632 
THE RURAL flEW-YORKER. 
each other while they would not in a larger 
orgamzation. In our club every member 
take* part in the discussion. Duriug the six 
months of the year from April to September, 
inclusive, we meet at. 2 p M. ;duriug the other 
six months at 10 a. m. We have one short se¬ 
lection, and oue essay read at each meeting. 
Our programme for the year is prepared by 
a committee appointed for the purpose, and it 
is submitted to the club for their approval at 
the November meeting of the p^eeding year, 
so as to be printed and distributed before the 
January meeting. At each meeting the Pres¬ 
ident appoints seme member to open the dis¬ 
cussion of each sub topic, at the next meeting 
and also the essayist and the one to read the 
selection. At the close of the regular discus¬ 
sion the secretary opens the question box, and 
any queries found in it are briefly discussed. 
As the programme adopted by our club for the 
coming year may be helpful toothers who are 
organizing, I will give itin full:— 
January.—T opic: Theprogref sof agriculture. 
1 Sub topic: Tbe practices of farmers now 
as compared with a generation ago. 
2. Methods of culture now and then. 
3. Agricultural Implements compared. 
4. Yields per acre of different crops—are 
they more or less? 
6. Progress in domestic animals. 
0. Farm homes and surroundings. 
February —Topic: How can we manage our 
farms to make the most money! 
1. Sub-topir: Snail we depend on grain 
crops exclusively, or combine grazing! 
2. li it wise for the farmer to depend on 
one crop for the bu k of his income? 
3. Hiw much stock is it profitable to keep? 
4 What kinds of stock are the most profit¬ 
able for this locality? 
5. In estimating the profits of the farm for 
the year, shall we consider the condition of 
soil and improvements? 
6. What proportion of our farms can profit¬ 
ably be kept in timber? 
March —Topic: What accomplishments and 
amusements are suitable for the farmer’s 
family ? 
1. Is a piano or organ a good investment 
for a farmer? 
Philo's Chubn—Fjo. 456. See page. 833. 
2. Is it wise to give our children a practical 
knowledge of painting and drawing? 
3. H)w can the Winter evenings be most 
profitably spent? 
4. Isit the privilege of the farmer to grum¬ 
ble when asked to make a flower bed or fur¬ 
nish money for fl >wer seeds or plants? 
5. What influence do home surroundings 
have on the character? 
6. Education of our children. 
April —Topic: Potatoes. 
1. S ail and preparation. 
2. When to plant. 
3. How to plant—hills or drills; distance 
apart; depth; how to cover. 
4. Seei — Selection, size, cut or whole, 
amount to the acre. 
5. Varieties. 
6 E lerales, and how to combat them. 
7. Cultivation. 
8. Hirvestiug, storing, marketing. 
9. Actnl and possible yield. 
10. Profits of the crop as compared with 
other farm crops. 
11. Sweet potatoes. 
May,—T opic: Fencing. 
1. Sub-topic: Cost of fencing. 
2. Cfieapeit and best fence for our locality 
and mu erial for fencing. 
3. Rei'i ring cost of fencing by larger fields 
and 1 y f meing only against cattle. 
4 Fences round the house; patent, portable. 
5. Fence and stack laws, and usages of the 
neighborhood as to stock running at large. 
Junk.— Topic: Work of farmers’ wives. 
1. What duties properly belong to the 
farmer’s wife? 
2. Ualer what circumstances should she 
milk? 
3. Should the care of the garden devolve 
on her? 
4 How can a house be best contrived to save 
Bteps and work ? 
5. Convenience of wood, water, etc. 
C. Has the wife the right to “caudle” her 
husband or render him generally uncom¬ 
DEC 
packages mostly used are small tin pails of 
varying sizes ; the honey being run into them 
just as it is beginning to oandy, and it is then 
allowed to candy perfectly hard and solid be¬ 
fore b?5og placed upon the market. The 
smallest size pall used contains only one-and- 
one-fourth pound of honey, the next size 
larger two-and-one half pounds, the next, five 
pounds, and the largest Bize ten pounds. The 
fronts of the pails are adorned with showy 
labels, similar to those upon canned 
goods, while a label upon the backs of the 
pails explains in regard to the difference be¬ 
tween extracted honey and strained honey, 
its candying properties, tbat the candying is 
the best proof of its purity, and that the ap. 
plication of heat will quickly restore it to its 
liquid form. Upon removing the cover from 
a pail of candied honey, the s'irface of tbe 
honey presents a clean, granular appearance 
tbat is very attractive compared with the 
smooth, lard-like appearance that it has when 
candied against glass. Chas. Dadant & Son, 
of Illinois, and D. A. Jones of Canada, are, I 
believe, thopionesra in this method of putting 
up extracted honey for the retail trade; the 
present year, however, finds most of our lead¬ 
ing producers of extracted honey following 
in their footsteps, and writing, in glowing 
terms, to the bee-papers, of how well pleased 
t)Oth they and their customers were with the 
change. The bulk of my own crop of honey 
has, the present year, been put up In this 
manner, and it is no exaggeration to say that 
it almost sold itself. In the above mentioned 
Instances, where the honey put up in Ma¬ 
son fruit jars found such slow sale, honey put 
up in small tin pails went off like hot cakes. 
It wai about four o’clook p. M. when the pails 
were substituted for the jars; I called again 
early next morning and one-half dozen pails 
had been sold. 
People go to market for the express purpose 
not so w th 
The unhandy, disagreeable, and unattrac¬ 
tive manner on which extracted honey was 
at first, and in many instances is yet, offered 
for sale, explains, in a large degree, why 
public favor has been so tardily bestowed. 
Extracted honey has been oarried to market 
in large crocks, or other receptacles, under 
whose ill-fitting covers dust and flies soon 
found entrance; and when a customer finally 
decided to “take some,” it was necessary to 
dip or pour out the honey, which was a sticky, 
dauby, unpleasant task. Tbe honey was of 
slow sale, and finally candied, in which state it 
had to be dug out with a big spoon or paddle. 
After a groceryman has bought one lot of 
honey put up in this manner, it is well-nigh 
impossible to sell him extracted honey put up 
in any shape—to him, even the words “ ex¬ 
tracted honey ” bring up a sickening feeling. 
fortable if he neglects to furnish helps and 
conveniences. 
July.—A picfaic, with address and essay. 
August.— Topic: Dairying. 
1. Sub topic: Profits of the dairy. 
2. Improvement of the soli by dairying. 
3. Breeds and selection of cows for the dairy. 
4. What price should the farmer receive 
for butter to make it profitable? 
5. How shall we manage the milk to make 
the best quality of butter. 
6. Is it not possible by a system of half¬ 
soiling to double the number of cattle kept 
and increase the profits? 
7. Tbe factory system. 
8. Feeding value of ekim-milk; is it worth 
most for hogs or calves! 
September —Topic: Feeding farm stock. 
1. Best and cheapest food for horses. 
of buying sugar, tea, meat, etc, 
honey; in at least the majority of cases their 
attention must be called to it by giving it a 
conspicuous position where it will readily be 
seen. Knowiug this, I furnish each grocer 
with a neat little Btand, similar to tb039 used 
by ladies for their fliwer pots. Tae grocer 
puts the stand upon his counter, places the 
largest size pails in a row upon the counter in 
front of the stand, the next size smaller pails 
upon the lowest shelf, the next size smaller 
ui>on the mxt shelf, tbe smallest pails being 
placed upon the highest shelf. In order that 
Mubphy’b Chubs (Side View.)—Fig. 458. 
Large quantities of extracted honey have 
been retailed put up in jelly tumblers, In 
glass bottles and in the self-sealing glass 
jars commonly used in canning fruit, but 
it is almost impossible to ship honey put 
up in this shape unless tbe greatest care 
is exerciB«d in packing, and, even then, 
there will be some losses and “musses” 
caused by breakage. But, to show that the 
putting up of honey for sale in glass fruit j ars 
has other obj actions besides that of break¬ 
age, let me give the following illustration. 
Early last Fall, before honey had com¬ 
menced to candy, I filled two dozsn Mason’s 
quart fruit jars with honey. They were 
adorned with handsome labels, and really pre¬ 
sented a fine appearance. I left them with a 
city groceryman to be sold on commission. I 
could not sell them to him. “Extracted 
honey doesn’t sell very well" was his excuse 
for not buying. One month later I wrote to 
him as follows: “ How does the honey sell ? 
I am coming to town In a few days, had I 
better bring any more honey?” He replied: 
“Honey is slow sale, just now. Hadn’t better 
bring any mare just yet.” A few days later 
I called upon this groceryman; one dozen 
cans had been sold, and one glance at the re¬ 
maining dozsn Bhowed why the honey whh 
“ slow sale.” Would-be purchasers had re¬ 
moved the covers so that they might taste the 
honey, and, in so doing, had allowed the 
honey to run down the outsides of the cans, 
soiling the labels, and attracting tbe flies. 
Later, the honey had candied, and, against 
the smooth surface of the glass, it resembled 
lard. During the last two weeks not a can 
of honey had been sold. In order to dispose 
of this lot of honey I sold it, at wholesale 
price, to a private individual who had fre¬ 
quently bought of me, and thus knew that the 
honey was all right, notwithstanding its un- 
attract! ve appearance. 
Very good authorities have asserted that, if 
heated to nearly the boiling point, 
and then hermetically sealed, honey 
would not candy again. I have tried 
this repeatedly, but the honey always 
.. Y*\ candied again. There is, probably, a 
\ difference in honey la this respect. 
/ Ai\ But, even though the heating of 
/ \\ honey would entirely remove Its 
candying properties there would be 
objections to tbe practice. The heat¬ 
ing of a large crop of honey prior to 
putting it up for market, would be 
a long, disagreeable task—one requir 
f ing the exercise of great care, other 
wise the honey might be Injured by 
overheating; then, liquid honey is 
liable to leak from any package, 
under the rough treatment that it 
sometimes receive* at the hands of 
railroad men; but the greatest ob¬ 
jection would be that the public 
would lae robbed of almost Its only 
protection against adulteration, as 
loney edulttrahd with gluccte re¬ 
mains liquid, while pure honey candiee upon 
the approach of oold weather. 
Duriog the last two or three years there has 
been a decided improvement in the manner 
of putting up extracted honey for sale. The 
Mubphy’s Churn (Sectional View.)—Fig. 437. 
2. Best and cheapest food for hogs. 
3. B st and cheapest food for cattle and 
sheep. 
4. Chemistry of foods. 
5. Varieties of fool suited to different ani¬ 
mals and purposes of feeding. 
0. Value of manure from different foods. 
7. Roots for Winter feeding. 
8. Stall-feeding in Winter for beef. 
October.— Topic: Incidental profits and ad¬ 
vantages of tbe farm. 
1. Subtopic: Profits of garden and orchard. 
2. Profits of poultry-yard. 
3. Profits of apiary. 
4. The farm as a home for the children. 
5. Industrious habits fostered on the farm. 
6. Advantages of tbe isolation of farm life. 
November —Topic: The farmer as a citizsn. 
1. Subtopic: His duty to his neighbors; 
avoid lawsuits and quarrels. 
2. His duly to employdj—is it right or 
profitable to get the most woik for the least 
money, with no care for their welfare. 
3. His duty to the public—ought he to op¬ 
pose making roads, school-houses, etc., be¬ 
cause they will increase his taxes? 
4. His duty to the degraded and fallen of 
his neighborhood. 
5. His duty to schools of his neighborhood. 
December.— Experience meeting and election 
of cffi:ers. 
Each member at this meeting is expected 
to tell what crops he has grown, whether they 
were heavy or light, and the reasons why. 
Butler Co., Ohio. 
Philo's Chubs (Revolving Paddle.)—Fig. 460. 
customers may see how the honey appears 
after it has been melted, four dram vials are 
filled with boney that has been melted, and 
then the vials are placed in an upright posi¬ 
tion, in shallow holes bored in the top of the 
honey stand. As often as the honey In the 
vials candies, it is remeltei by placing the 
vials in hot water. It seem3 quite reasonable 
that purchasers of honey should sometimes 
wish to taste of honey before buying it, and, 
to give them an opportunity to do so, without 
their poking their fingers into the pails of 
honey, I furnish each grocer with a spooD, and 
a pail of each kind of honey that has been 
melted. He keeps them in behind the honey 
stand, and is thus always ready for any cus¬ 
tomer who wishes to “ taste.” I have noticed 
that it is often this appeal to the taste that 
induces customers to buy. Pails of candied 
honey can be boxed up aud shipped to any 
part of the world in perfect safety. 
Rogersvilte, Mich. W. Z Hutchinson. 
.uantm 
SELLING EXTRACTED HONEY. 
Any one who is an attentive reader of the 
bee papers cannot help noticing that extracted 
Stiles's Churn —Fig. 459. 
honey Is rapidly becoming a staple article, 
that, with each succeeding year, it Is being 
produced in larger quantities; while comb 
honey remains, and probably will remain, a 
fancy article, sold at a fancy price. 
1 
_ _u 
f 
/ ! 
\ 
1 & o{ 
h e a \ 
