51G Transactions of the American Institute. 



Steaigiit or Ckooked Fences. 



Mr. George R. Clark, of Lavina, N. Y., asks whether the difference 

 in consumption of material, when fences are straight rather than 

 crooked, is enough to deserve much attention. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — In regions where fence timber is good but not 

 plenty, and iron not costly, an excellent fence is made by boring a 

 three-fourths inch hole four inches from each end of the rails, and 

 laying them straight, one on the other, and passing four or five feet 

 of telegraph wire through the holes. This locks the fence together, 

 and makes a durable and cheap fastening. It is used especially with 

 swamp cedar, which is an uncommonly straight timber. 



The Desiccation of the Sweet Potato. 



Mr. Jas. A. Whitney. — Mr. Chairman : It will be remembered that 

 some tim^ since the subject of desiccating sweet potatoes was referred 

 to me. I will now report the results of my investigations. Owing 

 to the difficulty of obtaining a suitable drying apparatus, the gentle- 

 man most interested in the invention was iinable to furnish more than 

 a small quantity, about six quarts, of the desiccated tubers. This had 

 been very rudely prepared by peeling and slicing the potatoes, and 

 then. drying them in one corner of a lumber kiln. The sample was 

 of course too small for extended experiment, and its quality not as 

 good as may be obtained by the use of the best made desiccating 

 apparatus. It was placed in competent hands and proved sufficient, 

 on a small scale, for trial in several branches of cookery. In its crude 

 form, the desiccated product consists of thin slices or disks of dry, 

 starchy material, containing a distinct taste of saccharine mat- 

 ter. The characteristic flavor ' of the sweet potato is lost, and, 

 with the exception of a slight sweetness, the substance has no more 

 taste than ordinary flour. For this reason the material can never be 

 successfully substituted, as has been proposed, for the canned and 

 preserved vegetables used on shipboard for preventioil of scurvy and 

 similar disorders. For this purpose vegetables must retain their 

 original properties in a good degree, as we find in sour-krout, con- 

 demned vegetables, etc.; instead of being converted into a simple 

 material for flour as in this instance. 



An immersion of the dried potato in cold water for several hours 

 produced no apparent eflect upon it, and although it yielded more 

 readily to boiling, it was only when ground to a fine powder that its 

 capabilities as an article of food were s'hown. From this we reach 



