430 TliANSACTlOXS OF THE A2IERICAX IXSTITVTE. 



•whether we are to eat green or ripe, and how it is cooked, for I can- 

 not find any one ont here in western Iowa that knows anything 

 about the plant. I hare got sixty nice phmts, and I will be very 

 grateful if the Club will give me the information sought. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — When the plants are deep purple, and a little 

 soft, peel off the dark skin and slice, dip in a batter of egg thickened 

 with flour, and fry slowly in butter or lard ; or, boil till soft, mash 

 fine, and mix with batter, and cook like griddle cakes ; or, parboil, 

 and cut in slices, and fry, seasoning to taste. When fixed up as it 

 should be it makes a dish fit for ]S'apoleon the little or any other 

 king ; besides, it is very nutritious, but unless cooked enough it 

 tastes as raw and flat as a green squash. 



Beet Sugar. 



Mr. J. S. Perkins, Breckenridge, Mo. — We want a little light on 

 the beet sugar question. Do they soak or grind the roots before press- 

 ing ? Does the syrup granulate readily ? Come, who can give us a 

 little light upon a subject of vast importance to the agricultural 

 ■wealth of the country ? It seems that this subject has been greatly 

 neglected or underrated. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — I am glad to see signs of life on this question. 

 There is a great future for that root in America, The men who raise 

 the roots do not make it up into sugar. That is a separate business. 

 The farmer cuts and dries the beets, then sends them to a sugar-house 

 and gets paid by the ton. The factory soaks them and works over 

 the pulp, extracting the sweet and giving back the pumace. This is 

 worth about as much for stock as the whole root. In beet sugar 

 regions the cattle grow fat, the land grows fertile, and the farmers 

 become rich. 



BUTTER. 



Prof. James A. Whitney, — Good butter is one of the products of 

 high civilization. Half civilized nations have used it only as a luxury, 

 and savage tribes cannot make at all. It has become one of the most 

 important among agricultural products, and an essential adjunct of 

 nutritious food for all classes in enlightened countries. Like other 

 articles thus in general use it is a subject of interest in many ways ; 

 from scientific stand-point — for the manufacture of butter is directly 

 dependent not only upon chemical reactions, but upon those physio- 

 logical principles that control the health of the animals from whose 

 secretions it is primarily derived ; in its connection with mechanics — 



