— 
7_=_—?T--- —_ _T - TS 
PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 241 
The remaining classes of family expendi- 
ture, 24.13 per cent. of all, consist of cloth- 
ing, 14.04 per cent; fuel and lighting, 5.25 
per cent.; furniture and utensils, 3.42 per 
cent., and tobacco, 1.42 per cent. For these 
no retail prices covering a series of years 
are available. but accepting as true of 
wholesale and retail prices here what this 
investigation has found true in the case of 
food, namely, that retail prices rise and fall 
more slowly and in smaller degree than 
wholesale prices, an examination of the 
relative whclesale prices of these classes 
or articles, as recorded in connection with 
earlier work of the Bureau of Labor, leads 
to the conclusion that the retail prices of 
these articles, as a whole, in 1902 could have 
been little, if at all, above the level indicated 
by food. 
“It is apparently a safe and conservative 
conclusion, therefore, that the increase in 
the cost of living, as a whole, in 1902, when 
compared with the year of lowest prices, 
was not over 16.1 per cent., the figure given 
above as the increase in the cost of food 
as shown by this investigation. This as- 
sumes, of course, always the purchase of the 
same articles and the same quantities in 
years of low prices, low wages, and more 
or less irregular employment, and in years 
of higher prices, higher wages, and steady 
employment.” : 

POTTED AND CANNED POULTRY. 
The meat for these goods is prepared in 
essentially the same way as if it were to 
be used at once, and is then treated much 
as any other canned meat product, the ob- 
ject being to sterilize the can contents and 
exclude the air, with the micro-organisms 
always present in it. The prepared poultry 
flesh is placed in suitable vessels, tin cans 
being almost always used instead of glass or 
earthenware jars, as the cans are stronger 
and can be more readily closed to exclude 
the air completely. The tins are sealed 
save for a small hole in the cover and 
heated until the contents are sterilized. In 
the large American factories steam retorts 
are generally used for the sterilizing process 
but sometimes the cans are heated in water 
or in a salt bath. The small hole in the 
cover is closed with a drop of solder while 
the cans are hot and full of steam. The 
cans are left for some days and then tested 
by striking the head with a wooden mallet. 
If it sinks gradually, sterilization is con- 
sidered satisfactory; if, however, the head 
of the can is elastic and rises back or swells 
it is an indication that some gas has been 
formed in the can and that sterilization is 
not complete. Such cans, called “swells” 
should be rejected, but fraudulent firms 
sometimes have a second hole punched in 
such bulging cans, and soldered after the 
swelling has gone down. The second hule 
betrays this practice to the careful observer. 
li sterilization is not complete there is, of 
course, danger of decomposition and its at- 
tendant evils. Another possible but slight 
danger is that of poisoning from improper 
tin and solder, but this is not so great with 
meats as with fruits and vegetables in which 
the acids of the juice aid in the formation 
of dangerous substances. There is no rea- 
son why canned poultry, properly put up, 
should not be just as healthful as fresh, 
for which it is often a most convenient 
substitute. 

JAPANESE TERRAPIN. 
The United States Fish Commission, it 
is said, has sent an expert to Japan for the 
purpose of studying terrapin culture as 
practiced in that country, where they seem 
to have succeeded in raising the turtles by 
artificial means. It is true that the Japan- 
ese terrapin is not the same species as the 
sort eaten in the United States, but its hab- 
its are similar and there is reason to sup- 
pose that, like methods of culture might be 
successful in the United States. 
The matter, is of no small importance, as 
the American terrapin is on the verge of 
extinction. It used to be numerous, espe- 
cially in the neighborhood of the Chesa- 
peake; and in 1850 diamond backs sold for 
121%4 cents apiece. In colonial times terra- 
pins were so cheap that slaves complained 
they were given them too often. Terrapins 
have been hunted almost to extermination, 
and at the present time they sell as high as 
$60 a dozen. 
The Japanese species, which is said to be 
equal to the American in flavor, is known 
as the “suppon,” and, like the American ter- 
rapin, it is an inhabitant of tidal rivers and 
salt marshes. Shallow, artificial ponds, 
with muddy bottoms, are employed for rais- 
ing purposes, with a low fence to prevent 
the turtles from escaping. At laying time, 
in early summer, the females climb out on 
the bank, scratch a shallow hole and de- 
posit their eggs, finally covering them and 
leaving them to be hatched by the heat of 
the sun. Nets are spread to prevent birds 
from digging up the eggs. 
Analysis of American terrapin shows 
that the flesh ranks with other meats in 
food value, containing some 21 per cent 
nitrogenous material and 4 per cent fat. 
Terrapin is prized, however, more as a del- 
icacy and on account of its peculiar and 
agreeable flavor than on account of the nu- 
tritive material which it supplies. 
RECREATION is the best thing of the kind 
I ever saw. 
J. B. Fowler, Colorado Springs, Colo. 
