6o8 
SEPT. i3 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A Homk-Made Corn Harvester.— W. L. Clough tells 
Hoard’s Dairyman about a new machine he has devised 
for cutting fodder corn for soiling or for the silo. “ Take 
four pine planks 16 feet long and two 20 feet long, bolt all 
to a binder truck axle, five feet from the hind ends of the 
planks. All the ends should be even behind with the two 
long planks in the center, as they serve as a reach and are 
fastened to the king bolt of the front truck to any com¬ 
mon farm wagon. Now we have a truck wagon with 
solid bottom six by 16 feet and only 18 inches from the 
ground, capable of holding two tons of fodder, or more 
than a good team can haul. The cutting arrangement is 
simply a curved knife four feet long, fastened to either 
side of platform either above or below it, just according to 
the hight at which a person wishes to cut his silage. The 
knife is run out in a slanting position, so when the team 
is started, the knife comes against the row and the latter 
is clipped off. As this is done a man stands by and catches 
it in his arms and when he has an armful the team is stop¬ 
ped, and he lays it on the platform and is ready for another 
armful, and in this way two men and a team can gather a 
row of corn almost as fast as a team can walk along.” We 
infer from the above that the machine cuts only one row 
at a time; probably being driven down one side of the 
field and then turned about and driven back with the 
knife placed on the other side. Mr. Clough says he can, 
with one man cut and unload five tons per hour, hauling 
20 rods from the field. The time has certainly gone by 
when it will be called business to cut corn by hand. 
“SKIM-MILK ON THE SQUARE.” 
(From our Special Correspondent.) 
Some months ago The Rural New-Yorker published 
an article under the above heading, but feeling that we 
were not doing the subject justice, we sent a special 
correspondent from New York to Stockholm, Sweden, 
to make the fullest investigation, and report the facts 
through our columns for the benefit of American dairy in¬ 
terests. After an absence of 60 days, looking into this and 
other matters, he arrived in New Y'ork by the Umbria 
July 28, and the following is his report. 
LACTOSERINE. 
“I use the name lactoserine, instead of ‘Skim-Milk on 
the Square’ for two reasons: First, lactoserine is the 
name given to the product by the inventor, Wilhelm 
Rhenstrom; and, second, as the name implies, the product 
is not skim milk alone, but a combination of skim-milk 
and whey. My first effort was to learn what I could re¬ 
garding the character of the men holding possession of 
this invention, and from the highest authorities in Sweden, 
both native and American, I received nothing but the 
most gratifying testimony as to their ability and integrity. 
Both the inventor and Th. Winborg, the principal owner, 
are reported to be men of such high character that I felt 
perfectly safe in following where they led ; but I was not 
unmindful of the fact that I was sent out to see for myself, 
and so used my eyes, ears and mouth to the best advantage. 
Readers of The Rural New-Yorker will understand 
that the milk fresh from the farms is placed in the sep¬ 
arator, which can be worked by hand or power, and 
simultaneously through one tube flows the cream and 
through another the skim-milk. With the cream the in¬ 
ventor has nothing to do, that being made into butter; for 
in the process of manufacturing his product all fatty sub¬ 
stance is eliminated from the milk. It is from the skim- 
milk and the residue of it, after the caseine has been ex¬ 
tracted for cheese, that he makes by a duly patented 
process the article lactoserine. Where the caseine is not 
used for cheese-making, he sends it to the factory, where 
it is made into “ fodder cakes ” for cattle. In the manu¬ 
facture of lactoserine, he takes the whey remaining after 
the caseine has been extracted from the skim-milk, and to 
two parts of this he adds one part of skim milk, which, 
when combined according to his formula, leaves the dairy 
in cakes about five inches square, and is sent to the fac¬ 
tory to be treated according to the purposes for which it is 
intended. 
The uses to which lactoserine can be put are so many 
that space will not permit mention of them all. Sufficient 
to state that in almost all articles of food in which milk is 
an ingredient, this article can be used more advantageously 
and at less cost. It can be added to cocoa in the propor¬ 
tion of 50 per cent, or one-half, and the consumer who uses 
it has as delicious a drink as the finest cocoa on the 
market, and at 20 per cent, less cost. Add 80 per cent, of 
the article to 20 per cent, of cocoa, and the cost of the 
beverage is reduced 50 per cent., and it is brought within 
the reach of the poorest day laborer. The same can be 
said of coffee and all other articles of food in which milk 
can be used. This makes the invention of gieat practical 
value to all classes of society, to the poorest as well as to 
the wealthy. Everything into which it enters as a com¬ 
ponent part is improved, while the cost is lessened. Be- 
ause of its adaptability for a multitude of purposes for 
poor and rich alike, I see in it a great benefit to farmers, 
as when the process has been generally introduced it will 
make a cash value for the whey and skim-milk they so fre¬ 
quently throw to the pigs, not knowing what else to do 
with them. I understand that there is some talk of form¬ 
ing a company in the United States for the manufacture 
of this article, and if such prove successful, every dairy¬ 
man will have the opportunity of turning the entire pro¬ 
duct of his cows into cash. The diagram herewith will 
enable the intelligent reader to form an idea of the process 
of using the milk from the time it is taken from the cow 
until what is left after butter and cheese have been made, 
is worked into lactoserine. 
A LACTOSERINE DINNER. 
When I had followed the whey and skim-milk through 
the different processes until the powdered lactoserine was 
ready for sale, it seemed to the directors that one thing re- 
marned to be done, and that was to have a dinner given in 
honor of those I represented, I in their stead being the 
honored guest. At this dinner all the articles were pre¬ 
pared with lactoserine. That the dinner might be a 
notable affair, a number of prominent gentlemen as¬ 
sembled to dine with me on June 18, the day I was to 
leave Stockholm. The names of the guests and of the 
dishes served, are given in The Rural of August 9, 
page 511. 
All the dishes enumerated, with the exception of the 
cheese and fruit, were prepared with lactoserine in place 
of milk, and if there was any difference between the two it 
was in favor of the lactoserine. I took care to eat some of 
each dish. The dinner occupied about three hours, and 
during its progress pleasant speeches were made and 
toasts drank to Rhenstrom, the inventor of lactoserine; De 
Laval, inventor of the cream separator, and others whose 
homes are in Sweden, and standing toasts were drank to 
the prosperity of The Rural New-Yorker, and long life 
and health to Mr. Lawson Valentine. Of course I was 
obliged to respond. At the conclusion of the dinner, when 
coffee was to be served, I was invited to leave the table and 
witness the operation. A tin can of lactoserine was 
opened, and I tasted of it to be sure it was entirely free 
from coffee. The coffee was roasted, but not ground, so 
there could be no deception. I watched the maid put the 
coffee in the mill and grind it. When this was done, equal 
parts of the lactoserine and ground coffee were blended to- 
The raw lactoserine. 
The first process 
The second process. 
The third process 
The fourth process 
Slightly moist white cakes. 
The drviug 
The cutting luto Inch squares. 
Roasting or not roasting 
To the mills to be ground. 
EXPLANATIONS. 
Roasted lactoserine must, be ground into a very fine powder for cocoa 
and several kinds of soups and sauces, and into a powder not so fine for 
coffee. It Is not roasted when the powder Is to be used for white sou ns 
and ‘•Buees, for Ionian curry, in the preparation of 'lessens,or in food 
for infants, or in the manufacture of soap for ladies’ use. 
gether, and except under the microscope the mixture 
could not be distinguished from pure coffee. When the 
coffee was made ready to drink, if I had not known dif¬ 
ferently, I should have said I was drinking coffee with 
milk and sugar added. From the dinner I went to the 
station and took the train for Malmoa, from which port I 
was to sail for Copenhagen; but every once in a while I 
found myself thinking pleasantly of the kindness of the 
Swedes, and the wonderful invention of Rhenstrom in 
utilizing whey and skim-milk in lactoserine. 
GEO. F. SWAIN. 
Womaris Work. 
THAT DOWDY HOMEMADE DRESS. » 
A LTHOUGH the terms “ dowdy ” (the Scotch of which 
is dawdie, or slovenly), and “natty,” or “stylish,” 
are not exactly the opposite of each other with regard to 
dictionary definition,nothing could be farther apart in real 
meaning, for it is utterly impossible that any garment 
should be both at the same time 
Few who are obliged to make their own dresses but will 
admit, at least in their hearts, if not openly, that their 
dresses are often worn with either an innate conviction or 
a fear that they are not just what they should be as 
regards fit and style. So much is this the case that if they 
can possibly scrape the money together, the best dress is 
often put into the hands of a dressmaker who, as a matter 
of course, charges enough to have bought another dress, 
yet who, strange to say, rarely gives entire satisfaction ; 
for a majority of these, even around and in the cities, do 
not know their trade,—that is, they are not complete mis¬ 
tresses of it,—and as soon as they do become so, their work 
is beyond the reach of any ordinary purse. One who 
speaks from the standpoint of knowlege, writing to a 
prominent woman’s journal in reference to the underpaid 
army of sewing women, says emphatically that “New 
York groaneth and travaileth for good seamstresses.” 
But be this as it may, it may be said with equal empha¬ 
sis that there is no need whatever that the home-made 
dress should bear such an undesirable epithet as that 
which appears at the head of this article; and if it does, 
and justly, one of two causes is directly responsible : it is 
the result either of carelessness or of ignorance on the part 
of the maker; the latter may be remedied, the former is 
utterly reprehensible. Carelessness usually appears at the 
same points in all home dressmaking. It begins, as a rule, 
in neglect to baste outsides and linings carefully ; it goes 
on to put collars and sleeves unevenly in place, to “ skew ” 
facings, and, in these days of shirrings, to neglect proper 
gatherings ; and it culminates in a lack of pressing. All 
other points being reasonably well attended to, there is 
nothing that makes so much difference in the appearance 
of a gown as careful pressing. It is, indeed, impossible 
that it should look more than mediocre without it. It is, 
as a rule, the chief distinguishing mark of a home-made 
dress that the seams have not been pressed; so if you 
desire your gowns to have anything of the look of the pro¬ 
fessional maker, give especial attention to careful pressing. 
If one has not learned any system of dress cutting, by 
far the best plan for the home dress-maker is to buy one 
of the cut paper patterns which give exact directions for 
cutting every piece, and for putting together. Even with 
a good lining pattern that is a perfect fit, the other will be 
necessary, as there are no possible means of guessing at the 
shape any particular piece will be before it is looped, or 
shirred, or plaited into shape. One thing is to be insisted 
on; (aud here is where so many amateurs fail because they 
change the proper shape and proportion of the pieces) all 
changes from a pattern must be made in the shoulder and 
the under arm seams. The one exception to this rule is in 
cases where the back persistently sets away from the 
figure; in this case, the surplus fullness is taken from the 
bach side of the curving side-back form, making it 
straighter by cutting it away, beginning at a point near the 
base of the shoulder-blade, and gradually deepening to the 
waist line, then out to the edge again if it is right below 
the waist. Every piece of lining and outside must be care¬ 
fully basted with short stitches, especial care being taken 
not to stretch the middle back seam, or the arm-size or the 
under-arm form. The best systems give directions for 
placing a thickness of wadding between outsides and 
linings for two inches at the waist line, fulling the outside 
the veriest trifle just over this wadding. The under-arm 
form only is stretched, both outside and lining a half-inch 
on both sides just above the wais£ line, and the darts are 
ripped after fitting, and stretched a little, the front one on 
the front side only; the back one on the back side only, 
the middle tongue of cloth between them not being 
stretched. This removes the surplus fullness that so often 
makes the front edge of the waist wrinkle below the 
bust. All these points take time and care, but they insure 
a perfect fit. Shoulder seams, after fitting, are pressed 
open, then turned forward, again doubled, to help fill up 
the hollow in front of the shoulder. Darts must be cut, 
and pressed open; the seam at the back is also pressed 
open; other waist seams are pressed, then either left 
open, or doubled forward, usually the former, except in 
the case of the under arm seam. If this last is very deep, 
it often prevents a fit by drawing at the waist line, in 
which case a notch is to be chipped from it at that point. 
It should have been noted that the back is to be held 
toward you when basting the shoulder seams, and that it 
is to be pulled a very little; the same is true of the back 
where it joins the side-forms, fulling on the curve only. 
Gathers at the top of the sleeve or skirt, in fact wherever 
they are to be sewed into a seam, are to be held tightly and 
scratched if the material allows; otherwise two gathering 
threads are used. This makes the fullness lie flat in place, 
and renders it much easier to even the gathers and sew them 
into the seam, which is done along the line of the deeper 
thread. Those who are hygienically inclined will find that 
bones at the side seams and in the back will not make a 
comfortably-fitting dress at all uncomfortable, while they 
will add greatly to its looks. The covered bones are to be 
fastened at the top and bottom, so as to hoop a little, else 
the dress will not lie straight over them when in place. 
They are “cat-stitched” to the seams with colored silk, for 
appearance’s sake. 
Some still use one reed in the skirt, 12 inches below the 
waist; others tie back the fullness somewhat, as was done 
before reeds came into use. 
In these days of short waists, it is absolutely necessary 
that waist and skirt should be hooked together, else there 
will be many undesirable “ partings.” This is a point that 
helps to distinguish a careless wearer, of whom there are 
many, even of well made clothes. 
Do not be cajoled into buying cheap “ready-made” 
dresses. They are a delusion. A 14 year-old girl could 
make dresses better than these are usually made, and a 
dress of good material can be made at home for what one 
of the cheapest of these sells for; and in spite of all the 
flings against the country dressmaker, she knows her busi¬ 
ness better, and does more satisfactory work than the 
ordinary city sewing-woman, or dressmaker of the stores. 
In families where there are many girls, it is a most excel¬ 
lent investment to let one of them who is a good sewer learn 
a system of dress-fitting for the family good. The cost 
will be saved in a very few mouths. 
|Ui.$cclUiucou,oi C julvcrti.$infl. 
In writing to advertisers, please mention The R. N.-Y. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla, 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she hud Children, she guve them Castorla. 
