is96 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
5i7 
" STERILIZED AIR " F0/? PEACHES. 
NEW METHOD OF LONG DISTANCE SHIPPING. 
The greatest problem that confronts the modern 
producer, is to get his products into the consumer’s 
hands quickly, safely, and cheaply. They are now 
rushed to the market with the speed of the wind; 
modern science has done much to preserve them, 
though there is yet great room for improvement, but 
the cost is yet out of all proportion to the service 
rendered. Perishable products are now sent largely 
in refrigerator cars ; but this service is costly, the ice 
used makes added weight, and when fruits are re¬ 
moved from the cold storage, they must be soon 
used, as they will not last long thereafter. There is 
still a demand for some other better and cheaper 
method of transportation. 
Experiments have been made on the Pacific coast 
with other processes ; but only last Saturday did the 
first car for this market which is built to use sterilized 
air for preserving fruit in transit, arrive in Jersey 
City. It was loaded with peaches from the great 
orchards of the llale Georgia Orchard Co., which were 
described in The R. N.-Y. last summer. It was an 
experimental shipment, and although not, apparently, 
a success because of some untoward conditions, it 
may pave the way to other trials in the future. This 
is known as the Perkins method. 
The car was built especially for the purpose, the 
aim being to make it as nearly air-tight and non-con¬ 
ducting as possible. It is built of wood and paper, 
with several dead-air spaces, and one live-air space, 
the latter being open around the bottom of the car, 
allowing the outside air to circulate. The dead-air 
spaces are packed with tule, a kind ot bulrush which 
grows in California, and which is itself made up 
largely of air cells. The floor of the car is covered 
with a wooden grating, which keeps the packages 
from the floor, and leaves a space for the air to cir¬ 
culate, under the fruit. Running lengthwise along 
the top of the car through the center inside, is a ven¬ 
tilating pipe to carry off the moisture that arises 
from the fruit. The air that comes into the car comes 
from the air pump on the engine which draws the 
train, and is supposed to be thoroughly sterilized by 
heating. It passes through a coiled pipe in one end 
of the car, which may be surrounded by ice or brine, 
thus cooling it again before it enters the car. A small 
pump in one end of the car connecting with the ven¬ 
tilating pipe before mentioned, partially exhausts 
the air from the car, and this rarefication of the air 
cools it. This is the principle so far as the writer 
could gather it from an attendant who was either un¬ 
willing or unable to explain the details in full. 
Was this shipment a success ? Hardly. To follow 
their original plan, the car of fruit should have been 
thoroughly cooled after being packed and sealed up ; 
this was not done. Some other details, also, were not 
fully carried out. The car was delayed somewhat in 
transit, but the peaches came out in fairly good con¬ 
dition, probably not much different from those in 
refrigerator cars handled under the same conditions. 
The receiver of these peaches said that he believed 
that they would have come through in nearly 
as good condition in an ordinary ventilated car. He 
said that it was claimed that the fruit could be left in 
this car for a number of days after arrival without 
harm ; but that as soon as it arrived, he was notified 
to unload it at once. It should have been in about 
midnight Friday, or very early on Saturday morning. 
Instead, it arrived about 7 o'clock, after the market 
was practically over, and it was necessary to unload 
the fruit and put it into cold storage to save it. Of 
course, it could not be sold until Monday, and it was 
then in such condition that it didn’t bring nearly so 
high prices as it would have done early Saturday 
morning. It was claimed, however, that some of the 
fruit was overripe when put into tne car. The writer 
saw a number of the carriers opened as they were 
taken from the car. They comprised a number of 
different varieties—Crosby, Elberta, Stump, Belle of 
Georgia, and others—and most of them seemed in 
good condition. Some were badly decayed, but this 
season has been very favorable to decay. 
The peaches were loaded in the car in a perfect 
manner. They were packed in six-till carriers, each 
carrier said to hold 35 to 40 pounds of peaches. These 
carriers are made of thin stuff, and are very open, so 
as to ventilate the contents perfectly. A row of these 
carriers is set across one end of the car, leaving a 
little space between them. Then, a light strip of 
wood is tacked across each end of the row, fastening 
each carrier so that it cannot shake around. Another 
row is placed on top of these, the strips preventing 
the carriers setting close together. More strips are 
tacked across, more carriers added, until the top of 
the car is reached. Theh another row is begun, and 
so on until the car is filled. No two carriers touch 
each other in the whole car, and the air can circu¬ 
late freely around and through every carrier. The 
peaches are not wrapped in paper. It is said that it 
is doubtful whether the Georgia fruit would endure 
this, but that it would color up better if it would. 
THE POETS TURN LOOSE 
The R. N.-Y. is highly complimented to think that it 
has been the means of inspiring some of its readers to 
try to mix a little poetry with the every-day affairs of 
life. Poetry certainly tends to oil the machinery of 
life, and the three poets who favor us this week, cer¬ 
tainly pour in more than their share of oil. Let us 
first hear from Mr. Warren Vreeland, the inventor of a 
new weeder to be pictured next week. Mr. Vreeland 
considers prose too weak to paint the virtues of his 
machine, hence the following : 
SURFACE CULTURE. 
Surface culture’s my theme, aud sure as you’re born, 
’Tis the doctrine for cotton, potatoes and corn. 
Surface culture, dear friends, must I say it again ? 
It surely saves labor, yes, money and rain. 
And now, brother farmers, if you’ll listen a minute, 
I’ll just tell you how, and you’ll surely be in it. 
The Automatic weeder is the tool, without doubt; 
It will clean out your crops, four rows to a bout. 
’Tis handled so easy, and works like a charm, 
You’d not be without it for half of your farm. 
A small horse and boy can handle, I say, 
And do 20 acres in the space of one day. 
For cultivating strawberries, just ask Mr. Speer, 
Whose homemade irrigator we’ll show you so clear. 
The new Automatic, it works to perfection, 
’Tis sure death to weeds, they can’t grow in its section. 
Beats all straight-frame weeders by whomever made, 
They can’t touch the whole surface by no human aid; 
The long slender teeth the crops will not harm, 
For they turn and they spring by the plants like a charm. 
’Tis so easily handled on the field or the road, 
The slide follows the horse and carries the load. 
The Grand Army of army worms that has been 
marching over the land, has had very little poetry 
about it ; yet a lady in Plymouth County, Mass., 
sends the following : 
THE ARMY WORM. 
[The army worm made its appearance in the oat field last week, 
and the following poem tells how they were conquered.— m. m. b.] 
They come ! the black crusaders of ’96, 
99.(MX),000, 99,0000’s strong. 
A mis»hty invasion of ’96, 
99,000 and 99, a vast throne:. 
They traversed the oat Held till brown aud bare, 
A mighty throng of reckless mith and moth. 
The belligerent farmer was heard to declare, 
He’d fight and fight against the corn field North. 
He plowed his furrows long and wide and deep, 
Around and around against the wall. 
Declared he’d neither eat nor would he sleep. 
He must harvest mat corn this very fall. 
He galloped to town with old black Kate, 
Aud back with a barrel of kerosene oil, 
Six boxes of Paris-green would seal their fate. 
Six more of whale oil soap to add to the spoil. 
“ And now,” said he, “I’ll burn the pesky things, 
I’ll pizen the mean torments left aud right, 
I’ll make the critters snap and wish they had wings. 
I’ll rid the farm long before it is night.” 
So he fired and fired and fired till dark 
And strewed the poison along the trench. 
With whale-oil soap he flew like a lark, 
For the farmer was mad aud called ’em a wench. 
And when the farmer conquered and the day was done, 
And his neighbors came over to help him out, 
“Old fellow,” said they, “after all there’s some fun, 
Though it does change matters wonderfully about.” 
But sometimes one pest takes care of another, 
The little brown Englishman worked smarter than ever, 
Aud picked and picked at his ruthless brother. 
We’ll wish him good will henceforth forever. 
A year or so ago, we printed an extract from a 
poem by Dr. H. W. Wiley, the Chemist of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture. It has since been copied into 
almost every agricultural paper in the country. Now 
we print the entire poem, and it is worth repeating: 
FARMER JOHNSON AT THE “ INSTITOOT.” 
You seen the notice, William, of the meetiu’ up to town, 
Of the farmers in the Institoot, they come from all aroun’— 
Tnere was Billy Woods from Haw Patch, and old Sam Mapes from 
Hope, 
And Peter Hughes and Barney Flinu aud Teeumseh Sherman 
Swope, 
And half the town of Taylorsville, and you had orter seen 
Judge Edgiutou a mixiu’ ’round amongst us playin’ green. 
And Lawyer Sims wuz there also, you see it seems ez how 
He’s up for the Legislatin' an’ wants to larn to plow. 
And the fellers from the College of Agriculture, they 
Wuz thick as lightning bugs iu June and had a heap to say. 
There wuz one they called a chemist, and he kind a seemed to 
know 
All that wuz in the air above and in the ground below. 
He said we needed uitergeu, and showed us how the stuff 
Wuz awful high aud skeerce for crops, while in the air enuff 
Wuz found to make us ’tarual rich if we could only git 
Some cheap and sartin projeck of hitchin’ on to it. 
He sed that peas aud clover, and other crops like them, 
Wuz jist the stuff to do it and store it in the stem, 
And the yearth is full of critters that eat this stuff you see, 
Aud change it in a twinkle into ammoniee. 
That arternoon the sheriff he as’t us out to see 
Some Jerseys in his pasture; the professor he rode by me. 
We crossed the creek at Haskell’s aud passed the clover field 
Whar he hed wheat last summer with sick a bustin’ yield. 
The professor he wuz lookin’ and when the field he spied, 
“ Them ’talers lookin’ spleudid fur the time o’ year,” he cried. 
“Them ain’t ’taters,” said I, luffin’; “ why, professor, don’t you 
know 
Thet’s the clover which you told us would give us such a show ? ” 
Sence I come back from the Institoot, it really appears 
Thet potash, nitrate, fosferous, wuz ringin’ in my ears, 
Aud, William, it seems pretty tuff thet you aud Jim and me 
Have went along so ignorant of what we daily see. 
Jist hauled manure out on the pints and plowed aud hoed aud 
mowed, 
And worked so hard for little pay, and never, never knowed 
Thet clover, peas, aud beaus, aud sick ez the chemist mentioned 
there, 
Hev the mighty useful knack of suckin’ niter from the air. 
THE APPLE CROP IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
Since 1889, when western New York produced the 
largest apple crop in her history, comparatively few 
apples have been grown. As years of successive 
failure followed, many large orchards failed to pro¬ 
duce fruit sufficient for family requirements, and 
much that was grown was, not only small and imper¬ 
fect, but of inferior quality. So the question natur¬ 
ally arose as to whether western New York would 
ever regain her past reputation in the production of 
such superior excellence as would again give it pref¬ 
erence in the leading fruit markets of the world. 
Present indications point to a yield far exceeding 
any former year. In portions of Genesee County, 
never before were the prospects more favorable for 
an enormous crop of excellent quality ; the fruit is 
large, well formed, and comparatively free from 
fungus and insect depredations. Already, large 
orchards are showing the effects of the increasing 
size and quantity of fruit ; heavily laden branches 
are bending nearly to the ground beneath the burden 
of fruit. The Baldwin, of late years, has proved one 
of the most fickle and uncertain as a crop-producer, 
but seems to be taking the lead of other winter varie¬ 
ties, all of which, with the exception of the Northern 
Spy and Roxbury Russet, give evidence of large re¬ 
turns. Early and fall varieties also promise a full 
crop. Never has the outlook for the favorite 20-ounce 
apple been more encouraging ; its perfect freedom 
from scab, and the uniformly smooth surface of nearly 
every specimen, afford a pleasing contrast to this 
variety as grown in former years. An orchardist in 
the town of Sweden, Monroe County, is reported 
already to have ordered 2,000 apple barrels, and ex¬ 
pects to be able to fill 2,000 more. Thousands of bar¬ 
rels of the choicest fruit, mostly Baldwins, will be 
grown on roadside trees the present year. The miles 
of apple trees, in many instances skirting both sides 
of the highway, and nearly all heavily laden with 
fruit, afford a unique and delightful prospect. Many 
of us have, in faith, continued spraying to a greater 
or less extent, for several years, with results afford¬ 
ing but little encouragement, while those who have 
never made any effort in this direction, seem in a 
fair way of receiving a full share of the present sea¬ 
son’s bountiful crop, a result that gives rise to the 
further query, “ Is it essential that we continue this 
work in the future, regardless of the above facts ?” 
_IRVING D. COOK. 
From the notes on page 522, it appears that potted 
plants of the Parker Earle strawberry averaged about 
one quart to three plants this spring. These plants 
suffered considerably from the drought, both last fall 
and this spring. In order to learn something of the 
value of irrigation, a number of plants were watered 
from time to time—giving water enough so that the 
ground was never dried out. These plants averaged 
over one quart of fruit each, and were nearly 50 per 
cent larger than those not irrigated. The fruit was 
large and highly colored, but not so firm as that on 
the non-irrigated plants. In fact, we overdid the 
watering business, and kept it up too late, making 
the berries too soft for shipping. After this year’s 
experience, we would not water after the berries 
begin to set. We would keep the ground moist until 
after blooming, and then keep the water away. 
BUSINESS BITS 
Henry A. Drker, 714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Pa., has 
issued an illustrated catalogue of pot and layer strawberry 
plants, celery and cabbage plants, and seeds for summer and fall 
sowing. 
Do you grow beans ? If so, you would, probably, like to know 
all about a bean harvester. The Farmers’ Handy Wagon Co., 
Saginaw, Mich., will tell you all about their new harvester if you 
send them your address. 
Tub Ellis Keystone Agricultural Works, Pottstowu, Pa., make 
one and two-horse powers suitable for all kinds of farm work, 
such as thrashing, cutting ensilage, sawing wood, cream separat¬ 
ing, etc. They also make the thrashers, cutters, saws, etc. A 
postal card addressed as above, will secure their catalogue. 
Ellwanoer & Barry, Rochester, N. Y., send out a circular of 
pot-grown strawberries. Plants now ready. Shipped only by 
express, the rates being, when shipped in boxes, 20 per cent less 
than the regular merchandise rates. Layer plants will be ready 
after September 15. The new variety, McKinley, is a specialty. 
That “ Gem ” automatic wrench seems to us like a good thing, 
especially for oiling spring wagons. It is adjustable so as to tit 
any sized burr, grasps it automatically, and holds the burr when 
removed from the axle. It saves greasing the hands, or dropping 
the burr. D. Y. Ilallock & Son, Box 805, York, Pa., are the manu¬ 
facturers. 
A botti.e of liniment is a good thing to have in the house or 
stable for the use of both man and beast. For best results, it 
should be on hand to use promptly in an emergency. Tuttle’s 
elixir is one of the reliable liniments. Samples will be sent free, 
if you send three two-cent stamps to pay postage, to Dr. S. A. 
Tuttle, 27 R Beverly Street, Boston, Mass. 
It is generally admitted that stock of all kinds do better when 
they have free access to water, so that they can drink at any time 
needed. The effect is, of course, most apparent with milch cows, 
though it is apparent with horses and dry stock. Buckley’s Im¬ 
proved basins furnish a constant supply of fresh water, aud 
many dairymen who have put them into their stables claim that 
they pay for themselves the first season. C. E. Buckley * Co., 
Dover Plaius, N. Y., are the manufacturers, aud will send cata¬ 
logue on application. 
