thousands of years. Though they had little machinery to work with in
those days, yet by patient, steady effort, they drilled wells two
thousand and even three thousand feet in depth. From twenty-five to
forty years were required to drill some of these wells. Those who
commenced them knew that they were not likely to enjoy the fruits of
their labor and that others must get the benefit of what they did. What
does this show about these people? What benefits are you receiving from
what others have done?
Salt is also mined as coal and iron are. This is called _rock salt_. It
is obtained in Germany, Poland, Austria, India, the United States, and
in many other countries.
One of the most interesting salt fields of the world is in the
southeastern part of California. It is on the Colorado Desert, near the
Colorado River. This was once a part of the ocean floor and the rocks
contain much salt. Water seeping through the earth dissolves the salt
and brings it to the surface at this place. What happens to the water?
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Harvesting Salt, Salton, California. Is there
any Water in this Field?]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Loading Cars with Salt. Salton, California.]
This salt field covers an area of about one thousand acres, to a depth
of from one to eight inches. You can see by the picture that it looks
more like a field of snow and ice than one of salt. The bright sunlight
is reflected from its surface with such power that it hurts one's eyes.
A great plow drawn by a steam engine moves over this dazzling field,
and throws the salt up in furrows. It is then piled up, loaded on to
cars, and taken to sheds, where it is purified. Indians and Japanese do
most of the work.
In order to purify the brines they are boiled in iron pans and treated
in various ways to make them fit for table use. When evaporation is
rapid, the salt crystals are quite small, but slower evaporation
produces larger ones. Rock salt is dissolved in water and then
evaporated. To get the finest of salt, the crystals must be ground. When
salt is to be used for other purposes than to season food, not so much
pains are taken. Name other uses of salt.
In olden times, when salt was not so easily obtained as it is to-day, it
was regarded in some countries as a luxury. This seems strange, does it
not? At one time the Chinese made it into little cakes, stamped the
image of the emperor upon it, and used it as money. In Arabia those who
together ate food which had been salted, believed that this established
a special bond of friendship between them. This led to the old saying,
"There is salt between us."
MACARONI AND VERMICELLI
Have you ever wondered as you have looked at the hollow sticks of
macaroni in the stores or as you have eaten them at the table, how they
were made in that way, and what they were made of?
In Italy macaroni is a very important article of food, and its use is
rapidly increasing in our own country. For a long time it was not made
outside of Italy, where the city of Genoa was the center of the
industry. Locate this city. Do you know what great man was born there?
Now macaroni and vermicelli are made in other countries. There are a few
factories in the United States, but most of what we use still comes from
Italy.
In making these foods only the best hard wheat is used.
After grinding the wheat, the bran is taken out and the flour is placed
in a large wooden tub. Water is added, and the two are mixed by hand
for a few minutes. In this tub a marble wheel about five feet in
diameter and eighteen inches in thickness is fastened in an upright
position. This wheel weighs about a ton.
After the flour and water have been mixed, the wheel is set in motion by
machinery, and it slowly circles around in the tub, pressing the dough
under it.
A man keeps walking in front of the wheel, moving the dough from the
edges of the tub and placing it directly in the path of it. This work of
pressing the flour into a paste continues for a little more than half an
hour.
The wheel is then stopped and the paste, which is quite stiff, is cut
into cakes about a foot square and from one to three inches in
thickness.
These are put into an iron cylinder heated by steam. In the bottom of
the cylinder is a copper plate filled with holes having the centers
filled. A cover fitted to a great screw which turns by machinery is
placed on top. This slowly, but steadily, presses the paste downward.
It is thus forced through these openings, and of course comes out in the
form of round, hollow pipes.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Drying Macaroni in Italy.]
As these pipes issue from the cylinder, they are straightened out on a
wooden tray or platform, and with a large, sharp knife cut into lengths
of about three feet. They are then taken to a drying room and spread on
wire frames covered with oiled paper. Here they are left for about five
days, after which they are placed in boxes and are ready to ship.
The only difference between macaroni and vermicelli is that the pipes
of vermicelli are very small and are not hollow.
When vermicelli is wanted, two plates are placed on the bottom of the
press. The under one is of iron and contains holes about one inch in
diameter. The upper one is of copper and contains _groups_ of very small
openings. There are sometimes eighty of these openings in a group. When
the plates are screwed together, the groups of small holes are directly
above the larger openings.
As the paste is pressed, it passes through the little holes and then
issues from the larger ones; this keeps each little group of pipes
somewhat apart from the others.
Saffron is added to the paste to color it, and the great golden mass is
quite a pretty sight as it steadily lengthens.
The workman cuts off six or seven feet of it at a time; and holding it
above his head with one hand, he shakes it out with the other, as one
might shake the folds of a piece of silk. The pipes tangle up very
little. They are cut into lengths of about eighteen inches.
It is then taken to the drying room and spread out on the trays just as
the macaroni is. A handful of the vermicelli is taken at a time, and by
a peculiar twist of the arm it is placed on the paper in a form
something like that of the letter _n_. After drying for five days it is
packed and shipped.
ON A COFFEE PLANTATION
Juan and Lupe live in a beautiful valley where palm and banana trees
wave their broad leaves in the breeze. It is never cold there, so that
many kinds of plants and flowers grow out of doors which we do not see
in our country except in greenhouses. On clear days they can see lofty
mountains far to the westward, which sometimes wear caps of white.
Juan is fourteen years old and Lupe is twelve. Their skin is much darker
than yours, and they have bright black eyes and black hair. Their father
owns a great coffee plantation in Brazil, not far from the city of Rio
Janeiro.
There are many men, women, and children employed on the plantation, and
Juan and Lupe enjoy roaming about from place to place and watching them
at their work.
In the nursery they see men planting the coffee seeds in the rich soil.
There are some plants that have just come up, and some that are ready
to transplant. They are set out in rows, six or eight feet apart each
way, and sometimes more.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--A Coffee Nursery.]
The trees would grow much taller than those you see in the picture, if
they were not kept pruned. Do you know why they are prevented from
growing tall? Whenever you look at a coffee plantation, you see the dark
green foliage of the tree, which is an evergreen. Lupe is very fond of
the blossoms. They are clear white and very fragrant.
A tree will yield a small amount the second year after planting, but it
will not produce a full crop for five or more years. Two pounds is a
good average crop for a tree.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Picking Coffee.]
The children like to watch the pickers as they go from tree to tree.
Many of them are about their own age. Some carry a sack slung over the
shoulders, and others carry baskets or pails. The _berries_ must be
picked by hand, for they do not all ripen at once. They are dark
scarlet in color and look a little like cranberries. A good picker
gathers about three bushels in a day. The pickers are given a check
every time they fill a basket. Sometimes Juan tends to this work, and he
enjoys it very much. At the end of each week the pickers are paid
according to the number of checks they have.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Coffee Berries.]
Within the berry are two kernels or seeds, with their flat sides
together. These are called "coffee beans." It is these beans from which
the drink is made.
The picking is but a small part of the work of preparing coffee for the
market. The first operation is removing the pulp. This used to be done
by tramping on the berries, but now it is done in a better way.
The berries are thrown into a large tank filled with water, which
carries them through a pipe to the pulping machine. This machine removes
the pulp and separates the beans.
Next the beans are carried to a second tank, where they remain for about
twenty-four hours, to wash off a sticky substance which covers the shell
of the bean.
If you have ever put beans or peas into a basin of water, you have
noticed that nearly all of them sink, while a few float. These latter
are the poor ones. This is the way in which the good and bad coffee
beans are separated. A pipe carries off the seeds that float on the
surface of the water.
The beans are dried on cement floors upon which they are spread. This
drying takes a long time. Before sunset each day the coffee must be
carried under shelter, for the dew injures it. While they are drying,
the workmen stir them. Sometimes artificial heat is used, but this is
expensive. Juan's father has a watchman whose duty it is to guard the
coffee at night, for it is very valuable.
Each bean is covered by a strong shell, or hull, which has to be
removed. The soaking has loosened this, and so it comes off easier than
it otherwise would. Juan and Lupe often watch the wheels of the huller
as they turn, moved by patient oxen.
There are two wheels set upright over a circular box, into which the
coffee is put. As it passes between the wheels and the bottom of the
box, the hulls are removed. Underneath the hull is a thin skin, which is
also taken off.
In some countries people want the coffee dyed or colored. A bluish color
is given to it by coating the wheels of the hulling machine with lead.
The hulls are separated from the beans in a winnowing machine, and the
coffee is then sorted. Often this is done by hand. The beans are spread
out on a table, and girls and boys, and sometimes grown persons, sort
it into several grades.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Sorting and sacking Coffee.]
Juan's father has this work done by machinery. The coffee is put into a
cylinder, in the bottom of which there are holes of different sizes by
which it is graded.
The last process is to sack the coffee and send it by railroad to Rio
Janeiro. Of course it is neither roasted nor ground until it reaches its
destination.
We do not produce coffee in our country, but we are the greatest coffee
drinkers in the world. A large part of our supply comes from Brazil.
Trace the course of the ship from Rio Janeiro to New York. Juan has
often done this, and his father has promised to take him with him
sometime, when he goes with a cargo of coffee.
You naturally think that coffee of different names must come from
different countries, or at least from different trees. This is not
always the case. Several brands may come from the same tree. The name
depends partly upon the size and the general appearance of the beans.
Coffee is a native of the far East, but it has gradually been
transplanted to other countries, until it is now very extensively used.
Brazil, Central America, Mexico, the West Indies, the Hawaiian Islands,
Java, Ceylon, and Arabia are coffee-raising countries.
In 1551 coffee found its way to the city of Constantinople; in 1652 it
had reached London; and in 1720 it was planted in the West Indies. You
see it worked its way westward rather slowly.
Several hundred years ago, coffee was very expensive, so that only the
rich could afford to use it. Instead of drinking it at home, people went
to "coffeehouses," where it was served. To these "coffeehouses" men
brought whatever news they had heard and told it to one another. In this
way these places served about the same purpose that newspapers do now.
THE TEA GARDENS OF CHINA
At the bottom of the teapot you will find some leaves. Spread one of
them out carefully. You can see that it was once long and slender, a
little like willow leaves. It may have grown in some garden in far-away
China, for we get a great deal of tea from that country.
I have told you how close together the people live on the fertile plains
of eastern China. There is so little room that many live on boats on the
rivers and in the harbors. On this account their farms are not so large
as ours.
The tea trees in the gardens are about five or six feet high. If they
were allowed to, they would reach a height of twenty-five feet; but they
are kept trimmed for the same reasons that the coffee trees are pruned.
The trees are raised from seeds, and are generally planted on land which
slopes toward the south. What advantage is this?
In about three years after planting, the first crop of leaves can be
gathered. In China they are usually gathered four times each year, and
the trees continue to yield for twenty-five or thirty years.
When the leaves are picked, they are full of sap or juice, and so have
to be dried. The drying is usually done on trays made of bamboo. While
they are drying, they are rubbed and rolled between the palms of the
hands, so that they may dry more quickly and evenly.
Next the leaves are placed, a few at a time, in iron pans over a
charcoal fire. They are left in these but a short time, for they are
hot. This process is called "firing." Sometimes the leaves are "fired"
but once, and sometimes twice.
The tea is then spread out, and broken bits of stems are removed. Some
of the tea growers place the tea in baskets which are suspended over
slow fires, for drying.
If you were to look into some of the _tea-hongs_ or houses where tea is
cured and packed, you would find the tea dried in a very curious
fashion.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Picking Tea. "Pinehurst," South Carolina.]
In one of the rooms you would see several Chinamen rolling and tossing
balls about with their bare feet. The balls are about the size of
footballs and are partly filled with tea. Although it looks like play,
it is hard work. As the balls are tossed about, the tea leaves are given
their rounded or twisted appearance. From time to time the workers stop
and tie the bags up more closely at the neck. This method is used in
making _gunpowder tea_.
Black and green teas are not different varieties, but are produced by
different methods of handling.
In the great tea-hongs there are professional _tasters_,--that is, men
who do nothing but sip tea from small cups, so as to grade it and fix
its value. This is considered a very particular line of work and
requires an educated taste.
The ocean atmosphere has a bad effect on tea, so that the very finest
grades are seldom sent across the sea. When tea is to be shipped by
water, it is placed in boxes lined with a sort of sheet lead. This
protects the tea greatly. Most of the tea sent to the United States
lands at San Francisco. Why? How does it get to other parts of our
country?
Great quantities of tea are pressed into the form of bricks and sent
over mountains and across deserts into Russia.
This is called "brick tea." The Russians are great tea drinkers, and
whenever any one calls in Russia, tea is served. They call their teapot
a _samovar_.
Better tea is obtained from Ceylon and India than from China. In these
countries Europeans have charge of most of the tea farms, and they have
carefully studied the cultivation and handling of tea.
There is a little tea raised in our own country in the state of South
Carolina. It is very fine in quality and people are willing to pay a
high price for it. Some of it has been sold for five dollars a pound.
When tea was first brought into Europe, it was regarded as a great
luxury, just as coffee was. People paid as much as fifty dollars a pound
for it. It is said that some of the tea raised to-day for the royal
family of China, is worth a hundred dollars a pound.
Many people in this country do not enjoy a cup of tea unless they have
milk and sugar in it. The Chinese do not use either in their tea. In
Russia it is quite common to draw the tea through a lump of sugar held
between the teeth.
You know that tea parties are very common. The most celebrated tea party
ever held was called the "Boston Tea Party." See what you can find out
about it.
A CUP OF COCOA
On the eighteenth day of June, in the year 1771, this notice appeared in
the _Essex Gazette_ of Massachusetts:--
"AMOS TRASK,
At his House a little below the Bell-Tavern in
DANVERS,
Makes and sells Chocolate,
which he will warrant to be good, and takes Cocoa to grind. Those
who may please to favor him with their Custom may depend upon being
well served, and at a very cheap Rate."
This seems to have been the first notice of the manufacture and sale of
cocoa and chocolate in our country. What is peculiar about the notice?
In those days the raw product was brought to Massachusetts by the
Gloucester fishermen. They obtained it in the West Indies in exchange
for fish and other things which they took there.
When the Spanish soldier, Cortez, conquered Mexico in 1519, he found
that the people of that country were very fond of a drink which they
called "chocolatl." It was served to their ruler, Montezuma, in a cup of
gold. When the Spaniards went home, they of course introduced the drink
into their own country. For a long time it was very expensive and was
not commonly used outside of Spain, for the Spaniards kept the secret of
its preparation.
Cocoa and chocolate are products of the seeds of a tree called the cacao
tree. It is a tropical tree and grows in both the Old and the New World.
Although the cacao tree grows wild, it is also cultivated in orchards
much like fruit orchards which you have seen. The trees are seldom more
than twenty feet high, but they are rather inclined to spread out. They
require some shade, and so other trees are often planted between the
rows to shade them. The trees begin to bear when five or six years old,
and continue to yield for forty years. There are generally two chief
harvests each year, but the fruit is ripening all of the time.
The blossoms, which grow in clusters, are small and pink or yellow in
color. They grow directly from the branches or the trunk of the tree.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Cocoa Pods and Leaves.
(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]
In about four months after the tree has blossomed, you will find dark
yellow or brown pods hanging from it. These look a little like ripe
cucumbers, but they are more pointed at one end and are grooved or
fluted. These pods are from six inches to a foot or more in length, with
a rather thick, tough rind.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Native Cocoa Pickers. Ceylon. (Permission of
WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]
How do you think the pods are gathered? They are cut off by men carrying
long poles, sometimes of bamboo, to the ends of which knives are
fastened. Only the ripe pods are cut off and collected in a heap under
the tree. They are left in these heaps for about twenty-four hours,
when they are cut open and the seeds are gathered in baskets.
The seeds are called "beans." There are five rows of them, about the
size of almonds, within the pink pulp of the fruit. When fresh they are
white, but when dried they are brown. If you taste one, you will find it
bitter.
You have often seen on packages of chocolate, as well as on the cans of
breakfast cocoa, the picture of a young woman carrying some chocolate
upon a tray. It is the picture of a beautiful girl who once served
chocolate in the old city of Vienna. Her name was Anette Baldauff, and
she married a rich count and "lived happily ever after." It is said that
a painting of her hangs upon the walls of the great art gallery in
Dresden. Point out the cities I have mentioned.
The seeds are carried from the orchard to the sheds, where they are
prepared for market. Here they go through a process of fermentation or
"sweating." For this purpose they are placed in a covered box, or they
may even be covered with earth. This is called "claying." Now the seeds
must be dried. They are spread out on platforms, raised a little above
the ground, so that the air can circulate underneath. You notice that
the roofs do not cover them just now, for their only purpose is to keep
off the dew and the rain. They are fastened to frames which have wheels
under them. During the day they are not used, but at night they are
rolled over the cocoa.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Drying Cocoa Seed. Ceylon.
(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]
The cocoa is stirred by workmen using long shovels or rakes, so that it
may dry quickly and evenly. Once a day the beans are shoveled into heaps
and the workmen tread upon them with their bare feet, as you see. This
is called "dancing the cocoa."
After the seeds have dried for about two weeks they are nearly the color
of red bricks. They are put up for shipment in canvas sacks holding one
hundred and fifty pounds each. The name of the plantation is usually
stamped upon the outside. Guayaquil exports more cocoa than any other
city. Find it. A great deal comes from the island of Trinidad, and from
the northern part of South America.
When the "beans" have reached their destination, they must be cleaned,
to rid them of dust and dirt collected on the way. They are then placed
in a great revolving cylinder and roasted. You remember that when coffee
is roasted it brings out a pleasant odor called its _aroma_. The same is
true of cocoa. The roasting also helps to loosen a shell which surrounds
the seed. The shell is next removed and the "beans" are then crushed.
The Mexicans used to crush the seeds on a large stone, hollowed out on
top. This they called a "matate."
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Grinding Cocoa.
(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]
The crushing is now done by machinery. The broken bits of the cocoa are
called "cocoa nibs." When the cocoa is ground to a powder, it is put
into strong bags and pressed. This pressure removes a part of an oily
substance known as "cocoa butter." Remember, then, that cocoa is the
meal or flour made from the crushed seeds from which some of the oil has
been removed. Chocolate differs from cocoa in that none of this oil is
removed in making it.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Moulding Cocoa.
(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]
You have often seen the words "sweet chocolate" on the labels. This is
made by adding a quantity of pulverized sugar to the "plain" or "bitter"
chocolate. Sometimes vanilla beans are added.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Cooling Cocoa.
(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]
The pasty mass known as chocolate must be molded. When the proper amount
has been placed in each of several metal molds which rest on a table,
they are made to rock or shake, and this causes the chocolate to assume
the right shape. The molds are then taken to the cooling room, where
they are placed on frames, one above another, in long rows. Girls and
women wrap the cakes of chocolate in the wrappers specially prepared for
them, after which they are packed in boxes ready for shipment.
At Dorchester, Massachusetts, on the Neponset River, is situated the
largest establishment for the manufacture of cocoa and chocolate in
America. It is interesting to know that on the very spot where these
great mills now stand, was built, in 1765, the first one of the kind in
this country.
A CRANBERRY BOG
WAREHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, Dec. 10, 1901.
DEAR FRANK: How surprised you will be to learn that I am now a country
boy. We left Boston early last spring, and came out here to go into the
business of cranberry raising. It seemed very strange at first to travel
along country roads, or through woods and fields, instead of upon the
cement walks of our city streets, but we all think the country
delightful.
A cranberry farm is a marsh or a bog, so you will see that the vines
need a great deal of water. There are both wild and cultivated bogs.
Those that are cultivated are provided with a system of ditches, so that
they can be flooded from time to time. It is a good deal like irrigation
in Southern California, I suppose. We flood the bogs to prevent the
berries from freezing, as well as to furnish the vines with water. I
will tell you more about that by and by.