Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1848-06-14
PRESERVATION OF FOOD.

Our daily and indispensable nourishment
consists of organized vegetable and ami
NAL substances, most Of Which ale ex-
tremeIy liable 10 the chemical changes,
Familiarity termed 'fermcnting,' 'souring,
'lainting,' and 'rosing.' Vegetables,
fruits, meats, butcr, lard, eggs, and
grain all suffer immense injury, or are
wholly lost. by the natural decomposl-
,ion Of their organized clements. AS
these products Of the soil canno, be
gathered every day in the year as they
arc needed by man, in The economy OF
nature, the science of preserving them,
unimpaired by keepine, slnuld be stu.
died by every one that likes good food
and plenty it.
Without the aid Of science, our natur-
al wit in preserving food, is but little
better than that Of squirrels, which lay
up nuts and acorns in hollow tees Tor
winter consumption.
In this matter, we can take useful
lesson from The honey bee; tol il wisely
seals up, so as perfectly TO exclude the
air, each lilrIe cell of comb as i, is filled
with delicious food. Without the pre-
sence of atmospheric air, decomposition
does not take place. Thus potIed soup,
fish, fash, milk and fruits hermetrically
sealed have been kept sound and fresh
for years.-Drying, smoking, and salt
ing, are the operations now almost ex-
clusively resorted to, for the purpose Of
keeping meals, butter & cheese. Fruits
and other vegetable food are also ex-
tensively dried. In Spain, whoa; is pre-
carved in what arc called SiIos, i. e. IN.
derground pits Of peculiar shap" covered
with earlh. Wheat thus treated lasts
many years. The French armies were
accustomed to hunt for these deposits
for subsistence. a 0at stone usually
covered the opening; and on the re-
moval quantity of dclcierious gas gen.
orally rushed out, sometimes killing the
opener with asphyxa.
Indians. rappers and hunters at the
northwest are known TO bury corn and
lerkcd meat for future use. The writer
has seen both potatoes and apples kept
without undergoing the slightest change,
the year round, when covered three feet
deep in the earth so as to exclude the
air. The covering of the well or cellar
is the only thing DIT all nice in the opera
ton. TO preserve praches, grapes,
and strawberries fresh, for winter usn,
would require some care and expense.
A zinc or iron reservoir, surrounded
with charcoal as conductor Of heat,
set deep in the ground, filled with
peaches packed carefully in well-drled
bran or sawduss, these sealed up, and
the air pumped out through the aperture
Of a siop.cock, would keep them for
ages-longcr than the mummies of E.
gypt have been preservcd-wilhou, de-
composition.
The cloths in which flesh was wraps
p,d was saturated with semi0uId pitch,
gum. CT wax as used by bees in sealing
honey. Nothing iscasier than 10 pump
the air out OF a steam boiler of alright.
A room of any desirable size can be
made in the earth, laid in brick and
water lime, arched over like a good
rainwaler cstcrn, and covered not with
the "llat stone" of Spanish SiIos, but
with tight Cap and sealed with pitch.
Thu ough an aperture in this cap The air
should be pumped out.
To preserve apples, potatoes, onions.
beets, and cabbage, no expense of walls
ing and Gaping is necessary. A cheap
frame scanting inAhe dry we'll for the
plank to res; on over the potatoes or
other vegetables, and uscd to hold up
the packed clay which covers the mass
to exclu C tho air, is all that is neceSsa-
ry. T1is is the plan practiscd in Yves
tern New York.
In packing butter in stone crooks, af-
ter covering ii with little salt and a
clean white cloth wet in strong limo,
and having ,he crock fnIl, either irm
animal membrane, or Two ar Ilree thick
neSses OF stout linen saturated with melt
ed bees WAX, should be tied tight over It
to exclude the air.
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