8o8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 7 
ICE CREAM FROM THE FARM. 
HOW A TRADE WAS WORKED UP. 
About 15 years ago. a young man started in the 
ice cream business with the determination to work 
up a wholesale trade here. I made a contract to fur¬ 
nish him with what cream he needed, and I have been 
in his place of business nearly every day during the 
ice cream seasons for many years. A rough-board 
shanty, 14x24 feet, and 8 feet high, was erected in the 
rear of a store building ; in it was placed a 10-gallon 
triple-motion freezer, run by a three-horse-power 
steam engine, which has been replaced by an electric 
motor. A number each of 1-quart, 2-quart, and 1, 2, 
3, 4, 5, 10 and 20-gallon cans, together with tubs of 
suitable dimensions for packing purposes, were se¬ 
cured. The cans were greased with lard inside and 
out ar, the close of season, and stored away to prevent 
rust, and the tubs were nicely painted blue. A few 
paddles and an ice crusher additional, were all the 
appliances needed in the manufacture of ice cream. 
This cream'was introduced as the Boss ice cream, 
and to-day is favorably known, not only in this vicin¬ 
ity, but over a good portion of Ohio and eastern Penn¬ 
sylvania. It is made from cream that would churn 
1)4 pound of butter per gallon ; five gallons of this 
cream, three pounds of granulated sugar, 12 fresh eggs 
beaten, and the purest of flavoring extracts, are 
placed in the freezer. When frozen, the 10-gallon 
freezer is full to overflowing; thus five gallons of 
plain cream produce 10 gallons of ice cream. Eggs 
are used mostly to color the cream, as by the process 
of freezing, the natural color is lost. The cream sells 
for 50 cents per quart, 75 cents per one-half gallon, 
and $1 per gallon and over. 
To work up the trade, cream was furnished to pro¬ 
prietors of ice-cream parlors, hotel and boarding¬ 
house keepers in any quantity, at $1 per gallon. Every 
morning, a wagon containing a box of crushed ice 
made the rounds, and repacked all cream, if any was 
left over, free of charge. 1 f any cream had melted too 
much, so that it could not be repacked, the amount 
was measured and taken back, and credit given at the 
same rate at which it was sold. This cream was 
frozen again, and one gallon of it made two gallons of ice 
cream, thus giving a profit to the owner again. This 
method so pleased all parties, that many that had 
frozen their own cream, quit it, and bought it already 
frozen. Many small candy stores put in tables, and 
sold ice cream, as it required no outlay for manufac¬ 
turing. 
Another way of introducing this cream was resorted 
to ; when an ice cream social was given in town for 
the benefit of a church or any charitable institution, 
five gallons of cream were donated, and if any was 
left over it was taken back and credit given as above 
mentioned. In this manner the Boss ice cream was 
soon well and favorably known without the use of 
much printers’ ink. 
Next a popular druggist who had a good soda water 
trade, was approached and persuaded to put a tea¬ 
spoonful of ice cream into every glass of soda water, 
and a sign : “Ice Cream Soda Water” was hung out ; 
this proved so popular that inside of 10 days, a sign : 
“ Ice Cream Soda” was seen in every place where soda 
water was sold in town. More than double the quan¬ 
tity of soda water was consumed the first season than 
in any previous season, and to-day soda without ice 
cream is not wanted. 
A wagon selling as small a quantity as five cents’ 
worth, was started in the outskirts of town, giving 
the people a taste of this cream, and at the same time 
advertising the places at which it was sold. The 
trade this man has worked up and held in the face of 
opposition, is wonderful; his sales some weeks amount 
to 2,000 gallons. While it is perfectly feasible to 
freeze cream on the farm, an office or storage place is 
almost a necessity in town, as often cream is wanted 
during the day over and above the quantity delivered 
in the morning. J. Bollinger. 
Trumbull County, Ohio. 
WHAT SAY? 
Separator or Creamer. —I have a small herd of 
cows averaging five or six ; I wish to sell cream and 
make a little butter for a retail route. Which would 
be the best, a creamer or a separator ? Are the hand 
separatoi's practical machines ? There is a sale for 
the skim-milk, and it would be fresher from the 
separator. Which would make the most cream by 
measure, the creamer or the separator, from the same 
amount of milk ? G. E. G. 
Stratham, N. II. 
R. N.-Y.—Under these circumstances our own choice 
would be a separator. 
Insurance Rates. —Insurance agents are doing 
quite a large business in this and adjoining counties, 
for a company in Brooklyn, N. Y. They take risks 
against loss or damage by fire or lightning, wind 
storms and tornadoes, at a rate of S3 per S100, and 
charge an extra policy or surveyor’s fee of $2.5 
This appears to me to be a very high rate. Are there 
other companies as good, that charge lower rates on 
farm property ? A. R. 
Raglesville, Ind. 
R. N.-Y.—Let us have figures showing rates paid by 
others of our readers—particularly by those who be¬ 
long to coQperative companies. 
What Ails the Pork? —Can any of your readers 
tell me how to salt pork so that it will not spoil ? I 
have had trouble for a number of years. At first the 
brine becomes “milky”—white on top—then the pork 
gets pink inside, with a slight odor, and then is not 
really fit for use. I have always packed in a barrel, a 
layer of coarse salt, then a tier of pork, then salt, and 
so on. I let the pork get thoroughly cool and, of 
course, keep it covered with brine ; but it does not 
keep well. Last year, 1 packed it in stone jars, but 
with the same results as in barrels. h. f. g. 
Connecticut. 
It. N.-Y".—The conditions seem to be all right to 
make the pork keep sweet and good, and we can see 
no reason why it should not. Can any of our readers 
shed any light on the subject? 
A Tough Milk Problem. —My trouble with milk is 
this : I feed no brewers’ grains, using only the best 
grain, of different kinds, and solid clover hay. Under 
that system, I naturally get a very rich milk, aver¬ 
aging about a half pint of cream in every quart of 
milk. As soon as drawn, the milk is carried up stairs 
to my milkroom, where it is aerated, cooled ice cold, 
bottled, and then set in a tank with ice overhead drip¬ 
ping on it all the time. The bottles stand in ice water 
up to the top of the jar. If that milk were kept cold 
till used, I should have no trouble. But many people 
are careless, and let it get warm before they put it on 
ice, and then it is gone. Now I want some method 
whereby the most careless could not make it sour in 
three days if they wished to do so. G. w. s. 
R. N.-Y.—“Pasteurizing” the milk or heating it to 
150 degrees before bottling, might help, or keeping it 
packed in cracked ice until delivered. Education of 
the consumer is the surest—and hardest—solution. 
Roue in the Coop.— My chickens were all in the best 
of health, when all at once they had an attack of 
roup. A few have watery and swollen eyes, many had 
a rattling in their throats, and others a peculiar gape 
with a stretching of the necks like young chicks 
having gapes. I have about 400 sleeping in three dif¬ 
ferent places, all dry and without draughts ; but dur¬ 
ing the day, they have unlimited range. I would like 
to have the experience of other poultrymen as to how 
to tide them over the attack, and get them fit for 
market, as I intend to sell about 200. It does not 
seem to be very fatal, as only two have died so far. 
Those with unclean nostrils I keep by themselves, and 
the worst cases I treat with the hatchet. I make them 
work for all they eat except their morning mash, and 
feed light since the attack. Is it contagious by con¬ 
tact, or is it because they are exposed to the same 
cause or causes ? m. g. s. 
Dover, Pa. 
R. N.-Y.—We shall be pleased to have our readers 
tell what they have done to treat this disease. Send 
to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, 
D. C., for a copy of the new pamphlet on Infectious 
Diseases of Poultry. Roup or diphtheria, when well 
advanced, is highly contagious, and badly affected 
birds should be placed by themselves in a warm, dry 
place. Dr. Salmon says that, in his experiments with 
this disease, many hens were cured simply by keeping 
them in the dry, warm air of the laboratory. Feed 
ginger or some other stimulant in the soft food, and 
bathe the head, nostrils and throat with kerosene— 
using a feather to apply it. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Homemade Fertilizer ; Bone and Ashes. —To dis¬ 
solve bones with ashes, I pack in a large salt kettle 
holding about 12C gallons. A layer of bones and a 
layer of ashes are well packed till the kettle is full, and 
wet with strong lye till fully saturated. Keep in this 
condition six months, then remove to barrels or boxes 
under cover, adding dry, unleached wood ashes to 
absorb the excess of moisture so that they will not 
leach. I keep six months longer in a cellar or base¬ 
ment where they will not freeze. Most of the bones 
can then be ground fine with a hoe ; add dry leached 
ashes to absorb moisture, also about 200 pounds of 
land plaster and sift through common coal sieve. 
Such bones as are not softened, I re-pack another 
year. I find that a shovel will cut through most of 
the bones at the end of the first six months. Next 
spring I shall sink a kettle in the ground so as to 
protect from freezing, and leave the bones in pack 
one year, covered with boards to keep out the rain ; 
in winter, I shall protect with straw and earth. 
Would it be any advantage to add a layer of unslaked 
lime broken in small lumps, with each layer of bone 
and ashes, either as a fertilizer or to aid in softening 
the bones ? What will be the fertilizing value of this 
product? Why is not this a cheap and easy way to 
utilize the bones that accumulate on every farm ? 
Can you suggest a better method ? For a leach tub, 
I use No. 22 sheet iron, 28 inches wide and eight feet 
long, making a cylinder 28 inches deep, 30 inches in 
diameter, riveted ; hoops for top and bottom may be 
made from old light tires. It should be painted with 
coal tar inside and out, and will last many years if 
emptied each time as soon as the strength is out of 
the ashes, and cleaned and re-painted. For a plat¬ 
form, I use a large, flat stone, the whole outfit costing 
less than $7. G. s. 
Summit Station, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—The lime will be of little advantage, as 
the wood ashes contain a large percentage of lime 
anyway—all that is needed. The value will depend 
on the amount of ashes used. The bones thus treated 
are worth as much as any of the dissolved bones. 
“ Discing” and Drilling for Corn. —Several acres 
of land were last winter moderately treated with 
stable manure, which had been drawn and piled dur¬ 
ing the summer, and so had little coarse straw in it. 
The surface was disced over four times, and then the 
corn planted in drills. The corn (yellow dent) grew 
finely, seemed to stand the drought remarkably up to 
nearly full growth : but then, when one shower— 
—which did not come—would have put it all right, 
the blistering, evaporating heat prevailing was too 
much for it, and the crop was somewhat lessened, 
with more imperfect ears than in a good season. 
Another field only partially fertilized, was deeply 
plowed, harrowed immediately before the surface 
dried out, and planted with a flint corn (Dutton). 
That suffered from drought much more, and partially 
filled ears are more numerous. Cultivating was done 
with eagle-claw shovels, shallow and, for the most 
part, as flat as possible. A weeder was used across 
the drills to keep down the weeds in the drills. When 
used at the right time, and across the drills, it was 
effectual. A man set to use it, thought it was injur¬ 
ing the corn, and so went lengthwise of the rows ; re¬ 
luctantly allowing that part to remain till the next 
time, I found that I had a fringe of weeds too large 
for the weeder, and hoeing was necessary. Where the 
weeder was properly used, there were no weeds. Some 
rows were hilled up as much as the small shovels set 
at an angle, would do it ; the corn was certainly as 
good, I think perceptibly better, there. Two or three 
spots that caught a little more than their share of 
water from one dashing shower, showed unmistakably 
that one additional shower would have perfected a 
full crop. 
Planting corn on stubble or corn ground prepared 
with a disc pulverizer, is done here to a small extent. 
It seems to be in this trial better than spring plow¬ 
ing. Perhaps the dressing of manure being fined and 
pretty thoroughly mixed with the surface soil, was 
more beneficial than plowing would have made it. 
That was my idea w’hen the ground was prepared, and 
I shall certainly continue the practice on old ground. 
Monroe, Wis. _ w. 
r] 'Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.l 
A NEGLECTED KANSAS ORCHARD. 
I have an orchard of 50 acres, 10 years old ; the varieties are 
Ben Davis, Jonathan, Missouri Pippin, Rawle’s Genet and Wine 
Sap. The land is very rich and rolling, the trees are very large 
for their age. The orchard is seeded to Red clover. The trees 
were not trimmed severely enough when young, and they have 
become too bushy, with many cross branches and too many 
branches low down; some of these lower branches and cross 
branches have attained a very large size, as much as two inches 
in diameter. I wish to trim as many of these out as possible, and 
thin the branches out for sunlight and air, but am afraid that 
this severe pruning will blight them. They have borne very little 
fruit so far, but are large enough and old enough, it seems to me, 
for me to expect a large crop next season. The trees are 35 feet 
apart each way. What would you advise ? I have plenty of time 
to trim them now, but little time in spring. Would you advise 
cultivation during spring and summer, and spraying with kero¬ 
sene, and in what proportion and at what time would it be advis¬ 
able ? c. D. B. 
Atchison, Kan. 
Plow, Crop and Prune. 
In the first place, plow the orchard this fall, and 
leave it rough for the action of the frost. In the 
spring, cut it down with a disc harrow or the common 
harrow. Then either plant corn or cultivate the or¬ 
chard during the summer, and keep it clean in either 
event. During this winter, scrape the bodies of the 
trees, and wash them with strong whitewash, or lye 
