856 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 27 
Pluralisms ; 
NOTES FROM THE RURALOROUNDS 
Home-Stored Eggs. 
The Winter Supply. —The hen, from 
the gardener’s standpoint, is not an in¬ 
dispensable adjunct to our experiment 
grounds. If not properly managed by 
some one with real aptitude and liking 
for the work the poultry yard in such 
connection would soon be declared an 
intolerable nuisance. The natural ten¬ 
dency of a lively fowl to scratch out the 
rarest seeds and promiscuously distri- 
✓ 
bute the neatest mulch is only equalled 
by her predilection for nipping off im¬ 
mature capsules and fruits containing 
results of the most difficult hybridiza¬ 
tions. Hens, however, rtiay be so man¬ 
aged by a competent caretaker as to do 
little harm, while having sufficient lib¬ 
erty to keep them in the best laying con¬ 
dition. Our fowls, while paying their 
way on the whole, in a most exemplary 
manner, have the not uncommon habit 
of producing a great surplus of eggs 
when the market price is low and of 
withholding their contributions to the 
larder to a very considerable extent in 
early Winter when market quotations 
soar to the highest notch. Intelligent 
care and proper feeding, as advocated 
by our hen contributors in other col¬ 
umns, do much to control this natural 
tendency to lump the yearly egg-product 
into the Spring and early Summer 
months, and better distribute it, but un¬ 
der the best obtainable conditions eggs 
are still scarce and costly during the 
colder months. The Spring surplus 
seems unavoidable where a fair number 
of hens are kept, and it is good policy 
to store a portion for use when the out¬ 
put lessens as the moulting season 
comes on. It is not difficult to preserve 
fresh-laid eggs a few weeks by packing 
in coarse salt and keeping in a cool, 
moist cellar or sinking them in a sat¬ 
urated solution of lime—the ordinary 
lime water. Limed eggs as commonly 
prepared are fairly good for cooking 
purposes until late Summer, but the 
shells become less expansible from the 
deposition of lime, and are quite likely 
to crack when boned unless a hole is 
pricked through before dropping in the 
water. The musty taste of limed eggs 
kept too long is not agreeable, and an 
occasional trial is needed to ascertain 
how they are keeping. A recommenda¬ 
tion comes from the Standard Oil mon¬ 
opoly to dip perfectly fresh eggs in 
melted paraffin as a preservative. Par¬ 
affin is an extensive by-product of min¬ 
eral oil refineries, and if really effective 
for this purpose would be cheap and 
convenient. We have not tried it. Cold 
storage, which may only be had in cities 
or considerable towns as a general 
thing, is successful in preserving rea¬ 
sonable freshness in eggs for a consid¬ 
erable time, but of course is not avail¬ 
able to the small producer. In a large 
way eggs may be held in cold storage 
through the Summer months for less 
than one cent a dozen, but must quickly 
be consumed when taken out. 
Other Systems of Preservation.— 
Water glass, or silicate of soda in solu¬ 
tion, has long been used as an egg pre¬ 
servative with highly satisfactory re¬ 
sults, though a recent experiment sta¬ 
tion report only classed it in effective¬ 
ness with lime water. We are inclined 
to think it better, judging from a trial 
just concluded, as eggs after six months’ 
immersion throughout the Summer are 
about as good for all culinary purposes 
as ordinary sound fresh eggs. They do 
not beat up as well as new-laid eggs, 
and crack slightly when boiled if not 
pricked, but are coming out in as satis¬ 
factory condition as week-old eggs in 
ordinary Summer weather. Water glass 
has many uses in the arts, chief of 
which is the manufacture of artificial 
stone and for fire-proofing fabrics. It is 
quite cheap in quantity but is retailed in 
solution in pound bottles by well- 
equipped druggists or paint stores at 25 
cents each. One bottle of this solution 
diluted with nine times its bulk of water 
was poured in a tall stone jar, and the 
eggs added as gathered, the effort be¬ 
ing to collect the eggs at the earliest 
moment when laid. A new-laid egg is 
moist and entirely aseptic so far as the 
interior is concerned. If placed at once 
in a strongly caustic water glass or lime 
solution chance germs adhering to the 
surface of the shell from contact with 
the nest are destroyed, or at least great¬ 
ly delayed in their development—inhib¬ 
ited as termed in medical science—and 
the proteid contents should keep indefi¬ 
nitely as far as actual decomposion is 
concerned. If the shell is permitted to 
dry several hours before putting eggs 
into the preservative it is possible that 
germs may penetrate so deeply that the 
solutions may not follow and the keep¬ 
ing quality be impaired. The drying of 
the shell and shrinking of the liquid 
contents must at any rate cause the in¬ 
troduction of a quantity of air, and the 
viscid water glass or saturated lime so¬ 
lution, which readily deposits crystals 
of calcium carbonate in the pores of the 
shell, may be kept from the needed in¬ 
timate contact. For best results it ap¬ 
pears necessary to use absolutely fresh 
eggs, and the shorter the interval be¬ 
tween oviposition and immersion in the 
chosen solution the greater chance of 
good results. The solutions mentioned 
are both harsh in their action on the 
skin, water glass seeming the more 
caustic of the two, so it is well to use a 
wooden spoon in placing the eggs or 
taking them out, and a perforated wood¬ 
en follower weighted with a clean peb¬ 
ble is a safeguard against any chance 
eggs rising above the surface of the 
liquid. New-laid eggs will, of course, 
sink in solutions of such slight density, 
but if an older specimen containing air 
enough to float should get in it is all 
the more important to keep it well cov¬ 
ered, if not at once detected and taken 
out. 
Result of One Experiment. —Four¬ 
teen dozens of eggs, all the liquid would 
safely cover, worth at local prices 12 
cents a dozen, were packed during early 
April, and the first trial was deferred 
until the middle of July. A few were 
then used in baking, and found to be 
indistinguishable from new-laid eggs 
collected the same day. Even when 
poached there was little difference. Fur¬ 
ther trials were made in November, 
when the price of the fresh product had 
risen to 36 cents a dozen. Though not 
relished when cooked directly for the 
table in comparison with perfectly fresh 
eggs, there was no perceptible difference 
when used for a multitude of kitchen re¬ 
quirements. The saving or profit on the 
transaction may be summarized as fol¬ 
lows: 
DR. 
14 doz. eggs at 12 cents.$1.68 
Water glass solution.25 
Total .$1-93 
CR. 
14 doz. eggs at 36 cents.$4.04 
Less expenses as above. 1.93 
Profit .$2.11 
The water-glass preservative thus 
costs less than two cents for each dozen 
eggs safely stored, and if it can be steri¬ 
lized by boiling and again used this 
trifling expense would be eliminated for 
another trial. We understand egg-deal¬ 
ers do not care to handle limed eggs 
that have been in storage more than 
three or four months, claiming the qual¬ 
ity is uncertain. We have a leaning to¬ 
wards water glass as the better solu¬ 
tion, but careful comparative trials are 
needed to settle the differences if any in 
ultimate result. The use of above solu¬ 
tions for preserving new-laid eggs is 
well settled, and may be recommended 
to careful poultry keepers, but it is a 
risky proceeding to attempt carrying 
over ordinary grocery eggs in this way. 
The Etherization of Plants. —The 
exposure of dormant woody plants to 
the fumes of ether to encourage rapid 
growth and early bloom when forced 
under glass is a new wrinkle exploited 
by European investigators. Repeated 
experiments show that potted lilacs af¬ 
ter exposure to the action of ether for 
48 hours in a close box made such rapid 
growth under greenhouse conditions 
that they were covered with leaves and 
bloomed profusely in 18 days, while 
similar plants not etherized under pre¬ 
cisely the same conditions had made 
little progress in 20 days. This very 
substantial gain is likely to be of great 
value when it is desired quickly to bring 
quantities of shrubs into bloom for spe¬ 
cial decorations. The exact action of 
ether on the tissues of plants has not 
been worked out. It contains a high pro¬ 
portion of oxygen, and is supposed when 
used in the proper manner to render the 
stored plant food in the dormant twigs 
and buds more quickly available from 
its solvent power. The action on woody 
plants is quite similar to that of mod¬ 
erate frosts in ripening up tissues. The 
method of procedure is quite simple. The 
plants already established in pots are 
placed in closely sealed enclosures simi¬ 
lar to our hydrocyanic gas fumigation 
for insect pests, and a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of common sulphuric ether sus¬ 
pended in an open vessel near the top. 
Ether vapor is heavier than air, and de¬ 
scends, bathing every portion of the 
plant even to the roots in the soil, which 
is kept quite dry for the purpose. After 
exposures varying from 24 to 48 hours 
the plants are transferred to the forcing 
house and treated in the usual manner. 
Growth starts almost immediately, and 
is very apparent in three or four days. 
It seems strange that ether should wake 
up sleeping plants in so lively a man¬ 
ner when its familiar use is to stupefy 
the human or animal system during 
painful surgical operations, but in small 
quantity it is really a powerful stimu¬ 
lant, owing to the contained oxygen. 
Ether has not been successfully used in 
forwarding soft-wooded or growing 
plants and this odd treatment is at pres¬ 
ent confined to a few desirable flower- 
ering shrubs. w. v. f. 
How a Penny 
May Cure a Sick Friend 
Simply write a postal card telling me 
who needs help. Tell me which book to 
send. 
Spend but that penny to aid your sick 
friend, then I will do this: - 
1 will mail him an order—good at any 
drug store—for six bottles Dr. Shoop’s 
Restorative. He may take it a month at 
my risk. If it succeeds, the cost is $5.50. 
If it fails, I will pay the druggist myself. 
That may seem too fair to be possible 
—but try me. I have furnished my 
treatment on just those terms in hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of difficult cases. My 
records show that 39 out of each 40 have 
paid, and paid gladly, because they got 
well. 
1 willingly pay for the rest. 
The remedy that stands that test Is a 
result of a lifetime’s work. It is the only 
remedy yet made that strengthens the 
inside nerves. My way alone brings 
back the nerve power which operates 
the vital organs. Tnere is no other way 
to make weak organs well. 
You will know it when you read my 
book. 
Simply state which 
book you want, and ad¬ 
dress Hr. 8hoop, Box 
670, Racine, Wls 
Rook No. on Dyspepsia, 
Hook No.. on the lieart, 
Book No. 3 on the Kidneys, 
Book no. 1 for Women, 
Book No. 5 for men (sealed), 
Book Ho. Con Rheumatism 
Mild cases, not chronic, are often cured by one or 
two bottles. At aU druggists. 
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Sow potash and reap dollars. 
Our five books are a complete treatise on 
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93 Nassau Street, New York. 
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800 Elm St., Butler, Pa. 
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THE KELLY 
DUPLEIX 
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