Vol. TX.— No. 9. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



6d 



s unboiled. The two aniiimis were weighed 

 ;ry week, and tlie dilTeieMce between iheui was 

 6 to 9. The experiment was contiiuied sever- 

 wecks, anil the aninuils alternately fed on boiled 

 il unboiled food, with a uniformity of result, 

 lich sufficiently showed the very great profit 

 sing from boiled food.' 



Steaming will answer as good a purpose as 

 iling, and with a proper apparatus is more easily 

 d cheaply eflected. 



Carrots, according to Arthur Young are better 

 (d for swine than potatoes , and some other 

 iters assure us that parsnips are better than 

 her for feeding them. An English writer says, 

 ley fatten all their pork in the island of Jersey, 

 th parsnips. They are more saccharine than 

 rrots, and it is well known that nothing fattens 

 gs faster, or makes finer pork than the sugar 

 lie.' Mr Young also asserts that ' the most 

 )fitable method of converting corn of any kind 

 o food for swine, is to grind it into meal, and 

 V this with water in cisterns, in the jiroportions 

 five bushels of meal to one hundred gallons of 

 Iter, stirring it well several times a day, for three 

 leks, in cold weather, or a fortnight in a warmer 

 (son, by which time it will have fermented well 

 |! become acid, till which it is not ready to give. 

 \i mixture should always be stirred immediately 

 |)re feeding, and two or three cisterns should 

 |;ept fermenting in succession, that no necessity 



!• occur of giving it not duly prepared. The 

 Judge Peters, also asserted that ' sour food is 

 t grateful and alimentary to swine One gal- 

 |lof sour wash goes farther than two of sweet.' 

 Jlie sentiments, however, which are at least ap- 

 ^ ntly in oppo.sition to the opinion of the above 

 iiJrated agriculturists have been advanced by 

 r writers. An Eng-lish work, entitled ' Farm- 

 Calendar,' (.inthors name not given) declares 

 much has been said, and little understood 

 t purposely souring food for hogs. It is not 

 acidity can possibly tend to making fat, but 

 'ound that pigs will readily fatten upon soil 

 ther acesciint food, a sweetish taste and glu- 

 s quality succeeding fermentation ; and that 

 will do so still more reatlily upon such as 

 ■ reached the acid state, I know, and have 

 io hundreds of instances.' In order to re- 

 le these writers it v.'ill only be necessary to 

 t to the difl'erent stages of ordinary fermen- 

 , and the products of each stage. The first 

 of fermentation produces sugar, and is called 

 iccharine fermentation. The te.-ond stage 

 jpes alcohol, [spirit of wine] and is called 

 inous fermentation. The third produces 

 ir, and is called the acid fermentation ; and 

 irth and last stage converts the matter fcr- 

 iig into a substance, which is not only offen- 

 but poisonous, and is called the putrid fer- 

 lion. Thus if you soak wheat or other fari- 

 us substance in water, of a proper temjiera- 

 ; will first become sweet, and begin to sprout 

 etate ; it will next afford spirit or alcohol ; 

 ne the process the wash turns sour, at first 

 y, and then more strongly aciil ; and at last 

 lole becomes jnitrid. It pndiably contains 

 ourishment when it is sweetest, but is valu- 

 II very sour, when it is worth little or noth- 

 nd when the putriil fermentation has coni- 

 d it is worse than nothing, as food (or any 

 The wash, then, should I e given to the 

 vhilp it is yet sweet, or but beginning to be 



l^i 



IMPROVED COOKING GRATE. 



We have received a pamphlet, lately printed in 

 Philadelphia, entitled ' S/jecification of a Patent 

 for an Improved Cooking Grate, intended cldejlij 

 for eooking by Means of Anthracite Coal. Granted 

 <o Thomas Vi.nton, of Philadelphia, Oetober 31, 

 1829. inth Remarks by the Editor of the Journal 

 of the Franklin Institution.' 



After giving u description and drawing of this 

 apparatus, the pamphlet proceeds with the follow- 

 ing remarks by the Editor of the Journal. 



' E.tperience, the best test of the worth of either 

 persons or things, has so far as it has come to our 

 knowledge, been altogether in favor of the appa- 

 ratus above described. An intimate friend in 

 Philadelphia, whose family is large, and in whose 

 word and judgment we have entire confidence, has 

 had Mr Vinton's grate in use for some time, and is 

 too well pleased with it to be willing to return to 

 the wood fire for the purpose of cooking, or in- 

 deed, to any other mode with which he is acquaint- 

 ed. At a very early period this grate achieved a 

 signal triumph in his family ; it not only silenced 

 the o|)position made to the trial of it by the occu- 

 pants of the kitchen, but has converted them into 

 zealous advocates, as they find it answers the pur- 

 poses intended in a very perfect manner, while 

 it possesses that valuable attribute of an anthracite 

 coal fire, the requiring so htlle attention to keep it 

 up. 



' Meat baked in the oven, we are assured, can- 

 not be distinguished, by the epicures, from that 

 roasted before the fire ; the surface is well brown- 

 ed, and the gravy uuburned. Bread, and the vari- 

 ous articles of pastry, are baked as well as in a 

 brick oven, the heated air communicating a much 

 more equable temperature to the plates of the 

 oven than a direct fire. We have not, ourselves, 

 seen the grate in operation, or tasted of the sa- 

 vory viands which it sends forth, we should not 

 therefore, have ventured a decided opinion in its 

 favor, had not its character been furnished by 

 those who have no personal interest in bringing it 

 into notice. 



' Those grates which have liitherto been put 

 up, have not been furiushed with boilers. With 

 the appendages su(;h as bars of wrought iron to 

 place kettles &c, above the fire ; a trivet or shelf, 

 in front of the grate, and the fire brick ; the cost 

 of them is thirty five dollars. When a boiler is 

 added, this of course will increase the price in 

 pro|)ortion to its size, and the tnaterial of which it 

 is made, as of tinned copper, or iron. The cost 

 of a sliding blower, and the work in fixing it is 

 not included as not being essential to the use of 

 the grate. The quantity of coal used is said to 

 be about the same as that for an ordinary i)arlor 

 grate. 



The following extracts from Mr Vinton's ' Di- 

 rections for making a coal Fire, and for using the 

 Cooking Apparatus,' will be serviceable as well 

 for those who do not as those who do use such 

 apparatus, if they have occasion to burn anthra- 

 cite coal. 



' Anthracite coal, when broken into pieces from 

 the size of a hen's egg to that of a common sized 

 tea-cup, and free from dust, will burn freely, 

 without the aid of a blower, if left to kindle and 

 but a small quantity of coal is added at a time. 

 The fire also, will, in this case be much clearer 

 and stronger. — Dry wood, or charcoal, should be 

 used fur kindling it. 



' The blower will facilitate ihe kindling of the 



fire in the morning, and at other times when it is 

 low, but it should be used sparingly ; for when 

 used but a short time, the heat becomes so intense 

 as to melt the ashes and stony substances found 

 in the coal and form a cement, which ])revents the 

 free circulation of the air, and the fire soon be- 

 comes dull and sluggish. Whenever this is the 

 case the whole mass slionid be broken up, by 

 putting the poker under the basket part of the 

 grate, between the bars, and lifting the coal ; or 

 by passing it between the front bars and prying 

 the coal up. The first method is best ; as it not 

 ordy lightens the coal, hut frees the grate from 

 ashe^. The lower the coal lies in the grate, the 

 brisker will be the fire. 



' Should the fire become dull, after the coal is 

 ignited it is a sure indication that it is clogged, 

 with the cement before inenlioned, with ashes, 

 or coal dust, or that there is too great a quantity 

 in the grate ; in either case instead of running 

 down the blower, which will only increase the 

 difficulty, free the grate in the manner directed 

 in the foregoing section. 



' For roasting or baking it is necessary that a 

 large proportion of the heat should he in the basket, 

 or lower part of the grate ; keep that part, there- 

 fore, free from slaty and stony substances, and 

 from the remains of melted cement, or these will, 

 in a short time, when the coal is very impure, 

 occupy the space which should be filled with 

 pure coal and active heat. The pieces of slate, 

 stone or cement, which are too large to fall 

 through the grate, should be taken out with tongs. 



' Permitting water to boil over, or to be spilled 

 on the fire bricks will cause them to crumble, and 

 should it reach the cast iron pipe between them, 

 in the back part of the fire place, or the small 

 grate at its end may cause them to warp. Exposing 

 them when heated to the action of cold air, will 

 also have the same effect, and it is therefore ne- 

 cessary that the fire go out gradually, and never 

 be taken all out at once. 



• For all the purposes of a common family, it 

 is not necessary to have more coal in the grate 

 than will come to a level with the second bar 

 fi-om the top. A larger quantity is a useless and 

 injurious weight, which presses that below it so 

 closely together, as to prevent a free circulation 

 of air. Putting cooking utensils or other weight 

 on the fire, will also deaden it. 



' A small quantity of coal, in pieces about the 

 size of a walnut, put on the top of the fire while 

 baking, will be useful to keep the heat from as- 

 cending. 



' Sprinkling a small quantity of coal dust or 

 ashes, on the fire at night will preserve it until 

 the next morning, when there will be sufficient 

 heat to kindle fresh coal or wood. 



' Scrape out the ashes from the ash pit every 

 morning.' 



One of Mr Vinton's Improved Cooking Grates 

 is in use in this city, and we are informed that it 

 fully answers the purposes for which it was in- 

 tended. 



Grapes. — Considerable attention is now be- 

 stowed on the culture, of this wholesome fruit in 

 Nantucket. A correspondent writes us that one 

 gentleman has now a number of bushels of Isabella 

 Gra[>es on his vines. Three or four years ago 

 not a vine was raised there. The culture of 

 I fruit trees is also extending. 



