1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



501 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



chemistry-No. 3. 



DIGESTION. 

 Xo part of chemical kiio\yledge can be of more 

 interest to the general reader tlian that which treats 

 of the laws Avhich govern the digestion of our food. 

 Digestion is the process of the reduction of our 

 food to its simjjle state, separating element from 

 element, and reducing all to a liquid state. It is 

 no more essential that the chemist in liis laboratory 

 finely pulverize any solid body before he attempts 

 to dissolve it, than it is that our food be well mas- 

 ticated before swallowing. "If the preHminary work 

 of mastication and insalivation be neglected, the 

 stomach has to do the whole work of preparation, 

 as well as to accomplish tlie digestion; thus more 

 is tlu'own upon it than it is adapted to bear ; it be- 

 comes overworked, and manifests its fatigue by not 

 being able to discharge its own duty properly." 

 Hence the necessity of thorough mastication. Food 

 well chewed is half digested, and will do a man 

 three times the good that it will, swallowed whole. 

 Nature has furnished us with all the organs ne- 

 cessary to complete thorough mastication and di- 

 gestion, and if they do not perform their duty, the 

 fault is our ovm. The air we breathe is charged 

 with a certain substance necessary to digestion, 

 (oxygen,) and this is taken up at every breath, and 

 the carbon returned to the air, to feed vegetation, 

 and vice versa. 



Dr. Beaumont made some experiments relative 

 to the time it took the various kinds of food to di' 

 gest, and the follomng table shows the result of 

 the same : 



Hotc pre- Time. 



pared, h. ?». 



raw, 3. 



boileil, 3. 



roasted, 3.15 



broiled, 3.15 



" 3.15 



baked, 3.15 



roasted, 3.15 



boiled, 3.15 



broiled, 3.20 



roasted, 3.30 



baked, 3.30 



melted, 3.30 



A FINE GRAPE. 



At the Show at Framingham, Sept. 19, we saw 

 upon the tables a fine looking grape, a little lighter 

 in color than the Catawba, some of the bimches 

 quite compact, but generally somewhat straggling, 

 and the berries and bunches of good size. They 

 were raised and handed in by J.\mes AV. Clark, 

 Esq., of Framingham. He says the ydne originated 

 in his garden five years ago, from the seed, and was 

 transplanted into a shaded and moist border. The 

 %ine grows ^•igorously, has never been protected in 

 winter, and the ripe fruit holds on well. He thinks 

 it a cross between the native and Catawba, as these 

 two grew near and intermingled their branches near 

 where the new seedling came up. Mr. Clark adds 

 in a note, — "I claim nothing for it, except that it is 

 a superior native, and in a fine lo&ition, it will ripen 

 before the autumn fruits." He is right. It is cer- 

 tainly a very superior grape. 



Kind. 



How pre- Time, 

 pared, h. m. 

 Eice, boiled, 1. 



Pig's feet, soused, " 1. 

 Tripe, " " 1. 



Trout, salmon, fresh, " 1.30 

 " " " fried, 1.30 



Apples, sweet, mellow, 1.30 

 Venison, steak, broiled, 1.35 

 Sago, boiled, 1.40 



Apples, sour, mellow, 2. 



Cabbage, with vinegar, 2. 

 Codfish, dry, boiled, 2. 



Eggs, fresh, raw, 2. 



Liver, beef's, broiled, 2. 

 Milk, boiled, 2. 



Tapioca, " 2. 



Milk, raw, 2.15 



Turkey, wild, roasted, 2.15 

 " " boiled, 2.28 



" domestic, roasted, 2.30 

 Potatoes, Irish, baked, 2.80 

 Parsnips, boiled, 2.30 



Pig, sucking, roasted, 2.30 

 Meat, hashed with veg- 

 etables, warm, 2.30 

 Lamb, fresh, broiled, 2.30 

 Goose, roasted, 2.30 

 Cake, sponge, baked, 2.30 

 Cabbage, head, raw, 2.30 

 Beans, pod, boiled, 2.30 

 Custard, baked, 2.45 

 Chicken, fricasseed, 2.45 

 Apples, sour, hard, raw, 2.50 

 Oysters, fresh, " 2.55 

 Bass, fresh, broiled, 3. 

 Beef, lean, rare, roasted, 3.' 

 " steak, " broiled, 3. 

 Corn cake, baked, 3. 

 Dumpling, apple, boiled, 3. 

 Eggs, fre.<h, boiled soft, 3. 

 Mutton, fresh, broiled, 3. 

 " " boiled, 3. 



Kind. 



Pork, salted. 

 Soup, chicken. 

 Oysters, fresh, 

 Pork, salted, 



" steak. 

 Corn bread. 

 Mutton, fresh. 

 Carrots, orange, 

 Sausage, fresh, 

 Beef, lean, dry. 

 Bread, wheat. 

 Butter, 



Cheese, old strong, raw, 3.30 

 Eggs, fresh, hard boiled, 3.30 



" " fried, 3.30 



Flounders, fresh, 

 Oysters, fresh. 

 Potatoes, Irish, 

 Soup, mutton, 



" oyster. 

 Turnip, flat, 

 Beets, 



Corn and beans. 

 Beef, fresh, lean. 

 Fowl, domestic. 



" 3.30 

 stewed, 3.30 

 boiled, 3.30 

 " 3.30 

 " 3.30 

 " 3.30 

 " 3.4o 

 " 3.45 

 fried, 4. 

 boiled, 4. 

 roasted, 4. 

 Veal, fresh, broiled, 4. 



Soup, beef, vegetables 



and bread, boiled, 4. 

 Salmon trout, " 4. 



Heart, animal, fried, 4 



Beef, old, salted. 

 Fork, salted, 



Cabbage, 

 Ducks, wild. 

 Fork, salted. 

 Suet, mutton. 

 Veal, fresh. 

 Pork, 



Suet, beef, fresh. 

 Tendon, 



boiled, 4.15 



fried, 4.15 



boiled, 4.30 



roasted, 4.3i) 



boiled, 4.30 



" 4.30 



fried, 4.30 



roasted, 5.15 



boiled, 5.30 



" 5.30 



Do we wish for something light and easily di- 

 gested, chemistry tells us what it is ; and if we wish 

 for something that will ".stick by the ribs," she is 

 also ready to speak. ' S. Tenney. 



West Poland, Me., 1855. 



EXPERIMENTING WITH MEADOW 

 MUCK. 



I have recently witnessed the results of an ex- 

 periment with meadoM' muck, which may interest 

 some of your agricultural readers. 



This experiment M'as made on the farm of R-ev. 

 Henry Ward Beecher, in Lenox, under the care of 

 Mr. O. C. Bullard, his brother-in-law. 



Last winter, Mr. Bullard was getting out muck 

 from an extensive meadow, for his barn-yard and 

 compost heap. As an experiment, he spread a 

 quantity — between one and two small sled loads — 

 green for the meadow, upon a spot one rod by two, 

 of a mowing field. It Avas laid on the top of the 

 snow, and an inch and a half or two inches thick. 



This spiing he covered another similai* space. 

 This is a large field, slojnng to the east, that has 

 been laid down to herds grass several years. There 

 is a good deal of the white Meed or daisy over most 

 of the field, and there are numerous little spots 

 where the grass seems to be killed out, and which 

 are covered by a coat of moss. 



On the 30th of June, I visited this field to note 

 the effect of this experiment. The spot where muck 

 was spread on the snow in the JVinter, is covered 

 with a thick, rank, deep green groM'th of herds 

 grass and clover, and Mall give at least two-thirds 

 more hay than any of the field around it. It can be 

 seen at a distance, lilie the spots in the field where 

 there have been manure hea])S. The ground is 

 perfectly covered Mith the grass, giving no signs of 

 moss. This luxuriant growth is ovcrtopiiing the 

 daisy, none of mIucIi is yet in Ijlossom, while in all 

 the rest of the extensive fields, it is in fidl bloom. 



The spot where the muck was sj)read this spring, 

 is distinctly seen ; but tlie crop of grass is not more 

 than a quarter or a third larger than the average 

 around it. 



The result of this experiment seems to show, that 

 the muck spread in the Winter, together with the 

 snow that it was spread uj)on, operated as a mulch- 

 in<r to protect the roots of the gra.ss from the action 

 of the frost. None of it is thrown out of the ground 

 or M-inter-killed. It has overcome and killed out 

 the moss, and retai-ded, if not in a great measure 

 destroyed, the daisy, and it has also imparted mel- 



