i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
373 
Business. 
SHALL WE PAINT SHINGLES? 
Here are two questions we want answered. 
1. From the standpoint of economy alone is it wise to 
paint a new shingle roof upon a duelling? 2 If so, 
is any kind of point preferable to white lead and lin 
seed oil for this purpose? 
Very Questionable Economy. 
The economy of painting roofa is certainly in many cases 
very questionable. The ordinary method of laying the roof 
first then applying a coat of paint is more likely to shorten 
the life of the roof than to increase it; this method of paint¬ 
ing leads to the formation of ridges of paint below the 
butts of the shingles, which act as dams to retain mois¬ 
ture on the roof and back it up into the higher courses of 
shingles. This condition is the one most favorable to the 
production of dry rot. It is, however, certainly a benefit 
to the shingles to paint them before they are laid and have 
them dry at the time of laying. This method is, however, 
more expensive and is rarely used. Second, as to the kind 
of paint, I have had experience with the ordinary roofing 
paints which are generally a mixture of oxide of iron and 
linseed oil. Lead paint would be more expensive, but In 
some cases would no doubt be enough better to pay the 
extra cost. [prof.] r. c. carpenter. 
Cornell University. 
Paint the Whole Shingle. 
My experience teaches that economy in painting shingles 
depends upon the way the work is done. There are two 
objects to be attained—to retard from decay and to protect 
from wear. To accomplish these, three methods have been 
practiced—first, painting after the roof Is laid, which is 
objectionable for the reason that the paint does not reach 
the place subject to the greatest wear, immediately below 
and under the butts of each course, and but a small por¬ 
tion of the shingle is protected from decay; second, paint¬ 
ing each course as it is laid, which is better, as it protects 
the upper surface for a time from wear and decay ; and, 
third, painting the entire shingle before laying it. This 
gives all the protection attainable by the use of paint, and 
will lengthen the usefulness of the roof from one third to 
one-half. No paint is better than pure white lead and 
oil. If one has no choice In colors nearly as good results 
can be obtained at less expense by the use of red or brown 
hematite in place of lead. If the roof is already laid its 
usefulness can be very much lengthened at a nominal 
cost by an application once in two years of a coat of white¬ 
wash or crude petroleum. s. A. b. 
N. Blandford, Mass. 
It Does Not Pay to Paint. 
A roof of good shingles will do good service for at least 
20 years without any expense, and even longer without 
wearing out. The reason why most old roofs leak, is be¬ 
cause the shingles rot and the rotting is underneath the 
outside where paint could not possibly get. Even if this 
were not so, painting would not pay,as the shingles would 
have to be repainted at least as often as every four 
years, and it would be cheaper to let the wood wear than 
to wear off the paint so often. C. M. lusk. 
Broome Co., N. Y. 
PROFITS IN PREPARED FUNGICIDES. 
I have before me a circular of a certain firm in Balti¬ 
more, Maryland, that proposes to supply prepared fungi¬ 
cides for the use of fruit growers and farmers. I am glad 
to see this step taken, but am sorry that those who would 
purchase the fungicides ready-made must be taxed so 
outrageously for the convenience. For example, this firm 
sells a “prepared Bordeaux Mixture” at a price that would 
make it cost $4.55 per 100 gallons, when diluted for use, 
while the horticulturist can prepare it himself at a small 
expenditure of labor at a cost of about $1.50 per 100 gallons. 
The ammoniacal carbonate of copper prepared for use is 
offered at $2.27 for 100 gallons diluted, while the same can 
be prepared at home for about 58 cents. The carbonate of 
copper and carbonate of ammonia mixture is offered at 
$1.87K for 100 gallons diluted; while it can be prepared for 
about 25 cents. Carbonate of copper is sold by druggists 
at 60 cents per pound, while it can be readily prepared from 
sulphate of copper and sal-soda at about 14 cents per 
pound. 
It is too bad that fruit growers must be taxed in this 
way. I should prefer by all means to advise the purchase 
of fungicides ready prepared if they could be had at reas¬ 
onable prices, but until they are so offered, I shall 
neither purchase them myself, nor advise others to do so. 
University of Wisconsin. [prof ] e. s. goff. 
R. N.-Y.—In spite of all that has been said in the agri¬ 
cultural press and elsewhere about the preparation of 
these materials, intelligent farmers still ask how they are 
prepared. The Department of Agriculture, in Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 4, gives an account of the fungous diseases of 
the grape, and the various preparations for treating 
them. All who wish to know how to mix the Bordeaux 
Mixture and other fungicides should send for it. Most of 
the experiment stations have also printed this informa¬ 
tion. Still, there will always be some who prefer to buy 
the materials already prepared rather than do their own 
mixing. On the same principle, these people should let 
the manufacturers mix their Paris-green and plaster for 
them ! As for a cheap and easy method of preparing an 
ammonia-copper solution, Dr. Johnson, of the Connecticut 
Station, recommends the following: “Half pound of sul¬ 
phate of copper (blue vitriol) pulverized; one pound of 
hard and transparent carbonate of ammonia pulverized • 
six quarts of boiling water. The substances may be easily 
i educed to coarse powder without loss by pounding with 
a mallet or stick of wood on a stout sheet of paper or in a 
small box. Bring the carbonate of ammonia and hot 
water together in a wooden pail and stir until foaming 
ceases, then add the copper sulphate and stir again as 
long as the mixture effervesces. The blue and nearly 
clear liquid diluted to 62 gallons (two barrels) will corres¬ 
pond to Prof. Chester's formula. 
BUSINESS OF THE BUTTER DAIRY. 
Pick Out Your Defaulting Cows. 
C. E. CHAPMAN. 
Some cow8 are profitable, while some others are not. 
Milk enough is drawn each year in New York State to fill 
the Erie canal from Albany to Buffalo twice, yet the average 
amounts of butter and milk received from the cows of this 
State show conclusively that they are kept at a less. One 
hundred and twenty pounds of butter at 20 cents, or 3,000 
pounds of milk at two cents per quart, will hardly pay for 
feed alone. Many herds do pay, as their products are far 
above this average, so that the poor ones come far below 
the cost mark. The same marked differenoe will be found 
in samples of milk from different herds, breeds and feeds. 
The value of milk depends on the amount of available 
butter fat and cheese material it contains, its taste and 
color. These charactt ristics cannot be ascertained by look¬ 
ing at or by weighing, hence some other method must be 
employed. It is absolutely necessary for the largest suc¬ 
cess in breeding and dairying that an accurate knowledge 
of individual capacity should be secured. In order to 
avoid mistakes in selection of breeding animals, to know 
what returns your cow gives for the food eaten, to know 
which food pays the best profit, to know what the factory 
should pay[you per pound when your milk Is compared with 
that of the other patrons, to know when your milk is 
within the legal standard, and to know if your system of 
creaming, handling and churning is without loss of butter 
fat, you must weigh and test your milk accurately. A 
hap hazard, spasmodic attempt, undertaken because you 
heard some one bragging about that one big milking or big 
week’s record, is worse than useless. 
You cannot tell which one gives the most milk in a year 
by weighing one milking in June, or compute the amount 
of butter from the butter fat in one sample. I offered to 
give a friend $5 if he would name the three cows that 
would give the most milk in a month in his own herd. He 
was confident that he could do it; but lost. You can’t do 
it. Weigh your milk and find out which cow should be 
converted into beef this fall, as far as quantity is con¬ 
cerned. As a result of weighing, each ot the boys will get 
interested in making his particular cow come out ahead, 
and will milk better and cleaner. You will begin to feed 
better and soon begin to buy and raise the food most suit¬ 
able for milk production. The business will begin to be¬ 
come an interesting study instead of an endless drudgery, 
and you will actually look forward to milking time with 
pleasure. I know one boy who would not go fishing and 
leave his cows for fear they might not be milked exactly 
on time. If ycu can interest boys in farming operations, 
as much as this one is interested, they will stay on the 
farm. If the milk on the 1st and 15th of each month is 
weighed for the year, nearly the exact amount can be 
ascertained. This milk should be set, the cream churned 
and a record kept. Some startling thought starters will 
be the result. A man who is made to see that he is in a 
rut will, if he is worth saving, soon get out of it. It costs 
to keep a cow reasonably well $30 per year. A recent list 
showed that it took 48 pounds of milk to make a pound of 
butter from one cow, and another only gave 1,000 pounds 
of milk in a year. Would you feed them a year for the 
product ? 
According to the census, over half of the cows in this 
State are not much better, and unless you have made ac¬ 
curate tests, some of them are, no doubt, in your stable 
this minute. A friend has 12 as fine-looking dairy 
cows as I have ever seen, and he takes worthy pride in 
them and their large yields. A test showed that while the 
herd average was very large for the time (March), four of 
them made half of the daily product of 18 pounds of but¬ 
ter. The amount of feed consumed being alike, the profit 
differed by 50 per cent. Some cows convert a large 
proportion of their food Into butter fat, which sells for 
from 20 to 40 cents per pound, while the others make a 
part of it into other fats which sell for three to four cents 
per pound. What are your cows producing—high or low- 
priced fats ? 
Before condemning a cow, take into com {deration her 
age, health, feed and condition, always remembering that 
a single test may be misleading and of no value in com¬ 
paring two cows under dissimilar conditions. A heifer 
will give milk of better quality when she is older ; a cow 
will show a larger per cent of cream as she nears the calv¬ 
ing time. The succulent grass will make a gieat flow of 
milk, but the grain ration makes the butter record. A 
cow when fat will make more butter than when she is poor. 
Many propositions like the above must be proved or 
disproved before we come into full knowledge. The cream 
gauge is not a perfect test, but will show the difference in 
quality of two samples of milk almost correctly. But I 
can by setting the samples in water at different tempera¬ 
tures, and taking the figures at the right moment, give a 
partial and unjust record. This is often done to help sell 
the cow. Ten per cent of cream from one cow will not 
give as much butter as seven per cent from another, by 
reason of the size and solidity of the butt er globules. The 
cream gauge must be followed by the churn, which gives 
just what one would have to sell, and decides the profit. 
The weighing, creaming and churning may decide the 
value of your cows to you, under your system, but you 
must go further and test your system. Are you letting any 
cream escape by imperfect separation from the milk ? Are 
you churning in such a manner that some of the butter fat 
remains in the buttermilk ? The little wastes of other kinds 
of business have been saved and at the present time repre¬ 
sent the profits. The most accurate, simple and cheap 
way to test your system is by using the Babcock milk 
tester. Experiment stations have given it careful trials, 
and find it so accurate that no other test is considered 
necessary in their most important experiments. It is so 
simple that any one can learn how to use it in an hour. 
The test will cost one-third of a cent and take only 10 
minutes’ time. No knowledge of chemistry is required in 
its use. 
The curse of business is competing with bankrupt firms. 
You don’t know the cost to you of a pound of butter; you 
don’t know how much milk you sell; you don’t know how 
much it costs you to feed a cow a year; you don’t know 
which food is the most economical, and how much of it 
you can afford. You sell your products for less than their 
cost, and make up the difference from some other source, 
and, finally, make an assignment. Your goods which are 
selling for less than cost make the price for all. More 
knowledge in regard to cost would be of value to all. The 
result would be less butter and better prices. 
IMPLEMENT NOTES. 
Hay Loaders —One objection to clover ensilage is the 
great amount of work required in bringing heavy clover to 
the cutter. It is hard stuff to rake and pitch because it is 
so heavy. There is almost as much water in clover as 
there is in milk. The great value of a hay loader is seen 
in this work. This machine picks up the green clover 
from the ground and puts it on the wagon. This saves a 
vast amount of hard work. The Keystone hay loader, 
made by the Keystone Manufacturing Company, Sterling, 
Ill., is first class. Many farmers object to clover ensilage 
and others praise it highly. Among the reasons for it 
given by a writer in Hoard’s Dairyman are: “I think 
there is more milk in 100 pounds of clover ensilage than 
there is in 100 pounds of corn ensilage. Of course, there 
is about twice as much bulk in 100 pounds of clover as 
there is in 100 pounds of corn, and perhaps not half as 
much water I can fill my silo in a season when I can get 
an extra man more readily than I can in the fall when 
every one is thrashing. I think clover ensilage will make 
a better flavored butter than corn ensilage. I think a 
wooden silo will last a great deal longer with clover than 
with corn ensilage, as there is not nearly as much heat and 
steam from clover as there is from corn.” He also says that 
the clover leaves the land in better condition than the corn, 
and with a hay loader the handling is easier. We have 
heard many farmers object to the clover ensilage because 
It is “sour, bad-smelling stuff.” 
For Blanching Celery.— A genius “out West” has 
secured a patent on the scheme shown at Figure 127. 
Oiled paper or cloth is to be used, fitted with hooks or 
Patent for Blanching Celery. Fig. 1 27. 
loops, as shown in the picture. Through these loops sharp 
stakes are thrust, holding the paper close up to the plants. 
A patent for such a simple device 1 
Tip Cart Brake.—T he device shown at Fig. 128 
has just been patented. At the outside of the hub of the 
wheel is a set of strong cogs. A catch plays on the frame 
Patent Cart Brake. Fig. 1 28. 
of the cart so that it cau be raised or lowered at will by 
means of a chain within reach of the driver. The princi¬ 
ple on which this works is easily understood and it looks 
as though it might be serviceable. 
Potato Scoop.— The scoop shown at Fig. 129 Is made by 
Bissell & Thornhill, Melford, Michigan. It may be fitted 
to a handle—long or short as desired—-and used to scoop 
Potato Scoop. Fig. 129. 
up potatoes or apples. Here we have the first principles 
of the potato sorter. With a little different arrangement 
of the bars the small potatoes would drop through and 
leave the larger ones in the scoop. This is all there is to 
any potato sorter. 
Circular of Porter’s new steel track from J. E. Por¬ 
ter, Ottawa, Ill. This track Is excellent for use where hay 
carriers are used. It is strong and simple and easily put 
up. It is also used in factories or stores for conveying 
merchandise. 
