MEADOW FOXTAIL. 



brought to resemble a fallow field, good grass- 

 seed may be immediately sown. If rich ma 

 nure, mixed with lime or chalk, is then evenly 

 spread over the land, and the whole well har- 

 rowed and rolled, the old and young grass will 

 spring up together, and show a wonderful im- 

 provement inTa very few months. Great Britain 

 and Ireland are reputed to possess the most 

 verdant pastures and the finest natural grasses 

 in the vegetable creation. 



In extent of meadow and pasture-land, as 

 well as in flocks, Great Britain and Ireland 

 (says a French statistical account) are the 

 most favoured countries in Europe. They 

 contain 5572 square leagues (more than two- 

 thirds of their territory), in meadow and pasture- 

 land. Germany comes next, having one-quarter 

 of its surface in this description of land. Prus- 

 sia, Holland, and Belgium have a fifth ; Austria 

 and Switzerland a sixth. France does not 

 reckon in this respect more than a seventh part, 

 namely, 4000 square leagues. Italy, Naples, 

 Sicily, and Portugal have only a tenth. 



MEADOW FOXTAIL. See ALOPECURUS 

 and GRASS. 



MEADOW-GRASS. See POA, COUCH, HOL- 

 cus, and GRASSES. 



MEADOW OAT-GRASS. See AVENA. 



MEADOW-SAFFRON (Colchicum). An or- 

 namental genus of bulbs, growing best in a 

 light loamy soil, and increased by offsets, or 

 from seeds. One species only is indigenous. 

 See COLCHICUM. 



MEADOW-SWEET, or QUEEN OF THE 

 MEADOWS (Spiraaulmaria}. In England an 

 indigenous perennial plant, growing in moist 

 meadows, and about the banks of rivers and 

 ditches; flowering in June and July. The root 

 is fibrous, without knobs ; the stems are her- 

 baceous, 3 or 4 feet high, leafy, branched, fur- 

 rowed, angular, smooth. Leaves interruptedly 

 pinnate; downy beneath; the terminal leaflets 

 largest, and lobed. Flowers extremely nume- 

 rous, cream-coloured, with a sweet but oppress- 

 ive, hawthorn-like scent, in dense, compound, 

 cymose panicles, with many styles. The taste 

 of the herbage, like the scent of the flowers, is 

 aromatic, not unlike the flavour of orange- 

 flower water. The distilled water is said to be 

 used by wine merchants to improve the flavour 

 of made wines. Hogs devour the roots with 

 avidity ; goats and sheep also relish the herb ; 

 but horses and cattle refuse it. 



MEAL (Dutch, meel). The edible part of 

 wheat, oats, rye, barley, and pulse of different 

 kinds, ground into a species of coarse flour. 

 See FLOUR. 



MEASURES. See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



MEAT (Sax. mcete, food). A general appel- 

 lation for the flesh of animals when prepared 

 for human food. See BEEF, BACON, CATTLE, 

 MUTTON, PORK, SHEEP, SWINE, &c. 



" In whatever manner meat is cooked," ob- 

 serves Mr. Donovan, " there is a considerable 

 diminution of substance, the loss consisting 

 chiefly of water, juices, soluble matter, and fat. 

 In an economical point of view, a comparison 

 of the loss incurred in the two most usually 

 employed processes, roasting and boiling, is 

 interesting, yet it has not occupied the attention 

 of the public so much as the importance of the 

 798 



MEAT. 



subject seems to demand. Professor Wallace, 

 of Edinburgh, has given us the results of some 

 experiments made to determine the loss which 

 meat undergoes in cooking. It is to be regret- 

 led that it is not more in detail, and that the 

 weight of the bone in each joint was not as- 

 certained ; but still it is of great value. The 

 results, reduced to 100 pounds of meat, are as 

 follows : 



100 Ihs. of beef lost in boiling - - - - -261 

 100 Ibs. of beef lost in roasting - - - -32 



100 Ibs. of beef lost in baking 30 



100 Ihs. of legs of mutton, averaging about 9J Ibs. 



each, lost in boiling ...... 21} 



100 Iba. of shoulders of mutton, averaging 10 Ibs. 



each, lost in roasting --_.., 3i|. 

 100 Ibs. of loins of mutton, averaging 8 Ibs. 12 oz. 



each, lost in roasting --_... 35^ 

 100 Ibs. of necks of mutton, averaging 10 Ibs. each, 



lost in roasting ....... 23} 



Thus, the loss in boiling beef or mutton was 

 less than in roasting. And it appears that 

 meat loses by the cooking about one-fifth to 

 one-third. A few years since, I undertook the 

 superintendence of some experiments of the 

 same tendency, with the view of inserting the 

 results in this volume. These trials were made 

 on several parts of the different animals, with 

 as much attention to accuracy as the nature 

 of the subject permitted. They were made on 

 different qualities of the same kind of meat, at 

 various seasons, both in England and Ireland. 

 Such experiments are exceedingly troublesome, 

 and occasion no small inconvenience; it is, 

 therefore, the less surprising that the subject 

 has been so little investigated; and the follow- 

 ing results, in the absence of any others so 

 particularly detailed, will, perhaps, prove in- 

 teresting. Allowance must be made for the 

 nature of such processes, as the difficulty of 

 fixing an average price of meat, fish, and poul- 

 try, owing to variations occasioned by the sup- 

 ply and the season, the want of uniformity in 

 the prices of the city, and by the exorbitant 

 demands of some vendors of these articles. 

 The degree of fatness was in all cases brought 

 to a standard by cutting off all excess, and 

 leaving the meat in a proper state for house- 

 keepers' use. The meat was in all cases cooked 

 as nearly as possible to the same degree, and 

 the weights were determined with exactness; 

 avoirdupois weight throughout is intended. The 

 bones were entirely stripped of their meat pre- 

 viously to their being weighed. The only cost 

 taken into account is that of meat, leaving out 

 fuel, &c. 



'Experiment 1. A piece of beef, roasted. 

 It consisted of four of the largest ribs, and 

 was not remarkably fat : its weight was llj 1 ^ 

 Ibs. During the process of roasting it lost 2 Ibs. 

 6 oz., of which 10 oz. were fat, and 28 oz. were 

 water dissipated by evaporation. When the 

 meat was dissected off with the utmost care, 

 the bones weighed 16 oz. Hence, the weight 

 of meat, properly roasted and fit for the table, 

 was but 7 Ibs. 11 oz., out of 11 T V Ibs. originally 

 submitted to experiment. This beef would cost 

 in London 8$d. per Ib. The roasted beef cost, 

 therefore, 12 !r/. per pound. In another trial, a 

 piece of beef of the same description, the tops 

 of the ribs having been rejected with their 

 meat, was submitted to the same mode of trial; 

 the weight of bone in 10| Ibs. was 16 oz., and 



