No. 7. Cooking Food for Stock. — Conservatory at Chatsworth. 203 



steaming — witness cabbage, meal, and the 

 flesh of animals, that might often be devoted 

 as food for hogs, under circumstances that 

 would not warrant its use for man. And, se- 

 cond, the water in which these and all other 

 articles are boiled will be found to contain a 

 very large portion of their essence : conse- 

 quently, it ought to be retained for use ; the 

 opinion that the water in which potatoes have 

 been boiled is deleterious, being without found- 

 ation. And in this a quantity of meal should 

 always be boiled for the whole of the time the 

 operation is going on, when, at the end, the 

 soup will be of greater importance, as an ar- 

 ticle of food, than any steaming could be made 

 to produce — the dead carcass of a sheep, for 

 instance, with a dozen large heads of cabbage 

 cut fine, and a bushel or two of corn and cob 

 meal stewed together in a couple of hogs- 

 heads of water, until the whole forms an 

 amalgam — what could constitute a more 

 luscious repast to fatting hogs? and in a 

 proper apparatus the cooking could be per- 

 formed slowly and effectually for a very tri- 

 fling cost of fuel. Then, again, the cooking 

 of corn-stalks — how much better could this 

 be done by boiling, when a small quantity of 

 corn and cob meal might be added, and a thick 

 soup prepared that, with a small quantity of 

 cut hay mixed, would form altogether the 

 most palatable food either for cows or horses. 

 There appears to me no question which would 

 be the best mode of preparing cut food, while 

 those who advocate steaming seem to have 

 been biassed by the consideration that it is a 

 quicker mode of proceeding. Mr. Editor, all 

 our proceedings are marked by a hurry that 

 would almost deserve the name of reckless- 

 ness — we cannot be content to do a thing 

 well, it must be done quickly and cheaply, 

 and often indeed without regard to any other 

 consideration. It is granted that steaming 

 may be made a quicker process, but by pro- 

 perly constructed boilers working in pairs, 

 according to a plan that has been proposed, a 

 BufRcient quantity of food for a very large 

 stock of cattle and hogs could be prepared by 

 a lad of fifteen, the cost of labour being more 

 than repaid even by the superior quality of 

 the manure produced — a consideration which 

 some of our friends might designate as a tra- 

 ding in trifles — well, be it so; I am sure that 

 the manure prepared by such a process would 

 be found very essential to the raising of heavy 

 crops. 



I find that Mott's portable cast-iron fur- 

 naces are getting much into vogue for this 

 purpose; they are very convenient and eco- 

 nomical, but it is objected their egg-shaped 

 bottom robs the boiler of its capacity, and is 

 not the best form to economize fuel. The 

 patent consists in enclosing a common iron 

 boiler in a cast-iron jacket, by which the heat 11 



is given out, and not retained, as is the case 

 when boilers are set in brick-work ; iron being 

 a conductor of heat — brick a non-conductor. 

 If, therefore, any one having a boiler were to 

 surround it with a sheet of thin boiler-iron 

 bent into circular form and riveted, leaving a 

 space between it and the boiler about two 

 inches wide, for the heat and smoke to pass, 

 and build up his bricks against it, he would 

 find a great saving of time as well as fuel to 

 arise from the alteration. At all events, the 

 cooking of food for stock, by some mode or 

 other, ought to be adopted, by which an ad- 

 ditional profit could be obtained without an 

 additionaloutlay of capital — an important con- 



sideration. 



JosiAH Kent. 



Conservatory at Chatsworth. 



This magnificent structure has been re- 

 cently erected under the direction of Mr. 

 Paxton, the superintendent of the splendid 

 establishment of the Duke of Devonshire. It 

 is finished except as to the gateway leading 

 to it, the cost being about $"250,000. The 

 length of the building is 275 feet, width 130 

 feet, height 65 feet. It is of stout glass 

 from the ground and on all its surface. A 

 palm tree brought from a distance, and be- 

 tween 30 and 40 feet high, is now flourishing 

 in it; it was given to the Duke by Lord Tan- 

 kerville, and the removal and expense of 

 planting it cost upwards of §2000. The 

 house is heated by hot water, and the chim- 

 neys communicating with the furnaces are 

 not seen when at the conservatory, the smoke 

 being conveyed by horizontal iron pipes some 

 hundred feet distant, and is lost in the forest. 

 A piece of rock-work, more than 20 feet high, 

 and which is ascended by a flight of stone 

 steps, is at one end of the house ; it is covered 

 by orchideous plants, and from it is a fine 

 view of the disposition of the plants which 

 adorn the parterre below. There is a gallery 

 quite round the house, and from it, by open- 

 ing a valve, water is thrown quite over the 

 house. The house is stocked with most 

 choice exotics from all the habitable globe, 

 and it is, in fact, the ne plus ultra of conser- 

 vatories! The mansion of the Duke — the 

 paintings, furniture, amongst which are the 

 coronation chairs from the time of the first 

 George ; the gateway, and park, and water- 

 works are all in keeping with the structure 

 spoken of. The grape, peach and pine houses 

 (the garden being twelve acres in extent) are 

 at a distance from the residence ; and in the 

 centre of which is Mr. Paxton's house — em- 

 bracing all that could be desired by any pri- 

 vate gentleman. — Hart. Mag. 



Agriculture alone can be considered as 

 the creator of wealth. 



