MABCH 24 
433 
THE BUBAL NEW-Y&R&ER. 
than in a vessel with flaring sides, where the 
outer row of fruit, all around, infringes, or par¬ 
tially rests upon the sides of the box or basket . 
This may appear to be but a small matter, still 
it is so important that we do not know of a fruit 
box with perpendicular sides which ever remained 
popular for any considerable time among those 
cultivating borries for market. 
The difference between a round and square 
basket is very slight indeed. The round form 
gives greater strength to the basket with the 
same amount of material used in its construction, 
but there is more waste space in the crate, and 
they do not pack as compactly or remain in their 
place as steadily as those of a square form. Of 
the latter, the Batterson Basket, manufactured 
by N. 1). Battekson, Buffalo, N. Y., appears to 
come as near meeting the demands of both pro¬ 
ducer and commission dealer, as any basket now 
in the market, and the price is so low, as may bo 
seen by referring to the manufacturer's advertise¬ 
ment on another page, that it maybe used either 
as a free fruit basket, or a return, for market® 
near by. 
NOTES. 
Florida Moss.—The Gardeners’ Chronicle says 
that this Moss is sen/ to (hr Uuited States for the 
purpose of decorating churches and dwelling- 
houses at Christmas! The Gardeners’ Chronicle 
doesn’t scorn to be aware that Florida is a part of 
the United Statos. Christmas being a jolly time 
tho churches decorate with this Florida Moss so 
as to bridle excessive mirth. But we did not 
know that dwelling houses needed any such a 
mirth extinguisher. 
The same journal also says that Tillandxia 
usneoides (the botanical name Of this Black Moss) 
is a parasite upon tho IJvo Oak. Wo believe 
that it is an epiphyte and not a parasite at all. 
It also says that the Philadelphia Exhibition 
was decorated with it. We have in this a clue at 
last to tho low fevers and melancholy with 
which so many of the visitors to tho Centennial 
were afterwards afflicted. 
California.—T he good things of this earth 
are not so unequally distributed after all, and as 
no perfect Paradise has yot boen found for the 
abode of men, it is presumable that it never will 
be. California has a lino climate and many 
fruits and beautiful plants grow luxuriantly 
there that cannot be grown here except in green¬ 
houses. But many plants grow hero naturally 
that do not grow there. Dr. Guay (in Darwini- 
aua) says: California has no Magnolia, Tulip or 
Btar-amtHC trees; no so called Papaw (AflminO) ; 
no Barberry of the common single-leaved sort; 
no Podophyllum or other of tho peculiar asso¬ 
ciated genera ; no Nelumbo or white Water-lily ; 
no Prickly Ash or Sumach • no Loblolly-bag or 
Btnartia; no Basswood or Linden; neither Lo¬ 
cust, Honey-locust, Coffec-troos (Gy/nnocladus) 
nor Yellow-wood (OladriuHs ); nothing answer¬ 
ing to Hydrangea or Witch-hazel, to Gum-trees 
(Ayssa and Liquidarnbar), Viburnum or IVier- 
vilUt ; it has tew Asters and Golden-rods; no 
LoboliaB; no Huckleberries and hardly any 
Blueberries; no JCpigaca, charm of our earliest 
Eastern spring, tempering an icy April wind 
with a delicious wild fragrance ; no Kalmia or 
Olethra, or Holly, or Persimmon; no Catalpa- 
treo, or Trumpet-creeper (Tecoma); nothing 
answering to Sassafras, or to Benzoin-tree, or 
to Hickory; neither Mulberry nor Elrn; no 
Beech, true Chestnut, Hornbeam, or Ironwood, 
or a proper Birch-tree; and the enumeration 
might be continued very much further by nam¬ 
ing herbaceous plants and others familiar only to 
botanists. 
Standard Japan Quince. —We were speaking 
a week or so ago of plants usually growing in 
shrubby form that are easily trained into stand¬ 
ards. The Loudon Garden mentions a standard 
Cydonia Japuaiva with a clean sten of three or 
tour feet in bight, surmounted by a well-shaped 
head from five to six feet in diameter. Such a 
Cydouia, potted in autumn and brought into 
flower a month or so earlier than usual, would 
doubtless be found very useful in large conserva¬ 
tories. 
The Cydonias for out-of-door plants in groups 
or singly, are for this climate among tho most 
satisfactory. 
Boots. —Two Frenchmen have found from 
experiments that tho roots of plants absorb 
oxygen and give out carbonic acid gas. They 
find also that, even though theloavea are exposed 
to the air, if the roots are deprived of oxygen, 
theplant will stiff or. 
Hydrangea panicclata gran'diplora. —Glad 
you have voted H. p. g. into the first place. It 
is certainly one of the very best things of its 
class.— Dingee A Conard Co. 
Rhododendrons.— As we gleau from the 
Gardeners' Monthly, Mr. II. W. Beecher’s ex¬ 
perience has not confirmed Mr. Parsons' state¬ 
ments that Rhododendrons can be cultivated 
successfully in any good loamy soil. For ten 
years past he has bought of tho Messrs. Pabsons’ 
fine plants and planted them out at Peekskill. 
For a year or two they did well, then languished 
and died. 
Several years ago Mr. Beecher brought out 
from England several hundred and set them in 
nursery rows without peat. They bloomed for 
two summers, but were fast failing. Two years 
ago be prepared ground for them with abundant 
peat. They soon revived, and this summer thoy 
stood forth in perfect health and luxuriance. 
The Dourer Poinsettia. —This as it loses 
novelty loses not the merits claimed for it in the 
beginning. While yet, however, the price is 
high, we do not advise any of our friends to pur¬ 
chase it unless they possess greenhouses which 
are necessary to the development of the crimson 
bracts in their full beauty. 
Subjects fob Discussion. —The following 
questions are proposed for discussion at tho 
Congress of Amstciflam: 
What is the best way to organize experimental 
gardens and horticultural laboratories ? 
The best mode of conveying instruction iu 
horticulture. 
The permanence of varieties among bulbous 
plants. 
Tho influence of manures on cultivated plants, 
especially on Hyacinths, Tulips and Cabbages. 
The best motbod of ventilating greenhouses. 
Tho influenco of colored glass on the develop¬ 
ment of flowers. 
The Japan Mavx.es. —Our readers of last year 
will not have forgotten tho article upon the 
beautiful Japan Maples illustrated with original 
cuts in our issue of Juno 1st. Tho prico was 
then eight dollars each. We are glad to see that 
Messrs. S. B. Parsons !t Sons, havo mot with 
such success in their propagation that tho price 
is now reduced to an average of 512 .SO which will 
not be considered oxhorbitant by those who havo 
seen the brilliant colors and fern-like lobes and 
divisions of their foliage. 
put nr |}itslj;t)u)iir. 
THE NATIONAL BUTTER, CHEESE AND 
EGG ASSOCIATION. 
About half the States iu tho Union were repre¬ 
sented by delegates at the fourth annual conven¬ 
tion of the National Butter, Choose and Egg 
Association, held at Chicago on the 7th, 8th 
and '.Hh days of this month. The commercial 
classes, as well as the producers, are very largely 
represented in this Association, and tho discus¬ 
sions cover a rango of topics which are seldom 
touched upon at other dairy conventions. Tho 
best methods of preparing and marketing the 
products receive most attention, and tho infor¬ 
mation disseminated by the Association has 
already greatly benefited tho Western producers. 
The Association has suocoedod in securing the 
reduction of butter from second to third class 
freight, and has thua effected a Raving of 25 
oeuts per huudrod on shipments from the West, 
which amounts to over ;? LOU,000 annually on the 
butter shipped from Chicago alone. It Inis also 
secured a system of refrigerator cars which 
enables the Western dairyman to place his butter 
in the Now York market in better condition 
during tho hot weather, than goods are received 
from any of the interior counties of this State. 
The Association is now taking steps to secure 
ico-rooni on board ocean steamers for the expor¬ 
tation of butter in better condition, and the sub¬ 
ject is in the hands of a special committee of 
Eastern men, among whom are Messrs. Francis 
D. Moulton, J. M. Peters and D. E. Manton 
of this city. 
Mr. Peters addressed the Convention at Chi¬ 
cago on “ Dairy products from a Commercial 
standpoint" tai l while highly commending the 
progress of Wes him dairymen, urged still greater 
care and attention to the quality of tho balk ol’ 
the Western crop, which was still too poor to do 
them credit. The system of reworking poor 
store butter in “ factories" had made their 
product far more merchantable than it had 
previously been, but ho thought thoir success 
would be more stable if the butter was made 
good in the font place, lie cautioned them 
against false quotations and said, extreme prices 
on fancy butter should never bo accepted as a 
criterion for tho bulk of the crop. 
Ho considered Oleomargarine an established 
fact which was not to be killed simply by ignor¬ 
ing or condemning it. It was sweeter, purer, 
leas harmful and moro palatable than rancid 
butter, but it was not so good as real, fine 
butter, and tho only way to light it was by mak¬ 
ing batter so good that no one would be willing 
to eat any substitute. One concern in New York 
was selling 80,000 pounds of Die product daily, 
and another was melting about 500,000 pounds 
of the fat weekly, moat of the oil being sent to 
Europe. It was shown that Oleomargarine had 
been quite extensively mixed with butter by 
somo of tho Western creamery men, and the 
practice was emphatically condemned by the 
Convention. A resolution was also passed asking 
State Legislatures to enact statutes prohibiting 
tho sale of any substitute for butter unless 
branded by its proper name. 
Nearly all of one afternoon was spent in 
determining whieh salt is the best for dairy 
purposes. There was a good deal of discussion, 
but the prevailing sentiment was in favor of 
Ashton's Liverpool, factory filled. Several mem¬ 
bers said they had formerly used Ashton’s but of 
late they had been finable to get tho genuine 
imported salt, anil they had changed, some 
to Boston salt, others to Onondaga, still others 
to Western brands or other Liverpool makes. 
Mr. Thoh. Webster of Samuel Thompson’s 
Nephews, New York, the agents for Ashton’s 
salt for fifty years, satisfied the Convention that 
tho salt was fully up to its previous high standard 
of quality, and was tho same in all respects that 
it always had bevn. Ho said that there always 
had been and was still a secret process employed 
in tho manufacture of Ashton’s salt which no 
other salt makers possessed. His firm was bent 
upon prosecuting every man who sold or offered 
any counterfeit of Ashton's brand which, he 
know, had been extensively pirated. Mr. Jere¬ 
miah F. Robinson and Mr. Frances D. Moulton 
of New York, both salt dealers for many years, 
said they sold all brands of salt, and each repre¬ 
sented somo brands exclusively, but that they 
bought Ashton’s from the importers and con¬ 
sidered it the most satisfactory brand they could 
sell. It was always tho same in weight and 
quality, it would not cake and it was never com¬ 
plained of. If the dairymen had reason to com¬ 
plain it must be because they did not got the 
gonuino salt. 
Mr Moulton showed that tho excessive cost 
of Ashton’s over other brands was a matter of 
no moment when compared with the assurance 
of perfect results from its use. A sack of salt 
would salt 7,168 pounds of butter, at the rate of 
ounce to the pound. At 25 cents per pound 
this butter would bo worth about $1,800. The 
difference betwoeu Ashton’s and other brands 
waB about il per bag, which was 1-18 of 1 per 
cent, on tho valao of tho butter produced, or re¬ 
ducing it to tho value of a pound 1-18 of of 1 
per ceut. of 25 cents, equal to one seventy- 
second of a cent per pound for a salt which 
everybody was willing to acknowledge as the 
standard. Mr. M. Folsom of Now York, said 
that although chemical analytes showed very 
little difference he believed that there was no 
salt equal to Ashton’s for dairy purposes. A 
letter from Homer, Ramsdell ,fc Co. ot Newbnrg, 
N. Y., tho groat salt distributors of that section, 
gave as their opinion that the snporior excellence 
of Orange County butter was duo to the almost, 
exclusive use of Ashton’s salt. The committeo 
to which tho subject was referred roportod a 
resolution recommending the use of Ashton’s 
Liverpool, factory filled salt for dairy purposes, 
as preferable to all other brands. 
Tho Convention discussed butter packages 
at somo length and came to the conclusion that 
for Western goods especially there was no 
package so popular as an ash Welsh tub. 
-- 
DISTILLERS’ SLOP-THE MILK FROM 
SWILL-FED COWS. 
The St. Lonis people are being exorcised over 
tho “swill-milk ’ business, and an effort is being 
made, by legislative enactment, to prevent the 
sale of unwholesome or adulterated milk. Ht. 
Louis, we are informed by a correspondent in a 
recent letter, consumes about 20,000 gallons of 
rnilk per day, and of this, 1,400 gallons are 
brought into the city daily by railroad, the rest 
being produced from cows ke_> t in stables in tbe 
city and immediate vicinity, and tho cows fed 
upon swill from the distilleries. 
As might, be expected, there is considerable 
opposition to the proposed law. Oar correspond¬ 
ent says: “The opponents of the bill arc the 
city dairymen, the distillers, and the brewers, 
the evidence opposed to tho bill being bulky, and 
all from interested partios or employees.” And 
in connection with this controversy, we havo be¬ 
fore us a printed statement from Dr. Enno San¬ 
ders, Ph. I)., analytic chemist, in which ground 
is taken that this still-slop or refuse from the 
distilleries is a healthful article of food, and that 
the milk from mvill-fed cows, if the stables nro 
kept iu good condition, “will be as wholesome 
and nutritions as any country milk.” Dr, San¬ 
ders lias made au analysis of the swill from two 
distilleries, and as his paper on the subject may 
bo of interest, we give an abstract of the leading 
points. 
It may bo proper to remark here, in the out¬ 
set, that we do not believe “ still-slop,” when 
fed in large quantities, as is usual in swill dairies, 
to bo healthful for milch cows, nor do wo be¬ 
lieve that it makes a wholesome milk. This slop 
is composed of various grains, as rye, corn, 
wheat, barley, etc., deprived of their sugar and 
starch, w hich are, during the process of fermonta- 
tion, converted into alcohol, fusel-oil, and other 
products of distillation. Since it is difficult to 
effect a complete separation of tho alcohol from 
the grain by distillation, a small portion remains 
in the slop, rendering it more or less stimulat¬ 
ing. Tho fact that it is adulterated by tho in¬ 
fusion of a small portion of tho well-known 
poison alcohol, together with its highly-ferment¬ 
able character and liability to rapid change, 
makes it ill-adapted, it seems to us, for making 
good milk. However, as there are generally two 
sides to most questions, and as truth is best 
eliminated by discussing questions fairly and 
weighing the testimony on both sides, we pro- 
sent the main arguments of Dr. Sanders’ paper 
in the case. 
He says; £l By reqnost of a committee from 
the St. Louis Dairymen's Association I procured, 
personally, a sample of swill at; the Rock Spring 
Distillery, on Tapia Street, owned by Mr. Bar¬ 
ton ; while another sample, from Mr. Teusch- 
kr’s was sent to mo. Both samples were to bo 
examined by chemical analysis.” 
It is unfortunate, wo think, that the sample 
from Teuscher's distillery had not been pro¬ 
cured personally, because as it shows, on analy¬ 
sis, to contain nearly double tho quautity of 
solid substance found iu the other, the im¬ 
pression is loft on the mind that tho persons 
sending it may have desired to palm off' a better 
quality of swill than an average sample would 
show. As no explanation or reason is given for 
the remarkable difforonco iu the two samples, 
tho quality of tho Teuschcr swill, as shown by 
*tlio analysis, may well bo regarded with sus¬ 
picion. 
CONCERNING THE CHANGES WROUGHT BY DISTILLING. 
Dr. Banders prefaces the result of his analy¬ 
sis wit h tho following : “ Corn and barley, which 
alone come hero into consideration, consist chief¬ 
ly of starch, sugar, and dextrine (fermentable 
substances not containing nitrogen), which 
amount iu tho former to nearly 70. and in the 
latter to almost 60 per cent. The balance is 
nmdo up of mineral salts (2 per cent.), albumin¬ 
ous matter, flbrino, and fat (together about 16 
per cent , and not fermentable, but nitrogenous 
substances), and at last water (12 per cent.). 
Barley is converted by a well-known process 
into malt, during which process is found a pecu¬ 
liar substance called diastase, that is soluble in 
water, and lias the power, when brought together 
with water atnl starch, to render the latter solu¬ 
ble and convert it gradually info dextrine and 
sugar. This quality of the malt is tho foundation 
of tho distilling process, as by its interference 
only starch can bo made formontablo in an easy, 
and by a far less cosily manner than by any other 
process." 
Without going into detail as to the whole pro¬ 
cess, he goes on to say that when malt and corn, 
ground up so that tho starch globuloB are freed 
from tho inclosing cellular tissues, are mixed 
with water and boated to a certain tomperatiu'e, 
tho starch is converted by the diastase of tho 
mult into dexirinc and fermentable or grape 
sugar, which, by tlm following process of fer¬ 
mentation, is converted into alcohol. However, 
there has not been discovered yet a process by 
which the whole amount, of starch and dextrine 
will be rendered fermentable, and, therefore, 
when tho alcohol has been distilled off, there 
will still remain in the residue, portions of starch, 
sugar, and dextrine, besides the other substances 
which wore mentioned above as not being fer¬ 
mentable. 
Experience, lie says, has taught, ns that these 
substances, while not taking an actual part in the 
act of fermentation, still furnish nourishment to 
tho microscopical fungi that carry on this pro¬ 
cess. They require albumen and mineral salts 
for tho sustenance of their healthy condition 
and their propagating functions, which gradual¬ 
ly will convert the sugar into alcohol, and natu¬ 
rally consume portions of the other substances, 
transforming them Into different bodies—partly 
volatile and partly not. The fusel-nil is one of 
their volatile substances, while glycerine, suc¬ 
cinic, and lactic acids remain in tho swill. 
ANALYSIS OF THE SWILL. 
The specimen of swill which Dr. Banders ob¬ 
tained personally from tho distillery owned by 
Mr. Barton contained only about 4££ ounces of 
solid substance in one gallon, w hile tho sample 
sent from Teuscueh'h, in one thousand parts of 
liquid, contained 61 0-10 parts of solid substance, 
or about 8 ounces of dry food in one gallun. 
Tho following ingredients wore obtained from 
1,000 parts of tho swill from the two distilleries: 
Ingredients. 
lSiu'ton. 
Teuscher. 
Albuminous mutter. 
l'lbrtue of plants,.. 
.. 0.91 parts. 10.27 parts. 
.. 4.25 •• 7. ICS *• 
.. :i“ li as •• 
... lo.tt 
Jtt.03 •• 
Dextrine and Sugar. 
Mineral Salts. 
... 3.14 “ 
...| 1,77 “ 
17.34 “ 
| 3.15 “ 
Total Solid Substance. 
...| 45.25 parts, ill.34 parts. 
Thus, in 1,000 parts of the swill from each dis¬ 
tillery was yielded, on analysis, a little over 35 
parts of solid substance iu tho 0110 and 61 parks 
in the other. 
Dr. Sandf.rh refers to tho great difference in 
the proportion of starch and its equivalents, and 
the albuminous and nitrogenous substances 
as fouud in tho solid matter of tho swill when 
compared with the original grain which was used 
for distilling. In the grain, tho starch, etc., 
