468 Of Food. 



farther, as I mean soon to publish my Treatise on the 

 Management of Heat, in which I shall give the most 

 ample directions relative to the mechanical arrange- 

 ments of kitchen fire-places, and the best forms for all 

 kinds of kitchen utensils, I was desirous not to antici- 

 pate a subject which will more naturally find its place 

 in another Essay. In the mean time I would observe, 

 for the satisfaction of those who may have doubts 

 respecting the smallness of the expense necessary for 

 fuel in cooking for the poor, that the result of many 

 experiments, of which I shall hereafter publish a par- 

 ticular account, has proved in the most satisfactory 

 manner that, when food is prepared in large quantities, 

 and cooked in kitchens properly arranged, the expense 

 for fuel ought never to amount to more than two per 

 cent of the cost of the food, even where victuals of the 

 cheapest kind are provided, such as is commonly used 

 in feeding the poor. In the public kitchen of the 

 House of Industry at Munich, the expense for fuel is 

 less than one per cent of the cost of the food, as may 

 be seen in the computation, page 413, Chapter III. of 

 this Essay ; and it ought not to be greater in many 

 parts of Great Britain. 



With regard to the price at which Indian corn can 

 be imported into this country from North America in 

 time of peace, the following information, which I pro- 

 cured through the medium of a friend from Captain 

 Scott, a most worthy man, who has been constantly 

 employed above thirty years as master of a ship in the 

 trade between London and Boston in the State of Mas- 

 sachusetts, will doubtless be considered as authentic* 



* This gentleman, who is as remarkable for his good fortune at sea as he is 

 respectable on account of his private character and professional knowledge, has 



