Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/148

138 The banks are made by bullocks; a board about eighteen inches long and twelve inches broad is attached to a pair of bullocks, who drag it, along almost vertically until a heap of earth is raised in front of it; this board is then thrown flat by means of a cord and dragged on to the bank, with the earth on top of it and there its load is deposited. As soon as the water has sunk into the ground plowing commences, and the seed is sown"; millet is the chief crop. They kill all male colts as soon as they are born. "The reason for killing them is that they can not be taken on marauding expeditions owing to their neighing on seeing a mare." They use the Persian saddle and are very good horsemen. Adultery is punished by the death of both man and woman. They firmly believe in the ordeal by fire. One of the most trying of their tests is the following: In a large vessel filled with scalding hot water are placed two stones of different colors; one of these stones, unknown to the supposed criminal, has been labeled the guilty-stone. In order to establish his innocence he has not only got to choose the other stone, but also remove it from the boiling water by using his naked hand and arm.

The Care of Milk.—The composition of milk admirably adapts it to the growth of all kinds of bacteria; this growth causes in it undesirable chemical changes. As secreted in a healthy animal milk contains no microorganisms of a dangerous character; but during and subsequent to the process of milking its contamination is inevitable. Various forms of disease—consumption, typhoid and scarlet fevers, diphtheria, etc.—have been in numerous instances traced to an infected milk supply, and it is unquestionable that much of the stomach and intestinal trouble so fatal to young children during the summer months is caused by unhygienic milk. It is plain, therefore, that the elimination of living germs from milk is quite essential to its safe use as a food, especially for infants. The most scrupulous cleanliness has been found inadequate; hence some artificial process becomes necessary. There are two methods in common use, pasteurization and sterilization. The former heats the milk to about 160° F., and the latter to over 212° F. The pasteurizing process, while not quite so thorough, kills any growing bacteria that may be present, and has the advantage over sterilization, of leaving the physical condition and flavor of the milk practically unchanged. A method of pasteurization for family use is as follows: "1. Use only fresh milk (not more than twelve hours old) for this purpose. 2. Place the milk in clean bottles or fruit cans, filling to a uniform level. (If pint and quart cans are used at the same time, an inverted dish or piece of wood will equalize the level.) Set these in a flat-bottomed tin pail and fill with warm water to same level as milk. An inverted pie tin punched with holes will serve as a stand on which to place the bottles during the heating process. 3. Heat water in pail until the temperature reaches 160° F.; then remove from fire, cover with a cloth or tin cover, and allow the whole to stand for half an hour. 4. Remove bottles of milk and cool them as rapidly as possible without danger to bottles, and store in a refrigerator." The following suggestions to buyers of commercially sterilized milk are worthy of note: "1. Label on bottle should show that the material was pasteurized not more than one day previous to delivery. 2. Shake the bottle thoroughly before opening, so as to remix the contents as much as possible. 3. The paper disk should not be replaced after it is once removed. Invert over neck of the bottle a clean, dry tumbler or glass to prevent anything from falling into the bottle. 4. Any unused milk or cream that has been put in another vessel should not be poured back into original bottle again. 5. Keep the original bottle in the coldest part of the refrigerator as much as possible. When so treated, properly pasteurized cream or milk ought to keep perfectly sweet for several (two to four) days, even in the height of the summer season."

Improvement of Crops.—In presenting a new theory respecting the improvement of crops, J. C. Arthur propounds as fundamental, interacting principles, that a decrease in nutrition during the period of growth of an organism favors the development of the reproductive parts at the expense of the vegetative parts. The converse, that an increase in nutrition favors the vegetative parts at the expense of the reproductive parts, is also