eis 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
process for sterilizing fruit, especially such as have 
large pits, as it is almost impossible to kill the 
germs located on the inside of such fruits without 
steam pressure. 
ACIDS AND FERMENT GERMS.—We now come 
to another phase of the canning business, and one 
which has been no doubt a mystery to most people. 
In nearly all vegetables there are certain acids en¬ 
tirely different from the ferment germs from the 
fact that they will not cause fermentation, but if 
they are not removed, will cause the contents of 
the can to digest itself, or, in other words, become 
musty or unpalatable. For this the so-called 
blanching or parboiling is required. It consists in 
giving the vegetables a short boiling or dipping in 
hot water before placing in the cans, thus remov¬ 
ing this destructive acid. Briefly, the spoiling of 
food stuffs is caused by germs and spores, which 
multiply rapidly, causing fermentation, which very 
quickly makes the goods unfit and dangerous to eat. 
Clear water in an open kettle cannot be heated 
higher than 212 Fahr., no matter how hot the fire. 
It will simply form steam and evaporate. Some of 
the germs or spores are not killed at this heat, 
even after eight or 10 hours’ continuous boiling. 
Steam under pressure raises the heat to a much 
higher degree, penetrating every particle of the 
contents of the can, thus thoroughly sterilizing 
them. 
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS.—Some vegetables 
contain acid which must be got rid of before plac¬ 
ing in the cans. Certain food stuffs are very read¬ 
ily sterilized. All the different varieties of fruits 
and tomatoes are easily sterilized. Lima beans, 
string beans, corn, pumpkins, fish and meats are 
more difficult to sterilize. Any boiler in which the 
steam pressure can be raised to 15 pounds to the 
square inch will make a successful canning appa¬ 
ratus. On the other hand, any contrivance which 
is not steamtight and strong enough to stand the 
pressure will prove a failure. Boiling water is not 
hot enough. The cans containing the food stuffs 
must actually be placed inside the boiler, and the 
steam raised to the right pressure for that par¬ 
ticular kind, and for a sufficient length of time to 
destroy the bacillus. All foods except fruit must 
be cooked in the can or jars, and not exposed to 
the air after sterilizing. Germs if not all killed, 
cause the cans to bulge and burst by forming a gas. 
These are called swells, and have to be thrown out. 
When food in the can is hot it is very much ex¬ 
panded, and when cooled forms a vacuum, and 
draws in the ends of the tin can if tight, thus de¬ 
noting that the contents are in good condition. 
EXTENT OF THE INDUSTRY.—It is impossible 
to estimate the amount of food stuffs canned at 
home and on the farm, but most of this is consumed 
by those who put it up, and is a different thing 
from commercial canning at home. The consump¬ 
tion of canned goods is increasing about 20 per 
cent, annually. During the season of 1913 there 
were about thirty million dozen cans of tomatoes, 
fifteen million dozen cans of corn, and other things 
in proportion,packed by commercial factories. There 
are about 4,000 of these factories operating in this 
country, 99 per cent, of which use steam under 
pressure. Large quantities of these goods are of 
poor quality, owing to carelessness or greed of the 
owners, who do not take quality into consideration 
nearly as much as they do quantity, which have to 
be sold at a loss. Goods canned where produced 
and fresh from the trees or vines must naturally 
be of better quality and flavor. In addition, sani¬ 
tary conditions can be better controlled by the in¬ 
dividual canner than by the large factory where 
hundreds of laborers are employed. But it must be 
remembered that the factories have the advantage 
of improved machinery, and unless the home canned 
goods are of better quality, ‘‘home canning” on a 
commercial scale cannot compete with the factory 
output. WM. II. PABSIL. 
Middlesex Co., N. J. 
WAR UPON THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 
Can you give me some information about the English 
sparrow? Is it a fact that they keep all songbirds away, 
and that they are not insectivorous? I have read that 
they were most harmful to small country places for both 
those reasons. I have also real that the best way to 
rid the place of them was to soak wheat in whiskey and 
let them feed on it. and they would soon become helpless 
and could be gathered up and separated from the other 
birds, if any other kind shared their meal, and in that 
way the undesirable sparrow could be eliminated. If 
this could be done, how could one be sure of the English 
sparrow—I mean anyone who does not know an English 
sparrow from the snowbird or song sparrow? Have they 
any particular markings whereby one could distinguish 
them? There are hundreds of small birds on my small 
place that eat with the chickens all the time, and while 
I am glad to give a hungry bird feed I do not want the 
bluebirds and song sparrows driven away. e. m. 
New York. 
I doubt very much whether whiskey-soaked grain 
would ever be very useful in catching the English 
sparrow. He has been intimately associated with 
human beings during the past several thousand 
years, and has gradually accumulated much wis¬ 
dom. It is probable that when individuals showed 
the slightest signs of intoxication the associates 
would become suspicious and refuse to take any 
more of the bait. In spreading poison we always 
endeavor to operate when the birds are hungry, so 
that the majority may partake of the poison dose 
before the symptoms become evident ; otherwise as 
soon as one of the birds begins .to act strangely the 
rest of the flock will stop feeding and thus escape 
permanent injury. I am sending you a copy of our 
bulletin on the “English Sparrow as a Pest.” On 
pages 17 to 20 you will find described a funnel trap 
which was perfected in this Bureau (see (Fig. 247). 
With three of these traps we were able practically 
to exterminate the sparrows from the Agricultural 
grounds in Washington three or four years ago. Up 
to the present time they have not regained more 
than 25 per cent, of their original abundance. This 
trap can be easily and economically made. It has 
the advantage that any native species may be lib¬ 
erated. In Fig. 250 is a very good illustration of the 
male and female sparrow, which should be of assist- 
A 
ance to the novice in identifying the species. 
Around farm buildings or chicken houses, where 
sparrows congregate in a large flock during the 
Winter, they may be easily captured by means of a 
sieve trap, as figured in Fig. 248. The sieve should 
be propped up for a week or more so that the birds 
may become perfectly familiar with it. A morning 
after a snowstorm should be chosen for trapping. 
The hungry birds may be easily captured by pull¬ 
ing away the prop as they are crowded together 
Sieve Sparrow Trap. Fig. 248. 
feeding upon the bait. Before operating the snow 
should be carefully swept away and the ground 
leveled so that the trap will fall evenly upon the 
ground. The sparrows may be driven through a 
little slide door in the back into a receiving box 
similar to the one shown in Fig. 247. I shall be 
glad to describe any further details that may not 
be quite clear to you. a. k. fisher. 
THE FARMER AND THE STOREKEEPER. 
The articles in The R. N.-Y. of March 14 suggest 
a matter which is of great public importance, viz.: 
the relation of the farmers and country dwellers to 
the catalogue houses and small dealers. Dealers’ 
organizations in different lines have within the last 
few weeks been holding annual conventions, and one 
of the chief subjects of discussion and resolution 
lias been as to how they can circumvent the cata¬ 
logue houses and compel farmers to buy from the 
local merchants. Congress and the Postoffice De¬ 
partment have been memorialized and implored and 
besieged in an effort to get the parcel post so regu¬ 
lated that trade with the catalogue houses shall 
not be facilitated by this means and in every way 
such trade is made as difficult as possible. On page 
402 F. A. C. of Missouri calls attention to some un¬ 
necessary expenses attached to the business of lo¬ 
cal merchants, and on the first page Daniel N. Pom¬ 
eroy relates an instance where a Grange in New 
April 2.'>, 
York was able to effect a saving of 40% in the pur¬ 
chase of a carload of drain tile. Are dealers justi¬ 
fied in their actions, and are Granges justified in 
trading elsewhere? 
Now, in this controversy between the farmers and 
the local merchants and small dealers over this 
matter, it is important that the question of equity 
should be clearly understood. If the contention of 
the dealers is correct, and if the farmers are under 
any manner or kind of obligations, either legal, 
moral or economic, to patronize only their local deal¬ 
ers, and entirely withhold trade from the catalogue 
people, we all want to know it; for surely the farm¬ 
ers who believe in justice and fair play would not 
wish to do any injustice to anybody in such mat¬ 
ters. These relations have already reached a 
strained condition. When local dealers do not hesi¬ 
tate to express contempt for those who buy from 
catalogue houses, as they do, and when the dealers’ 
organizations publicly adopt resolutions in opposi¬ 
tion to all such transactions, the question of moral 
status should be admitted and recognized. In every 
town and hamlet and country place, as well as in 
the cities, there are poor men - supporting their 
families with their bare hands, and it is imperative 
that these men should make every dollar count 
to the uttermost, and they do not wish that odium 
should be cast upon them because, forsooth, they 
elect to trade where they can get the most for their 
money. For it goes without saying that catalogue 
prices are materially lower than those of local deal¬ 
ers. What is the right and wrong of the case, there¬ 
fore? Merchants and dealers of every class claim 
the undisputed right to trade wherever they please, 
and spend their money as they like. Have the 
farmers and country dwellers the same prerogative, 
or have they not? The question answers itself. 
No matter how small the town nor how many 
dealers in a given line it may contain, every man 
who finds himself up against the world for a liv¬ 
ing, and who can scrape together enough means or 
credit to buy a hatful of goods may start up in 
business, and by the mere fact of his having elected 
to do so seems to regard himself as entitled to a 
share of the town’s patronage, and is ready to 
join in the general chorus, “Trade at home," “Sup¬ 
port home institutions,” etc., and to cast contempt 
on those who choose to send away from home for 
their goods instead of paying him a round profit 
for doing this for them. Nor does he scruple to 
throw every obstacle in the way of others trading 
elsewhere, nor does he hesitate about joining the 
dealers’ organization ill asking for laws that shall 
curtail these rights and privileges as much as pos¬ 
sible. There is no occasion for quarrel between 
dealers and farmers, and when dealers are willing 
to recognize the rights of others the utmost friend¬ 
ship may prevail. e. ii. 
Michigan. 
A DIFFERENCE IN OAT RUST. 
An uncle of mine in Delaware County, New York, 
1.500 feet above sea level, told me that be once sowed 
oats on both sides of a small brook running through the 
farm, and that the oats on the side with the northern 
slope rusted badly, while those on the side sloping south 
did not rust at all. The brook could be stepped across 
anywhere without wetting the feet, and the land sloped 
sharply upward on each side, there being no Hat. I have 
often wondered what could be the explanation of this. 
Washington, D. C. c. w. b. 
Of course, it is impossible to do anything more 
than give a guess in a case of this kind. It would be 
hard to account for the marked difference which is 
said to have occurred in the oats. If a scientist could 
visit the field while the oats were growing, and 
take samples for examination, and also study all 
the conditions, he could give a much better reply. 
Prof. F. C. Stewart of the Geneva Experiment .Sta¬ 
tion says that if the oats sown on different sides of 
the creek were of different varieties, this fact might 
account for the appearance of the disease. Some 
varieties of oats are much more susceptible to rust 
than are others. Again, if the oats on different 
sides of the stream were sown at different times, 
that might be an explanation of the trouble. It 
seems that late-sown oats are much more liable 
to rust than those which are seeded earlier. If the 
oats on both sides of the stream were exactly the 
same in variety, selection, and time of sowing, in 
fact, if all the conditions were alike, there is only 
one guess to be made at the trouble. It may be 
that the oats on the north slope were shaded longer 
in the day, and thus the foliage was kept moist 
with the dew, and also after rains longer than the 
oats on the other side. The increase of moisture 
on the oats would have a tendency to increase the 
trouble from rust, but, of course, not knowing any¬ 
thing further about the case, it is difficult to give 
any exact opinion about it Such differences do 
occur, and it is frequently almost impossible to 
figure out the cause. 
