Tárogató, 1945-1946 (8. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1945-12-01 / 6. szám
TÁROGATÓ IS Africa and the east. Their ability to live months without food proved to be no asset to these big fellows, for crews of old-time sailing vessels which ventured into the South Seas found the huge reptiles an ideal source of fresh meat for long voyages. So they were exterminated from many islands and mainland districts. Some specimens reach astonishing dimensions, measuring up to four feet in length and weighing as much as 600 pounds. The age of the oldest of them is unknown, but specimens have been kept in zoos for 150 years and more. George III, Louis XVI and Frederick the Great, or perhaps even earlier rulers, were featuring the headlines of the time when some of these oldsters, still living, were hatched from the egg. The Canadian Boy. THE LAUGH FARM By Walter King The laugh farm of Southern California greets you with a most amazing smell and a sign which says “Alligator Farm.” Alongside is a huge picture of the open jaws of an alligator, and underneath the remarkable invitation “Drop In.” If you do drop in you may see “Evangeline”, the 330 year old alligator who cut her teeth over three centuries ago and who has not moved for 100 years, except to eat. At this alligator farm you may see all sizes of reptiles, babies only 25 years old, youngsters of 100, and lazy old granddads. The alligators are hatched from eggs which take two months to incubate. For six weeks the tiny fellows try to waddle about, after that, they seem to grow very tired and are perhaps the leaziest creatures on earth. Lazy and quarrelsome. An alligator thinks nothing of taking a good-sized bite out of his pal’s leg or tail. Then he seems to settle back and smile. The largest alligator at the laugh farm is nearly fourteen feet long and weighs over 500 pounds. If you dare go close enough to look into his huge mouth when he yaws you will see two fine rows of canine teeth at the front but no molar teeth in his head for grinding. Strangest of all are the alligator’s tonsils. If they were removed he would have to eat above water and he wouldn’t like that a bit. As it is, Mr. Ally has a peculiar valve in his throat which enables him to grab his dinner, duck under water, and enjoy his meal without either choking or flooding his stomach. Fortunately, the alligators are not big eaters for their size. They sleep all winter eating nothing at all. In summer, one feed a week is sufficient. Perhaps the reason is the alligator, having no grinders in his mouth, has to swallow his meat in huge chunks, and it takes fully seven days for his stomach to digest it. —The Canadian Boy. NEW FOOD FROM SUGAR CANE Not long ago a group of schoolchildren in England helped to make an interesting test. With their midmorning milk half of them had ordinary biscuits and half had biscuits into which had been mixed a new substance called Food Yeast. After five months, the weight charts showed that thé children eating Food Yeast biscuits had put on more weight than the others. They had proved the value of the new food-stuff. Food Yeast is made from sugar or molasses (sugar-syrup) by a special method first worked out in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The Yeast is particularly rich in Vitamin B, and an ounce has more protein in it than an ounce of the best beef. It will keep good for a very long time, and can be used in bread, soups, stews, and other dishes “with an improvement of flavour” Here was a chance for a new industry, and the Colonial Office in London saw how useful it might be to some of the thousands of British colonial peoples who depend for their livelihood on the cultivation of the sugar-cane. It would put to good use the quantities of sugar which, owing to wartime shipping difficulties, cannot be exported as usual. This sugar w’ould produce a valuable foodstuff which could be used to improve the standard diet among the colonial peoples, and also to help to solve the world’s food problems after the war. A trial factory has been set up in the island of Jamaica; it is to be run by a special company called Food Yeast Ltd. The British Government has made an interest-free loan of £150,000 to start the concern. When the factory reaches full production, output will be as much as 2,500 tons of valuable Food Yeast every year; and if this experiment is satisfactory, more producing centres may be set up in Mauritius, British East Africa, and other British colonial territories where sugar
