Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-01

burning the straw. But this is not all. Oar
wheat lands are being exhausted for want OF
sOme kind of manure to return what the an
rusl crops are taking away from them. Inc
straw burned returns nothing. Ii ted TO STOCK
OF the land it would return one of the ingr.-
dents necessary to keep up its fertility. With
these facts before them it seems incredible
that any farmer should continue to burn his
grain straw, and yet the practice is qui.e gem
eTsl.
TIL Cans for Fruit
The season for canning fruit is rapidly APP
preaching, when not only large number of
csnneries will be engaged in canning fruit for
sale in the markets of the world, but great
number of families will be putting up fruit
in cans for their own family use. We believe
that the csnneries very generally, if not uni
versally, use tin cans for the purpose, and
large number Of private families use cans
made of the same material. OF late years,
however, glsss has been coming into use
quite extensively and gaining ground quite
rapidly over tin. Glass is preferred for the
reason that fruit in glass seems TO retain more
perfectly its natural taste than in tin. Tin
oCCAlo ~ HaAN w ehO iAAiN1 anu ~
acid fruit, kind Of metallic taste, and con.
sequently people have come to fear that the
acid of the fruit corrodes or dissolves more or
less tin, and that it is this tin mixed with the
fruit that gives the fruit this metal.
lie taste. They also have become
alarmed lest this dissolved tin may
be more or less unhealthy. Hence the more
popularity OF glass for canning purposes.
These popular fears had no positive founda-
ton to rest upon for support except the taste
OF the fruit canned in them. until quite re-
Gently science has been appealed to to settle
the question, and has settled il in accordance
with the general suspicion-that is to say,
that the acid of fruits does corrode tin, and
that the tin in the fruit is unhealthy. We
call attention to this discovery at this time
that those who are about to engage in the
business of canning fruit for sale or for their
own use may not be without positive and cor
rect information on the subject. This sub
Jet has lately been carefully investigated by
Helmer, who announces through the London
Lancet that tin, even when quite pure, is
much more readily attacked by canned arti-
cles OF food than is commonly supposed. He
has made an examination of large number
and great variety OF such canned goods, and
has found tin in comparatively large quanti-
ties in nearly all of the samples examined. AS
examples, he states that acid fruits, such as
peaches and cherries, corro lie the metal to
an alarming extent; but what is even more
serious, he found that meats, and even con-
densed milk, take up and become contain
mated with sensible quantities of the metal
He instances the case of can of soup. which
he found to contain 50 milligrams (sbout !
grain of tin to the pound one of condensed
milk which carried s nilligrams 4 of 6 grain);
and one of oysters, which contained As MILL
grams iabont 7-10ths of grain to the pound
lie found also, that soda water, and all other
varieties OF serated beverages which he ex-
anined, and which were conducted through
timed pipes, contained sppreciable qasnti
ties of tin. Having established the above
facts, we come now to the more directly in
teresting and important question, whether tin
Is Injurious to health. On this point there
appears to be still some room for doubt. To
settle this question, Helmer made a number
of experiments upon pigs the results of which
went 20 prove that while staRHic compounds
are harmless, StdRn0uS compounds acted as
decided irritant poisons. As the tin dissolved
in the various forms of prepared foods would
exist in this latter condition, the above STATE.
ments became decidedly important"
Exhibition of Fruit at the Mechanics Fair.
The State horticultural Society proposes
to make an exhibition of fruit at the Me-
chanics' Fair, to be held in San Francisco
this year in August. A similar exhibition
was made, we think, two years ago by the
same association at the fair of the same Insti-
tute, and while it brought out few fine
specimens of fruit, the exhibition as a whole
was anything but credit to the society max
ing it or to the State as a uit-growipg coun-
try. The State Horticultural Society cannot
afford to make a poor show Of the fruits of
the Stste-6rst, because of the injury to the
reputation of the society, and second, be-
cause of the injury to the reputation of the
State. A fruit fair at San Francisco at that
time will be visited by large number of
strangers from all parts of the earth-visitors
who will represent the intelligence and
wealth of the countries they hail from. and
they will, in great measure, accept the fair
as the best representation the State can make
of its fruits. They will carry whatever i'm
pressions they obtain from the fair to their
respective countries, and will give out these
impressions in their travels and at home
when they return. These strangers help to
make public opinion of our State wherever
they go, and that public opinion will be
the impressions they obtain at the fair made
under the auspices by the State Horticultural
Society. 1t is to be hoped that the society
will not make another failure. Let good
and full exhibition be made or none. We
are also informed that it is promised
that the Chief Horticultural officer,
M. Cooke, proposes as member of
the horticultural Society and in
his capacity as an executive officer to make
an exhibition of the various diseases of the
fruit trees of the State and of the insects in
furious to fruit and fruit trees at the same
fair. From the reputation of Mr.. Cooke, we
have no fears that his exhibition will be
failure or anything short of a complete sue.
cess. This feature of the fair will appeal
directly to the practical fruit-growers Of the
State, and will be an important school in
which they can study with profit the diff.
culties, or some of the difficulties they
have got to meet and overcome to achieve
success in their business. They will not only
learn what these difficulties are, but will
learn how to overcome them. California has
the natural elements to make the leading
fruit growing State in the Union, and this
impression is not only believed at home, but
is gaining ground the world over A good
show of fruits at the San Francisco fair would
give this impression good standing ground
and base TO rest on in the future, while poor
show would tend to counterfeit it.