896 
"Uhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
June  IT,  1910. 
Business 
Eggs  by  Parcel  Post 
I  las  F.  B.  B.,  page  7N5.  written  to  the 
postmaster  at  New  York  and  Brooklyn? 
It  may  do  more  good  than  to  write  to 
Washington.  I  have  been  having  some 
trouble  lately  with  eggs  getting  broken 
through  the  mail.  After  sending  them  a 
year  or  more  without  their  getting  brok¬ 
en  it  looked  to  me  like  carelessness  on 
some  one’s  part.  It  was  hinted  to  me 
that  they  were  tired  of  carrying  egg 
packages,  and  were  careless  on  purpose. 
Surely  if  parcel  post  is  to  he  of  great 
benefit  to  farmers  they  will  have  to  he 
able  to  send  eggs,  especially  at  this  time 
of  year.  Of  course  if  the  special  de¬ 
livery  boy  falls  off  his  bicycle  and  the 
handle  bars  run  through  a  six-dozen  pack¬ 
age  of  eggs,  as  happened  in  my  case,  it.  is 
different.  But  to  have  the  next  lot  go 
and  he  received  looking  as  if  a  keg 
of  nails  had  been  set  on  it  or  it  had  been 
played  ball  with  is  another  tiling.  I 
wrote  to  the  postmaster  in  Lawrence, 
where  the  eggs  were  sent,  and  received 
a  very  nice  reply ;  also  spoke  to  the  post¬ 
master  hero  in  Concord,  and  he  puts  a 
red  tag  on  them  with  “1  .  S.  M.  FRAG¬ 
ILE”  on  it.  claiming  if  they  get  broken 
it  can  more  easily  he  traced  to  the  party 
handling  them.  As  yet.  there  have  been 
no  more  broken.  Du  fowl  they  mark 
“PERISHABLE,”  which  I  thought  was 
nice  to  have  done,  although  I  always 
mark  such  packages  myself.  There  is  a 
difference  in  people ;  some  are  naturally 
more  careful  than  others. 
ANNA  D.  LOVERING. 
Massachusetts. 
Hatching  Eggs  by  Motor  Cycle 
T  am  writing  this  in  Hie  hope  that  my 
experience  may  help  solve  the  trouble  of 
shipping  hatching  eggs  by  parcel  post. 
Iu .  April  I  received  three  settings  of 
eggs  by  pared  post  (insured)  and  placed 
them  in  my  incubator  with  about  00  eggs 
from  my  own  flock.  On  testing  at  the 
tenth  day,  not  one  of  the  three  settings 
which  1  had  received  by  parcel  post,  show¬ 
ed  very  great  signs  of  development,  and 
they  all  had  a  watery  appearance,  while 
those  from  my  own  flock  showed  strong 
and  firm.  Not  an  egg  of  the  three  set¬ 
tings  hatched.  The  breeder  made  an  ad¬ 
justment  with  me.  and  the  eggs  to  re¬ 
place  were  delivered  to  me  in  person. 
At  the  same  time  I  received  30  eggs  from 
a  friend  in  Connecticut  by  parcel  post 
and  set:  the  eggs  all  together.  At  the  tenth 
day  test  the  eggs  which  were  delivered  to 
nie  in  person  showed  strong  and  firm, 
while  the  ones  which  came  by  parcel  post 
were  the  same  as  the  first  batch,  watery 
and  weak,  although  I  know  the  flock  from 
which  they  came  were  giving  very  good 
results  to  the  owner.  This  morning  I 
saw  the  parcel  post  delivery  for  my  sec¬ 
tion,  a  motor  cycle  with  packages 
strapped  all  over  it.  Now  can  you  im¬ 
agine  any  postmaster  with  a  grain  oi 
common  sense  having  hatching  eggs  de¬ 
livered  on  a  motor  cycle?  Seventy-five 
eggs  is  the  loss  that  motor  cycle  has 
caused  me.  not  counting  the  loss  of  early 
chicks.  I  hope  this  experience  will  be  the 
cause  of  saving  some  other  subscriber 
the  same  loss.  CiiAS.  O.  lewis. 
New  York. 
Cheap  Building  Material 
One  of  our  readers  in  a  Massachusetts 
shoe  town  is  going  back  to  the  land  in  a 
very  sensible  way.  lie  has  bought  a 
small  tract  outside  of  town  and  is  slow¬ 
ly  planting  an  orchard,  on  a  moderate 
scale.  He  has  a  little  hut  or  shack  on 
this  farm  where  he  can  go  with  his  boys 
from  time  to  time,  put  in  work  on  the 
farm  and  live  with  fair  comfort  when¬ 
ever  he  can  get  a  few  days  off.  Now  lie 
wants  to  increase  the  .size  of  his  little 
hut.  and  is  looking  about  for  cheap  build¬ 
ing  material.  He  finds  a  large  number 
of  boxes  iu  which  wire  is  shipped.  These 
boxes  are  made  of  four  boards,  the  tops 
about  10  to  20  inches,  and  the  sides  about 
eight  to  20  inches.  They  cau  be  bought 
at  2(4  cents  apiece,  and  by  knocking 
them  apart  and  crating  up  the  boards  a 
large  amount  of  lumber  can  be  accumu¬ 
lated  during  the  season.  Rough  hemlock 
hoards  are  worth  $.r>0  per  1000  so  these 
boxes  make  cheap  material.  Imagine  the 
waste  of  cutting  up  good  lumber  into 
these  small  boxes,  using  them  to  ship 
one  lot  of  wire  about  40  miles,  and  then 
breaking  them  up  into  firewood.  A  part 
of  the  high  Cost  of  making  shoes  evidently 
comes  out  of  this  practice,  but  instead  of 
letting  them  go  to  kindle  the  fire  our 
friend  will  use  them  to  build  his  house. 
Business-like  Summer  Boarding 
Unquestionably  Summer  hoarders  may 
be  very  profitable  if  handled  intelligently, 
but  many  people  think  anyone  can  “keep 
hoarders.”  and.  with  this  idea,  the  Sum¬ 
mer  guest  will  probably  prove  a  failure. 
We  have  been  fairly  successful,  and  we 
consider  a  good  location  to  be  the  prime 
requisite.  City  people  can  he  lured  to 
almost  any  out-of-the-way  spot,  but  they 
cannot  be  entertained  there  with  any  de¬ 
gree  of  profit.  People  in  search  of  rest 
and  quiet  also  want  convenience,  and  iso¬ 
lated  places  cannot  be  made  convenient, 
as  a  rule,  without  great  expense.  A  trol¬ 
ley  runs  near,  but  not  past,  our  house, 
making  the  ideal  combination. 
The  second  essential  to  success,  if  re¬ 
muneration  be  the  standard,  is  food  supply 
at  cost,  of  production.  Our  own  poultry 
and  dairy,  for  which  we  raise  practically 
all  the  feed,  insures  a  generous  supply  of 
fresh  eggs,  chicken,  milk,  cream,  butter 
and  buttermilk,  at  a  minimum  cost;  and 
we  plan  our  garden  so  as  to  have  a  suc¬ 
cession  of  vegetables  of  all  kinds  all  Sum¬ 
mer.  Many  city  people  are  used  to  com¬ 
paratively  stale  vegetables,  but  they  ap¬ 
preciate  the  first-class  article  when  it  can 
be  served  to  them.  Our  own  garden  also 
furnishes  a  succession  of  cherries  and  all 
kinds  of  berries  including  the  earliest  and 
the  latest  varieties  and  the  everbearers ; 
and  long  before  the  last  guests  are  gone 
our  early  apples,  peaches,  pears,  plums 
and  grapes  arc  ready. 
During  the  Winter  we  butcher  cows 
and  pigs,  from  which  we  prepare  a  gener¬ 
ous  supply  of  smoked  ham  and  bacon, 
corned  beef,  chipped  beef,  sausage,  and 
both  pork  and  beef  canned.  The  canned 
article  is  exactly  the  same  as  fresh  meat, 
so  that  our  only  meat  bill  is  for  certain 
cuts  or  kinds  that  we  happen  to  lack. 
We  have  not.  as  yet.  tried  canning  veal 
or  mutton,  though  I  have  no  doubt  that  it 
can  be  done.  As  a  very  general  rule,  if 
city  people  are  given  an  abundance  of  the 
common  products  of  the  farm  they  don’t 
care  iu  the  least  for  such  delicacies  as 
they  can  buy  in  the  city  all  Winter. 
Many  of  our  guests  tell  ns  that  an  ice 
cream  soda  doesn’t  compare  at  all  with  a 
big  glass  of  iced  buttermilk.  To  be  sure 
we  sometimes  serve  ices  and  frozen  des¬ 
serts.  but  we  make  them  from  our  own 
products.  A  large  hoarding  house  is  not 
at  all  necessary.  We  have  only  four 
rooms  available  for  rent,  but  we  live  ou 
the  shore  of  a  nice  little  lake  famous  for 
its  Summer  resorts,  and  many  of  our 
guests  rent  Summer  cottages  nearby,  do 
light  housekeeping,  and  take  their  meals 
with  us.  R.  A. 
The  Farm  Girl’s  Great  Problem 
Recently  we  received  a  cheerful  letter 
from  a  busy  farm  housewife  in  a  South¬ 
ern  State,  whose  home  in  a  mountain  dis¬ 
trict  oilers  few  opportunities  for  women 
in  gainful  home  industries.  She  lmd  just 
been  buying  cane  seed  and  clothes,  flour 
and  dynamite,  and  had  her  mind  fixed 
upon  a  pump  in  the  kitchen,  and  some 
other  eouvenicueos,  though,  as  she  cheer¬ 
fully  adds,  "For  the  present,  want  must 
be  my  master.”  These  modest  purchases 
had  been  made  possible  by  the  discovery 
that  people  in  the  North  were  interested 
in  old-time  handicrafts,  and  would  buy 
as  antiques  the  hand-woven  bedspreads 
still  found  in  her  neighborhood.  So  this 
busy  woman,  who  is  raising  clucks,  set¬ 
ting  turkeys,  and  earing  for  the  garden, 
in  addition  to  her  regular  housework, 
made  time  to  search  throughout  her 
neighborhood  for  articles  that  would  in¬ 
terest  the  dealer  in  antiques.  Of  course 
such  a  dealer  does  not  pay  the  prices  de¬ 
manded  from  the  final  purchaser,  but 
our  friend  was  sufficiently  repaid  for 
time  and  trouble  to  make  a  reasonable 
profit  and  to  feel  that  she  might  devel¬ 
op  further  trade.  Her  district  is  one  in 
which  old-time  patchwork  is  made,  fol¬ 
lowing  patterns  in  both  piecing  and 
(Uniting  that  go  back  to  Colonial  times, 
and  she  also  found  that  these  quilts, 
filled  with  home-grown  cotton  bats  pos¬ 
sess  interest  for  a  special  class  of  cus¬ 
tomers,  so  it  is  hoped  to  develop  a  trade 
that  will  supply  profitable  Winter  work 
to  some  extent. 
All  over  this  country  there  are  girls 
just  coming  into  bloom,  mothers  in  early 
maturity,  and  grandmothers  looking  off 
into  old  age.  whose  most  earnest  long¬ 
ing  is  exoresseil  iu  the  words.  “If  I  could 
only  earn  some  money  of  my  own !” 
There  is  no  other  occupation  in  which  the 
women  of  the  family  are  such  a  valuable 
asset  as  on  the  farm.  A  farm  widower 
is  both  Finely  and  crippled,  and  many 
a  man  discovers,  in  the  harsh  realities 
of  bereavement,  that  whereas  he  always 
thought  he  supported  his  wife,  it  was  in¬ 
deed  his  wife  who  supported  the  farm. 
When  we  consider  home  industries  for 
women  workers  we  find  the  farm  handi¬ 
capped  by  lack  of  nearby  market,  and 
the  difficulties  encountered  in  finding  a 
more  distant  outlet.  In  many  cases  it 
is  accident  that  first  points  the  way  to 
trade  possibilities.  There  are  not  many 
localities  where  a  trade  may  lie  developed 
like  that  of  our  friend  in  Tennessee,  and 
we  think  most,  farm  women  will  find 
their  opportunities  among  intensive  farm 
crops  that  may  be  manufactured  at  home 
into  superior  table  delicacies,  or  supplied 
in  the  natural  state  to  the  consumer. 
Next  to  home-grown  products  come  the 
hand-made  articles  that  appeal  to  the 
purchaser  through  their  artistic  beauty 
or  their  sturdy  wearing  qualities:  they 
cannot  usually  compete  with  the  ma¬ 
chine-made  in  the  general  market,  but 
must  look  for  a  special  trade.  These  in¬ 
clude  such  articles  as  rugs,  draperies, 
metal  work,  baskets  and  furniture.  Peas¬ 
ant  handicrafts  of  the  Old  World  may 
well  be  studied  by  farm  women  of  new 
America.  What  possibilities  does  your 
neighborhood  afford?  Is  it  a  district  of 
good  roads  and  autoinohilo.  tourists,  who 
may  he  fed  and  catered  t<».  or  is  it  at 
the  back  of  beyond,  with  an  unresponsive 
middleman  at  the  other  end?  .last  reck¬ 
on  up  your  possibilities,  and  remember 
that  behind  everything  else,  hack  of 
every  complaint  of  loneliness,  isolation 
and  monotony  on  the  hard-working  farm, 
comes  the  farm  girl’s  real  problem — "If 
T  only  knew  some  way  of  earning  my 
own  money  on  the  farm /”  E.  T.  R. 
Selling  Roots  and  Herbs 
Is  there  a  market  for  the  medicinal 
roots,  harks  and  herbs  found  in  our  fields 
and  woods?  How  should  they  be  pre¬ 
pared  and  what  prices  will  they  bring? 
VARIOUS  READERS. 
Commercially  there  are  something  over 
200  plants  more  or  less  used  in  the  bo¬ 
tanic  drug  trade.  The  most  common  are 
burdock,  catnip,  bonoset,  dandelion,  dock, 
sorrel,  quack  and  five-finger.  The  prices 
paid  for  the  crude  drugs  are  mainly  low 
(from  three  to  12  cents  tier  pound)  and 
with  many  a  large  amount  of  work  is 
needed  to  gather  a  pound  of  the  dried 
products.  The  business  is  no  quick  road 
to  wealth,  but  makes  a  fair  job  for  odd 
times  and  people  unable  to  do  heavy 
work. 
Following  are  rules  for  gathering  and 
preparing  these  products.  Leaves  are 
gathered  when  the  plant  is  in  flower,  and 
only  the  healthy  green  ones  taken.  Flow¬ 
ers  are  best  as  they  begin  to  open,  and 
before  any  are  withered.  Roots  of  per¬ 
ennials  are  dug  in  late  Fall  or  early 
Spring  before  v  growth  begins;  roots  of 
biennials  in  Fall  of  the  first  year;  and 
roots  of  annuals  just  before  flowering. 
Barks  are  gathered  in  Winter  and 
Spring. 
All  of  these  products  must  be  dried 
and  the  natural  appearance  preserved  as 
nearly  as  possible.  Loaves  aud  flowers 
are  dried  on  racks  in  the  shade  and  kept 
uniler  cover  in  damp  weather  and  at 
night.  Roots  are  washed  but  not  scraped. 
Large  ones,  like  burdock,  may  be  split  to 
hasten  drying.  Prices  paid  by  dealers 
are  usually  matters  of  negotiation  after 
samples  have  been  submitted. 
A  Goon  Floor  Taint. — Get  three 
quarts  of  linseed  oil.  six  pounds  of  yellow 
ochre  and  one-fourth  pound  of  glue.  The 
day  before  you  want  to  use  it,  put  glue 
into  a  quart  of  warm  water  to  dissolve, 
and  have  the  door  scrubbed  so  it  will  bo 
clean  and  dry  when  you  are  ready  to  put 
the  paint  on.  As  soon  as  the  work  in  the 
kitchen  is  done,  iu  the  morning,  put  the 
yellow  ochre  into  an  iron  pot  with  one 
gallon  of  hot  water  and  the  dissolved 
glue.  Stir  all  together  and  let  it  boil 
until  well  mixed  and  smooth.  Put  it  on 
the  floor  while  boiling  hot  and  let  it  dry. 
Ho  not  walk  over  the  floor  any  more  than 
necessary,  and  after  supper  put  on  a  coat 
of  hot  linseed  oil.  This  will  make  the 
color  darker  aud  will  he  dry  by  morning. 
Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  E.  m.  c. 
