V OL. XVI. NO. 4G. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



865 



greater power at a high than a low temperature. 

 A weiijiied quantity of pepper, eaten with an oys- 

 ter at the freezing temperature, will exert but little 

 energy on the palate, while the same quantity on 

 an equivalent of lohster, heated very hot, will ho 

 e.xceediugly pungent ; ou thi.^^ account flarors are 

 often improved -by mere increase of temperature ; 

 thus very hot coftee is always [)referred to the 

 same article when warm ; the perfection of a din- 

 ner, with most persons, is to have it aerved as hot 

 ns it can he ; ami those who wish the stimulus of 

 brandy on the palate, without its intoxicating ef- 

 fect, drink it much diluted, hut at a scalding heat. 

 Delicate flavors are not appreciated at high heats ; 

 thus the finer kinds of tea do not hear to be drunk 

 at a heat above 110 F. without loss. 



A very low temperature is always unfriendly to 

 the perception of tastes, and even pungent ones 

 often become insipid. This i^ strongly exemplied 



in a circumstance stated by Captain Parry: .V 



party that had lost their way in .Melville Island 

 (luring an intense cold, observed that a mixture of 

 rum and water appeared [)erfectly tasteless and 

 clammy. The best household bread, if reduced 

 to the temperature of 28*^ will be found tasteless 

 in the mouth : it has the best flavor at 60°. To 

 most persons an oyster is in its most agreeable 

 state when raw; at the tem|)erature of 70*^ or SO 

 it is not in perfection, the want of sufficient cold- 

 ness is quite percetnible; yet at 32'^ it is just as 

 bad, and quite inferior to the same oyster at 4S° 

 which is the temperature best calculated to devel- 

 op the flavor. 



A draught of cold s[iring water is delightful in 

 summer, not merely on account of its coldness but 

 on account of its apparent freedom from all ill 

 taste. Here the organ judges under the deceptive 

 and paralysing influence of cold ; for let some of 

 the same water rise to the temperature of 70' and 

 it will evince that it not only possessed a taste but 

 a disagreeable one. Scarcely any water that is- 

 sues directly frotn springs is. free from a mineral 

 flavor, and this is chiefly disguised by its cold- 

 ness. 



Some kinds of bad port wine are improved by 

 icing ; fur the reduction of temperature renders 

 the organ less sensitive. The same treatment 

 would virtually lessen the fine flavor of good port, 

 and hence such ought not to be iced. To reduce 

 good port to 32^ would not only render it muddy, 

 because a salt, consisting of lime, potash, and tar- 

 taric acid, would be |Tecipitated, but it would 

 lock up Its flavor, as it is expressed ; it may, how- 

 ever, be afivantageously cooled down to 4.3'^or 50°; 

 for then the proper degree of sa|)idity is developed. 

 Madeira and other wines of great body bear a 

 ilight elevation of temperature, and sufl'er an 

 igreeable developtnentof flavor; sparkling Cham- 

 [)aigne, on the other band, is improvetl by cold, 

 'or it then better retains its carbonic aci(l when 

 loured out ; and, although in this state it efFer- 

 'esces less briskly in the glass, the taste of the 

 carbonic acid, one of its important constituents, is 

 endered more |)erceptible. But even of this 

 vine much icing locks up its flavor. 



In some instances the desired effect is produced 

 ly reducing the temperature of part of the mouth, 

 nstead of cooling the liqiujr. The taste of porter 

 3 best at a medium temperature ; in warm weather 

 : is considered by pL-rsons who are fastidious in 

 lat beverage, to be improved by being drunk out 

 fa metallic vessel. The metal, being an excel- 

 JDt conductor of heat, on being applied to the lips 



causes an instantaneous rush of heat from all parts 

 to restore tlie equilibrium, and the porter is re- 

 ceived into the month while the nerves are at a 

 lower tem|)erature ; and therefore the liquor tastes 

 to more advantage. At least this is as good a 

 tlicory as that, which has been long since advan- 

 ced, in which the improvement of porter drunk 

 out of a metallic vessel is attributed to the agency 

 ot galvanism. So sensitive i.s the organ of taste 

 ia this respect, that if the liquor he covered by a 

 foamy head, which is a very ba<l conductor of 

 lieat, it intercepts the passage of heat from the 

 upper lip, and hence feels warm, and becomes 

 disagreeable whether the vessel is metallic or not. 



The Maine Fanner is one of the best conducted 

 Agricultural periodicals to be found among us; 

 and we are often happy to enrich our coiuuuis 

 with some of its agreeable and valuable article.-^. 

 The subjoined piihy dialogue will at least serve 

 to anmse our reailers. It must contribute to si- 

 lence some of the murmurings on the part of the 

 farmers, which we are occasionally compelled to 

 listen to ; ami every grateful and considerate far- 

 mer, if he will give honest testimony will neces- 

 sarily find its statements confirmed by his own cx- 

 I)erience. 



THE FARMER HAS NO REASON TO BE DIS- 

 CONTENTED WITH HIS CONDITION. 

 Ma IIoLWES : — Perhaps there is no class of peo- 

 ple in the community more subject to unreasona- 

 ble discontent than the farmer ; not that the dispo- 

 sition of a farmer is worse than that of other men, 

 hut the way and manner he receives many bles- 

 sings, is such, that he is not led duly to estimate 

 their value. I will illustrate this, by introduciiig 

 the substance of a dialogue, which took place, 

 some years ago, in Massachusetts, between a me- 

 chanic and a farmer. 



Farmer. I have always thought tTie mechanic 

 has too much the advantage of the farmer: here 

 yon make your two dollars a day, while we poor 

 farmers scarcely realize fifty cents. 



Mechanic. Will you be good enough to answer 

 me two or three questions ? 

 F. As many as you please. 

 IM. How large is your family .' 

 F. I have some over a dozen. 

 M. Do you support them from your farm ? 

 F. I do. 



M. What think yon it would cost to support 

 them a year, by buying every article consumed, 

 at the rate we mechanics, here in town, have to 

 pay for them, — say milk at six cents a quart ; butter 

 at twenty cents a pound ; wood four or five dol- 

 lars a cord, and other articles in proportion ? 

 F. Tut I Cost every thing, almost I 

 M. Name some sum, if yon please. 

 (Farmer makes a long [lause, scratching his 

 head.) 



F. Why, really I I think as likely as not it 

 would cost si.x hundred dollars a year. 



M. And 1 understand, you support your familv 

 from your farm, without running in debt ; and 

 perhaps gain property to boot. 

 F. I gain on the whole. 



M. Now let us calculate a little. You must be a 

 very fortunate man, as well as very industrious, to 

 lai)or three hundred days in a year, winter and all. 

 I'his gives you two dollars a day, the year round, 

 — inore than any mechanic, except a first rate one, 

 can make in good times. But remember the em- 

 ployment of the mechanics, in seaport towns, is 



uncertain, — the m.ason can <lo but little or nothing 

 in the winter, and so with some others ; also, all 

 are more or less aflected by the ups and down in 

 business. Now your produce, wliich you consume 

 in your family, is worth as much to you in the 

 dullest times as in the most brisk. 



F. I never thought of the thing in this way be- 

 fore. I must confess I don't see how you get 

 along these times. Why, I was fretting myself to 

 think 1 was some pestered to get a little molasses 

 and tea for my wood : and yet I have all the es- 

 sential articles which I need in my fi'.mily, at home. 

 M. Well; now let us calculate a little further. 

 Our milk cost us six cents a quart ; now RU[)pose 

 I buy a quart a day, that will be 365 quarts a 

 year — making a round sum, about twenty-two dol- 

 lara a year. And then our wood ; say twelve 

 cords a year, (though not one-half what you burn) 

 at five ilollars a cord, is sixty dollars a year. My 

 butter costs n)e twenty-five cents a pound, on an 

 average. Allowing one pound a day in a lar"-e 

 family, which would give them all but a small 

 slice, and yet the cost is ninety-ont dollars a year. 

 Now, my friend, we have got one hundred and 

 seventy-three dollars, for three articles ; and yet we 

 have but just began to figure. 



F. Well, my friend, I ai^i really much obliged 

 to you for the information you have given me. I 

 will go home with my tea and molasses, and try 

 to be contented. One hundred and seventy-three 

 dollars for butter, milk and wood, in a family, for 

 one year ! — and then only one quart of milk a dav • 

 just enough to set one mouth a-wateririg for more. 

 Why, what an unthankful' wretch I have been. 

 Heaven help me to a better temper. One quart 

 of milk a day in a family ! why, it takes ten in 

 mine. Let us see — that, as you buy it, would be 

 sixty cents a day, or two hundred and nineteen 

 dollars a year. Bless my stars I how thankful I 

 ought to be that I don't live in town. Farewell. 



It is true the prices of some articles mentioned 

 in the preceding dialogue, are higher than the 

 same woidd be in our seaport towns, or inland vil- 

 lages, in this State; but every one who can figure 

 can make his calculations to conform to prices 

 where he lives. And I believe that any farmer 

 who never made any calculation of this kind, 

 would be much surprised at the result. 



In fact, Mr Editor, I have tried both situations, 

 I know the advantages and disadvantages attend- 

 ing both ; and I am decidedly of opinion that the 

 farmer has altogether the advantage in point of 

 substantial happiness unless he suffers the torments 

 of an unthankful heart to undermine all his pleas- 

 ures. And this is not all ; the indulgence of these 

 feelings of discontent tends to degrade the farmer 

 in his own eyes, and of course in the eyes of oth- 

 ers. The idea that " Maine cannot raise her own 

 bread," has operated like binding the energies of 

 her sons in iron fetters. What a man thinks he 

 cannot do, ho will not try to do. "Maine cannot 

 raise her own bread !" How it soumis to me! 

 Why, I never considered myself half a quarter of 

 a ftruK^r, and yet I have sold ten bushels of bread 

 stuff where I ever bought one, since I lived in 

 Maine. 



Awake, then, yc fanners .' Awake from your slumbers ! 

 Nor dream any longer of forests of lumber, — 

 Seize the plough with the grasp of a powerful arm, 

 And clear off" the rocks and the stumps from your farm. 

 Then, when the soil is well turned and fitted jor sowing, 

 You may put in the seed, and it soon will be growing; 

 For the canh is growing warm with the heat of the sun. 

 And a bounty to cheer you when your harvest is done. 

 Peru, April, 1838. J. H. J. 



