1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Q13 
Vegetables for our Soldiers. 
Perhaps there is no deprivation incident to a sol- 
dier's life, greater than being obliged to do without 
the ordinary vegetables. To be able to appreciate 
the value of potatoes, turnips, etc., one should be 
obliged to go without them for a few mouths. We 
have been where oranges, bananas, tigs, and other 
tropical fruits were abundant and ridiculously 
cheap, and would have given them all for a good 
mess of potatoes. From their bulk and weight it 
would be impossible to supply a large army with 
fresh vegetables; but our government docs the 
next best thing, it furnishes an occasional issue of 
carefully dried vegetables. Col. Eaton, the Com- 
missary at this post, sends to the army one hundred 
and thirty five thousand pounds a mouth, of a mix- 
ture of dried or des6icated vegetables. We were 
much interested in a visit to the works of the 
American Des6icating Company at Brooklyn, L. I. 
This company furnishes the largest share of that 
supplied to the soldiers of our army, and has ample 
machinery aud facilities for its operations. The com- 
pound sent to the army, consists, in every 100 lbs. of 
20 lbs. dried Potatoes. 22 lbs. dried Turnips. 
22 lbs. dried Carrots. 10 lbs. dried Cabbage. 
10 lbs. dried Onions. 5 lbs. dried Tomatoes. 
5 lbs. dried String Beans. 1 lb. dried Parsley. 
5 lbs. Rice. Pepper, etc. 
This mixture is packed in cakes of seven lbs. each. 
It is an excellent article for a vegetable soup, or 
will make a nice dish of mixed vegetables. The 
drying is performed by exposing the sliced vegeta- 
ble upon trays in chambers heated by means of 
steam pipes. A bushel of potatoes is thus reduced 
to 10 lbs., aud other vegetables, containing a larger 
amount of water, weigh still less in the dried state. 
We were particularly impressed with the neatness 
which was observed in the establishment— much 
of the work being performed by women. The 
company has a separate contract for their des- 
sicated potato, of which a large quantity is sent 
to the army. The potatoes are first cooked, and 
then granulated and thoroughly dried. They form 
an excellent article of food, aud must be ex- 
ceedingly welcome in camp. Mixed with suffi- 
cient boiling water, a nice dish of mashed potatoes 
can be prepared in a few minutes. 
Drying Fruit and Vegetables. 
There will soon be an abundance of the products 
of the garden and field, a share of which may be dried 
for Winter use. Now when there is an unusual de- 
mand for such things for the use of our brave sol- 
diers in the hospitals, our patriotic women will pre- 
pare au increased quantity of these delicacies for 
the sick and convalescent. Persons connected with 
the Sanitary Commission inform us that there is 
no limit to the demand for dried berries, apples, 
peaches, and other fruits, and dried sweet eoru aud 
other vegetables arc always acceptable. Where the 
quantity to be dried is small, it may be douc on 
pans or trays placed in the sun aud occasionally 
put into the stove oven, the doors being open. It is 
considerable trouble to put out the vessels when 
the sun shines, and bring them in at night, or on 
the approach of a shower. Where there are hot- 
beds, this labor can be saved by using a hot-bed 
frame and sash. The articles to be dried can be 
covered with the sash at night, which can be wholly 
or partly removed during the day. Where a large 
quautity Is to be dried, it will be better to depend 
entirely upon fire heat. We have used successful- 
ly a very simple contrivance, a common wood stove, 
with the pipe runuiug across the room about two 
feet from the floor. About a foot above the pipe 
a rack holds the trays upon which the articles 
to be dried are spread very thinly. The stove 
being au " air-tight," a very little wood serves to 
keep the room at a high temperature. The trays 
most recently filled are placed nearest the stove, 
and gradually moved along as the drying pro- 
gresses, to be succeeded by others. Ventilation 
is to be secured by letting down the upper sash 
of a window. The fruit or other material should 
be spread very thinly at first, aud the early stage of 
the drying should be pushed as rapidly as possible, 
to prevent souring. When partly dry, the contents 
of two or more trays may be united, aud thus save 
room. When the fruit, etc., is nearly dry, it ab- 
sorbs moisture rapidly, aud should not be exposed 
during damp weather. Pack on a dry day. * 
An Old-Fashioned Musical Instrument. 
The above engraving will not be without interest 
to many readers of the Agriculturist. In thousands 
of minds it will awaken memories of early days, 
when the pleasant hum of the wheel was heard in 
almost every farmer's dwelling, when few young 
ladies thought themselves fit candidates for matri- 
mony before a bouutiful stock of homespun linen 
had been provided by their own industry for fur- 
nishing bed aud board. " Ah ! those were the days 
of healthy women, good housekeepers, and happy 
homes," exclaim those who remember only the 
golden hours of the past. "In those times, the 
music was worth something. Its uotes brought 
money to the pocket, as well as pleasure to the 
ears; piano playing aud spinning street yarn fur- 
nish but poor substitutes for the useful work that 
employed our grandmothers." It is no doubt very 
pleasaut to look upon the past, mellowed by the 
light of years until a poetical tinge covers the pic- 
ture, but the present is more than a realization of 
the dreams with which inauy a weary maiden be- 
guiled the hours of toil imposed by the necessity 
of providing clothing entirely by hand labor, in ad- 
dition to the other household duties. The ingenu- 
ity of man has disenthralled woman from a large 
measure of drudgery, and given her the opportuni- 
ty to become somcthiug more than a mere working 
machine. It is doubtless true that mauy misiin- 
prove the leisure bestowed by the progress of man- 
ufactures, but this need not be, nor do we believe 
that, as a whole, the female 6ex have deteriorated 
either morally or physically, 6ince their labors have 
been lightened by the introduction of machinery. 
It is certain that the average standard of female ed- 
ucation is higher than ever before, and reliable ta- 
bles of mortality prove that the duration of human 
life has been lengthened several years during the 
last century. That is a low view of life which re- 
gards as its object only the accumulation of out- 
ward possessions. True wealth consists in devel- 
opment of the faculties of the soul, in au eye edu- 
cated to appreciate beauty, an ear to enjoy harmo- 
ny, a reliued taste to derive pleasure from art, as 
well as au ihtellect to grasp truth, aud a hand to 
achieve outward results. He is not wealthiest who 
possesses most of this world's goods, but he who 
kuows how to extract most enjoyment from his 
surroundings ; aud the resources of happiness are 
abundant to the cultivated aud refined. The com- 
mon people of the present day are far richer than 
the nobles of old, for general culture now is supe- 
rior to what was theu thought to be high accom- 
plishment. And more than this, by means of im- 
proved methods of manufacture, the day 
laborer is now better housed, clad, aud 
fed, than were many princes of old. — 
The days of old and their appliances are 
not to be despised. They bequeathed 
much of strength aud of excellence, but 
they were only the root and the leaf which 
were to nourish the flower of the pre- 
sent A return to them would be like 
the cuttiug of au immature plant, forc- 
ing it to repeat the slow labor of pre- 
paration for seed bearing, the end of its 
existence. A striking illustration of this 
truth is furuished by events now transpir- 
ing. One of the " relics of barbarism " 
a state of society deeply rooted in past 
ages, aud which like a pestiferous weed, 
yet remained amid surrounding culture, 
has borne its legitimate fruits, and we are 
in the midst of a desolating war, itself 
almost a type of the olden time, when 
might made right. The fruits of peace 
are being rapidly destroyed. At the 
South, the baud spinning wheel, and 
loom are again furnishing "homespun," 
and it may yet be necessary for North- 
ern women to revive this almost obsolete 
art. Thank God, they are not incapable 
of the task when it shall be necessary, yet 
who will say that this would be a na- 
tional benefit? — For many reasons we 
revert to the past with pleasure, but never with 
longing eyes. We remember that the higher glory 
of the race lies ever forward, and rejoice that so 
many steps have been taken toward its attainment. 
Tim Bunker on Keeping a Wife Com- 
fortable. 
"How long have we got to wait for dinner, I 
should like to know ?" said Jake Frink t» his wife 
Polly, oue day in hoeing time. " Its tu bad to keep 
three men waitin' au hour for their grub." 
"You've got to wait till the brush is cooked, 
with which to cook your dinner," said Aunt Pol- 
lysnappishly. " None but a green-horn would fur- 
nish green-wood for his wife to cook with— and 
green brush at that. You know, .Take Frink, that 
you have never had a second cord of wood at your 
door any time since I have lived with yon, and that 
is going on seven and thirty years. All that time 
green brush has been the chief article of kindling. 
One might think that your whole farm was a brush 
pasture teetotally. I should like to have you try 
cooking with green wood a little while, aud see 
how you would like it." 
" Wall Polly, hurry up any way," said Jake, " for 
we are all mighty hungry, and the corn want's hoe- 
ing badly. You see brush is economical, and what 
I can't sell at the store, I can use at home. It 
would kind o' rot on the ground ef I dident burn 
it up." 
" Pretty economy it is, to keep your svife iu a 
stew all the while, and hired men a waiting houre 
every day because green wood won't burn. It is 
smoke, siss, and fizzle from morning to night, aud 
I no sooner get a blaze agoing, than I have to put 
on more green wood, aud then there is another 
sputter. I never see such a house as this is," said 
Aunt Polly, with great emphasis, and with a face 
as red as a beet. 
Jake is a great sinner, although he thinks he is 
so good that he does not need to go to meeting 
aud hear Mr. Spooner preach. He would try the 
