596 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



glowing heat, and that of the floor in a somewhat lower degree. When 

 this heating is completed (the judgment of which constitutes the chief 

 element of skill in thus baking) the embers are carefully brushed out 

 from the floor, the loaves, etc., inserted by means of a flat battledoor 

 with a long handle, called a " peel," and the door closed and firmly 

 luted round, not to be opened until the operation is complete. Baked 

 clay is an excellent radiator, and, therefore, the surface of bricks 

 forming the arched roof of the oven radiates vigorously upon its con- 

 tents below, which are thus heated at top by radiation from the roof, 

 and at bottom by direct contact with the floor of the oven. The dif- 

 ference between the compact bottom crust and the darker, bubble- 

 bearing top crust of an ordinary loaf is thus explained. 



As the baking of a large joint of meat is a longer operation than 

 the baking of bread, there is another reason besides that already given 

 for the inferiority of meat when baked in a baker's oven constructed 

 on this principle. The slow cooling down must tend to produce a 

 flabbiness and insipidity similar to those of the roast meat which is 

 served at restaurants, where a joint remains " in cut " for two or three 

 hours. Of this I speak theoretically, not having had an opportunity 

 of tasting a joint that has been cooked in a brick oven of the construc- 

 tion above described, but have observed the advantage of maintaining 

 a steady heat throughout the process of roasting in the iron oven of a 

 kitchener, or American stove, or gas-oven. 







AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



By H. P. AEMSBY. 



WITHIN the past eight years there have been founded in several 

 States institutions which, though they have not yet attracted 

 much attention from the general public, can hardly fail to exert, in the 

 near future, an important influence both on the material and mental 

 welfare of the people. These institutions are the agricultural experi- 

 ment stations, of which six now exist in this country, with a pros- 

 pect of the speedy establishment of at least two more. 



By an agricultural experiment station is understood an institution 

 established and maintained "for the purpose of promoting agricul- 

 ture by scientific investigation and experiments." Such institutions 

 have, in most cases, owed their existence to governmental action, and 

 have been sustained at the public expense, though in a few instances 

 universities and private individuals have carried on what are in effect 

 experiment stations, the most notable example of the latter being the 

 well known Rothamsted experiments of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, in 

 England. 



