J The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
897 
Farm  Women’s  Experience  Club 
Short  Notes  by  Farm  Housewives 
This  page  is  for  letters  from  farm 
women.  Here  we  can  compare  methods 
of  work  and  exchange  opinions  on  what¬ 
ever  interests  us.  There  are  no  rules  ex¬ 
cept  to  give  your  name  and  address, 
which  Avill  not  be  published.  Write  on 
sui.v  subject  you  care  to — suggest,  any 
•subject  you  would  like  to  have  discussed. 
As  many  letters  will  be  published  as 
space  will  allow.  We  cannot  agree  to 
publish  all.  but  will  use  those  best,  suited. 
They  must  be  short  and  give  actual  ex¬ 
perience  or  some  well  thought  out  need, 
A  small  payment  will  be  made  for  letters 
published  here. 
Samples,  by  Mrs.  A.  G.  Doren 
Outdoor  Sleeping. — When  the  hot 
Summer  nights  come,  sleeping  rooms 
sometimes  become  places  of  restless  toss¬ 
ing  instead  of  quiet  sleep.  A  sure  cure 
for  that  discomfort  is  to  sleep  outdoors. 
A  Couple  of  Mischief-makers 
Probably  sleeping  porches  would  be  very 
nice  for  that  purpose.  A  9x12  tent  ob¬ 
tained  with  a  soap  order  does  very  well, 
however.  For  beds,  one  can  use  spring 
or  canvas  cots  or  any  comfortable  old  bed¬ 
stead,  and  it  is  just  as  well  to  use  your 
oldest  bedclothing.  It  is  so  easy  to  drop 
off  lo  sleep  with  the  night  sounds  in  your 
ears,  and  then  apparently  in  so  short  a 
time  to  wake  up  to  lind  tlx*  air  ringing 
with  bird  songs,  yourself  so  refreshed  and 
Ihe  world  in  general  so  perfectly  all  right. 
It  is  great  fun  for  children  to  sleep  in  a 
tent,  and  a  pleasure  to  grown  people  to 
see  them  wake  up  so  jolly  and  hungry. 
Itaiuy  or  stormy  weather  makes  no  differ¬ 
ence.  as  the  tent  is  all  the  more  cozy  and 
it  is  uni  at  all  disagreeable  to  lie  in  the 
warm,  dry  bed  and  listen  to  the  roar  of 
the  storm  outside.  It  is  better  to  use 
outing  blankets  than  col  ton  sheets,  as  the 
latter  feel  cold.  Before  a  rniu  be  sure 
to  see  that  the  bedding  does  not  touch  the 
tent  anywhere,  also  do  not  touch  (la*  top 
or  sides  of  the  tent  during  a  rain,  as  a 
leak  would  probably  result.  When  the 
son  shines  again,  you  can  hang  the  bed¬ 
ding  on  the  line  if  damp.  A  sod  cloth, 
that  is,  a  nine-inch  strip  of  any  stout, 
cloth  should  lie  sewn  lo  the  bottom  of  the 
tent  all  around.  This,  when  weighted 
with  the  bedsteads,  stones  or  anything 
bandy,  will  keep  out  drafts.  Can  anyone 
tell  how  to  make  a  stout  canvas  cot-bed 
that  will  fold  up? 
Farm  Sanitation. — The  farm  papers 
give  plans  for  sewage  disposal  on  farms, 
water  systems,  cesspools,  etc.,  hot  that 
unsightly  nuisance,  the  outdoor  closet, 
continues  to  exist  all  over  Hie  country.  Its 
coldness  in  Winter  is  a  dread  and  a 
menace  to  health,  and  in  Summer  it 
spreads  disease  germs  with  every  crop  of 
flies  from  its  incomparable  lly-breoding 
establishment.  I  wish  it  could  he  ban¬ 
ished  from  existence  in  the  country  as  it 
bus  been  from  most  cities,  but  that  can¬ 
not  be  done  until  a  substitute  is  found 
that  will  bo  within  the  reach  of  the 
poorest  man.  The  so-called  sanitary 
closets  that  1  have  seen  were  not  odor¬ 
less.  though  there  may  be  some  that  are 
entirely  free  from  that,  objection.  I 
should  like  to  know  about  them.  Has  any 
housewife  a  suggestion  to  offer  on  this 
very  important  subject? 
That  Tired  Feeling. — Did  it  ever  oc¬ 
cur  to  you  that  the  "tired  fooling"  one 
has  in  the  Spring  might  be  a  starved  feel¬ 
ing?  Try  as  one  will.  Winter  diet  on  the 
farm  is  quite  likely  to  become  monoto¬ 
nous  toward  Spring,  and  appetites  dwin¬ 
dle.  A  person  does  not  feel  like  eating 
enough  at  meal  time  to  last  till  next 
time.  Work  has  to  be  done  just  the 
same;  and  about,  the  middle  of  the  fore¬ 
noon  father  is  "all  in,”  or  mother  is 
‘•tuckered  out,”  or  Johnnie  is  lazy  (?) 
Here  is  a  plan  that  lias  been  useful  for 
such  cases,  also  for  delicate  children  or 
nursing  mothers.  Halfway  between  meals 
and  just  before  bedtime,  take  a  glass  of 
milk  and  a  half-slice  of  bread  and  butter, 
a  cooky  cracker  or  anything  easily  di¬ 
gested.  The  milk  seems  so  much  more 
appetizing  if  you  eat  something  with  it. 
Besides,  you  have  to  take  live  or  ten 
minutes’  rest,  and  milk  agrees  with  one 
better  if  sipped  slowly.  This  plan,  if  fol¬ 
lowed  regularly  for  some  time,  will  build 
up  strength  wonderfully  and  is  certainly 
cheaper  than  drugs.  Instead  of  spoiling 
the  appetite  for  the  next  meal,  it  really 
works  the  other  way,  for  the  light,  lunch 
is  quickly  digested,  one  can  work  better 
and  so  get.  hungry  for  dinner  instead  of 
being  too  tired  to  eat. 
Oven  Frying. — The  best  way  to  fry 
ham.  sausage,  bacon  and  fresh  or  salt 
pork  is  in  the  oven.  You  can  use  a  frying 
pan.  but  a  tin  or  granite  pan  is  lighter  to 
handle  and  much  more  easily  washed.  We 
like  the  tray  that  fits  inside  our  covered 
roaster.  The  meat  browns  above  as  well 
as  below,  does  not  spatter  the  stove  with 
grease,  and  needs  much  less  watching, 
also  the  extracted  fat  is  whiter  and  has  a 
hotter  flavor  than  when  the  frying  is  done 
on  the  top  of  the  stove. 
Vocational  Training. — Do  your  chil¬ 
dren  get  any  vocational  training  either  in 
district  school  or  high  school?  If  so,  tell 
us  what  you  think  of  it,  and  whether  you 
Consider  it  of  practical  benefit.  An 
academy  near  here  introduced  two  voca¬ 
tional  courses  last  Fall,  one  for  girls  and 
the  other  for  boys.  Recently  one  of  the 
school  girls  mentioned  the  fact  that  she 
does  all  her  own  sowing  now  since  she  lias 
taken  the  course  in  domestic  science. 
That  seems  quite  remarkable  for  a  girl 
barely  seventeen.  We  should  like  to  hear 
reporta  from  other  localities. 
Winter  Reading. — What  have  you  en¬ 
joyed  in  the  line  of  reading  during  the 
Winter?  One  of  our  neighbors  bad  from 
Ihe  library  "The  T.ife  of  a  IMoueer,”  by 
Dr.  Anna  Howard  Shaw,  and  says:  "It 
is  just  the  best  book  I  ever  read.”  An¬ 
other  lias  been  reading  aloud  to  her  nine- 
year-old  boy  some  of  Dillon  Wallace's 
books,  “The  Lure  of  the  Labrador  Wild” 
and  "'The  Lost  Labrador  Trail.”  These 
were  all  the  more  interesting  because  last 
Winter  she  had  heard  an  illustrated  lec¬ 
ture  on  Labrador  by  the  author.  Another 
one  has  been  greatly  interested  in 
“Talian.”  by  Joseph  K.  Griffis,  a  man  of 
Indian  descent,  who  lectured  at  the  Red¬ 
poll!  Chautauqua  two  years  ago.  If  you 
have  the  opportunity  to  hear  that  tine 
series  of  entertainments,  he  sure  to  go.  ft 
gives  one  something  to  think  about  for 
weeks. 
Social  Amusements. — What  do  your 
young  folks  do  for  amusement?  I  mean 
the  ones  from  lo  to  -0  years  old.  Do  they 
have  parties?  Tf  so,  how  do  they  enter¬ 
tain  themselves?  Do  they  have  church 
socials,  plays,  pageants  or  what?  Do 
they  usually  find  amusement  in  the  coun¬ 
try  or  do  they  go  to  the  town  for  il  ?  Do 
they  have  clubs  or  societies  of  any  sort? 
Wo  mothers  like  to  see  the  young  people 
have  a  good  time  together  and  it  seems 
iis  if  it.  would  be  a  good  thing  to  compare 
antes.  Perhaps  sonic  of  the  young  folks 
themselves  will  give  suggestions  to  help 
other  boys  and  girls. 
Vacation  Time.— In  a  few  weeks  peo¬ 
ple  will  begin  to  talk  about  vacation. 
\\  hat  do  you  do  for  a  vacation?  Your 
experiences  may  suggest  how  some  of  the 
rest  of  us  may  have  a  change.  Some 
women,  you  know,  are  said  to  change  the 
furniture  around  when  they  want  a  vaca¬ 
tion.  Probably  most  of  us  have  resorted 
to  that  jdan.  Tell  us  about  your  auto¬ 
mobile  trips,  your  buggy  rides  or  your 
walks.  If  you  seldom  or  never  have  a 
vacation,  suppose  you  tell  us  the  kind  of 
one  you  would  choose  to  have.  Do  you 
take  walks  with  the  children?  What,  do 
you  find  most  interesting  on  such 
rambles?  Is  there  any  tine  scenery  or 
place  of  historic  interest  near  you?  Write 
us  what,  you  think  of  vacations  for  farm¬ 
ers  and  their  wives  and  children. 
A  Woman  With  a  Kicking  Cow 
I  noticed  some  time  ago  some  one  want¬ 
ed  to  know  how  to  manage  a  kicking 
heifer  or  cow  so  he  conlrl  milk  her.  As  I 
am  only  a  woman  I  presume  a  man 
would  laugh  at  my  method,  but  as  the 
milking  fell  to  my  lot  I  had  to  contrive 
some  way  to  take  away  that  fear  and 
trembling,  so  several  years  ago  I  lmd  my 
husband  build  a  fence  on  the  left  side  of 
her  which  was  left  permanently,  and  ho 
put  up  a  post  on  the  other  side  and  fixed 
it  just  as  you  would  a  pair  of  bars,  two 
boards,  one  just  high  enough  to  slip  the 
pail  under  and  the  other  well  up  out  of 
the  way  of  one’s  head,  and  just  wide 
enough  for  her  to  stand  in,  and  be  able  to 
reach  her  conveniently,  and  milk  through 
the  fence.  1  am  doing  just  that  way  now 
with  a  heifer,  although  if  she  could  laugh 
I  guess  she  would,  as  she  never  raises  her 
foot,  but  I  am  so  afraid  she  will  that 
until  I  have  milked  her  a  while  rather  he 
on  th<*  safe  side.  The  boards  can  be  put 
in  and  taken  out  in  less  thau  a  minute, 
so  it  is  no  trouble,  and  if  she  happens  lo 
kick  you  can  bang  on  and  feel  as  though 
she  can't  hit.  you.  I  think  it  is  a  much 
better  way  than  strapping  their  feet  to  a 
ring  in  the  floor  or  any  way  I  ever  heard 
of,  as  there  is  nothing  to  make  the  cow 
nervous,  or  any  habits  formed  to  be 
broken  off  afterwards,  farmer’s  wifi;. 
Saving  Steps 
"Civilized  man  cannot  live  without 
cooks”  is  a  true  picture  in  many  ways; 
but  if  the  bell  rope  was  run  to  the  porch 
it  would  save  the  cook  steps  and  lengthen 
her  life,  no  doubt.  e.  c.  y. 
Certainly  "more  rope”  often  means 
more  freedom  from  drudgery.  Anything 
that  will  save  steps  is  desirable.  We  can 
think  of  only  one  place  where  extra  step¬ 
ping  is  best.  That  is  in  a  "mountain 
climber."  It  is  a  machine  somewhat  like 
an  old-fashioned  tread  power,  where  an 
endless  chain  of  steps  runs  around  rol¬ 
lers.  It  is  used  by  fat  men  to  reduce 
their  weight. 
Eating  Turnip  Tors.— I  know  you 
oat  turnips,  that  is  tin.1  root,  but  most 
northern  folks  think  it's  mighty  near 
"Nebuchadnezzar"  to  eat  the  tops.  Green 
fodder  will  lie  scarce  until  rather  slow- 
growing  green  stuff  gets  going.  Now.  if 
you  could  get  a  ba  of  yom*  folks  lo  smv 
some  turnips,  not  Cow-horn,  but  the  flat- 
top  and  smaller  varieties,  and  as  soon  as 
the  greens  got  five  to  six  inches  long, 
start  using  them  with  "salt  shoulder," 
they  would  stand  on  their  hind  legs  and 
call  you  blessed,  that  is  if  they  could 
stand  at  all  after  loading.  When  turnip 
tops  get.  old  they  are  strong  and  bitter 
and  unfit  for  food;  when  young  they  are 
fine.  Probably  Northern  people  do  not 
eat  them  because  they  have  tried  them 
when  too  old,  or  the  stock  varieties, 
which  are  rank.  Young  turnip  greens, 
with  the  root  no  larger  than  a  lead  pencil 
are  a  staple  article  here  in  the  Spring, 
and  are  on  every  market  stall;  they 
bring  five  cents  a  lmnch  retail,  hucksters 
pay  40  cents  a  dozen  for  them. 
Mobile,  Ala.  m.  b.  F. 
is  the  low  collar  that 
is  so  becoming  for  most  every 
summer  occasion.  Its  Graduated 
tie-space  and  tie-protecting  shield 
are  exclusive  comfort  features  in 
that  save  tie,  time  and  temper. 
SOFTOP 
REFLECTOR  — the 
spaced  collar  and 
SOFTOP — with  starched 
band  and  soft  top  are  the 
favored  new  models. 
Ask  your  dealer  or  send 
us  75e.  for  6. 
HALL,  HARTWELL  &  CO. 
Makers,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
PURE,  FULL  STRENGTH 
COFFEE 
Hot  Off  the  Roaster 
From  Wholesaler  Direct 
6  POUNDS  S|  00 
Delivered  Free  1 
within  ,100  miles  H 
llOe.  extra  if  sent  C,  O.  D.) 
Your  dollar  back  if  you  prefer 
money  to  the  goods. 
51  Barclay  5t.,  New  York 
^  /MT  ET  C  C  FROM  IMPORTER 
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Five  pounds  of  tin*  br»t  coffee  yott  rn  r  drank,  sent  on 
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pay  if  you  don't.  Write  for  particulars. 
Colombian  Coffee  Importing  Co. 
Dept.  R.  97-99  Water  Street  New  York  City 
Fresh  Broken  Crackers 
order.  NEW  ENGLANO  BISCUIT  CO..  Worcester.  Mass. 
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