NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



325 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE FRUIT CROP. 



Fruit in general is rather abundant than other- 

 v.'ise, in this section, the present season. Apples 

 are not so plenty as in some seasons, but there are 

 enough for home demand, and some for export. 

 The Roxbury Russet and Rhode Island Greening 

 bear very well, but they are not so fair as they for- 

 merly were, which is the case with many other va- 

 rieties in this region. The few past years have 

 appeared to be rather unfavorable to the growth of 

 the apple. Pears are more than an average yield, 

 although some varieties do not ripen so well as oth- 

 ers; native kinds generally succeed better than for- 

 eign. Quinces are somewhat abundant, of good 

 size and very fair. There are many raised in this 

 section, and the supply for a few years past has 

 been greater than the demand. Peaches are quite 

 a large crop; many trees are breaking from the 

 weight of iheir fruit; the late warm and dry wea- 

 ther has ripened them very rapidly, and imparted 

 to them an excellent flavor. Plums are plenty and 

 good; the curculio has not attacked them so gener- 

 ally as in past years. The cultivation of the plum 

 is receiving considerable attention of late. Cherries 

 were good in quality, and of sufficient quantity. 

 At the rate cherry trees have been planted for a 

 few years past, this fruit must become extremely 

 abundant ere long. Grapes are a light crop this 

 season in this vicinity; native varieties, on high 

 ground, produce a moderate quantity; but there 

 are few in low situations. 



Of other fruit of small kinds there has been a 

 good supply; and the year, on the whole, may be 

 called one of plenty with respect to fruit. 



Leominster, Sept. 13, 1851. 0. V. Hills. 



NUTRITION IN VARIOUS GRAINS. 



Wheat is one of the most important of our 

 crops. The grain contains from fifty to seventy 

 per cent, of starch, from ten to twenty per cent, of 

 gluten, and from three to five per cent, of fatty mat- 

 ter. The proportion of gluten is said to be largest 

 in the grain of quite warm countries. 



It is a singular fact that, in all the seed of 

 wheat and other grains, the principal part of the 

 oil lies near or in the skin, as also does a large 

 portion of the gluten. The bran owes to this much 

 of its nutritive and fattening qualities. Thus in 

 refining our flour to the utmost possible extent, 

 we diminish somewhat its value for food. The 

 phosphates of the ash also lie to a great degree in 

 the skin. The best fine flour contains above seven- 

 ty pounds of starch to each hundred. The residue 

 of one hundred pounds consists of ten or twelve 

 pounds of gluten, six to eight pounds of sugar and 

 gum, and ten to fourteen pounds of water and a 

 little oil. 



Rye flour more nearly resembles wheaten flour 

 in its composition than any other; it has, however, 

 more of certain gummy and sugary substances, 

 which make it tenacious, and also impart a sweet- 

 ish taste. In baking all grains and roots which 

 have much starch in them, a certain change takes 

 place in their chemical composition. By baking, 

 flour becomes more nutritious, and more easily di- 

 gestible, because more soluble. 



Barley contains rather less starch than wheat, al- 

 so less sugar and gum. There is little gluten, but 



a substance somewhat like it, and containing about 

 the same amount of nitrogen. 



Oatmeal is little used as food in this country, 

 but it is equal, if not superior, in its nutritious 

 qualities, to flour from any of the other grains; su- 

 perior, I have no doubt, to most of the flne wheaien 

 flour of the northern latitudes. It contains from 

 ten to eighteen per cent, of a body having about 

 the same amount of nitrogen or gluten. Besides 

 this, there is a considerable quantity of sugar and 

 gum, and from five to six per cent, of oil or fatty 

 matter, which may be obtained in the form of a 

 clear, fragrant liquid. Oatmeal, then, has not only 

 abundants of substance containing nitrogen, but is 

 also quite fattening. It is, in short, an excellent 

 food for working animals, and, as has been abun- 

 dantly proved in Scotland, fur working men also. 



Buckwheat is less nutritious than the other 

 grains which we have noticed. Its flour has from 

 six to ten per cent, of nitrogenous compounds, 

 about fifty per cent, of starch, and from five to eight 

 of sugar and gum. In speaking of buckwheat or 

 of oats, we of course mean without husks. 



Rice was formerly supposed to contain little ni- 

 trogen; but recent examinations have shown that 

 there is a considerable portion, some six or eight 

 per cent, of a substance like gluten. The per cent- 

 age of fatty matter and of sugar is quite small, but 

 that of starch mucli larger than any grain yet men- 

 tioned, being between eighty and ninety per cent.; 

 usually about eighty-two. 



Indian corn is the last that we shall notice. This 

 contains about sixty per cent, of starch, nearly the 

 same as oats. The proportion of oil and gum is 

 large, about ten per cent.; this explains the fatten- 

 ing properties of Indian meal, so well known to 

 practical men. There is, besides these, a good 

 portion of sugar. The nitrogenous substances are 

 also considerable in quantity, some twelve to six- 

 teen per cent. All these statements are from the 

 prize essay of Mr. J. H. Salisbury, published by 

 the New York State Agricultural Society. They 

 show that the results of European chemists have 

 probably been obtained by the examination of va- 

 rieties inferior to ours; they have not placed Indi- 

 an corn much above the level of buckwheat or rice, 

 whereas, from the above, it is seen to be "in most 

 respects superior to any other grain." 



Sweet corn differs from all other varieties, con- 

 taining only about eighteen per cent, of starch. 

 The amount of sugar is, of course, very large, 

 and the nitrogenous substance amounts to the very 

 large proportion of twenty per cent.; of gum to 

 thirteen or fourteen; and of oil, to about eleven. 

 This, from the above results, is one of the most 

 nourishing crops grown. If it can be made to 

 yield as much per acre as the harder varieties, it is 

 well worth a trial on a large scale. — Prof. Norton. 



WATER CISTERNS. 



Mr. Frea.s: — I am sure you will agree with 

 me, that it is seldom the case that proper conveni- 

 ences for supplying stock with water are found 

 even on the best managed farms. Oftentimes the 

 cattle are compelled to go several rods from the 

 yards to a spring, brook or pump, and stand there 

 shivering and chilled with the piercing blasts until 

 the water is cut open or the trough filled fur their 

 accommodation. In this way the farmer loses, 

 annually, more than it would probably cost him to 



