88 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
The Back Volumes of the American Agriculturist, 
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^meriran Agriculturist. 
lew-York, Thursday, April 19. 
This paper is never sent where it is 
not considered paid foi—and is in all cases 
stopped when the subscription runs out. 
We occasionally send a number to persons 
who are not subscribers. This is sometimes 
done as a compliment, and in other cases to 
invite examination. Those receiving such 
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if convenient show them to a neighbor. 
WHAT SHALL WE EAT 1-HIGH PRICES. 
“ All kinds of provisions, especially flour, beef 
and butter, are again enormously high. People 
will soon have to live on beans.”— Exchange. 
Such is the piteous language of several of 
our cotemporaries, but if no worse fate hap¬ 
pens than that here predicted, we shall not 
fear the extinction of our race by starvation, 
for some time to come, at least. The case 
is bad enough, however, and we ask the at¬ 
tention of our readers to the subject of “ what 
kinds of food are cheapest V' which is al¬ 
ways a matter of interest, and especially so 
now. Let us first get a clear idea of the use 
of food to the system. 
The bodies of human and other animals, 
are chiefly made up of three parts—bones, 
muscles and fat—and the object of food is to 
supply the waste of these. Each of these 
three portions of the body are nourished, 
enlarged, or renovated by different kinds of 
food, or by different elements in the same 
food. 
The bones, constituting the frame-work of 
the body, are mainly composed of mineral 
elements. Most kinds of food, and especial¬ 
ly the fluids we drink, contain a supply of 
these minerals, and we may leave them out 
of the reckoning. 
The muscles are the lean or red flesh of 
warm-blooded animals—including, besides 
land animals, whales and some other inhab¬ 
itants of the water. It is upon the muscles 
or lean flesh that we depend for strength, or 
power to labor. One person may have a 
large body and yet be very weak, because 
of a lack of this lean muscular flesh ; while 
another may have a small body, and yet be 
very strong, because his flesh is nearly all 
muscular. 
The fatty portions of the body serve to 
keep up the respiration (breathing) and to 
supply the system with warmth. We know 
by common observation that corpulent per¬ 
sons—those having much fat upon their 
bodies—are usually of a warmer tempera¬ 
ment, and suffer less from cold, than those 
whose flesh is less in quantity, and this 
chiefly muscle or hard red flesh. 
The waste of the muscles (lean flesh) de¬ 
pends upon the amount of exertion put forth; 
the waste of the fat, upon the amount of 
breathing and also upon the amount of heat 
necessary to be supplied. Active persons 
require more muscle-forming food. They 
also breathe faster and require more fat¬ 
forming food than those less active, but they 
chiefly need muscle. 
In winter the external cold rapidly ex¬ 
hausts the heat of the body, and hence fat 
or heat producing food is required in greater 
abundance, than in summer, when muscle 
or strength-producing food is most needed. 
Either of these two parts of the bqdy may 
he nourished by supplying it with the appro¬ 
priate food. The lean, and the laboring man 
require different food from the corpulent or 
the sedentary. The working animal will 
thrive best and perforin most work when 
fed with muscle-forming food ; the fattening 
animal requires that tending to the accumu¬ 
lation of fat. 
Of animal food, laboring persons—and 
others in warm weather—should partake 
more freely of lean meats, such as beef steak, 
while in winter those producing fat may be 
consumed more freely. The usual practice 
among laborers of eating large quantities of 
fat pork while hard at work in summer, is 
by no means a judicious one. Lean, meats 
and those having little oil or grease, are 
much better adapted to their wants. 
Vegetable food of different kinds contains 
more or less of the elements of both muscle 
and fat, but the relative proportion of these 
is very different. Those kinds of food con¬ 
taining most oil, starch, gum, and sugar, yield 
the most fat; those having the most gluten, 
albumen or legumin, yield the most muscle or 
lean flesh. For example, 100 lbs. of fine 
wheat flour contain about 79 lbs. of starch— 
a fat-producing element—and 11 lbs. only of 
gluten—a muscle-forming element—7 to 1 : 
while 100 lbs. of beans contain only 42 lbs. 
of fat-producing, and 26 lbs. of muscle-pro¬ 
ducing—or about 7 to 4L 
In the following table we give an approx¬ 
imate estimate of the average amount of each 
of these two kinds of elements in some of 
the more common kinds of vegetable food : 
Muscle-forming 
Fat-forming 
Relativo 
Husk or 
100 lbs. 
elements. 
elements. 
proportion 
of each. 
woody- 
fiber. 
Barley. 
63 lbs. 
1 to 45 
15 lbs. 
Beans. 
..26 “ 
42 “ 
1 to H 
10 “ 
Beeis. 
.. 2 “ 
12 “ 
1 to 6 
0) 
Buckwheat. 
.. 8 “ 
54 “ 
1 to 6} 
25 “ 
Carrots. 
.. 15“ 
10 “ 
1 to 61 
3 “ 
Corn. 
..12 “ 
77 “ 
I to 65 
6 “ 
Oats. 
..17 “ 
66 “ 
1 to 4 
20 “ 
Peas . 
..24 “ 
52 “ 
1 to 25 
8 “ 
Potatoes. 
.. 2 “ 
19 “ 
1 to 95 
4 “ 
Turnips (field). 
.. 15 “ 
9 “ 
1 to 6 
2 “ 
do. Swedish. 
.. 25 “ 
12 “ 
1 to 55 
2 “ 
Wheat flour. 
.. 11 “ 
79 “ 
1 to 7 
Wheat bran. 
..18 “ 
6 “ 
1 to 5 
55 “ 
Cheese (whole milk) 
.. 28 “ 
27 “ 
1 to 1 
do. (skim-milk).. 
..45 “ 
6 “ 
1 to 5 
From this table we may learn something 
of the relative value of different kinds of 
food. The first column gives the amount of 
muscle-producing elements in 100 lbs. ; the 
second, the fat or heat-producing elements; 
the third, the relative proportion of these 
two elements ; and the fourth, the husky 
matter, which aids digestion by stimulating 
to action the stomach ana alimentary canal. 
We see, by the third column, that barley and 
oats are similar, there being about 4 times 
as much fattening materials as of muscle¬ 
forming. Beets, buckwheat, carrots, corn, 
and turnips, are also similar, and are all bet¬ 
ter adapted to fattening, than either barley 
or oats. 
In potatoes and fine flour the fat-elements 
are in still higher proportion. 
On the contrary, beans, peas, wheat bran, 
and cheese, are peculiarly adapted for pro¬ 
ducing muscles. We see, also, that skim- 
milk cheese contains, in a given weight, more 
muscle elements than any of the other sub¬ 
stance. Whole-milk cheese, from which the 
cream or butter has not been removed before 
making the cheese, contains large amounts 
of both elements. 
Let us see what lessons this table teaches 
in reference to the wants of laboring per¬ 
sons during the summer season. We will 
suppose that each kind of food here named 
contains enough fat-forming materials for 
the wants of the body, and estimate the cost 
per pound of the strength or muscle-giving 
elements : 
Muscle-producing Cost of muscle- 
Cost. elements. producing 
elements. 
Barley.$1.50 ipbu. 8.4 lbs. 18c ip lb. 
Beans. 2.50 “ 16.6 “ 15 “ 
Corn. 1.10 “ 6.7 “ 165 “ 
Oats. 08 “ 5.2 “ 13 “ 
Peas. 2.00 “ 14.3 “ 14 “ 
Potatoes. 1.50 “ 1.6 “ 94 “ (!) 
Turnips. 50 “ 1.2 “ 41 “ 
Flour (fine).]2.00P'bbl. 22 0 “ 54 “ 
Flour (unbolted)_11.00 “ 24.8“ 44 “ 
At the prices given in our table we can 
readily see which of the articles named fur 
nishes the cheapest elements of strength to 
the laboring man. They stand : 
1, Oats ; 2, Peas ; 3, Beans; 4, Corn ; 5, 
Barley; 6, Turnips ; 7, Wheat flour (unbolt¬ 
ed); 8, Wheat flour(fine); and last. Potatoes. 
Potatoes are principally composed of starch 
and water, and while serving well for winter 
food, they are little adapted to nourish and 
strengthen the summer laborer. 
We have been unable to obtain any relia¬ 
ble analyses of salt fish, to compare them 
with fresh beef, as we intended. There is 
no doubt, however, that dry salt fish, at 5 or 
6 cents per lb., is by far cheaper than undried 
beef at 10 to 15 cents per lb. 
Beans are too much neglected as an arti¬ 
cle of both summer and winter food. Boiled 
soft—not dried up and half charred by bak¬ 
ing—with a little seasoning added, they are 
the best substitute for meat to be found 
among the vegetable articles of diet. They 
are frequently spoiled by cooking them with 
too much fat pork. They contain in them¬ 
selves a large amount of oil. Boiled with a 
shank of beef bone they make a most nutri- 
cious soup. One bushel of beans, costing 
$2.50, is probably worth, more to a laboring 
man, than four bushels of potatoes, costing 
$6 or $8. 
Peas, barley and oat meal are each cheap¬ 
er and more nutritious than flour. 
Cabbages, though containing much water, 
are very valuable as muscle-forming food. 
“Eliza’s” communication has been re¬ 
ceived, and will appear in our next issue- if 
nothing happens to prevent it. 
