The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., OCTOBER, 1883. 



Vol. XV. No. 10. 



Editorial. 



ARTIFICIAL EGGS. 



" Mei' manedt mer mist yousht nurristi sie." 

 The following from the MiUicliosti;!- (N. II.) 

 Mirror and Farmer, is certainly .a "new 

 wrinkle " in domestic production, and no 

 wonder the staid old Lancaster county 

 dame should give utterance to the above 

 significant expression. She had heard of 

 wooden liams, nutmegs and cucumber 

 seeds, and also of porcelain "nest eggs," 

 but edible artificial eggs, approximated the 

 chemical process of producing butter from 

 grass or hay without the intervention of the 

 cow ; and here were eggs without the inter- 

 vention of rooster or hen, goose or gander, 

 duck or drake, enough to shake the powers 

 of human reason to believe, even in this pro- 

 gressive age. 



"Parties in Paterson, New .Jersey, have an 

 establishment in which artificial eggs are 

 manufactured, and a large amount of busi- 

 ness in this line is done. The yolk mixture 

 consists of corn meal, cornstarch and several 

 other ingredients. It is poured into an open- 

 ing in a thick, mushy state, and is formed by 

 the machine into a ball and frozen. In this 

 condition it passes into another box, where it 

 is surrounded by the white, which is chemically 

 the same as the real egg. This is also frozen, 

 and by a peculiar rotary motion of the ma- 

 chine an oval shape is imparted to it, and it 

 passes into the next receptacle where it re- 

 ceives the thin filmy skin. After this it has 

 only to go into the sheller, where it gets its 

 last coat, in the shape of a PI aster-of- Paris 

 shell, a trifle thicker than the genuine article. 

 Then it goes out in the drying trays, where 

 the shell dries at once, and the inside thaws 

 out gradually. It becomes to all appearances 

 a real egg." 



" About a thousand eggs are turned out in 

 an hour, and orders are so numei'ous that the 

 firm cannot fill half of them. The price 

 charged is $13 per thousand. By a little 

 flavoring and ciiange of size, it is claimed 

 that the eggs may be made to taste like goose 

 or duck eggs. It is said the eggs never spoil, 

 and, being harder and tliicker in their shells, 

 will stand shipment better than real eggs. 

 The firm has just received an order for a lot of 

 different colored Easter eggs." 



Good-by " hebiddies" and "shcbiddies," 

 good-by the Sonorous crow and the big cackel, 

 good-by the gallic refrain and the motherly 

 cluck, good-by, your "occupation's gone." 

 What next ? Oleomargarine butter and cheese 

 supplant the c(iw. Artificial eggs supplant 

 the hen, the duck, and the goose, and we are 

 still within the last quarter of the nineteenth 

 century. Who knows but that the ingenious 

 inventors of these edible compounds will have 

 monuments erected to their memories before 

 the century closes ? There is no cheat in these 

 productions, as there is in wooden hams, horn 

 guuflints, and maple cucumber seeds. They 

 are substances that will satisfy hunger, fill 



the stomach, and afford nutriment. We 

 drink flavored dish-water and call it wine, 

 aqua fortis and call it whisky. Why not 

 olemargarine and sham eggs ? 



GLASS ROOF-TILES. 



" Wonders surely will never cease," for, al- 

 though glass roof-lights, glass floor lights, 

 and similar applications of glass were very 

 common, yet in these progressive days we are 

 liaving entire roofs of buildings covered with 

 glass-tiles. Mr. Jacob Ilupp, of West Earl 

 township, Lancaster county, has had a large 

 barn entirely covered with glass-tiles. These 

 tiles are made in difterent colors, similar to 

 those used for church and car purposes, ex- 

 cept that they are not so ornamental, being 

 merely corrugated or grooved and ridged 

 crosswise diagonally, allowing all the water 

 to run off' immediately. We have specimens 

 of two of these glass tiles, in fragments before 

 us ; namely, the green and the brown, and 

 there seems to be no question about their 

 adaptability and durability, always, perhaps, 

 provide the possessors of such roofs observe 

 the old saw — " those that live in glass houses 

 never should throw stones." From their 

 texture and appearance, however, we have 

 reason to believe that they will resist a more 

 violent concussion than slate. And as to ex- 

 pansion and contraction from intense heat 

 and cold, they are, perhaps, less liable to in- 

 jury than metal, the tiles being in small inde- 

 pendent sections, and so arranged as to pro- 

 vide for these contingencies. Another ad- 

 vantage, we opine, is in their ability to trans- 

 rait light, for although in five different colors, 

 yet they are not opaque, but allow a soft 

 translucent light to pass through them. Be- 

 ing in a variety of colors they also allow of a 

 variety of ornamentation, and thus break the 

 sombre monotony of slate, metal, or shingles, 

 besides, they are non-corrosive and need no 

 paint. 



THE LATE INDEPENDENT STATE 

 FAIR. 



So far as we have been able to learn, the 

 late Independent State Fair was, at least, a 

 financial success to the conductor of it, and, 

 on the whole, the display, except in a few es- 

 sential specialties was about equal to exhibi- 

 tions of this kind in general. It seems to il- 

 lustrate one thing very forcibly, and that is, 

 that the people of Lancaster county — at least 

 the young and middle aged portion of them — 

 require an outlet for " fun and frollick" about 

 once a year, if not oftener ; and, that they are 

 not very particular who furnishes it, or at 

 what cost. It also illustrates that such an 

 exhibition will be financially encouraged, if 

 not amply remunerated, when the proper at- 

 tractions are furnished to draio the people 

 who patronize it ; but just how for it may ad- 

 vance the cause of agriculture, is a question 

 upon which there may be divers and diverse 

 opinions. It is said by those who profess to 

 be " posted" on the subject, that Mr. Suavely 



realized a profit on his exhibition, of not less 

 than leu thnunanil dollars, which, we opine, is 

 fully nine hundred per cent, more than was 

 ever realized by any agricultural fair held in 

 the county of Lancaster since its first organi- 

 zation, except tho.se held in it by the State 

 Society. Of course, all this pnjfit was carried 

 away from the county of Lancaster, and 

 there was a "balance of trade" of just that 

 amount against her, unless she was compen- 

 sated in new and advanced ideas in agricul- 

 Imiil, mechanical, and domestic uses. It is 

 probable, however, ihat the great bulk of the 

 sustaining element of such exhibitions has 

 very little regard to me, except so far as it' 

 may contribute to amusement. Seeing that 

 amusement is a fundamental element of hu- 

 manity, and that its gratification will be 

 sought for, and paid for, it becomes a matter 

 of .anxious concern how to cater for and regu- 

 late it. It seems impossible to repress it, be- 

 cause it constitutes the very warp and woof 

 of the mental con.stitution of man, whether a 

 saint or a sinner. The dilliculty .seems to be 

 in fixing its limits and its quality, because 

 every free-born man or woman, claims the 

 liberty of fixing that for themselves. One 

 thing seems to have been confirmed by experi- 

 ence, and that is, no agricultural exhibition — 

 except perhaps in a large city — can hope to be 

 a financial success, without tlie elements of 

 amusement. 



Another important lesson is involved in the 

 late fair, and that is untiring personal energy. 

 Except until the <:ates of the exhibition were 

 opened to the public, the press of Lancaster 

 city and county was almost silent upon the 

 subject, therefore, the " writing up" of a fair 

 means nothing, unless it is backed up by en- 

 terprise and personal energy ; and, it becomes 

 a question whether all such enterprises had 

 not better be carried tlu'ough by individual 

 contract ; because, as a general thing, "too 

 many cooks spoil the broth," or, "What is 

 everybody's business, is nobody's business. " 

 Farmers who till their own lands, and who 

 furnish the agricultural material which goes 

 to make up such an exhibition, cannot afford 

 to fritter away a whole week in attending to 

 the details of a fair at a season when they are 

 most needed on their fiirms, and those who do 

 not personally till their acres, do not feel sufli- 

 oicut interest in the progress of such exhibi- 

 tions to give their time and attention to them. 



Whataver evils may incidentally be attached 

 to these gatherings, it is very certain that the 

 progressive larmer may glean better ideas of 

 stock, implements, machinery, and the vari- 

 ous domestic contrivances, from seeing them 

 and witnessing their operation, than he can 

 from the most elaborately written descrip- 

 tion ; and, the inventors, contrivers, and 

 builders of them, cannot advertise them more 

 satisfactorily than they can by a personal and 

 practical elucidation on a fair ground, where 

 they can command an audience. But here 

 comes in the "rub." If an inventor, or 

 manufacture, may exhibit and illustrate the 



