The weak kumys is ready for use at the expiration of six hours after fermentation has been excited in the mare’s milk, and must be put into the strongest bottles.  The medium quality is obtained after from twelve to fourteen hours of fermentation, and, if well corked, will keep two or three days in a cool atmosphere.  The third and strongest quality is the product of diligent daily churning during twenty-four to thirty-six hours, and is thinner than the medium quality, even watery.  When bottled, it soon separates into three layers, with the fatty particles on top, the whey in the middle, and the casein at the bottom.  Strong kumys can be kept for a very long time, but it must be shaken before it is used.  It is very easy for a person unaccustomed to kumys to become intoxicated on this strong quality of milk wine.

The nourishing effects of this spirituous beverage are argued, primarily, from the example of the Bashkirs and the Kirghiz, who are gaunt and worn by the hunger and cold of winter, but who blossom into rounded outlines and freshness of complexion three or four days after the spring pasturage for their mares begins.  Some persons argue that life with these Bashkirs and an exclusive diet of kumys will effect a speedy cure of their ailments.  Hence they join one of the nomad hordes.  This course, however, not only deprives them of medical advice and the comforts to which they have been accustomed, but often gives them kumys which is difficult to take because of its rank taste and smell, due to the lack of that scrupulous cleanliness which its proper preparation demands.

There are establishments near St. Petersburg and Moscow where kumys may be obtained by those who do not care to make the long journey to the steppe; but the quality and chemical constituents are very different from those of the steppe kumys, especially at the best period, May and June, when the plumegrass and wild strawberry are at their finest development for food, and before the excessive heats of midsummer have begun.

As I have said, when people wish to make the cure on their own estates, the indispensable Tatar is sent for, and the requisite number of middle-aged mares, of which no work is required, are set aside for the purpose.  But from all I have heard, I am inclined to think that benefit is rarely derived from these private cures, and this for several reasons.  Not only is the kumys said to be inferior when prepared in such small quantities, but no specialist or any other doctor can be constantly on hand to regulate the functional disorders which this diet frequently occasions.  Moreover, the air of the steppe plays an important part in the cure.  When a person drinks from five to fifteen or more bottles a day, and sometimes adds the proper amount of fatty, starchy, and saccharine elements, some other means than the stomach are indispensable for disposing of the refuse.  As a matter of fact, in the hot, dry, even temperature of the steppe, where patients are encouraged to remain