1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



429 



fruit-growers would pay proper attention to prun- 

 ing, so as to admit the light freely among the 

 branches, they would hoth improve the quality 

 and increase the quantity of their fruit. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 POOD AND DKINK PHYSIOLOGICALLY 

 GONSIDEKED. 



Messrs. Editors : — The writer in BlaclavoocVs 

 Magazine, from whom you have recently made 



ate of soda is found in au organism was proof 

 positive that we ought to make it an aliment, 

 what shall we say of the fact that the same ele- 

 mentary principle is found in our cattle and sheep, 

 indeed in all our herbivorous animals? Does this 

 alone prove that they need salt ? The finest cat- 

 tle in Hindostan are said to be found among the 

 Himmaleh mountains, where salt is never found, 

 nor does it appear that they are deteriorating. 



Moreover, if the fact that mineral substances, 

 such as salt, sulphur and iron, are found to be a 

 part of the organism, proves that we ought to eat 

 them, should not iron, in small quantities, at 

 least some of its oxides, be considered indispen- 



extracts, is as interesting as he is bold and as- 

 suming. Many of his views demand the most se- 

 rious attention, especially of that class of persons ! sable as edibles, no less than salt, or the w'hite 

 for whom they seem to have been specially in- 1 of an egg? Yei oi the oneliundred persons, more 

 tended. Nevertheless, in his zeal to establish the ! or fewer, whose blood, according to Dr. Good, 



physiological theory of diet, which I admit to be 

 essentially correct, and to demolish the chemical 

 theorj', I believe he has gone a little too far, as 

 I shall endeavor to show. 



Admit that water is food, and "on the whole, 

 more nuti'itious than roast beef," a doctrine 



contains iron enough to make a plowshare, how 

 many ever ate iron in their whole lives ? 



It will not, surely, be said, by way of reply, 

 that we take into our bodies such elementary sub- 

 stances as when recombined make iron, salts, &c, 

 for that would be but yielding the whole argu- 



which, in its essentials has been long taught, and|ment, since it is most certain that if nature has 

 that "each individual organism is specifically dif- the power of recombining to form one new com- 

 ferent from every other ;" still it does thence/oZ- (pound, she may have to form any other. Such, 

 low that "common salt" is "as much an edible as | at least would be the fact with regard to all things 

 the white of an egg," nor that "whatever we find 

 in the organism is a constant and integral ele- 

 ment, either forming a part of its structure, or 

 one of the conditions of vital processes," alone 



which, according to the laws of animal hemistry 

 are susceptible of recombination, or cin other 

 words, contain the needful elements or bases. 

 It is not proved of all the inhabitants of the 



'deserves the name of aliment." The former. South Sea Islands, that those who had no salt, 

 with some qualifications, we admit ; the latter, cooked their flesh in sea water. Nor is it better 

 without qualification, we deny. I proved that the wild herbaceous animals in Amer- 



In regard to the former, I will only say thatjica or Africa who frequent the salt licks go there 

 what are here called specific difi"erences of organ- 1 for the sake of the salt, even though they should 



ization, requiring difi'erent forms of aliment, are, 

 for aught which appears, abnormal conditions or 

 differences ; and that all the cases which the wri- 

 ter in Blackwood has set down in proof of his 

 doctrine, are in all probability only such excep- 

 tions as serve to prove the general rule that in a 

 normal state of the system what is meat for one, 

 in the human race as a race, as well as any of the 

 omnivorous races below man, is meat for anoth- 

 er, and not poison. The name idiosyncrasy will 

 as well describe them as any other. That writer 

 knows as well as I, that these specific diS'erences, 

 in any considerable degree, cannot be found in 

 the infant at the breast, and that they are less 

 frequent, in proportion to our approximation to 

 that stage of existence, and more so as we advance 

 into life, and become exposed to its artificials and 

 combinations. 



If salt were as much an edible as the white of 

 an egg, if in other words it were an essential ali- 

 ment — what would become of the nations and 

 tribes and individuals that never use it? The 

 Caroanches Indians never use it. The same is 

 true of other tribes. One whole world, that be- 

 fore the flood, probably never used it. Was Me- 

 thuselah's life shortened, or was his health dete- 

 riorated by the want of salt, as an aliment ? I 

 know of a few individuals who seldom use salt, 

 never when they can possibly avoid it, yet none 

 are more healthy than they appear to be. Can 

 the old, hackneyed stories about the terrible con- 

 sequences that have followed from the exclusion 

 of salt from human diet, or any new theories, long 

 stand against such facts as these ? 



But again, if the physiological fact that muri- 



use it after they get there. We are by no means 

 sure that they are not more eager, much mare 

 so, after the tender grass which shoots up so ear- 

 ly about these licks. In either case they would 

 become an easy prey, while there, to their ene- 

 mies. 



Let me not be understood as opposing the 

 physiological theory of the writer in Blackwood. 

 On the contrary, we endorse him mainly, and on- 

 ly regret that any part of his excellent remarks 

 should be open to criticism. Truth gains noth- 

 ing in the end by misrepresentation, even when 

 unintentional. W. A. Alcott. 



Aburndale, 1858. 



BE-SHINGLING OLD HOOPS. 



Mr. J. T. Adams, in the National Era, gives 

 the following directions : 



"Whenever a roof begins to leak, and you wish 

 to re-shingle it, do not take off the old shingles 

 — put the new shingles on the top of the old 

 ones — but make use of six-penny nails in place 

 of four-penny or shingle nails. The advantage 

 of this method will consist in the following par- 

 ticulars : 



"1. You will save the expense of removing 

 the shingles. 



"2. The building will not be exposed to wet in 

 case of rain, before it is finished. 



"3. The roof will be much warmer and tighter. 



"4. Neither snow nor rain can beat under the 

 butts of the shingles by heavy winds. 



"5. The roof will last full one-third longer. 



"I have tried this plan, and find it has these 



