£l)c JFarmer's iHontljln bisitor. 



123 



the sun, was found to perspire at the rate of 

 twenty to thirty ounces avoirdupois every twelve 

 hours, or seven times more than a man. A vine. 

 with twelve; square feet, exhaled at the rate of 

 five or six ounces a day. A seedling apple-tree, 

 with twelve square feet of foliage, lost nine 

 ounces a day.* 



These are experiments upon very small plants. 

 The vast amount of surface presented by a large 

 tree must give off immense quantities of moist- 

 ure. The practical hearings of this fact of \> ge- 

 tahle exhalation are hoi a few. Wet forest lands, 

 by being cleared of timber, become dry, and 

 streams fed from snch sources become almost 

 extinct as civilization encroaches on wild woods. 

 The excessive dampness of crowded gardens is 

 not singular, and siill less is it strange that dwel- 

 lings covered with vines, whose windows are 

 clinked with shrubs, and whose roof is overhung 

 with branches of trees, should he intolerably 

 damp ; and when the good house-wife is scrub- 

 bing, scouring, and brushing, anil, nevertheless, 

 marvelling that her house is so infested with 

 mould, she hardly suspects that her troubles 

 would be more easily removed by the axe or 

 saw than by all her cloths and brushes. A house 

 should never be closely surrounded with shrubs 

 A free circulation of air should be maintained 

 all about it, aod shade trees so disposed as to 

 leave large openings for the li^hl and sun to en- 

 ter. The unusual rains of the current season 

 have produced so great a dampness in our resi- 

 dences that no one can fail to have noticed its 

 effect, both ou the health of the occupants and 

 upon the beauty and good condition of their 

 household substance. 



11LNKY W. BEECHEli. 



Breadstuff's of the United States. 

 A scientific report on this subject by Professor 

 Lewis C. Beck, of Rutgers College, giving the 

 results of some experiments made under the 

 patronage of the Federal Government, has re- 

 cently been published, and we are indebted to 

 the polite attention of the author for a copy of 

 it. Ii is a valuable document on a topic of gene- 

 ral interest. The fact that we sent flirty-three 

 millions of dollars' worth of food lo relieve a 

 famine in Europe ill a sing! I year — great as the 

 amount reall) is, dn udles nevertheless into in- 

 significance when compared with tin; profuse 

 abundance we enjoy at home. The aggregate 

 amount of the agricultural products of the Uni- 

 ted Slates convertible into breadsluffs or its sub 7 



the amount of water in different hinds of w heal 

 and Hour, lor all contain water in greater or less 

 quantities, lis amount is greater in cold coun- 

 tries than in warm. 



Iii Alsace, from Hi to 20 per cent. 



In England, from II to 17 per cent. 



In I n mi I States, limn 12 to 11 per cent. 



In Africa and Sicily, from !> to 1 1 per cent. 



This accounts lor the fact thai the same weight 

 of Southern Sour yields more bread than North- 

 ern. English wheat yields thirteen pounds more 

 to the quarter than the Scotch. Alabama Sour, 

 it is said, yields twenty percent, more than thai 

 of Cincinnati. And in general, American Hour, 

 according to the authority id' one of the most 

 extensive London bakers, absorbs eight or ten 

 per cent, more of its own weight of water in 

 being made into bread, than the English. The 

 English grain is fuller and rounder than the 

 American, being in truth puffed Up with moist- 

 ure. All this is accounted for by temperature. 

 The warmer the country, the more is the water 

 dried out of the grain before it ripens, and 

 hence when made into bread, it absorbs more 

 water again, and is therefore more valuable. 



Water also unfits it lor preservation. The 

 honks of a single inspector in New York city 

 showed that in 18-17 he inspected 218,(i7'.i bar- 

 rels of sour and musty Hour. In his opinion the 

 | loss on these was $250,000. Every year the to- 

 tal loss iii the United States fiorn moisture in 

 wheat and Hour is estimated at from $3,000,01)0 

 lo $5,000,000 1 To remedy this great evil, the 

 grain should be well ripened before harvesting, 

 and well dried before being stored in a good dry 

 granary. Afterwards, in grinding and in trans- 

 porting, it should be carefully protected from 

 wet, and the flour be kept from exposure to the 

 atmosphere. The best precaution is kiln-drying. 

 By this process the wheat and flour are passed 

 over iron plates heated by steam to the boiling 

 point. From each barrel of flour sixteen or sev- 

 enteen pounds of water are thus expelled, leav- 

 ing still four or five per cent, in the flour, an 

 amount too small to do injury. If all the water 

 be expelled, the quality of the flour is deteriora- 

 ted. 



The mode of ascertaining the amount of wa- 

 ter in flour is this: Take a small sample, say 

 five ounces, and weigh it carefully. Put it in a 

 dry vessel, which should he heated by boiling 



water. After six or seven hours weigh it care- 

 fully, until it loses no more weight. lis loss of 

 weight shows the original amount of water. 



1 be next object of Professor Beck was to as- 

 certain the amount of gluten ill the various sam- 

 ples of flour. Gluten is an adhesive, pasty mass, 

 and consists of several different principles, 

 though its constitution has not yet been satisfac- 

 torily determined. It is chiefly the nutritious 

 portion of the flour. The remaining principles 

 are mostly stai ch, sugar and gum. These three 

 latter have been thought not to be nutritious, but 



their 

 about 



relative amount in 

 as follows : 



Water, 

 Gluten, 



Starch, 



hundred pails 

 Kubankn \V 



Stitutes, upon an average of three or fan j ears, is ibis is probably an error. On an averug 

 about nine hundred millions of bushels, of which 

 nearly one-half is Indian corn. The quantity of 

 ' wheal may be put down at one hundred millions 

 of bushels. The whole amount id' this vasl ag- 

 gregate product required lor home consumpl 



does not probably exceed three hundred millions. 

 Of course the' immense surplus is subject to ex- 

 portation ; so that it is not too much lo assume 

 that our country i; destined to be the granary of 

 the world. 



In view, then, of the magnitude and impor- 

 tance of ibis great national interest, the late 

 Commissioner of Patents did well to make it the 

 Ruhject id' special scientific research; and he 

 happily selected a gentleman every way qualified 

 for the task, to ascertain how the intrinsic value 

 of the various breadstuff's may be determined, 

 their injur)' guard". i against, ami their adulter I- 

 lions detected. 



Professor Beck received the appointment in 

 April of last year, and his experiments thus far 

 have been ciuil'uied to wheat and wheal flour, 

 which constitutes this subject of the report be- 

 fore us. Indian corn and meal, which have now 

 ne such important articles of export, will 

 receive d\\f attention in tin' course of his re- 

 searches. In entering upon the subject of his 

 present report, his first object was in ascertain 



bent, the be.st. 

 Li 



16 



('0 

 SI 



97 



* Lindl-y's Horticulture, p. 4i and 1 1. 

 p. 131. 



C'ray'9 IJoiany, 



The Professor examined, according untie pre- 



si nt report, thirty-three different samples, from 

 different parts of the United Suites and Europe, 

 and he gives the preference lo the Kubanka va- 

 riety from the south of Russia. There would 

 probably be a prejudice against it in this coun- 

 try, from the natural yellowish hue of its flour 

 and bread. 



The process for determining the relative 

 an io u i its of gluten, starch, sugar and gum is this : 

 Put a few ounces of (lour carefully «i igbed io a 

 cotton or linen cloth. Pour cold water upon it 

 and work up llie dough with the fingers. All 

 except 1 1n* gluten strains through the cloth. This 

 is then dried and weighed. 



The gum and sugar becomes dissolved in the 

 water, but the staicli settles al the bottom of the 

 ve el. This wtner is poured off and the starch 

 is thus obtained, ami ma) be weighed. The Wa- 

 ter is next evaporated, and the gum and sugar 

 also obtained in a dry stale lor weighing. This 



is not a perfect method— other methods more 

 complicated give different results; but this is 



sufficiently accurate in a practical way for ascer- 

 taining the relative values of different specimen-. 

 The report contains some valuable remarks on 

 agriculture in general. The inquiry is not simply 

 how productive a field may be made, however 

 important that may be, but concerns also lhe 

 rost of snch production. A man may astonish 



the country by the gnat al dance of his crops, 



and yet become bankrupt with bis great returns 

 — simply because they cannot repay their Cost. 



The question therefore of economy of measures 

 and economy of treatment, are of the first im- 

 portance. It should be known also that wheat 

 raised on a rich soil is more nutritious, taking 

 the same quantity, than that raised in poor 

 ground. 



We hope these enquiries will he continued 

 without delay. As yet, alter so few mouths' la- 

 bor, they are merely preliminary. Professor 

 Beck has given abundant proof of his ability to 

 pursue the subject in his noble report on the 

 mineralogy of New York, and in his valuable 

 works ou Chemistry and Botany ; and we may 

 reasonably anticipate thai his researches in or- 

 ganic analysis will be entitled to a place with 

 those of Professor llorslbrd of Cambridge, or of 

 Professor Norton of Vale. — Newark Daily Adv. 



.In Important Invention. — Haven Iron. — Messrs. 

 Wickershow & Walker, of Pniladelphin, have a 

 patent right for the manufacture of woven iron. 

 This improvement does away with the necessity 

 of pivots for the purpose of fastening iron work 

 together, where it is used for grating of any de- 

 scription. The manufacturers are enabled to 

 weave iron as large as railroad bars, or the 

 smallest description of wire. They are now ap- 

 plying it to lhe following purposes: Iron railings 

 of endless varieties, embracing beauty, strength 

 and style of finish never surpassed, (or public 

 grounds, buildings, cottages, verandahs, lawns, 

 cemeteries, &c, iron bridges, galleries for 

 churches, gratings for prisions, window shutters, 

 and gratings for stores, columns and cornices for 

 cottages, tree-boxes, summer-houses, guards for 

 decks of steamboats and vessels, &c, &c, being 

 cheaper than wood or cast iron. — .V. }". Journal 

 of Commerce. 



Tall Timber. — On Saturday there came into 

 Lowell from Enfield, N. ft., on the borders of 

 Masco my lake, eight sticks of limber, measuring 

 fifty Ions of forty cubic feet. They were white 

 pines, and their destination was Salem and its 

 ship-building neighborhood, whither they went 

 over the Lowell and Lawrence road lhe same 

 afternoon. As a measure of their value it may 

 he proper to slate that it costs five dollars a ton 

 to transport such timber from Enfield to Law- 

 rence. They were a full load for twenty-three 

 stake cars. Two of them were upwards of 

 ninet) feet in length each; one of which meas- 

 ured over ten tons, wits as clear as a bell and 

 straight as a wand or candle. — Lowell Courier. 



Boiling Potatoes. — 'fin' correspondent of the 

 London Times says:— "The following method 

 of dressing potatoes v. di he found of great use 

 when skins are tough and potatoes arc watery. 

 Score the skin of the potato with a knife length- 

 wise and aero-.-, quite around, ami then boil the 

 potato in pleutj of water and salt, with the skin 

 ou. The skin readily cracks when it is .-cored, 

 and lets out the moisture, which Otherwise ren- 

 ders the potato soapy and wet. The improve- 

 ment lo bad potatoes h\ this method of boiling 

 them is very great ; and all who have tried it, 

 find a great advantage in it, now that good pota- 

 loi - an rery difficult to be obtained." 



1 .'kin at one lime was tie- largi -I city in the 

 world. London is now the largest, and New- 

 York is the largest city in lhe United Slates. 



