370 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



Aug. 



PRESERVING ARTICLES OF POOD. 

 ERHAPS in no department of 

 human economy has there 

 ^ been a greater advance with- 

 in a few years past, than in the pre- 

 serving of articles of diet in a whole- 

 some and palatable condition, for the 

 use of travellers, sailors, soldiers 

 and families. 

 Condensed milk, canned fruits and meats ; 

 pemmican ; dried fruits, as apples and peaches ; 

 Hosford's essence of ^eef, in which the nutri- 

 tive substance of an ox is reduced to a few 

 pounds and packed in a sealed can, ready to 

 be transported' in the traveller's trunk, and 

 converted in a few minutes into a rich soup ; 

 Professor Gamgee's method of preserving 

 meats in their natural form so that whole quar- 

 ters of beef and mutton can be transported 

 from South America to Europe in a good con- 

 dition, and brought upon the tables of London 

 or Paris without their taste or healthfulness be- 

 ing in the least impaired, — are but a few of 

 the instances that might be mentioned, of what 

 science has suggested for the convenience or 

 necessities of many. The preserving of veg- 

 etables, fruits and meats, in a fresh state, in 

 our houses, kept at a uniform temperature, 

 sufficiently low to prevent fermentation and 

 decomposition, and just above the freezing 

 point, is another instance of the same kind. 

 In this way, articles that would otherwise rap- 

 idly decay, can be stored when there is a sur- 

 plus in the market, and be kept till they are 

 wanted, to the advantage of both the producer 

 and the consumer. Such establishments are 

 springing up in the vicinity of large cities, 

 and if they do not become sources of monop- 

 oly and speculation, will prove a great conven- 

 ience 



Our attention has been turned to this sub- 

 ject, by a notice in the Report of the Depart 

 ment of Agriculture, of the drying of sweet 

 .potatoes, to which we briefly alluded a few 

 weeks since. This tuber is wonderfully pro- 

 ductive at the South, and is not only cheap and 

 nutritious, but is a favorite article of food 

 with all classes. The difficulty of keeping it 

 ia fully appreciated by families and dealers in 

 vegetables. 



Dr. C. K. Marshall, in the Vicksburg Times 

 in September last, as-ked, "Cannot sweet po- 

 tatoes, which our soil and climate are so won- 



derfully adapted to produce, be cut into slices 

 and so dried that they might be made an arti- 

 cle of merchandise ? Fruits and vegetables 

 have been dried and prepared for shipment, 

 and thus become valuable crops. If sweet 

 potatoes can be treated so as to preserve the 

 saccharine matter, and become an article of 

 food, even though not as agreeable as the un- 

 dried root in its best condition, they would pay 

 as handsomely as any product of the Southern 

 soil " This inquiry has been answered by 

 Francis 11. Smith of Baltimore, who has dried 

 sweet potatoes successfully in his drying tun- 

 nel, which is a chamber of lathes and plaster, 

 twenty feet long and six feet in breadth and 

 depth, with a peculiar furnace at one end, 

 and a chimney of boards at the other, capa- 

 ble of preparing twenty-five bushels of dried 

 peaches. 



The potatoes are peeled by a little machine 

 and sliced three-eighths of an inch think by 

 another, with great rapidity. When dried 

 they have lost two-thirds of their weight, 

 weighing twenty pounds ; are white and so 

 flinty, that a knife makes but little impression 

 upon them ; but when cooked — steaming is the 

 best way — they resume their original appear- 

 ance and are in every respect equal to the un- 

 dried root in its best condition. Should the 

 sweet potato in this dried state, become a pop- 

 ular article of diet, and we see no reason why 

 it should not, especially at the North, where 

 the difficulty of presenting it is so much greater 

 than at the South, it would be of great eco- 

 nomical value. We see no reason why the 

 common potato may not^be dried in the same 

 way, although its better keeping property 

 makes this less necessary ; yet it would thus be 

 rendered portable, and might be more readily 

 obtained in many cases in which it is now im- 

 possible to get it. How much suffiering might 

 thus be saved in the camp and the naval service, 

 from which its free use would banish scurvy, 

 that terrible scourge of the soldier and sailor. 



Soil for Flowers — Leaf mould is good 

 for flowers if two or three years old, and very 

 much decayed ; when but half rottwn it is an 

 injury. Rotten sod is the best sod for flow- 

 ers ; and cow manure which has lain two 

 years to rot, the best fertilizer. Where rot- 

 ten sod is not eas^ily obtained, the edging 

 parings of walks may be preserved in a heap 

 for flower purposes. — Gardener'' s Monthly. 



