NEW ENGL.AND FAMMEIft 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aguicultural Warkhouse.) — T. G. FESSENHEN, EniTOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 28, 1835. 



From the Alhnny Cultivator. 

 PRESER-»aXU ROOTS. 



Wc find in Chaptal's " Chemistry applied to 

 Agriciiltiii-e," an excellent clia])ter on the preser- 

 vation of animal and vege able substances. We 

 extract the following from the preliminary re- 

 marks. 



"The nature of all bodies which have ceased 

 to live or vegetnte, are changed, as soon as the 

 physical or chemical laws, by which they are gov- 

 erned, cease to act; the elements of which they 

 were composed, then form new combinations, and 

 consequently new substances. 



Whilst an animal lives, or a jilant vegetates, the 

 laws of chemical aflinity are continually modified 

 in its organs by the laws of vitality ; but when 

 the animal or plant ceases to live, it becomes en- 

 tirely subject to the laws of chemical affinity, by 

 which alone its decomposition is effected. 



The principles of the atmospheric air which is 

 imbibed by the organs of living bodies, whether 

 animal or vegetable, are decomposed and assimi- 

 lated by them, whilst dead bodies are decomposed 

 by its action. Heat is the most powerful stimu- 

 lant of the vital functions, yet it becomes, after 

 death, one of the most active agents in the work 

 of destruction. Our efforts, then, for the preser- 

 vation of bodies, ought to be directed to counter- 

 acting or governing those chemical or jihysical 

 Rgent-s, from the action of which they suffer ; and 

 we shall see that all the methods which have been 

 successful, are thosp which have been formed upon 

 this principle. 



The chemical agents which exert the most pow- 

 erful influence over the products of the earth, are 

 air, water and heat ; the action of these, however, 

 is not equally powerful over all classes of plants ; 

 the soft and watery, and those which approach 

 the animal matter, decompose most readily ; the 

 principles of such are less coherent, less strongly 

 united than that of others ; so that the action of 

 disorganizing agents upon them is prompt and 

 effectual. 



All the methods now employed for the preser- 

 vation of bodies, consist in so far changing their 

 nature, as to deprive them of the elements of de- 

 struction contained within their own organs : or 

 in secluding the substances to be preserved from 

 contact with the destructive agents mentioned in 

 the preceding paragraph ; or in causing them to 

 imbibe certain other substances, the anti-putrescent 

 qualities of which counteract all action, whether 

 of internal or external agents. 



In all vegetable products, water exists in two 

 different states, one part of it being found free, 

 and the other in a state of true combination ; the 

 first portion, not being confined except by the cov- 

 ering of the vegetable, evaporates at the tempera- 

 ture of the atmosphere ; the second is set free 

 only at a temperature sufficiently high to decom- 

 pose the substances containing it : the first, though 

 foreign to the composition of the vegetable, enters 

 into every part of it, dissolving some of its princi- 

 ^es, serving as a vehicle for air and heat, and 



being converted by cold into ice ; by these several 

 properties it greatly facilitates decomposition : the 

 second portion, from which no evil of the kind 

 arises, is found combined and solidified in the 

 plants, and its action is thus neutralized." 



Drying fruits, then, in order to preserve them, 

 consists in depriving them of the water contained 

 in them in a free .state. This may be done by 

 subjecting thein to heat, not cxccc<ling 95 or 113 

 degrees; either by exposing them to the sun, or 

 in a stove room, or in ovens, which latter practice 

 is resorted to, even in the warmest countries, at 

 tho commencement of the drying process. In 

 (ircserving the apple, for instance, our author adds, 

 that by depriving their surface of all moisture be- 

 fore putting them up ; keeping them in dry places, 

 where the temperature will be constantly be:ween 

 50 and 54 degrees, and by separating the fruits 

 that they shall not come in contact, they may 

 sometimes be preserved 18 months. The farmer 

 in Schoharie, who has been in the habit of bring- 

 ing the Spitzenbcrg to our itiarket on the 4th of 

 July, owes his success to the observance of these 

 rules. 



On the preservation of the fruits of the earth 

 by secluding them from the action of air, water 

 and heat, M. Chaptal pnnfljev«f$^ the foliowixg 

 leading causes of dec.i}'. 



" The atmospheric air, coming in contact with 

 fruits, deprives them of their carbon, and forms 

 carbonic acid. 



Fruits exposed to the solvent action of water 

 suffer decomposition, by having the affinity exist- 

 ing between their constituent principles weakened, 

 and at length destroyed. 



Heat dilates the particles of bodies, and thus 

 diminishes the force of cohesion and attraction, 

 and favors the admission of air and water. 



The combined action of these three agents pro- 

 duces very speedy decomposition ; the effect pro- 

 duced by any one of them is slower, and the re- 

 sults different. So^that in order to preserve fruits 

 from decomposition, it is necessary to guard them 

 from the power of these three destroyers." 



Practically applied, these axioms teach, that to 

 preserve roots in good condition, the following 

 precautions should be observed : 



1st. That their surfeces be entirely freed from 

 moisture before they are housed or buried, and 

 that they be deposited in a dry situation, where 

 water will not have access to them. 



2ri. That they he excluded from the air, by 

 burying them in dry earth, or slightly covering 

 them in the cellar with earth. And 



3d. That they be kept in a cool temperature ; 

 the best ranging from 34 to 45 degrees. 



We frequently hear housekeepers complain, 

 that their potatoes, turnips, and other vegetables 

 soon deteriorate, and lose their fine flavor, after 

 they have been a short time in theircellars. This 

 is a natural consequence of the injudicious way 

 in which they are too frequently kept : exposed to 

 the atmosphere, and to a high temperature, in a 

 cellar adjoining the kitchen, or perhaps in the 



kitchen itself. Again, potatoes or turni|is buried 

 in a wet condition, or the latter with parts of their 

 tops left on, are very liable to feririent and spoil. 

 We find it to be a necessary precaution in bury- 

 ing turnips, to make one or more holes in the 

 crown of the pit, to let off tho rarified air, and 

 abat(! the heat which is almost invariably genora- 

 ted on their being buried. 



In preventing the total loss of potatoes that 

 have been effected by frost, Thomas Dallas direx-ts, 

 that when they are slightly touched by the frost, 

 it is only necessary to sprinkle the roots with 

 lime to absorb the water under the skin; that 

 when the outer portion of their substance is fro- 

 zen, the tubers may be pared and thrown for some 

 hours into water slightly salted ; and that when 

 they are wholly frozen, they will yield, upon dis- 

 tillation, a spirituous liquor resembling the best 

 rum, and in greater quantity than roots which 

 have not been frozen. 



The quotations we have made above are inval- 

 uable to the farmer and house-keeper ; and if the 

 principles which they establish are understood 

 and practised upon, we shall have no cause to 

 regret the length to which we have extended this 

 article. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAIi SOCIETV. 



Saturday, Oct. 10, 1835. 



E^HIBITIOtf OP FROITS. 



From Stephen Williams, Esq., Northhorougb 

 3 varieties of apples and 1 of pears. 



Frem (/harles Bowen, pomme d'Api, lady-apple, 

 and St Michael's pears. 



From Judge Buel, Downton pippin, Rosinkru- 

 ger. Pigeon rouge, Alexander, and King of the 

 pippins, apples. 



From Messrs Winship, Capiaumont and Croft 

 Castle pears. [The Croft Castle is one of the 

 new pears raised by Mr Knight, and scions dis- 

 tributed by Mr Lowell : as far as could be judged 

 from a single specimen it will prove a fine fruit.] 



From Charles French, Esq., of Braintree, sweet 

 apples for baking. 



From Dr S. A. Shurtleff, Urbaniste pears and 

 1 sort unnamed. 



From Messrs Hovey, Heathcote and St Mi- 

 chael's pears. 



From John Prince, Esq. Naumkeag pears. 



From Hon. John Lowell, Tillington and Urban- 

 iste pears. 



From S. Philbrick, Urbaniste, Capiaumont, and 

 Wilkinson pears. 



From Madame Dix, large basket of Dix pears. 



From M. P. Wilder, Van Mous pears. 



From Mr John Clapp, of Reading, Piatt's Ber- 

 gamot, and Seckel pears, five sorts of apples, and 

 one ear of Tuscarora corn. 



From Mr Manning, Quetshe d'ltaly, Imperial 

 Violet, and Antwerp plums. Jalousie, Buffum, Ur- 

 baniste, Washington, Heathcote, green Yair, Rous- 

 selette de Rheims, and Belle Lucrative pears ; 

 Lyscom and Snow apples, and Seedling blood 

 pjach for preserves. 



