holds her, or ties up one leg if she be restive. In the mean time the
foolish creature continues to let down milk for her foal. The milkmaid
kneels on one knee and holds her pail on the other, after having washed
her hands carefully and wiped off the teats with a clean, damp cloth. If
the mare resists at first, the milk obtained must not be used for kumys,
as her agitation affects the milk unfavorably. Roan, gray, and chestnut
mares are preferred, and in order to obtain the best milk great care
must be exercised in the choice of pasture and the management of the
horses, as well as in all the minor details of preparation.

The milking-pails are of tin or of oak wood, and, like the oaken kumys
churn, have been boiled in strong lye to extract the acid, and well
dried and aired. In addition to the daily washing they are well smoked
with rotten birch trunks, in order to destroy all particles of kumys
which may cling to them.

The next step after the milk is obtained is to ferment it. The ferment,
or yeast, is obtained by collecting the sediment of the kumys which has
already germinated, and washing it off thoroughly with milk or water. It
is then pressed and dried in the sun, the result being a reddish-brown
mass composed of the micro-organisms contained in kumys ferment, casein,
and a small quantity of fat. Twenty grains of this yeast are ground up
in a small quantity of freshly drawn milk in a clean porcelain mortar,
and shaken in a quart bottle with one pound of fresh milk,--all mare's
milk, naturally,--after which it is lightly corked with a bit of
wadding and set away in a temperature of +22 degrees to +26 degrees
Reaumur. In about twenty-four hours small bubbles begin to make their
appearance, accompanied by the sour odor of kumys. The bottle is then
shaken from time to time, and the air admitted, until it is in a
condition to be used as a ferment with fresh milk. Sometimes this