1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
477 
Hope Farm Notes 
Chinese Food.—W hen I was a boy 
the following lines were often quoted 
for my guidance: 
“Worth makes the man, 
The want of it the fellow.” 
There was no denying the statement 
but I think food is a better test. You 
may take the same kind of food. Let 
one family cook it well and serve it 
neatly and the other throw it together 
in the easiest way, and I am sure you 
or anyone else can pick the two fami¬ 
lies by their appearance. 
“Come out to the Chinese rest air 
rant,” said Dr. Van Fleet the other 
day, “you can get a balanced ration at 
a low price!” I imagine that most of 
our readers would shy at such an invi¬ 
tation. The popular notion of Chinese 
food is not what you would call high. 
I have noticed, however, that the Chi¬ 
nese are usually strong and active, sel¬ 
dom ailing and that the older men hold 
their strength well. I decided to go 
and see what sort of fuel they use to 
keep up the steam of life. 
Mott street is the heart of the Chi¬ 
nese quarter in New York. Here are 
to be found all the things which the 
Chinaman loves at home—from openly- 
displayed idols to secret opium joints. 
Many of the houses are decorated in 
front in imitation of the places in the 
old country, and Chinamen in all sorts 
of dress are to be seen at work or 
lounging about. The restaurant proved 
to be scrupulously clean—one of the 
neatest in the city. The decorations 
were in good taste, and the food is 
served on beautiful inlaid tables. There 
were 100 different combinations on the 
bill of fare—a full dinner ranging in 
price from 35~cents to $3.50. I looked 
in vain for such familiar things as 
baked beans, fish balls or baked apples. 
Left to myself I should have ordered 
an omelet, but Dr. Van Fleet being an 
old hand at "the ’game, advised the 
following dish: 
For the benefit of those who cannot 
read Chinese I give the English as 
well: 
Chozv Yok Soe Min. 
“Fried noodle with threaded meat 
and bamboo shoots, etc.” 
Now I have found that “etc.” can 
cover a multitude of sins or salvation. 
I sized up this dish as little threac. made 
of ’potato flour, sliced mushrooms and 
bamboo shoots, with small pieces of 
roast pork and a thick brown pork 
gravy. It was so good an imitation of 
roast duck and dressing with potatoes 
that it was better than the original. 
For 50 cents they gave more than both 
of us could eat, and in addition each 
had a bowl of rice and all the tea we 
wanted. The first thing the waiter did 
was to bring a pot of tea and two 
small cups. No milk, butter or bread 
or coffee is served here—you drink 
your tea plain or go without. As for 
bread—rice is a good substitute. After 
our imitation duck we had “Mut Ching 
Moy,” or golden lime. This was pre¬ 
served kumquats served in a saucer, from 
which you helped yourself with a 
toothpick. It was as clean and as 
nourishing a dinner as I have had in a 
long time. An American would miss 
the bread and butter which we have 
come to regard as essential to a meal, 
but the rice is a full substitute—if we 
would only think so. I never before 
knew just what rice is' when cooked 
as it should be. I would like to have 
that Chinese cook bake an apple! 
At a table near us six Chinamen 
were eating with chop sticks. I can 
stand their food substitute, but I want 
the knife and fork. These men had no 
trouble i.i holding their food between 
the sticks. When they came to eat 
rice they held the bowl up to a level 
with the face and used the sticks to 
poke the rice into their mouth. Every 
now and then they would poke the end 
of the stick into salt or sugar or into 
a sort of brown sauce, which occupied 
a general dish in the center of the ta¬ 
ble. I saw one big husky fellow eat 
five bowls of rice in succession. There 
was no time for table conversation 
over this rice eating. 
As judged by this bill of fare the 
Chinese live largely upon vegetables', 
’tee fish and poultry products. No 
cold storage stuff is ever used. The 
increase in price of flour does not trou¬ 
ble them, nor does the corner in butter 
‘or beef. A share of their food is im¬ 
ported. For $3.50 you can get a din¬ 
ner of 15 courses, including bird’s .nest 
soup, fried shark's fins, fried walnuts 
and chickens, sweet and sour fish and 
other delicacies. The whole thing was 
as fine an example of what skillful 
cooking will do with plain and cheap 
food as I ever saw. That Chinese cook 
could come to your farm or mine, take 
the things which we produce at home 
and get us up more nourishing food 
than we now have at half the cost. I 
firmly believe that, while we might not 
want to eat his food, and crave the 
meats and other stuff we now buy. 
most of us would be better off if we 
could cut away from prejudice, habit 
and inheritance, and live on a plain 
balanced ration of home food. Since 
I have seen those big, husky rice eat¬ 
ers with clear eyes and hard flesh I 
take less stock than ever in the theory 
that men must be stuffed with meat in 
order to do hard work. Of course the 
Chinese have the advantage of us in 
the fact that their ancestors for years 
have been vegetarians. Some of us 
trace back through many generations 
of meat eaters who have given us the 
strength and weakness which go with 
the diet. 
The Full Dollar.—I have a letter 
froin a farmer in Central New York 
which may set us all thinking: 
IVo have had 120 days of sleighing this 
Winter, from December 1 to April 1, and 
I have been able to haul 600 loads of 
horse manure from the cily to my farm 
with two teams. I sell my hay loose to 
the consumer, and get my full 'dollar for 
it, also for my grain, and my teams load 
both ways. Manure does not cost me any¬ 
thing but the hauling. I put it in heaps 
and spread with spreader so that 600 loads 
will cover nearly 100 acres. 
My children envy him that long run 
of sleighing, but I can get on without 
it in comfort. There is no doubt as 
to the “good roads”, value of hard 
snow. I have heard farmers argue that 
hay should never be sold from the farm, 
and they refuse to admit that their 
statement should ever be qualified. 
What will they say to this? In our 
country it usually pays better to sell 
our hay than to feed it, and we can 
keep up our yields with lime and fer¬ 
tilizer. Personally, I never bought a 
pound of manure. There are many 
places throughout the country where 
just the plan noted here could be car¬ 
ried out, and near every one of 100,000 
towns is a chance for some man to 
make this exchange of manure for hay. 
In the little towns around us livery 
stable keepers and men who keep a 
horse arrange with farmers to haul 
the manure away at intervals. There 
are good chances for a gardener to get 
his supply from such places. 
Farm and Home. — Since I wrote 
about the talkative hired man on page 
307 I have had many letters. Some 
people say I did not use the man right, 
because I put him at hard work. I 
worked as hard as he did at the same 
job. Do these critics expect me to do 
the work and let the man boss? Oth¬ 
ers ask if I want a man to keep si¬ 
lent? I certainly do when silence is 
either a virtue or business. An orator 
or lawyer might talk and do his work 
at the same time, but a hired man 
should not orate during the hours 
which belong to the boss. Another 
man says this proves that our modern 
system of “literary” education is all 
wrong. I do not think so. The ap¬ 
plication is sometimes wrong, but any 
man, I care not who he may be. should 
be better off for a good foundation in 
history and good literature. I call it 
little short of a crime to give a child ( 
a smattering of “learning,” teach him i 
that farming or hand work is dishon- ; 
orable and then turn him out to make 
a living. The other extreme of making 
the education all practical and sneer¬ 
ing at history and the old classics in 
literature is not a crime, but a mighty 
mistake. This is where our so-called 
“new education” of agricultural science 
is most likely to fall down, because 
it will drive the true spirit and culture 
out of life. Many a man who all his 
life has been made to do things and 
conquer material obstacles wakes up 
after the hard struggle has been won 
with a deep regret that he cannot find 
solace and the best of declining years 
in art, literature and travel. I would 
if I could teach children the business 
side of life and how to do things in 
the best way, but I would also en¬ 
courage them to take time for read¬ 
ing history, poetry and the great books' 
that will live longer than the things 
they do with their hands. Whenever 
I feel like grieving over the lost years 
of my own life when I missed the 
chance of learning to do things I am 
glad of the kindly fate that made me 
read good books. h. w. c. 
Your boy will be far better off for the fun 
and training he’ll get with a Stevens 
>vt\ 
A 
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A 
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YOUR WIFE KNOWS 
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