322 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



must not be inferred that an article that contains 

 a large quantity of starch, for example, is more 

 nutritious tlian one that contains a small quantity 

 of animal fibrin and no starch. 



Both starch and animal fibrin are elements of 

 nutrition, but they arc appropriated by the ani- 

 mal economy to very different purposes ; the for- 

 mer to the formation of fat and animal heat, and 

 the latter to the supply of all the tissues, bone, 

 muscle, &c. The two elements are required in 

 very different proportions, also, in forming food, 

 and hence bread (though "men cannot live upon 

 bread alone,") with its ISlbs. of vegeto-animal 

 matter (gluten,) and its 501bs. of starch of 35 

 lbs. of water, forms a composition of nutriment 

 more nearly complete than any other substance. 

 Starch is required in a much larger proportion 

 than gluten in vegetable nutriment, and it is 

 furnished abundantly in all kinds of grain, beans 

 and potatoes. If potatoes contained a small pro- 

 portion of glutfen, say 5 lbs. to the 100 lbs., then 

 their nutritive property would compare with 

 that of wheat flour in the proportion of 22^ to 

 90. That is, potatoes would be worth just one 



For the New England Farmer. 



LETTER FROM MR. FRENCH. 



Washington City in Spring-time — A Glimpse of the Commissioner 

 of Public Buildings at Ilome — City Improvements — Capitol — 

 Patent Office — A Virginian's Opinion of the Yankees — Deep 

 Plowing — Mr. Claggett's I'arm — Seventeen Year Locusts — 

 Fruit Prospects. 



City of Washington, D. C, 

 May 12th, 1855. 

 Dear Reader : — Washington is a lovely city in 

 the spring-time, especially when not beclouded 

 by the session of Congress. Having given in the 

 Farmer some not very attractive pictures of the 

 market, and the agricultural specimens in the 

 streets, I feel now, when the leaves are already 

 developed in full beauty, and the roses are begin- 

 ning to unfold their buds,' and the newly-mown 

 lawns of the Capitol grounds are looking soft and 

 green, like carpets of velvet — I feel now, when at 

 the North a cold storm of mingled rain and 

 snow has just passed by, as if I owed an apology 

 to this more Southern climate, for any expres- 



quarter as much by weight as wheat flour. But Ljong of disrespect I may have been "left" to 



as they contain no gluten nor caseine, and very 

 little albumen, consequently little if any of the 

 elements of proteine, a larger quantity of animal 

 food of some kind is required to be combined 

 with them than with bread, in the formation of 

 food. 



ANIMAL FOOD. 



100 pounds fresh Beef con., 26 lbs. nut. mat., 74 lbs. water. 



N. B. It must be borne in mind that the ani- 

 mal substances were all clear of bone and fresh, 

 the vegetable fresh and deprived of skins, &c., 

 and the fruits fresh and perfect. It will be per- 

 ceived that mutton is the most nutritious, as it is 

 acknowledged on all hands to be the most whole- 

 some of all animal food ; that while beans are 

 the most nutritious of all vegetable food, and 

 plums are the most nutritious of all fruits ; that 

 fish is the least nutritious of solid animal food ; 

 turnips the least so of all vegetables, and cucum- 

 bers the least nutritious of all fruits. 



drop in relation to it. Forgetting then the don- 

 keys and darkeys, the scorching heat of last July, 

 with the thermometer at 90 day and night, for most 

 of the month, the crisped leaves and seared grass of 

 that season of drought, let us take a more agreea- 

 ble view than either summer or winter can afford 

 us, of Washington in the spring. Looking out at 

 this moment, from the library of a friend on Cap- 

 itol Hill, into his garden at the rear of the house, 

 I behold an arbor constructed with his own hand, 

 completely covered with roses and honeysuckles 

 and the Washington bower, intertwining their 

 long pliant branches, and throwing out at the top 

 a thousand waving shoots tipped with the burst- 

 ing buds. Close by is a fountain, throwing 

 high into the air a jet of pure water, sparkling in 

 the light of the setting sun, and falling with a 

 cool and pattering sound into the pool about it, 

 while the children, playing upon the brink, now 

 are watching the gold-fish and now pursuing the 

 humming-birds ; and my friend and brother, sit- 

 ting on a rustic seat near by, with book in hand, 

 finds little time for reading, but much for the en- 

 joyment of the work of his own hands, and of 

 hers, the divinity whose taste has directed the 

 planting of the flowers, the training of the vines, 

 and the wanderings of the walks among them. 

 This is a rational happiness, the enjoyment of na- 

 ture herself, which one may find if he have the 

 taste for it, without unreasonable cost, in the im- 

 mediate neighborhood of the Capitol itself. 



The growth of trees, vines and shrubbery, is 

 much more rapid here than in Nev.^ England, so 

 that one may create with nature's ready aid, a 

 wilderness of foliage and flowers under this warm- 

 er sun, while at the North, his trees planted at 

 the same time would have scarcely recovered from 

 the shock of transplanting. 



