1904. 
TIIH RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
699 
ICE CREAM AS A DAIRY PRODUCT 
Compared With Milk or Butter. 
It has been a very hot day. and the question, “How 
does tin's weather strike you?” gets a different answer 
from the one sometimes expected. Our principal Sum¬ 
mer business is.the manufacture and sale of ice cream, 
and the hotter the weather the more business we do; 
like almost everybody else, when there is “something 
doing” we can stand the weather. Although the amount 
of our sale is still largely dependent upon the weather, 
we can see quite a difference "over what it was a few 
years ago. The ice cream habit has been acquired by 
many people, and they want it regardless of the weather; 
a social function even in zero weather is now hardly a 
success without ice cream. 
“Do you like the business?” 
Yes, because there is more in it than in butter or the 
ordinary retail milk business. Of course there are 
“outs” in this business as in any other, and like most 
other business, these are not always seen upon the 
surface. 
“Where do you sell your cream?” 
We have an ice cream parlor right on the main street 
of our town of upwards of 8,000 people, and here we 
sell a good share* of our cream in connection with the 
soda water business. We have one of the largest and 
finest soda fountains in our part of the State, and this 
helps run the business, and uses a good deal of the 
cream. We also supply a trolley park resort and ship 
quite a little to a nearby fashionable Summer town. 
“Wherein do you have any advantage over your com¬ 
petitors?” 
We own our own buildings. Our cream is made at 
the farm in our own creamery, and we own 
our ice cream parlor, so that we pay no rent. 
We put up our own ice in Winter, which 
makes quite a saving. We also produce the 
larger part of the cream used for our ice 
cream business from our own herd of 60 
cows. We also buy our supplies in large 
quantity, our salt by the carload. We are 
also located but a half mile from our rooms, 
which makes us right at hand to look out 
for both producing and selling ends of the 
business. 
“What do you use in making your cream, 
or is that a trade secret?” 
We have no trade secrets, and we use 
nothing but straight cream.' No milk, eggs, 
cornstarch, gelatine or filler of any kind. 
We have built up a reputation for making 
a strictly fancy article from pure cream 
alone, and we expect to keep up the repu¬ 
tation. 
“But wouldn’t it help out to add some 
milk when you are short of cream?” 
No; that looks all right, but straight 
cream here pays best, as good cream in the 
freezing will whip up enough to more than 
make up in bulk what you would have 
gained by adding the milk. 
“What are the most popular flavors?” 
We make the most of vanilla, as almost 
everyone likes that flavor, but the popular 
flavors besides are chocolate, strawberry, 
peach, coffee and orange ice. We use the fruit entirely 
for the fruit flavors, and vanilla is the only extract 
used, and, by the way, vanilla costs more than most 
people think, from $8 to $12 per gallon. We keep at 
least six months’ supply on hand, as it improves with 
age. 
“Do you cook your cream?” 
No, we scald a portion of each batch in a double 
boiler or water bath, as it is frequently called. If all 
the cream were scalded it gives the cream a cooked 
taste, which is not desired. We dissolve the sugar in 
the scalded part of the cream. We use a 10-gallon 
power freezer run by a steam engine, and can make a 
batch in from 10 to 20 minutes. For salt we use a kind 
known as Retsof No. 2, about the size of wheat grains. 
Fine salt will not last long enough, though it will cool 
quicker, and coarse or rock salt will waste, as only a 
portion of it will dissolve. 
“What price do you get for your cream?” 
It retails at 40 cents per quart and $1.20 to $1.40 per 
gallon, and we wholesale it at $1 per gallon. 
“How do you put it up?” 
The larger portion is sold in ordinary packages hold¬ 
ing one to 10 gallons, from which it is dished out with 
scoops that serve it in pyramid shape. We also put 
up considerable' in brick shape, hardened and then cut 
in slices, each slice wrapped in oil paper, put in paper 
boxes and packed in salt and ice in a packer. The 
cream, when it leaves the freezer, is rather soft, and is 
afterwards hardened. If properly packed it can be kept 
a week or >0 days, but we like to get rid of it as fast 
as possible. 
“You spoke of some of the ‘outs’ in the business. 
What are some of these?” 
It is a “freaky” business, big sales to-day, none to¬ 
morrow. It is hard work to tell how much cream you 
can use. A streak of hot weather and you go scouring 
around for cream. A cold week and your sales drop to 
a minimum, but your supply of cream keeps piling up, 
and you may have to churn. You have to make butter 
in Fall and Winter, and must look up new customers 
each time; you cannot have regular customers, as you 
must drop them in the Summer. The wear and tear of 
the business is considerable. Everything that the salt and 
brine comes in contact with or near rusts badly. Wagons 
and tools and all utensils rust very quickly, and are 
short-lived. No holidays, as they are best days in the 
year for the business. How about Sundays? We shut 
up Saturday night until Monday morning, believing this 
to be the right way. We do just as little Sunday work 
on the farm as possible. 
“What are the chances for others in this business?” 
Much depends upon one’s location. If near some 
popular resort or near a good town there are good 
opportunities. Thg wrong side of the street may kill 
your business, as people must pass your door and be 
drawn in by its nearness, neatness and the quality of the 
product you put out. There is lots of hard work con¬ 
nected with the business, but in many places it will pay. 
H. G. M. 
POT-GROWN STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 
Will pot-grown strawberry plants, set in August or Sep¬ 
tember, give a paying crop of fruit the next season? If 
so, how should they be cared for to accomplish this? 
Strawberry plants, whether pot-grown or ordinary 
rooted runners, cannot be relied on to bear a full crop 
K 
next season if planted later than the middle of August, 
though under liberal cultivation they may produce a 
few clusters of fine berries, and make strong clumps for 
the succeeding year. If good pot-grown plants can be 
had in July and set in deeply dug and well manured 
soil in a showery time, they will grow rapidly and make 
strong fruiting crowns by freezing weather if otherwise 
well cared for. For best results good stable manure at 
the rate of 12 to 15 tons per acre should be worked in 
the soil, and in addition a top-dressing of 600 to 1,000 
pounds per acre of a good complete chemical fertilizer 
or its equivalent in bone and wood ashes may be applied. 
The plants should be set in rows three feet apart, and 
spaced from 12 to 16 inches apart in the row. Careful 
hand or horse cultivation should begin soon after plant¬ 
ing, and be continued at frequent intervals as long as 
growth continues. If runners start freely one or two of 
the early ones may be layered in at the distance of a 
foot from the parent plants, but as a rule all should be 
pinched off as they appear in order to promote develop¬ 
ment of the fruiting crowns. At any rate, rtjnners 
should not be allowed later than the end of August. At 
the appearance of freezing weather a mulch of coarse 
stable manure should be applied, taking care not to 
bury the crowns too deeply. When the new growth 
starts in Spring this Winter mulch should be carefully 
raked off, all weeds and grass cleaned from about the 
plants, and one or more deep cultivations given to 
loosen the soil and make it receptive of moisture, and a 
clean mulch of straw, marsh hay or other convenient 
material, spread about the plants as soon as the bloom 
is over to keep the berries from the soil. Occasionally 
a maximum crop is raised in this manner, but Fall-set 
plants are usually inferior in cropping capacity the suc¬ 
ceeding year to those planted in early Spring, simply 
because their growing season is too short to build up 
good fruiting crowns. 
WHEAT GROWING ON FERTILIZER FARM. 
Our rotation as follows is one of five years: Corn on 
sod, followed by potatoes, wheat following potatoes, 
seeded to grass on wheat; then mowing or pasture for 
two years. We are accustomed to plant all our corn 
stubble with potatoes. We apply from 1,000 to 1,400 
pounds of fertilizer per acre, which leaves a large sur¬ 
plus of plant food for succeeding crops. After potatoes 
arq dug it will largely depend upon the condition of the 
soil at time of digging. If grasses and weeds abound it 
may be necessary to harrow, gather and remove these 
grasses and weeds and plow as soon as possible after the 
potatoes are removed, leaving the soil in the rough state 
and harrow occasionally as the weeds may develop, al¬ 
lowing the soil to become as compact as possible. Then 
at time of sowing prepare the surface as shallow as 
possible for seeding. Whenever conditions will warrant 
we prefer to cultivate only, provided we have a fine 
pulverized surface. We don’t believe in plowing for 
wheat if we can avoid it. We sow as nearly as possible 
two bushels of wheat to the acre, applying at this time 
about 250 to 300 pounds per acre, and one year with 
another we average from 25 to 35 bushels per acre, and 
occasionally get 40 bushels per acre. d. c. lewis. 
New Jersey. 
Wheat Growing in Western New York. 
We have abandoned Summer fallowing for wheat 
seeding, and sow our wheat on oat stubble, plowing as 
soon as the oats are off, and rolling immediately, and 
then follow with the spring-tooth harrow 
after having top-dressed the ground with 
the sheep and hog manure, using our old 
Kemp & Burpee spreader that has done 
valiant service for about 25 years. The 
ground is harrowed every few days, using 
the roller to break any lumps that may ap¬ 
pear, thus fining and compacting the soil 
thoroughly, which operation I consider the 
keynote to success in wheat growing, in 
connection with the judicious use of a 
proper fertilizer. The fertilizer that gives 
us the 1 best results for the money expended, 
when we have the barnyard manure to use 
as top-dressing, is dissolved rock and potash, 
1,800 pounds rock and 200 pounds muriate 
of potash, on our sandy and gravelly soil, 
using at least 300 pounds per acre. We 
have found that the addition of 100 or 150 
pounds above the old regulation 200 pounds 
per acre gives us from five to 10 bushels 
more wheat. If the ground has been thor¬ 
oughly worked as I have indicated there 
need be no worry about lack of moisture 
to start the wheat, if it is sown about Sep¬ 
tember 25, and by sowing as late as this 
there is little danger of the Hessian fly 
doing much damage without using the “trap 
strip.” I have been very successful with 
No. 6 wheat, but I shall sow a long-berry 
red wheat that one of my neighbors 
obtained from Michigan two years ago, 
and has had two splendid crops which indicate 
that this variety will do well in this vicinity. 
We use from l'/ 2 to l-)4 bushel of seed per acre 
drilled in just as shallow as possible. One great 
mistake wheat growers make is in using too much seed 
and covering too deep. The best crops I have ever 
grown have been from using V/i bushel of plump clean 
seed. At the time of seeding to wheat I shall sow one- 
fourth bushel Timothy seed and follow with the weeder 
to cover slightly, and leave the ground in ideal condi¬ 
tion for the Fall and Winter. We shall sow the Alsike 
and Red clover in the early Spring, and I am confident 
that, with favorable climatic conditions, we shall be able 
to harvest a good crop of wheat and have a good grass 
seeding which we value more highly than the wheat 
crop. The above suggestions are made with the suppo¬ 
sition that the land is thoroughly tile-drained; if not, 
then recourse will have to be made to surface drainage. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. s. w. wadhams. 
-AND IIIS MONEY.—A man and woman recently 
came to Tort Jervis and advertised themselves as clairvoy¬ 
ants. Among the persons who called on them was Mrs. 
Mary Myers, who by scrubbing and cleaning and washing for- 
years for a living, managed to save $700 which was depos¬ 
ited in a bank in the ullage. Iler husband is an invalid from 
a railroad accident, and the woman sought the clairvoyant 
to learn what would be the result of a suit for damages. 
He wanted $50 for the information, and the foolish woman 
was told to bring all her money in large hills, and it would 
be handed back to her at once. The clairvoyant divided the 
money, placed one-half in a handkerchief and the other in 
an envelope. He told Mrs. Myers to carry the latter in her 
bosom three days and to sleep on it Die same night, then 
come to him for advice, lie gave her two pills to swallow 
and a powder to be’placed in a glass of water. The former, 
he claimed, induced dreams: the latter colored the water in 
the glass if the dreams were about money. Mrs. Myers 
called at the hotel when the time was up. but the clairvoy¬ 
ants had fled. The envelope and handkerchief contained 
pieces of brown paper, and the woman had lost $700 in cash, 
all she had in tne world.—Oxford, N. Y., Times. 
WORK OF THE ORCHARD ORIOLE. Fig. 310. 
See ltura I isms, l’age 703. 
