1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
277 
and this can be easily done. Secure a quantity of 
charcoal and make it fine. Put the charcoal into a 
flower pot set in the top of a tall jar, and pour the 
suspected water upon the mass of charcoal. It 
should be observed that all the water passes 
through the bed of charcoal, and that not too 
rapidly. The best way is to have a tall vessel that 
is provided with a stop-cock or faucet for the draw¬ 
ing off of the filtered water below. But if such a 
vessel is not at hand, filter the water any way that 
it is possible ,!»the point is to pass the water through 
the charcoal that the disease germs maybe removed, 
and thus prevent them from getting into the system. 
Yeast: What Is It? 
In the process of fermentation of many sub¬ 
stances, and in the making of beer, a grayish foam¬ 
ing mass separates and is known as Yeast. When 
seen under the microscope, this substance is found 
to consist of countless minute bodies, called cells— 
some of which are shown very much magnified in 
the accompanying engraving. These little bodies 
represent so many living, growing plants, and a glo¬ 
bule of yeast that may be held upon the point of a 
pin is, so to speak, a whole forest of vegetable 
forms. These plants are very low in the scale of 
life, as their simplicity of structure would lead one 
to conclude. The method of increase,—which is 
very rapid—may be illustrated in the following way: 
Suppose we have a body lik6 a link of sausage 
made of thin rubber, and is constantly enlarging in 
in all directions. After it has grown to a certain 
size, a string is tied around the center, and the two 
ends are literally “ tied off” by a drawing down of 
! he string, thus forming two little sacs out of the 
larger one. In the same way the two new cells, or 
sacs, increase in size, and they in turn are divided 
into two similar small ones that grow and divide, 
and so the process continues as long as growth lasts. 
This is what takes place with the yeast cells, the 
time for the growth being very brief, and of course 
the division is not accomplished with any thing in 
the shape of a sting: it being self acting—a part of 
“the nature of the plant” as one might say. All 
growth, whether it be of the most complex animal, 
or the simplest vegetable, like the yeast plant, is of 
this same kind, namely: cell growth and division. 
But what is the use of this plant which we have 
found to be so simple in its structure? It, like 
every other living 
thing, grows only 
when the neces¬ 
sary food for its 
consumption is at 
hand, and as it 
grows it produces 
certain changes in 
the substance upon 
which it feeds. It 
is in these changes 
—or the power to produce these changes that its 
value in the household lies. As the yeast plant 
grows, it decomposes its food, and, among other 
things, causes the escape of a quantity of carbonic 
acid gas; in other words it produces a fermentation. 
The most common domestic employment of fer¬ 
mentation is for the raising of bread. The yeast is 
added to the dough in the early stage of bread¬ 
making, and as it furnishes all the elements for the 
growth of the yeast plant, that soon begins to grow, 
feeding on the flour, at the same time producing a 
quantity of carbonic acid gas. This gas tries to es¬ 
cape, but is held in by the tenacious dough, and 
thus becoming filled with the forming gas, the 
dough is made light, and, in baking, the gas is still 
more expanded, making it, when baked, a healthful 
article of food. This yeast plant may be dried 
without losing its life ; and as such it is a common 
article in the market, in the various forms of yeast. 
The “ Indian Yeast Cakes,” extensively used in the 
country, are composed of the yeast plant, dried 
with a mixture of Indian meal and an infusion of 
hops. Whatever be the substance used, the end is 
the same; the development of a fermentation to 
produce an evolution of gas for raising the dough, 
and thereby making the bread light and wholesome. 
It is then a little microscopic plant of the fungus 
THE YEAST PLANT. 
(JSaccharomyces cerevisice.) 
group that does so much for our comfort and health, 
and even though some of these low plants are our 
worst enemies, we must not forget our friends. 
A Summer Lamp Shade. 
Even lamp shades have their times and seasons. 
In a large city the coming and going of different 
wares presents a subject for the study of the curi¬ 
ous. Take this Lamp Shade as an example. About 
a fortnight ago, in passing a large lamp store, our 
attention was arrested by the display on some lamps 
in the window, of a shade that struck us as very 
pleasing in appearance. Soon after we saw in the 
window of a “fancy store ” a lot of the shades of 
various colors. A few days ago we went to one of 
the principal stationers on some errand and found 
a great lot of the shades there, and were informed 
that they were “ all the rage.” To-day we had the 
latest evidence of their popularity in the appear¬ 
ance of salesmen upon Broadway with baskets of 
the self same shades. The shade is in itself re¬ 
markably pretty, exceedingly cheap, and not diffi¬ 
cult to make. It is best suited ^o lamp shades of a 
globe-form, though it will answer for others. The 
material is tissue paper, which may be had in any 
desired color. To make the shade a square piece 
is required, a whole sheet or a half, according to 
the size of the lamp-globe. First fold the square 
piece once, which will make a fold twice as long 
as wide, as in figure 1; then crease this in the mid¬ 
dle, A , B, which will divide it into two small 
squares, A, B, 0 , D. Begin with one of these 
squares, that at the right hand, fold D over to A , 
and it will give the crease B, C; then fold B, I), 
over upon the line, B, C, and it will give B, E. 
Next carry D over to a point half way of the 
upper edge of the next square, to H; this will 
give the line, B, G. The folding is to be done 
in such a manner as to make a sharp crease 
each time. Having creased the right hand square, 
as shown in figure 1, treat the left hand one in the 
same manner, beginning with the fold from B to F. 
When this is done, turn the paper over and fold 
between the present creases, in the opposite direc¬ 
tions ; this will have the 
effect of folding it like 
a paper fan. When the 
folding on this side is 
finished, the whole will 
appear like figure 2. 
Now carefully open the 
whole, and you will 
have a funnel - shaped 
plaited affair—which is 
to be held by the center 
and carefully drawn 
through the hand sev¬ 
eral times, increasing 
the pressure upon the 
paper each time ; this is 
to fill the paper with 
innumerable irregular 
creases, and to give to 
the shade that peculiar 
crimped, crape-like ap- 
pearance that consti¬ 
tutes its special beauty. When completed, the 
shade appears as in figure 3. When used, the 
top or point is to he cut away sufficiently far 
down to give an opening of the required size to 
fit it to the lamp-globe. The shade in use is shown 
at figure 4. It has a beauty quite remarkable when 
we consider the simple means by which it is pro¬ 
duced, and it is useful as well as beautiful; the 
lamp adding greatly to our personal comfort. 
Progress in the Kitchen. 
To the old housewifd in her declining years, per¬ 
haps nothing is more amazing than the great 
changes that have taken place in kitchen furniture, 
and methods of doing cooking, etc., since she was 
a girl, fifty or sixty years ago. Our grand and great, 
grand mothers with a crane, some pot-hooks, and 
a brass-lined skillet or two, worked over the blazing 
open fire-place, until their faces were almost as red 
as the fire itself. 
They did not dream 
of the perfect range 
of the present day, 
in which the heat 
is economized, and 
only allowed to 
cook that which 
ought to he cooked. 
When baking was 
to be done, a great 
fire had to be built 
in a great oven, and 
after the bricks 
were heated, the 
fire and ashes were 
removed, and the 
bread, cake, etc., 
placed in, after the 
proper temperature 
had been obtained. 
Now everything is 
so nicely arranged, 
that without get- 
ting overheated, the cook can dc her work, and not 
a particle of smoke need escape into the room 
Instead of the brass kettle with its constant scour¬ 
ing to keep it clean, we have the tin or porcelain 
lined stew-pans, kettles, etc., which to keep them 
clean only require the simplest of washing and 
wiping. At the present day, there is a handy little 
utensil for the doing of each of the simplest things 
in the kitchen—a list of which would be a long one. 
From the flour sifter, through all the processes of 
bread-making, to the handy toaster, everything 
seems complete in labor-saving aids and helps. 
Contrast the safe hangiug lamp, with its abundant 
and cheap light, with 
the miserable tallow dip 
of a half century ago, 
which the woman made 
herself, and was con¬ 
stantly snuffing that it 
should not go out in 
smoke. Even in the 
matter of wash-day ap¬ 
pliances, etc., the con¬ 
trast is fully as great; 
instead of the old 
pounding, and hand- 
wringing, the whole 
work is done by ma¬ 
chines that are easy to 
run, and do the work 
quickly, and in a thor¬ 
ough manner. With all 
the inventions and vast¬ 
ly superior methods of 
doing the work of the 
house, are our soups, 
and breads, pies and 
sauces, much better 
than those our grand¬ 
mothers made ?—They 
may not he, but the time spent in making them 1 
is shortened. They gave their minds, and too 
often we may add with regret their bodies, to the 
work of the kitchen, while with the same house to 
keep, the woman of to-day can spend a portion of 
her time in the library. The cook-room may be- 
“ a laboratory, where a fine chemistry can trans¬ 
mute grain cells and meat fibre into the fuel of a 
finer flame, the support of a richer flesh and blood, 
abler and stronger to do, than flesh and blood were 
of old.” In the material progress of the age, the 
means for lightening the labors of the kitchen, as 
well as the various duties of the household have 
not been forgotten, and this is as it should be. 
