1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
335 
106, so as to give more storage room for hay and 
fodder. 
Mr. Clemence and his help did most of the work in 
building the stable, he having only one carpenter to 
help. The total expense was about $2,000, making 
the cost per cow stabled between $40 and $50. Many 
of the features of this barn were copied by Prof. 
Brooks when building the new $45,000 barn at the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College. 
Intending, in the near future, to build a cow stable 
for myself, I had about given up the idea of follow¬ 
ing the New England practice of having a manure 
cellar under the stable ; but, after visiting this place 
several times, I am pretty well satisfied that, if the 
manure is not allowed to accumulate in the cellar in 
too large quantities, especially in warm weather, 
there is not much danger of a polluted atmosphere 
from this source. f. a. putnam. 
Massachusetts. _ 
A MODERN YANKEE FARM. 
MAKING TIIE MOST OF A HARD SOIL. 
Fertilizer, Milk, Butter and Ice Cream. 
Part III. 
As was stated last week, the first Saturday’s sale of 
ice cream this year, brought $22.89 from cream that, 
if made into butter, would have brought 
$5.52. This ice-cream trade has devel¬ 
oped from a small beginning, and was 
the outcome of a desire to find a milk 
product that would yield better returns 
than butter. Mr. Edward Manchester 
gives the credit for starting the busi¬ 
ness to his daughter-in-law. She first 
suggested that pure cream of uniform 
grade and flavor would be sure to sell. 
Accordingly, they began to freeze cream, 
and a room was opened in town for 
retail or wholesale trade. The first 
season, one of the sons, George E. and 
his wife, went to town and conducted 
the rooms themselves. From that be¬ 
ginning, the business has grown every 
year, for the cream has advertised itself 
wherever it has been sold. 
There is no cornstarch, egg, flour or 
other substance used in this ice cream. 
It is pure cream, sugar and flavoring. 
The milk, as it comes from the barn 
in cans, is set in a tank of spring water, 
which stands at about 40 degrees winter 
and summer. The cream is skimmed 
in 12 hours. To a gallon of cream a pint 
of sugar is added, with flavoring extract 
to suit the taste. No fruit extracts are 
used, but the pure fruit is cut up in an 
Enterprise meat chopper, and stirred directly into the 
cream. There is no great amount of beating, stirring 
and frothing, as is the case when a custard is made 
and named “ cream.” 
The freezing is done in a side room of the creamery. 
The ice house is close at hand and everything is kept 
as clean as scouring and steam will make it. Shaft¬ 
ing from the engine is run overhead, so that four 
freezers can be run at once. This “ shafting ” is 
homemade like many other contrivances about the 
place. “White Mountain” freezers of four or five- 
gallon capacity are used. They were formerly run 
by hand, but now the engine does all the turning. 
The mixed cream, sugar and flavoring are put into 
the freezer, and the cover fitted on in the usual way. 
A cake of ice is brought in from the ice house, broken 
by striking it with the flat side of an ax, and then 
crushed with a maul. This is done in a movable box 
or frame placed on the floor. The freezer is put in 
the tub, and surrounded with ice and salt. Then the 
belt is attached, and the freezer slowly revolves. 
The point is to have the turning stop at just the 
proper time. An experienced hand can tell by the 
way the freezer turns when to stop ; but a new be- 
gianer is liable to get it wrong unless he examine it 
from time to time. After the cream has reached the 
proper consistency, the dasher is removed and the 
can is packed in ice and salt all ready for shipment. 
“ Neapolitan ” cream is made by spreading layers 
of different flavors in a tin box, and then freezing it 
all together. 
There is not much that is new about making ice 
cream, because thousands of farmers make it at 
home for their own use. There ought, really, to be 
an ice-cream freezer in every family that supports a 
cow. There are details about freezing and handling 
the cream that a careful man will pick up by experi¬ 
ence. There are several good reasons for Mr. Man¬ 
chester’s success. He uses nothing but absolutely 
pure cream—no milk, eggs or starch. This cream, 
when frozen, does not show such a firm and solid 
body as the starch creams ; but customers soon over¬ 
look that when they once get a taste of it. The pure, 
fresh “ cream ” taste is something that drives cus¬ 
tomers back for more. As a matter of fact, such 
cream is a better and more agreeable medicine than 
cod-liver oil or other substances that depend upon 
fats for their chief benefit. 
Besides knowing that this cream is absolutely pure 
and clean, and that it is uniform, the public know 
that the Manchester herd has been tested and pro¬ 
nounced free trom disease. This counts for more 
than is apparent at first thought, and the more this 
matter of tuberculosis in cattle is discussed, the more 
will the better class of buyers demand milk and its 
products from “ inspected” dairies. 
Our belief is that there are hundreds of farmers in 
this country who might find, in ice cream, a new and 
profitable source of income. As a rule, we think 
that this business will pay best near smaller towns 
and cities, where there are no large ice cream fac¬ 
tories, and where more or less cream is imported. 
We would advise a small beginning. Make nothing 
but pure cream of the finest quality, and establish a 
reputation for making uniform goods. Get a few cus¬ 
tomers first among friends, and let them advertise 
your product. Finally you can either open a room of 
your own, or make arrangements with some neat 
dealer to sell your cream at retail. In this same 
place, you can sell milk, pot cheese, butter, eggs and 
INTERIOR VIEW OF THE COW STABLE. Fig. 108. 
similar articles from the farm. If there are some live 
newspapers in your town, it will pay you to advertise 
in them, and keep changing the advertisements. All 
this will cost some money, but it will be money spent 
to bring money back. You don’t begrudge the sow¬ 
ing of a bushel of wheat to bring 12 bushels back, and 
you should not be afraid to spend a dollar if it is to be 
the means of earning 10 more dollars. The ice cream 
business will require some capital, and more patience 
rZLiLLI 
~r j~ 
eS 
i 'r:; r 
~r~t 
~rzc 
£5 
xri 
rV? 
in 
W' A 
A 
ARRANGEMENT OF FLOOR AND GUTTERS. Fia. 109. 
and business tact, but we feel confident that Mr. 
Manchester’s success may be duplicated in 1,000 towns 
in this country. Why cannot you be one of the 1,000 
dairymen to share in such success ? 
CRIMSON CLOVER; GRASS, L/ME AND 
" STOVE SHARK.” 
COMMENTS UPON A BACK NUMBER. 
This heading doesn’t look exactly right, as I refer 
to The R. N.-Y., and it is never a “back number.” 
Compliments, they say, are cheap, but The R. N.-Y. 
is so thoroughly instructive and up-to-date, that it 
should not be bad form to tell its maker how much 
it is valued. It is a good paper to study, especially 
the “ Farmers’ Club,” from which one can take what 
he needs and leave the remainder for the other fellow. 
Crimson Clover.—The R. N.-Y. expresses the opin¬ 
ion that this clover is better suited to vegetable or 
fruit culture than to general farming. It is true that it 
has made many failures on unmanured land ; but may 
this not be largely due to the very unfavorable sea¬ 
sons we have had lately ? If Red clover had been 
given its first general trial in this country in the last 
two or three years, it would be voted a great failure 
on thousands of farms. Timothy seedings, also, have 
failed largely, and last fall, many farmers were so 
discouraged that they were saying they would spend 
no more money in grass and clover seeds until the 
earth’s crust was once more saturated with water. 
Timothy and clover plants make their start at a 
time of year when drought is not so severely felt as 
in mid-summer, and it is little wonder that the Crim¬ 
son clover, trying to begin life in August, with drought 
so severe that a six-months-old Red clover plant could 
not survive, would fail to get a sufficiently strong 
root growth before winter to withstand the effects of 
frost. Where I have had sufficient moisture in the 
soil to make fall growth, this new clover has done 
well. If the last two seasons had been wet ones, I 
believe that Crimson clover would now be enjoying— 
or suffering—a great boom. An undue boom hurts 
anything, and in the end, the many failures of this 
clover may not injure its chances for a permanent 
place among our valuable clovers. If this year prove 
seasonable, another trial should be 
made, and the result will be, more 
friends for Crimson clover. The popular 
idea of sowing it in corn fields, can 
hardly be the correct one, as growing 
corn evaporates water so extensively 
that there is rarely sufficient water left 
in the soil to push the growth of any 
small plant so long as the corn stands. 
Good Grass in Poor Wheat. —F. E. 
D., page 289, who wishes to get a per¬ 
manent meadow, is advised to sow the 
oats thinly so that the grass may have 
a chance for sunlight and moisture. 
This year, Ohio wheat fields are a bad 
failure, and in the southern part of the 
State, many fields will not make one- 
fourth of a good crop. We have a com¬ 
pensation to some extent, in that the 
young grass and clover are not being 
stunted, as is so often the case, and the 
promise dow is for a good growth of 
hardy plants at the time of wheat har¬ 
vest, when often, the grass is so spin¬ 
dling and tender that a few days of hot 
sun on the wheat stubble effectually end 
the grass. A ffhick stand of wheat 
plants is not encouraging company for 
tender grass and clover plants, and oats 
are still worse. One and a half bushel 
of oats on rich land, is sufficient seed per acre, when 
the chief object is to get a stand of grass. Oat plants 
are thirsty fellows, and an oat stubble in a droughty 
year, is the driest place on the farm. 
Liming Land. —Prof. Roberts, in his instructive 
reply to E. W. J., does not state the amount of lime 
one should use per acre. One does not hear much of 
applying lime to land in Ohio, chiefly, probably, on 
account of the limited area that has limestone at 
hand ; but in Pennsylvania, the practice is much dis¬ 
cussed at the institutes, and I observed that the lead¬ 
ing farmers are using a much less quantity per acre 
than was formerly the case, and they believe that the 
comparatively small quantity now used, is just as 
effective as larger quantities. Forty bushels per 
acre of unslaked lime, are considered a sufficient 
quantity by many, and some say that 25 bushels pro¬ 
duce the desired effect. The majority of farmers, 
however, continue to use much larger quantities. 
“ The Stove Shark.” —I am glad that The R. N.-Y. 
is going to give “the Stove Shark” some free advertis¬ 
ing. This Western firm has been operating in Ohio 
for six or eight year’s, selling a steel or wrought-iron 
range for $69, to many who preferred to pay for the 
ranges that had been set up in their kitchens rather 
than wrangle with the agent. The contract is pecu¬ 
liarly worded. In fine print, it states that the com¬ 
pany shall not be held liable for representations made 
by the agent. The latter is usually a very voluble 
young man, gifted with a wonderful flow of conver¬ 
sation, and an assurance that is simply sublime. 
Temporary headquarters are usually established at 
some town convenient of access to two or three coun¬ 
ties, and from this point, the territory is worked by 
several agents who are employed by the month, and 
are sent out in wagons with the ranges. The agents 
are expected to place the ranges in the kitchens of the 
farmers under some pretense, and then to secure a 
note that binds the business. 
Last summer I suffered two inflictions of these 
agents, the second one driving his mules up my pri¬ 
vate driveway as though he owned the place, and 
ordinary courtesy and a firm refusal had no more 
