650 



yEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



floors, as the air which is warmed in the room is 

 made lighter, and is rapidly driven up by the con- 

 stant current of cold air from below. This condi- 

 tion of things in the room is expensive, uncom- 

 fortable and trying, and has a decided effect upon 

 the spirit and manners. No person could long 

 preserve a cheerful equanimity, and be exemplary 

 in tone and manner, under such circumstances. 

 They make a class of trials which no considerate 

 husband should allow his family to contend 

 against. 



These are only suggestions. Many other things 

 are to be looked after, which a discreet foresight 

 will i)lace in proper order. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 PREMIUMS FOR HERDS. 



Mr. Editor : — I am pleased with the sugges- 

 tions in your paper just received, (No. 43, of Vol. 

 17,) as to the hest manner of offering rewards for 

 improving the breed of animals. It certainly must 

 be better to offer them for the best herds bred and 

 reared on the same farm, in a term of years, rath- 

 er than for the best animals collected at random, 

 without regard to parentage or manner of rearing. 

 In the one case it is merely a reward for skill in 

 selecting, in the other it would be an encourage- 

 ment to the culture of the "science of breeding." 



I remember when my attention was first direct- 

 ed to this subject, hearing a venerable man of 80 

 years say, there was nothing whatever to be 

 gained, by the first mode of ofl'ering premiums. 

 In proof of this, I have more than once known the 

 first premiums for milch cows to be awarded to 

 mere jockeys, who, having heard of a cow that 

 gave a large quantity of milk, purchased her to 

 present at the show, as a matter of speculation, in 

 securing the premium, and a large price after- 

 wards, for the premium cow. The committee ex- 

 amining could have no other knowledge than the 

 appearance of the animal, and the certificates ac- 

 companying. What is true of cows, is more like- 

 ly to be true of horses, and may be more or less 

 true in regard to all other animals. But where 

 they are reared on the same farm, and kept for a 

 series of years, in the ordinary way of keeping, 

 there would be little chance for imposition. 



Od. 2o, 1862. Essex. 



Cure for Thumps in Hogs. — About a month 

 since I noticed that a very valuable hog, which 

 I procured for breeding purposes, began to lose 

 his appetite, and soon his respiration become hur- 

 ried, and attended with a quick, jerking motion of 

 the sides. lie also coughed considerably. Nev- 

 er having had any experience with such a disease, 

 I searched for a description of the disease, and a 

 remedy. In the August No. of the Valley Far- 

 mer I found what I considered a case similar to 

 mine, i. e. Tlmmps. I tried the remedy, veraitrum 

 viride, ten drops, in milk. His appetite improved 

 immediately, but it was a week or two before 

 his breathing was less rapid or his cough dimin- 

 ished. He is now about cured, and thriving very 

 fast. I also turned the pig out of his pen in 

 which he had been confined before. — Valley Far- 

 mer. 



ANALYSIS OF FRUIT. 

 We copy the following analysis of fruit from 

 an excellent article on "Food," in the Patent Of- 

 fice Report for 1861, by Professor L. C. LooMis. 

 Hereafter we will present the reader another ex- 

 tract, from the same article, on the subject of 

 Unripe Fruits, 



The most of our common garden and orchard 

 fruits are composed of nearly the same constitu- 

 ents — a little woody fibre, more or less sugar, and 

 several acids, the most common of which are the 

 malic, the citric and the tartaric. Two or more 

 of these acids are usually found in every fruit, 

 though one preponderates, giving the fruit its pe- 

 culiar flavor ; as the malic in apples and pears, 

 the citric in currants. 



At different stages of the growth of the fruit, 

 these various substances are in different propor- 

 tions, the woody fibre or cellulose usually being 

 the most abundant. 



It has been previously mentioned that woody 

 fibre differs but slightly from sugar, so that it M'ill 

 not be difficult to comprehend the fact that, by 

 the action of the acid of a fruit, what is cellulose 

 at one time may be found to be sugar at another. 



"Previous to maturity, fruits are formed of a 

 compact cellular tissue, containing the elements 

 of woody fibre, and filled with a liquid containing 

 very little sugar, a gummy substance and a large 

 quantity of free acid. During maturation a part 

 of the acid disappears by the action of oxygen of 

 the air, the cellulose tissue diminishes, and the 

 proportion of sugar increases, insomuch that in- 

 stead of hard, Avoody, acrid fruits, we obtain, if the 

 maturation has been complete, fruits that yield 

 a sweet, sirupy juice." — Turner. 



The chief elements of ripe fruits, therefore, ap- 

 pear to be water, gum, sugar and acids, of which 

 the only one requiring our attention is the acid ; 

 sugar, gum and wood having been previously con- 

 sidered. 



In medicine the vegetable acids are included 

 among the refrigerants ; that is, as possessing in 

 an eminent degree the properties of counteract- 

 ing the heat of the system. There is much di- 

 versity of opinion among writers as to the manner 

 in which this is accomplished and as to the chem- 

 ical changes that occur in connexion, but all agree 

 that the effect of acids in weak dilutions is to re- 

 duce animal heat. 



Reasoning a priori from this general fact, we 

 might have drawn a fiiir probability that the spring 

 productions would possess or require acids. 



We bore find the philosophy of salads. The 

 temperature is daily increasing ; the system re- 

 quires additional means of resistance ; nature ]n'o- 

 ceeds to the growth of cooling acid fruits. But 

 before juices can be secreted the structiu-e of stalk 

 and leaf must be erected. At this point we seize 

 the new growth of cellulose and add to it the 

 acid, which would appear in due time. A salad 

 is, therefore, a sort of impromptu, fruit, having 

 the cellulose of this year and the acid of last. 

 Were the acid unessential, and the cellulose all 

 that our systems demanded, the taste would be 

 appeased by it alone, and there would be no more 

 demand for vinegar with the salad than for butter 

 or sugar. 



In the ripened fruit we find all parts fullv bar- 



