1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
8o3 
THE PRINCIPLE OF REFRIGERATION. 
Having my ice-house floor to repair, with adjoining re¬ 
frigerator room, will you aid me by stating the scien¬ 
tific principle and practical arrangement regarding circula¬ 
tion and drainage of same? e. p. 
Sit. Lebanon, N. Y. 
The principle of cold storage or refrigeration by 
ice is very simple. From the fact that cold air is 
found in the lower strata and warm air in the upper, 
we see that the cold air is heavier and so gravitates, 
crowding out the warmer air, which at once is forced 
to seek a higher level. The practical application of 
the principle in refrigeration is found in first build¬ 
ing a room thoroughly insulated by a series of air 
chambers in the walls and ceilings, each one inde¬ 
pendent of the other, made so by matched lumber 
thoroughly seasoned and a good quality of building 
paper. These air spaces need not be over two inches, 
and for best service probably not less than five of 
them should be placed in the side walls. The win¬ 
dows will need be trebled, or better, four in each space. 
These dead-air spaces are non-conductors of heat, 
and an absolutely uniform temperature can be main¬ 
tained. The ice is packed in the upper part of 
the building. The whole surface remains exposed 
to air action. This space is in direct communication 
with the storage room below. There are different 
systems of flue communication; for the cold air down¬ 
ward and the warm air upward. It is nothing more 
or less than a perfect system of ventilation. The 
flue construction must be so built that a continuous 
change of air is going on in every point in the rooms; 
otherwise the temperature could not equalize. The 
cold-air flue may be tbe inside dead-air space opened 
at top and bottom, or a separate flue may be built 
into any part of the room. The outlet or warm-air 
flue is built in some opposing direction from the cold- 
air flue. These flues work with certainty, because 
the room is so thoroughly insulated that no counter 
air currents are formed. 
In cold storage, of course the ice is not disturbed 
after it is packed. I might add that a man of expe¬ 
rience should be consulted in order to have structural 
strength to support the great weight of ice above. 
A large cold storage plant near here came near col¬ 
lapsing under its heavy burden of stored ice above. 
One is safe in figuring on a temperature of 38 to 40 
degrees with the above system. If a freezing tem¬ 
perature is required, galvanized iron tubes a foot in 
diameter, or perhaps if much work is to be done, a 
trifle larger, may be placed at intervals in the room, 
coming to the floor with a drip and extending above 
to ice chamber, where salt and crushed ice are filled 
in as fast as melted. In the northern latitudes, 
where ice is a certainty, the system is a safe and 
economical one. Where a higher temperature than 
40 degrees is all that is needed, and it is not con¬ 
venient to pack the ice above, a rack may be built in 
the room from the ceiling down two or three feet, 
and occupying perhaps one-tenth of the size of the 
room. Provide a galvanized drip undef the rack 
leading to the drain, and if the room is carefully and 
thoroughly insulated good results will be obtained. 
The system, however, necessitates heavy labor to 
handle the ice. A very good work on this subject is 
published and may be had from the author, Madison 
Cooper, Minneapolis, Minn. h. e. cook. 
THE MILK SITUATION IN NEW YORK 
Result of a Co-operative Enterprise. 
Conceding the fact that not all of your readers are 
familiar with the cooperative movement among the 
farmers at this place and around here in various di¬ 
rections, I will say that it began to take form in 
a common-sense way a little short of two years ago, 
through the organization of a stock company, capital¬ 
ized at $3,000. The company at once began the erec¬ 
tion of a plant to be owned and operated by them¬ 
selves, which was ready to receive milk April 1, 1900. 
All but two of the producers of milk were united. 
I'he consequence was that the man who had received 
the milk at his own price and terms, without the 
producer having a word to say, was compelled to buy 
the milk at 10 cents off condensery price for six 
months. At the expiration of his time, being a mem- 
mer of the Exchange, he refused to buy except at 
Exchange prices. The Association took their own 
milk and made it into cheese for several weeks, when 
they sold to another buyer at satisfactory prices for 
remainder of six months. By this action they about 
paid for their plant by what they received above Ex¬ 
change price. The same persons continue to buy 
our milk under contract till April next. The old 
station was torn away last Spring, but a feed build¬ 
ing was bought last Summer and changed to a ship¬ 
ping station by another man, and receives only about 
four small dairies. Milk is being shipped from our 
plant drawn from another association of farmers at 
Poolville. Price for October was $1.06 per 100 
pounds; November, $1.17 per 100. Cows are in 
good condition to go into the Winter. Nearly every 
producer has a silo, and as a rule will not feed 
muth extra on account of its being so high in price 
that it will not give a profit. Many of the Winter 
milkers have been brought up at good prices and 
shipped away, owing to the fact that farmers would 
rather sell than pay the high prices for feed, and 
as a result not as much Winter milk will be shipped 
as heretofore. At this season of the year the milk 
is only drawn once a day. All the producers of milk 
to ship should organize into associations, and take 
steps at once to build plants under direction of 
the F. S. M. P. A., so they will be in position to make 
HEAVY PRUNING DID NOT KILL. FlO. 365. 
prices on their own product, and in this way com¬ 
pel the buyer to meet it and become a party to its 
sale. w. F. .TAQUITH. 
Earlvllle, N. Y. 
Handled by a Creamery. 
Our milk here is not shipped; it is made into but¬ 
ter by the Standard Butter Company of Owego, the 
largest creamery company in the world. The skim- 
milk is made into sizing. Farmers get the whey and 
buttermilk back free of charge. It makes a good 
feed for hogs. They pay what they call road prices; 
that is, the same as the shipping stations. Our 
creamery is on the main line of the D. L. & W. Rail¬ 
road; that is the reason they pay road prices. Sev¬ 
enty cents per 100 pounds is the lowest they have 
paid this year. November 1 the price went up to 
$1.12 per 100. Cows are in fine condition to begin 
Winter. Feeds of all kinds are very high; gluten $23 
per ton, bran $20 per ton. Nearly every dairyman 
here has a silo. Some of the dairymen are talking 
YOUNG CHILD OF AN OLD TREE. Fie. 366. 
of feeding beet pulp the coming Winter on account of 
grain being so high. We get our beet pulp from the 
factory at Binghamton. Potatoes are a good crop; 
some pieces rot quite badly, shippers paying 45 cents 
at the car. Oats are a poor crop; buckwheat good, 
some pieces yielding as high as 40 bushels per acre. 
Weather fine; we had no rain since October 6 until 
November 12. f. l. 
Eounsberry, N, Y. 
HANDLING DRY CORN FODDER. 
\ 
Snapping Off the Ears. 
For the past 10 years I have practiced picking the 
ears off my corn at the cutting time, that is when the 
corn is glazed, throwing four rows into one and let¬ 
ting it stay until cured. I cut the fodder, put it into 
the silo, and my stock eat it all. The corn cures 
nicely. I have 400 bushels in the crib now of as nice 
corn as anyone ever saw. g. b. h. 
Moodus, Conn. 
Varying Results as Silage. 
Four years ago I was in Schuyler County, N. Y. 
A well-to-do farmer there had a large fleld of corn. 
He got a corn husking machine that was owned in 
the town, and had the corn husked and stalks cut in 
one operation. They were run in a silo, plenty of 
water poured on and a little salt sprinkled in at in¬ 
tervals of about every half hour in steady running. 
The machine did fine work; the corn was husked 
nearly as well as by hand. The silage was fed to 
young cattle and sheep with clover hay once a day, 
and they seemed to eat it about as clean as though it 
had been green corn silage. It was a big saving 
from the old way of feeding the stalks whole, and 
having the stalks in the manure. Another farmer 
near there had his dry stalks shredded and stacked. 
About a week after the stack reminded one of an 
Indian tepee, as there was smoke rising from the 
center of the stack all the while for over a week. 
When he opened the, stack the center was burned up 
and half the stack worthless. J. s. J. 
Elmira, N. Y. 
Dry Silage” or Hay Sandwich. 
I was much interested in reading the article by 
B. G. O. on page 754 in The R. N.-Y. Being obliged 
in some respects to use my cornstalks dry to feed, 1 
am always interested in reading anything pertaining 
to it. I am very much in favor of green silage, but 
being so situated that I cannot have a silo, I have 
to resort to the dry silage, as some call it. I have to 
hire most of my pasture for my small herd of cows, 
and I find by using dry silage I can keep them 
through the six Winter months for about as much 
as I can through the Summer months. A very good 
plan to hanuie dry fodder is followed by one of my 
neighbors, who cuts all of his fodder at one cutting, 
though most of them in this vicinity cut about what 
they will feed in two or three weeks. On about July 
1 he cuts his meadow grass, such as is grown on 
smooth meadows, and lets it cure one day; then it 
is hauled to his harn and immediately cut long; then 
placed where it will be handy to get at when his 
fodder is out. As soon as his corn is fit to cut, when 
the ears are glazed over, he cuts the corn in the 
ordinary way in shocks. About three weeks after 
cutting it is husked and bunched, about eight or nine 
shocks to the bunch. After it stands this way about 
three or four weeks, so that it is quite dry, he draws 
it to the barn and cuts it one-quarter inch, mixing in, 
as he cuts it, the meadow hay, which is about one- 
fifth of the quantity of his fodder. This mixture is 
put into a shed which is built adjoining his barn. He 
does not use any water, and is not particular to 
have it trampled very hard. At the time of feeding, 
about December 15, it has heat enough to make the 
hard part of the cornstalks soft and easy for a cow 
with poor teeth to eat. He feeds this to all his cows 
and young stock, and some to his horses. I do not 
know how long he has done this, but for at least five 
years to my knowledge. c. c. z. 
Norwich, Conn._ 
RAISING SQUABS.—I think Johnson & Reed, page 745, 
have not done as much in the squab business on the pro¬ 
ducing end as the selling end. It Is not the age of the 
squab that makes the fat, as after about 25 or 30 days from 
shell they will begin to grow poorer. It Is the breed and 
the feed. Homers are the best breed, all things considered, 
and corn, peas, wheat and hemp seed the feed that makes 
the birds. J- e- s. 
SMALL FRUIT PACKAGES.—We have always shipped 
grapes In pony baskets till this year. We are using pony 
baskets with no handles or covers, and put 10 In a crate 
for our bagged grapes. We have tried the bushel boxes 
this year In a small way for pears and apples for our 
local trade. We are much pleased with them and expect 
to use more next season. In our experience the fruit 
carries much better. b. j. cash. 
New York. 
POULTRY FOR WOMEN.—The suggestions to the young 
girl who wishes to make money on her father’s farm are 
both Interesting and helpful. In urging her to try poultry 
I hardly think sufficient prominence Is given to the Incubator 
and brooder method, which, after one season’s experience, 
seems to me to be the method when profit as well as pleasure 
Is desired. In my case the chickens were raised In addition 
to housework, care of a dairy, etc., and the conditions may 
easily be made more satisfactory. The feed, too, was bought 
at too high a rate. Taking these facts Into consideration, 
besides the absence of knowledge and experience, I am well 
satisfied with the little venture. At 10 weeks old Light 
Brahma broilers weighed 1% pound. The feed had cost 
five cents per head, and they were selling at 25 cents per 
pound In the neighborhood. They do not raise themselvea, 
but 1 believe time and care are very profitably spent upon 
them. A- *• F. 
Baltimore Co., Md. 
