PRESERVATION OF FOODS BY SALICYLIC ACID. 253: 
PRESERVATION OF FOODS BY SALICYLIC ACID. 
TRANSLATED BY MISS MAY FEE FROM ‘‘LE TECHNOLOGISTE.” 
The author has had in particular view, in the following, the household exi- 
gencies during the summer season—the time when we see all kinds of meat and 
fish rapidly spoiling. Who can calculate the amount of meat spoiled during an 
exceedingly warm day? Among the methods used to prevent aid stop fermen- 
tation, ice and cold occupy a front rank; but neither of these is always at every- 
body’s command. 
With Salicylic Acid, it is easy to accomplish the purpose by two different 
methods: either by dipping the substances to be preserved into a solution of 
Salicylic Acid (three grammes to a litre of warm water); or better still, prepar- 
ing a preserving salt by an intimate mixture of cooking salt pounded fine, in the 
proportion of fifty grammes to one gramme of salicylic acid. In order to pre- 
serve meat for eight or ten days, in summer, carefully rub all its surface with this 
mixture. At the moment of cooking wash the meat in a little fresh water. The 
salicylic acid will leave no taste or smell. 
In a pavilion of the fish hall in London, there is a reservoir filled with a 
.strong solution of salicylic acid, in which the merchants, for a small recompense. 
dip their fish to keep them perfectly fresh for a long time. Moreover, this prac- 
tice has the great advantage of purifying the surrounding air. ‘The antiseptic 
properties of salicylic acid have been happily utilized by the owners of cod-fish 
ships; its regular employment has saved whole cargoes of cod-fish from the 
decomposition which menace them during the warm weather. We shall also say 
a few words about the use of salicylic acid for maintaining, in a good state for 
consumption, the canned substances of all natures, after they have been opened. 
CARE OF TREES AND SHRUBS. 
In view of the drouth which prevailes in many parts of the country and its 
unusual severity over large districts, the Rural New Yorker suggests to those who 
have planted trees or shrubs the past spring that there is one method, and so far 
as we know, says the writer, only one by which they may be protected against 
injury or death from that cause. Surface watering has been shown to do more 
harm than good. The ground is made hard and compact, thus becoming a bet- 
ter conductor of heat while it becomes less pervious to air and moisture. A _por- 
tion of the surface soil should be removed, and then pailful after pailful of water 
thrown in until the ground, to a depth of two feet and to a width about the stem 
‘of not less than three feet in diameter, has become saturated. ‘Then as soon as 
_the water has disappeared from the surface, the removed soil should be well pul- 
verized and returned. A covering of boards, straw, or hay, or even of sand or 
gravel, may then be applied, and the tree or shrub, thus treated, will pass through 
ten days of additional drouth in safety. —Sccentefic American. 
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