I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 343 



this matter was thrown into the sea as refuse, and materially 

 affected the permanence and efficiency of the fisheries; but it 

 is now carefully collected and hung in bundles on the rocks 

 to dry. In June and July it is brought to the mills, where it 

 is cut into pieces, dried artificially, and then ground between 

 mill-stones. This article, prepared quite differently from the 

 fish guano of the United States, is put up in bags, and finds a 

 constant demand at about $45 a ton. It contains a great va- 

 riety of ingredients fitting it for an excellent manure. The 

 same company furnish what they call fish flour, which is made 

 from the best dried codfish by grinding them up, bones, skin, 

 and all, to the fineness of sawdust or flour, in which form it is 

 largely used in Scandinavia for various kinds of cookery. It 

 is sometimes mixed with potatoes or other substances, and 

 sometimes formed into cakes or biscuit. The fish is more 

 readily packed and transported in this form than any other, 

 and it is said to keep a long time without deterioration. We 

 would commend this last preparation to the attention of our 

 people, as furnishing a hint toward a new article of trade in 

 this country, and one that could be conveniently employed 

 in cookery in a great variety of ways. Circular of Norwegian 

 Fish- Guano Company. 



PREPARATION OF BUTTER. 



It is quite a common belief that butter can only be made 

 from sour milk, and chemists explain this on the ground that 

 acidity is necessary to destroy the membrane which envelops 

 the butter molecules, so that they are set free to combine with 

 each other after shaking. Mr. E. H. Baumhauer thinks he has 

 disproved this theory by the following experiment : He first 

 carried fresh milk to his laboratory without shaking or ex- 

 posing it ; this he divided in four portions of half a gallon 

 each, placing them in bottles of one gallon capacity. One he 

 left neutral, viz., as it came from the cow ; one was acidulated 

 with lactic acid ; one made slightly alkaline with carbonate 

 of potash (this became acid during the manipulation) ; and 

 the fourth received a greater quantity of carbonate of potash, 

 and remained alkaline throughout. The temperature was 

 about 70 Fahrenheit. These bottles were shaken violently 

 for one minute by four men. When at rest wart-like grains 

 adhered to the glass, which, under the microscope, looked 



