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.