The Young Folks' Catechism of Common Things

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886. Excerpt: ... THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. From what animals do we get milk? In this country we get it mostly from the cow, but in some foreign countries the milk of the goat, sheep, ass, mare, camel, and buffalo are much used. la milk ever got from a tree? Yes, the juice or sap of a tree called the cow-tree, which grows in South America, is called vegetable milk. It looks like milk, tastes much like it, and is said to be very wholesome. Is not cows' milk the best of all milk? Yes; but cows cannot be kept in all places, and so other kinds have to be used. What does milk look like? Like a white liquid; but when looked at through a microscope, an instrument which enlarges things very much, it is seen to be a bluish liquid, filled with little, round, floating balls of fat, each one of which is covered with a thin skin. What happens to these little balls when milk is set away in pans in a cool place for a few hours? 'They rise to the top and form the rich yellow crust called cream. How is butter made from cream? By shaking up cream in a churn; the skins of the balls are thus broken, and the fat in them runs together and makes butter. Does all the cream turn into butter? No; a watery kind of milk is left which is called buttermilk. What is done with the butter when it is taken from the churn? It is washed in cold water, then worked until all the buttermilk is got out of it, and lastly salted and put up into rolls for use. How was butter making first found out? By carrying milk in skin bottles, on a ramel; the jolting turned it to butter. Is uot butw9r made in nearly the same way in South America? Yes; the cream, j put into gourds or skin bags and tied on the back of a donkey, which is made to trot round till 't turns to butter. In Buenos Ayres a skin bag full of cream is tied to the ...