(50 FAMILY RECEIPTS. 



multiplied and preserved by selecting seeds from the 

 finest specimens and paying suitable attention to their 

 culture. 



TO PRESERVE \'EGETABLES FOR FUTURE USE. 



This is effected by destroying or rendering dormant 

 the principle of life, and by warding off as far as prac- 

 ticable the progress of chemical decomposition. Where 

 vegetables or fruits are gathered for use or preservation, 

 the air of the atmosphere which surrounds them is con- 

 tinually depriving them of carbon and forming carbonic 

 acid gas. 



The water they contain, by its softening qualities, 

 weakens the affinity of their elements and best produces 

 the same effect, by dilating their parts, promoting the 

 decomposing effect both of air and water. 



Hence, drying in the sun or in ovens, is one of the 

 most obvious modes of preserving vegetables for use as 

 food, or for other purposes, but not for growth, if the 

 drying process is carried so far as to destroj^ the principle 

 of life in the seeds, roots, or sections of the shoots of lig- 

 neous plants. Potatoes, turnips, and other esculent 

 roots may be preserved from autumn till the following 

 summer, by drying them in the sun, and burying them 

 in perfectly dry soil, which shall be at the same time at 

 a temperature but a few degrees above the freezing 

 point. Corn may be preserved for many years, by first 

 thoroughly drying it in the sun, and then burying it in 

 dry, cool pits, and closing them so as to exclude the 

 atmospheric air. The corn is thus presen ed from de- 

 composition, from insects, or vegetation. The Romans 

 preserved their corn in this way for many years in 

 chambers hewn out of dry rock. 



