742 
'THE) RURAL EJEJW-YOJRKlBjKL 
June 29, 
HARVESTING PEACHES. 
During ray first peach harvest I 
visited a large peach orchard where I 
noticed the pickers using ordinary lad¬ 
ders and gathering the fruit into tin 
pails. This cumbersome practice did 
not suit me, so another season I had 
a picking outfit after my own ideas. 
First I made a tripod step ladder. Such 
ladders are now extensively used in 
many large orchards and are a great 
improvement over all other ladders for 
picking peaches. My homemade ladder 
is quite simple of construction. The lad¬ 
der has eight steps including top board 
afcd is eight feet long, side rails %x3 
inches. The steps are put in at the 
proper slant which makes them about 
3y 2 inches wide. Width of ladder at 
top is one foot, at bottom three feet. 
Two rods passing under bottom and 
middle steps brace the ladder. The lum¬ 
ber is seasoned yellow pine. Just un¬ 
der the top board is another half-inch 
bolt or rod which serves as a brace and 
also as a shaft for the third rail. This 
pole should be of white oak l^xl}4 
inch thick and the proper length. A 
block of the same is bolted lengthwise 
on the end of pole through which the 
shaft passes. Iron braces 18 inches 
long are bolted to side of pole and bent 
out against inside of other rails. The 
shaft also passes through these braces. 
The three legs of ladder (that is, the 
two rails and the pole,) are pointed at 
the lower end so they will catch in the 
ground. The ladder sits equally well 
on the level or hill side. 
My picking basket is equally simple. 
Saw a -)4-inch board like diagram below, 
BOTTOMiOF PICKING BASKET. 
which is for the bottom of the basket. 
Then procure two flexible boards six 
inches wide which can be bent around 
for the sides and nailed to edge of bot¬ 
tom board. Keg staves will answer fairly 
well. End boards are also nailed on. 
Then take a strap of heavy cloth or 
elastic about three yards long and sew 
ends together. Also cross suspender 
fashion at middle and sew. To put on, 
pass arms through loops so that cross 
is on back. Then give each a twist so 
that strap going over shoulder will pass 
under end of basket, thence outward 
and upward around end and back under 
arms. Both ends are adjusted the same. 
The method will be readily understood 
as it is simple. A few nails partly 
driven into ends of basket will keep 
straps from slipping off. To empty, 
take straps off ends of basket whicn 
leaves it free while strap remains on 
shoulders of operator. This arrange¬ 
ment holds the basket quite securely to 
operator. The basket holds about one 
peck and is much more convenient than 
a bucket, as both hands are free to pick 
the fruit or to climb the ladder. A low 
wheeled wagon with platform extend¬ 
ing out over the wheels is also very 
convenient for hauling the crates. 
Pennsylvania. david plank. 
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS. 
A New Thing. —The establishment of 
county or district farm bureaus in charge 
of agricultural experts for the purpose of 
promoting and directing the agricultural 
welfare of the county, is one of the most 
recent if not one of the most practical 
steps in the interest of better farming. 
Well organized farm bureaus are mediums 
around which the agricultural interests in 
a county may federate, and through which 
the local problems and desires of the 
farming population may be expressed. 
Through the agency of farm bureaus much 
that is known to be best and most practical 
pertaining to agriculture in the county may 
be demonstrated to the farmer on his farm. 
Our experiment stations throughout the 
country have been experimenting and in¬ 
vestigating along various lines pertaining 
to economic agriculture; our State col¬ 
leges of agriculture have been teaching the 
principles and theories pertaining to agri¬ 
cultural practice ; a vast amount of valu¬ 
able information has been accumulated, but 
just how much of all this information 
may be of practical value on individual 
farms in local sections, remains to be d«- 
termined. Here the county agricultural 
expert becomes important in his district 
His work is to show the practical apple 
cation of the results of investigation to 
the farmers on their farms. 
A Growing Need. —For the past few 
years there has been a growing need, in 
many sections, for local organizations to 
promote the agricultural welfare of those 
sections. The desire for such organizations 
has been so urgent, in some districts, that 
the farmers themselves have got together 
and contributed to a fund to pay a capable 
agricultural supervisor to direct them in 
their farm work. In other sections the 
State and the State colleges are cooperat¬ 
ing with the farmers to a certain degree 
in this work. It yet remains for the Fed¬ 
eral Department of Agriculture, the State 
Department of Agriculture and the county 
or district to cooperate systematically, in 
a general way, in securing local farm ex¬ 
perts for local districts. At present the 
Indications are that in the near future a 
considerable fund appropriated by the Fed¬ 
eral Department of Agriculture will be 
available for this line of work in the 
Northern States. In the South they al¬ 
ready have a system of community farm 
experts and demonstration farms fairly well 
organized and the value of the work done 
is undisputed. 
The First One. —A good example of a 
farm bureau is that which has recently 
been organized in Jefferson County, N. Y. 
The plan under which this bureau is or¬ 
ganized and supported seems to satisfy 
many of the most essential requirements, 
as its management and support are co¬ 
operatively under the direction of the 
county, State and Federal governments. 
Some of the more enterprising farmers and 
business men in Jefferson County began an 
active campaign with this object in view. 
Although there was a strong sentiment 
throughout the county in favor of the pro¬ 
ject, it was found that, under the county 
law, they could not appropriate county 
money toward such a project. The matter 
of amending the county law, so as to per¬ 
mit the supervisors to appropriate money 
for the project, was taken up with the 
State Legislature and an amendment was 
secured to the county laws in the State 
of New York so that now any county in 
the State desiring to do so may, through 
their supervisors, appropriate funds to¬ 
ward the maintenance of a farm bureau. 
Jefferson County has been the first to take 
advantage of this. In fact the Jefferson 
County Farm Bureau is the first of its 
kind to be maintained cooperatively by the 
three forms of government. After it was 
found possible to appropriate county funds 
for this work, the State and Federal De- 
partsments of Agriculture were interested in 
the project to such a degree that each 
agreed to assist in helping maintain the 
Bureau. The Jefferson County Farm Bureau 
is maintained by a combined fund, of which 
the county of Jefferson furnishes $1,000; 
the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, through the office of Farm Manage¬ 
ment, pays $900; the N. Y. State Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture pays $600 ; and in ad¬ 
dition to this the N. Y. Central R. R. pays 
$G0 toward the salary of the manager and 
furnishes him with free transportation over 
its lines within the county. While the 
State has no permanent fund for this work 
at the present time, it is thought that a 
special appropriation will be made before 
another year, so that if other counties wish 
to establish similar farm bureaus they will 
be met with prompt assistance. 
The Work.- —The policy of the manage¬ 
ment of the Jefferson County Farm Bureau 
is to promote the agricultural welfare in 
Jefferson County. As this kind of local dis- 
trict_ work is practically in its infancy 
definite lines are not as yet decided upon, 
but the work will proceed somewhat as fol¬ 
lows : 
By a systematic method of advertising 
to acquaint every farmer in the county 
with the fact that the Bureau is organ¬ 
ized, why it has been organized, how it 
may assist the farmers, how the farmers 
may help make the work more effective, 
and how by cooperation much good work 
may be accomplished. 
By determining the most important agri¬ 
cultural problems in the county and by 
finding a way to solve them. 
By determining the most profitable sys¬ 
tems of farming, and improving on these 
systems if possible. By encouraging the 
less successful farmers to adopt better 
methods. 
By the introduction of well-bred seeds 
such as improved strains of corn, oats, 
etc., and by encouraging the farmers to 
grow and save better seed. 
By encouraging the farmers to grow more 
grain for their cattle and buy less. Sug¬ 
gesting and demonstrating cropping sys¬ 
tems to accomplish this. 
By carrying on cooperative experiments 
and demonstrations in crop growing, use 
of fertilizers, cultural methbds, spraying, 
etc. Much of this work to be carried on 
in connection with the State College of 
Agriculture and the Federal Department of 
Agriculture. 
By organizing cow-testing associations, 
stock-breeding associations, etc. 
By cooperating with all other agricul¬ 
tural societies in the county with a view 
toward a common federation of all the 
agricultural interests in the county. 
By the organization of farm boys’ clubs, ! 
competition, and the encouragement of 
agricultural education. 
By encouraging and assisting in the or¬ 
ganization of cooperative farmers’ purchas¬ 
ing and selling exchanges. 
By assisting the farmers to secure good 
farm help. 
By making a digest of all the agricul¬ 
tural literature that has any relation to 
the agriculture of the county, so that 
through the publication of short, concise 
extracts arranged in the form of local bul- 
letions of information, the manager of the 
Bureau may be always ready to give td 
any farmer the precise information he 
wishes. 
By the manager of the Bureau being pre¬ 
pared to visit and advise with any farmer 
or group of farmers, any time, anywhere, 
in the county, provided" those visits may 
be of assistance to that farmer or to all 
the farmers in the county. 
Get Them Going. —In the establishment 
of county farm bureaus it is very important 
that the desire for such an institution shall 
come from the majority of the farmers in 
the county. This work should be under¬ 
taken only where the demand for such is 
very strong, and where the people at large 
realize the nature of the undertaking. 
Neither should it be expected that the mere 
act of placing a county agricultural ex¬ 
pert in a local district is going to revolu¬ 
tionize the agriculture of that district. 
Even if it were possible to do so it would 
be inadvisable for a county agricultural 
expert to advocate any radical change in 
the prevailing customs. All changes in the 
methods and practices employed in any dis¬ 
trict should be very gradual if any change 
at all is necessary. His work atf first must 
be slow, for he will have much to learn, no 
matter how much of an expert he may be, 
about local agricultural matters. Eventu¬ 
ally, however, the county agricultural su¬ 
pervisor becomes a local expert. He be¬ 
comes well versed in the good and poor 
methods of farming in his district. He will 
be prepared to tell a farmer wherein he is 
wrong and will show how to do better. His 
advice, if good, will be sought by many. 
He will become the local farm doctor, ready 
to go, diagnose and prescribe. His reme¬ 
dies must be based, not on theory of agri¬ 
culture, but on facts that have been sub¬ 
stantiated by good farming. On many 
points he may not bo well informed. No 
man can know all there is to be known 
about farming. Here the agricultural su¬ 
pervisor falls back on the specialist He 
calls men from the State College, the State 
Experiment Station, and from the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture to his aid. 
Placed as he is, between the vast amount 
of agricultural literature, made up of 
theory, investigations and teachings on one 
hand, and the farmer and his problems on 
the other, the county agricultural expert 
has no easy position. He has, however, a 
great field of usefulness wherein he may 
materially help the farmer and incidentally 
may disprove some agricultural theories. 
F. E. ROBERTSON. 
THE OUTLOOK FOR APPLE BARRELS. 
Present conditions warrant a general 
apple crop in most commercial districts 
from Ozarks cast to Atlantic. Cooperage 
about same as last season. Some early 
contracts at 35 cents for early deliveries. 
I would advise ordering early," delivery at 
stated times or “on demand.’’ E. w. "c. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
There is every indication that the supply 
of barrels in this section will be ample for 
the coming season. In fact, the coopers 
here are already becoming quite active for 
business, and are suggesting the same price 
as charged last year, viz., 35 cents at shop 
or 36 cents delivered, for No. 1 apple 
barrels. c. J. tyson. 
Adams Co., Pa. 
The cooper in Poughkeepsie charged 38 
cents for apple barrels last year, and will 
sell at the same price or at a slight ad¬ 
vance this season, dependent upon the sup¬ 
ply of cooperage stock, which is uuusually 
short, in part owing to the western floods. 
The apple bloom in Dutchess County was 
25 per cent of that of 1911. w. h". h. 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
Apple barrels are quoted to me the same 
this year as last, which is 36 cents for No. 
1 and 33 cents for No. 2, F. O. B. at coop¬ 
erage or station. I have no quotations 
from other places than two cooperages near 
me, but expect they run about the same. 
Rain needed here more than barrels at 
present. Walter whately. 
Sec. Va. Horticultural Society. 
I have had some correspondence with 
coopers; barrels for apples seem about same 
price as last year. 35 to 40 cents for No. 1 
barrels. The coopers seem to he getting in 
a good supply of material, and no. doubt 
will have enough for the crop, which, how¬ 
ever, promises to be much larger in this 
section than last year. Personally my 
apples have never looked better than at 
this time ; Pippins are not so full, but they 
look fine. We are thinning York. Ben and 
Winesap. We have had considerable twig 
blight this year, and is hard on some I 
imagine, especially to Pippins. 
Virginia. samuel s. gderrant. 
Barrels started in here in the Winter at 
34 cents and have gone to 38 and 40. I 
bought mine at 34. Stock is raising all 
the time, and the outlook is for very high 
prices, as the Mississippi Hoods are again 
getting out cooperage as well as other kinds 
of lumber. I think there is the largest 
crop of apples in sight for several years, 
and look for low prices in apples and very 
high prices on barrels. I would advise buy¬ 
ing barrels early every year so as to give 
coopers a fair chance. It is unfair to wait 
until picking time and then jump on the 
coopers for immediate delivery of barrels. 
I would especially advise early buying this 
year. clark allis. 
Orleans Co., N. Y. 
Certain varieties of apples, including 
Baldwin, TIubbardston, King, etc., are in 
many orchards considerably injured by the 
•severe Winter, and perhaps a larger peT 
cent is injured by San Jos6 scale, but the 
outlook just now is for a larger crop than 
for several years. Spraying with lime and 
sulphur and arsenate of lead has been 
quite general, and more thorough than 
usual. The young apples are showing 
smooth and free from scale or scab. Barrel 
stock is about the same as last vear, and 
the price will start at 35 cents but if the 
apple crop through the country shows as 
good as about here it would seem wise to 
lay in a stock of barrels some time before 
the harvest. u J. post. 
Kent Co., Mich. 
I heard of some barrels being offered at 
32 cents here by one firm. Cooperage firms 
are quoting prices that would make the 
material cost delivered about 29 to 31 
cents per barrel, and the hauling and set¬ 
ting up would cost four to seven cents 
more. That is about five cents per barrel 
more than last year. There is a shortage 
now on cooperage, as the mills along the 
Mississippi River were all knocked out this 
Spring by the high water. They sav they 
can never catch up with the demand this 
Summer. I do not know. It is a good 
idea to lay in a supply early or part of 
what is needed. We have a nice crop of 
apples in prospect, but not as many as two 
years ago. when there were 100.000 barrels 
in the county. We may need three-four+hs 
as many this year. Further north in the 
State the crop is not so good. u. t. cox. 
Lawrence Co., O. 
For Two Yearly Subscriptions to The Rural 
New-Yorker 
One "of Them May Be a Renewal of Your Own or a neigh¬ 
bor’s Subscription, but ONE MUST BE NEW 
This Set of Scientific and Perfect 
Cake-Making Articles Consisting of 
Two (2) Square Layer Moulds 
Size 7^x714 inches; 1J4 inches deep, for baking 
layer-cakes, sheet-cakes, short-cakes, ginger 
bread, corn bread, etc., is a great favorite with 
many who prefer to serve cut cake, as it 
enables them to cut square, diamond or 
uniform shaped slices as desired. 
One Medium Round Loaf Mould 
Medium size, diameter 8J4 inches; 3J4 inches 
deep. This is an old established stylo and is 
preferred by a great many cake-makers who do 
not care to change from the style they have 
been using. 
The moulds are made of a high-grade of 
charcoal tin and are the most practical and 
durable cake moulds on the market. 
The Van Deusen Egg Whip 
Is especially designed for whipping the whites 
of eggs, and is the most thorough and expedi¬ 
tious whip ever produced. It is stamped from 
a solid piece of tin plate, and has a degree of 
strength and stability not found in any other 
whip. The groove feature adds fifty per cent 
to its effectiveness and much more to us dura¬ 
bility. For cleanliness and convenience it is 
unequaled. 
The Van Deusen Measuring Cup 
is an absolutely correct measure, which is a 
very indespensableTeature,asit is as important 
to have a correct measure as it is to have a 
correct pair of 
scales. Thiscuphas 
one side marked in 
thirds and the other 
side marked in 
fourths, thereby en¬ 
abling the user to 
get any part of a 
cupful desired. It 
has slanting sides 
which prevent 
liquids running 
, , , down the outside as 
frequently happens when using a cup with 
perpendicular sides. It is made of a high 
grade of charcoal tin and for quality, accuracy, 
convenience and appearance is unequaled. 
A Pamphlet of 24 pages containing Superior 
Scientific Cake Rules, a number of delicious 
tried and proven cake recipes, and instruc¬ 
tions in the use of the moulds go with each set. 
THE VAN DEUSEN CAKE MOULDS are scientific¬ 
ally constructed so as to discard grease, paper, 
and at least one-fifth of the flour, and insure a 
light delicate cake with no greasy crust. They 
are simple and easy to operate, having open¬ 
ings at the sides covered with slides through 
which a knife is inserted and the cake loosened 
from the mould when it is removed. 
The Old Way was to grease or paper the tin 
to keep the cake from sticking (because, there 
being no way to loosen the cake from the bot¬ 
tom of the old style tins, the cake would break 
in getting it out if it stuck), then add flour 
until the cake -would not settle, being stiff 
enough to stand alone—like bread. Few real¬ 
ized the fact that they were using too much 
flour, because they only used the amount the 
recipe called for. But new developments show 
that at least one-fifth of the flour used, in the 
Loaf Cakes, was used only for the purpose of 
making them stiff enough to bear their own 
weight. 
The New Scientific Way is to discard the 
grease, the paper, and at least one-fifth of the 
flour, make a delicate batter and bake in an 
ungreased mould, letting it stick. The mould 
will support the cake while baking, and when 
baked, invert the loaf mould and let the cake 
hang in it to cool. The order is thus reversed 
and the cake is stretched and made lighter 
instead of settling and becoming “soggy.” 
Everybody knows that the light delicate 
cake with no greasy crust is themore delicious 
and healthful, and, as these can only be made 
successfully by using ungreased moulds and 
following the required rules, all cake-makers 
will readily see how inraortant it is to use the 
Mrs. Van Deusen Cake Moulds, Rules and 
Recipes. 
Delivered Prepaid for Two Yearly Subscriptions—one of them may be a 
renewal of your own or a neighbor’s subscription, but ONE MUST BE NEW 
Send for Sample Copies 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 409 Pearl St, New York 
