tards or puddings are all that will be needed in the way of cooking utensils; better have too few than too many. A tubular lantern comes in handy, its better than a lamp for general lighting purposes. Take the tea, coffee, salt, spices, beans, rice, tapioca, gelatine, etc., in glass jars. It is well to take as much of canned goods, meats and the like, as convenient, for economy's sake. You will hardly want to go out of the reach of the bakery, to bake bread or biscuits is asking a little too much of the cook; have mercy on him. Smuggle away in some safe nook, a bottle of your favorite medicine, it may prove a very good friend. As ice or ice chests are not likely to be convenient dig a hole near the camp fire (put a box in it if you have one, if not no great loss), and put in it the butter, milk, and such other eatables as you choose, in covered glass jars, and cover them with leafy brush, they'll keep all right till wanted. An alcohol stove is a handy little thing to have on which to warm up coffee or tea on rainy days. An oil stove is a vile smelling nuisance and a gasoline stove is only one degree better. Leave them at home. Make the fire under as dense a tree as can be found, the leaves shed off the rain drops. A big fire is nearly as bad as none at all. A palm leaf or Japanese fan is a good thing to have along to coax an obstinate fire into activity. Camp stools are convenient but not necessary. Hammocks are just the thing to have when in the woods. A handful of nails and a claw hammer will delight the soul on numerous occasions; and as you value happiness, don't forget the can opener or the whetstone, or some needles and thread. It is hardly necessary to say anything about soap and towels and a little mirror, or a supply of matches. You should have time, plenty of it, to read your favorite authors, or the last new thing in print that touches your fancy. If you have used a camera, by all means take one along. Now everything mentioned here, provisions and all occupy very much less room than would be supposed. What will not go in the trunks should be packed in barrels in preference to boxes, every nook and cranny being filled with something. Don't bother with cots. Take ticks along and fill them with stiaw and make your own bedsteads, they may be rude, crude affairs but they will answer the purpose. Roll the sheets and blankets in with the tents There is no theory about the above. Leaving out the cost of transportation, a healthy, helpful man and woman ought to get along at an expense which would be extravagant on fifty cents per day per person. Of course, by going into all sorts of unnecessary expense, board floors, iron bedsteads, a servant, a gun, a dog, and all the accessories, one can run it up as high as is liked, but there is no need to. It only adds to the care, and none to the comfort. Don't be scared about rain. A good tent with a fly over it will shed the rain as well as any roof. And for the benefit of the timid let it be said that there is not a creature of the forest or field but will avoid you if given them a chance. A month under a tent, close to the heart of nature will bring more of real rest than a whole season of travel, where one is the prey of porters, a slave to time tables and the fetters of fashion. Try it and in it you will find surcease from toil, it will bring you close to the heart of Him who made nature and who wants you to rest in His arms and joy in the works of His hands. Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING. W A PROTEST. -Stanley Du Bois. HEN we see girls and women on every hand stitching their lives away so that they may have beautiful and dainty wardrobes, is it not time that some one uttered a protest in their behalf? It is all very well to love dainty and attractive underwear and gowns when it is not at the expense of human strength. A young girl who is soon to be a bride has been busily sewing, embroidering and hemstitching for the past few months until she is completely worn out. She is pale, thin, and nervous, and on the verge of breaking down. How much wiser had she taken things slower and postponed her wedding for a few months, instead of wearing herself out or denied herself some of the lovely, but unnecessary articles of needlework her busy fingers have wrought. How many cases of nervous prostration are brought on by overwork in sewing and other needlework previous to a girl's marriage. A woman who was recently married, said in a letter to a friend: "I had no strength to waste on a large wedding or even a small home affair, as everything must devolve on me my mother being dead, we walked to the parsonage one evening and there were united." Under the circumstances it seemed a very wise and sensible thing to do. Large public wed dings are a great strain on bride and groom as well as on those who have charge of the affair. What is the use of large elaborate outfits which are likely to become out of style before they can be worn out? Oh that our living could be made more simple. Why can we not choose between the real and the artificial in this world? It was a sensible, matter-of-fact girl who was given her choice between a large elaborate wedding and a fine wardrobe and a $500 check, and chose the latter. The wedding was a simple home affair with only relatives present, and the outfit was pretty but simple. While it is very true that "all the world loves a bride," and is interested in a wedding, it is for each and every woman to say whether her wedding and trosseau shall be one of simplicity or an elaborate, expensive one, which is equally trying to one's strength, time and pocketbook. -Carrie May Ashton. Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING PIES. When I was but a little maid I molded them with fondest care, Since then a many years have flown And still I'm making pies, Although a difference I own In methods and supplies, And husband now, and children all Look with reproach at me, If thrice upon the festal board Each day no pies they see. Ah, me, why was my childish play For I have now so crusty grown, That I'm a martyr to the cause Of pies, pies, pies. Compiled for GOOD HOUSEKEEPING. -Anna E. Treat. SOURING OF MILK, And Other Changes in Milk Products. HE universal use of milk and milk products as human food gives to all matters connected with this product of the dairy a wide and intense interest. There is the great question of contamination, which thus far has had but casual consideration, and the equally far-reaching one of changes, deleterious and otherwise, in the constituency of the milk itself, which has hardly been brought to the knowledge of common readers and casual thinkers. A farmers' bulletin, prepared in the office of experiment stations by the United States Department of Agriculture, goes at considerable length over some of these matters, and has the merit of being written in the simple, plain, non-technical manner which fits it for the reading of the average farmer and the average anybody else interested in the subject. MILK CHANGES DUE TO BACTERIA. Much space is given to an explanation of the fact that the souring of milk is due to the minute organisms known as bacteria. These are so minute that they can be seen only with the aid of a powerful microscope, but the result of the concerted action of myriads of them in souring milk is a familiar sight to every housewife. Besides the ordinary souring of milk, there are many other changes which may take place-as the ripening of cream, the ripening of cheese, butter becoming rancid, and many others less common. These changes are called fermentations, because they are similar to the fermenting of cider into vinegar, the fermentations produced by yeast in beer making, etc. The term includes many changes due to other micro-organisms or ferments besides bacteria; and so here fermentation is used to cover all the changes which occur in milk, such as curdling, souring, and putrefaction, most of which are caused by bacteria. MILK AND ITS ELEMENTS. While the composition of milk from different cows and produced under different conditions shows wide variations, a fair average may be given as follows: Water, 87 per cent.; solids, 13 per cent. The solids include fat, 3.6; casein, 3.3; albumen, 0.7; milk sugar, 4.7; and ash, 0.7 per cent. The casein and albumen are the materials containing nitrogen, and are of special importance in cheese making. In general, the ash, sugar, and albumen are in solution, the casein in partial solution and the fat in suspension, but not dissolved in the milk. Milk fat consists of a number of fats in mixture. As its composition begins to undergo changes almost immediately after the milk is drawn, its exact condition at any moment is very uncertain. It is distributed throughout the milk in the form of minute globules, varying in size. On standing, or by treatment in a separator, the fat globules, being lighter than the rest of the milk, separate and form cream, the skim milk containing casein, sugar, and all other milk constituents. The whiteness of milk has usually been attributed to the presence of these globules of fat, but it is probably due largely to other ingredients of the milk-in part to the phosphate of lime which milk contains. THE ORIGIN OF BACTERIA. It has long since been ascertained beyond question that pure milk, drawn from a healthy cow, contains no bacteria, and that all bacterial contamination of the milk comes from external sources. While this fact has been redemonstrated by the most recent work, it has appeared that the statement must be for practical purposes quite considerably modified. In the first place, the difficulties which lie in the way of obtaining milk from the cow without bacterial contamination are extremely great and sometimes seemingly insurmountable; though the writer of the article admits that undoubtedly the milk gland of the healthy cow produces milk which is uncontaminated with bacteria. But this admission is qualified by the declaration that the large caliber of the milk duct makes it possible for the bacteria to grow in the duct to considerable extent, so that it becomes a matter of extreme difficulty to obtain milk from the cow, even with the greatest precautions, which shall not be contaminated. Of late, the air has come to be regarded as a less important source of contamination than formerly. It is of course true that milk does receive some bacteria from the air during milking. In an ill-ventilated stall, filled with dust from hay, bacteria will be floating in the air. When the milking occurs, quantities of dust and dirt are brushed from the under sides of the cow's body and fill the air in the vicinity with bacteria; but such contamination is to be charged to the hay or dirt on the cow rather than the air. The milk vessels themselves are an important source of contamination, as are also the hands and clothing of the milker. The average farm hand seldom makes a cleanly toilet before milking, and any dirt upon his hands or his clothing will have abundant chance to get into the milk vessels. The water in which the milk vessels are ordinarily washed, and especially with which the milk is too frequently diluted, is also regarded as a very important source of bacteria contamination, particularly in connection with certain disease germs, like those of typhoid fever. But a more careful consideration of the work of the last few years shows that the great sources of bacteria contamination are from the cow itself, not, as we have seen, from internal, but from external sources. Any one who has noticed the uncleanly condition in which the cow is kept on the ordinary farm will readily appreciate this possibility. A BACTERIA CENSUS. The number of the bacteria present in milk is of little significance. The widest possible variations in these numbers seem to be found under almost identical conditions. While it is true that the general purity of the milk may be estimated by the number of bacteria that it contains this is only true to a limited extent, and not infrequently the presence of large numbers of bacteria is possible even in a very good quality of milk. At no time in the history of the milk can anything like uniformity in the numbers be given. Immediately after milking the number may vary from zero to over 10,000,000 in a single cubic inch of milk. The number depends upon various conditions of cleanliness. After the milk is drawn, the bacteria begin to multiply rapidly, and the number present at any moment subsequently will depend simply upon the temperature at which the milk is kept and upon the species of bacteria present. Some species seem to multiply rapidly, and to reach higher numbers than others. THE CITY MILK SUPPLY. In regard to the milk supply of cities and towns, the number of bacteria varies very greatly. An important factor is the time between milking and delivery to customers. In large cities this often amounts to twenty-four or thirty-six hours. When this is the case, it is necessary to keep the milk on ice, and by doing so the milk is kept fairly fresh. Judging from tests thus far made, city milk which contains not more than three or four million bacteria per cubic centimeter may be regarded as exceptionally good for European cities. No general average of American cities can be made; but the probability is that the milk supply delivered in our large cities, by the free use of ice, is in general superior to that of the milk supply of European cities. The milk of large cities contains more germs than that of small communities, but is probably no more harmful. CHEMICAL CHANGES IN MILK. Coming then to the matter of resulting chemical change, we find that when an acid, as acetic acid (the sour principle of vinegar), is added to milk, the milk curdles, and we have the phenomenon of sour milk. Popularly it may be said that in the common souring of milk organisms in the milk act upon its constituents, notably the milk sugar, and produce from it acids, which give the milk a sour taste and curdle the casein, making the milk thick. Commonly lactic acid is the principal acid formed, although smaller quantities of a number of other acids accompany it. Hence the normal souring of milk is spoken of as lactic fermentation. While the spontaneous souring of milk is an almost universal phenomenon, it is not always produced by the same or even very closely allied organisms. Occasionally the milk in a large number of dairies in one locality will be found to be soured by the same species of bacteria, while in other cases the spontaneous souring may be produced by different species in dairies at no great distance from each other. Sometimes, indeed, this spontaneous fermentation is absent. Certain herds of cattle have been noted whose milk does not sour, but will after a time undergo other types of fermentation. It is also a fact that not infrequently in the winter months milk is found not to undergo the souring spontaneously, but may be kept for a long time without curdling, and when it does show signs of fermentation the type is entirely different from that of normal milk souring. THUNDERSTORMS AND MILK SOURING. A consideration of the subject of the souring of milk would not be complete without reference to the effect of electricity. The popular belief that thunderstorms will sour milk is so widespread that it would seem as if there must be some foundation for it. It has been asserted by many that the ozone produced in the air by electricity causes the milk to become sour. In experiments in which electric sparks were discharged over the surface of the milk, however, little or no effect has been produced upon it. The conclusion is that electricity is not of itself capable of souring milk or even of materially hastening the process. Nor can the ozone developed during the thunderstorm be looked upon as of any great importance. It seems probable that the connection between the thunderstorm and the souring of milk is one of a different character. Bacteria certainly grow most rapidly in the warm, sultry conditions which usually precede a thunderstorm, and it frequently happens that the thunderstorm and the souring occur together, not because the thunder has hastened the souring, but rather because the climatic conditions which have brought the storm have at the same time been such as to cause unusually rapid bacteria growth. This fact has been verified by many experiments which have shown that without the presence of lactic organisms there can be no spontaneous souring of milk. KEEP THE MILK COOL. Milk deprived of bacteria will certainly keep well during thunderstorms. Dairymen find no difficulty in keeping milk if it is cooled immediately after being drawn from the cow and is kept cool. Milk submerged in cool water is not affected by thunderstorms. Dairymen find that during "dog-day" weather, even when there is no thunder, it is just as difficult to keep milk as it is during thunderstorms; and they also find that scrupulous cleanliness in regard to the milk vessels is the best possible prevention of souring during a thunderstorm. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that in all cases it is the bacteria which sour the milk, and if there seems to be a casual connection between the thunder and the souring it is an indirect one only; climatic conditions have hastened bacteria growth and have also brought on the thunderstorm. The same conditions would affect the milk in exactly the same way even though no thunderstorm were produced, and this effect, our dairymen tell us, is frequently observed during the warm, sultry autumn days. VARIOUS FERMENTATIONS. Students have not recognized till within recent years that a great variety of fermentations may occur in milk. The reason for the tardiness of this discovery is easily seen. Under ordinary conditions milk always undergoes some sort of lactic fermentation (souring). Only under rare conditions is this absent. The production of lactic acid soon curdles the milk and immediately obscures all other forms of fermentation which have occurred during the process. The acid also stops the growth of all bacteria, so that no subsequent effect can be seen. Hence in normal milk clear evidence of fermentation of any other sort than souring is rarely noticed. The fermentation of milk is not always accompanied by the production of an acid. Every one who has had an extended experience with milk has seen instances of milk curdling without the usual acid taste, and it is a familiar fact that curdled milk is by no means constant in character. There is the greatest variety in the stiffness of the curd, the amount of the whey, the taste, odor, etc., and all these differences are due to varying numbers and species of bacteria other than the lactic acid class. The milk may become coagulated into a soft, slimy mass, which usually possesses a bitter taste. The taste is never sour, and the milk, instead of having an acid reaction, is either alkaline or neutral. After a day or two the curd begins to dissolve into a somewhat clear liquid, and, if the action is allowed to continue long enough, may become completely dissolved into a semi-transparent liquid having no resemblance to milk. But the alkaline ferments are of little im portance. They grow slowly, and are generally entirely obscured by the more rapid action of the lacticacid-forming species. THE GREAT REMEDY IS CLEANLINESS. To those dealing with milk in any form, the various fermentations are especially undesirable, and are con stant sources of trouble. Such persons want the milk pure and sweet, and any of the various forms of fermentation injure it for their purposes. Study of milk fermentations has demonstrated that the cause of all, even the common souring, lies in the contamination of the milk trom without, while the remedy lies in the exercise of extreme cleanliness. If there has been anything taught in regard to these matters it is the extreme necessity for cleanliness. Poor milk, poor butter, and poor cheese are, in a vast majority of cases, to be attributed to uncleanliness in the barn or dairy. The great source of bacterial contamination of the milk is the cow herself. This does not mean the bacteria from the mammary gland, but those connected with the exterior of the cow. It is true that there are other sources of importance. The food that the cow eats (indirectly), the cow stall itself, the water with which the cans are washed or the milk is adulterated, the hands of the milker as well as his clothes, are all occasionally the sources of bacteria contamination. But after all we must look upon the cow herself as the cause of the most trouble. From the cow, the bacteria get into the milk during the milking, partly from the milk ducts, partly from the dirt which is attached to the cow, and largely from that by which she is surrounded. We thus learn that the important point toward which to direct the practice of cleanliness is the cow herself. The farmer never appears to feel that it is necessary for him to keep his cows as clean as he does his horse. But there is very much more real need for cleanliness in the case of the cow. Upon such cleanliness will depend his ability to obtain a pure, wholesome milk; while so sure as he allows his cow to become dirty or filthy, so sure will he be liable to have trouble with the milk. So it is well to repeat that the last few years have taught us, above all things, that the great secret of obtaining a proper supply of milk is to have a healthy cow and to keep that cow clean. ANOTHER MEANS OF PREVENTION. Another fact of importance which has been emphasized is the value of cooling the milk as thoroughly as possible as soon as drawn. When taken from the cow, milk is at a high temperature, and, indeed, at just the temperature at which the majority of bacteria will grow the most rapidly. Under the influence of the atmospheric temperature, especially in the summer, the milk will become cool very slowly, but never becomes cooler than the air. The bacteria which have gotten into the milk will therefore have the very best opportunity for rapid multiplication, and the milk will sour very rapidly. If, however, the milk is cooled to a low temperature immediately after it is 1 drawn, the bacteria growth is checked at once and will not begin again with much rapidity until the milk has become warmed once more. This warming will take place slowly, and therefore the cooled milk will remain sweet many hours longer than that which is not cooled. A practical knowledge of this fact will be of great value to every person handling milk. Early cooling to as low a temperature as is practicable is the best remedy for too rapid souring of milk. ODORS DUE TO THE COW's food. It is well to notice that certain abnormal odors and tastes in milk may be produced directly by the food eaten by the cow. If a cow eats garlic or turnip the flavor of the milk is directly affected. Various other foods may, in a similar manner, affect the taste of milk, but this class of taints may be readily distinguished from those due to bacteria growth. The odors and taints due to the direct influence of the food are at their maximum as soon as the milk is drawn, never increasing afterwards. But the taints due to bacteria growth do not appear at all in the fresh milk, beginning to be noticeable only after the bacteria have had a chance to grow. If, therefore, a dairyman has trouble in his milk, which appears immediately after the milking, he may look for the cause in something the cow has eaten. But if the trouble appears after a few hours, and then grows rapidly worse until it reaches a maximum, he may be assured that the cause is some form of fermentation, and that the remedy is to be sought, not in changing the food of the cow, but in greater care in the management of the dairy or barn. The summing up of the treatise comes in these words: In guiding the milk producer to the best method of furnishing pure milk, in aiding the butter maker in obtaining a uniform and desirable flavor, and in helping the cheese maker to avoid some of his difficulties, dairy bacteriology has already done much. In the immediate future we can see further practical results. To the dairy interest the bacteriologist holds out the hope of uniformity. The time will come when the butter maker may always make good butter, and the cheese maker may be able in all cases to obtain exactly the kind of ripening that he desires. Compiled for GOOD HOUSEKEEPING. Good Housekeeping. UNADULTERATED HOUSEHOLD SPICE. Everything is impracticable till it is put in practice. The very worst of creeds is better than no creed at all. A decaying body is not so pernicious as a decaying soul. An evil soul is not only an evil substance, but an evil influence. A revelation that needs to be propped up is a sorry kind of revelation. The man who has no belief would better sell all that he has and buy one. A poor sermon following a good one, acts like damp air on an electrical machine. -Gail Hamilton Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING. THE OLD GARDEN. A Memory. WAY back in the past there is an old garden enclosed by an old-fashioned white picket fence, and this garden is full of flowers and fruit and vegetables, of sunshine and birds, and of bees and butterflies. One does not often see such gardens nowadays. Whenever we think of this charming old place we are sure to think of two people, a certain sweet, older sister, and the one who loved and cared for the old garden as no one else did, the old-fashioned grandmother who dwelt within it. It all comes back to me now-the square brick house and the long walk that ran down to the gate, bordered on either side with flowers. I can yet.see the green painted summer house, with its vines and climbing roses, and the vegetable garden at the back where all sorts of fragrant herbs flourished. There was peppermint, rosemary, thyme, sage, spearmint, and ever so many others whose names I have forgotten. We children did not care much for this part of the garden; we knew to our sorrow that some of the herbs made very bitter tea, and when our grandmother told us that sometimes bitter things were good for people we wondered why. The spring always seemed to come earlier in this garden than anywhere else. Long before we had any right to expect them, the little snowdrops and crocus were showing their heads, while the tulips and hyacinths were not far behind them. Especially were we interested in a thick border of what our grandmother called "blue flags," and I remember how we would hasten out in the morning to see how many of the tightly twisted little buds (we children called them "soldiers") had unfurled their blue banners to the sun. Then there was a modest little white flower peeping up from the midst of its grass-like leaves that we called "the star of Bethlehem." As we looked at it our little hearts grew tender, for we thought of the "real" star of Bethlehem that hundreds of years ago guided the shepherds to the baby who was king of all the world and who made and owned all the beautiful flowers. Still, I think we loved the blue "Forget-me-nots' best of all, and never gathered them without thinking of the story our sweet sister told us of the poor German youth who was drowned in the Danube in trying to reach for his bride's hair some of these same blue flowerets. Our sister cried when she told us how he had died saying "Forget me not; " and we cried, too, out of sympathy, for we supposed her grief was for the poor "Bride of the Danube." We understand her tears better now, and never, while we live, shall we cease to honor her for her sweet devotion and unselfishness. How full of joy we were when the lilacs-purple and white-filled the air with their fragrance, and the sweet clove" pinks and early roses came in bloom. The old garden was very beautiful to us then, but not |