury- 



ing turnips, to make one or mere holes in the 

 crown of the pit, to let off' the rariried air, and 

 abate the heat which is almost invariably gene- 

 rated uu their being buried. 



In preventing trie total loss of potatoes that 

 have been arlected by frost, Thomas Dallas di- 

 rects, that when they arc slightly touched by the 

 frost, it is only necessary to sprinkle the roots with 

 lime to absorb the water under the skin; that 

 when the outer portion of their substance is 

 irozen, the tuners maybe pared and thrown for 

 some hours into water slightly salted; and that 

 when they are wholly frozen, they will yield, upon 

 distillation, a spirituous liquor resembling the best 

 rum, and in greaier quantity than roots which 

 have not been tiuzen. 



The quotations we have made above are inval- 

 uable to the farmer and housekeeper; and if the 

 principles which they establish are understood 

 and practised upon, we shall have no cause to 

 reaxet the length to w^hich we have extended this 

 article. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 



Mr. Tucker — I have seen in some late num- 

 bers of the Farmer, inquiries relative to the man- 

 ufacture of sugar lrom beets and potatoes. The 

 inquiry, as far as relates to beets, \ ou have an- 

 swered in your last number; and the process of 

 manufacture where potatoes are. used, has been 

 already fully and abl : described in the Farmer, in 

 vol. 2J, at po an article prepared by a 



practical operator, Sir. Guthrie of Sackett's Har- 

 bor, for Proiessor Silhman's Journal. Mr. G. 

 made large quantities of molasses from potatoes, 

 but with all his skill was unable to crystalize or 

 grain it, without the introduction of some delete- 

 rious substance, lead for instance; and conse- 

 quently all his was used in a liquid lorm, of the 

 consistence of thick syrup, or rather honey. The 

 potatoes were first converted into starch, and then 

 by boiling in sulphuric acid, diluted, lor some 

 hours, into sugar. The directions in the Ency- 

 clopedia Americana for this process, are 2000 

 parts ol starch, 8000 parts of water, and 40 parts 

 strong sulphuric acid — the mixture to boil some 

 thirty six hours in silver or lead; but Mr. Guthrie 

 accomplishes the conversion by the use of steam 

 in about six hours. The production of sugar or 

 molasses is possible from a great variety of mate- 

 rials provided by nature, such as the cane, maple, 

 beet, honey — all plants thai afford starch, or sub- 

 stances that by chemical | rocesscan be converted 

 into gum, as flax, linen rags, &c; still none have 

 yet been found, which can successfully enter into 

 competition with the cane, where it is grown in 

 favorable circumstances, and the production or 

 use of sugar is unfettered with vexatious restric- 

 tions. 



In your article on beet sugar, it is remarked that 

 "chemistry has discovered a new material for su- 

 gar in wheat, the great staple ci" the west." That 

 starch could be converted into sugar, liar: 

 been known; and it is only the starch in wheat, 

 potatoes, or arrow root, that is thus convertible. 

 Starch by some chemists, and particularly Prout, 

 is considered as sugar partly < ; and 



though containing but a email quantity ol' carbon 

 'rogen more than sugar, still this excese is 



