1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
523 
low figures, because there is no demand for poor 
steers, but when improved in flesh they sell readily 
for a good profit. 
Accepting the $13,16 as a legitimate credit, which it 
certainly is, the station’s conclusion—that it is more 
profitable to feed nea hay and cotton seed to stock be¬ 
fore applying them to the soil as fertilizers for cotton— 
is correct, and not contrary to the facts of the experi¬ 
ment as The R. N.-Y. shows it is after rejecting that 
item. The conclusion would still be correct if the 
selling price had been 2% cents or even two per pound 
instead of three; while, on the other hand, if the feed¬ 
ing had been continued 30 or 40 days longer, which 
would be done by farmers having a sufficiency of food, 
the steer would have sold for 3% cents per pound and 
the value of the original live weight of the animal 
would have been increased to $17,54, instead of to 
$13.16. 
As to the further exception taken to the station’s 
conclusion, that if the growing season had been longer 
and no boll worms had appeared, the manured plot 
would have yielded more, the data upon which that 
conclusion is based are contained in the text of the 
bulletin and not in the table and further explanation 
here is not necessary. R. l. bennett. 
Agriculturist, Arkansas Experiment Station. 
EGGS-AMINING THE EGGS. 
“ How long did it take you to learn when you first 
began work ? ” 
“About four weeks, though it was considerably 
longer before I became proficient.” 
“ Do you work by the day or by the piece ? ” 
“ By the week, here, though I do a good deal of 
work for others outside during the regular egg season, 
for which I get paid by the case. If I were piid by 
the case here, I would make more than the boss, but, 
you see, the egg season doesn’t last the year round, 
that is, so that there is work enough for a candler.” 
Let Your Light Shine Through the Egg. 
“ Wouldn’t it pay a shipper to candle his eggs him¬ 
self before shipping them ? ” 
“ Yes, and many of them do, but we candle them all 
o/er. These White Leghorns which I am now at work 
on were candled, and you see there is very little loss. 
But there is an occasional egg that is a little off. Eggs 
will begin to change in two or three days in hot 
weather.” 
“ Are those from a poultry man or from a dealer ? ” 
“ I think from a man who has a country store, and 
gets them in trade, but he assorts and puts them up 
carefully. You see he didn’t begin right, however.” 
This was said as the bottom was reached, and it was 
seen that the first layer of eggs had been put directly 
on the bottom of the case without any packing mate¬ 
rial underneath, and in consequence several of them 
I tried it, very cautiously, but didn’t care to con¬ 
tinue it. The candler afterward confessed that his 
little fingers which seldom came in contact with the 
flame, were, not so hardened. This business may 
certainly be classed as a very peculiar and at the same 
time a very important one. It requires deft fingers, 
a quick eye, good judgment and persistent practice. 
f. n. v. 
AMONG THE BERRIES. 
In Grape Shade —Here are a few notes of this 
year’s experiences in a garden of small fruits: For 
some years past grape vines here have been free from 
mildews, and the canes and fruit have been so much 
larger and finer in consequence as to require more 
wires. Some rows have overhead trellises, and, 
where they are about 10 feet apart, gooseberry and 
currant bushes stood between and yielded well. But 
the increasing shade has been too much for them—the 
grapes carry the day and the shaded bushes have been 
chopped out. Some raspberry rows similarly in the 
shade do better, although not so well as in the open. 
Fighting Currant Worms. —The currant worms ap¬ 
peared, as usual, with the first cherry and peach blos¬ 
soms, and on the gooseberry plants. An infusion of 
hellebore, diluted and strained so as not to choke a 
fine-rosed syringe, killed them so completely that we 
began to think some other insect was at work destroy- 
WIIITE STAR LINE WANTS WHITE EGGS. 
The R. N.-Y. recently gave the views of Mr. Garner 
of R. J. Garner & Co., on different branches of the 
butter and cheese business. This firm also make a 
specialty of choice eggs, supplying the 
steamships of the White Star line, as 
well as a large number of first-class 
hotels, restaurants and groceries. They 
are in a position to know the require¬ 
ments of the best trade. 
“ What eggs sell best to your trade ?” 
I asked. 
“White Leghorns sell for more than 
any others—usually three or four cents 
per dozen more.” 
“Will it pay the farmer to assort his 
eggs if he has different kinds, and send 
the White Leghorns separate ?” 
“Certainly ; they not only sell higher, 
but there is more of a demand for them. 
The shipper should also assort his eggs 
carefully as to size, throwing out all 
small or extra large eggs, and especially 
all having thin or cracked shells, and all 
dirty ones.” 
“ Do you get most of your eggs from 
dealers or direct from farmers and poul¬ 
try men ?” 
“I presume mostly from dealers, 
though I get many from poultrymen.” 
“ Can you make it an object for an egg 
producer on an extensive scale to make 
his shipments to you regularly ?” 
“ I think so, for we have a trade that 
requires a large amount of good stock, 
and that pays good prices for it.” 
“ Do you receive the most of your stock in cases or 
barrels ?” 
“ The most of it con es in cases, though we receive a 
considerable amount in barrels, especially from the 
West.” 
“ I suppose the egg cases are usually returned ?” 
“ No, excepting from nearby points. Those from 
the State and Long Island are usually returned. Those 
from a distance are gift cases.” 
“ From how far west do you receive eggs ?” 
“ We get a great many from Illinois. Sometimes 
they come from as far west as Nebraska.” 
Down Stairs with the Candler. 
“ I presume that some of your eggs have to be re¬ 
packed for your best customers ? ” 
“ Everything is candled and repacked before it is 
sent out. We must know that every egg is all right. 
The candling of eggs is a trade in itself. Come down 
into the cellar and I will show you the man at work. 
Sit down here and watch him as long as you like, and 
you will see just how it is done.” 
The candler is represented at Fig. 182. The busi¬ 
ness is a peculiar one. It is done in the dark, over a 
wax candle. The operator is seated on a low stool, 
with a crate or pile of eggs at his right, and several 
receptacles for the different grades of eggs at his 
left. Seizing a handful of eggs in each hand, he 
manipulates them by a peculiar twirling motion of his 
fingers with such rapidity that it is difficult to follow 
him, and detects instantly every egg which is not all 
right.” 
“ How long have you been at the business ? ” I asked 
the candler, who is still quite a young man. 
“ About 15 years; in fact, I was born in it, for it is 
& regular business in our family.” 
were smashed, a total loss to the shipper, of course, 
and one that might have been avoided through 
proper care.” 
“ Into how many grades do you divide the eggs ? ” 
Where the Egg Candler does Business. Fig. 182. 
“ Into about five now : fresh, seconds, cracks, spots, 
and rotten. Later in the season, a great many that 
we get, especially barreled eggs, are divided into as 
many as 10 grades: salts, limes, held, ice-house, etc.” 
“ Do you sell the rotten ones ? ” 
“ Yes, they are used for dressing imitation patent 
leather. The cracks and doubtful grades go to the 
bakers, who work them up into cake.” 
“ Do the different colored shells make any difference 
with your work ? ” 
“ Yes, a little ; I can see through a white shell a 
little easier than through a dark one. Still there isn’t 
much difference. I can even tell whether an egg will 
hatch or not.” 
Isn’t this last point a little further than our in¬ 
cubator men have yet gone in the testing ? The most 
expert of them don’t usually make any pretense of 
testing eggs until about the sixth day. While we 
were talking, the case of White Leghorn eggs had 
been disposed of, and a case of brown eggs of various 
shades was brought on. These were apparently 
operated upon just as rapidly and easily as the others, 
but they weren’t of so good quality, for many of them 
went into the lower grades. When the bottom was 
reached, however, greater care in packing was ap¬ 
parent, for this was covered with a layer of cut straw, 
so that not an egg was brohen. Thus it often happens 
that the poorest product is put up in the best shape. 
“ Don’t you ever burn your fingers?” I asked, as I 
noted how carelessly he passed his fingers through the 
flame of the candle. 
“ Oh, no ; that’s not very hot. A lamp wouldn’t do 
for this business, though. I can hold my fingers in 
this flame without feeling it,” suiting the action to 
the word. “ Try it.” 
ing them, hut they came at last in force upon the 
currant bushes, and, having at hand only some old hel¬ 
lebore, we were less successful in battling with them. 
I went to a swamp from which a botanico medical friend 
once brought me a plant of Veratrum 
viride. from the fleshy root of which I 
am told the white hellebore powder is 
prepared. I hoped to find a plant and 
that a simple infusion of slices of the 
root would free my currant bushes of 
the devouring swarm of worms. But 
no such plant was to be found there 
then. It is said to be common ; n low 
ground, and I add a brief description 
from Noll’s Flora of Pennsylvania, which 
may prove useful to some readers. The 
stem is two to four feet high, very leafy 
at the top, the leaves pleated, broad ovate, 
and sheathing at the base. The flowers 
appear in .June, in a pyramidal panicle ; 
they are yellowish green or dark and 
have 6ix sepals and six stamens (shorter 
than the sepals, and recurving), and 
three awl-3haped styles (the plant being, 
in the natural order, near to the lilies.) 
The root is dark or black and very 
poisonous. A common name of the plant 
is Indian Poke. 
Many of our currant bushes were in¬ 
jured by a sort of aphis infesting the 
under side of the leaves, causing them to 
blister and curl and become brown. Like 
other plant lice, these are destroyable by 
diluted kerosene emulsion, but the diffi¬ 
culty is to reach them, sheltered and cov¬ 
ered as they are by the curled leaves. 
Raspberries and Shade. —Of raspberries the orig¬ 
inal English Antwerp is the finest in size, color, flavor, 
fragrance and juiciness, but only where well sheltered 
so that the canes lie under the snow during most of 
the winter. The Cuthberts yield well as usual, but 
show the effect of the dry, cold winds of winter upon 
the exposed canes, by the small size and toughness of 
the fruit. For hardiness, yield, easy picking, good 
size and juiciness the Colossal takes the award. It is a 
most valuable sort, but must have support, and the 
best is two wires at about three and five feet, to which 
the long canes can be tied, being bent down so that 
all the fruit may be within reach. The value of shelter 
is very evident here. Besides an exterior hedge, we 
have some interior lines of Arbor-vitae running north 
and south as additional screens against the northwest 
winds and as retainers of the snow. They are kept 
narrow and about eight *eet high. Strawberries and 
raspberries are nowhere so fine as close against these 
hedges, and they are benefited as much on the west 
side of them as on the east, only the benefit does 
not extend quite so widely. The hedges are 15 or 20 
years old, and do not rob the ground perceptibly. On 
the whole, these small fruits deserve first planting in 
any garden, and especially in new places and where 
the yield of tree fruits is scarce or uncertain. The 
crop is sure every year, and the supply comes much 
earlier than that from any orchard fruit and continues 
almost as long and with as great variety. Both call 
for attention and skill—the skill serving to greatly 
lessen and make easy the amount of actual work 
required. w. 
Blair County, P a- _ 
A Sample copy of The Rural New-Yorker will 
be sent to your friend on request. 
