NOV 24 
77 2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
hardiness, large size, good quality and attrac¬ 
tive appearance. As to productiveness, I 
have not had the personal experience to en¬ 
able me to give accurate information, but 
from specimens I have seen exhibited upon 
bearing canes, I should judge it to be a good 
bearer. geo. w. Campbell. 
DIlaware, Ohio. 
At the Rural Grounds the Cottage (black) 
was the earliest and Moore’s Early (black) 
next. Lady was the earliest of the white 
grapes. 
l^tiscHlftiuous. 
WHITE BREAD AND BROWN. 
PROFESSOR F. H. STORER. 
One of the most curious circumstances con¬ 
nected with the diffusion of scientific knowl¬ 
edge is the readiness with which, every once 
in a while, an out-and-out error is accepted 
by the great public. Once grasped, the delu¬ 
sion is held with a tenacity which is not easily 
overcome by anything that can be said or 
written in the way of precept or discourse. 
Nothing can well be n. ore absurd, for exam¬ 
ple, than the current notion that a fish diet 
is especially adapted for feeding the brain 
•* because” (as the story goes) fish are particu¬ 
larly rich in phosphorus, and “because” 
large quantities of phosphorus are needed to 
nourish the brain; for the whole statement, 
both as to its premises and its conclusion, is 
simply groundless and untrue. To persons 
who like this kind of food, fish does, of course, 
“yield light and salutary meals,” as the cat 
said of the canary bird; but this fact turns on 
the lack of “heaviness” of the fish, and upon 
its easy digestibility: and, in so far as any 
man now knows, not at all upon “phosphor¬ 
us,” or any other occult property or compo¬ 
nent. As a matter of fact, fish is not specially 
rich in phosphorus, and there is no evidence 
whatever, and no shadow of probability, that 
either phosphorus or‘fish “goes to [the head’’ 
in the sense of this idle fable. 
Another error, equally unfounded with the 
foregoing, though perhaps even more gen¬ 
erally and firmly believed, is the odd fancy 
that white bread is less nutritious than brown 
bread. To any one who believes iu the prog¬ 
ress of ideas it is not a little disheartening to 
witness the persistence with which this crude 
notion is clung to in spite of the very wide 
and very general experience of mankind to 
the contrary, and in spite of the fact that the 
doctrine was explicitly disproved, years ago, 
by careful scientific experiments. It is true 
enough that there is one good reason why it 
is well for some persons, possibly for many 
persons, to eat brown bread occasionally, for 
the bran contained in such bread is laxative. 
In the same sense that “ bran mashes” are 
given to horses to keep their bowels open, so 
bran bread made from unbolted flour is in 
many cases an excellent article of diet, well 
fitted to cure or prevent the occurrence of 
what may fairly enough be called a diseased 
state of the system. The importance of bran 
in this regard has been illustrated from time 
immemorial by the oatmeal of the Scotch; 
as well as by the comparatively recent use 
of the “ dyspepsia bread” of Graham, and the 
“ cracked wheat” of the late Dr. Warren, of 
Boston. But all this is a matter quite dis¬ 
tinct from the simple question of nutrition, 
that is to say as it relates to laboring men, 
and to healthy people generally. There are, 
for that matter, many other ways of meeting 
the pathologic difficulty just now alluded to 
besides the use of preparations of “whole 
meal.” Indeed, when taken as a medicament, 
bran-bread need6 to be used with caution. It 
must always be borne in mind that it is the 
very fact of its difficult digestibility that 
makes bran useful for those persons, in tol¬ 
erable health, to whom experience has jus¬ 
tified its use. 
It commonly happens that some of the 
constituents of the slowly digesting bran 
take on an acid fermentation which tends 
to make the mass of partially digested 
food pass more rapidly through the intes¬ 
tines than would otherwise be the case, and 
it is probable also that the mere mechanical 
action of the coarse, undigested particles of 
bran may incite the bowels to action by gen¬ 
tly irritating their lining membrune. But, 
on the other hand, it is manifest that, be¬ 
cause of its indigestibility, bran bread must 
be inappropriate food for many delicate per¬ 
sons. There are doubtless abundant in¬ 
stances where a diet of white bread with the 
addition of stowed prunes, for example, or 
tamarinds, would bo in all respects more 
wholesome, healthful aud nutritious than 
either oat-meal, cracked wheat, or Graham 
bread- It is probably true, indeed, that the 
chief reason why the generality of mankind 
prefer white bread as a standard food is its 
comapartive lightness and easy digestibility. 
Most people are less liable to be distressed or 
made uncomfortable by white bread than by 
brown, and they esteem it accordingly. It 
has often been urged as a merit of the black 
bread of Europe, aud of the rye bread also 
of our New England ancestors, that, besides 
being cheaper than white bread it “stands 
by” a laborer longer; in other words, that the 
feeling of hunger does not so soon recur to 
him alter eating brown bread as after eating 
whi te bread. But this peculiarity also of the 
brown bread manifestly depends upon its in- 
digestibility. Since it can leave the stomach 
but slowly, this organ does not soon become 
empty, aud the sensation of hunger, which is 
a result of the stomach’s being empty, is not 
felt. But this again is a point quite distinct 
from nutrition, and it is notorious that the 
peasants who use black bread are compelled 
to eat enormous quantities of it, besides milk 
aud other additions, in order to be adequately 
nourished. To persons habituated to the 
use of such coarse bread, great distention of 
the stomach becomes a second nature, and 
they are, naturally enough, apt to complain 
that white bread does not satisfy them. 
The idea is occasionally thrown out that it 
is more “ natural” to eat the -whole grain than 
the sifted flour; but if there wore any truth 
iu this notion a Similar method of reasoning 
would compel us to show cause why we are 
not equally in duty bound to eat the outer 
coverings of potatoes, peaches and apples, to 
say nothing of the shells of hickory nuts. 
There is one case, indeed, where a somewhat 
analogous argument leads to an extremely 
dangerous popular practice, viz.: the swallow¬ 
ing of the stones of cherries, together with 
the fruit; but, as every physiciau knows, the 
introduction of those wholly indigestible bill¬ 
ets into the stomach not infrequently occa¬ 
sions very grave, or even fatal, disorders; 
particularly in cases where the person hap¬ 
pens to be “out of sorts” at the time when 
the stouas were eaten. With the progress of 
physiological knowledge the propriety of ex¬ 
cluding all these indigestible matters (bran, as 
well as the rest) from human food becomes 
more and more manifest. Such refuse mat¬ 
ters may be excellent for feeding animals, 
and it becomes us to use them to the best pos¬ 
sible advantage—as is in fact already done in 
many places. It might, indeed, be argued 
fairly enough, in so far as relates to the ques¬ 
tion of nutrition, that the oil-cake now used 
for feeding animals might more properly than 
bran be employed as human food, for the 
experiments of the German, chemists have 
shown that of the two substances bran Is 
rather less easily digested by cattle than oil¬ 
cake. It has been shown, withal, long ago, 
that, because of its indigestibility, bran can¬ 
not be so well utilized by hogs as by neat 
cattle with their more powerful apparatus for 
reducing l'efractory foods. 
All this is matter of common sense and 
common observation. It is known, further¬ 
more, that in proportion as the nations become 
more and more civilized so much the more 
general does the use of white bread become 
among them, while the use of brown bread 
tends continually to be more and more re¬ 
stricted. It is much with natlous as with in¬ 
dividual families—in proportion as they grow 
easier as to their circumstances so do they 
instinctively turn to white bread as the nor¬ 
mal food iu place of the cheaper substitutes 
to the use of which they were formerly com¬ 
pelled by their poverty. The justice of this 
popular verdict in favor of white bread has 
been most fully vindicated by numerous 
scientific experiments. It has been shown, 
for example, that while the dung of dogs fed 
upon black bread, rich iu bran, may amount 
to as much as 75 per cent, of the weight of the 
bread eaten, it does not amount to more than 
12 or 15 per cent, when the Animals are fed 
upon white bread. So, too, with men; when 
fed upon white bread, five-and-a-hulf per 
cent, of the bread passed off undigested, 
against 10 per cent, in the case of bread made 
from sifted rye flour, and 10 per ceDt. in the 
case of bread made from unbolted rye meal. 
As the result of recent German experiments 
upon men, it is admitted that while four or five 
per cent, of the dry substance of white bread 
passes off unuBed, 16 per cent, of the dry 
substance of black bread goes to waste. Even 
upon a flesh diet, it has been shown that the 
amount of excrement is increased if bran is 
mixed with the flesh. From nil of which it is 
plain that any gain, real or supposed, of 
nutritive matters which might be got by 
leaving bran in bread is more than counter¬ 
balanced by the tendency of the bran to pass 
rapidly through the intestines, und to carry 
other nutritive matters with it. It may justly 
be said of bran—and of the breads aud other 
preparations of which bran forms a part— 
that, after they have once passed out of the 
stomach they hasten the digestive movement 
and so quicken the passage of food through 
the intestines that a considerably larger pro¬ 
portion of it escapes assimilation and goes to 
waste than is the case when white bread is 
eaten. As was said before, this result is just 
what the physician desires when he recom¬ 
mends that brown bread should be eaten by 
some kinds of dyspeptic patients; but it is 
absurd to say, on this nceouut, that the brown 
bread is specially nutritious. 
So, too. in respect to the saliue matters lu 
bran. The most prominent among these con¬ 
stituents are the phosphates of potash and of 
magnesia; but even the whitest flour contains 
a considerable amount of these things, to say 
nothing of the fact that they are abundant in 
many other kinds of food which are habitu¬ 
ally eaten. Few people who are well enough 
off to use white bread, and who are accus¬ 
tomed to the generous diet which its use im¬ 
plies, are ever likely to run much risk of 
suffering from a lack of the ash-ingredients 
which are prominent iu bran. Besides all 
this, it is notorious that these constituents are 
so impacted and concealed in the woody fiber 
of the bran that, practically, only a compara¬ 
tively small proportion of them is digested 
aud absorbed. It is not, however, by any 
means the saline matters found in bran thut 
are most liable to be absent from human food; 
and even if we did stand in special need of 
these things it would be an easy matter to 
supply them, as such, as has iu fact always 
been done in the analogous case of common 
salt—a substance which is needed by the 
animal economy, and which is inadequately 
supplied to it by most foods. 
Investment in Sorghum Sugar Works.— 
The following figures will be found very 
interesting to some of our readers. We And 
them in the Orange County Farmer, which 
copies them from the Kansas Farmer: The 
cost of the building and machinery of the 
Kansas Sugar Works was $45,000. Power of 
steam boilers, 850 horse power. Capacity of 
crusher, 250 tons of cane per day. Capacity 
of defecators, evaporators, bone (liters, etc., 
equal to that of the crusher. Capacity of 
vacuum pan, 15,000 pounds of sugar, six times 
per day, or 00,000 pounds per day. Capacity 
of the sugar wagons, mixer and centrifugals, 
that of the vacuum pan. Number of hands 
employed, 60. Aggregate of weekly pay 
roll. $500. Number of farmers who have 
contracted and are delivering cane, 40. Num¬ 
ber of acres of cane contracted. 1,500. Num¬ 
ber of meu engaged in cutting and hauling 
cane, 75. Price paid for cane delivered, $2 
per ton. Wages paid by farmers to cane 
cutters, $1.50 per day with board. This year’s 
crop of 1,500 acres of cane will, according to 
the above figures, yield 750,000 pounds of 
sugar, worth $00,000, and over, 75,000 gallons 
of sirup, worth $30,000, or an aggregate 
value of $00,000. This is but the beginning 
of a vast industry. It is proposed to erect at 
convenient places, auxiliary works for the 
manufacture of semi-sirup, which shall be 
made by the Weber & Scovell process, so as 
to preserve the sugar in a crystallized form, 
aud send it to the central works to bo 
made into sugar. This will expand the indus¬ 
try many-fold. W hen it is remembered that 
this cane is grown upon land, most of which 
the Government recently gave to the farmers 
under the Homestead Law, aud that there are 
millions of acres adapted to its growth, the 
source of the future sugar supply is not far to 
seek. 
How to Mix Paints.— The following 
table, the source of which the Journal of 
Chemistry is unable to trace at this moment, 
though it vouches for its trustworthiness, 
will be found serviceable, especially for ama¬ 
teurs, as showing how simple pigments are 
to bo mixed for producing compound colors: 
Bvjf.-M.ix white, yellow ochre, aud red. 
Chestnut. —Red, black, und yellow. 
Claret. —Red, umber, and black. 
Copper, —Red, yellow, and black. 
Dove. —White, vermilion, blue, and yel¬ 
low. 
Drab. —White, yellow ochre, red, and 
black. 
Faum. —White, yellow, aud red. 
Flesh. —White, yellow ochre, and vermil¬ 
ion. 
French Gray.— White, Prussian blue, aud 
lake. 
Gray .—White lead and black. 
Gold. —White, stone ochre, and red. 
Green Bronze.— Chrome green, black, and 
yellow. 
Olive. —Yellow, blue, black, and white. 
Orange. —Yellow and red. 
Peach .—White and vermilion. 
Pink. —White, vermilion, and lake. 
Purple. —Violet, with more red and white. 
Violet. —Red, blue, and white. 
In the combinations of colors required to 
produced a desired tint, the first-named color 
is always the principal ingredient, and the 
others follow in the order of their import¬ 
ance. Thus, in mixing a limestone tint, 
white is the principal ingredient, and red the 
color of which the least is needed. The ex¬ 
act proportions of each color must be deter¬ 
mined by experiment with a small quantity. 
It is best to have the principal ingredient 
thick, and add to it the other paints thinner. 
Petroleum as a Wood Preservative.— 
Wood of white pine exposed fully to the 
weather, and treated with a wash of petroleum 
16 years ago, says Mr. J. J. Thomas, in the 
New York Tribune, r emains hard and sound 
with about a sixth of an inch of the outside, 
or so far in ns the oil penetrated, brown and 
compact, while further in the piue has its 
usual white appearance. The oil with its solid 
ingredients in solution, entered and filled the 
pores of the wood, and changed it both in tex¬ 
ture and appearance to somethiug like cedar. 
He used it first on the roof of a dwelling and 
on the shingles of several barns; and after a 
lapse of 10 years they appear to be as sound as 
when first laid. Where the roofs are much 
shaded, no moss has formed on them. One of 
the barns had a steep roof, from which the 
oil caused the snow, as soon as it accumulated 
in any quantity, to slide freely, and this free¬ 
dom from heavy loads of snow continued for 
several years. 
Foot and-Moutb Disease in the United 
Kingdom. —The ravages of foot-and-mouth 
disease are still playing havoc with the cattle 
interests of the United Kingdom. Early in 
October there were signs of a decline iu its 
virulence in Ireland. On September 8 the 
number of cases in the Emerald Isle was 12,- 
408; on the 15th, 0,728. and on the 22d, 8,004. 
In England, however, though the disease was 
abating in Cheshire and Derbyshire, it was 
spreading in Denbighshire and Lancashire. 
Restrictions on the movements of cattle iu 
infected sections are rigidly enforced, we learn 
from the Live Stock Journal, but they are 
frequently evaded by live stock dealers. Lately 
a cattle dealer was fined $700 at Brampton for 
moving cattle into Cumberland contrary' to 
the Order in Council prohibiting the action. In 
order to lessen the risks of infection, the 
Smithfield Club has resolved that no animal 
exhibited at any other show after Nov. 1 will 
be allowed to be present at the Smithfield Fat 
Stock Show in December. Farmers all over 
the country' are gettiug restive under the re¬ 
strictions which prevent the movement of 
cattle iu scheduled sectious. They say r these 
impediments to trade are doing as much harm 
as the disease itself, whilst they do not prevent 
the importation of the plague from foreign 
countries. The disease “ moves in such a mys¬ 
terious way ” that its origin is doubtful, though 
all pretty well agree that it arises from in¬ 
fection; but there are innumerable ways by 
which this can be conveyed. The Boston 
(Lincolnshire) Board of Guardians boldly pro¬ 
tests to the Privy Council that “until birds and 
flies can lx* prevented from traversing the air 
and the cats and dogs the fields, und public 
footpaths through infected ureas are stopped, 
licenses for the movement of stock may bo 
safely' dispensed with.” 
Happy Canadian Settlers.—F rom Prof. 
Tauuer’s report of his recent tour through 
Canada we learn that he traveled fully 5,000 
miles within Canadian territory, and that he 
had most, favorable opportunities for coming 
in contact with settlers, not only in the older 
provinces of the Dominion, but in Manitoba, 
and even beyond its borders, in the Assiuiboia 
district of the Northwest Territories. 
Throughout the whole of this lengthened tour 
of inspection he found those settled upon the 
lands happy, prosperous and healthy. After 
conversing freely with largo numbers of these 
settlers, he states thut he did not meet with it 
single instance in which they' were not fairly 
successful, contented, and full of hope for the 
future. They worked hard, it is true, but that, 
labor was sweetened by the knowledge thut 
they wore improving their own property. 
Their personal requirements were easily pro¬ 
vided for by the aid of a rich and productive 
soil, their families were growing up around 
them in the enjoyment of health, und without 
any auxioty being felt as to their future suc¬ 
cess in life. 
The Pail the Proper Test.— The Chicago 
Tribune says that at the. late Illinois State 
Fair the judges gave the first premium to a 
handsoine-lookiug cow that, so far as known, 
had no record for producing a noteworthy' 
quantity or quality of milk, and to Morcedes, 
