PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 299 



ing corn, is worthy of our attention. Of all the cereals, Indian 

 corn requires the greatest action of fire to fit it for food. It is 

 full of essential oil, and that needs to be cooked, and it can only 

 be done by a very high heat, or a long-continued moderate one. 

 If long continued, the other constituents of the corn are some- 

 times injured, and so are the ingredients added to the meal. If not 

 well cooked any article of food prepared from corn meal has a 

 raw taste, and is not so digestible as wheat flower. Now, in 

 popping corn, it is subjected to a very high heat, which thor- 

 oughly cooks the oil, and fits the corn at once for food — a food 

 that almost everybody loves, and so Avill everybody love the 

 various preparations of food from meal made of popped corn, 

 for it may be eaten without fear by the dyspeptic, and it will be 

 eaten with satisfaction to appease hunger. I beg you all to give 

 it a fair trial. 



Mr. Gale spoke highly of the advantages of thus preparing 

 corn. He said that any kind of corn can be made to pop, by 

 adding salt to it. 



Mr. Carpenter congratulated the discoverer and the country 

 upon this new preparation of our great staple crop. He enquired 

 of Mr. R. his opinion about the keeping qualities of such meal. 



Solon Robinson. — As we know that corn and corn meal, prop- 

 erly kiln-dried, will keep a long time, we may safely argue 

 that meal prepared by a still more perfect system of fire-drying 

 will keep an indefinite length of time, or just as long as we wish. 

 If ground and packed in barrels, the pop-corn meal will keep 

 better than corn meal or flour, or even whole grain. 



Mr. Lawton. — This specimen of food is worth}^ of high com- 

 mendation, as are all new discoveries in improving articles of 

 food. I look for good results from this discovery. The pudding 

 is excellent, as I believe every one here fully agrees. 



COTTON IN THIS LATITUDE. 



The question was called up, whether cotton can be cultivated 

 in this latitude to advantage, or what will serve as a substitute. 



Mr. Carpenter stated that experiments lately made by Mr. 

 Allen, of Boston, indicate that a substitute for cotton can be 

 cheaply grown, and will be a very profitable crop. He reduces 

 flax to an article which he calls " fibrilla," by an inexpensive 

 process. 



R. L. Pell. — Horatio Allen, of this city, invented a cannon by 



