15*02 
7o3 
CO-OPERATIVE CREAMERY LAUNDRIES . 
Every now and then some one suggests that the lanndry 
work of a farm community might be done at or near the 
local creamery or cheese factory. The theory is that 
farmers drive to this central place every day, and could 
easily carry the clothes to and fro. The steam from the 
boiler might be used, and much hard work would bo saved 
the women folks, in spite of all the talk wo have been 
unable to locate such a laundry. We have corresponded 
with manufacturers of laundry goods, some of whom 
write as follows: 
We do not know of any cooperative laundry plants 
being in operation as you suggest, but we have seen 
some newspaper agitation on the subject. We sug¬ 
gest the following as a plant to do the work: One 
“H” two-tier laundry stove and one dozen irons. $20; 
one No. 5 power wooden washer, $60; one 17x3%-inch 
power roll wringer, $30; one three-compartment sta¬ 
tionery wood washtub, $18; one five-gallon starch ket¬ 
tle, $22; 15 feet of shafting, three hangers, two collars, 
three pulleys, belting for 10-foot ceiling, $35; one 20- 
foot Pearl gas (or gasoline) power mangle, $100: 
total, $285. This would take care of all the washing 
and wringing of all the clothes, and the mangle would 
iron all the table and bed linen and other “flat” 
pieces; the shirts, collars and cuffs would be ironed 
by hand. This plant is based on there being steam 
and water, also motive power at hand to operate the 
plant with; the requirements in that line would be 
about three-horse power. 
Columbia, Pa. wilson laundry machinery co. 
We know of no cooperative laundries among fann¬ 
ers. In 1895 we advertised in some creamery papers, 
endeavoring to rouse a little interest in this matter, 
but we got such a complete “frost” that we dropped 
it, concluding that we were about 25 years ahead of 
the times. The greatest single labor-saving item is 
steam, not the power. The creameries have this 
steam, and if they added no machinery other than 
suitable tubs with water piped so that it could be run 
into the tubs without the use of a pail, and run our. 
to the sewer without lifting and lugging, it would 
prove a good investment. Many hotels are already 
equipped this way; hotels that are not big enough to 
justify putting in a full power plant. We would sug¬ 
gest working on these lines. First steam; then a 
power washing machine; then a power extractor, 
somewhat similar to a cream separator; then a steam- 
heated dry room for bad weather. Nothing in the 
world equals open air and sunshine when the weather 
is pleasant. At first, plan to do what is known in 
commercial laundry parlance as rough-dry work— 
merely do the washing and drying and send the goods 
borne to be starched and ironed. This will save the 
greatest amount of backache for the smallest invest¬ 
ment. This will require the least amount of skill on 
the part of the men running the machinery. When it 
comes to the dampening, starching and ironing it re¬ 
quires special skill, and such workers get from $5 to 
$18 a week in city laundries. So much machinery 
would be required to handle all the different kinds of 
finished work and so much training would be required 
on the part of the operator, that it is hardly practical 
for the creameries to attempt this. If it was men’s 
labor to save instead of women’s labor, all the laun¬ 
dry machinery plants in the world could not take care 
of the demand. steel koj.t, mangle co. 
Chicago, Ill. 
The only cooperative laundries we know of are sev¬ 
eral plants that were established by labor unions com¬ 
posed of laundry workers who had gone on strikes, 
and succeeded in raising sufficient money to put in 
operation plants of their own. These plants as a gen¬ 
eral rule have not been successful, owing to the fact 
that “too many cooks spoil the broth.” The laundry 
business is one that requires very close attention to 
details in order to be successful, owing to the fact the 
business is made up of a large number of small ac¬ 
counts, and the management of the business must be 
in the hands of shrewd and careful people, in order 
to make it a success financially. A laundry plant also 
requires that the work to keep the plant going be 
drawn from a reasonably compact population, to save 
the cost in collecting and delivering of the work, thus 
cutting down the expense, and we believe that a co¬ 
operative laundry among the farmers would not pay, 
owing to the expense that would be incurred in col¬ 
lecting and delivering the work. A laundry plant do¬ 
ing work of less than $100 to $150 per week would 
not in all probability be a success; it having been 
demonstrated that it is necessary to contract this 
amount of work to put a plant on a money-making 
basis, and this would require the work of probably 50 
families of farmers, to handle that amount of work, 
and you can readily see it would of necessity have to 
be secured from a large territory in farming districts. 
| 'us may seem strange advice to you on the part of a 
firm engaged in selling laundry machinery, but it is 
our candid opinion. Unless the creameries you inen- 
i’on were located in a very thickly populated agri- 
‘ dnual district a laundry plant would prove a failure 
r II E RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
in connection with a creamery. It would require an 
entirely separate building for this work, as it would 
not do to have the steam from the laundry mixed up 
with the butter-making department, as it would taint 
the butter, owing to the soap and chemicals used in 
the washing process. The machinery for an outfit 
that would be required to do the amount of work 
named—$150 per week—could be purchased for about 
$1,500. exclusive of the boiler and engine. This does 
not. of course, include the cost of installation, which 
would vary according to the location of the plant, 
freight rates, etc. tup: v. m. watkins co. 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 
We have never heard of any such institution being 
established. It might be convenient to operate one in 
BARN ON A VIRGINIA GRASS FARM. FIG. 286. 
connection with the creamery business, as they would 
have the power as well as coming in touch with a 
large number of people who necessarily would have 
to come to their places with milk, etc. If such a plant 
was established, the main articles to be used would 
be a washer, extractor, dry room and a mangle. These 
would enable them to wash and wring their goods; 
such pieces as table linen, bed linen, towels, etc., 
would lie ironed on the mangle, while wearing ap¬ 
parel would be dried and sent home in that condi¬ 
tion, to be finished up as opportunity might present 
itself. This would do the bulk of the work and leave 
only the ironing of light pieces to be done at home. 
This, in fact, is the manner in which a great deal of 
the laundry work is now being done in the cities, 
where families cannot afford to have everything done 
at the laundry, and if they can avoid the heavy and 
disagreeable part of the work such as the washing 
and ironing of large pieces, they can readily get along 
with the remainder. a. t. iiaCien co. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
A NEW ONE; CURRANT JELLY PROMOTERS 
Some Facts About Currants. 
Some promoters of the currant jelly business came to 
our house and wanted me to put in several acres of cur¬ 
rants; they would agree to take the crop for seven years 
at six cents per quart, 50 pounds to the bushel. Can you 
give me any light on the business? What amount or 
THE YENSHI PEACH. Fio. 287. 
currants will a bush yield on the average, from one to 
seven years old, and can they afford to pay six cents? 
Is 56 pounds the right weight for a bushel of currants, 
and at what price are the bushes generally sold per 
thousand, or is this just a scheme to sell a lot of cur¬ 
rant bushes and leave the grower in the lurch with a crop 
that may be difficult to dispose of? l. c. b. 
Indiana. 
In ere is practically no market for pure currant 
jelly; this I know to my sorrow, the trade being sup¬ 
plied by imitations at a price 20 per cent of what the 
pure goods would cost. Forty pounds per bushel is 
about the proper weight. My experience is that an 
average of four quarts can be grown on a six or seven- 
year bush with good care. Your correspondent can 
buy currant bushes, almost any variety, in quanti¬ 
ties at about $10 or $15 per 1,000 from any first-class 
nursery. Six cents per quart is more than the market 
price usually is in any of the northern cities during 
the season; freight and commission would, of course, 
come out of this. If anyone wanted to establish a 
jelly business he could get them by the thousand 
bushels at four to five cents where they are now 
grown in quantity. a. r. loop. 
Pennsylvania. 
The buyer could pay six cents a quart for jelly pur¬ 
poses. Currants sell by pound only. I do not know 
the weight per bushel. A fair price for plants would 
be $'> per 1.000 and up. A currant bush from one to 
seven years old ought to average 10 pounds per year; 
that would be a good yield for common varieties. As 
for myself I would be slow to bite at that. bait. 
Boonville. Ind. e. t. j. 
At the price at which currants have been selling 
for the past five years it does not seem to me that 
anyone would be justified in offering to contract fruit 
for a series of years in advance at any such price as 
six cents per pound. A quart of currants will weigh 
about lVi pound; that is to say this is about how our 
currants have run. You can readily see at this rate 
what a bushel should weigh. As for price of the 
plants, much would depend on the sorts; Cherry and 
Fay would probably be worth $30 per 1,000. As to 
the product of currants, there is a great variation de¬ 
pending on varieties also. We have a lot of Wilder 
six years planted, that yielded from 10 to 12 quarts to 
the bush this year, while at the same time the Fay 
and Cherry only made four to five quarts. 
Geneva, N. Y, s. o, willard. 
Six cents a quart for currants is a fair price for 
them as they have sold the last few years. The man 
should be able to pay that and still make a good profit 
on his jelly. The average yield of the currant bushes 
from one to four years old should, we think, bo about 
two quarts, and from four to seven years old six 
quarts. The bushes should cost somewhere about $25 
or $30 per 1,000, as they have become cheaper in the 
last few years. We have always called a bushel or 
currants equivalent to 50 pounds. It will depend much 
on the nature of the Indiana man’s soil just how great 
a yield he will get. A clay soil is much better than a 
richer one, as with the latter more wood than fruit is 
put out. Also, much depends on the kind of currants 
grown. Here we grow Fay and Cherry currants, ami 
tney always find ready sale. If the Indiana man has 
to depend solely for the sale of his currants to the 
man who proposes to sell him tne bushes he would, in 
our opinion be foolish ever to put the currants out. 
If. however, ho can find a ready market aside from 
that it is another matter. He should know exactly 
what he is getting for bushes and know his market. 
It rather looks to us as though the agent’s sole aim 
was to dispose of the bushes, and perhaps worthless 
ones at that. Lately we have been greatly troubled 
with blight and the San Jose scale. It looks very 
much now as though we should have trouble raising 
currants ourselves. the hit-ringer fruit co. 
Belmont, Mass. 
ALL SORTS. 
“MODERATE DRINKING.”—The Ram's Horn 
prints the little picture which we have reengraved at 
Fig. 285. It is probably true that some people can 
“drink it or leave it alone” as they desire. For every 
one who can say this truthfully there are several who 
find that they can “drink” but are not able to carry 
out the second part of the programme. The Improve¬ 
ment Journai tells of a man who took his own life in 
a hotel leaving the following “last will and testa¬ 
ment.” He certainly left all he had! “I leave to so¬ 
ciety a ruined character. 1 leave to my father and 
mother as much misery as, in their feeble state, they 
can bear. I leave to my brothers and sisters the mem¬ 
ory of my misspent life. I leave to my wife a broken 
heart, and to my children the memory that then- 
father fills a drunkard’s grave, and has gone to a 
drunkard’s hell.” 
WIDE PLANTED PEACH TREES.—I learn indi¬ 
rectly many peach growers lost heavily by rot the past 
season. Close planting of trees and not destroying 
the rotten fruit as it comes to the ground are no doubt 
responsible for a good deal of this rot by wholesale. 
No matter how blue the trees are kept with Bordeaux 
with the soil infected, rot will appear after every rain. 
Spraying the trees after ground is full of rot is lock¬ 
ing the barn after horses are stolen. I expect quite 
a number of your readers will laugh at the idea of 
planting peacn trees 24 feet apart, mentioned on page 
687. Now our oldest trees of Elberta (16 years) of 
that distance have their branches interlocking both 
ways. The past season’s crop from them netted some¬ 
what over $200 per acre. The land Itself they stand 
•on would not be taken to be worth over $50 per acre. 
Where is there a closely planted orchard of that age, 
yet anyway remunerative? Trees planted this dis¬ 
tance require but little pruning, and are certainly 
much easier cultivated than trees planted close. 
Texas. j. w. stubenraucu. 
