No. 144.] 401 



at maturity. If this can be done at reasonable cost, it would 

 prove a great source of health and pleasure to a whole people. 

 He had examined the comparative supplies of the United States 

 and Great Britain, with fruit, and found that the fruit of one 

 week here, is equal to tlie whole annual importation of it in 

 Britain. We owe a debt of gratitude to the North American Pha- 

 lanx, for their attention to fruit preserving. They save some of 

 our most valuable vegetables, by their new processes and great 

 care. They have machinery with which that excellent gumho-ochra 

 is rapidly cut up in thin slices, which they cure in such a perfect 

 manner, that, when used, one can hardly discover any difference 

 between the fresh plant of summer and this dried ochra; its flavor 

 is perfectly preserved. 



Mr. Robinson — I wish that I could report as to the fruits in our 

 markets as fully as I do as the meat. We are carnivorous ! We 

 pay for meat about fifteen millions of dollars a year, to the farmers. 

 We eat one hundred and sixty-nine thousand, three hundred and 

 sixty four beef cattle, for only 07ie item. I wish we were furnished 

 with larger fruit eating propensities ! 



Benjamin Pike, Sen., of N. Jersey, remarked as to the Arthur 

 cans for preserving fruit, that the air would be apt to be held 

 under the tin cover, while it was being pressed down into the 

 cement of resin and gutta percha. This won't do— it must be re- 

 medied by having a small vent for the air, which vent, when all 

 the air is out of the can, can be stopped by some means ; a drop 

 •of solder, for instance. 



Prof. Mapes said, that Mr. Pike was right in this. 

 Mr. French, on request of the Secretary, gave the following 

 list of the prices of the preserved fruits of the Phalanx : 



per dozen 

 bottlei. 



Peaches in square glass bottles, holding over 2 lbs. weight, $t) 00 



do 6 00 



do 6 00 



do 5 00 



do 5 00 



do 4 00 

 [Assembly, No. 144.] Z 



