©38 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 8, 
church people, Grangers, and others delighted in at¬ 
tending, would make the whole town neighborly, and 
do away with the “rings” to he found in every town. 
On Winter evenings the chores could be done early 
and people could meet at each other’s homes at least 
once a month, for a jolly good time; and if each woman 
would try to forget her work at least one day a month 
and visit some lonely friend, both she and the lonely 
neighbor would be happier for the effort. 
We do not need to be so cold on the outside, for 
our hearts are warm. One lady apologized to the new 
rastor for not having called on his family. “You 
have been here three months,” she said, “and I have 
not yet found time to call. I suppose the others have, 
and so it has not made so much difference about mv 
not coming to call on you,” and his answer startled 
her: “My dear Mrs. B., I have nof expected it, for 
1 do not think anyone has called yet. We are getting 
used to New England.” And a young married woman, 
who has always lived in the same town, said, “I have 
neither company nor callers. Nobody comes to see 
me, and I am so glad you came. I never see anybody 
but my own folks.” We arc entering upon weeks of 
cold weather. Now, wouldn’t each and all of \’z be the 
happier if 
“We would live by the side of the road 
And be a friend to ruan ?” 
Connecticut. susan j. i-iowe. 
EMPTYING A CEMENT TANK. 
On page 890 E. L. P. describes a method of empty¬ 
ing a cement watering trough as follows: 
A person making a cement watering trough will find he 
ran do away with a mud puddle around the trough and 
have a very convenient way of emptying it when lie wants 
to clean it if he will have the outlet of convenient-sized 
iron pipe come up through the bottom of the trough to 
within about two inches of the top. Then take the 
measure of that pipe and have a tinsmith cut off a 2% or 
three-inch tin pipe a piece about three inches longer than 
the iron pipe; cut off about one-quarter of one end of 
tin pipe excepting three little pieces for legs, and cut a 
disk that will just fit the other end and solder in air¬ 
tight, also a loop to hang it up by. When they wish to 
empty the trough all they have to do is to slip the tin 
pipe over the iron and go in to breakfast; when they come 
out the trough will bo empty. 
1 thought about it a good while before I could un¬ 
derstand it, but by making use of a little knowledge of 
philosophy I finally understood the method. He should 
have added that by pushing the tin pipe down over the 
iron pipe the air in the tin pipe would force the water 
up around the iron pipe to the top of it and then down 
through the iron pipe, thus creating a siphon. The 
same result may be accomplished by using a piece of 
rubber hose long enough to reach from the bottom of 
the tank up over the edge and outside to a level a little 
below tbe bottom of tank. Simply fill the hose with 
water, hold both ends until placed in position, then 
let go both ends at once; the water will start immedi¬ 
ately and run until the end in the tank runs short of 
water and lets the air in the hose. All this sounds 
very simple to anyone who understands it, but to one 
who does not know of it, it might be valuable instruc¬ 
tion. _ M. R. F. 
GINSENG AND MUSHROOM CULTURE. 
Is there any money in ginseng? If there is, where 
would you advise one to buy material? Another matter 
about mushrooms. Is there a demand for them? 
Massachusetts. E. R. b. 
A few people have made money growing ginseng, 
but probably nine out of 10 who started in its culture 
have lost all they put into it. Considerable money 
was made some years ago in selling seeds and plants, 
but we would not advise our readers to try ginseng 
growing. The crop requires considerable care, close 
attention and no one but an expert gardener could 
ever hope to do anything with it. We regard the 
attempts to induce people of ordinary means and no 
experience in gardening to go into ginseng culture as 
little short of a crime. A few years ago during the 
ginseng craze many retired ministers and disabled 
women or persons of that class were induced to pay 
out their money for ginseng. Very few of them got 
their money back, but the great majority lost every¬ 
thing they put in. As for mushrooms their culture 
is a gamble. A few men who know just how to do 
the work and have had long experience make fair 
profit at mushroom growing. The beginner would in 
nine times out of ten lose every dollar he put in. 
Even if you succeed in growing a fair crop the 
market is often overdone, and will not give even 
fair returns. As a general proposition our advice 
would be to let both ginseng and mushrooms alone. 
HAULING TURPENTINE.—The picture at Fig. 
408 represents a load of turpentine being hauled out 
of the woods to the railroad station. The scene is in 
southern Alabama where large tracts of pine are tur¬ 
pentined. The driver of the eight-ox team is a con¬ 
vict, as will be seen from bis striped suit. There are 
a number of State prisoners employed in working the 
stills for turpentine. They are employed under con¬ 
tract and arc heavily guarded. It will be seen that 
the eight oxen are hauling 12 barrels of turpentine 
over the rough and stumpy road which leads out of 
the forest. 
FARMING IN EASTERN COUNTRIES. 
In old fimes what are now the deserts provided 
grain for the world. Dry land capable of irrigation 
was most productive. Syria at one time led in grain 
production. Agriculture there has been standing still. 
Even now plowing is done with a forked stick drawn 
by oxen. Two men with such oxen plow about half 
an acre per day. Yet even in this backward country 
modern ideas are working in. One farm in particular 
has 1200 acres —200 in wheat and the rest in barley 
and Alfalfa. An American steam plowing outfit was 
PARTNERS IN FLY TIME. Fio. 400. 
sent there for trial. The report of the expert in charge 
is given by Consul Menninger: 
I began operations with my machine on .Tviy 6. The 
ground had already become hard and the most diffi¬ 
cult conditions were presented. The outfit consists of 
a double traction engine of .‘!0 horsepower, an eight- 
gang steel plow, a separator, and a straw bruiser. 
We spent the first two days in thrashing. We thrashed 
as much in one hour as 20 men could thrash in 10 
days under the old system. The grain was of a hard 
variety and difficult to thrash, but the machine easily 
met the requirements. On the second day of the thrash¬ 
ing the farm manager sold his entire crop. He had 
reached the market in advance of expectations. The 
price received was $1.22 per bushel instead of 00 cents, 
the price of last year. Operation of the straw bruiser 
also proved most satisfactory. 
We plowed for 10 days. The farm is comparatively free 
of stumps and stones; the soil is of red loam, but very 
hard. We averaged 15 acres per day, plowing to a depth 
of eight inches. As the average under the former system 
was approximately one-half of an acre a day with two 
men aud a team of oxen, we accomplished with the steam 
THE CANNON-BALL TREE. Fio. 407. 
plow, with two men in one day, the work of 00 oxen 
aud 00 men. I encountered many difficulties, the chief 
of which was the ignorance of the farm workmen con¬ 
cerning the use of steam machinery and an apparent in¬ 
difference, and even hostility, on their part, toward its 
introduction. There will be strong prejudices to over¬ 
come, not only on the part of the laborers who are now 
quite unfamiliar witli these appliances, but also from 
subordinate farm managers who erroneously believe that 
the introduction of these machines will diminish the im¬ 
portance and value of the positions held by the managers. 
That is the history of every attempt to substitute 
machinery for unskilled labor, for men do not like to 
change their manner of living and working unless 
compelled to do so. Such enterprises as this one show 
that the world may yet be fed out of its waste places 
and swamps. 
American visitors in eastern countries see many 
strange tilings, for when they leave the steamer they 
step at once into the atmosphere of an old civilization. 
Two years ago a friend of ours took a trip through 
the Nile country. At Cairo he saw an Egyptian coun¬ 
tryman or farmer driving into town as he supposed 
to “enable his wives to do their shopping.” The pic¬ 
ture shows this interesting family traveling in from 
the farm. The three wives are riding upon what seems 
to be very much like a rail, while the man is walking 
by the donkey’s head. These ladies sincerely object 
to having their pictures taken, even though they were 
heavily veiled up to their eyes. They are not ashamed 
of their looks apparently, but object to the camera 
because they call it the evil eye. On talking with some 
of these people our friend learned tkat there is a 
superstition among them which usua^y prevents them 
from washing the eyes of their chnuren. He says it 
is a pitiful sight to see these little children covered 
over with flies and no attempt made to protect them. 
The consequence of it all is considerable eye disease, 
with the result that many of them lose one eye. Our 
friend said it was a common sight in Cairo to see 
one-eyed men and women, perhaps as many as eight 
or nine per cent. Certainly this farmer with his family 
does not present an appearance to be envied. We 
to not know whether these ladies will be interested 
in Mrs. Howe’s article on our first page or not, but 
we print thi- • 'cture to show that some of the social 
contrasts between the East and the West are almost 
as great as the industrial contrast presented by the 
steam plow and crooked stick. 
“THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.” 
Every school boy has read of the aged Spaniard who 
came to this country hunting for a fountain or pool 
the waters of which would make him young once more. 
1: is thought that Silver Springs, in Florida, was the 
point where the old fellow made his experiment—and 
failed. Ever since then men from De Soto to Jeffries 
have tried to “come back” into youth. Therefore 
miraculous cures are at a premium and the promoters 
always get the premium. At a place in Louisiana there 
is. a well which yields salt water and gas. Not long 
since we received a circular in which statements about 
this well are made: 
Aside from the novelty, the mixture of the gas and 
water seems to produce particularly beneficial results, 
and many persons variously afflicted claim results little 
short of miraculous. Whether the emanations of radium 
which the water seems to contain or the invigoration of 
the salt which is held in solution in large quantities are 
alone responsible, is not known, but that those who drink 
the water and bathe in the pool are affected beneficially 
cannot be doubted. Elderly persons of the utmost dignity 
disport themselves like youngsters and absorb a youthful 
mien which is the source of amazement to onlookers. 
This looked like one of the circulars sent out by 
the Geological Survey and we wrote to Washington 
about it. It seems that there is a well at the place 
mentioned, but the Survey is not responsible for this 
“Fountain of Youth” claim. Wc judge it to be a 
shrewd advertising scheme. Very likely there will fol¬ 
low offers to sell town lots or “treatments.” Our 
advice is to put the price of a town lot into your own 
farm. Men past middle years may well accept the fact 
that they are no longer young, and are not likely to 
' come back” by any miracle. 
DENATURED ALCOHOL ONCE MORE. 
I noted an editorial statement in The R. N.-Y. re¬ 
cently regarding denatured alcohol. While condensed 
it contained the facts. 1 have devoted weeks to the 
study of alcohol apparatus, stoves, lamps, etc., and 
have interviewed experts and manufacturers, also 
have been using alcohol lamps, etc. They are simply 
great and have a wide field of usefulness—when the 
alcohol is moderate in cost. At present the cost is 
prohibitive. My combination of alcohol stove, steam 
cooker and tireless cooker is ideal. But 1 have had io 
banish alcohol for kerosene. American manufacturers 
have simply skunked foreign ones in the matter of 
making good alcohol stoves and lamps, but the makers 
of small stills do not seem to exist. There is where 
I found a blind wall. Denatured alcohol can be had in 
barrel lots for about 45 cents per gallon, but that is 
twice too much for economical use of lamps, though 
the results are fine. I never had a better light than 
that shed by my alcohol lamp. The trouble was that 
one lamp cost as much to run as the electric lamps 
for several rooms. The whole problem comes down to 
cost. Aside from that important item it would be hard 
to exaggerate the household value, cleanliness and 
safety of denatured alcohol. w. H. m. 
R. N.-Y.—Years ago, when we played ball, the side 
was “skunked” when it did not make a single run. 
That is what happened to the farmers after the cam¬ 
paign to remove the tax on alcohol. They did not even 
have a run for their money. The farmers furnished 
the power which forced the bill through Congress. 
They got nothing in return, while the manufacturers* 
got cheaper alcohol. The farmers were promised that 
the removal of that tax would so encourage alcohol 
making that within a few years small stills would be 
found on farms working up rotten apples, small pota¬ 
toes and other wastes. Nothing of the sort has hap¬ 
pened or is likely to happen. These small stills are 
made and used in Europe, but when farmers came to 
investigate they found a high tariff which prohibited 
their importation. The conditions here are entirely 
different from those in Germany and France. There 
is a chance here for establishing large stills like beet 
sugar factories or cider mills where denatured alcohol 
can be made. It would indeed be a blessed change if 
the cider mills could turn out industrial alcohol for 
light and heat, instead of the soul-destroying stuff now 
carried away from them. 
