1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
833] 
SONG  OF  THE  TOILERS. 
Through  the  weary  stretch  of  ages,  in  the  field,  the  shop,  the  mine, 
In  the  ranks  when  fierce  war  rages,  in  the  hells  where  slaves  repine, 
’Fore  the  mast  where  tempest  tosses  stout  ribs  of  steel  and  oak, 
Toll’s  sons  have  groaned  on  crosses  or  cringed  ’neath  tyrants’  yoke. 
Ill  fed,  ill  clad,  unlettered,  with  slim  chance  of  wealth  or  lore, 
In  soul  and  body  fettered  by  grim  creeds  and  customs  hoar, 
They  have  fought  for  others’  glory,  they  have  moiled  for  others’  gain, 
Theirs  the  old  and  cruel  story  of  vicarious  grind  and  pain. 
As  for  others  Christ  was  riven  to  restore  a  world  of  bliss, 
For  others  they’ve  been  driven  to  make  a  heaven  of  this. 
For  potentates  and  plutocrats  proud  palaces  they’ve  piled. 
They’ve  braved  the  wrath  of  ocean,  the  depths  of  earth  despoiled; 
’Neath  stinging  jibe  and  jeer  and  lash  their  toilsome  tasks  they’ve  done* 
In  streaming  wet  and  frigid  cold,  and  ’neath  the  torrid  sun. 
On  them  has  Culture  battened,  on  them  proud  Beauty  fed, 
On  them  sleek  Wealth  has  fattened,  on  them  proud  Progress  sped. 
They’re  parasites,  mere  parasites  these  glories  of  the  time, 
Mere  gaudy,  greedy  parasites,  grown  gross  on  Labor’s  grime; 
Drawing  life  and  strength  from  tollers,  like  flaunting  orchids  they, 
Disdainful  of  the  brawny  hosts  on  whom  they  thickly  prey. 
Ho!  ho!  ye  sons  ot  labor  creators  of  all  wealth, 
Ye  beautiflers  of  nature,  purveyors  of  food  and  health, 
For  you  the  dawn  is  breaking;  long  ages’  servile  gloom 
The  earth  is  fast  forsaking,  and  with  it  goes  your  doom. 
Thick  as  the  sands  on  the  seashore,  thick  as  the  stars  in  the  sky. 
Strong  as  the  wrath  of  the  cyclone,  the  hour  of  your  triumph  is  nigh; 
You’re  learning  the  might  of  your  numbers,  you’re  learning  fast  to 
combine ; 
Behind  you  dark  days  and  dull  slumbers;  before  you  the  sunlight  and 
shine. _ w.  l.  h. 
AROUND  THE  CHRISTMAS  MARKETS. 
“  What  fkuits  are  most  in  demand  for  Christmas  ?” 
I  asked  a  commission  merchant  of  many  years’  ex¬ 
perience,  the  other  day. 
“Oranges,”  he  replied.  “I  always  instruct  my 
shippers  to  send  on  all  they  can  to  reach  here  not  later 
than  the  20th  of  December.  There  are  generally  heavy 
arrivals  at  that  season,  but  there  is  never  any  glut  of 
good  fruit.  Most  of  the  arrivals  of  Floridas  now  are 
of  excellent  quality.” 
“  Do  you  ever  receive  any  California  oranges  ?” 
“  I  never  have.  Few  are  sent  here,  it  being  more 
profitable  to  sell  them  in  the  Western  cities.  I  do  not 
think  the  Californias  equal  the  Floridas  in  qual¬ 
ity.  I  have  an  idea,  however,  that  those  shipped 
here  are  not  the  best ;  they  are  mostly  coarse¬ 
grained.” 
“  How  is  it  that  California  and  foreign  grapes 
can  be  sold  for  such  high  prices  when  our  do¬ 
mestic  grapes  are  so  plentiful  and  cheap  ?” 
“  I  don’t  know.  Why  people  want  to  pay  such 
high  prices  for  them  is  more  than  I  can  tell.  I 
took  home  a  couple  of  baskets  of  Catawbas  the 
other  day  that,  at  regular  retail  prices,  were 
worth  about  three  cents  a  pound,  and  they  were 
just  as  good  as  the  Californias  that  cost  12  to  15 
or  more  cents  per  pound,  or  as  the  foreign  grapes 
selling  in  the  neighborhood  of  50  cents  a  pound. 
Yet  people  buy  the  latter.  I  don’t  understand  it.” 
The  Christmas  market  brings  out  the  ducks 
and  geese.  Turkeys  are  always  in  season,  but 
more  so  at  Thanksgiving.  Chickens  and  fowls 
find  purchasers  at  all  times,  but  custom  seems  to  have 
decreed  that  nothing  short  of  duck  or  goose  will  exactly 
suit  the  epicurean  palate  at  Christmas  time.  Prices 
of  these  are  considerably  higher  than  those  of  turkeys 
and  chickens,  and  will  probably  remain  so.  There  is 
great  complaint,  always,  of  the  poor  work  done  in 
picking.  It  seems  quite  an  art  to  do  a  good  job  in 
picking  these  downy  creatures. 
No  one  thing  costs  the  farmers  of  this  country  so 
much  as  careless  assorting  and  indifferent  packing  of 
their  products.  This  may  arise  either  from  ignorance 
or  carelessness;  but  the  results  are  the  same,  slower 
sales  and  lower  prices,  and  these  mean  reduced  profits, 
if  not  positive  losses.  Beginners  might  possibly  be 
pardoned  for  these  shortcomings,  but  when  the  same 
parties,  year  after  year,  fail  in  the  same  points,  and 
this,  too,  in  localities  where  the  products  handled  are, 
and  have  been  for  years,  specialties,  such  continued 
poor  work  in  these  directions  seems  simply  inexcusa¬ 
ble,  and  those  who  persist  in  it  deserve  to  lose  money. 
One  of  the  most  common  examples  of  poor  work  in 
this  direction  is  found  in  ehe  apples  that  reach  our 
market.  Not  only  are  inferior  apples  put  into  the 
middle  of  the  barrels,  but  many  of  the  latter  are 
not  perfectly  faced,  and  are  either  not  filled  full 
enough,  or  are  filled  so  full  that  the  apples  are  badly 
bruised  and  crushed.  All  these  things  tend  to  lower 
the  price.  The  illustration,  Fig.  316,  shows,  imper¬ 
fectly,  the  results  of  this  overfilling  of  the  barrels. 
These  apples  were  packed  by  a  grower  in  one  of  the 
leading  apple  growing  counties  of  western  New  York. 
Some  of  them  were  smashed  nearly  flat.  Not  only 
were  those  near  the  head  injured,  but  some  in  the 
second  and  third  layers  were  crushed  out  of  shape  and 
a  third  of  the  way  to  the  bottom  of  the  barrel  some 
specimens  were  badly  bruised.  Such  packing  knocks 
off  at  least  25  per  cent  of  the  selling  price  of  a  barrel 
of  apples.  The  trouble  is,  the  barrels  are  not  thor¬ 
oughly  shaken  while  being  filled,  so  that  before  press¬ 
ing  in  the  head  it  is  necessary  to  round  up  the  fruit 
in  order  that  the  barrel  may  not  “  shake.”  Then  the 
head  is  placed  in  position,  and  forced  down  with  the 
press,  with  the  results  shown  in  our  cut. 
A  fine  showing,  isn’t  it?  But  it  is  an  exact  picture, 
and  many  apples  can  be  found  equally  bad.  It  is,  per¬ 
haps,  a  nice  matter  to  have  every  barrel  of  apples 
packed  just  right.  They  mustn’t  be  so  loose  as  to 
shake,  as  this  lowers  the  price.  The  barrel  should  be 
thoroughly  shaken  every  time  a  basket  of  apples  is 
added,  and  then  such  disastrous  squeezing  will  not  be 
necessary  to  prevent  shaking.  With  the  barrel  filled 
just  even  with  the  chine,  the  head  gently  forced  into 
place,  the  barrel  being  shaken  slightly  meantime, 
there  will  be  little  trouble. 
The  holidays  always  bring  a  good  demand  for  choice 
apples,  pears  and  grapes  suitable  for  table  use.  Cran¬ 
berries  are  also  a  prized  accessory  to  the  other  deli¬ 
cacies.  Nuts  and  raisins,  figs,  bananas,  dates,  etc., 
meet  increased  sales.  Pop-corn  generally  has  a  boom, 
as  it  is  largely  used  for  decorations  as  well  as  for  the 
prosaic  pop-corn  ball.  The  Rice  and  White  Pearl  are 
the  favorite  varieties  of  the  latter,  and  it  must  be  dry 
and  well  cured. 
A  prime  favorite  on  the  fruit  stands  is  the  old  Black 
Gilliflower  apple.  Fine  specimens  sell  for  five  cents 
each,  and  it  is  a  prime  favorite  for  eating  from  the 
hand. 
While  many  things  meet  increased  sales  in  the 
holiday  season,  others  are  sold  only  then.  Christ¬ 
mas  trees  of  all  sizes  come  by  the  ship-load  from 
Maine,  and  perhaps  from  other  places.  Miles  of 
evergreen  roping  for  decorations  are  sold.  Holly 
comes  in  largely,  mostly  from  Delaware  and  Mary¬ 
land.  This  makes  pretty  decorations,  especially 
when  covered  with  its  bright  berries.  English  mistle¬ 
toe  meets  a  brisk  demand.  Moss,  laurel,  smilax,  As¬ 
paragus  plumosus,  etc.,  are  all  more  or  less  used. 
During  the  week  before  Christmas  the  streets  near  the 
West  Washington  Market  will  be  filled  with  tastefully 
decorated  booths,  from  which  all  sorts  of  holiday  goods 
Just  as  They  Came  From  the  Barrel.  Fig.  316. 
will  be  sold.  At  no  other  time  of  year  is  so  much 
street  trading  done  as  then. 
The  other  day,  in  one  of  our  frequent  street  jams,  a 
projecting  wagon  pole  was  driven  through  a  barrel  of 
cranberries  on  the  rear  of  another  wagon,  and  some¬ 
thing  like  a  half  bushel  ran  out  into  the  filthy  street. 
I  watched  to  see  what  the  driver  would  do  about  it. 
He  coolly  took  off  the  barrel,  turned  it  down  with  the 
broken  stave  uppermost,  and  scraped  up  the  fallen 
berries,  filth  and  all,  and  poured  them  back  into  the 
barrel.  No  extra  charge  for  the  “  foreign  matter”  in¬ 
troduced  into  the  barrel.  Such  incidents  can  but  start 
a  train  of  thought,  but,  where  ignorance,  etc.  F.  k.  y. 
FLOURING  ON  A  SMALL  SCALE. 
As  wheat  is  below  the  cost  of  growing  it  here — 68 
cents  per  bushel — the  farmers  are  inquiring  if  there 
are  any  small  mills  run  by  steam  that  will  make  flour — 
best  roller — on  a  small  scale,  say  5  to  10  barrels  per 
day.  The  millers  here  are  making  75  cents  on  every 
barrel  of  flour  they  can  make.  The  price  of  flour  is 
not  in  proportion  to  that  of  wheat.  Does  The  Rural 
know  of  any  mills  which  could  be  bought  by  a  combin¬ 
ation  of  a  few  farmers  so  that  they  could  grind  their 
own  wheat  and  that  of  their  friends?  G.  w.  k. 
Fisherville,  Va. 
Ans. — We  do  not  know  of  any  such,  but  have  sent 
letters  of  inquiry  to  several  manufacturers  of  milling 
machinery,  to  learn,  if  possible,  if  any  mills  of  this 
capacity  are  manufactured.  If  cooperative  flour  man¬ 
ufacturing  is  practicable,  it  is  a  subject  of  great  im¬ 
portance  to  wheat  growers.  Our  own  judgment, 
without  any  practical  knowledge,  is  that  the  business 
would  be  unprofitable  on  such  a  small  scale.  Feed 
grinding  is  a  comparatively  simple  matter,  and  does 
not  require  any  very  expensive  or  complicated  ma¬ 
chinery  for  such  a  business  as  a  few  farmers  would 
wish  to  carry  on.  Flour  manufacturing  is  different. 
Not  only  is  more  intricate  and  costly  machinery  re¬ 
quired,  but  skill  and  knowledge  are  necessary  to  the 
production  of  a  satisfactory  product.  The  tendency 
of  modern  times  in  flour  manufacture,  as  well  as  in 
other  lines  of  work,  seems  to  be  toward  combination. 
The  large  manufacturer  can  take  advantage  of  ma¬ 
chines  and  methods  far  beyond  the  reach  of  the  small 
operator.  It  might  be  practicable  for  the  farmers  of 
a  township  or  a  larger  territory  to  unite  and  build  a 
mill  to  be  run  under  the  direction  of  a  skilled  miller 
employed  for  the  purpose.  This  plan  would  seem  to 
present  greater  advantages  and  less  disadvantages  than 
the  other.  It  is  worth  discussing  and  considering. 
POINTERS  ABOUT  PICKLED  EGGS. 
The  incredulous  may  scoff  at  the  idea  of  pickling 
eggs  in  the  spring  for  winter  use,  but  I  assure  the 
readers  of  The  Rural  that  the  two  casks  of  pickled 
eggs  which  I  have  in  my  cellar  will  be  a  wonderful 
financial  help  during  the  fall  and  winter.  I  have  be¬ 
fore  recommended  in  The  Rural’s  columns  this  method 
of  increasing  the  profits  of  the  poultry  yard  in  locali¬ 
ties  where  the  average  yearly  price  of  eggs  is  low.  It 
is  a  good  place  for  a  Leghorn  or  Minorca  “  hen  dairy,” 
as  Mr.  Chapman  so  fitly  puts  it.  Although  these 
fowls  drop  off  rapidly  in  egg  production  for  a  period 
in  the  fall,  the  receipts  may  be  kept  up  until  the  lay¬ 
ing  season  fairly  opens  again,  by  selling  pickled  eggs. 
To-day  one  of  my  old  customers  said,  “  I  want  some 
of  your  limed  eggs.  I  will  pay  one  cent  more  than 
the  regular  market  price  for  fresh  ones,”  which  will 
be  23  cents.  Think  of  it!  23  cents  for  eggs  which 
were  laid  in  April  or  May,  when  new-laid  eggs  were 
selling  for  12  cents. 
The  boarding-house  people  think  them  better  than 
any  other  for  making  cake,  and  they  are  as  good  as  the 
fresh  article  for  all  kinds  of  cooking.  They  prefer 
them,  knowing  they  were  all  put  down  when  new-laid 
and  therefore  come  out  in  good  condition,  while  the 
fresh-laid  eggs  which  have  been  picked  up  here  and 
there,  are  not  to  be  depended  upon.  I  have  carefully 
tested  the  limed  eggs  this  week  for  flavor.  If  there  is 
any  unpleasant  flavor  about  an  egg  it  will  be  revealed 
when  boiled.  Although  I  consider  myself  au 
epicure  as  far  as  fresh  eggs  are  concerned,  I  fail 
to  detect  any  disagreeable  flavor.  The  yolk  keeps 
in  prime  condition.  The  white  seems  some¬ 
what  changed  in  consistency,  being  slightly 
thinner,  but  the  most  fastidious  palate  could 
find  nothing  unpleasant  about  the  flavor.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  a  pin  hole  must  be 
punctured  in  one  end  before  boiling.  If  this  is 
not  done  the  egg  will  surely  pop  open  and  a  por¬ 
tion  of  its  contents  be  wasted. 
The  pickle  is  very  easily  made.  I  have  a 
half-barrel  which  stands  near  the  casks,  and  is 
elevated  above  them.  I  put  in  15  or  20  pounds 
of  active  lime,  and  fill  the  barrel  up  with  water. 
I  add,  perhaps,  four  quarts  of  salt.  When  the 
lime  is  slaked,  the  mixture  is  allowed  to  settle  ; 
when  clear,  I  find  by  the  crust  that  is  formed 
over  the  water  that  a  strong  solution  is  made. 
The  liquid  is  dipped  off,  or  may  be  run  off  through  a 
tube  into  the  casks.  This  lime  may  be  used  to  make 
several  solutions,  if  a  lump  of  fresh  lime  is  added 
occasionally  to  keep  up  the  strength.  I  put  a  sufficient 
quantity  into  the  casks  to  cover  the  eggs,  and  they  are 
then  about  one-third  full. 
The  eggs  are  carefully  tested  for  cracks  by  gently 
knocking  them  together.  When  the  casks  are  full,  a 
cloth  is  gently  spread  over  the  tops  and  a  quantity  of 
thick  lime  placed  upon  it.  The  pickle  should  cover 
the  lime  and  cloth.  The  eggs  are  taken  up  by  scoop¬ 
ing  carefully  into  them  with  a  wire  basket,  rinsed  and 
placed  to  dry  in  pans  with  a  cloth  on  the  bottom. 
The  casks  are  large  pork  barrels,  costing  about  S3 
each.  It  is  necessary  to  soak  the  barrel  thoroughly 
with  lime  water  before  using ;  even  then  the  pickle 
may  sour  once  or  twice  before  the  oak  is  thoroughly 
impregnated  with  the  lime.  On  two  occasions  I  have 
had  to  take  all  the  eggs  out  of  a  new  barrel  and  make 
new  pickle.  Only  new  barrels  should  be  used — those 
with  wooden  hoops,  as  iron  hoops  will  rust.  Try  a 
few  such  eggs  in  a  stone  jar  and  see  if  you  do  not  like 
them.  A.  D.  WARNER. 
That  $200,  January  1,  for  clubs  of  trial  subscriptions 
will  go  to  a  very  few  workers.  Hope  the  $2,000  will 
have  more  takers.  *  *  * 
BUSINESS  BITS. 
While  riding  in  the  cold  this  winter,  the  writer  keeps  warm  under  a 
robe  of  Galloway  fur,  made  b7  E.  R.  Hardy,  Abingdon,  Ill.  The  robe 
Is  warm,  well  made  and  very  handsome.  Now  that  the  buffalo  has 
passed  off  the  stage,  we  must  go  to  the  black  Sco  ch  cattle  for  our 
robes  and  furs.  It  is  a  good  thing  for  the  farmer  when  he  can  produce 
the  best  of  beef  and  the  best  of  fur  In  the  same  carcass.  Mr.  Hardy  has 
developed  a  new  and  very  serviceable  business  and  deserves  success. 
Who  Wants  Work?- Here  is  a  note  that  explains  Itself.  It  comes 
from  Pulaski  City,  Va. :  “Some  time  ago  there  appeared  in  the  columns 
of  The  Rural  New-Yorker  an  advertisement  calling  for  farmers  to 
take  young  people  on  their  farms  for  the  purpose  of  making  them  land 
owners  by-and-by.  I  have  a  farm  of  280  acres.  Two  of  my  sons  left 
the  farm  because  they  did  not  want  to  work.  The  third,  15  years  of 
age,  is  at  home  yet.  My  wife,  having  become  gradually  lame,  can  no 
longer  attend  to  housewife  duties.  Wo  want  one  young  man  to  do 
agricultural  work  and  tend  to  horses  and  one  young  woman  to  churn, 
make  butter,  help  cook,  bake  and  wash.  Male  help  Is  offered  $IU  and 
female  $6  per  month  with  board  and  lodging  with  my  family,  which  is 
Protestant-Episcopal.  We  are  German  people.” 
