371 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



Aug. 



ber, possibly a hundred or more. Now, in order 

 to have our cookery legitimate, either the eg; 

 must be withheld from all these or they must be 

 cooked in a very different manner from what 

 they have been heretofore. Will not science, 

 duly regarded, hence cause a mighty revolution 

 in our cookery ? 



Then again, milk, in proportion to its albumin- 

 ous parts, comes under the same law. It cannot 

 legitimately be boiled or baked. What then is 

 to become of our puddings and cakes — nay, in 

 some places, even of our bread ? I know many 

 a housekeeper who is unwilling to make bread 

 without milk. The dishes, of which according 

 to custom, it becomes a component part, are very 



"merous. Whether they amount to hundreds, 



do not know. 



But, again, the same law applies to the cook- 

 ing of all lean meats. Blood contains some ten 

 or twelve per cent, of albumen ; but lean flesh, 

 or muscle, is very largely composed of blood. 

 Does it not hence follow that this substance, like 

 eggs and milk in all their combinations, should 

 be coot.ed below the temperature of IGo*^ ? 



There has been, indeed, time immemorial, a 

 traditionary notion that hai-d boiled egg is inju- 

 rious ; but how or why, was not told us. It has 

 also been known that milk was greatly changed, 

 it its tendencies on the bowels, by boiling. To 

 avoid evil tendencies, in the case of the egg, 

 many have eaten it raw, both at the suggestion 

 of their own minds, and by the prescription of 

 the physician. To this there has been no very 

 grave objection. But it has also been quite cus- 

 tomary of late, to subject it to a species of half 

 cooking, which seems to me objectionable. This 

 consists essentially, in barely immersing the egg 

 in boiling water, perhaps at the table, thus cook- 

 ing a pellicle or layer of it too much, and leaving 

 the far greater part of the interior almost raw. 

 The true course is either to eat it wholly raw, or 

 cook it for some time, in a heat a little below 

 165°, according to the foregoing directions. 



It has also been faintly understood, without 

 knowing why, that milk is best when newly drawn 

 from the cow ; and that during every moment 

 after its withdrawal it is deteriorating. But it 

 has not always been known why ; nor have I time 

 or room, to present in full the reasons. One of 

 these, however, is the ulterior separation of its 

 parts, or a tendency thereto, in the formation of 

 cream and whey, &c. ; and another is the fact 

 that when it is kept, it finds its way into an al- 

 most innumerable company of our dishes. 



Meats, it has also been contended, meats which 

 include muscle, should be cooked but little ; or 

 as it is expressed, should be "rarely done ;" and 

 some few have gone so far as to contend even, 

 that raw meats are the most wholesome. Now 

 the whole matter is made plain, and all myste- 

 ries or difficulties removed, when we remember 

 that lean flesh, made up largely of condensed 

 blood, is of course albuminous ; and is hence in- 

 jured by subjecting it to an elevated temperature. 

 Let our meats, both fat and lean, but especially 

 the latter, be cooked for a long time at the tem- 

 perature of about 160° to 165° ; that is, let them 

 be stewed* rather than consolidated ; and the 

 epicurean, even, would be a gainer, while not only 

 he, but every body else, who has good teeth, would 

 be healthier. Even to those whose teeth are de- 



fective, it may be some consolation to know that 

 one cause of their trouble may be found in the 

 fact that in saving the labor of the teeth by over 

 cooking, we overtax and abuse the stomach and 

 other and kindred organs, which cause a re-action 

 on the teeth. 



We may see also from the foregoing, inciden- 

 tally, why cheese, custards, &c., have universally 

 been deemed unwholesome ; and why some whole 

 nations make no cheese, or even any butter. 

 Society, in its simple state, is restrained from 

 those abuses, which, in a more refined condition, 

 it possesses the power to covinteract. In neither 

 condition, can we proceed so far in the way of 

 transgression, as wholly to set at nought the great 

 first command, "Be fruitful, and multiply and re- 

 plenish the earth, and subdue it." 



Aicbitrndale, June 5, 1858. W. A. Alcott. 



* Of late years I have heard much said about the superiority 

 of stewing rather tlian boiling many substances of purely vegeta- 

 ble origin, but more or less albuminous, especially beans. Now 

 I have not yet satisfied myself of the truth of Liebig's theory so 

 fully as to be able to say positively, that the albumen from ani- 

 mals and vegetables is identical. The doctrine, however, is at 

 least plausible. 



CLUB FOOT CABBAGES. 



Messrs. Editors : — I have read Mr. Yale's ar- 

 ticle with the above heading, and will tell him 

 the cause of the "club foot," which may enable 

 him to account for the difference in his crop of 

 cabbages last year. 



A cabbage Avith a "club foot," is a cross be- 

 tween the cabbage and turnip. The seed plants 

 have been placed so near each other, that the 

 pollen of the turnip has impregnated the cabbage 

 and produced the cross. There is no doubt but 

 that this is the cause of the anomaly. Hundreds 

 of experiments have proved it. If Mr. Yale could 

 get at the experience of the man who grew the 

 cabbage seed he used, he would learn that his 

 turnips tried to be cabbages, and had club heads 

 instead of feet. The Kohl Rabi, I think it is 

 called, is a cross of the same character, and is 

 now a vegetable sought after in the mai'ket. It 

 was produced in the garden of Prof. Mapes. Was 

 not Mr. Yale mistaken in saying this crop of cab- 

 bages was all from the same seed ? If so, was 

 not the seed gathered at different periods ? — W. 

 F., in Homestead. 



Farm Buildings. — At a Farmer's Club lately 

 held in West Springfield, Mass., after a consulta- 

 tion and debate, it was decided that a large barn 

 was better than two or more small ones ; that a 

 tight barn was better, even for badly cured hay, 

 than P.n open one ; that a brick barn and slate 

 roof were the best and cheapest for a man who 

 has all his materials to buy ; that a good connec- 

 tion between a house and barn is a covered walk, 

 overhung with grape vines ; that economy of roof 

 and convenience for work were of the first im- 

 portance in any building ; that warm water and 

 warm stables were essential to the comfort of 

 animals ; that the housing of manures was judi- 

 cious ; that liquid manures are largely lost, even 

 by those who have cellars and sheds for storing 

 them ; and that the best absorbents of liquid 

 manure are buckwheat hulls, leaf mould, saw- 

 dust, fine sand, dried peat, turf and straw. 



