846 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 17 
accomplished. Building's have been constructed; 
agents have purchased in France the machinery and 
brought it to this country, and it has been installed 
in the buildings. About 2,000 acres of beets were con¬ 
tracted for, and the product is now being delivered. 
Some idea of the extent of the machinery may be 
secured from the picture. There are in the main 
building over three miles of steam and water pipe, 
and the labor in making these pipes tight has been no 
small matter. The factory has a capacity of 300 tons 
of beets per day, but is now running only about 250 
tons, and the finished daily product of pure granulated 
sugar is about 16 tons. 
The large pile of beets seen in one of the pictures 
shows that the factory is unable to use the beets as 
fast as they are received. To meet this condition, 
four mammoth sheds were constructed. These sheds 
are each 425 feet long, 16 feet wide and about 12 feet 
high. It was expected that these sheds would furnish 
storage room for the beets received, but from appear¬ 
ances, more beets were dumped upon the ground than 
were in the sheds, and at the time of my visit, 100 car¬ 
loads of beets were being received daily. Underneath 
these sheds and running their entire length is a sluice¬ 
way. Through this runs the water which has been 
heated in the factory. The beets are rolled into this 
sluiceway, and carried by the water into the factory. 
From the time the beets are unloaded from the cars 
into the sheds they are not again touched by hand in 
any of the operations. The beets contain from 12 to 
17 per cent of sugar. It is not usually understood 
how great the difference is between beets which an¬ 
alyze 13 per cent and those which analyze 16 per cent 
of sugar. From one ton of 16-per-cent beets, there 
can be extracted about 250 pounds of granulated sugar. 
From one ton of 13-per-cent beets, only 210 pounds of 
sugar will be secured, making a difference of 40 pounds 
of sugar per ton of beets. When running at their full 
capacity of 300 tons per day of beets, this difference 
in quality of three per cent in the beets will make a 
difference of 12,000 pounds of sugar per day, or for the 
usual working season of 100 days, a difference of 
1,200,000 pounds. This 600 tons of sugar represents 
then what high-grade beets mean to a factory. It 
may very easily mean the difference between profit 
and loss. 
The result of this season’s work shows that the 
farmers can raise beets of high quality. They are, 
for the most part, well satisfied with the season’s 
work. The factory is in successful operation, and a 
ready market is found for the entire output in New 
York State. Not only is the market great enough to 
absorb all the sugar at present manufactured, but it 
would require over 60 factories the size of the one at 
Binghamton to supply New York State alone. Verily 
it seems that this new industry will not be quickly 
overdone. _ l. a. clinton. 
A CROP OF TOMATO SEED. 
HOW IT IS SEPARATED AND DRIED. 
At Tomato-Canning Factories.—Quite a pro¬ 
portion of the seed used by seedsmen comes from can¬ 
ning factories. There in peeling the fruit, some of 
the seed inevitably goes with the waste, which also 
contains a great many overripe fruits unfit for can¬ 
ning. The whole is passed through a “pulper,” which 
grinds the mass to a pulp without injuring the seed. 
The pulp then passes into a revolving sieve, and the 
finer portion is pressed out by an endless screw, and 
makes “ superior seedless ketchup stock.” The seeds 
and coarser pieces of skin are allowed to sour, and 
then the seed is separated by washing. In some fac¬ 
tories, this is accomplished by a patented machine, in 
which the mass is delivered on to a sieve with meshes 
just large enough to allow the seed to pass through, 
and hung on revolving cranks, so that at its highest 
point it is about two inches above the water in the 
tank in which it is hung ; as the crank revolves, it 
passes forward and downward into the water until 
at its lowest point it is about two inches beneath the 
surface, and all the coarser pieces of skin washed or 
floated from it, are taken up again farther down the 
screen, as that passes backward and upward beneath 
the water, while the seed thus washed off settles to 
the bottom of the tank, and is carried by the current 
of water out into a revolving sieve, which allows the 
water to escape while the seed thus separated and 
washed is taken out and spread on cloths to dry. 
In many cases, the waste is simply crushed, and 
then passed directly to the washer without going 
through the pulper. Of course, the value of such 
seed depends entirely upon the care taken to see that 
only tomatoes of the same kind and of good stock are 
used. Where careful attention is paid to this, the 
seed is good, better than that from crops grown for 
seed alone, when less care is used. 
Worked iu the Field. —In growing the crop for 
seed alone, the fruit is allowed to stay on the vines 
as long as possible without becoming disagreeable to 
handle, the entire crop being gathered in three, two 
and sometimes in only one picking. The fruit is 
picked and taken to a machine which crushes it by 
passing it between two rollers about nine inches in 
diameter, but shaped into large teeth as shown at 
Fig. 384, which represents a cross section. From 
these, it falls into a revolving nearly horizontal 
screen about 3 feet long and 20 inches in diameter, 
and made of stout netting of about one-fourth inch 
mesh, the seed and fine pulp falling through and 
being collected, while the skins pass out at the end 
as waste. I have seen tomatoes which have passed 
through the rolls set less than one-fourth inch apart, 
and then tumbled about in the screen until they rolled 
out at the end quite whole and shapely save for a 
crack on one side, but with every seed squeezed out 
of them. 
The machine is turned by hand, and is usually set 
upon a stone-boat, and moved as often as one or two 
bushels of pulp are secured; it takes from 10 to 15 
bushels of fruit to give a bushel of pulp. In other 
cases, the fruit is all taken to a larger machine made 
on the same plan, but run by horse power, the pulp 
passing into a vat beneath the screen. The pulp is 
allowed to stand in barrels or tanks to sour, and the 
/ /<!/! ^ 
MACHINE FOR PULPING TOMATOES. Fig. 384. 
color of the seed depends largely upon how this takes 
place If the weather is hot and the mass not only 
sours but ferments, the seed will be black ; while if 
it simply sours and rots without actual fermentation, 
the seed will be bright. 
Washed and Dried. —The seed is washed in 
various ways; the simplest plan is to put about two 
or three pailfuls into a barrel, fill the barrel about 
two-fifths full of water, and keeping it stirred up 
slowly, tip the barrel so that the escaping water will 
carry off the floating pulp. Repeat the operation 
until the seed is clean. Another plan is to have a 
sluice-box about 12 feet long, two wide, and 18 inches 
deep, divided by three or four dams, each 134 inch 
lower than the one above it. Fill the box with a 
constantly slowly-running stream of water, and put¬ 
ting the seed and pulp into the first compartment, 
keep it stirred up and, as the mass is carried forward, 
FORCED PEACE CONDITIONS. Fig. 385. 
The New York Herald pictures Spain as refusing to swallow 
the peace conditions, though dragged to the trough. Superior 
force compelled her to yield, however. 
the seed will settle in one of the compartments while 
the pulp is washed over and escapes. 
It will greatly facilitate drying if as much water as 
possible is pressed out of the seed. This is sometimes 
done by the hands ; a more expeditious way is to put 
about a pailful into a stout, but open, gunny sack, 
and wring the water out. It is important that the 
seed be dried quickly, as if that is long delayed, it will 
sprout. It should be spread not to exceed an inch in 
depth on frames covered with cotton cloth, and the 
oftener it is stirred, the better. On a bright day, such 
seed will dry so that, on the next, two frames can be 
put together and, after one or two days more, it can 
be bagged. will w. tract. 
R. N.-Y.—We wonder what variety of tomatoes 
would be produced from seeds saved at the average 
canning factory ! Some of the bargain-counter seeds¬ 
men might know. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Seedling Potatoes. —A number of readers are talk¬ 
ing of experiments with potato seed. One reader in 
Iowa says that, two years ago, he planted seed from 
one potato ball, and succeeded in raising one vine 
which produced eight small potatoes. This year, the 
eight potatoes were planted one in a hill, and they 
brought all the way from 35 to 45 to the hill, some as 
large as an egg. The seed was obtained from an old 
variety, and was planted early. He wants to know 
whether these potatoes are the old kind, or a new sort 
devoid of name. In our experience, we have found 
that all true seedlings differ in one way or another 
from the parent. 
Mouse in Incubator. —A bulletin from the North 
Carolina Experiment Station (Raleigh) gives, among 
other things, an interesting account of incubator ex¬ 
periments. In one case 200 eggs were placed in the 
incubator on March 8. The best hatch of the year 
was expected. The first test, March 15, found 65 
eggs infertile and three chicks dead in the shells. 
The hatch went wrong, 91 of the eggs proving infer¬ 
tile and only 65 hatching, one being a cripple. About 
the seventh day, a foul odor was detected on the in¬ 
side of the egg chamber, but careful examination 
failed to reveal the cause. After the hatch was off, a 
dead mouse was found in a ventilating tube. The 
eggs were properly cared for, and the chances are that 
the interference from ventilation, and the odor arising 
from the mouse, were the cause of this poor hatch. 
This little incident shows how the best-laid plans of 
skillful men may go wrong. 
Water bt Ram Power. —In The R. N.-Y. of Oc¬ 
tober 22, is a very interesting article about A Yankee 
and His Wind. I like his ingenuity, but it seems to 
me that, if he had properly set his ram, and the re¬ 
quirements had been what they should be for its 
proper working, he would have had no cause to put 
up his windmill for any other purposes than power 
for sawing wood or grinding, etc. In the Fall of 
1895, we placed a ram near the falls in a creek, situ¬ 
ated 710 feet from our barn, and 45 feet below the 
barn. This ram is now (and has been for three years) 
throwing a solid %-inch stream of water to our barn. 
I will venture to say that the ram has thrown more 
water than the Yankee’s windmill, and has not taken 
an “ occasional oiling.” It never stops, and the Yan¬ 
kee can’t stop it unless he meddles with it, loosening 
the bolts or spring. Best of all, the entire outfit cost 
just $47.75, and we can show a receipted bill for the 
same. My advice, and it’s sound, is for any farmer 
who is in need of water and has the proper conditions, 
by all means to put in a ram, that is, if he is looking 
toward economy. L. e. c. 
Philadelphia, N. Y. 
A Human Mole Trap. —In The R. N.-Y. of Novem¬ 
ber 26, you illustrate what you call the best three mole 
traps. Now these may be the best mole traps of which 
you know, but we have one here that can catch more 
moles than 100 such as you illustrate. It is a man who 
makes a business of catching these little pests. Dur¬ 
ing the past season, he caught nearly 600. My home 
grounds consist of six acres, and two years ago, the 
moles became so bad that they literally ruined many 
things I had planted, and threatened to play havoc 
generally. I tried mole traps galore, and succeeded 
in catching a few ; but it seemed to me that for every 
one I caught, two came to its funeral. I then engaged 
the mole catcher. He caught 13, and the next Spring, 
two or three more ; since then, I have seen evidence 
of but one mole on the place, and as it seemed either 
lonesome or dangerous for him, he disappeared and 
has not returned. 
The farmers have taken to hiring the mole catcher, 
and he has practically cleared the moles off a number 
of large farms. He tells me that he has enough 
engagements to keep him busy all next Summer. 
There does not seem to be any secret about it. He 
has studied the habits of the little animals, and in 
that way, finds them, and usually has nothing but a 
large jackknife with which he digs them out. I pre¬ 
sume that he could teach others to catch them just as 
he does. He makes good wages at the business. 
Whitehall, Ill. A. w. F. 
Another Rural Telephone. 
As several readers are interested in the telephone 
question, I will give our experience with a short line. 
Our two-mile line with four phones has been m opera¬ 
tion six months, and it has given satisfaction to all. 
The principal patents have expired, and phones are 
now cheap. Our phones are old-style Blake pattern, 
that is, the transmitters are stationary (as good as 
any, but not so stylish). They are guaranteed to 
work up to 50 miles, and they cost 89 each. We have 
regular telephone insulators with oak brackets, which 
are much to be preferred to cheap buttons. Insulators 
cost 334 cents apiece, brackets the same price, 25 to 30 
to the mile. A single No. 14 wire is sufficient (the earth 
