1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
85 
age, we have already spoken pretty strongly. 
It is believed to excite the nerves unduly, to de- 
range the digestive functions, producing head- 
aches and other ills. Some say they have 
used it with impunity, and that those who are 
unpleasantly affected by coffee find the change 
to chicory to be beneficial. Much of the coffee 
sold ready ground, is more or less mixed with 
chicory, and some prefer it. Those who wish to 
try it as a substitute for coffee or to mix with it, 
can cultivate a small patch for the experiment. 
About Nutmegs. 
"Spice to suit the taste" is a frequent direction 
in cookery, and the taste is very frequently for nut- 
meg. Like many other articles in every day use, 
which are so common that we seldom stop to think 
much about them, but little is generally known of 
the history of the nutmeg. The tree is a native of 
the Spice Islands. These were for a long time in 
the possession of the Dutch, who endeavored to 
confine its cultivation to three of the islands, and 
had the trees cut upon all the. rest. Their inten- 
tions were interfered with by a bird which swal- 
lowedthe nutmeg for its pulpy covering, and voided 
the nut unharmed ; in this way the tree was car- 
ried to the neighboring islands. The Spice Islands 
fell into the hands of the Euglish, who, during the 
time they had possession of them, distributed the 
plants to other countries, and the monopoly was 
broken up. The tree has considerable resemblance 
to a pear tree, and has fruit on it all the year round. 
The fruit is about three times as large as the largest 
one in the engraving, and consists of an outer husk 
which is somewhat woody when the fruit is ripe, at 
which time it splits in halves and exposes the nut. 
The nut as it comes from the husk, is shown in the 
engraving. It is enveloped with a peculiar covering ; 
this covering, when removed and dried, is the spice 
known as Mace, which has a flavor quite distinct 
from that of Nutmeg, and is by many persons pre- 
ferred to it. When fresh, the mace is of a bright 
crimson color, which turns to brownish, on drying. 
The nutmeg is still within another covering inside 
of the mace. To remove it from this, the nuts are 
exposed to a gentle heat, and when dried so that 
they will rattle, the shell is broken and the nut- 
megs removed. They are then put into lime, which 
gives them their whitened appearance ; this is 
done to prevent the attacks of an insect which is 
very fond of them. The value of nutmegs depends 
upon the oil they contain : the oil is sometimes ex- 
tracted by distillation and the nutmegs limed again 
and thrown into the market. This fraud can be 
detected by the experienced, by the lightness of 
those which have been so treated. A sure way, 
and one which every one can practise, is to prick 
the nutmegs with a pin, — if the surface around the 
pin-hole appears greasy, the spice is good. Taken 
in large quantities, nutmegs produce narcotic effects 
similar to those of opium. 
Drying Clothes— Air in Rooms. 
Good housekeepers are anxious that washing- 
day should be a good drying day. It is a matter of 
common observation that on some days the clothes 
will dry more rapidly than on others. To under- 
stand why this is, we have to consider some of the 
relations of the air to moisture. The air possesses 
the power to take up water and hold it dissolved, as 
it were, iu the state of invisible vapor. A given bulk 
of air cau hold a certain amount of moisture, and 
when it has that, it can take up no more, the circum- 
stances beiug the same. If the air has all the mois- 
ture it cau hold, the clothes will not dry. If it has 
but a small proportion, they dry with a rapidity 
corresponding to the amount of watery vapor al- 
ready iu the air. When the Slothes do not dry out 
of doors, they are brought into the house where 
they readily dry. Why is this, if the air within and 
without contains the same amount of moisture ? 
This brings us to a remarkable change that heat ef- 
fects iu the power of air to take up vapor. The air 
at the freezing point of water can hold the 100th 
of its weight of vapor, and this capacity for mois- 
ture is doubled with every 27 degrees of additional 
heat. Air that is saturated with moisture and can 
take up no more at 40°, when heated to 07° is ca- 
pable of taking up as much as it already contains, and 
wet clothing exposed to it, dries very rapidly. In 
the heating of our dwellings, by whatever means, 
the air has its capacity for moisture increased, and 
takes it readily from the objects in the room ; the 
woodwork and furniture shrink and crack, and the 
leaves of the house-plants curl up and fall off, not 
because the room is overheated, but because the air 
is dry. The cold air from without, even though it 
may be damp at the time it enters the room, by 
heating, suddenly becomes capable of holding twice 
as much moisture as before, and everything in the 
room capable of yielding moisture, gives it up to sup- 
ply the deficiency. Our bodies are unpleasantly af- 
fected by this dry air. Evaporation goes on with un- 
iug is not entirely due to the presence of plants 
and flowers, but is in good part owing to the air 
which, to properly promote the health of the plants, 
is kept not only warm but moist ; and it is this 
moisture, rather than the odors of the flowers, that 
makes the air of the green-house seem so balmy and 
spring-like. Let us take a lesson from the garden- 
er iu the care of our little human plants, and, wheth- 
er the house be heated by stoves or by a furnace, be 
sure that the air is not too dry for health and com- 
fort. There is a very curious way of telling the 
ainouut of moisture present iu the air by means of 
a thermometer. It is no doubt familiar to every 
one that evaporation produces cold. The wetted 
hand, in drying feels cool, and if we pour alcohol, 
which evaporates more readily than water, over the 
hand, the cold will be much greater thau with water. 
We have seen that water will evaporate more rap- 
idly in a dry air than in a moist one, aud that the 
more rapidly it evaporates, the greater will be the 
cold produced. Now we have only to take two ther- 
mometers and tie a bit of muslin around the bulb 
of oue, and wet the%iuslin by dippiug the covered 
bulb in water of the same temperature as the air of 
the room. If the air is as full of moisture as it can 
hold, no evaporation will take place, and the mer- 
cury in both thermometers will stand the same. 
But as we seldom find the air in this condition, 
cither iu or out of doors, the water will evaporate 
with a rapidity corresponding to the dryness of the 
air; the bulb will be cooled more or less rapidly, and 
the mercury will sink in the tube. Such thermome- 
ters have a table accompanying them which show, 
from the difference iu the bight of the two ther- 
mometers, how much moisture is present in the air. 
Designs for Chain-Stitched Handkerchiefs. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
While you cater for the boys' amusement, allow 
me to provide something for the benefit of thagirls. 
Now that chain-stitched pocket-handkerchiefs are 
all the fashion, I dare say the girls, and women too, 
will be glad of some pretty patterns to mark them. 
Let them draw with a pencil the accompanying 
patterns, by placing the article to bo worked, over 
the designs, and then chain-stitch in red marking 
cotton. The designs are suitable for braiding 
also, and to obviate the trouble of drawing the pat- 
h^&j'h^/^ 
DESIGNS FOR CHAIN-STITCHED HANDKERCHIEFS. 
due rapidity, and the skin becomes dry and unpleas- 
ant, thirst is excited and headaches are caused by it. 
Every oue who has entered agreen-house, has no- 
ticed what a pleasant impression is produced ; it 
seems like a sudden transition to Spring. This feel- 
tern on cloth, tissue paper may be used. Copy the 
designs through, on to strips of thin paper, baste 
these on the cloth to be braided, and sew through 
braid paper and cloth. The paper may be torn out 
when the work is finished. Aunt Sue. 
