824 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 14 
No matter whether they are washed by customers or 
not, they are all scoured and scalded before refilling 1 . 
Fig. 267 shows the interior of the cleaning room. A 
row of soapstone tubs extends down the center with 
pipes for hot and cold water hanging over them. The 
floor of this room is made of cement, with slope 
enough to give perfect drainage. When the empty 
bottles come back from town, they are put into these 
tubs and thoroughly scoured in boiling water and 
soda. Tfye modern milk bottle is really a jar, and as 
there is no metal cover, it can be easily scoured with 
a stiff brush. After draining, the bottles are hung on 
pegs inside a large wood chest. This chest is closed 
and steam let in under a pressure of 40 pounds. After 
10 minutes of this steaming, it is needless to say that 
the last bacteria have given up the ghost of a chance 
for starting sourness in the next bottleful of milk. 
Steam is a wonderful cleanser, and it would be well 
if all dairymen could make use of it. 
There may be many people who think some of these 
manipulations are uncalled for. They think that milk 
prepared in the ordinary way, is “good enough,” and 
that customers have no business to call for anything 
better. Such men take a wrong view of the matter. 
The recent discussion about tuberculosis and other 
diseases that may be conveyed in milk, have made 
the better class of customers exceedingly careful in 
buying it. The public begin to recognize that there 
are as many grades to milk as there are to fruit, and 
that the difference between good and bad samples is 
due to care and handling of the product. Whether a 
tree produces large and fair apples of good flavor, or 
gnarled and wormy specimens, will depend on the 
man who owns and cultivates the tree. It is just so 
with the cow. It is the man and his methods that 
will make or unmake the milk, and the better classes 
of buyers are beginning to see this point. A shrewd 
milkman, therefore, will make himself and his methods 
as neat and pleasant as possible, and then advertise 
them as widely as possible. That is to be the secret 
of success in the future milk business. h. w. c. 
MAKING THE DWELLING ROOM CHEERFUL 
The approach of Christmas reminds me to call at¬ 
tention to the desirability of having some nice ever¬ 
green provided for the Christmas tree. It is becoming 
a custom with many to dig an evergreen suitable for 
the purpose before the ground freezes, and stand it 
in a large pot or tub. If dug carefully, the tree will 
thrive indoors all winter, and in spring it may be 
planted out of doors. Aside from a purpose of this 
kind, evergreens are very useful to give a cheerful 
look to dwelling rooms in winter. It would surprise 
many to know the number of such plants used in 
cities in the winter time. Plants from one to two 
feet high are used, selecting rather taller ones for 
hallways or large rooms. They are dug from the open 
ground about the time the first frosts come, and 
flowers are destroyed in the garden. The many varie¬ 
ties of Japanese cedars, Retinisporas, are excellent 
for the purpose. This is especially true of R. plumosa, 
plumosa aurea, squarrosa and compacta. The Nor¬ 
way and the Hemlock spruce, the Chinese juniper 
and the German Globe arbor-vitas, are also useful. The 
common arbor-vitas and its varieties, do not keep 
of a good green color in the winter season, and so 
are not good to use. These evergreens may be had 
nowadays for quite as small a sum as greenhouse 
plants of the same size would command, or less, and 
besides the cheerfulness their bright green appear¬ 
ance imparts to a room, there is the advantage of 
being able to use them on the lawn in spring, 
planting them permanently, if desired, or setting 
them in some place where they may be dug up again 
in the fall for further use in the dwelling room. 
When winter reigns and inclement weather pre¬ 
vails, it is a cheering sight to see evergreens in the 
house. Besides those mentioned above, there are 
many palms which have proved well adapted to dwell¬ 
ing-rooms. Among them are these : Areca lutescens, 
Latania Borbonica, Cocos Weddeliana and Kentia 
Balmoreana. The first named is especially valuable, 
flourishing even for several years in the same pot and 
in the same room ; and all four kinds have been tried 
with satisfactory results. They need plenty of water, 
as, indeed, do all house plants. It is rarely the case 
that a plant in a dwelling-room would be over watered 
if given water every day. In addition to this, a spong¬ 
ing of the leaves should be frequently performed, to 
clear the plant of dust and insects. Palms are not as 
expensive as they were ; and then they are good for 
so many seasons’ use. 
Contrary to the general opinion, Maiden-hair ferns 
do well in windows. They do not mind some sunlight 
in winter, but in the summer, must be in the shade. 
They require lots of water at the root, but not so 
much overhead, excepting when the room is quite 
warm, when it will not harm them. One of them, the 
Adiantum cuneatum, is a great deal used; it is so 
pretty. Another, A. Farleyense, has larger foliage, 
and is very much admired. Ferns, as well as all plants 
indoors, should have their pots set in saucers, both to 
catch the water, and to hold it in reserve incase of an 
omission to supply the plants at the proper time. In 
a dry room, the pots will soon absorb what the saucer 
catches. Joseph meehan. 
Pennsylvania. _ 
WATER FOR HOUSE, BARN AND GARDEN. 
THE HYDRAULIC RAM NEVER TAKES A DRAM. 
A Metal Hired Man That Lives on Water. 
We had a good well of pure water, but in very dry 
times, the supply was limited, and we could not get 
all that was necessary. On the back part of the farm, 
some 60 rods from the house, were several fine springs 
a few rods apart, coming out at the foot of elevated 
land. These springs all gave pure, cold water. They 
were so located that it was not possible for them in 
any way to be contaminated. In 1884, the well being 
quite low, we concluded to make use of the springs, 
which had never shown any signs of failure, and avail 
ourselves of what seemed designed for our special use 
and benefit. Accordingly, we made a survey of the 
situation, and found that we must elevate the water 
about 50 feet, as our house stands on the elevated land 
of the farm. 
At about an equal distance from the springs, a res¬ 
ervoir four feet in diameter and five feet deep, was 
constructed of brick laid up in water-lime mortar, 
plastered with the same inside and out, and banked 
up and the top covered with duplicate covers to pre¬ 
vent freezing and keep out anything that might get 
into the water. The springs were also bricked up 
and covered, and pipes laid to connect the several 
springs with the reservoir. These pipes enter the 
reservoir near the bottom. We bought a hydraulic 
ram No. 5, and located that about 125 feet from the 
reservoir, and about eight feet lower than the springs 
and the same number of feet lower than the top of 
the water in the reservoir. We put in a three-inch 
drive pipe, and connected the same near the top with 
the reservoir and with the ram. From the ram to the 
house, we laid a 1%-inch pipe, and connected the 
same with a galvanized iron tank holding several 
barrels, and located in the kitchen, into which the 
water when let on was first conveyed. Over the ram 
was built a solid house of durable plank, six feet 
square and six feet high. This was banked up all 
around and double covered, a place being fixed to be 
opened from the top when necessary to inspect the 
ram. 
Piping is connected with the kitchen tank, and takes 
the overflow or surplus water, conveying it to the 
barn into tanks for watering horses, cattle and sheep 
in their several apartments. The surplus from the 
barn is conveyed in pipes to a watering trough in the 
chicken coop and yard, and from thence the overflow 
keeps going down bill to the vegetable garden. Clean 
water is also piped to the pigpen. The lawn and 
flower garden are sprinkled by pipes and hose con¬ 
nected with the kitchen tank. A small greenhouse, 
16x30 feet, attached to the dwelling on the south side, 
is also sprinkled and watered. 
The water is conveyed in and through the house 
wherever the wife desires it, as there is plenty of it 
and ample power to force it wherever needed. Water 
is also conveyed to the water closet, and that kept 
so as not to be offensive and unhealthful. Faucets 
are in the tank for drawing water for the kitchen, 
and a faucet is also put in the pipe which discharges 
into the tank, so that for drinking purposes, the water 
is taken out before it reaches the tank, being some¬ 
what colder than that standing in the tank. The milk 
room gets what is needed. By this arrangement, the 
good wife and those using the kitchen, have only to 
take a step and turn a faucet to get water for all 
uses needed. No stagnant water is allowed on the 
farm, and all the stock is furnished with pure spring 
water. Our slop and water-closet drains discharge 
several rods from the house on to the vegetable gar¬ 
den, which lies some 30 or more feet below the house. 
No slops are thrown out on the ground near the 
house, and no filth is allowed to accumulate. By rea¬ 
son of impure water and the accumulation of filth 
and nuisances near the house, and imperfect house 
drains, thousands of innocent lives are lost every 
year. When an innocent life is sacrificed from these 
causes, the preacher tries to console by calling it 
Providence, when he should say to the head of the 
family, “ Thou art the man, ignorant though you may 
be, but nevertheless guilty.” 
During the dry weather last summer, the wells of 
some of the near neighbors failed, and we, hav¬ 
ing plenty of water, made them welcome to all the 
water they needed, including water for the stock. A 
man has no business to have a good thing of this 
kind unless he allows his neighbors to share with him. 
We are now building a reservoir cistern a short dis¬ 
tance from the house, near the brow of the hill, to 
hold between 50 and 100 barrels of water. The cost 
for digging and plastering will be but little compared 
with the benefits to be derived from such a cistern in 
dry times. It will be filled as needed with surplus 
water when not needed at the barn. From the bottom 
of the reservoir, will be laid piping running down 
the hill about 30 feet, and out about six rods to the 
center of the vegetable garden. Water will be let 
into this pipe from the cistern when needed, and a 
rubber hose attached to the end for sprinkling quite 
a large area devoted to vegetables and small fruits, 
and also for sprinkling our gladiolus, as we have 
several thousand more than we can put out in the 
flower garden proper. I believe that they will do 
better when sprinkled than when irrigated by water 
running over the surface. 
At the foot of the hill we have arranged for tapping 
the pipe and using the water for power to do the 
churning, and to turn the grindstone. Just what 
device we shall use to transmit the power to the 
house has not yet been decided on, so 1 cannot 
describe it now very minutely. From 50 to 100 
barrels of water, with a fall of 30 feet, must be 
more than ample to do any ordinary churning on 
the farm. We propose to harness nature to do 
the churning and other work so much dreaded, and 
relieve the hired man so that he can be with the team 
at other farm work, as nature thus harnessed will 
work without pay, and laugh with copious tears run¬ 
ning over the face. 
Nothing comes so near perpetual motion unless it 
be the tides of the ocean, as a well-constructed and 
well-located hydraulic ram in full operation. Noth¬ 
ing else is so useful on the farm where there are 
facilities for using one. The pump often gets out of 
repair; so does the windmill, which needs atten¬ 
tion and oiling every few days; but the water ram 
furnishes its own lubricator—water—and seldom 
needs any care. The water ram is the only hired 
man on the farm that works night and day without 
wages, and boards itself, asking nothing, apparently, 
but appreciation and a visit occasionally from its 
employer to see that it gets nothing but pure, cold 
water, and plenty of it. 
The reader will see that by the arrangement 
described, the wife gets the first benefit of this water 
system. This is just as it should be. The wife should 
always have the best things of the farm and garden 
first. The first flowers, the first strawberries and the 
first best fruits of every kind, before any one else has 
a taste. And what a joy it is to gather and give 
them, too. Does any one want a streak of sunshine 
and happiness running all through him, and feel for 
a little while as though in the presence of angels? 
Let him, after having provided pure, cold water for 
the family, go out in the early morning and gather 
the first flowers and the first ripe strawberries and 
give them to the wife and mother. s. s. bailey. 
Kent Co., Mich._ 
TRAINING COLTS TO “KNEE ACTION.” 
I called Mr. S. H. Hogan’s attention to the article 
on high stepping horses, page 738, and asked him 
whether he indorsed it fully. He said: “You may 
quote me as saying that, in my judgment, the evils 
arising from falsely training colts are especially to be 
emphasized and condemned. A larger number of 
promising colts have their value curtailed by per¬ 
nicious training than by half the ills to which horse¬ 
flesh is heir. The “ Hackney action,” so called, can 
hardly be trained into a colt in one generation, or in 
a half dozen, for that matter. If your fancy runs 
Hackney-ward, the proper thing to do is to breed to 
Hackney stock. I would never try to break a colt 
from his natural pace, though proper exercise is 
advisable.” 
“ You do not, then, advise the addition of weight to 
induce knee action ? ” I asked. 
“ No, I do not. I have seen several colts in differ¬ 
ent stages of the experiment (and it is strange how 
long it takes people to digest thoroughly some ex¬ 
periments), and it requires no very great amount of 
discernment for a horseman to tell genuine knee 
action from that which has been acquired. There 
is a certain spasmodic jerk to the action, after the 
weight has been removed, that, to me, is always 
ludicrously suggestive of stringhalt. With the genu¬ 
ine Hackney action, this is not true ; there is no 
effort, no stoppage, but a smooth, steady swing. One 
may tinker with Nature all he chooses in breeding, 
but when it comes to training, he would better let 
Nature alone.” 
“ But is there not such a thing as applying devices 
to assist Nature ? ” I asked. 
“Oh, yes ; but it is not Nature for a colt sired by 
a Thoroughbred running stallion, to develop Hackney 
action. Appliances to induce knee action where it is 
natural, will do very well; but an effort to force 
unnatural action into a colt, will meet with failure, 
