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Increased Importation of Lemons. — Consul Seymour writes from 

 Palermo, October 15, 1895: 



Owing to the exceptional high prices — as much as $10 per box being 

 paid for lemons in the United States during the month of September — 

 40,000 boxes were imported during that month into the United States 

 from Palermo, against 9,000 boxes for the same month of last year. 



DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS AND PLANTS. 



Seed of the White Velvet Ochro is available for distribution at Id. 

 per packet on application to Director of Public Gardens, Gordon Town 

 P. O. This variety is very smooth and delicate, and extremely prolific. 



Seeds of four different coloured Iponoeas (red, white, blue and claret) 

 are also ready for distribution at Id. per packet. These are generally 

 known here by the common name of "Morning glory." 



Cocoa pods can be supplied shortly at 3s. per dozen. 



Liberian Coffee in bamboo pots can now be delivered, packed, at 8s. 

 per 100. Plants from the beds wrapped in moss, but not in pots, can be 

 delivered at 2s. per 100. 



PASTEURISATION OF MILK. 



By G. B. Lawsox. 



Milk when drawn from a healthy cow is in its purest state. As 

 soon as it is cooled down to the same temperature as the surrounding 

 atmosphere it begins to deteriorate. Milk very often absorbs its odours 

 and the bacteria that are in its surroundings. As you cannot tell how 

 long it has been exposed and how many bacteria it contains, it must, if 

 it is required to be kept sweet any length of time for commercial pur- 

 poses, be pasteurised. Pasteurising milk or cream is heating it to 160° 

 to retard the growth of the bacteria it may contain, and then cooling 

 it to 50° as fast as possible so as to give it keeping qualities. 



One year ago last M ay we were selling cream to one of the local 

 milk dealers who was furnishing cream to a restaurant for making ice- 

 cream. If the cream was used early in the morning it was all right, 

 but if it was kept till noon it would be soured so as to spoil it for freez- 

 ing. About that time I saw an article in a dairy paper stating that if 

 cream was pasteurised it would keep sweet for 24 hours. I did not 

 have much faith in it, but I tried it with one quart of cream. I 

 thought if I spoiled one quart of cream it would not be much loss. I 

 put that quart of cream in a tin pail and put the pail in a tub of warm 

 water, turned on the steam and heated the water until it was boiling. 

 I kept the pail in the water, all the time stirring the cream with the 

 thermometer, until it was heated to 150°, as that was the temperature 

 to which the paper said it was to be heated. After it was heated 

 enough I set the pail in a butter tub and packed it all round with 

 broken ice and salt, and stirred it until cooled to 50°, then I put the 

 cream in a quart measure and set it in the refrigerator which was at a 

 temperature of from 45° to 50°. I examined that cream every day, 

 and kept it sweet for four days ; on the fifth day it began to sour. The 

 first trial convinced me that pasteurising was what we needed to keep 

 cream sweet and make pasteurised cream an article of commerce. 



