200 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Anuritait Agriculturist. 
New-York, Wednesday, June 7, 1854. 
Expiring Subscriptions. —As we have before 
announced, the Agriculturist is sent no longer 
than ordered and paid for; so that any one re 
ceiving the paper need not expect to receive a 
bill for it afterwards. With the last number ol 
any subscription we send a notice that the time 
is up, or what is equivalent, we generally send a 
bill for another year. The bill is made out at 
the full price $2 a year. Those belonging to 
clubs will of course remit only the club price. 
FIRST ANNUAL SHOW OF THE STATE AGRI¬ 
CULTURAL SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT. 
We have received the list of Premiums to be 
awarded at this forthcoming show, which is to 
be held at New-Haven, on the 10th, 11th, 12th, 
and 13th days of October next. The premi¬ 
ums are quite liberal for a first exhibition; and 
aside from the inducement held out by these, 
we think there is public spirit enough among 
the farmers of that State to lead them to make 
all necessary exertions to get up a show that 
will do themselves honor. They are late in the 
field, but they have the experience and example 
of their brethren elsewhere, to guide and stim¬ 
ulate them; and judging from the observations 
made during a former residence of eight years 
in that State, we shall be very much disap¬ 
pointed if their exhibition is not one of the best 
during the coming autumn. 
A word, however, to the farmers in that 
State. It should be kept in mind that societies 
of this kind are entirely made up of individuals, 
and that the general success depends wholly 
upon the exertions made by each individual. 
It depends upon you personally, in some meas¬ 
ure, whether your Society accomplishes its full 
measure of success. It is not a day too early 
to begin your preparation. Your name should 
be upon the books of the Society. Your pro¬ 
duce and stock should be preparing for the 
show. For several years past the animals o! 
Connecticut have figured largely at the shows 
of adjoining States, and the compliment will no 
doubt be returned next October. The nearness 
to New-Haven of some of the best stock regions 
of New-York, as well as of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, will call out large numbers of fine 
cattle, horses, and sheep, and the Connecticut 
farmers must see to it in time, or they may be 
beaten upon their own ground. 
New-Haven will be a kind of middle, neutral 
ground, upon which the stock men of New- 
York and Massachusetts can meet without pre¬ 
judice or special advantage to either. The 
New-York State Show, which is to be of some¬ 
what a metropolitan character this year, will be 
held in New-York city the week previous to the 
show at New-Haven, and if suitable arrange¬ 
ments are made—as we have no doubt there 
will be—many animals, and other productions, 
will be taken from the former to the latter. 
Keeping Eggs. —A friend who has made 
several voyages to the coast of Africa and other 
tropical regions, says that he has kept eggs in 
the best condition, by placing two or three dozen 
in a cullender, and pouring over them as many 
quarts of boiling water, then pack away in 
straw, or bran, or saw-dust. Newly-laid eggs 
must be used for this purpose, and they will be 
found as good for boiling after a year, as if per¬ 
fectly fresh, when treated as above. 
--*»< - 
For Breachy Cattle. —A friend requests us 
to procure for him an apparatus to be attached 
to the horns and nose of a breachy ox, which 
will render his nose very uncomfortable when 
he attempts to throw down a fence. Will some 
of our readers describe the article, and say 
where they can be had, and the price ? 
■ -—-*-•-• - 
SALERATUS.-TO THE LADIES. 
SOME SCIENCE, AND SOME PRACTICAL HINTS 
WORTHY OP ATTENTION. 
We wish every school girl could be taught a 
few of the simple principles of chemistry, espe¬ 
cially those which are practically applicable in 
culinary operations. We are quite sure such 
knowledge would render their labors not only 
more interesting but more effectual. We have 
many hints to throw out from time to time, in 
which we hope to make chemistry useful in the 
kitchen and wash-room. We will now speak 
of saleratus. 
Saleratus is originally obtained from wood 
ashes. The potash in the ashes is washed out 
in the form of ley; the ley is boiled down to 
evaporate off the water; the crude potash re¬ 
mains in the bottom of the kettle, and is then 
purified or whitened by re-dissolving, &c. After 
being purified, it is placed in a room kept filled 
with carbonic acid—heavy air, the same as pro¬ 
duced by burning charcoal. In this room, 
every little atom of the potash takes two atoms 
of the invisible carbonic acid, and there is thus 
formed saleratus, which, it will be seen, is a 
triple substance, being composed of potash, car¬ 
bonic acid, carbonic acid. Tts chemical name is 
Bi-carbonate of Potash, that is, twice carbonated 
potash. 
The soda used for cooking is a similar com¬ 
pound, only it contains soda instead of potash, 
(t is not in reality soda, but Bi-carbonate of 
soda, or twice carbonated soda. Soda is ob¬ 
tained from sea salt instead of ashes. 
Saleratus is used in cooking for two purposes, 
first to make food sweet which has become 
sour, as pan cakes, yeasted bread, &c., and sec¬ 
ond, to make cakes, bread, &c., “ light.” 
In the first case—to destroy sourness—only 
the potash acts to neutralize or destroy the 
sourness (acids) produced by fermentation; the 
carbonic acid, being itself slightly sour, is of 
no advantage, but rather the contrary. It, how¬ 
ever, when released from the potash element, 
changes back to its gas (air-like) state and es¬ 
capes. 
In the second case, when saleratus is used for 
raising, the action is different. To illustrate 
this, put some vinegar (acetic acid) in a tumbler 
of water, and drop in a bit of saleratus. There 
is at once a swelling of the fluid, and large 
quantities of gas bubbles rise up and escape. 
The reason of this is, that the vinegar (acetic 
acid) unites with the potash of the saleratus, 
and forms acetate of potash. Every atom of 
potash that is thus taken away by the vinegar, 
leaves two atoms of the carbonic acid gas, which 
immediately spring back into an air-like form, 
just as they were in the room where the salera¬ 
tus was made from potash. 
Now suppose that instead of putting the vin¬ 
egar into the tumbler, it had been put into the 
water with which dough or batter is made, and 
the saleratus had then been kneaded in. The 
same change would have taken place, but the 
gas, instead of escaping, would have been re¬ 
tained by the dough, and by swelling out in 
little bubbles all through the loaf of bread or 
cake, it would make it light, that is, full of holes. 
This is exactly what is done, only that some 
dry acid, like tartaric acid, is used instead of vin¬ 
egar, or sour milk—which contains lactic acid— 
is mixed with the flour. Sometimes a vegetable 
acid is formed by the fermentation of the dough 
or batter, as for example, when buckwheat bat¬ 
ter is left to ferment, an acid is formed which 
unites with the potash of the saleratus added. 
This acid takes away the potash, and lets the 
carbonic acid escape to lighten the cakes.— 
We explained, when describing bread making, 
(page 22, vol. xi.,) that some of this gas was 
also formed by fermentation alone, so that when 
saleratus is added there is a larger quantity, as 
it is derived from two sources. 
Practical remarlcs. We have thus seen that 
for cooking purposes, we want for saleratus a 
substance containing an alkali and carbonic 
acid. We have also explained that the common 
soda (which is bi-carbonate of soda) also con¬ 
tains an alkali (the soda) and carbonic acid. 
What we wish to say now is, that for all pur¬ 
poses for which we use saleratus, soda is equally 
good, and we think better, and we advise house¬ 
keepers to entirely discard the use of saleratus, 
and in all cases use soda ( bi-carbonate of soda) 
instead. We could give several reasons for this. 
We will name a few. 
Potash and soda act in proportion to the num¬ 
ber of their atoms, and the atoms of soda are 
smaller than the atoms of potash, and a smaller 
weight of soda will produce the same effect as 
a larger quantity of saleratus. 
Soda (bi-carbonate) is cheaper, and always 
will be cheaper. The chief source of potash 
for saleratus is from wood ashes, but the supply 
of these is constantly diminishing; while soda, 
being derived from salt, will always be obtained 
in abundance, and new methods of manufactur¬ 
ing are constantly making it cheaper. It is 
true that grocers charge more for soda than for 
saleratus, but there is no reason for this, except 
that the demand for soda has been small. By 
the wholesale, pure soda is from one to three 
cents per pound cheaper than pure saleratus. 
Indeed, there is much deception now practised. 
Much of the saleratus sold is nothing but soda. 
We have seen a grocer sell from a cask behind 
the counter, a half pound of saleratus for six 
cents, and in five minutes after we saw him sell 
from the same cash a quarter of a pound of 
soda to another person for six cents. 
Soda is healthier than saleratus, because the 
common saleratus, from its source and the 
method of manufacturing, usually contains con¬ 
siderable quantities of lime, magnesia, &c. 
While at work in the laboratory, a few years 
since, we examined a sample of “ pure saleratus,” 
so labeled, and put up in small packages, at con¬ 
siderable expense. On analysis, it proved to be 
a mixture of soda, salt and lime. By purchas¬ 
ing soda in bulk, we avoid deceptions of this 
kind. 
