62 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



cream, and the intermediate one for the ice. By thus constructing the freezer, and sur- 

 rounding it with ice, and filling the intonm-dintc chamber with the same, the cream will be 

 exposed to three freezing surfaces instead of two, as in other freezers, and will be more 

 speedily and effectually frozen than by other freezers in use. 



Solidified Milk. 



u 



A METHOD of making solidified milk, as adopted with success by Mr. Blatchford, of Ar- 

 menia, Dutchess county, N. Y., is thus described in the New York Medical Journal by Dr. 

 Doremus : 



" To one hundred and twelve pounds of milk twenty-eight pounds of Stuart's white 

 sugar were added, and a trivial portion of bicarbonate of soda a teaspoonful merely 

 enough to insure the neutralizing of any acidity, which, in the summer season, is exhibited 

 even a few minutes after milking, although inappreciable to the organs of taste. The sweet 

 milk was poured into evaporating pans of enamelled iron, embedded in warm water heated 

 by steam. A thermometer was immersed in each of these water-baths, that, by frequent 

 inspection, the temperature might not rise above the point which years of experience have 

 shown advisable. To facilitate the evaporation, by means of blowers and other ingenious 

 apparatus a current of air is established between the covers of the pans and the solidifying 

 milk. Connected with the steam-engine is an arrangement of stirrers, for agitating the 

 milk slightly while evaporating, and so gently as not to churn it. In about three hours, the 

 milk and sugar assumed a pasty consistency, and delighted the palates of all present. By 

 constant manipulation and warming, it was reduced to a rich, creamy-looking powder, then 

 exposed to the air to cool, weighed into parcels of a pound each, and by a press, with the 

 force of a ton or two, made to assume the compact form of a tablet, (the size of a small 

 brick,) in which shape, covered with tin-foil, it is presented to the public." 



The doctor adds : 



" Some of the solidified milk which had been grated and dissolved in water the previous 

 evening was found covered with a rich cream ; this, skimmed off, was soon converted into 

 excellent butter. Another solution was speedily converted into wine-whey, by a treatment 

 precisely similar to that employed in using ordinary milk. It fully equalled the expectations 

 of all ; so that solidified milk will hereafter rank among the necessary appendages to the 

 sick-room. In fine, this article makes paps, custards, puddings, and cakes equal to the best 

 milk ; and one may be sure it is an unadulterated article, obtained from well-pastured cattle, 

 and not the produce of distillery slops ; neither can it be watered. For our steamships, our 

 packets, for those travelling by land or by -sea, for hotel purposes or use in private families, 

 for young or old, we recommend it cordially as a substitute for fresh milk." 



The Committee on Public Health and Legal Medicine of the National Association, to whom 

 this subject was referred, reported that they traced the manufacture of the article from the 

 ndder to its final conversion into the solid tablet, which consists of nothing but the solid con- 

 stituents of pure milk, combined with nearly an equal part, by weight, of white sugar. It 

 has a light yellow, slightly-mottled appearance, is of a very firm texture, and yields readily 

 to the knife or grater. It is readily and perfectly soluble in water, and when so dissolved, in 

 proper proportion, is, in fact, milk, with the addition of sugar, from which cream and butter 

 can be obtained. The objections to the article are its containing sugar and a flavor some- 

 what similar to that of boiled milk. The latter inconvenience, it is thought, will be obviated 

 by an improvement in the apparatus for manufacturing it. The price of the article is 

 twenty-five cents a pound, which makes five pints of milk. The high cost, however, is, to 

 some extent, more apparent than real, since the presence of sugar renders necessary a less 

 amount of that substance in cooking, and the milk is of a much richer quality than that 

 commonly sold in cities. 



On the Extraction of Tallow from the Tallow-Tree. 



THE seeds of the tallow-tree (stillingia sebifera] are picked in China at the commencement 

 of the cold weather in November and December, when all the leaves have fallen. The seeds 



