1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



539 



barn covering an equal space. Proportionally 

 less flooring would supply the one larger barn — 

 and time and labor would be economized in 

 feeding, clearing and stabling the cattle. 



Improvements in barns have been made. 

 Many have converted their two or three forty by 

 fifty feet barns into one measuring fifty or sixtj' 

 by ninety or one hundred feet — a floor extending 

 the whole length. But these are not models. 

 The form necessitates proportionally more floor 

 building material than if it were more nearly 

 square. 



xVgain, many have increased their "barn-room" 

 by making to one side of a barn of usual size, 

 sufficient addition for a stable — and converting 

 the old floor into bay and the old stable into 

 floor. Thus the amount of stowage is almost 

 double, at small expense. This is a profitable 

 plan for those who are slowly but surely increas- 

 ing their amount of hay and grain — and one that 

 is extensively followed. 



The proper protection of domestic animals, the 

 making of manure, the economizing of labor and 

 building material, the safe and convenient stow- 

 age of the bulky farm products, and the fact that 

 much of the farmer's labor and nearly all his 

 available property are in and about the barn for 

 full one-half the year, render this the most im- 

 portant subject connected with agriculture. Sav- 

 ing as well as producing is necessary to success- 

 ful farming. 



But improvements in building are not so rapid- 

 ly or generally diffused through the community, 

 as those of the various farming implements. An 

 improved tool may be manufactured and scat- 

 tered among thousands of farmers, while an 

 improved styde of buildings would be unknown 

 beyond the adjoining farms. Again, from the 

 expense, an old cannot be often exchanged for a 

 new and improved style of building. 



This evil should be counteracted by engaging 

 experienced builders — by off'ering prizes for the 

 best plans and models at our fairs — and discuss- 

 ing the subject in the agricultural journals. 



But more of this again. W. C. 



Bath, N. H., Nov. 3, 1859. 



COST OF FABM PKODUCTS. 



In another column we give an article upon 

 this subject, which may prove discouraging to 

 some, but one which well deserves attention and 

 critical investigation. We understand that the 

 world is sustained by agriculture ; that in it, it 

 lives and moves and has its being ; so there 

 must be profit somewhere. Whether that profit 

 is to be found among our New England people, 

 is the question to be solved. 



In looking over the items set down by our cor- 

 respondent, we believe he has allowed about 

 twenty-six days' labor as necessary to produce 

 one acre of corn. On referring to the "Transac- 

 tions of the Massachusetts Society for the Pro- 

 motion of Agriculture," we find that in the vear 

 1800, they sent out a series of questions all over 

 the State, making such inquiries as would elicit 

 replies likely to show the average cost of our 



common farm crops. Among these questions 

 was the following : 



^^Hoio many days' labor of a man are usually 

 employed on an acre of Indian corn, including 

 the getting in of all the stover and stripping the 

 liushs from the earsT' 



No question among the fifty which tliey pro- 

 pounded brought so many widely-diff'erent an- 

 swers as this. 



Dr. Payne, of Worcester, set it at ten days ; 

 Dr. Hubbard, of Concord, at fifteen ; Mr. Bab- 

 bit, of Brookfield, at sixteen ; Mr. Heath, of 

 Brookline, at fourteen, and Mr. Gardner, of the 

 same town, at eighteen ; the Middlesex Society 

 at/ourteen ; Mr. Kent, of Newbury, at twenty; 

 Mr. Packard, of Marlborough, the same ; and 

 Col. Parsons, of New Gloucester, at thirty-two. 

 The average of these returns gives seventeen and 

 tivo-thirds days' work for a man to produce an 

 acre of corn, beginning with the plowing and 

 placing the corn in the bin. With the improved 

 implements of the present day, we ought to be 

 able to accomplish the work with two or three 

 days' less labor than they did then. 



The subject is an important one, and we hope 

 it will receive careful attention. 



EFFECTS OF HEAT UPON MEAT. 



Prof. Johnston, in his Chemistry of Common 

 Life, says that a well cooked piece of meat should 

 be full of its own juice, or natural gravy. In 

 roasting, therefore, it should be exposed to a quick 

 fire, that the external surface may be made to 

 contract at once and the albumen to coagulate, 

 before the juice has had time to escape from 

 within. The same observations apply to boiling ; 

 when a piece of beef or mutton is plunged iiito 

 boiling water, the outer part contracts, the al- 

 bumen which is near the surface coagulates, ar.d 

 the internal juice is prevented either from being 

 diluted or weakened by the admission of waitr 

 among it. When cut up, therefore, the meat 

 yields much gravy, and is rich in flavor. Hence, 

 a beefsteak or mutton chop is done quickly, and 

 over a quick fire, that the natural juices may 

 be retained. On the other hand, if the meat be 

 done over a slow fire, its pores remain open, 

 the juice continues to flow from within as it has 

 dried from the surface, and the flesh pines and 

 becomes dry, hard and unsavory. Or if it be put 

 in cold and tepid water, which is afterwards 

 brought to a boil, much of the albumen is ex- 

 tracted before it coagulates, the natural juices, 

 for the most part flow out, and the meat served 

 is nearly tasteless. Hence to prepare good boiled 

 meat it should at once be put into water already 

 brought to a boil. But to make beef tea, mutton 

 broth, and other beef soups, the flesh should be 

 put in cold water, and this afterward very slowly 

 warmed, and finally boiled. The advantage de- 

 rived from simmering — a term not unfrequent in 

 cookery books — depends very much upon the 

 eff"ects of slow boiling, as above explained. 



