752 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 14 
disinfection of premises occupied by diseased animals, 
and proper provisions for their enforcement. 
Pennsylvania Agrl. College. geo. c. watson. 
Beating Coat Trusts with Corn Cobs. 
Such times as the present tend greatly to increase 
the number of pupils in the school of economy. A 
former neighbor residing in an adjoining county, has, 
this year, got the best of the Coal Trust, by building 
a furnace to heat his house, using corn cobs as fuel. 
Tons of cobs have gone to waste upon his place, here¬ 
tofore, and he was running two coal stoves, at a cost 
of from $40 to $50 per winter. The sale of the coal 
stoves ($25) with $15 additional, paid for the furnace 
complete. 
To commence with, he made a simple flue of fire 
brick in the center of his cellar 2x2x4K feet, inside 
measure. At one end, an ordinary cast-iron door and 
frame were put in ; at the other, a brick chimney (see 
Pig. 245) was built connecting with the old chimney. 
This was inclosed by a square room five feet wide by 
seven feet long and five feet high, inside measure, 
the walls made of building stone one foot thick. 
The front wall was built, of course, even with 
the furnace or flue door. The space in this room 
not occupied by the flue, was then filled with large 
cobblestones to hold the heat, and he says that 
these will hold the heat for six hours after the 
fire is entirely out. With the addition of a few 
sticks of hard wood during the coldest nights of 
winter, he will be able to keep his whole house thor¬ 
oughly warm (much better than by stoves) at no ac¬ 
tual cost except a little time during the slack months 
of the year. d. n. 
Rochelle, Ill. 
Burning Corn in Nebraska. 
We frequently read in the political papers that 
farmers in Kansas and Nebraska are using good corn 
for fuel in place of coal. A friend in Lincoln, Neb., 
sends us the following note concerning this practice. 
We shall be glad to hear from other readers concern¬ 
ing it: 
Little, if any, corn is being burned in this part of 
the State. It seems to me very evident, however, 
that there must be many locations where it would be 
economy to buru it. Corn is selling here in Lincoln 
for about 13 cents for 75 pounds of ears, sometimes as 
low as 11 cents. At 13 cents, this would be about 
$3,50 per ton of ears. Pennsylvania hard coal now 
sells at $8.50 per ton, while there are some very cheap 
soft coals that can be got at, perhaps, $3.50 to $5 per 
ton. Farther west in the State the corn is worth 
less, probably, not over 10 cents in some places, while 
eastern coal, at least, must be higher. Now the 
problem depends upon the heating value of corn, and 
that I don’t know, neither have I found any satisfac¬ 
tory answer, though I have talked with those who 
have burned it to a limited extent. I suspect that 
little, if any, corn will be burned near the railroads, 
but suppose that you were 10 miles away from the 
place to sell your corn and to buy your coal, and had 
to make two or three trips to effect the exchange ! I 
am inclined to think that it would be only the part of 
wisdom to burn the corn. 
“ For my part, I see no reason why there should be 
any more hesitancy in using for fuel a material which 
the consumer can replace at will, than in using a 
decreasing supply of one that cannot be replaced. It 
appears to me merely a business problem. 
“ Farmers get one cent less for shelled corn than 
for unshelled. Cobs form the staple kindling wood 
and light fuel of this section, and are sold by the 
elevators. Loads of them stand on the street corners 
every day in the year, I suppose. We usually pay 
$1.50 per double-box load for them delivered.” 
ABOUT HONEST PACKING OF APPLES. 
The Rurai, New-Yorker advocates honest packing 
as the only method of obtaining the best prices, but 
we are beginning to question, in this year of low 
prices, if it pays to handle the apples as though they 
were eggs. For years, we have taken a pride in 
honest packing, and our fruit, sorted in the orchard 
into barrels, is divided into choice, seconds and wind¬ 
falls. Some of our neighbors carry theirs to the 
barn, after shaking them down, sort into firsts and 
seconds, mixing in the windfalls, and realize as much 
as we do. This morning, after seeing the returns, I 
sent word to the commission men that it did not pay 
to be honest in fruit packing, except for the approval 
of one’s conscience. 
Middlemen are not sufficiently discriminating, and 
it is likely to demoralize those who would act on the 
square. In the Montreal market, our own “ choice” 
and “windfalls” have brought a difference of only 25 
to 30 cents ; yet there is a considerable difference in 
the cost of picking, and in the keeping qualities of 
the different apples. When apples are so very cheap 
and labor just as dear, it makes one think over the 
results and wonder whether it pays to make such 
careful consignments. To see that the work is so 
managed requires more sacrifices than mere money 
getting. Members of our own family who have the 
packing and supervision, must neglect their educa¬ 
tion and every social duty. It is simply a time to eat, 
sleep and work with such long hours as no factory 
inspector would allow, while to stand all day and 
pack apples is more injurious than the regulations of 
the strictest floorwalker in a dry goods store, where 
the girls in warmed rooms, protected from the 
weather, do not have to stand any longer hours. Is 
there frost, white and glistening ? Barrels must be 
taken out and “set”, to be ready for the tardy pickers 
who must find some one ready for them. Does it 
come a shower? The pickers go home quickly, but 
those who have an interest in the work must risk a 
wetting to cover barrels, and empty baskets before 
they can leave the orchard. Is there a rainy day 
when pickers do not appear ? There are always 
“ windfalls” waiting in the draughty barn to be 
wiped, sorted and filled into barrels, and so it goes on. 
“ Marry a fruit grower 1 ” said a girl who had picked 
fruit all her life. “ It would be only jumping out of 
the frying pan into the fire ! ” And no one could 
blame the decison who knew the circumstances. And 
added to all this, while prices are so low as to pay 
the grower a poor and hard-earned living, comes the 
knowledge that, in the markets, there is not sufficient 
value placed upon careful packing and honest deal¬ 
ing. So if, in future years, we shake them down, we 
hope that there will be some device to make it 
easier for the apple, for it always seems vandalism 
to see the beautiful fruit fall to the ground at the 
HOMEMADE FURNACE. FRONT DOOR ABOVE. Fia. 245. 
risk of striking stones and receiving bruises and cuts. 
Such a season is almost uncanny in its overplus of 
fruit, and causes much comment. But, perhaps, 
another season may be one of scarcity, and so we may 
as well take the good the gods provide, and make the 
best of it. But we want higher appreciation and bet¬ 
ter returns for careful packing, in order to feel any 
encouragement. Annie l. jack. 
Quebec, Canada. 
“PRIZE BUTTER” ARTICLES REVIEWED. 
AN EXPERT DRAWS CONCLUSIONS. 
The series of answers as to how the best butter at 
the N. Y. State Fair, on page 730, was made is very 
interesting and very encouraging. Encouraging be¬ 
cause it shows that all these good buttermakers, with 
slight variations, followed the same general line of 
approved practice, thus showing that butter making 
is rising to the dignity of an exact science, instead of 
empirical rule of thumb and old wives’ notions ; and 
encouraging, also, because it shows that no ration or 
breed of cows, or manner of taking the cream, or kind 
of churn, has a monopoly of fine butter production. 
It is especially encouraging to the dairy studen i, be¬ 
cause, if I mistake not, the man who secured the 
highest score, was the one who followed most closely 
and completely the latest teachings of the scientific 
dairymen—the men who are sometimes called “ theor¬ 
ists ” and sometimes terms very much less elegant 
and respectful. 
I feel sure that the selection of cows fresh in lacta¬ 
tion is an important point. The addition of grain 
feed to pasture grass surely results in better body 
and, sometimes, better flavored butter, while im¬ 
mediate cooling and aeration of the milk are univers¬ 
ally admitted to be of advantage, If a man who had 
formed his ideas of buttermaking from the experi¬ 
ment station reports, from farm institutes, from 
dairy school lectures and from the best practical 
makers, should read these replies, he would be 
strengthened in his faith. 
The symposium merely reiterates these facts, viz., 
that, while the separator offers very decided advan¬ 
tages, both in completeness of creaming, and in the 
labor required to care for the milk of a large dairy, 
yet the necessary superiority in the quality of the 
product is little, if any. It also shows that, where 
everything is favorable, butter of the highest quality 
can be made from the shallow pan and the dash churn. 
It does not indicate, however, that the difficulties in¬ 
volved in these methods are far greater. Fine butter, 
under these conditions, shows what can be done, 
rather than what generally is done. 
About every prominent breed was represented in 
the prize list, and this only shows what partisans 
(especially of the Channel Island breeds) have never 
been willing to admit, that no man living can tell 
with any degree of certainty, by inspecting any sam¬ 
ple of butter, from what breed it was made. Color 
and, to a less extent, solidity, vary with individuals 
and breeds, but this does not affect the general state¬ 
ment. It was not so long ago that a man wrote to a 
dairy journal wanting to know how much more his 
butter would bring in the general market, providing 
he replaced his native herd with Jerseys. The paper 
very properly replied that there was no probability 
that it would make any difference, so long as he did 
not change his present system of manufacture. 
There is no question that a good, clean, acid 
“ starter ” is of decided value when milk is out of con¬ 
dition in any way, which, probably, means when 
there are undesirable bacteria present to be overcome 
or outnumbered by desirable types. The pure culture 
starters do tend to help the “ wintery ” flavor in but¬ 
ter, but I would merely question—not dispute— 
whether there was any neccessary advantage in using 
a “starter” in cream which had been, from the 
manger to the vat, carefully produced and cared for. 
The whole matter of a starter is unsettled. The Wis¬ 
consin Experiment Station has done much careful 
work along this line, and their testimony is, upon the 
whole, rather unfavorable ; yet it will not do for any 
one to stand up and say, “ I know ”. Every one should 
be open to conviction. Five years later, we ought to 
have learned something to stand upon. 
The testimony of the symposium, as a general 
whole, is this, which may be made to fill volumes or 
may be broadly stated in a sentence : The best com¬ 
mercial standard butter is made from the milk of 
well-fed cows, skillfully cared for, left bacteriologic- 
ally clean, creamed by one of the approved methods, 
ripened for 24 to 48 hours at a temperature of 60 to 
70 degrees to slight acidity, churned at the lowest 
practical temperature, washed in fine granules in not 
too cold water, salted to the requirements of the 
market, lightly worked and packed immediately. 
This, with slight variations, is the rule. The study 
of it with its exceptions is a great science, and the 
skillful application of such knowledge is a fine art. 
JARED VAN WAGENEN JR. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking- a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.l 
THE CROSBY AND OTHER PEACHES. 
1. What do the best authorities think of the value of the Crosby 
peach after this year’s experience, as to its size, hardiness, and 
its desirability in general over other varieties ripening at the 
same time ? 2. I would like to have some one who has the follow¬ 
ing varieties under similar conditions, as to age and kind of 
ground, to give the order of their ripening, and the time between 
each: Crawford’s Early, Crawford’s Late, Elberta, Crosby, Old- 
mixon, Stump the World. 3. Is there any peach ripening at the 
time of Smock Freestone that has the size of the Crawford’s Late, 
and is as reliable as the Smock ? p. L. b. 
Dresden, Ohio. 
As Judged in North Carolina. 
1. The Crosby has been grown but little here. It 
is a fairly good peach, but we have not discovered 
that it has any extra hardiness in bloom over others. 
We think that it may be better adapted to northern 
latitudes. 2. Crawford’s Early is better south than 
in Maryland, but there are newer sorts of the same 
season that we prefer. Crawford’s Late is hard to 
supersede ; it still rates as one of the very best yel¬ 
low peaches. Elberta is, probably, the most popular 
and profitable peach grown here. P. L. B. should 
try Lady Ingold, also. Oldmixon Free is, to my 
taste, the best of the mid-season peaches, but the 
