NOV. 22 
792 
FARMERS’ CLUB—DISCUSSION. 
Sterilizing Milk. 
Du. G. G. Groff, Union Co., Pa. —In 
a recent number of The Rural New- 
Yorker, a subscriber called for an explan¬ 
ation of the process by which milk is ster¬ 
ilized, with a view to entering upon this 
new industry. In a recent lecture, Dr. 
Louis Starr, of the Univerity of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, explained the principles of the pro¬ 
cess in a manner so clear that by reading 
what he said it is thought any one inter¬ 
ested will be able to understand the process 
in all its parts. 
By the term “sterilization” we under¬ 
stand the removal from the milk of all 
those substances which set up putrefactive 
changes. These are generally minute liv¬ 
ing germs. Heat destroys them, after 
which the milk will remain for a long time 
sweet and healthful. This invention is to 
be ranked with the great and revolutionary 
advances of modern times, for by it the 
area from which milk may be shipped will 
be indefinitely extended. By it, level lands 
near cities may be wholly given up to cul¬ 
tivation, while the broken lands, hundreds 
and even thousands of miles distant, may 
be devoted to the production of milk. 
Through this invention,when the means of 
communication are opened up, all tropical 
regions may be supplied with milk pro¬ 
duced on northern soil. Pure milk can 
now be guaranteed where heretofore the 
quality was always doubtful, for the mi¬ 
nute germs which contained contagious 
diseases in the human family, as typhoid 
fever, by this process should be destroyed. 
Dr. Starr explains the process as follows : 
As the milk exists in the healthy cow’s 
udder it is aseptic, i.e. free from any pois¬ 
onous or dangerous ingredient; but during 
milking and subsequent handling and 
transportation, particles of manure or vari¬ 
ous forms of dirt get into it, and are apt to 
set up fermentations or other injurious 
changes. To deprive these accidentally in¬ 
troduced organic impurities of their ac¬ 
tivity, or, in other words, to sterilize the 
milk it is necessary to subject the fluid to 
high heat under pressure. Several admi¬ 
rable implements have been devised for 
conducting the process: one made after a 
design of my own is of tin, and consists of 
an oblong case provided with a well-fitting 
cover, and having a movable, perforated 
false bottom, which stands a short distance 
above the true one and has attached a frame¬ 
work capable of holding ten six-ounce 
nursing-bottles. On the outside of the 
case is a row of supports for holding in¬ 
verted bottles while drying, and at the 
proper distance below these is a gutter for 
carrying off the drip. A movable water- 
bath is hung to the side, and in this each 
bottle of food may be heated at the time of 
administration. The bottles are made of 
flint glass and graduated, the markings 
being specially convenient for measurement, 
rendering the use of a separate measuring 
glass unnecessary, a matter of no little 
moment, as every implement that comes in 
contact with the milk in sterilization must 
be kept chemically clean. Ten bottles are 
used, so that the whole supply of milk in¬ 
tended for a day’s consumption can be 
prepared at once. Each bottle is provided 
with a perforated rubber cork, which in 
turn is closed with a well-fitting glass 
stopper. 
The Best Process of Sterilization.— 
Sterilization should be performed in the 
morning as soon as possible after the milk 
has been served. The process is as follows: 
First see that the 10 bottles are perfectly 
clean and dry; pour into each six fluid- 
ounces (12 tablespoonfuls) of milk; insert 
the perforated rubber corks without the 
glass stoppers, however; remove the false 
bottom and place the bottles in the frame ; 
pour into the case enough water to fill it to 
the height of about two inches; replace the 
false bottom carrying the bottles; adjust 
the lid, and put the whole upon the kitchen 
range. Allow the water to boil and, by 
occasionally removing the lid, ascertain 
that the expansion that immediately pre¬ 
cedes boiling has taken place in the milk, 
then press the glass stoppers into the per¬ 
forated corks, and thus hermetically close 
each bottle. After this keep the apparatus 
on thj fire, and the water boiling for 20 
minutes. Finally remove the false bottom 
with the bottles, pour out the water, replace 
and carry the whole, covered with the lid, 
to the nursery. When the hour of feeding 
arrives, put one of the bottles into the 
attached water-bath and heat it to the 
proper point for administration. The milk 
may, of course, be diluted with filtered 
water, or receive the additions ordinarily 
made to adapt it to children of different 
THE RURAL 
ages. The tip used should be thoroughly 
cleaned and immersed for a few moments 
in boiling water before it is attached. As 
soon as a bottle is emptied—and if the 
whole of its contents be not taken the re¬ 
mainder must be thrown away—it is 
washed and placed in the rack to drain and 
dry. Milk sterilized by the above process 
will, I have found by experiment, keep per¬ 
fectly sweet from 14 to 21 days, though it is 
best to sterilize daily. Sterilized milk is 
especially useful in traveling, when fresh 
milk cannot be obtained ; for use in cities 
during the heat of summer when milk is 
most apt to undergo injurious changes; for 
the feeding of delicate children, or for those 
suffering from disease of the stomach or 
intestinal canal. 
School Savings Banks. 
W. D. King, Cook County, III.—In con¬ 
nection with the series of letters in The 
Rural of November 1, I would like to 
throw out a suggestion. I was educated in 
a large school in Dundee, Scotland, founded 
by provision of a legacy of a gentleman 
named Morgan, in which 100 boys were ed¬ 
ucated, clothed and fed for about six years. 
The school was named the Morgan Hos¬ 
pital and the boys lived at the institution, 
visiting their parents or guardians once a 
week orseldomer at the discretion of those 
in charge. Our head master adopted a 
system of getting the boys to save, by col¬ 
lecting the pennies received by them from 
friends on their visits, and keeping them 
until they reached an amount which would 
be accepted by a local savings bank. In 
this way the pennies which otherwise 
would have been spent for candies were 
saved and in time amounted to a consider¬ 
able sum. Why should not the school trus¬ 
tees of country districts adopt some such 
scheme, which would foster habits of 
thrift, inculcating and training the boys 
and girls into “cultivating a bank ac¬ 
count.” 
R. N.-Y.—For a number of years past 
savings banks have been maintained in the 
public schools of Long Island City. The 
collection and recording of the pennies was 
made a regular part of the teachers’ work. 
The scuolars in each school elected certain 
of the leaders to act as bank trustees while 
the superintendent of schools was the 
banker. Over $23,000 were collected in this 
way—by “ banking ” one cent at a time. 
The plan was finally stopped by Mayor 
Gleason, the official who was recently sent 
to jail for engaging in a bar-room fight. 
Several reasons were given for stopping 
the “ banks,” among which were the fol¬ 
lowing. It took too much time from regu¬ 
lar school duties, tended to create 
“ classes ” among the scholars, as those who 
had a “large bank account” looked down 
upon their poorer playmates, and was a 
heavy drain for the poor who felt obliged to 
provide their children with pennies. In 
some districts, with the right trustees and 
the right teachers, this system might be 
made quite serviceable. 
The Flow of Water in Pipes. 
Henry Stewart, Macon County, N. C. 
—In carrying water about 600 feet from a 
spring with a fall of 10 feet through a one- 
inch pipe laid in places near the surface, I 
found the flow to stop entirely in the warm 
weather. As the supply was enough to fill 
a three inch pipe, this stoppage rather 
staggered me until I had thought well over 
it, after which I discovered the cause of the 
trouble. This was a simple matter, but 
afterwards I heard of several similar com¬ 
plaints which were due to the same cause. 
This was the collecting of air in the pipe at 
the vertical bends, which, in laying pipes a 
long distance, can hardly be avoided, and 
the effect upon this confined air of the heat 
of the soil in the summer. In the winter 
there is no trouble. As all water contains 
more or less air dissolved or suspended in 
it, and running spring water contains a 
large quantity, and this air frees itself from 
the water when its flow is retarded, it 
gathers necessarily in the bends. More¬ 
over, a stream of water flowing though a 
long pipe is retarded by friction and also 
lessened in volume by the increased velocity 
due to the fall, so that while the pipe is 
full at the head only half an inch of water 
may be discharged at the outlet, and this 
reduces the volume of water of course four 
times, or by the square of the distance. 
The pipe then being only one-fourth filled 
will contain air to occupy the vacant space, 
and thus there will always be a large quan¬ 
tity of air gathered in every vertical bend. 
But this may not interfere with the flow 
until the imprisoned air is expanded by 
the heat and so completely stops the orifice. 
The remedy consists in laying the pipe on 
an even grade and upon narrow boards, 
NEW-YORKER. 
pressing out all vertical bends and thus 
forcing the air to escape at the inlet which 
it will do in large bubbles occasionally ; or 
to lay the pipe so deep in the soil as to pro¬ 
tect it from the sun’s heat in the hot 
weather. -Otherwise the air may be forced 
out by pressure of water poured in at the 
inlet through an elevated pipe and a 
funnel, and this I have found more effective 
than a force pump, which carries in a 
quantity of air. Rather than take up and 
relay the pipe I have adopted this method, 
the application of which is required at in¬ 
tervals of two or three weeks through the 
midsummer. 
Still Another Potato Digging Record. 
Stephen W. Cox, Monroe County, N. 
Y.— The Rural wants “ the record of some 
of our potato digging champions.” Charles 
E. Clark dug 92 bushels of Monroe County 
Seedling Potatoes in less than five hours, on 
my farm on October 15, 1890. Of course, a 
man could not do it unless the yield was 
large. It was over 200 bushels to the acre. 
He did not pick them up. 
A Talk to the Boys. 
T. B. Terry, Summit County, O.— To¬ 
day I was reading Mr. C. E. Chapman’s ad¬ 
vice to young men, on page 680. I read his 
excellent words, fully agreeing with all he 
said, until nearly the end of his article. 
Then, all of a sudden, I came to a dead 
stop. This is the line read last: “Save 
your money. Don’t smoke. See every 
thing.” “ Save your money.” Sound and 
good. “ Don’t smoke.” Sound again ; but 
why half do any thing? Why not say: 
“ Don’t use tobacco in any form ?” Could 
any better advice than this be given our 
young men of to day ? My first thought 
was that friend Chapman must chew, and 
did not feel like condemning his own prac¬ 
tice ; but this can hardly be the case, for I 
have asked a large number of people who 
used tobacco, whether from their experi¬ 
ence they would advise a young man to 
follow their example, and I have never yet 
found a man who would. They invariably 
say: “ I am tied up to the habit myself, 
now; but I would advise any young man 
to leave it alone.” No, I do not believe 
Mr. C. uses tobacco in any form. But why 
did he leave out chewiDg ? Isn’t it an ex¬ 
pensive habit, and just as bad for the 
health of young men, and even more filthy 
than smoking ? Did he think it would not 
do for a farmer to smoke for fear of setting 
the barn on fire; but he might chew ? 
I confess I do not know just what to 
think; but I do know that I want to say to 
every young man who reads The Rural : 
“ Let tobacco in every form alone.” Take 
an older man’s advice and when you are 40 
years old you will thank him. Tobacco 
will certainly not do you any possible good. 
Many good men use it; but still the asso¬ 
ciations it will lead you into are not the 
best. Let it entirely alone. If you have 
begun to use it, be a man and stop this 
moment. You can do this now, and you 
will respect yourself and others will think 
more of you for it. 
I hire no young man who uses tobacco, 
liquor in any form, or any sort of foul 
language. Last spring a young man living 
in New York State wrote tome and wanted 
to come and work for me. I had not hired 
a man and told him he could come; but 
gave him the conditions. He answered 
that he never drank or used any bad 
language, and did not smoke, but did 
chew a little. The tone of the letter made 
me run the risk of hiring him, saying 
nothing about the chewing, only that I 
hoped he would give it up and be a young 
gentleman in every respect. Well, he 
came, and has not touched any tobacco 
this summer—he has done just what I 
thought he would. In my estimation this 
young man has taken a long step up. 
Another young man helped me somewhat 
this summer. A mouth or two ago a cer¬ 
tain experiment station wanted a foreman, 
and asked me to recommend some young 
man. I told of this youth, and that he had 
not had much experience but was a gentle¬ 
man, using no liquor, tobacco or bad lan¬ 
guage. He got the place, a grand opening 
for him. I think it safe to say he would 
have stood no possible chance but for his 
good habits. 
Just one little Incident more for you, 
boys: When I was between three and 
four years old I saw a boy who was at work 
for my father climb to the top of the barn 
and nail a piece of tobacco to one of the 
rafters. It was such an unusual proceed¬ 
ing that the matter was fixed on my mind 
in a way never to be forgotten. Years 
afterwards I was telling father about it 
and he then told me all the circumstances. 
Father was then editor of a paper in Syra¬ 
cuse, N. Y. This boy had been sent by his 
parents in the country to work in father’s 
office and learn to be a printer. Father 
liked him in every respect, except that he 
was a tobacco chewer. He had no other 
bad habits, so father determined to try to 
get him to give this one up. It was in our 
barn that he talked to him kindly about it, 
and tried to show him that it would be for his 
interest to stop chewing, and ended by say¬ 
ing, “ I will give you a $10 bill (apprentices 
did not get much money in those days) if 
you will stop using tobacco for good.” All 
of a sudden the young man seized a ham¬ 
mer and nail, and climbing up, nailed the 
partly used piece of tobacco in his pocket to 
the roof. When he came down he said to 
father: 
“No more of it ever passes my lips.” 
Father gladly pulled out the $10. 
“No, no,” said the young man, “I 
haven’t got quite so low down yet that I 
have to be hired to make the most I can of 
myself.” 
He kept his promise as long as father 
knew him, and, doubtless, this noble deci¬ 
sion was a turning point for good in his 
life. Boys, do any of you use tobacco a 
little now, or drink a glass of beer (the 
two are near neighbors), or swear now and 
then, or use words you wouldn’t want 
your mother to hear ? Your friends would 
gladly make you a present if you would 
quit now, while you can, and be true 
gentlemen ; but how much nobler to do it 
in the way father’s boy did it. 
R. N.-Y. NO. 2 POTATO REPORTS. 
A Michigan Man Makes Merry. 
I am more than satisfied with the prodace 
of The R. N.-Y. No. 2 Potato, one small 
tuber of which, weighing not over an ounce, 
I received in the spring of 1889. From it I 
raised one peck. I gave away a few and 
tested the others by eating some. I planted 
the rest last spring and secured eight 
bushels 40 pounds, almost all of which were 
eatable and of the finest quality. It is 
truly a wonderful potato and must meet 
with success in the future, s. J. MUFFITT. 
Hillsdale County, Michigan. 
Very Good Variety For Virginia. 
I now wish to return thanks for The R. 
N.-Y. No. 2 Potato. The first year I raised 
about 10 pounds: this year I have seven 
bushels of as fine potatoes as I ever saw, 
which will bring money enough to pay for 
The Rural for two or three years. Success 
to the paper! I think it the best farmers’ 
paper printed. thos. h. showalter. 
Rockingham County, Va. 
Wanted In Washington. 
Last fall from The R. N.-Y. No. 2 Potato 
sent to me, I obtained 22 pounds. Last 
spring I planted 18 pounds of these, cut one 
eye to a piece, in two rows 45 yards long, 
and one row 22X yards; they were feet 
apart, and on digging them, the other day, 
I secured 771 pounds of the prettiest pota¬ 
toes I ever saw. I am sure there was not 
one bushel less than good marketable sizes. 
None of them reached two pounds in 
weight and only about a dozen or so would 
go over a pound; but for size and shapeliness 
the whole were a treat to see as they lay 
scattered over the ground. I reckon the 
yield as equal to 655 bushels to an acre. 
They grew in very dry ground and we had 
no rain here from the middle of June until 
they were dug. If they had got one soaking 
rain about the end of July, the yield would 
probably have reached 1,000 pounds. The 
variety is doubtless a valuable acquisition 
both as a cropper and on the table. I guess 
I can sell as many arouud here in the spring 
as will pay for the excellent Rural fora 
few more years. JOHN B. ANDERSON. 
Kitsap County, Washington. 
A California Crop. 
I dug The RURAL No. 2 Potatoes on Oc¬ 
tober 4, and was agreeably surprised. I 
never saw a yield so even, so heavy, and so 
beautiful. I weighed seven hills and the 
weight was 51 pounds. Several of the 
largest weighed one pound each. There 
were 90 hills in all, and the weight was 350 
pounds, all told. They would have done 
better were it not for late frost in the 
spring that killed them to the ground, and 
it was over two weeks before they started 
again. Moreover, I planted them too close 
together in the row. I am sure I can do 
better next time. lyman j. king. 
Modoc County, Cal. 
