410 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JCL.Y 4, I9S8. 



Cueuinbcrs, ai;corilii)g to the estiiiinte of Dr 

 John, contain 97 per cent, of w:iler, anil of the re- 

 maining 3 per cent, only 2 1-3 |*r cent, can prove 

 nutritions. 



Sir II. Davy estimates the nutritions jiorlion of 

 red beet-root at iibont 15 lbs. in every hniiflre.l. 

 He represents turnips to contain but 4 1-5 per 

 cent, of soiid nutritive matter ; that is, 1 lb. con- 

 tains less than three-quarters of an ounce. .|Vc- 

 cordins to Vanr|uelin, liowever, the quality is 8 

 ■per cent. The latter chemist found that 3 lbs. of 

 turnips and 4 lbs. of cabbage are equal in niitii- 

 .tive effect only to 1 lb. of potato. 



Carrots, according to Davy, contain 9 4-5 per 

 cent, of solid matter caiiahle of nourishing; but 

 Vauquelin's estimate is 14 per cent. Adopting a 

 mean therefore, we find that 1 lb. of carrots sup- 

 ply nearly 2 oz. of solid nulriment. The quan- 

 tity, of solid matter attributed to the p;usiiip by 

 Davy, is 99 per cent ; but that all this is nutri- 

 tious may well be doubted. 



Green" peas may be inferred, from the analysis 

 of Einhot^; to contain 70 per cent, of solid matter, 

 but how much of this is nutritive it is hard to de- 

 termine. Vauquelin says, they contain 93 per 

 cent. Sir H. Davy estimates the solid matter of 

 dry peas at hut 67 per cent. ; and if this be cor- 

 rect, it is not possible that green peas can contain 

 anything liUe the quantity stated by Vauquelin or 

 even Eiidioff. It is evident, however, that peas 

 are rich in nutriment, anil possess this peculiar 

 quality, that about one-li(th ol the solid matter es- 

 timated in the analysis of Einhofi; partakes some- 

 what of the nature of animal matter, which, taking 

 one kind with another, will average 33 per cent, 

 of real nutriment. 



Beans also contain this partly animal, paitly 

 vegetable substance. The solid nutritive matter 

 contained in beans, according to Davy, i* 57 per 

 cent, the same as ii) peas. The beans examined 

 by Einhoff, contained about 75 per cent, of mat- 

 ter which might be supposed capable of nourish- 

 ing. According to Vauquelin, French beans con- 

 tain 92 per cent, of nutriment; and modifying 

 Einhofl's analysis of kidney beans, it would ap- 

 pear that they contain nuich about the same pro- 

 portion. 



Apples and pears are composed of similar in- i 

 gredients, but in different proportions; the chief 

 are acid, water, sugar, gum, and woody fibre. In | 

 100 parts of apple by weight, there are no less 

 than 86 parts of mere water, and but 13 of other 

 ingredients cajiable of contributing a very infeiior 

 kind of nutrition. 



Gooseberries contain 81 per cent of water, and 

 8 per cent, of stone and woody matter, the re- 

 maining ingredients amounting to 11 per cent, 

 consisting of acids, gum, sugar, lime, and albumen, 

 all of v\hich may prove nutritious in some de- 

 gree. 



The juice of lemons consists of mucilage, su- 

 gar, citric acid, and water, the last ingredient ex- 

 isting in it at the rate of 97 1-2 per cent. 



Acoording to the analyses of Sir H. Davy, 

 Wheat contains 95 per cent, of nutriment ; Rye 

 79 per cent., and Oats 76 per cent. Barley is less 

 nutritious than wheat or even oats. 



related, he observed,to the lost nations of N.America 

 is intiu-esting. The fate, of a people which occu- 

 pied the rii-hest part of that country, for an extent 



NORTH AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



At the seventh meeting of the Britiih Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, Dr Warren, of 

 Boston, ottered remarks ' On some Cranio found in 

 the Ancient Mounds in North America.' Whatever 



of more than a thousand miles, is involved in the 

 deepest obscurity. Nothing remains of their his- 

 tory, and we can gather no ideas of what they 

 were and what they ilid hut from the constructions 

 existing in the territory they inhabited. These 

 works are numerous, and scattered over the coun- 

 try, from the lakes of Canada to the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico. They consist of regular lines, having con- 

 siderable elevations and great extent, of mounds 

 or pyramidal eminences, and of s|iacious platforms 

 of. earth. These different works were adapted 

 for fortifications, for places of worship, and for 

 cemeteries. Within the last two years, reports, 

 he said, had reached the; Atlantic trtates of very 

 extensive remains of structures indicating the ex- 

 istence of one or more considerable cities in the 

 territory of Ouisconsin, formerly a northwest ter- 

 ritory of the United States. The antiquity of 

 some of the numerous works alluded to was great; 

 there are circumstances which led him to refer 

 them to a period 800 or a 1000 years back. The 

 circidar and pyramidal eminences seem to have 

 been destined for two purposes: for places of wor- 

 ship and for cemeteries. Some of them contain 

 immense heaps of bones, thrown together pro- 

 miscuously, as after a bloody battle; in others the 

 bodies are regidarly arranged, and in some there 

 are onl>one or two bodies: the bones in the last 

 are usually accompanied by silver and copper orna- 

 ments, some of which areextreniely well wrought. 

 The crAuia found in these mounds differ from 

 those of the existing Indians, from the Caucasian 

 or European, and in fact from all existing nations 

 so far as they are known. The forehead is broad- 

 er and more elevated than in the North American 

 Indian, less broad and elevated than in the Euro- 

 pean ; the orbits are small and regular. The jaws 

 sensibly prominent, less so indeed than in the In- 

 dian, more so than in the European. The pala- 

 tine arch is of a rounded form, and its fossa less 

 extensive than in ihe Indian or African, more than 

 in the European, owing |uincipally to a greater 

 breadth ot the palatine plate of the os palati. But 

 the most remarkable appearance in these heads is 

 an irregular flatness on the occipital region, evi- 

 dently produced by artificial means. fhesepe- 

 I liarities, with others more minute, give a character 

 to these skulls not found in any living nations. 

 Dr Warren a!so stated that he had received otler 

 crania, which at first view he believed to be of 

 the same race and nation, for they resembled 

 them in all their peculiarities, more nearly than 

 one Caucasian head resembles another ; and he 

 exhibited drawings and a cast in proof of the ex- 

 actness of this resemblance ; but these latter, he 

 observed, were species of ancient Peruvian heads. 

 Now the cemeteries of the ancient Peruvians are 

 distant from the Ohio mounds more than 1500 

 miles, yi't the facts stated above rendered it cer- 

 tain, in his opinion, that these nations were con- 

 nected by blood, and rendered it probable that the 

 northern race, being driven from their couiury by 

 the anseslors of the existing race of North Amer- 

 ican Indians, retreated after a long resistance, to 

 South America, and gave origin to one of the na- 

 tions which founded the Peruvian empire. An- 

 atomy, also he observed, showed that there was 

 much resemblance between the crania spoken of 

 and those of the modern Hindoos; and instru- 

 ments, ornaments, and utensils have been discov- 



ered in the mounds, which bear a great resemblance 

 to articles of the same description seen in Hindos- 

 tan. The facts stated above lead him to the fol- 

 lowing inferences: — 1. The race whose remains 

 are discovered in the mounds were different from 

 the existing North American Indian. 2. The 

 ancient race of the moniuls is identical with the 

 ancient Peruvian. To these conclusions njight 

 be added others tending to support existing opin- 

 ions, but which are hypothetical : — 1. That the 

 ancient North American and the Peruvian nations 

 were derived from the southern part of Asia. 2- 

 That America was peopled from at least two dif- 

 ferent parts of Asia, the ancient Americans hav- 

 ing been derived from the south, and the existing 

 Indian race from the northern part of the same 

 continent. — Silliman's Journal. 



tFrom Silliman's Journal.) 

 ON THE DRY ROT. 



BY PHINEHAS RAINET, MIDDLETON, CONK. 



To PuoF. SiLLiMAN. — Sir — Permit me through 

 the medium of your very valuable and widely cir- 

 culating Journal, to lay before the public the fol- 

 lowing facts and observations in relation to the 

 dry rot in timber. 



It is matter of history, that the timber of the 

 ancients lasted some hundreds of years longer 

 than that of the moderns, and there is no record 

 that their timber was subjected to any artificial 

 process to make it durable. It is therefore pro- 

 bable the reason why the dry rot exists to such an 

 alarming extent in the heart-wood of the timber of 

 the present day, is to be found in the season of cut- 

 ting the trees. It is probable that the present general 

 practice of cutting timber in the winter was avoid- 

 ed by the ancients, and that it originated in Eng- 

 land when the botanical iheoiy, that the sap of 

 trees is in tlieir roots at tliat season of the year, 

 was first promulgated. 



It is true, that when trees are cut in the winter 

 months, the alburnum will not be affected by the 

 dry rot for a great number of years afterwards, 

 and indeed I do not know if it be removed from 

 the heart-wood, that it ever would be affected by 

 that disease in its proper type: and hence the 

 origin of the delusion, and of consequence the 

 practice above alluded to. But in this case, the 

 deadly disease is lurking in the heart-wood, and 

 will, as assuredly as time rolls on, burst forth and 

 destroy its texture in the course ofabout eightyears; 

 and hence the destruction of life and prot;erty, 

 and the annual complaint from our government : 

 snip-yards. I was once a devotee to the cutting 

 o( timber for vessels in the winter, until the fol- ' 

 lowing circumstances led me to renounce this 

 ruirous practice. ■ 



[t was the general custom here, to cut timber 

 for 'essels in the winter, but notwithstandii:g, they 

 went into decay, and wanted repairing in about 

 seven years, or from that to eight, while some of;, 

 then lasted twelve years. I ascribed this variB-| 

 tionin their durability to the fact that the cutting 

 of tie timber was often commenced in October, 

 and then continued through the intermediate 

 moiths into March. I therefore concluded thatl 

 the right season was in December, when I sup- 

 posed that the sap was certainly in the roots, and 

 •f cit in that season, I believed it would leave th«. 

 dea( ly poison in the stump ; of consequence, tha 

 bodj and branches would be entirely free from 

 its iifluetice, and I therefore came to the determi- 



