THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 28 
shows the rake as used in an orchard. It can, also, 
be used in a vineyard, or for raking corn stalks, melon, 
pea or bean vines. If need be, it can be put on low 
wheels when carried from place to place. 
THE OLD FARM TEAM. 
over, or 
lost time, and one is puzzled to know 
what to do with all the cream, as very 
little is used. While this was a great 
worry, I practically mastered the ob¬ 
stacles in the following way : A rough 
ice box of suitable dimensions to hold 
10 20-gallon packing cans, with 
space 
for ice around them, was erected. As 
soon as I had more cream than was used 
daily, the 10 cans were packed in ice, in 
the same way in which ice cream is 
packed. The surplus cream was now 
evenly divided among the 10 cans, and 
all the cream sold was taken from these 
cans. If 10 gallons were sold, one gal¬ 
lon was taken from each can, and the 
fresh cream, as soon as skimmed, was 
evenly divided again among the 10 cans. In this man¬ 
ner, I kept cream sweet for 10 days and over, thus 
tiding me over a cool spell; then with a lot of cream 
on hand, and a daily supply added to it, a hot spell, 
that usually followed, had no terrors for me. But 
when freezing old cream mixed with new, one must 
be careful and start the freezer slowly, and stop every 
few revolutions at first, until the cream is at the freez¬ 
ing point; if these precautions are not observed, one 
is more likely to get butter than ice cream. 
To handle cream in the above mentioned way (and 
remember, no Preservaline, the dirty milkman’s ref¬ 
uge, or any other drug, was used) perfect cleanliness 
n milking and handling milk, and above all, in wash¬ 
ing cans and utensils, must be observed. 
We had a good-sized box in which cans 
were washed first in cold water ; then 
we could turn a steam pipe from the 
boiler into the box, and heat the water 
in a few minutes ; washing soda being 
jf added, with the help of a good root 
brush, utensils were washed perfectly. 
After washing, steam was turned into 
the cans until they were very hot, thus 
securing the best results. Sometimes, 
A CALIFORNIA ORCHARD AND VINEYARD RAKE. Fig. 278. 
unusually 
long, and we were obliged to churn some 
of the oldest cream ; but we had a ready 
sale for all the butter we made. To get 
rid of buttermilk and skim-milk, I 
started a wagon lettered as follows : 
Sweet Skim-Milk and Fresh Buttermilk. 
TWO QUARTS FOR FIVE CENTS. 
This wagon was run at first on the 
streets where the employees of fac¬ 
tories and shops lived. Instead of using 
tea or coffee with their dinners, ice cool, sweet skim- 
milk proved a healthful substitute; often in hot 
weather, bread and skim-milk were relished by these 
working people and their cli ldren for supper. Pud¬ 
ding and custards were had oftener than when milk 
had to be bought at six cents per quart, the regular 
milkman’s price. It was but a short time before I 
had a trade worked up, that took all the milk I had, 
and often I did not have enough to go around. People 
on other streets soon left word for the wagon to call 
there. Boarding houses and bake-shops soon became 
steady customers, and one baker gave me a standing 
order for 10 gallons a day. He used it to mix up some 
bread dough, which he sold for cream bread, and had 
a big run on it. But this milk was not diluted with 
water, and as cream was taken from it by the cold, 
deep-setting process, a little more cream was left in 
it than the separator now leaves. Separator milk 
has very little butter-fat remaining in it, and, conse¬ 
quently, may not be quite so desirable as that from 
the creamer. j. BOLLINGER. 
Trumbull County, O. 
A CALIFORNIA BRUSH RAKE. 
Various devices have been used for 
clearing the trimmings and brush out of 
vineyai’ds and orchards after pruning. 
♦This is a big job on large fruit planta¬ 
tions, and, sometimes, a costly one for 
lack of the right tools. Some farmers 
use a hayrake; others use a cultivator widened out, and-board boy follows one, while I take the other, 
and with most of the teetli removed, and others haul The children ride, changing from one horse to the 
a long pole lengthwise of the rows, scratching or other, child fashion, to rest themselves. Thanks to 
pushing the brush together. In California, this work Mr. Newton for his one-horse rig for harrowing corn, 
of taking out brush is very costly. The prunimrs are but why not add another section of harrow and an- 
heavier than in Eastern orchards, and there are vast other horse ? I shall try both ways next season, 
tracts of ground to be gone over. In a country where Troupsburg, N. Y. w. b. 
the greatest expense is in hand labor, and where 
every device for utilizing horse power is adopted, it is 
not strange that inventors have tried to solve the 
brush-raking problem. Mr. W. C. Anderson, of San 
Jos6, has invented a brush rake like the one shown 
at Figs. 278 and 279. It is made of oak or hickory, 
with teeth 18 inches long, and attached directly to the 
shafts. A slatted fender or guard hangs from the 
shafts on hinges so that the ends drag on the ground 
between the teeth. This fender, of course, rises as 
brush is gathered. It keeps the brush in compact 
shape, and cleans the rake of brush while dumping. 
There is a lever on the rake, and, by lifting on it, the 
rake is raised, and the fender cleans off the brush 
from the teeth, and then rides over the pile. Fig. 279 
HOW THE ANDERSON BRUSH RAKE WORKS. Fig. 279. 
SELLING ICE CREAM AND SKIM-MILK. 
Some reasons for not trying to make ice cream on 
the farm, as urged by P. B. C., on page 775, are only 
imaginary, while others are real and have caused me 
much worry and labor to overcome. The imaginary 
reasons are: That “all the Sunday schools in the 
neighborhood will take it into their heads to hold a 
picnic on a certain day, and there is again a great de¬ 
mand for ice cream. Then there will be a run of 
church suppers and a corresponding demand for ice 
cream ; but on the day of the supper the weather will 
turn cold or rainy * * * and the next morning 
the ice cream man will have a lot of ice cream thrown 
