85o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 9 
large manufacturers. This business has grown to 
large proportions, and when we told the story about 
it, Mr. Patton thought that he saw possibilities in the 
business. So after some study of the situation, he 
began to make ice cream last April. After the people 
found what he was doing, orders kept ahead of the 
supply for four months, when the supply of ice gave 
out. Mr. Patton believes in the use of printer’s ink, 
and he got out circulars containing the following: 
Cornstarch and its numerous imitations, sold under 
various names, will make cream that will stand up all 
day without ice, which is the stiff cream sold by many. 
Our cream is unadulterated in every way, using only the 
products of our farm, except sugar and flavoring ex¬ 
tracts, in the entire process of manufacturing. We do 
not cook cream except for chocolate, and then scald only 
sufficient to dissolve the chocolate. Our cream, properly 
packed each day, will keep 10 days without changing 
flavor, and possibly longer. 
Mr. Patton had only two cows, but the frozen cream 
from these cows brought over $100 in four months. 
His farm is located a mile from town, where there are 
two ice-cream houses. They use corn starch, gelatin 
and other adulterants, and the pure frozen cream was 
quickly found to be superior. Mr. Patton says that 
the whole cash outlay for freezer, cans and tubs, was 
$13.50, and most of the cream was sold at the farm in 
gallon or five-gallon lots. We have always felt that 
there was an opening in this ice-cream business near 
a small town, where the chief supply comes from the 
city factories. Mr. Patton’s experience shows that 
frozen cream is considerably more profitable than 
butter-making. We are now able to show on the 
first page the “cow power” that stands back of this 
ice-cream business. The two cows shown are mother 
and daughter, and they are evidently good ones, for 
Mr. Patton says that in addition to the ice-cream busi¬ 
ness, these cows furnished the family of six with all 
the butter they required, except nine pounds. They 
also provided plenty of milk and cream for the table, 
during the entire four months of ice-cream making. 
There may be better cows on some of the smaller 
Ohio farms, but few of them will show the earning 
ability for four months that these two cows have 
shown. The cows are seen standing beside a reser¬ 
voir, or pond. This covers about three-quarters of an 
acre, and was built or dammed up several years ago 
for irrigating purposes. The water is taken from this 
pond through a two-inch pipe, led underground out 
of the reach of frost. The field that is irrigated is 
about 1,800 feet away. Before doing its duty in fur¬ 
nishing drink to the plants, the water runs to the 
packing and shipping house, where it passes over an 
8%-foot overshot water-wheel, thus furnishing the 
power to run the freezer for the ice cream and other 
light power as well. We like to speak of these home¬ 
made devices and small businesses, because they show 
what can be done by people of average means who 
possess a capital of sound brains and the desire to 
make those brains useful. No doubt about it, there 
are plenty of opportunities near our smaller towns 
for developing trade in first-class products of the gar¬ 
den and dairy. 
PICKING OUT THE LAYING HENS. 
During the past few years poultrykeepers have un¬ 
derstood that in order to improve their hens they 
must know in some way which are their best layers. 
The Babcock test has been very useful in improving 
dairy herds, because it picks out the robber cow, and 
gives farmers a chance to breed from the rent-payers. 
In like manner we must pick out the daughters of our 
best hens if we expect to increase the yield of eggs, 
and certainly we must know the mothers if we are 
to know the daughters. Various devices have been 
thought out for selecting the best layers with certain¬ 
ty, and the most promising plan is to build a nest 
where the hen will be confined after she lays her eggs, 
so that her record may be kept. Various forms of 
nests have been built, and the one shown at Fig. 308 
is used at the Maine Experiment Station. Mr. G. M. 
Gowell, in the recent Station report, says that this 
nest has given excellent satisfaction. At the Maine 
Station, they have 52 of them in use. The breeding 
pens are 10x16 feet, each containing 20 hens. The 
four nests are enough to accommodate this flock. It 
is necessary for the attendant to go through the nests 
once an hour, during that part of the day when the 
hens are busiest. 
The nest-boxes are without front end or cover. 
They are 26 inches long, 13 inches wide, and 13 inches 
deep, inside measure. A division of board with a 
circular opening TY 2 inches in diameter is placed 
across the box 15 inches back from the front end. Be¬ 
hind this ooard is the nest proper, and the hen crawls 
through the hole to reach it. The front door is a low 
frame of inch stuff covered with wire netting. It 
hinges at the top, and opens up into the box. The 
upper right-hand figure shows the open door. When 
opened, the door is held up by a piece of bent wire, 
the upper end of which rests against a peg or tack, 
while the lower end hangs down in front of the open¬ 
ing. The hen, in crawling through into the nest, 
pushes the wire to one side, and the door falls down 
behind her. She lays her egg, but cannot get out 
again until the henman comes and releases her by 
lifting up the door again. Each hen has a leg band 
with a certain number engraved on it. When a hen 
is found inside this box with an egg, it is taken as 
evidence that she laid it, and her number is credited 
with the egg on a carefully-kept record. In this way 
the poultryman can tell at the end of the season just 
how many eggs each hen has laid. By marking the 
eggs themselves, he can tell the pedigree of his 
chickens. Some poultrymen carry the thing so far 
that a small incubator will contain the eggs from a 
dozen or more hens. Each lot of eggs is surrounded 
in the incubator by cardboard, so that the chicks 
cannot mix as they hatch out, and can be labeled 
when a few days old, so as to distinguish them. This 
idea of picking out the best layers for breeding is 
sound from every point of view, and some form of in¬ 
dividual nest-box where the hen can be marked and 
recorded is the best Babcock test for the poultry yard. 
ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS. 
WRAPPING A PEACH.—The Market Gardener, an 
English horticultural paper, recently gave some ad¬ 
vice about packing peaches for the English markets. 
RECORDING NESTS FOR LAYING HENS. Fig. 308. 
It found a box of Canadian peaches, which had been 
sent over as an experiment. These peaches were 
wrapped in tissue paper, and came in fair condition, 
although some of them were discolored. The Market 
Gardener suggests an improvement in wrapping these 
peaches. It would follow the plan shown at Fig. 309, 
first putting the peach in the center of a square piece 
of tissue paper, then bringing the corners up as shown 
in the second figure, and then twisting them into the 
WRAPPING A PEACH. Flu. 300. 
form of a screw, with the hand, as shown. Then it 
would put a layer of wadding over the bottom of the 
box, with strips to go around each fruit. The fruit 
is to be lifted entirely by the twist of paper, so that 
it cannot be pinched or bruised with the hand. By 
untwisting the paper, the fruit can be exposed without 
touching it; a most desirable thing with tender fruits 
that have been kept in cold storage. This seems like 
sensible advice, and shippers to the English market 
might make use,of it. There seems to be a good deal 
of question as to whether it pays to wrap fruit in 
paper or not, but we think that the practice is gaining 
ground, and that more of it is done than ever before. 
VETCH FOR SHEEP FOOD.—I have not fed 
enough vetches to sheep to be able to determine 
closely their value in comparison with the clovers, 
but I do know that they are a very valuable addition 
to the list of fodders that sheep relish. I have tried 
mixing peas and rape together without success, but 
others who have used vetches in this way, claim that 
they do better than peas. I do not think that there is 
any foundation for the statement that vetches will 
produce lameness and other troubles in sheep. It is 
one of the staple crops for sheep in Europe, and in 
sections of country where conditions are favorable for 
their growth they continue to be popular. In some 
of the valleys of Oregon, where the conditions are 
well adapted for growing vetches, they have been used 
for a great many years, and nearly all of the sheep 
men are using them at this time. Vetches and peas 
are very closely akin in.character, excepting that the 
vetch is finer in its growth. I know that sheep relish 
the flavor of pea vines better than they do that of 
any other food I have ever tried, and as vetches have 
the same peculiar flavor and are also finer, it seems 
to me from this, and what experience I have had, that 
they would be a most valuable food to grow for sheep. 
Iowa Exp. Station. joiin a. craig. 
SOLID OR SPOKE WHEELS.—Noticing the recent 
complaint in The R. N.-Y. about the heavy draft of 
broad-tired wagons with spoke wheels in very soft or 
muddy roads or fields, and which is entirely truthful, 
according to my observation, I wish to say further: 
That in loose sandy ground the same objection holds. 
The loose earth drops in over the felloes and makes 
veritable plows of the wheels. But this objection is 
perfectly overcome by using wheels with solid centers. 
We are now using a low wagon with wheels having 
five-inch tires and no spokes; the entire space be¬ 
tween the tires and the iron hubs being wood. Of 
course there is a hollow space between the two plank 
sides of each wheel, in which are light iron spokes 
that give sufficient strength, and yet lightness. These 
are the best wheels I ever used on the farms that I 
have owned and worked. They do not, and cannot, 
load up with mud nearly so much as ordinary wagon 
wheels. h. e. van deman. 
TRAVELING LIBRARIES.—You often advise us 
to furnish good reading matter for the use of our 
families during the long Winter evenings. Why do 
you not tell your New York State readers about the 
New York State Traveling Library; how easily and 
cheaply the use of 100 volumes (the best books of 
our day) for six months, may be obtained? For two 
Winters we have sent for a library, in this town, 
and I cannot say enough in regard to the pleasure 
and profit we have received from the use of the 
books. The University of the State of New York, 
Public Libraries Division, will send information, 
blanks, etc., to anyone who may send to them at 
Albany, N. Y. 
The State has over 40 different libraries, and cata¬ 
logues will be sent. Books we poor farmers could 
not afford to buy—history, travels, science, fiction— 
stand ready' on the shelves at Albany, to be sent to 
any township in their State that will forward the 
names of 25 taxpayers and $5 in money (20 cents 
apiece), to the Regents, and ask for the books, or 
$3 can be sent and 50 books will be sent for six 
months. Out of the $5 the State pays all charges 
both ways. Just think, for 20 cents you have more 
reading matter than you can possibly read these 
long lonely evenings. m. j. b. 
Elmira, N. Y. 
SUGAR BEETS AND PICKLES.—I send my first 
experience with three acres of sugar beets. The 
soil being a sandy loam, with the dry weather they 
did not do very well. In the Spring of 1898, I plowed 
under Crimson clover, and then planted to pickles. 
After the pickles were harvested, the land was 
plowed, and again in the Spring. I raised my beets 
for the Rome factory, which pays $5 per ton deliv¬ 
ered, while the Binghamton factory pays $5 on board 
cars. As to the cost of growing the beets, here it 
is, as follows: 
Plowing ground . $4.50 
Harrowing . 1.50 
Boiling . 1.00 
Sowing seed . .. .. 1.50 
Weeding . 15.00 
Cultivating 10 times.. 10.00 
Pulling and topping. 25.00 
Drawing and loading on car... . 10.00 
Interest on land. 18.00 
Total . $86.50 
18 2-5 tons beets. 84.50 
Loss . $2.00 
As to cost and yield of five acres of pickles, here 
it is, as follows. The land was sown to rye in the 
Fall for a cover crop, and when the rye was headed, 
it was plowed under. 
Plowing . $7.50 
Harrowing . 3.00 
Marking both ways. 3.00 
Furrowing one way lor manure in hill. 1.50 
10 loads of manure to acre.;. 100.00 
Putting manure in hill. 10.00 
Covering up manure. 5.00 
Planting . 1.25 
Used weeder twice. 2.00 
Cultivating, eight times. 12.00 
Hoeing twice . 5.00 
Interest on land. 30.00 
Drawing to factory. 42.00 
Picking . 100.00 
31% tons @ $12 per ton. 38100 
200,000 sold to peddlers at 10 cents per 100... 200.00 
Total .$581.00 
Cost . 321.25 
Profit .$259.75 
We began picking July 24, and finished September 
28. CHA8. SIDDON. 
Onondaga County, N. Y. 
