206 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



ttie wine is no better than can be made from other varieties of rhubarb, and 

 several kinds of acid fruit, by the addition of sugar. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller said that parties have been buying up all the Linnseus rhu- 

 barb roots to be had about the city, and, of course, they are selling them 

 at an enormous profit, and cheating everybody who buys them. But it is 

 no use to expose the cheat; that has been done repeatedly. The Tribune 

 published an article last spring exposing this humbug, but it did not stop 

 it. There is a class of heathens in the country who never read, or, if they 

 do, they never profit by what they read. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — Some days since my attention was called to the ill 

 effects produced from the use of the rhubarb plant, so much so that its use 

 has been discarded in some sections of the country. 



Dr. Ward. — The leaf is poisonous, the stalk edible, and the root purga- 

 tive, having the effect, in a milder degree, of the Turkey rhubarb. 



Fruit Injured by Packing. 



Mr.Wm. S. Carpenter exhibited several specimens of finely preserved apples, 

 and Mr. Ely some specimens that looked as though they had been slightly 

 scalded, the skin having turned dark, while the inside remained sound, and 

 he wanted to know the cause of this discoloration. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter answered that it was caused by packing the apples 

 in tight barrels before they had undergone the sweating process, which all 

 applet, should go through after being gathered, either by piling, or, if put 

 in barrels, by leaving the head out for a few days. 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



December 15, 1863, 

 Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair. 



Preserving Apples by Condensing. 



Mr. A. Steinbach writes from Evansville, Indiana, and sends a sample of 

 condensed apple pulp, made in Prussia five years ago, and still in an eata- 

 ble condition ; and Mr. S. thinks that it would be useful for people in this 

 country, where fruit is abundant, to put it up in the same way for the use 

 of sailors. We judge from the looks of the article that it is pulped, pressed 

 and baked, as it has much of the appearance of manufacti^red tobacco. It 

 is said to be very healthy and palatable when cooked, and that it keeps in 

 this condition much better than in the usual manner of drying apples. 



The Secretary was requested to write to Mr. Steinbach, and ask him to 

 furnish to the Club the receipt for its preparation. 



Increasing Value of Oak Timber. 



A friend at the West, thinks that farmers generally, and particularly 

 those who own timber land, should be informed of the greatly increased 

 value of oak timber. He says : 



" The extent of the oil trade in Pennsylvania, may be inferred from the 

 sweep taken for barrel timber. A single firm in the oil barrel business, 

 are this winter getting out three million feet of oak in North-E astern Wis- 

 consin, and have already erected buildings for the machinery to prepare it 

 for shipping. Good oak timber lands up the Allegany river and branches, 



