318 
I 
I 
THE COTTAGE 
GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, August 18, 1857. 
and I know of no one better qualified for this task, but we 
want colour as well as outline. At p. 54 of your peiiodical 
he hints at Nature being a great photographer, and remarks 
that “ the juices of many flowers and vegetables expressed 
in alcohol form an exceedingly sensitive surface when 
applied to paper.” Now, these are points not to be lost sight 
of. I am no photographer myself; but having had my 
portrait taken the other day by a friend, it struck me, whilst 
the process was going on, that it was not strictly in accordance 
with the operations of nature. The impression was taken 
upon a prepared dry surface ; the sun was at an angle above 
and somewhat behind my left ear; a large jam in the 
window of the room in which I sat partially intercepted its 
rays; and a body of reflected light fell upon my face from 
a white building opposite. When the portrait was obtained, 
which took about thirty seconds, I followed it to a room 
darkened with a yellow blind, where the lineaments were 
rendered more conspicuous by pouring on to the plate certain 
acids, and finally it was left for twenty-four hours to be soaked 
in water to render the impression complete. Nature acts 
differently. She produces at once the beautiful iris upon 
the spray of the fountain, the many-coloured rainbow upon 
the cloud, the/ate morgana in the sea, and upon the humid 
atmosphere floating above it. Her sky pictures at sunset 
and others are specimens of Nature’s photographic art; but 
then she imprints these directly, and upon a moist and not a 
dry medium. 
Again, what is colour? Is it an inherent property in 
bodies, or simply the effect of light upon surfaces ? and is 
not moisture in a greater or less degree essential to the pro¬ 
duction of these effects ? Further, what is light ? Does it 
emanate direct from the sun, or is it an independent and 
self-existent element, pervading all space and permeating 
all matter, and upon which the sun acts, making it lumi¬ 
nous, in the same manner as the clapper of a bell does upon 
air to render it sonorous ? Without air there would be no 
sound—a bell will not ring in a vacuum; and we read in 
Genesis that the sun was not formed till the fourth day 
after light was created. Now, we want more knowledge upon 
these points; a greater insight into first principles; a 
medium to be discovered so sensitive, impressible, and re¬ 
ceptive, that it will imbibe and reflect all the colours of the 
rainbow. Then indeed should we have not only the outline 
but the tints and markings of the Tulip, the Fuchsia, and the 
Rose ; then might florists transmit to each other in these 
days of postal improvement fac-similes of the flowers they 
raise, and the pages of The Cottage Gardener be embel¬ 
lished with occasional portraits of new plants, cheaply taken, 
and delineated to the life. I am sanguine enough to believe 
that this object in time will be accomplished. Let us only 
keep advancing. Progress has its rewards, and the failures 
of genius yield instruction. At every step we mount on the 
scientific ladder a new view will be brought within the 
horizon and compass of thought, and your correspondent, 
E. Copland, with his fellow-workers in the good cause, will 
have the satisfaction of feeling, on quitting the world, that 
he has left it wiser and better than he found it.—S. P., 
JRushmere. 
PRESERVING WITHOUT SUGAR. 
All the successful methods of preserving fruit without 
sugar, though perhaps empirically discovered, are based on 
principles which it cannot but be interesting and useful to 
understand. A few of these we will briefly state. 
As a general rule no substance can ferment or decay 
without the presence of ai» and moisture, and a temperature 
above the freezing and below the boiling point of water. 
Substances which contain no nitrogen, such as pure 
sugar, starch, gum, oil, &c., will not ferment or decay. 
All nitrogenous compounds, under favourable circum¬ 
stances, not only undergo rapid fermentation themselves, 
but have the power of disturbing the elements of noil- 
nitrogenous bodies with which they are in contact. 
A compact and insoluble nitrogenous substance is not as 
liable to ferment, or to induce fermentation in other bodies, 
as one which is porous and soluble. 
Pleat renders many nitrogenous substances more com¬ 
pact, and otherwise retards fermentation. For instance, 
fresh milk soon curdles in a warm room; its nitrogenous 
ingredient, caseine, or curd, absorbs oxygen from the air, 
and ferments, and in this state rapidly converts the sugar 
of milk into lactic acid. This acid neutralises the soda 
which holds the caseine in solution, and the milk becomes 
curdled. Now, it is well known that if milk is boiled it will 
keep sweet much longer. In fact, if milk is boiled every 
day it may be kept sweet for an indefinite period. 
All fruits contain a nitrogenous substance, generally 
albumen (the white of egg) or gluten. In a perfect fruit 
this is separated from the sugar, starch, gum, and other 
non-fermenting ingredients of the fruit by cellular matter. 
In compact fruits, too, such as the Apple and Pear, the skin 
protects the albumen from the atmosphere to some extent, 
and it is, therefore, but slowly decomposed. Crush the 
Apple, and the albumen, being brought in direct contact 
with the atmosphere and with the sugar, rapidly absorbs 
oxygen, and induces decomposition. The porous fruits, 
such as the Strawberry and Raspberry, have little cellular 
matter or skin to protect the albumen from the air, and 
hence, though the fruit remains in tact, decomposition soon 
sets in. In the former case Nature partially excludes the 
air, and thus the preservation of the fruit is easy; in the 
latter the air must be excluded by artificial means, and 
hence the preservation of the fruit is attended with con¬ 
siderable difficulty. 
The oxygen of the air is undoubtedly the exciting cause 
of decomposition; but it would appear that, under certain 
circumstances, when the albuminous matter of the fruit has 
commenced to decay, the exclusion of atmospheric air does 
not completely arrest it—probably the water of the fruit is 
decomposed, and thus furnishes oxygen. To preserve fruit, 
therefore, we must not only exclude atmospheric air, but 
must arrest decomposition before the fruit is sealed up. 
The only -practical ivay of doing this is by the application of 
heat. This fact has been generally overlooked by writers on 
this subject. Couvercliel made numerous experiments on 
the preservation of fruits in vacuo and in nitrogen, and the 
results led him to the conclusion that “ the taste of fruits 
cannot, under any circumstances, be preserved.” Mulder, 
another eminent chemist, is of the same opinion, and says: 
“ Apples sent from Holland to India, packed in vessels 
free of air, became perfectly tasteless, although not a trace 
of putrefaction could be perceived.” The fact that Goose¬ 
berries, Currants, Cherries, Peaches, and other fruits, have 
been preserved without sugar by expelling the air from the 
vessels containing them, and which retained their flavour 
but little if any impaired, cannot be doubted. The failure 
of these chemical experiments is attributable, in all pro¬ 
bability, to the cause we have alluded to. It is essential to 
cook the fruit sufficiently to arrest all decay, and to coagu¬ 
late the albumen before the vessels are sealed. 
A lady who has had considerable success in preserving 
Cherries without sugar has kindly furnished us with the 
following recipe:—“ Take the common red Cherries, and 
remove the stones. Put them in wide-mouthed, light glass 
bottles. Then set the bottles in a boiler of cold water, 
within an inch or so of the neck. Let them boil from 
fifteen to twunty minutes. Put the corks in the bottles as 
tightly as possible while the water is boiling. Then take 
out the bottles, tighten the corks, and seal them with a 
wax made of equal quantities of rosin and beeswax.” 
This method has proved quite satisfactory. The rationale 
of the process will be readily perceived. The heat coagu¬ 
lates the albumen of the fruit, and arrests all change which 
may have taken place by the absorption of oxygen, and at 
the same time expels the air from the bottles. The corks, 
being put in while the bottles are filled with steam, and 
quickly tightened and sealed, effectually exclude the air, 
and with it all exciting cause of fermentation. The reason 
why the bottles are placed in cold water is to prevent them 
from breaking. If tin cans are used there will be no need 
of this precaution. Sometimes, too, the bottles break after 
being taken out of the w'ater, and it is advisable to wrap a 
cloth around them for a few minutes. 
Green Gooseberries and Currants may be preserved in the 
same way, except that they do not need so much boiling. 
If the bottles are heated sufficiently to drive out most of 
the air by expansion, and carefully corked and sealed while 
hot, nothing more will be required. In fact, they are 
