TIIE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
January  16 
46 
A  RIP  VAN  WINKLE  FINDS  OUT 
WHAT  BUTTER  IS. 
On  a  cold  day,  as  the  country  folks  were  selling 
their  produce  on  the  market  square  of  a  small  city,  a 
strange-looking  man  Yyas  observed  to  pass  through 
the  market.  He  had  the  dress  and  manner  of  a  sol¬ 
dier  In  the  late  war.  A  whisper  ran  through  the  mar¬ 
ket  that  this  was  a  second  Kip  Van  Winkle  and  that 
he  had  been  asleep  since  the  war,  but  had  just 
wakened  up  and  was  trying,  in  true  Yankee  fashion, 
to  catch  up  with  the  times  and  to  learn  the  full  prog¬ 
ress  the  world  had  made  since  then.  Ills  brain  was 
now  worried  about  butter.  What  was  It?  Try  as  he 
would  he  could  not  remember  one  thing  about  it. 
Had  he  ever  seen  it?  He  did  notknow.  Had  he  ever 
tasted  It?  He  thought  not,  so  he  had  come  to  the 
market  to  see,  find  out  and  know.  He  saw  an  old 
woman  selling  chunks  of  spotted  something  wrapped 
In  a  cloth.  He  advanced  and  asked  her  what  It  was. 
“  Why,  man,  that’s  butter,”  came  the  answer. 
Kip  jjassed  on  and  saw  another  woman  selling 
chunks  of  something  which  was  white  and  was  also 
wrapped  in  cloths. 
“  What's  this?”  Inquired  Rip. 
“That's  butter,”  said  the  woman  in  a  surprised 
tone. 
Rip  walked  thoughtfully  on,  scratching  his  head  and 
muttering  to  himself  “butter?  butter?  Why  that 
other  woman  said  the  spotted  stuff  she  had  was  but¬ 
ter  too,  but  wait!  yonder  is  another  woman  and  she 
also  has  something  to  sell,  which  is  wrapped  in  a 
cloth;  I’ll  Inquire.” 
This  last  woman  was  very  clean-looking  and  to  Kip’s 
question,  “  What  is  this?”  she  replied. 
“  This  is  butter  made  from  my  little  yellow  cows." 
Put  at  his  ease  by  her  kindly  manner,  Kip  ventured 
to  say : 
“My  dear  madam,  you  say  you  have  butter  and 
show  me  a  bright  yellow  roll  of  something  wrapped 
in  a  cloth;  that  woman  yonder  says  her  white  stuff 
wrapped  in  a  cloth  Is  butter:  while  the  woman  on  the 
corner  says  her  spotted  stuff  wrapped  in  a  cloth,  is 
butter.  Is  anything  wrapped  In  a  cloth  butter?  If  I 
were  to  wrap  mashed  potatoes  in  a  cloth  and  bring 
the  mass  to  market,  would  that  be  butter?” 
“No!  No!”  said  the  neat-looking  woman,  “  butter 
is  made  from  cows.” 
“Ah!  I  see,”  said  Rip  “  you  keep  yellow  cows  and 
make  yellow  butter;  yonder  woman  keeps  white  cows 
and  makes  white  butter,  while  the  woman  on  the  cor¬ 
ner  keeps  spotted  cows  and  makes  spotted  butter.” 
The  woman  looked  at  him  curiously  and  then 
said,  “Ain't  you  Rip  Van  Winkle  that  has  been 
asleep  so  long  ?  Well,  then,  if  you  want  to 
know  something  about  butter  you  had  better 
go  to  where  it  is  made  and  lind  out.  Take  the  road 
that  goes  north  from  this  city  and  you  will  find  every 
farmer’s  wife  living  on  the  road  making  butter  ;  they 
will  tell  you  how,  for  every  woman  prides  herself  on 
the  notion  that  she  can  make  butter;  but  only  one 
out  of  every  ten  really  can.” 
“Thank  you  kindly,”  said  Rip,  with  a  very  low 
bow,  as  he  departed.  The  next  morning  was  cold 
and  frosty,  but  Kip  started  on  his  journey  of  investi¬ 
gation.  After  walking  two  or  three  miles  he  saw  a 
dilapidated-looking  farm  house  near  the  road.  Walk¬ 
ing  up  the  path  his  quick  eye  took  in  the  surround¬ 
ings.  The  house  was  old  and  rickety.  Old  rags  took 
the  place  of  window  glass.  Under  the  high  porch 
were  five  dogs,  some  chickens  and  a  cat.  As  he  went 
up  the  rickety  stepB  he  smelt  the  fumes  of  tobacco  as 
they  came  through  the  crevice  under  the  door.  He 
knocked,  and  the  door  was  opened  by  a  slouchy 
woman  with  a  pipe  in  her  mouth, 
“  Good  morning  !  ”  said  Kip,  “  I  have  come  to  find 
out  how  you  make  butter;  can  you  show  me  ?  ” 
“  Walk  right  in,”  said  she,  shifting  her  pipe  to  the 
other  side  of  her  mouth.  “  How  fortunate  you  came 
to  me.  1  have  been  making  butter  for  nigh  onto  30 
years,  and  know  all  about  it.  Now,  I  have  a  neighbor 
over  there  on  the  hill  who  has  been  making  butter  for 
only  three  years.  She  hasn't  any  experience,  al¬ 
though  it’s  curious  how  she  can  get  25  cents  for  her 
butter  when  I  get  only  10.  Take  a  cheer;  I  was  just 
getting  ready  to  churn.” 
Kip  saw  a  greasy-looking  stone  churn  sitting  on  a 
pile  of  live  coals  just  drawn  from  the  fire-place.  The 
woman  seated  herself  by  the  churn  and  smoked  and 
churned  for  over  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  occasionally 
taking  off  the  lid  and,  with  her  long,  bony  finger, 
taking  a  lick  of  cream  off  the  dasher.  At  last  she 
announced: 
“  it  has  come,  and  I  will  set  it  on  the  porch  until  it 
cools,  and  I  will  show  you  the  cows;”  for  Rip  had  ex¬ 
pressed  a  wish  to  see  the  cows,  the  way  of  feeding 
them  and  how  the  milk  was  taken  care  of,  etc.  The 
woman  led  him  through  a  muddy  yard  over  a  bleak 
hill,  where  the  wind  swept  with  full  force,  to  a  rail 
fence.  Here,  in  the  fence  corners  with  their  heads 
held  down,  stood  four  poor,  bony,  rough  cows. 
“  You  see,”  said  the  woman,  “  that  the  pasture  is 
all  gone,  and  I  told  Silas,  my  man,  only  this  morning, 
that  he  must  tear  down  the  fence  from  around  the 
straw  stack  and  let  them  eat  there;  but  he  said  it 
was  too  soon,  as  his  straw  stack  wouldn’t  last  till 
Christmas  if  he  let  them  get  to  it  now;”  then,  after  a 
pause  :  ”  Silas,  he  gives  them  some  fodder  and  nub¬ 
bins  every  once  in  a  while.  Shelter  them  ?  Why  no, 
It  makes  them  tender.” 
They  returned  to  the  house  and  the  woman  opened 
a  cellar  door  with  one  hinge  gone,  and  the  odor  of  rot¬ 
ting  cabbage,  crout  and  potatoes  was  awful. 
“  Here,”  she  said,  “  is  where  1  keep  my  milk  and 
butter  in  the  summer  time,  but  now  I  keep  them  in 
the  house, ’’.and,  opening  a  closet  door  in  the  room 
where  the  churning  was  done,  she  showed  Rip  sev¬ 
eral  crocks  of  milk.  Some  were  freshly  strained, 
while  others  were  so  old  that  the  cream  on  them  had 
turned  green  and  emitted  a  very  strong  odor. 
“  You  see,”  said  the  woman,  “  I  never  skim  until  I 
run  out  of  crocks,  and  when  I  run  out  of  crocks  I 
know  1  have  a  churning,  and  1  skim  and  churn.  I  tell 
you  the  pigs  have  a  good  feed  of  skim-milk  the  day  I 
skim  !  ” 
“  Now.  show  me  some  butter,”  said  Rip  in  a  weak 
voice. 
She  brought  out  two  chunks  of  butter. 
“  This  is  my  last  churning,”  said  the  woman,  point¬ 
ing  to  the  whitest  chunk,  “and  this  I  churned  last 
week,”  pointing  to  the  other  chunk,  which  was 
spotted  and  old,  spots  being  made  by  a  mixture  of 
dirt  and  cooked  cheese. 
“  Thank  you  for  your  trouble,”  said  Rip,  “  I  am  not 
quite  satisfied.  Can  you  show  me  where  the  neigh¬ 
bor  you  spoke  of  lives  ?  ” 
Rip  drew  a  long  breath  when  he  was  again  in  the 
fresh  air  and  soliloquized:  “If  this  is  butter,  then  I 
don’t  want  any  of  it.” 
He  arrived  at  the  neighbor’s  and  recognized  the 
neat  woman  who  had  talked  with  him  in  the  market. 
She  greeted  him  pleasantly  and  showed  him  her  milk 
house,  a  clean,  whitewashed  place  which  smelt  sweet. 
A  patent  churn  was  there.  On  a  butter  worker  was  a 
heap  of  golden  butter  which  the  woman  was  just  get¬ 
ting  ready  to  make  into  rolls.  A  tank  filled  with  run¬ 
ning  well  water  contained  bright  tin  cans  filled  with 
milk. 
“  We  haven’t  been  making  butter  very  long,”  said 
the  neat  woman,  “  but  we  are  adding  improvements 
every  year.  This  winter  we  intend  to  buy  a  butter 
press.  O,  yes!  I  am  particular  to  skim  my  milk  every 
24  hours  and  feed  the  sweet  milk  to  the  calves  and 
pigs,  the  cream  is  well  stirred  in  the  cream  can  after 
the  new  cream  has  been  added,  but  I  churn  often, 
every  day  if  possible.  Price  of  butter?  We  have  ours 
engaged  for  25  cents  the  year  round;  but  during  the 
winter  we  make  more  than  is  engaged  and  sell  it  on 
the  market  at  a  good  price.  But  come  and  see  my 
pretty  cows.” 
A  short  walk  on  a  gravel  path  brought  them  to  the 
barn,  and  on  the  sheltered  side  of  it  were  built  the 
cow  sheds.  They  were  rough  structures,  but  com¬ 
fortable  and  warm.  The  sides  were  battened  and 
straw  was  placed  overhead.  Each  cow  had  a  roomy 
stall,  and  such  contented  cows!  They  were  chewing 
nice  bright  hay  and  showed  in  their  shape  and  dis¬ 
position  that  they  were  good  butter  cows.  A  large, 
roomy  stable  contained  several  small  calves. 
“These  are  our  future  cows,”  said  the  butter  wo¬ 
man,  patting  their  soft  hornless  heads;  the  horns  of 
all  had  been  burned  out  with  caustic  potash  before 
they  were  a  week  old. 
Having  retraced  their  steps  to  the  milk  house.  Rip 
refreshed  himself  with  a  glass  of  buttermilk  and 
after  buying  some  of  the  butter,  started  home,  al¬ 
though  the  woman  wanted  him  to  visit  a  Mr.  Smith 
who  ran  a  dairy  on  an  extensive  scale,  using  a  sepa¬ 
rator,  etc.,  but  Rip  was  satisfied. 
“  I  have  found  butter,”  he  said,  and  as  he  passed 
through  the  yard  he  noticed  the  clean,  neat  appear¬ 
ance  of  the  house,  yard  and  fences.  In  a  distant 
field  the  owner  of  the  place  was  laying  drain  tile  and 
getting  ready  to  raise  a  better  crop  of  feed  for  his 
cows  next  year.  farmer's  girl. 
Poultry  Yard. 
Kerosene  ;  the  Terror  of  Hen  Lice  ;  Will  it 
Injure  the  Hens ? 
Kerosene  is  irritating  to  the  feet,  and 
may  cause  sores.  It  may  be  advantage¬ 
ously  used  at  the  ends  of  the  roosts,  hut 
gasoline  (to  be  used  during  the  day  only) 
kills  lice  instantly  and  evaporates,  leav¬ 
ing  everthing  clean.  Fire  must  not  be 
brought  near  it.  p.  H.  JACOBS. 
I  never  noticed  any  ill  effects  from  the 
use  of  kerosene  on  the  roosts.  I  don’t 
think  there  is  any  need  of  keeping  the 
birds  out  of  the  house  until  it  has  been 
aired  after  an  application,  p.  williams. 
I  have  never  noticed  any  ill  effects 
from  the  liberal  use  of  kerosene  in  the 
hen  houses.  1  do  not  think  any  harm 
can  happen  to  the  hens  by  letting  them 
into  the  house  as  soon  as  it  has  been  liero- 
sened.  I  doubt  if  kerosene  would  hurt 
healthy  birds,  and  if  ailing  at  all,  I  be¬ 
lieve  it  would  be  beneficial.  I  use  it 
towards  night  purposely  so  that  the  hens 
may.  enter  before  the  strength  of  the  oil 
has  evaporated.  henry  hales. 
We  have  never  seen  any  ill  effects  on 
our  fowls  from  the  use  of  kerosene  about 
poultry  houses,  though  we  find  boiling- 
hot  water  much  more  effective  in  des¬ 
troying  the  red  mites  that  are  sure  to 
ipfest  the  roosting  places  in  hot  weather, 
especially  during  August,  September  and 
October.  knapp  bros. 
My  first  experience  in  using  kerosene 
for  ridding  a  poultry  house  of  lice,  was 
with  a  house  that  had  become  so  thor¬ 
oughly  infested  with  the  little  red  mites 
that  the  hens  could  hardly  be  induced  to 
go  on  the  perches  at  night,  and  of  the 
few  eggs  they  laid,  a  good  proportion 
were  dropped  in  the  park  outside,  as  the 
nests  were  swarming  with  the  vermin. 
After  I  had  tried  various  methods  of  ex¬ 
terminating  the  pests  with  apparent  suc¬ 
cess  at  the  time,  only  to  find  the  nuisances 
reappear  and  multiply  until  they  were  as 
numerous  as  ever  in  a  few  weeks,  I  con¬ 
cluded  to  try  kerosene,  although  some¬ 
what  fearful  of  its  effect  on  the  hens. 
I  thought,  however,  that  it  could  not  be 
worse  than  the  lice.  Accordingly  I  ap¬ 
plied  a  “kill  or  cure”  dose — about  three 
gallons  to  each  room  12x20  feet  in  area. 
This  was,  perhaps,  three  times  as  much 
as  was  necessary ;  but  feeling  that  the 
case  was  desperate,  I  thoroughly  satur¬ 
ated  the  interior  of  the  house.  The  ap¬ 
plication  was  made  in  the  morning,  the 
weather  being  warm  and  the  windows 
open.  The  hens  went  in  and  out  during 
the  day,  and  at  night  nearly  all  of  them 
occupied  their  perches,  something  they 
had  not  done  for  weeks  before.  The  next 
day  they  were  in  the  house  more  than 
usual,  and  all  that  laid  dropped  their  eggs 
in  the  nests.  They  seemed  to  pay  no  at¬ 
tention  whatever  to  the  fumes  of  the  ker¬ 
osene,  which  were  very  strong  for  several 
days,  nor  could  I  see  that  it  had  the 
slightest  ill  effect  on  them.  They  soon 
began  to  show  improvement  in  condition 
and  egg  production.  A  thorough  exami¬ 
nation  of  the  house  two  days  after  the 
application  failed  to  discover  a  single  live 
louse,  and  I  have  never  been  troubled 
with  any  since ;  still  I  use  the  kerosene 
as  a  preventive,  saturating  the  perches, 
nests  and  adjoining  parts  at  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  warm  weather,  usually  in  May, 
and  again  in  July,  and  at  the  last  of 
August.  I  do  not  find  it  necessary  to  go 
over  the  entire  house  at  any  time.  I  con¬ 
fine  my  attention  exclusively  to  those 
parts  most  frequented  by  the  hens  at 
night  and  when  nesting.  I  have  used  the 
kerosene  lightly  in  brooders  for  young 
chicks,  and  air  the  brooders  a  short  time 
before  the  little  things  are  put  in,  and 
have  never  seen  any  injui-y  result  from 
the  practice.  c.  H.  WYCKOFF. 
Eye  Winkers. 
There  Is  no  doubt  that  the  ordinary  city  man  is 
lost  when  he  gets  back  in  the  country.  They  notice 
this  too  in  England,  as  we  see  from  this  note  in  the 
Live  Stock  Journal:  “People  in  England— especially 
town  people— have  lost  the  art  of  managing  any  ani¬ 
mal  bigger  than  a  pug  dog,  and  a  strong,  healthy  young 
man  would  Btarve  If  transported  Into  the  runs  and 
back  settlements  where  the  natives  would  find  wealth 
and  plenty.”  The  question  is,  would  the  city  workers 
be  better  or  worse  at  their  own  special  jobs  for  learn¬ 
ing  more  aboqt  a  life  that  most  of  them  never  will  be 
called  upon  to  enter? 
A  Pennsylvania  friend  propounds  those  conun¬ 
drums  which  our  friends,  our  agricultural  writers,  are 
requested  to  ponder  over.  “Speak  as  the  common 
people;  think  as  the  wise:”  “  Why  is  It  that  agri¬ 
cultural  writers  use  so  much  Latin  In  their  writings  ? 
Nine-tenths  of  their  readers  don’t  know  the  mean¬ 
ing  of  the  jaw-breaking  words  they  use.  Again,  why 
are  agricultural  books  so  much  dearer  than  others  ? 
and  then  they  stretch  out  worse  than  Mrs.  South- 
worth’s  novels,  with  less  sense.  What  farmers  want 
is  books  written  in  short,  plain,  explicit  language 
without  pedantic  technicalities.  We  don’t  want  to 
read  a  dozen  pages  to  see  how  to  plant  a  hill  of 
beans  with  a  Latin  dictionary  beside  ns. 
£Ui£rcnanc0u,$ 
In  writing  to  advertisers  please  always  mention 
The  Rural. 
MANN'S  BONE  GUTTER 
POULTRY  FOOD 
Warranted  to  _  cut  green 
bones,  meat,  gristle,  and  all 
without  clog  or  difficulty,  or 
Money  Refunded. 
It  has  been  proved 
GREEN  CUT  BONl 
is  the  most  economical  egg 
producing  food  in  the  world. 
It  will  double  the  num¬ 
ber  of  eggs ,  and  make 
them  25  per  cent,  more  fer¬ 
tile.  Send  stamp  for  cata¬ 
logue.  Name  this  paper. 
F.  W.  MANN, 
Pennsylvania  Agricultural  Works,  York,  Pa. 
Farquhar’s  Standard  Engines  and  Saw  Hills.1 
Send  for  Catalogue.  Portable,  SU. 
tionarj,  Traction  and  Automatic  El. 
gines  MpeciaJty.  Warranted  equal  or 
■uperiorta 
any  made. 
Address  A.  B.  FA  ROUHAR  &  CO., York,  Pa 
RUMELY 
TRACTION  AND  PORTABLE 
NGINES. 
I  Threshers  and  Horse  Powers. 
■Write  for  Illustrated-Catalogue,  mailed  Free. 
M.  RUMELY  CO.,  LAPORTE,  IND 
WOOD 
ASHES 
PURE  UNLEACHED. 
Order  direct  from  Canada. 
Write  for  free  pamphlet.  _&I 
F.  R.  LALOB,  Dunnville, 
nipVCT  WILLS,  Drag  Saws,  Circle  Saws, 
r  lUlVE.  I  Horse  Powers,  for  Farm  or  Mill  use. 
It.  C.  MACHINERY  CO.,  Battle  Creek,  Michigan. 
yy»NAME  THIS  PAPER.  «TCrj  time  you  writ#. 
IDEALFEEDMILL 
WILL  SAVE 
1-3  PER  CENT. 
OF  YOUR  CRAIN. 
t  grinds  EAR  CORN  and  all  kinds  of 
AND  B  ~  “ 
Remember  It  l _  _  .  „ 
grain  FASTER  AND  BETTER  than  any  other.  Our  line 
comprises  Evervthing  in  the  shape  of  GRINDING 
MILLS.  Address  for  catalogue, 
STOVER  MFG.  CO.,  °°  VuEEPORT^’  ILL. 
and  Power  Combined 
FOR  TWO  HORSES. 
QIym  better  work,  more 
ef  It,  with  less  work  to 
team  than  any  others. 
Bend  for  Catalogue  X 
THE  FOOS  MFG. 
8FRINQFICLO.  OHIO 
One  Harrow.  Plow.  Churn,  or  Buttorworker  at  whole¬ 
sale,  warranted  Best,  save  money,  s<  nd  now  for  illus¬ 
trated  circulars.  G.  II.  FOUNDER,  Ft.  Atkinson  Wis. 
DON’T  CLOSE 
your  list 
for  1892 
until 
you  see 
a  free 
sample  copy 
of  the 
Buffalo  Edition 
of  the 
NATIONAL 
STOCKMAN 
AND 
FARMER. 
Complete  reports 
of  the 
Buffalo 
stock  and  grain 
markets. 
Twenty-four 
pages  weekly. 
$1.50  per  year ; 
$1.00  in  clubs. 
Address 
Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
or 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Send  a  Postal  Card  to 
The  Ohio  Farmer 
CLEVELAND,  OHIO, 
for  a  FREE  sample 
copy  of  the  best, 
most  practical 
and  most  val- 
able  Farmer’s  paper 
ublished.  WRITE  NOW, 
cfore  vou  forget  it. 
Iff*  IF*  IF"  Illustrated  Publications,  with 
Rg  as  P9  IVi  APS, describing  Minnesota, 
|S  M  ■  North  Dakota,  Montana, Idaho, 
fcj  fi  Hm  Bts  Washington  and  Oregon,  tho 
■9HDDI  FIIEE GOVERNMENT 
AND  CHEAP 
NORTHERN 
PACIFIC  R.  R,  . 
JBest  Agricultural  G  raz-  "i 
ing  and  Timber  Lands* 
now  open  to  settlers.  Mailed  FREE.  Address 
CUAS.  JB.  La  till  0  UN,  Land  Com.  S.  I*.  U.  K. ,  St.  Paul,  flinn. 
SAM’L  B.  WOODS,  LEWIS  D.  AYLETT 
Mayor  City  ot  Charlottes-  Formerly  Treasurer 
.  ville.  Va.  Commissioner  Georgia  Pacific  R  K. 
of  V  irginia.  VIRGINIA, 
ALBEMARLE  COUNTY. 
f  be  great  fruit,  grain  and  stock  raising  section  of 
the  State.  Wintersmild  and  short.  Scenery  beautiful. 
Health  fine.  Near  the  great  markets.  Educational 
advantages  unsurpassed. 
Land  Good  !  Prices  Cheap  !  Taxes  Low  ! 
Farms  and  City  property  for  sale.  Write  to 
WOODS  <&  AYLETT,  Charlottesville,  Va. 
CLAREMONT  Land  Association,  Suc^yr<™°nva. 
Offers  600  choice  farms;  3,000  handsome  town 
lots  on  James  River,  with  terms  to  suit  purchasers 
Free  circular. 
