1346. THE CULTIVATOR. 281 
to be especially attractive. 
We presume our Auburn 
friends have made good pro¬ 
gress with their arrangements, 
and that by the arrival of 
the day of exhibition, they 
will be prepared to announce 
that “ all things are now 
ready.” 
We give herewith, from 
the Society’s Transactions of 
last year, a cut of the show- 
ground at Utica, and also an 
end view of <( Floral Hall,” 
one of the buildings erected 
within the enclosure on that 
occasion. The plan for the 
present exhibition, which we 
saw not long since, is well 
designed; and from a hand¬ 
some perspective drawing, 
which was shown us, of the 
grounds, with the various 
buildings and fixtures, we 
have no doubt that they will 
be found as perfectly arranged 
and completed as on any for¬ 
mer occasion. 
The customary liberality of 
the Railroad Companies will no doubt be extended in 
reference to the transportation of stock and articles de¬ 
signed for the Show, and the usual facilities of low 
fares, &c., for passengers, will be granted. 
JONATHAN’S ACCOUNT OF THE CATTLE-SHOW. 
Did y’ever to the Cattle Show go ? 
What kicking, and pushing, and goring— 
Cattle in pens—the pens in a row— 
And tarnal great hogs, there, a snoring. 
There’s sheep too ; ewes, and wethers, and lambs— 
Some Bucks ; (some are’nt in pens far’s 1 know,) 
There’s sheep of the Dons—some Uncle Sam’s— 
Some Natives—some “ real Merino.” 
There’s a tug too, or trial of strength, 
With hawing and geeing and scolding, 
Just to twitch a great stone a foot’s length— 
Haw ! haw buck !—why don’t ye!—gee golding !” 
Then for plowing they give a reward, 
And cute as a squirrel that burrows, 
Off start the plows, cut through the green sward, 
A turning the slickest of furrows. 
And then sir, in a room that they’ve got, 
There’s an “ ocean of notions ” display’d, 
There’s blankets, and stockings, and—what not— 
That the folks in their houses have made. 
There’s bonnets, both of straw and of grass, 
And cloth too, of woolen and linen, 
And there’s yarn, and there’s thread, smooth as glass, 
That gals for themselves have been spinning. 
There’s hats, and there’s shoes, and there’s leather, 
And there’s —I can’t tell half now, I fear— 
Got a prize—gee ho ! altogether! 
And I’d go to the show twice a year. 
Protecting Sheep from Dogs.— Put with the sheep 
a few active cows with their calves, with a few two or 
three year old steers. Then set a dog on the sheep, 
when the cows to save their calves, will make a terri¬ 
ble war upon him, the steers joining pursuit. After a 
few such lessons the cows may be removed—the steers 
will do their office. Sheep pasture being too short for 
four year old steers, they may be successively removed, 
and younger ones added. 
Cranberries. —Five hundred and seventy-five bush¬ 
els were sent to Boston last year from the town of 
Marshfield, and sold for $1,100. 
Bugs on Squashes, are repelled by sprinkling a 
mixture of soot and sulphur on the young plants while 
wet with dew in the morning. 
FLORAL HALL.—(Fig. 77.) 
KITCHEN CHEMISTRY—NO. Ill, 
STARCH. 
Starch exists in most plants, and in all parts of 
them. It may be obtained largely from different 
grains, and from the tubers of the potato. When the 
flour of wheat, corn, barley, or oats, is mixed with water, 
and washed in linen cloth with pure water, a milky 
liquid passes through, from which a white powder 
gradually settles in the form of starch. 
It is procured in different forms or states from vari¬ 
ous other substances. In the form of Tapioca and 
Cassava, it is obtained from the root of the Jatropha 
manihot; in the form of Arrow root, from the Mar ant a 
arundinacea ; and from the palm known as the Sag us 
faranifera, the Sago of commerce is obtained. In 
whatever plants it is found, it exists imbedded in the 
celular tissue in small white grains, which are globular, 
oval, and sometimes irregular in shape. Those of the 
potato, which are largest, and which may be easily 
seen by a microscope, are not more than 1-250th of an 
inch in diameter; those of the arrow root, which 
are smallest, do not exceed l-600th of an inch. These 
grains are perfectly insoluble in cold water; each grain 
being formed by a number of minute concentric layers, 
like the coats of an onion, which become harder and 
tougher from the centre, the outer being so hard, that the 
globules resemble small bladders filled with a softer 
substance, and which protect the interior from the ac¬ 
tion of cold water. Hot water, however, causes these 
globules to burst, the starch is discharged, and thus it 
becomes soluble in hot water, except these outer layers 
or skins, which merely floating in the water, give it a 
peculiar opalescent aspect. If this solution be dried at 
a gentle heat, and then digested with cold water, these 
little films may be separated by a filter or fine thick 
strainer, and a transparent solution of starch obtained 
The usual preparation of starch, consists, first, in 
breaking the texture of the plant by rasping or coarse 
grinding, but not so as to break the globules. Being 
then thoroughly mixed with cold water, the globules 
fall or are washed out of the ruptured cells, and are car¬ 
ried off by the current, without being dissolved, and from 
which they fall in a copious white powder, or in the 
form of a precipitate. When obtained from grain, the 
flour is employed; when from the potato, the raw tuber 
is washed, peeled, and grated; from the sago, the pith 
is used; and by a process similar to that used for the 
potato, arrow root is procured from the Maranta 
arundinacea, and the cassava from the Manihot. When 
the latter is dried by agitation in a hot place, it be- 
