S66 THE RURA.L, 
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Business & 
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Actual Experience With Parcel Post. 
T HE following notes are from women 
who gave their address to the rural 
carriers as able to supply produce 
by mail: 
I think the parcel post system is fine, 
and I will encourage and try to get others 
to make use of the privilege they have at 
their command. It has been so warm re¬ 
cently, and not having egg crates on hand 
suitable to ship in, has been one reason 
for my delay in sending eggs by parcel 
post. The merchants are paying better 
prices since they have been forced to do 
so. You can say to the merchant, “Now 
if you can’t pay me the worth of my eggs, 
chickens and hams I can just send them 
by parcel post,” and that has been a won¬ 
derful help to the producers. If we peo¬ 
ple in this community had a more direct 
mail route we could do better business. 
I hope to be of some help to you in the 
future. I would like to deal with reliable 
people, so there wouldn’t be any delay. 
Virginia. MRS. av. B. gentry. 
I have done much business by parcel 
post with fine results. We have rural de¬ 
livery by our yard gate, and a good ear¬ 
lier. I have never had any trouble with 
my parcel post matters. During the Win¬ 
ter months I sold lots of butter by parcel 
post to the first and second zones. I have 
almost all kind of products usually made 
on a farm, and I am very much interested 
in this business, and want to work up a 
better trade. But it seems hard to get in 
communication Avith the consumer, unless 
it is some friend or relative that you 
know in the city. I suppose they are the 
same as us—just haven’t gotten acquaint¬ 
ed Avith the matter. I have done more 
buying by parcel post than I do selling. 
Just think of it—we sit in our homes, 
do our shopping, and have the goods 
brought to the door for just a small sum. 
Virginia. MRS. T. F. boze. 
Lunches for Motorists. 
HERE is much discontent evinced by 
the daughters of our farmers, due 
in a good measure to the lack of pin 
money or a certain allowance which 
might be used to buy the little extras so 
necessary to the dainty wardrobe. “Girls 
in town have a thousand chances to make 
pin money to our one,” complained a 
farmer’s daughter to a friend whom she 
was visiting in the city. The city woman 
was amused and frankly showed it. 
“My child,” she cried, “every farmer’s 
daughter can have her private bank ac¬ 
count if she so wishes. IIow about 
chickens, flowers, garden truck, canned 
fruits and even home needlework? Why 
the farm is alive with l’esources if you 
only wake up to them. Why don’t you 
do what my niece Delia does? One day 
she was sitting on their big porch indulg¬ 
ing in a fit of the blues because her 
father had refused her funds necessary 
for a course in the city school. Her in¬ 
terest was awakened by the approach of 
an automobile party who asked if they 
might have a glass of milk and some sand¬ 
wiches. Hospitality Avas the rule of the 
farm, and she not only brought forth 
milk and sandwiches but also fresh ber- 
ries and buns. She realized her guests’ 
appreciation Avas genuine, and when one 
of the party slipped two silver dollars 
into her hand she shrank back as if to 
refuse. ‘Take it, girl, and may you get 
many more ere the Summer is over.’ 
“The next morning Delia went to town 
and had a sign printed which read, ‘Auto- 
ists’ lunches served here.’ Her home 
boasts a large lawn and a screened-in 
porch. She bought two hammocks, some 
lawn chairs, a wicker table and sub¬ 
scribed for many magazines. By taking 
a magazine agency she handled subscrip¬ 
tions of all her neighbors and got her own 
magazines at agent’s prices. Besides pay¬ 
ing her price for lunches many of her 
patrons left her a generous tip for the use 
of her magazines and porch, and she had 
not only been able to pay her way to 
school, but is building a bank account for 
herself. After a long trip, what is more 
refreshing than a fragrant cup of coffee 
or a cold glass of milk, accompanied by 
a tempting plate of sandwiches and cakes, 
and yet to the one who sex-ves it it seems 
small indeed. Any ambitious girl can 
handle this work without assistance from 
her mother and without letting it inter¬ 
fere with her duties on the farm. I have 
been out with automobile parties many 
times when we would have been willing 
to pay ’most anything for a little lunch.” 
Wisconsin. m. g. dunn. 
Learn Your Husband’s Business. 
<<T HAVE learned more about farming 
X in the last tAvo years,” declares 
Mrs. E. S. Munger, of Crawford County, 
Pa., “than I did before in my life. My 
husband one day suggested the thought 
which comes to most of us when Ave get 
along past middle life. He said, ‘You 
know little about farming, about crop ro¬ 
tation and about live stock, ana Avhat 
would you do in case I should drop out?’ 
That started my thinking. It was true; 
I had given but little attention to farm¬ 
ing, and Avith my children all but one 
married and away from the farm, and 
the youngest, a boy in his teens, still 
pretty young to have much practical ex¬ 
perience, I wondered what Ave Avould do. 
I commenced reading, and Tiie R. N.-Y. 
was one of my first acquaintances. I 
uoav read every issue of the paper. My 
husband even declares that I know much 
more about systematic farming than he 
does, and we derive much more satisfac¬ 
tion and profit out of our farm work be¬ 
cause of our planning it together on the 
basis of what Ave read.” 
My attention has been called to a 
woman Avho had been a teacher, and she 
felt too proud to learn about the ordinary 
things of the farm when she married. A 
few years later her husband suddenly 
died; the valuable herd of registered Jer¬ 
sey and grade coavs was sold at the price 
of the grades, for there was some ques¬ 
tion in matching registry papers to the 
animals. She tried a hired man, but he 
loafed and she failed renting. The good 
stock is now gone, and the farm appeal’s 
a graveyard. With the Avoman’s self- 
sufficient feelings there is no hope for her 
to return and continue the policy of the 
farm. av. j. 
Clarifying Beeswax. 
1 IIAVE quantities of honeycomb or 
beeswax. Can you tell me how to 
clarify it, or prepare it for sale? 
New York. MRS. F. A. M. 
If you do not have sufficient comb and 
l’efuse wax to make investment in a me¬ 
chanical extractor worth while, you can 
render small quantities satisfactorily in 
a wash boiler. Make a wooden rack of 
strips of hard wood of such size as to fit 
the bottom of your boiler and be held an 
inch or two above it; this to keep the 
bags of comb from touching the bottom 
of the boiler and burning. Place the 
comb to be l-endered in burlap, or other 
loosely Avoven bags, fill the boiler nearly 
full of Avater, immerse the bags containing 
NEW-YORKER 
the comb in the water, cover them with a 
boai’d upon Avliieh a heavy weight may be 
placed. Put the boiler upon the kitchen 
stove and let the water come to boiling. 
The wax will melt in the boiling water 
and rise to the surface, Avhere it may 
be later taken off as a hard cake, or it 
may be dipped off and turned into any 
suitable dishes for cooling into cakes. As 
the wax cools, dirt settles to the bottom 
and may be later scraped from the cakes. 
The more pressure that can be put on the 
bags of comb Avhile in the water the 
moi’e neai’ly all the wax will be expressed 
but not as much can be obtained as by 
the use of a wax pi’ess, such as is sold by 
dealers in bee-keeper’s supplies. 
If you Avish to refine this wax, as is 
done by manufacturers of comb founda¬ 
tion, the folloAving directions are given in 
the “A. B. C. of Bee Culture”: Fill a 
large iron kettle to about half its depth 
Avith water; add sulphuric acid to the 
water in the proportion of one part of 
acid to fx’om 50 to 200 parts of water, the 
dirtier the wax the moi’e sulphui’ic acid 
to be used. Place over a slow fire and 
Avhen acidulated water is near to boiling 
DAILY VACATION. 
add the AA’ax that is to be refined. Keep 
hot for a fexv minutes and alloAV the fire 
to die down. As soon as all the particles 
of dirt have settled from the melted wax 
into the AA’atei’, carefully dip off the clean 
wax from the top. It is not necessary to 
refine wax in this way to make it salable, 
and if it is done extreme care should be 
taken in handling the sulphuric acid; a 
most poAverful corrosive poison. 
M. B. D. 
Discussion of Milk-room Wanted. 
E are making butter and find a good 
market, but are anxious to do 
away Avith some of the drudgery. I would 
like to see a discussion by people who 
have a milk room with poAver for churn 
and separatoi’. We use dining room in 
V inter and cellar in Summer. Our Avell 
Avater is cold enough to use all Summer, 
but sometimes goes dry. We often have 
to put the cream in the well water OA’er 
night this time of year. We have from 
eight to 12 coavs, burn Avood in stoves 
and so it seems a problem to plan a room 
that will be cool in Summer and Avarm in 
Winter. Some tell me to use the same 
power for washing machine, but I ahvays 
object to having the wash anywhere near 
the buttermaking. We can use ice Avhen 
necessary. MRS. A. j. s. 
R. N.-Y.—This is a good question. 
Will our dairyAvomen tell us how to ar¬ 
range such a room? 
Market for Green Apples. 
OMEWHERE I liaA'e read that the 
confectioners Avho make candied 
fruits will buy the small apples that 
are culled to thin the apple trees in July. 
Can you tell me how I can find a market 
for them? m. av. a. 
New York. 
We knoAV of no purpose for Avhicli the 
thinnings or green drops from apple 
trees can be sold. They are inedible and 
any candied fruit made from them Avould 
be condemned by the health authorities. 
Confectioners use fruit in various forms, 
sections of oranges and sometimes slices 
of apples being coated Avith candy, but 
this must be fruit of good quality. 
July 25, 
Selling Holders and Good Nature. 
i<TTOW far yon tiny candle throws its 
XI beams.” As I was busy in the 
kitchen one morning there Avas a 
ring at the door. When I opened it, an 
old man, Avith his feet crippled from 
rheumatism, stood there, holding a box 
in his hands. With a smile he opened 
the box, and showed a pile of very neat 
gingham holders. He said he made them 
himself, and sold them because he did 
not Avant to go to the poorhouse yet. 
‘‘I go all through the White Mountains 
in Summer, and I make enough to keep 
me all Winter. Doctor says if I sat down 
in the chimney corner I’d get so ci’anky I 
couldn’t live Avith myself.” 
“This is my kit,” he continued, shoAV- 
ing squares of gingham and of burlap, a 
spool of coai-se thread, needles and a 
thimble. 
When I had bought a holder he smiled 
the more, and went on to say, “Well, I 
meet a great many pleasant people on my 
travels, and if I do sometimes meet a 
sour one, the world is full of good folks 
just the same.” He touched his cap, and 
Avitli a parting smile said, “Good-bye.” 
I returned to the kitchen, feeling that 
I had met a gentleman and a philosopher. 
Moreover, I Avas encoui-aged to go on 
Avith my work in a moi’e cheerful spirit 
Who now dares to say of himself that he 
can have no influence for good in this 
Avorld, even Avith sti-angers? 
Vermont. eliza F. miller. 
A Pippin that Traveled. 
S OME yeai’s ago, while living in Vir- 
gina, I sent six Pippins to a friend 
in Panama City. This was before 
the days of parcel post. The six apples, 
Avith wrapping, pasteboard box and all, 
Aveighed just a fraction under G4 ounces 
(the limit for mei’chandise). The post¬ 
age rate being one cent an ounce, it cost 
64 cents. The apples arrived in Panama 
in good order, and attracted some atten¬ 
tion, not because apples are unknown 
here—apples are on sale here nearly the 
Avhole year around, at prices ranging 
from five cents a pound to 30 cents apiece, 
but because these were different from any 
apples that had ever been seen here. The 
larger portion of the apples handled here 
are of the Ben Davis kind, that looks 
good in the shoAV-window, and Avliieh will 
keep better than some varieties of good 
apples. Five of these lovely Pippins 
were eaten in Panama. The sixth one 
Avas foi’Avarded to a person employed on 
the construction of the Madeiro-Mamora 
railroad, on the Amazon River, in South 
America. The mail route from here to 
the Amazon River is by way of New 
York, and the apple arrived there in per¬ 
fect condition. 
For distance traveled and variety of 
climate passed through, I think this is. 
something unusual in the transporting of 
apples. Aside from the sentiment con¬ 
nected Avith this particular apple, this 
may serve as a practical lesson in Avhat 
can be done Avith perfectly good fruit 
The apples were perfectly ripe when 
picked. They Avei’e carefully Avi’apped 
separately in tissue paper, and laid in 
cotton batting in an ordinary pasteboard 
box. The distance traveled by this apple 
can be figured by referring to the map. 
The distance up the Amazon River alone 
is over a thousand miles. 
Canal Zone. jul joiinson. 
Tending Children.—I have tried sev- 
ersxl Avays of making money at home— 
gardening, making butter, and raising 
poultry were some of the Avays. They all 
turned out fairly successful, but there is 
nioi’e or less hal’d woi’k and wori’y at¬ 
tached to each. The most successful 
thing I ever undertook Avas keeping chil¬ 
dren for mothers Avho wanted to go shop¬ 
ping or to some social affair. I lived on 
the car line between tAvo good-sized cities 
three miles apart, and the car runs up 
and back every hour. So mothers had a 
good chance to drop me a line or call on 
(he telephone, and I could be right at the 
depot to take the little ones, and they 
wouldn’t need to get off the car. I 
charged 15 cents per hour during the 
Summer, and only keep them Saturdays 
and Sundays, except when there was a 
carnival, fair, or something of the sort 
going on; then I had regular hours, from 
eight in the morning until six at night I 
charged one dollar, and if later than that 
$3.50. But I never Avould keep any child 
later than 30 o’clock. The mothers Avere 
required to bring all the articles the 
children would need, and on rush days 
each baby’s “bundle” Avas checked to cor¬ 
respond Avith the check on the baby. I 
always had plenty of toys to amuse them, 
and the older children Avere happy to run 
outdoors among the trees, Avhere I had 
tAvo big SAvings and tables and benches, 
where I always fixed lunch for them. 
Never a week passed but what I made 
from $2 to $5, and when there was some¬ 
thing going on I have made as high as 
$25 .a day. All the help I had was my 
little son, eight years old. He ahvays 
liked to play with the little ones and keep 
them quiet. I ahvays had all my work 
done up so I could give all of my atten¬ 
tion to the children. 
Butte Co., S. I). MRS. P. MUNTER. 
Officer : “What’s the matter Avith that 
soup you’re turning up your nose at?” 
Private: “It’s full of sand and grit sir.” 
Officer: “Now look here, my man, did you 
come to camp to grumble or to serve your 
country?” Private: “Well, I did come 
to serve my country, sir, but not to eat 
it.”—London Opinion. 
A FARM WOMAN’S 
