312 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



July 



servation truly. I have not Dr. P.'s -work at hand, 

 but Prof. Johnston says, as I stated in my first 

 communication, that corn meal contains two per 

 cent, more gluten than wheat flour. If these 

 acknowledged authorities "agree to disagree," I 

 shall agree not to interfere. But supposing Prof. 

 J. to be right, and that meal contains more gluten 

 than flour, and yet makes a less adhesive dough 

 may not the anomaly be explained in whole, or in 

 part, by the facts, first that meal is much coarser, 

 and second, that it contains six, and sometimes 

 seven per cent, more fat than flour ? This is my 

 answer to his first question. 



Next he inquires, do one hundred barrels of fine 

 wheat flour contain more or less nutritious matter 

 than the same weight of oat or corn meal ? My 

 authority for saying less is Prof. Johnston, {\{de 

 Chemistry of Common Life, vol. 1, p. 86.) The 

 last of his inquiries that I shall notice is, whether 

 it is true that the "potato-eating Ii'ish" have fair, 

 round bellies ? "Honest Mike Fagan, of Tipper- 

 ary, avers that it is not true." Prof. Johnston says 

 as follows : "The Hindoo who lives on rice, the 

 negro who lives on the plantain, and the irishman 

 who lives exclusively on the potato, are all describ- 

 ed as being more or less pot-bellied," (vide Chem. 

 Com. Life, vol. 1, p. 99.) The reason of this is, 

 that a given amount of starch — the substance that 

 enters most largely into the composition of the po- 

 tato — contains much less solid nutriment than the 

 same amount of gluten, and consequently a larger 

 quantity of starch must be eaten to supply the same 

 amount of nutriment that may be obtained from a 

 much smaller bulk of gluten. And the admission, 

 in large quantities, of a substance so light and po- 

 rous as starch into the stomach, would, it seems 

 to me, have a decided tendency to enlarge that 

 organ, and confer upon the individual a somewhat 

 corpulent habit. However, the controversy lies 

 between Michael and the distinguished chemist to 

 whom I have twice alluded. Your correspondent's 

 remaining remarks and inquiries I leave to J. K. 

 to answer as he sees fit. The subjects to which 

 they refer he is eminently qualified to elucidate. 

 With one inquiry, I bid my friend, W. H. H,, 

 adieu. What does he understand by "tissue form- 

 ing material," gluten alone, or gluten combined 

 with starch and fat ? j. b. R. 



Concord, April 7, 1856. 



SOUES OR ACIDS. 



The sourness of the juice of a lemon and the 

 acidity of vinegar are so well known that the mere 

 mention of them is sufficient to convey a knowl- 

 edge of the chief qualities of sours or acids in their 

 natural state. There are so many acids that two 

 or three pages of an index to a chemical book are 

 taken up in enumerating them. Every fruit con- 

 tains an acid ; nearly all the metals are capable of 

 forming acids. When coal, wood, paper, rag, 

 charcoal, brimstone, phosphorus, and many other 

 substances, are bui'ned, acids are ])roduced. A 

 flint stone is an acid. There is an acid in our win- 

 dow glass, and in many of the most costly precious 

 stones. The air we breathe contains an acid. We 

 create an acid in the lungs by the act of breathing. 

 By a very slight change sugar can be converted 

 into oxalic acid, Avhich is a strong poison. Sugar, 

 by another change, is converted into vinegar. 

 These two illustrations show that a sweet can be 



converted into a sour ; but when sour fruit becomes 

 sweet it proves almost to demonstration that a sour 

 can become a sweet acid. 



The most powerful acid is that derived from 

 burning sulphur — it is called sulphuric acid, and is 

 one of the most important articles of manufacture. 

 Its acidity is so great that a tea-spoonful is suffi- 

 cient to make a pailful of water quite sour. Ni- 

 tric acid, obtained from nitre or salt-petre, is of 

 the next importance in the arts ; it is so corrosive 

 that it has long been distinguished by the name of 

 aqua fortis, that is, strong water — strong, sure 

 enough, for a nodule of iron, lead, or silver, dis- 

 solves in it like sugar placed in water. From the 

 number of acids which we find in nature, and the 

 tendency of many artificial substances to become 

 sour, it is evident that acids and sours are essen- 

 tial to our life and well being. Acids assume all 

 forms and colors ; some are liquids, some gaseous, 

 others solid. The acids of fruits, when separated 

 from the grosser particles that accompany them, 

 are very beautiful and crystalizable substances. 

 By the ingenuity of the chemist, the sour of un- 

 ripe apples, grapes, tamarinds, lemons, Ike, may 

 be crystalized into beautiful snow-white bodies, 

 which, however, when touched by the tongue, at 

 once indicate their origin by their flavor. — SEP- 

 TIMUS PlESSE, in Scientijic American. 



To Destroy Caterpillars. — A gentleman from 

 Saugus, whose name we have forgotten, informs us 

 that he has found the use of molasses very effectu- 

 al in destroying caterpillars ; that when they are in 

 the nest he has smeared it over with molasses, and 

 that none have ever escaped from it ; that they 

 cannot travel over a limb where the molasses has 

 touched, and that it does not in any way injure the 

 tree, and that upon the whole, he likes it better 

 than lighted torches, gunpowder, soap-suds, whale 

 oil soap, or even the thumb and finger ! A cheap 

 and easy remedy. Let the molasses "work." 



Apples wiTnouT Blossom. — The following was 

 sent us by a lady in Norwich, Vt., now at the ad- 

 vanced age of eighty-four years. It is written 

 with her own hand, which is as clear and legible as 

 the print you are now reading. 



At Barre, Massachusetts, I saw two apple trees 

 which never blossomed, but bore good sized, fair 

 apples. I inquired into the philosophy of it, and 

 was told it was by reversing the scion when grafted. 



M. D. R. 



Parsnips for Stock. — The Prairie Farmer of 

 March 27th, in a valuable article on the Parsnip, 

 says : — It is excellent as food for horses, cattle and 

 swine. It is more nutritious than the carrot. The 

 winter butter from the cows of Jersey and Guernsey^ 

 fed on the parsnip, is almost as rich in flavor and 

 color, as when they are fed in pastures. It bears 

 frost well. If left in the ground all winter, it will 

 be good in the spring. Its ash has 36 per cent, 

 potash. Wood ashes make a good manui'e for it. 

 It is more hardy, and less liable to disease and to 

 insects than the carrot. It may be sown, says the 

 Albany Cultivator, in the fall. 



