234 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Protecting Pits, Frames, &c. —Nothing is 
equal to or so effectual and inexpensive for a 
protection to pits, frames, &c., as glass crates 
stuffed with shavings, and placed all round these 
structures; they are dry non-conductors, and 
when packed together have a neat, tidy appear¬ 
ance. Trellis shutters also, stuffed with shavings, 
when laid over the lights, are very efficient in 
keeping out frosts. As mats are scarce and 
dear, and we are likely to have a sharp winter, 
the above method of protecting plants, &c., 
might become very general with great advan¬ 
tage, as it has three essential qualities—namely, 
durability, cheapness, and simplicity to recom¬ 
mend it .—An Observer, in Gardeners' Chron¬ 
icle. 
Hinesburgh “Imperishable Potato” Factory. 
We heard sometime since that there was es¬ 
tablished in this vicinity, at Hinesburgh, a fac¬ 
tory for putting into a very portable and almost 
imperishable form the edible substance of po¬ 
tatoes, without injury to its qualities as an article 
of food. From the importance of such an oper¬ 
ation to the agricultural operations of this State, 
the report excited a lively interest in our mind, 
and we set ourselves without delay to ascertain 
the character of the process, and to see how far 
it was deserving of special attention. 
We will give our readers an account of the 
operation, and of what was produced by it. If 
their opinion does not coincide with our own, 
that the subject is of great consequence to this 
State, capable as it is of producing for use and 
manufacture, potatoes of best quality to an al¬ 
most unlimited amount, we shall be disap¬ 
pointed. 
Taking the hint perhaps from the preserva¬ 
tion of tea, mosses, &c., by drying, some years 
ago experimenters found out that our common 
vegetables, such as cabbages, turnips, carrots, 
and potatoes, might be taken fresh, thoroughly 
dried so promptly as to allow of no incipent 
fermentation, and pressed and packed in tight 
vessels so as to exclude moisture; and in that 
state kept for long periods. For use, it was 
only necessary to soak them properly in fresh 
water, when they would recover their full bulk, 
and on cooking be found to differ very slightly 
indeed from others which were fresh. Here 
was an important discovery. The expense was 
small—the reduction of bulk enormous, (a thing 
of great consequence for shipping and travel¬ 
lers,) and the preservation was complete. Gov¬ 
ernment commissioners in Europe examined the 
processes, and tested and approved the result; 
and at once the preparations came into use un¬ 
der their sanction. The application of this 
method to potatoes at the Hinesburgh factory 
is substantially as follows: Being thoroughly 
cleansed, deprived of skins and properly pre¬ 
pared, fresh currents of air are moved in contract 
with the potato pulp by machinery. The air 
rapidly takes up and carries off the moisture. 
The material is made to take the shape of tubes, 
(maccaroni fashion,) and when perfectly dry, is 
broken in a proper mill into the form of what is 
called “ samp ’’ or “ hominy.” Indeed it might 
be easily mistaken for that article made from 
our common yellow Indian corn. By the pro¬ 
cess, it has lost nothiug but water. But by 
that loss it is made to occupy but one-sixth of 
its original bulk, and what before weighed four 
pounds, now weighs but one pound. In that 
condition it can be packed in tight places or in 
tin canisters, and be transported just as easily 
as so much dry ice. Years of trial have proved 
the unchanging character of the preparation. 
Now then for the use For one pound of it 
take three pounds of boiling water, or (to speak 
cookery-book fashion) put a tea-cup full of it 
into four tea-cups full of boiling hot water. In 
ten minutes the water is entirely absorbed, and 
the result is a well-cooked dish of mashed pota¬ 
toes, ready to be salted and buttered, or dealt 
with, as a like dish made from fresh potatoes, 
might be. The taste differs slightly from that 
of fresh potatoes prepared in the same manner. 
We speak advisedly for we have tried it.— 
Though we think any one would prefer to crush 
for himself a fresh, mealy potato, if he were in 
a condition to choose, we havo often, within the 
last five years, had to be content with usiug 
potatoes not a whit better than we are speaking 
of—hardly as good even. 
It is difficult to comprehend at once the great 
importance of such preparation of the potato. 
To a very large portion of the human family, the 
the potato is an article of prime necessity for 
daily food. All who have been accustomed to 
use it, feel the deprivation severely if placed be¬ 
yond their reach for any considerable time. 
Yet the bulkiness and perishable nature of 
the tuber in its natural condition, makes its 
transportation for great distances, either by land 
or sea, an impossibility. For the want of it, the 
health of crews on long voyages, and of soldiers 
or other persons occupied away from where it 
can be procured is very greatly injured. In 
some districts, too, where it is relied upon as 
the chief article of food, great distress is caused 
by the failure of a crop, because the want can¬ 
not be supplied but at very considerable ex¬ 
pense. Let the preparation of this “ imperish¬ 
able potato ” be made common, and all these 
evils are substantially done away with. Gov¬ 
ernment ships, whaling vessels, merchant ships, 
will make it a regular part of their stores. It 
will not occupy near the room of ship biscuit, 
and can be kept in stores with less risk of spoil¬ 
ing. We are informed that European vessels 
already make it regularly a part of their stores, 
when going on voyages across tropics—and 
that the discovery ships under charge of Dr. 
Kane, are supplied with it. Travellers across 
the continent, and inhabitants of those parts of 
our own country, where the vegetable connot be 
raised successfully, must eventually find the pre¬ 
pared article a most convenient one for use. 
Few persons have any conception of the 
amount of nutritive food which can be raised in 
the form of potatoes, where the soil andlclimate 
arc favorable — though, pound for pound, less 
nutritious than wheat or rye, as a whole, no 
other crop can equal it. 
Careful experiments have shown that from 
the same amount of suitable ground where there 
could be raised on the average, 3400 lbs. of 
wheat, or 2200 lbs. of peas, there could be raised 
38000 lbs. of potatoes; or, reducing them all to 
the absolutely dry state, for 3035 lbs. of wheat, 
there would be 9500 lbs. potatoes—more than 
three times the amount of food produced in the 
shape of wheat, and more than four times that 
in the form of peas. We quote this statement 
from the Chemical Technology of Dr. Knapp, of 
Giessen—a recent work of very great authority. 
The practical results of some experimentalists 
on the feeding of cattle with these different ar¬ 
ticles, place the relative value of the potato, at a 
higher mark still. 
For many years the potato crop has been a 
very important one in Vermont, not barely for 
its extensive use at home for food for man and 
beast, but because it has been largely worked 
up in the starch factories. With a great many 
farmers of small means it has been a chief re¬ 
liance wherewith to obtain cash in hand by its 
sale. Since the railroads were built, great quan¬ 
tities have gone to market in a fresh condition, 
at highly remunerative lates of the producer. 
The terrors of the potato rot have in a great 
measure passed by ; and the production can be 
and will be greatly increased if the article we 
are considering shall come into a wide use, as 
we think it must, for commercial purposes. 
We learn that the factory at Hinesburgh is in 
active operation, and with abundant orders from 
the sea-board. We wish its owners success, 
and look to see, ere long,“Brinsden’s Imperish¬ 
able Potato ” spoken of as one of our large ar¬ 
ticles of export .—Burlington Free Press. 
How I Saved My Currants. —On returning 
home after an absence of a couple of years, 
some four years since, I found my currant 
bushes, which were in rows on the outside of 
my garden, overgrown with witch grass, and 
was informed by my better-half that she could 
not welcome my return with a glass of currant 
juice, as her bushes had yielded but a very few 
currants the season past. I could not think of 
losing them, as I was too fond of their fruit, 
and, besides, they had cost me much labor. 
Digging them up and rooting out all the grass 
was too great a task, therefore I thought I would 
try and smother it out. I covered the earth 
around them to the depth of two or three inches 
with tan bark, putting some half a dozen shovel¬ 
fuls into the centre of each bush. It operated 
to a charm—the grass was exterminated, and 
the next season I spaded in the tan bark, and 
since then my bushes have yielded bountifully. 
I am satisfied that vegetable dressing is equally 
as good, if not better, for trees and shrubbery 
than barn-yard manure, which I save for field 
dressing .—Maine Farmer. 
A Large Ox.— The English papers describe a 
monster ox. It is a pure Short-horn, 5 years old, 
stands nearly 18 hands high, and measures 6 
feet 6 inches from hip to shoulder, 3 feet across 
the hips, 9 feet 11 inches in girth behind the 
shoulder, and 12 feet in length from the tip of the 
nose to the rump, while his depth from chine to 
brisket exceeds 4 feet 6 inches. It is estimated 
to weigh upwards of 300 stone (4200 lbs.) It 
is supposed to excel in size any ox ever raised 
in England. At the New-Hampshire State 
Fair, an ox was exhibited weighing over 4000 
pounds. 
-- 
LEAVES FROM MY CHINESE NOTE BOOK. 
Under this title I propose to send you, from 
time to time, descriptions of Chinese gardens, 
plants, and other objects of natural history 
which I consider of sufficient interest to occupy 
a place in your columns. As many of your read¬ 
ers have, no doubt, heard of “ Howqua’s Mix¬ 
ture,” I shall begin by attempting to describe 
Howqua’s garden. 
This garden is situated near the well-known 
Fa-tee nurseries, a few miles above the city of 
Canton, and is a place of favorite resort both for 
Chinese and foreigners who reside in the neigh¬ 
borhood, or who visit this part of the Celestial 
Empire. Having occasion to be in Canton a few 
weeks ago, I determined on paying it a visit in 
company with Mr. M’ Donald, who is well 
known in this part of the world as an excellent 
Chinese scholar, and to whom I am indebted for 
some translationsjbf Chinese notices, which ap¬ 
peared very amusing to us at the time, and 
which, I dare say, will amuse your readers. 
Having reached the door of the garden we 
presented the card with which we were provided, 
and were immediately admitted. The view 
from the entrance is rather pleasing, and partic¬ 
ularly striking to a stranger who sees it for the 
first time. Looking “ right ahead,” as sailors 
say, there is a long and narrow paved walk lined 
on each side with plants in pots. This view is 
broken, and apparently lengthened by means of 
an octagon arch which is thrown across, and be¬ 
yond that a kind of alcove covers the pathway. 
Running paraded with the walk, and on each 
side behind the plants, are low walls of ornamen¬ 
tal brickwork, latticed so that the ponds or small 
lakes, which are on each side, can be seen. 
Altogether, the octagon arch, the alcove, the 
pretty ornamental flower pots, and the water on 
each side, has a striking effect, and is thoroughly 
Chinese. 
The plants consist of good specimens of 
Southern Chinese things, all well known in 
England, such for example, as Cymbidium 
sinense, Olea fragrans, Oranges, Roses, Camel¬ 
lias, Magnolias, &c., and, of course, a multitude 
of dwarf trees, without which no Chinese gar¬ 
den would be considered complete. In the al¬ 
cove alluded to there are some nice stone seats, 
which look cool in a climate like that of South¬ 
ern China. The floor of this building is raised 
a few feet above the ground-level, so that the 
visitor gets a good view of the water and other 
