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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, MAY 15,1882.
Rice tut Food.
Charleston, 8. C., April 22, 1882.
Ed. Southern World—In the luue of
15th April, of yonr paper, page 7, in the ar
ticle on “Rice aa Food,” you give a compar
ative statement aa to the value of the dif
ferent articles, and draw from the table the
following conclusion: "that rice, beans and
oatmeal stand at the head of life-sustaining
food, and that rice furnishes nearer the pro
portion of carbon and nitrogen required for
the daily support of a man’s physical ma
chinery, than are to be obtained in any other
one article. This baa been known in China,
for, thousands of years, and a fact once es
tablished is established forever.”
Now I aak you if the above statement is
an established fact. I know you do not
wish to circulate anything that will not
stand the test of investigation. Bellows in
his great work "The Philosophy of Eating,”
sixth edition, page fifty-six, on rice, says "it
is poor in materials for the support of brain
and muscle, and rice-eaters are everywhere
an effeminate race. It contains by analysis
less than half the muscle supporting ele
ments of wheat; and only one-quarter of the
supporters of brain and nerve, and contain
ing as it does, a large amount of starch, can
only support a life of indolence and feeble
ness."
Rice may be useful as a part of a meal,
with beef-steak or vegetables that contain no
starch; or in some cases of sickness, when
the stomach is weak and when little is
wanted of food but to keep the bellows of
life blowing; but for mental or muscular
strength, itis the poorest article in thecom-
mon lists of nutritive food, and this shows
the worthlessness of "standard tables” as
they are called.
Will you take the trouble to look into
this matter, as rice is coming into very gen
eral use. I think people ought to know ex
actly how it compares with other articles of
food. Yours very truly.
J. 0. A. Moore.
[The article in question, which appeared
in the issue of the World of April 15th
should have been credited to the Oreat
Wat. The writer did not see it until it ap
peared in the World, and was at once struck
with the bold and unauthorized assertion
that “rice furnishes nearer the proportions
of carbon and nitrogen required for the
daily support of a man’s physical machinery
than are to be obtained from any other one
article.”
The writer of the article in question as
sumes that 12 ounces or5,5U0 grains of
carbon and 260 grains of nitrogen are re
quired each day, us the food of an “ordinary
man in health.” He then gives a table
showing the quantities of nitrogen and car
bon coutuineu per pound of several articles
of food. We reprint the table, adding Indi
an corn, wheat und sweet potatoes, and also
a column showing the relative proportions
of the two food elements:
Irish Potatoes,
770
24
32 to 1
Breud,
1994
89
22 to 1
Pearl Barley,
2660
01
43 to 1
Sago,
2555
13(?)
190 to 1
Beans,
2730
225
12 to 1
Rice,
2730
70
39 to 1
Oatmeal,
2800
140
20 to 1
Wheat,
2870
145
20 to 1
Indian Corn,
2940
112
26 to 1
Sweet Potatoes,
1050
14
75 to 1
The foregoing table is substantially cor
rect excepting the article tago, which has
less than two grains of nitrogen in one pound.
Now, 5,500 grains of carbon and 250 grains
of nitrogen, are in the proportion of 22 to 1,
which is about the ratio that should obtain
between these elements in the food proper
for an animal.
A simple glance at the table then will
serve to show that rice is far from being at
the “head of the list” when judged by this
rule. Bread (wheat) has exactly the ratio—
22 to 1; wheat (whole) 20 to I; oat meal 20
to 1; Indian corn 20 to 1; while rice is 39 to
1. In other words, rice has far too large a
proportion of carbon, the heat and fat pro
ducing element, and too little of nitrogen,
the muscle and brain producing element.
Our correspondent, Mr. Moore, is very
just in his criticism on the article under re
view. It is well known that the poorer
classes of rice-eating people, who are unable
to procure more nutritious food, are re
markable for their inferior physical and
mental development, and at the same time
for the abnormal development of their sto
machs. In order to secure a sufficiency of
musoleand nerve nutriment from such food
as rice, they are compelled to eat very large
quantities of it, which has the effect to dis
tend the stomach and oveivtax the pow»
site 250 grains of nitrogen per day (ana we
think350grainsisnearer the correct average)
not less than 4 to 5 pounds of rice must be
consumed each day.
But rice is also deficient in the phosphates
so indispensable to the formation of bone,
nerves and brain. The quantity of ash in
cleaned rice is only .39 per cent., of which
about one-half is phosphoric acid. It would
appear then, that a diet composed exclm
sivcly of rice, or similar food, would not be
suited to sustain great mental labor. This
proposition is also sustained by observation
of the mental accomplishments of rice
eating people.
The better classes in China, India, and
elsewhere, are able to provide animal food,
especially fish, which serve to make up the
deficiencies of rice as food. R.]
Analysing Solis.
The eminent agricultural chemist, Prof.
8. W. Johnson, in answer to the question,
"what is the use of analyzing a sample of
earth," says:
"We had the idea extensively promul
gated some twenty or thirty years ago, that
if a sample of soil were analyzed by a com
petent chemist, the competent chemist
could tell exactly what to put on the field to
make anything grow. Well, the competent
chemist can generally tell what to put upon
the field without makingan analysis. Plenty
of good manure will help in almost any
caset A little calculation will readily show
what a chemist cannot do. You know that
it has been frequently a matter of experi
ence that a hundred pounds of Peruvian
guano, of the old fashioned sort that we
had twenty years ago, would make the dif
ference between a good crop and and a poor
crop, when it happened to be applied to the
right land, with the right crop and right
weather. That hundred pounds of Peruvian
guano contained about fifteen per cent of
nitrogen, about fifteen per cent of phospho
ric acid, and about three percent of potash,
to which its fertilizing value was alone due!
The soil of an acre of land, taken to the
depth of one foot, will weigh about four
millions of pounds. Thirty-three pounds
of fertilizer [the nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
and potash of the one hundred pounds of
Peruvian] and four millions of pounds of
of soil—assuming that the crop got ail its
nutriment from the first foot of ground
are the two quantities which, put one above
the other, the smallest at the top and a line
between,moke the fraction which the chem
ist must figure down to if he will find out
from an analysis of the soil what elements
of fertility that soil is deficient in viz ■
33 1
: — or But in fact if
4,000,000 121,000. ’
the chemist in two analyses of the same
sample of soil gets results which agree with
in one ten throusand he is lucky and his
luck does more towards the result than his
skill, for usually the tenth of one per cent
is about the limit of accuracy in chemical
analysis. It may thus easily happen that
the chemist cannot by analysis distinguish
between two soils one of which has had a
dressing of one thousand pounds of the best
Peruvian guano to the aero and the other
nothing.
There are some coses in which a soil-anal
ysis is really useful. A gentleman in Mans
field sent us a sample of soil two years ugo.
He had beendraining a muck swamp, where
nothing would grow; ho could not oven get
buckwheat, and wanted to know what was
the matter. We examined the soil and
found in it a considerable amount of cop
peras, sutficiont to kill vegetation. We re
ported that to drain the land and let the
air in, and to apply leached ashes and lime
would remedy the trouble. I believe it has
been cured."
We do not know who is responsible for
the dissemination of the idea that a chemist
can make a diagnosis—so to speak—of a soil
and prescribe an infallible remedy, in the
shape of a formula for fertilization. The
Commissioner of Agriculture is constantly
receiving requests from farmers in Georgia
to have their soils analyzed in order to de
termine what element of fertility is neces
sary to be added. The best analysis of a
soil is that made by applying the different
elements of fertilizers, nitrogen, phosphoric
acid and potash, in different forms and pro
portions and noting with care the results.
It may be Bafely assumed, in nine cases out
of ten, that the soil responds in increased
crops, to the addition of all three; but it
is a matter of careful experiment to find
out which element is most needed, or which
will yield the most profitable results.
In the application of fertilizers, the known
obeiitiw) composition of tbe crop to be
grown is a more reliable guide than an anal
ysis of the soil upon which it is to be
grown. With this knowledge of the ele
ments that the different erops require the
reflecting farmer will not add nitrogen, to
a soil in order to produce a crop that re
quires no nitrogen or can procure it from
the atmosphere. He will also be careful to
apply a larger relative quantity of phos
phoric acid to those crops that are grown
from their seeds, and of potash to those
that are grown for their tubers. Scientific
experimentation is greatly needed in the
South. In several of the most important
crops grown in this country the South has
a monopoly of production, owing to the
peculiarities of the climate. These are cot
ton, tropical sugar cane, sweet potatoes and
rice, to say nothing of the great variety of
tropical fruits that is grown in Florida,
Louisiana and Southern Georgia. While
many valuable lessons may be learned from
the results of experimentation at the North
in the way of general principles, much of
this is not specially applicable to our South
ern crops and Southern methods. R.
Plan for A Cheap Barn.
Montgomery, Ala.
Ed. Southern World—Seeing your plan
and estimate of a cheap stable or barn pub
lished in your issue of April 15th. I submit
herewith a diagram and estimate of what I
believe to be a cheap and very convenient
stable or barn, and if built, as could be shown
in a drawing, it would make a very pretty
building. If you think it worth a place in
your columns, it may answer the require
ments of your correspondent on the subject
from few pens. S. C.
£
-a cr
o*
.<4—Entrance.
B—Carriage room.
0-Harness room with pegs.
B-Feed room.
A A A—Bins (or oats, corn and bran.
A-Htalrway to loft.
GOO a—Stalls being fully large for horse to lay
down.
Jl It It It It if—Manger and feed box.
11 III I— Blind windows, 14 by 2D Inches.
JA—Two lattice doors to entrance.
K A-Two doors to carriage room, stripped samo as
front and back of building.
A—Slat or open door to rear.
The building is 20 by 27 and 12 feet be
tween joints; 8 feet from floor to ceiling or
loft floor, and 4 feet from loft floor to plates.
Tlie stables are filled with red clay up to
within 4 inches of floor of entrance. It is
planked “up and down,” and stripped with
1 by 3 strips at cacti end. The following es
timate shows the character of material and
cost of building:
4,100 feet lumber at $14 per M. . . $57.40
600 feet rough edge at $5 per M. . . 2.50
5,000 shingles at $2.50 per M. . . . 12.50
Drayago 4.00
10 brick pillows at 25c 2.50
10 days work for two carpenters at
$1.50 30.00
Nails and hinges 5.00
Filling in stalls with red clay—10
loads at 25c each 2.50
B.
$110.40
Bee Keeping Profitable.
Editor Southern World—I would say
in reply to your announcement tl«at you
would like to hear from me on the subject
of "bee culture," that it will compare fa
vorably with any pursuit in life, and is one
of the most profitable of the coming indus
tries of the South. Everything tending to
its further development should be diligent
ly encouraged, for it come strictly within
the province of tho farmer and it is to be
exceedingly regretted that more have not
bwn to iq it, aim I fee
farmer can think of nothing but “cotton,"
and how many of them deny their families
the luxuries—yea, the necessities of life,
when millions of pounds of the daintiest
and most wholesome of all syrups are per
mitted to "waste their sweetness on the
desert air.”
Any man of ordinary ability can easily
supply his table with the best of honey
during the entire year, at a very meagre
outlay, either of time or of money. If be
should not appreciate this article at his own
board he can always find a ready market for
his surplus, which will afford an excellent
method of augmenting his income, being far
more remunerative than the ordinary pro
duce of the farm. There are many men
who give this business their undivided at
tention and depend on it alone for their en
tire sustenance. We know agentleman who
says he is prepared to show conclusively
that twenty-five colonies well managed will
pay better than a two horse farm; and a
prominent member of the Georgia bar, re
marked a few days since that if he had a
dozen colonies of Italian bees he would
quit the profession. This is not simply
fine talk, but is practical reasoning, and I
can give you “the proof of the pudding.”
Mr. G.W. Doolittle, Borodines.N. Y., gives
his report for the past season somewhat as
follows: "After footing up the whole re
ceipts and deducting the expenses incurred
by the bees therefrom, I find I have an aver
age profit of $29.63 for each colony, 1 had
in spring, os the cash receipts free from all
expense. Thus it will be seen, if a person
can care for one hundred colonies of bees,
(and is done by many,) that it will give an
income of $2,963,00 a year. But to be on
the safe side, suppose we call it fifty col-
■nies, thus giving a salary of $1,481.60, then
to be sure we do not get our figures too high,
vewill take off$481.00, leaving $1,000.00 as
in average income for one person, (for only
v short period of attention during the hon-
•y harvest.) I have cleared on an average
iver $1,000.00 from my bees each year for
the past nine years, with an average of less-
chan fifty colonies.” Mr. Doolittle gathered
rom one colony in a single season, 566
•ounds of pure honey, and Mr. W. Z.
Hutchinson, Rogersville, Michigan, carried
iway the banuer by exceeding that yield.
Mr. R. G. Mayo, Lake Maitland, Florida,
in a single season increased his bees 150 per
cent and averaged 100 pounds of honey to
each colony. I would experience little or
no difficulty in citing numerous other cases
similar to the above, but hope these will
suffice to show that the bee-keeping is prac
tically remunerative.
To pursue this industry successfully we
will, of course want the best bees, the best
hives, and all modern appliances. The first
step towards scientific bee-keeping is to pro
cure movable bee hives, such as we have in
the Langstroth and the simplicity models.
These hives are not patented, and all patent
hives should be particularly avoided by the
inexperienced. The bees can be easily
transferred from the old boxes into these
hives, by observing a few simple directions.
Having the bees in a hive which enables
you to give them proper attention, the next
thing in order is to procure the Italian bees.
I make a specialty of rearing queens of this
stock which can be conveniently mailed in
cs^es provided for that purpose. Introduce
your Italian queens into your black colony
(following the directions furnished) and in
a short time you will have a full colony of
Italian bees.
The moth, which so often detroys our
common bees, is a far less formidable enemy
to the Italian; a strong colony of these bees
will effectually guard themselves against
these intruders and will remove any num
ber of them you may place in their hive.
They are better honey gathers, hardier and
far more gentle than the blacks, and—well,
to sum it up briefly, the Italians are as supe
rion to the black bees as the white man is to
a negro.
I have endeavored to be brief and prac
tical, but if the readers of the World are
sufficiently interested in this subject, I will
give a more detailed account of how to con
struct the hives, method of transferring, in
troducing queens, general management,
eto., in a future issue of your excellent
journal. Chas. R. Mitchell.
Mitchell’s Apiary, Hawkinsville, Qa.
The "Relation of Forests to Water Sup?
ply, 1 ' is a subject of vital interest to all ouc
readers. The timely paper of Mr. Yerplank
Colvin, presented to the American Forestry
Congress at Cincinnati, on this subject Is
full of practical suggestions.
The Penny Local of Savannah, Cfo.. q((q
mowed, JtliAQ £|i/