The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-03 00:00:00

WHAT MAKES THE APPLES ROT?
(From the Se i,abfic A on- c rico

Our worst enemies are the smallest. All the
ravenous beasts in the world, mad dogs included,
probably destroy fewer human lives than are destroyed
in this city alone by the ravages of those minute
but virulent organisms of the genus sticrococcits, to
which we owe small-pox, diphtheria, and some other
malignant diseases. Similarly, the thousand sturdy
weeds which annoy the farmer, the caterpillars
and grasshoppers which occasionally devour his crops,
are relatively innocent and harmless compared with
the numerous microscopic pegs which rust his grain,
rot his potatoes and fruit, and otherwise levy their
burdensome taxes without making themselves visible.
Just at this semen, not the least interesting of these
individually insignificant, collectively enormous, nuis-
ances are the two forms of fungus growth which have
most to do with the untimely destruetion of fruit-
maser mewl° and pencillouni glaurion.
Our apples decay, not because it is their nature to,
as Watts might say, but because it is the nature of
something else to seize on them for subsistence, as we
do, at the same time making of them a habitat, as we
do not. Kept to themselves, apples and other fruit
never rot ; they simply lose their juices by evaporation, -
shrivel, and become dry and hard, or, if kept from
drying, remain substantially unchanged, as when
PoeritY AND PROSE.-Poetical Jones says, "the pro
securely canned. It is only when invaded by the fusion and colour of her hair would lead one to look
organisms we have named that they lose colour and upon it as though it was spun by the nimble fingers
quality, take on offensive tastes and odours, become
o the easy hours as they glided through bright June
covered with white or green mould-in short, develop
days, whose sunny rays of light had been caught in the
rottenness and decay. meshes and were content to go no further." Smith ex-
Formerly this procees was thought to be no other presses the same thing by saying, "Her hair was
than a continuation or exaggeration of the natural awfully red."
process of ripening, the chemical changes which pro- No MORE TEETH *FOR hiss !-In Tamaqua, the
duce the odour and flavour of the ripened fruit simply
going on to their legitimate though less delightful em l. " Mountain City" of Pennsylvania, has resided for
any years an old coloured individual, by occupation
But this theory overlooked the very common and im- Tbarbcr, who was one day com laining of his suffer-
that facts that fruit may rot without ripening, and ins,s from dyepepsia, and attributed his ailment to the
that ripe fruit will not rot if properly protected.
fact of having no teeth, by which he was unable pro.
It was not until the microscope was brought to bear rly to masticate his food. "Well, Simon," said a
on the problem, and the conditions of decay were so LY-stander, "why don't you get a set of false teeth?
convincingly demonstrated, by Davaine, that the real They wouldn't cost you much."-" False teef ! " ex-
nature of the process became clear. Now we know claimed Simon ; "oh no, cab! no you don't ! I'se had
that, so far from being the complement of growth, jest all de teef I want in my mouf I Pee suffered more
the antithesis of life, decay is in reality the taking on wid de tooface den I ever did wid de 'spepysy, an' I
of a more rapid though specifically different growth. was glad enuf to get rid of my teef! You don t git no
It is synonymous not with death, but with intensely mo teef into my mouf-no, ash!"
active life.
In general structure, the numerous microscopic fungi A POSER--" Eat your bread, Charles-do not fling
are very much alike, consisting mainly of a network of it away," said a learned and good judge to one of his
colourless cells and filaments called the nil/ahem. family, aiding, "for who knows in the vicissitudes
This is the vegetative part. There is, besides, a repro- of this life, if you may not some day want it?' The
ductive part, in which hi produced the seed or "spore," old gentleman had to cough, look learned, and go
the structure of which is dinerent is. Elia different away, when the youngster answered more logically,
genera. In the mucor each reproductive filament "If I eat it, how can I have it when I want it?"
bears a globular swelling at its superior extremity, in This is the result oi s learned judge having children.
the interior of which the spores are developed. In the A DOMESTIC AFFLICTION.-A girl in me, uf i,I. .x
pencillium glaueum the reproductive filament bears a tional schools applied to her teacher for leave to be absent
tuft of from four to eight branches, which, in turn, pro- half a day, on the plea that her friends had compagy
dues upon their extremities a chaplet of small oval at home. The teacher referred her to the printed list
spores. It is called pcnrilliunt on account of this of reas•sis that the school committee think sufficient
pencil-like tuft of its spore-bearing filaments, and to justify absence, and asked her if her case came under
alaucuni from their bluish-green tint. The mould so any of them. She tiniest!, replied that it might come
frequently seen in oranges is produced by this fungus, under the head of "domestic affliction."
It is comparatively of slow growth, and the alteration s
IaTICKING TO IT.-" My dear, said a lady to her bus-
it produces in the prcperties of the fruit it lives band, " these friends here will not believe me when I
in and upon is not so marked as that caused by the say I'm only forty years old. You know that I speak
Mtleor. the truth, don't you?'-" I certainly shall not deny
When is fruit is invaded by either of these fungi, the it my love, since you have stuck to the point for the
vegetative filaments send their branches among and last dozen years, to my certain knowledge.
around the fruit cells, and rapidly envelop them in a . -
network of mycelium, absorbing the subatance and GREAT LOSS.-A few days after Dickens death an
juice of the fruit, and producing the chemical trans- Englishman, deeply grieved at the event, made a sort
formation characteristic of decay. All this goes on in of pilgrimage to Gads Hill,-to the home of the great
the interior of the fruit, the fructification of the novelist. Ile went into the famous Sir John Faletaff
fungus taking place only on the surface, in contact inn near at hand, and, in the effusiveness of his honest
with the atmosphere. For this reason fruit covered emotions, he could not avoid taking the country
with a firm, fine skin, like the apple, may be a mass waiter into his confidence. "A great loss this, of Mr.
of what we call corruption within-in other words, Dickens," said the pilgrim." A great loss to us, sir,"
replied the waiter, shaking his heed; "he had all his
thoroughly decomposed by, fungus growth-while no
visible mould-the fructifying part-appears on the
ale sent in from this house " One is reminded, by
surface. On the other hand, thin-skinned fruits like force of contrast, of the French waiter in the gardens
{ !
the strawberry, which are easily pierced by the of the Palais Royal, who when a customer, ,ni a certain
reproductive filaments, are often covered with an memorable afternoon, remarked to him that it was a
abundant fructification in a very short time, for the fine day, sadly replied, "All, yes, monsieur, it is a
fecundity of these microscopic fungi is sometimes as , fine day, but-but Mirabeau is dead!"
marvellous as the rapidity of their growth. For THE PROMPT REPLY.- At a recent school examine.
example : A single zoospore of the peroneepora info- tion, the teacher sought to develop the "general intel-
la es, which causes the potato rot, will envelop the ligence " of an infant class by asking, "What are
cellular tissue of a potato 'leaf with mycelium filaments ' cows good for ?" After a moment's pause a small hand
in twelve hours, and fructification will be completed ~ went up with tremendous energy. "Well, Johnny,.
in eighteen hours longer. One square line of the under I what is it ?" Their insides are good for triiie, '
surface of a leaf, where the fructification naturally shouted the young savant.
takes place, may bear as many as three thousand
spores. Each spore eupplies half a dozen zoospores, in-li cellC tral
on a bench the revening misce at the en
dividually capable of originating a new mycelium. 1 e other
BORN 80-JOST SO !-A colo.ured inebriate was lying
From one suuare line, therefore, there y come, in . Station at Providence, Rhode Island, when the officer
less than two days, nearly twenty thousand reproduc-
tive ! made his rounds of inspection. Unable by the fitful
gaslight to clearly discern the prisoner's features, the
tive bodies, and a_square inch may yield nearly three '
officer asked. "Are you coloured ?" -" No, answered
millions! No wonder the disease spreads rapidly. the enfranchised, drowsily, "I was born so."
In the case of fruit decay may be originated in two
ways, and two only -by direct contagion or by wind- Two SIDES TO THE QUESTION.-James L, soon after
wafted spores. With firm-skinned fruit like apples, his accession to the English throne, was present in a
still another condition is essential, namely, a break in Court of Justice to observe the pleadings in a cause of
the skin of the fruit to allow the parasite to enter and some consequence. The counsel for the plaintiff having
take p esession. In every case if decay in apples, the finished, the king was so perfectly, satisfied, that he
centre of disturbance will be found at a bruise, scratch, exclaimed, "'Tis a plain case," and was abeut to leave
or puncture; and unless such a way be opened, the the Court. Heins persuaded, however, to stay and
apple may hang until it is dry as leather, or it may lie hear the other side of the question, the pleaders for
for weeks in direct contest with rottenness, and remain the defendant matle the case no less plain on their side.
perfectly sound. On this, the monarch rose, and departed in a great
To this it may be objected that the constant Ives-passion,• is exclaiming, "They are all rogues alike !"-
the story of a judge of later date, but
ence of the fungus in decay is no proof that it is the Akin
to this
not of brighter wit
cause of that condition; on the contrary, the break- , than the Scottish Solomon, w:ah
when he had heard counsel for the plaintiff, stope
log down of the fruit tissue by violence, and subsequent sh
and woceeded to give judgment, explaining
chemical action owing to access of air, may rather the ca,rh-e- ..j his mind ''' e ' ' '
that .
"al not want. nis mina confused by the
make the growth of the fungus possible by preparing
pleadings on the other side.
a suitable soil for its devel•,pmeut. The objection has
been met in the investigation of Davaine. The evi- O'CONNELL CAUGHT.-DanielO'Connell, whentaking
dence that the fungus precedes and causes the a ride in the neighbourhood of his house, had occasion
changes which we call decay is of the same character to ask an urchin to open agate for him. The little
as that which establishes the connection between a fellow complied with much alacrity, and looked up
ceine pustule and inoculation by vaccine virus, with such an honest pleasure at rendering the slight
When sound fruit is inoculated with the spores of service, that O'Connell, by way of saying !something-
penciffium, decay begins at and spreads from the point anything- asked-" What's your name, my boy?"
of inoculation. Apples, similarly wounded, but not "Daniel O'Connell, sir," replied he, stoutly. "And
inoculated, remain the same, who's your father?" demanded the astonished Libera-
tor. "Daniel O'Connell, sir." O'Connell muttered a
word or two below his breath, and then added aloud,
"When I see you again I'll give you sixpence." Riding
briskly on, he soon forgot the incident, and fell to think-
ing of graver matters, when, after travelling some
The Times has published the following letter on the sewage
question :- miles, he found his path obstructed by some fallen
timber, which a boy was stoutly endeavouring to re-
Sir,-For several reasons Ido not regret that I have move. On looking more closely, he discovered it to be
years ' the same boy he had met in the morning. "What!"
acted on the resolution, expressed by me two
ago, not to make known that which, to say the least, is crie4 he, how do you come to be here now ? " " Yon
a very near approach to the completion of the dry said, sir, the next time you seen me, you'd give ma
sixpence," said the little fellow, wiping the perspires
earth system, until either the Government or the public
shall choose to give me some acknowledgments of my tion from his brow. "Here it is," said Daniel ; " you
services. Among those reasons I may, mention this - are my son never a doubt of it."
that I have taken advantage of the delay both to test ,
aNDEPENDENCE OF THE BAR.-So low, in point of
the truth and value Of the system thus improved, and
oinfreennrydevneec was the profession of the bar in the time
to simpliiy and vary its mode of application. that in the ease res t'ng precedence
in between the VI.,
of Warwick and ithei Earl Marshal
TheAfterTimes
of reading
Fr
itdhaey, I, elt tcearn, however,..longer
scat Nonirthilatoresore, lu- both the advocates for the parties-- namely, Sir Walter
ton; and lam ready to show that wherever the dry Beauchamp (the first lawyer, bye the bye who ever
A story is told of a Dutchman who had taken the earth system is adopted, that which, as Mr. Hopesaye, wore the spurs of knighthood in England! and Mr.
precaution to insure the life of his wife for five thou- "is the most valuable part of sewage -namely, the Roger Hunt-made most humble protestations, each
sand dollars, and his stable for nine hundred dollars liquid refuse of houses, consisting of urine, soapsuds, I entreating the peer aisainet whom he was retained not
believing the former might die, and the latter be and kitchen water ' -can be removed and disposed of to take amiss what he might be obliged to advance on
burnt, and he could not net along without some coup without offence, with the entire relief of the house and the part of his client. Hume, speaking of a later
pensation for the loss. Both policies had been taken Premises from every deleterious gas, with comparatively period, when the power of the barons was not eo
from the same agent. In a few months after the stable small cost, and it may be with great profit, arbitrary and uncontrolled as to afford an excuse for
had been insured it was destroyed by fire. Shmidt This will be the more readily believed if the two such servility, says "that the answers given frith'
quietly notified the agent, and hinted to him that he systems are contrasted. In the water sewage system, court by the famous Prynn and his associates, were
should expect the nine hundred dollars at the earliest which Mr. Hope regards as "the true faith," thirty so full of invectives against the prelates,
The
no lawyer
possible moment. The agent at once sent a carpenter goons ~f water a day for every individual of the pupa- could be prevailed on to sign them." The truth, how-
to ascertain the cost of erecting a new stable ,J the lation are added to the filth of every 1 :nd to be re- ever, is, that the lawyers; allowed themselves to be
same dimensions, having ascertained that the property moved. This dilutes the sewage, diminishes the value intimidated by the menaces of the Court from defend.
had been insured for more than it was worth, of the manure, and quickens the generation of foul lug them at all. Mr. Holt, one of their number,
The builder reported that he could replace the gases; and although water may be "the cheapest signed Prynn's answer, and was told by Lord Chief
stable with new material for five hundred dollars, dung-cart," it so masses the foul matter it conveys Justice Finch that "he deserved to have his gown
but unfortunately there was an ordnance preventing that, whether in the drain, or the sewer, or the river, pulled over his ears for drawing it," though it con-
the erection of frame buildings-the old stable or the ditch, it has become in every part of this land tallied nothing but a mere explanation of points of
having been of WWII. Ile was asked to estimate an intolerable nuisance. In the face of all that has fact, and a dry recital of Acts of Parliament; and
the cost of a brick stable, and reported the amount been written and attempted with reference to it, I for afterwards, when it was expunged by order of the
at seven hundred and fifty dollars. 'The agent then one do not hesitate to pronounce any plan for the safe judges, and another prepared, Mr. Holt, in excuse for
stable in place of the old frame one; but Shmidt from a population of several thousands, to be, either open Court, submissively replied "that he duet not
notified Slunidt that he would build him a new brick and economical disposal of such a make, proceeding not signing the second, being applied to by Pryma in
became very indignant at the proposition, saying,-" I because of situation or of cost, a simple impossibility. set his hand to it, for fear of giving their haw= die
do not understand Ws insurance Waimea I pay you With reference to the dry earth system and its pro- taste."

This is not the first time felt has been turned to ac-
count in the preservation of food. A Norwegian
cooking cylinder lined with this material will be re-
membered which was used on campaigns, not to cool
provisions, but to retain warmth, and most serviceable
it proved, for rations heated at the opening of a march
were taken out of the cylinders nice and warm when
the troops halted for a meal. Thus the fable of JE'sop,
which tells of the man who blew on his soup to cool it
and blew on his fingers to make them warm has been
literally realised by felt, whigh keeps out both heat and
cold. It would be too much to expect Captain Acklom or
any inventor to help us to a reluction in the price of our
meat; but might not his patent be extended so as to
benefit live human beings as well as inanimate rattle?
If hie refrigeration could be introduced on the railways
in our Indian possessions where so many European
passengers suffer discomfort, amounting to absolute
torture in the hot season, the name of Acklom would
be hailed as that of a benefactor. The question arises
—is felt superior to cuscus-tattie ? But in any case the
experiment is worth a triaL

I

ph„,