to start.

It was an anxious moment for the engineers. Inch by inch the water level was lowered. Every gallon removed from within the cofferdam brought just so much pressure to bear on the outside. When the enclosure was about half empty the top of the big bulwark around the ship, as the engineers had anticipated, began to lean inward ever so slightly. There was no cause for alarm, however, for the cylin

ders were simply

adjusting them

selves to withstand their enormous burden like the guards and tackles on a foot-ball team bracing themselves to resist the backs as they come crashing through the line. The pumping continued until the cofferdam was unwatered and subjected to its maximum stress. It stood firm and the Maine lay exposed after a submergence of nearly four

teen years in the muddy waters of Havana harbor.

The hordes of workmen sent down into the pit to remove the loose portions of the wreckage and recover the remains of the seamen who had gone down with their ship found some of the huge pieces of armor plate were too heavy to be lifted, even with large derricks, and had to be cut up into manageable sizes with the oxy-acetylene torch. This little instrument shoots forth a flame of intense

heat, over 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and eats its way through steel like a white hot bar through

a cake of ice. The stern of the ship, as has been stated, was found to be not badly damaged by the explosion, so that a watertight bulkhead or wall was built amidships to allow this section to be floated. Gates in the cofferdam were then opened to flood the enclosure and the afterportion of the Maine was picked up by the rising water and lifted to the level of the harbor.

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it is improbable that tuberculosis is present. Again, goat's milk is of particular value in the sick room and in the feeding of infants. It does not contain less casein than cow's milk, but the curds which form in the stomach are smaller and softer than those of cow's milk, and consequently are more easily digested. Of fat it contains even more than does cow's milk, but the fat globules are likewise smaller, thus facilitating fat digestion and assimilation-so small, indeed, are the fat globules of goat's milk that cream does not rise to an appreciable extent, the fat particles remaining suspended in the milk.

The qualities which recommend the use of goat's milk for the infant also indicate its use in the sick room, where every particle of the patient's strength that can be spared from food digestion is needed to aid recovery. Expert breeders say, indeed, that the growing popularity of the thoroughbred goat is due to a great extent to the influence of physicians, who after observing the beneficial effects in the treatment of disease, themselves buy and advise others to buy one or

"MERA" (AT RIGHT) AND "IDLEWILD." The one is an imported Swiss Toggenburg doe, the other half Toggenburg and half native American.

two animals for supplying the family with milk.

There is a widespread opinionamong those who have never tried it-that goat's milk has an offensive

A young couple who spent their honeymoon in a remote but romantic region supplied with milk by goats found a fly in the ointment of their happiness. Owing to a "spleen" against goat's milk

they used milkless coffee and milkless tea and-think of it!-milkless breakfast cereals for several days, until one morning the bride had the temerity to try the "weest" taste. As she did not drop dead her husband followed suit, and comparing notes they came to the conclusion that it was almost tasteless, except for a rather sweeter and more delicate flavor than cow's milk. So pleasing, indeed, is the flavor of goat's milk that people quite accustomed to it spurn cow's milk.

Only within the last score of years have we in this country begun to perceive that in the milch goat we have an industry capable, if fostered and developed, of figuring mightily in the economics of our

The improvement of American herds has thus far been confined chiefly to the importation of pure Swiss stock. Now, sixteen distinct breeds of milch goats have been enumerated in Switzerland, of which three have found favor in the eyes of the American goatherd. These are the Saanens, the Toggenburgs, and the Swartzenburg - Guggisberg

ers.

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a

developing a superior breed of milch goats. In Switzerland flock of goats is sent, on the arrival of spring, up the mountain sides, going higher and higher as the snowline recedes, halting only when it becomes stationary. The goats remain out during the entire summer, finding protection from inclement weather in shelters built for the purpose, and browsing on such vegetation as may be at hand. They are tended by one or more goatherds, who live in shacks stationed at convenient intervals.

creature,

The Saanen, a beautiful snowy white, is the largest of Swiss goats, withal, a notable milker, centuries of careful selection for milking qualities having produced an animal that gives from four to six quarts daily. Individuals have been known to yield seven and a half quarts.

Vying with the Saanen for popularity among breeders and goat dairymen is the Toggenburg. This goat has been called "the aristocrat of the milch goat family," and with its fawn-colored coat, usually short and sleek, and marked by two strips of white, one on either side of the face, and white legs below the knees, most people would be willing to concede the distinction.

At the approach of winter with its deep snows the flocks return to the valleys, where they are housed for the winter, never once seeing the outside of their stables. Winter feed consists of a mere handful of hay a day, with a few oats or mixed grain.

The Guggisberger - or Swartzenburg-Guggisberger - does not possess the engaging appearance of the two breeds already named, but is an excellent milker, and possessing a hardy nature it is often used in crossing with the Saanen to produce the combined qualities of milk and exceptional vigor. Like the Saanen and the Toggenburg, the Guggisberger is a hornless goat, though a horned specimen is occasionally found.

America presents climatic and soil conditions that are peculiarly favorable to

Now American breeders insist that if goats kept under these conditions really pay their owners, they will be of untold value in our own country, where the winters are not so rigorous nor so long as among the Alps; where a greater variety of food can be obtained in ampler quantities; and where vastly better markets are at their command-potential markets, at least. Then, too, we possess plenty of the right kind of land, for goats thrive best on a porous soil, be it sandy or gravelly, preferably in a dry climate. They have an aversion, on the other hand, to low, swampy land; goats which have become thin and lifeless on such soil will quickly regain their health and activity when transferred to higher, well drained land. Thoughtful breeders, in fact, say that conditions here in America favor the development of a breed of goats that will excel in every respect any of the Swiss breeds.