CULTIVATION OF THE TEAZLE, ETC. 
191 
at the point when the germ first issues from the 
mass of food. Then it transforms the starch and 
renders it soluble, so that the young vessels can 
take it up and convey it to the point of growth. 
When the starch is exhausted, its functions cease. 
It is then itself transformed and carried into the 
general circulation." 
Vegetable Acids. — These are found in various 
fruits, particularly when unripe, and in nearly all 
plants, although, in general, they form but a small 
portion of any plant or fruit. Acetic acid, or vine- 
gar, is one of the most abundant and common of 
this class of compounds. The fermentation of 
many vegetable juices produces this acid, and it is 
formed during the germination of seeds. Its union 
with any of the salifiable bases forms a class of 
salts called " acetates." Tartaric acid is found in 
the grape, tamarind, mulberry, and sorrels, and is 
formed for commercial purposes from the sediment, 
or tartar, deposited from wine after it is decanted 
from the lees. Cream of tartar is formed by a 
union of this acid with potash, and is called, in 
chemical language, " bitartrate of potash." Acetic 
and tartaric acids are both composed of carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen, though in different propor- 
tions. Citric acid is found most abundant in 
Jemons, and imparts to them their sourness, though 
it also exists in many of our common garden fruits. 
Its chemical composition is the same as that of 
tartaric acid, with the exception of one atom less 
of oxygen. Malic acid is produced abundantly in 
many kinds of unripe fruit, and forms with lime, 
soda, and potash, a class of salts called t. malates." 
Its composition is identical with that of citric 
acid, though its nature is quite different. Oxalic 
acid is composed of oxygen and carbon, and differs 
from other vegetable acids in containing no hydro- 
gen. It is sold in drug stores in the form of 
crystals, is exceeding sour, and a deadly poison. 
It exists in several species of sorrel, imparting to 
them their acidity ; and is also found in the leaves 
and roots of rhubarb. It forms salts with various 
bases called " oxalates." The reason why we. 
are not poisoned by eating those vegetables in 
which this acid is found, is, because the quantity 
of the acid in them is so small. 
Vegetable acids, like the other proximate prin- 
ciples of plants, are formed in the living vegetable, 
out of the elements drawn from the soil and at- 
mosphere. Nature is thus continually elaborat- 
ing in the vegetable system, those compounds 
which plants require ; and these are such as can 
only be formed by a power inherent in vegetables. 
J. McKinstry. 
Greenport, N. Y. April, 1849. 
♦ 
AMEBICAN CAPONS. 
In yours of April 4th, you ask me what suc- 
cess I had in making capons. I sent, last fall, 
my farmer, Mr. Nicholas Feisch, to Bordentown, 
where, for five dollars, he was taught how to make 
capons. The first seven he tried, he killed four ; 
the next seven, he killed three ; the next 66, he 
killed only one. Now, as these eight bled to death 
we ate them. The others we have eaten as ca- 
pons— not having fattened them, but let them run 
with the other poultry. Out of the 72, only three 
were imperfectly altered, and the average weight of 
these altered capons, not stall-fed, was over seven 
pounds, double the weight of the unaltered fowls 
that run with them. 
I had one young cock turkey altered, which I 
will keep until next Thanksgiving day, when we 
will eat him, and give you his weight, and whether 
tender or not. You had better come over at that 
time and taste him. R. L. Colt. 
Paterson, N. /., May 4th, 1849. 
THANKFUL FOR SMALL FAVORS. 
Although we have lost our anticipated Agri- 
cultural School and Experimental Farm, we would 
not fail to acknowledge, in behalf of the farmers 
of the Empire State, our indebtedness to the last 
Legislature for having passed the following reso- 
lution : — 
" Resolved, (if the senate concur,) That a board 
of eight commissioners, (one from each judicial 
district,) be appointed by the Governor, whose duty 
it shall be to meet at the city of Albany on the 
16th day of May next, to mature a plan for the 
establishment of an Agricultural College and Ex- 
perimental Farm, and prepare a statement of the 
probable expense of such an institution, and a 
detailed account of the course of studies and plan 
of operations recommended, to he delivered to the 
Governor on or before the first day of September 
next, to be by him submitted to the Legislature 
at its next session." 
Under the above authority, Governor Fish has 
appointed the following gentlemen to meet in coun- 
cil on the subject : — 
Joseph Blunt, New York, 1st district; John P. 
Beekman, Columbia county, 3d district ; Samuel 
Cheever, Saratoga county, 4th district; Edmund 
Kirby, Jefferson county, 5th district : Adrian Lott, 
Chenango county, 6th district; James S. Wads- 
worth, Livingston county, 7lh district; William 
Risley, Chautauque county, 8th district. 
If the hen did not lay the egg, she could at least 
cackle to let us know she had been thinking about it. 
-TT CULTIVATION OF THE TEAZLE. 
In conversing with a gentleman from Lowell, 
Massachusetts, some time since, I was surprised to 
hear that the amount of teazles imported from 
France, and consumed by the manufacturers of that 
city, alone, exceeded $200,000 worth per annum. 
On inquiry why this demand was not supplied by 
our own country, he informed me that the> Ameri- 
can teazles were deficient in that toughness and 
elasticity peculiar to the French ones, which he 
thought Avas owing to the mode of harvesting and 
preparing them for market, or, perhaps, from the 
nature of the soil and climate in which they are 
grown. 
Being desirous to make an experiment in the 
cultivation of this plant, you will oblige me, and 
probably others, by throwing some light on the 
subject through the columns of your journal. 
J. N. C. 
Monmouth Co., N. /., 
May 5th, 1849. 
The fullers' thistle, or teazle, (Dipsacus fullo- 
num,) is g biennial plant from four to six feet in 
height, prickly and rough in the stem and leaves, 
