Bottles are devised which are known as Babcock milk bottles, and are registered to show the per cent. of fat in milk. A certain amount of milk is mixed with a certain amount of Commercial Sulphuric acid of a specific gravity 1.83 which is added by degrees and thoroughly shaken up with the milk. Enough distilled water is added to fill the bottle. The mixture is then centrifuged in a Babcock Centrifuge, and the centrifuged fat read in per cent. on the neck of the bottle.
The Official Travelers' Babcock Test can be purchased from the Creamery Package Manufactory Co., Chicago Ill., and costs between $5.00 and $6.00.
All utensils used in dairy work should be sterilized by steaming or boiling for five minutes.
How to Cure Hams
Rub one tablespoonful of Saltpetre into the face of each ham; let it remain one day. Literally cover the ham with salt and pack it in a closed box. Leave it in box as many days as there are pounds to the ham.
Take it out, wash in warm water; cover the face of the ham with black pepper, and smoke it ten days with green hickory or red-oak chips.
Care of Children
Mrs. Benson writes: "There is no way in which a girl can help her country better than by fitting herself to undertake the care of children. She should learn all she can about them, and take every opportunity of helping to look after these small Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of the future."
An infant cannot tell you its wants, but a Scout with a knowledge of the needs of children, what to feed them on, and the rules for good health, may save many a baby, for she never knows how soon the precious gift of some child's life may be placed in her hands.
Baby does not know that fire will burn, or that water will drown one, so you need to guard him. Baby requires the proper food to build up a healthy body. He prefers milk for the first months of his life, and even up till three years old he takes mostly milk; and as a baby cannot digest flour, bread, corn-flour, and such things are so much poison to him. They may injure a little baby's health for life. As has been said to older children, let him keep quiet after eating. Even up to three years old, Baby's food must be chiefly milk—biscuits, puddings, and fruit being gradually added. He is very particular about his milk being fresh and good. Baby is extremely punctual. He feels it keenly if you do not feed him at the fixed hour, and will very likely let you know it, and woe betide you if he finds out that you have not properly scalded out his bottle before and after each meal.