I2~2 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 2S, 1022 
Simple Science 
By Dr. F. D. Crane 
Sage and Sulphur 
Would you give recipe for “sage and 
sulphur” hair dye, such as the old folks 
used to make? H. u. 
Port Chester, X. Y. 
We do not think there is any “old- 
fashioned sage and sulphur” recipe out¬ 
side the imagination of a clever advertis¬ 
ing man. who uses that as a catch line 
lo make you go to a drug store and buy a 
mixture that may or may not he flavored 
with sage. If you want to get a handful 
"f sage and boil it gently with a piut of 
water, adding a teaspoon of flowers of 
sulphur and rubbing the resulting soup 
into your hair, go ahead; you can't hurt 
anything, and the mess is certainly not a 
hair remover. It may have some dyeing 
power, but if so you are that much ahead 
of the game. 
Dahlia Roots for Food 
Is there any way of utilizing Dahlia 
roots for human food? it. P. P. 
Trenton. N. J. 
This question has been before the pub¬ 
lic for a couple of hundred years or so. 
The story is that the Dahlia was first 
brought from Mexico as a possible food 
plant, and all of us, as we lift those big, 
succulent roots in the Fall, wonder if 
they may not. somehow, be good to eat. 
But one taste is usually ample. The 
aggravating part is that investigation 
shows the food is there—plenty of it—if 
we could only get rid of that taste. The 
starch of the root is cniite individual and 
peculiar. From another plant in which 
it is found it is called inulin , and it is 
also the nourishing pari of those tuberous 
sunflower roots called “Jerusalem arti¬ 
chokes." nor because they have any con¬ 
nection with the City of David, but from 
nu old French name for the sunflower. 
This inulin is a sort of starch, hut it can 
dissolve in warm wafer and will come 
out again as the water cools. If you get 
it .you need only treat with a little acid 
and boil in order to get one of the sweet¬ 
est sugars, lievuloso. So that is another 
reason for wanting to get rid of that 
taste. Last year the writer tried an old 
scheme, with a few variations, and 
treated the grated roots with milk of 
lime, warmed, pressed and filtered. 
There was a fair yield of inulin, and the 
acid taste had gone, but it was dark in 
color and needed to he further refined, 
when it was a pale yellow. Someone may 
bit on something which avoids the 
losses; it is said that the Department of 
Agriculture is having a fry ut the prob- 
Iem. If I can pick up a few waste roots 
T may try again this Fall. I am pretty 
certain that it is merely a matter of ad¬ 
justing conditions to get a better yield. 
The inulin. after drying, keeps perfectly. 
Imt there is a slight peculiar flavor, no 
worse, but of course differing from that 
of cornmeal. Cattle would eat it tirnl 
it would be used for human food it 
flavored a little. 
Using Chemicals in Cider 
Will you tell me what to put in sweet 
cider to* keep it sweet, as I do not like 
sour eider? How much to put in about 
50 gals, of cider? F - M * 
There have been many letters like the 
above, asking how to keep cider “sweet." 
There is no way of doing that exactly. 
If you let the cider alone it will ferment. 
If you boil it the cider will taste of the 
boiling, and even careful pasteurizing 
will change its quality a little. Part of 
what we call flavor or taste is due to 
slight fermentive changes which take 
place while the cider is being made. It 
is ,x,t caused by the production of alcohol, 
but by other fermentive changes. It is 
possible to slow down the fermentive 
changes without nffecung the taste by 
adding chemicals. The two most com¬ 
monly used are sodium benzoate and so¬ 
dium* salicylate. You can use three ounces 
of the benzoate am 1 one ounce of the 
salicylate in an ordinary barrel of cider 
of say JO gallons. The best way to use 
these chemicals is to* dissolve them in a 
gallon of the cider by gentle heating and 
stirring. Use an eir'inel pot do not use 
iron —and when dissolved stir the solu¬ 
tion well into the cider. Do not add the 
chemicals right to the eider—part of it 
might not dissolve. Frankly, we do not 
like to suggest these chemicals, though 
in the quantities here advised there will 
he little or no danger. The great trouble 
about all such things is that careless pco- 
* Ip may use too much and make a harm¬ 
ful drink. We give the information called 
for. but would not. use the chemicals our¬ 
selves. 
Farm and Garden Notes 
The second annual show of the Purdue 
Horticultural Society, and eighth annual 
Indiana Apple Show, will be held at Pur¬ 
due University. Lafayette. Ind., the firs* 
week in November. Cold storage facili¬ 
ties may be had free of charge after Oc¬ 
tober 25. and all fruit must be in by 
November 1. 
Tin* annual meeting of the National 
Orange for 1922. to be held at Wichita. 
Ivan., opening on November 1-1. will be 
devoted largely to the consideration of 
great national questions affecting agri¬ 
culture and to a few questions of policy 
affecting the National Orange itself. 
Prominent on this list will be necessity 
for reducing taxation, ship subsidy, does 
agriculture need a new credit system, tin* 
problem of surplus production, radical¬ 
ism and bow to curb it. better and cheap¬ 
er transportation, and stricter prohibi¬ 
tion enforcement. Among the Orange 
policies to be taken up will be the pro¬ 
posed addition of a mutual life insurance 
to the Grange organization, necessity for 
cheaper automobile insurance. Orange ex¬ 
tension into new territory, and the in¬ 
crease of its educational and publication 
activities. 
On page 1204 we spoke of certain mov¬ 
ing picture films on farm subjects which 
are sent out by the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. Three of these 
films will be shown on the evening of Oc¬ 
tober Ill at Park Ridge, N. .T.. as a free 
entertainment. Ponltrymen in Northern 
New Jersey will be interested iu these 
pictures. 
The Middlesex County Poultry Asso¬ 
ciation will hold its annual poultry show 
in Middletown. Conn., Doc. 13. 14. 15 and 
Iti. W. C. Kennedy is the secretary of 
the association. 
The Franklin Township Poultry Asso¬ 
ciation will hold its second annual poul¬ 
try and [let stock show at Franklin Lake, 
N. J.. Nov. 28-Dec. 2. 
An exhibition of garden paintings, 
flower still life and garden sculpture is to 
he given at the Ferargil Galleries. 607 
Fifth Avenue, New York City, under .the 
auspices of the Garden Club of America, 
from November 14 to December 2. If 
this meets with success in New York 
City it is proposed to send it to some of 
the larger cities throughout I In* country, 
where it will have the patronage of .the 
local garden clubs. It is hoped that this 
exhibition will invite the interest of all 
garden lovers who are able to visit it. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, OCT. 28, 1922 
FARM TOPICS 
A Fair Vi^w of the Farmers' Position. 1277. 1278 
Western Views of the East... . 1278 
Potato Eating and the Market. 1278 
A Back-to-the-lander Comes to Judgment.. 1279 
Some Tractor an>l Farm Experience. 1279 
A Supvr-scarscrow for Woodchucks.1281 
Hope Farm Notes... 1284 
LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY 
Winter Ration for Butter. 1294 
Grain for Winter Feeding.. 1294 
Corn Silage Substitutes.. 1296 
Composition of Feed*. 1296 
Dairying for Young Women. 1298 
THE HENYARD 
A Precocious Cockerel... 1301 
Monmouth Poultry Club. 1301 
Culling Hens; Sour Crop. 1301 
Egg-laying Contest . 1301 
HORTICULTURE 
The Cortland Apple... 1279 
Killing Peach Borers with Chemioals. 1285 
Culture of Eastern Lily. 1285 
Notes from a Maryland Garden. 1281 
Boys and Girls..1288, 1289 
Notes from a Sagebrush Farmer's Wife... 1290 
From the Country Mouse..1290, 1292 
The Home Dressmaker.1293, 1296 
A Farm Woman's Notes. 1300 
MISCELLANEOUS 
Suggestions for an Icehouse. 1278 
Notes from the Ox-team Express. 1283 
Editorials . 1286 
Candidates lor the Senate on Farm Issues. 1287 
Joint Stock Land Bank in the East. 1287 
Explosion in the Coal........... 1292 
Optimist an 1 Pessimist. 1292 
Woodchucks and Divorce..... 1292 
"Taking a Little Child". 1292 
The Life of the Peddler.... 1292 
Bringing the Wanderers Home. 1300 
Land Values and Speculation. 1300 
Publisher's Desk . 1302 
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