101'4. 
THIC KUKAL, NEW-YORKER 
1061 
“Short Stories 
• • 
• • 
.... 
"The Favorite Hen." 
[The women who have entered hens in 
the egg-laying contest have sent us his¬ 
tories of their flocks and in many 
eases, have told us how they came into 
the business. Here is a sample history.] 
Ill-] history of ray flock of chickens 
began seven years ago. At that time 
to help along with the family expenses I 
sewed pants at home for a woman who 
distributed this work for a Philadelphia 
firm. The work was so poorly paid that 
it was almost a starvation job. Being 
tired of working at a sewing machine for 
almost nothing, my thoughts turned to 
chickens, and I reasoned out that if I 
could earn as much with chickens as I 
did with sewing I would be satisfied, for 
then I would be out in the fresh air and 
not be tied down to a sewing machine. 
We had plenty of wild land, so with some 
old boards we fixed up a small house and 
began with 14 hens that I had raised, to 
keep account, to see if chickens really 
paid. 1 had heard so many discouraging 
reports from people around that I felt 
rather timid until I found out for myself. 
At the end of the year, after paying for 
ill the feed, I had $20 profit. This en¬ 
couraged me, and I kept increasing my 
flock slowly every year. Last Fall I had 
150 hens. My general profit during seven 
years has been about $1 per hen. The 
breed is Black Minorcas, and it began 
this way: My original birds were ob¬ 
tained from eggs that I had bought from 
an old bachelor who had a Hock of Barred 
Rocks which he said were mixed with 
Black Spanish. Strangely enough my 
birds were black-feathered and ever after 
that I bred these birds with purebred 
Black Minorca males. Lately I have be¬ 
come interested in the Leghorns and 
bought IS hens, S. C. White Leghorns, 
from a neighbor who moved away, and 
sent last Fall through Mr. Cosgrove for 
a cockerel from Tom Barron. From this 
mating I now have some fine pullets 
which I am going to compare this year 
with some of my Black Minorca pullets. 
Our general farming is with berries and 
in 20 years we have not yet been able to 
lift the mortgage off our place. My hus¬ 
band and I now feel that we can do bet¬ 
ter with chickens, but we can only go 
slow on account of lack of capital. Of 
course my husband has to help with the 
work around the chickens now; after I 
reached the hundred mark the work was 
getting too much for me. 
MRS. JOSEPH T)I FABRIZIO. 
New Jersey. 
My Mother-in-law's Ways. 
Y mother-in-law was years ahead of 
her time because, more than any 
housekeeper I ever worked with, she 
always studied out the best way to do 
things. The idea of most value to me, 
was her way of washing dishes. She 
never wiped them. After washing them 
’he passed them through a hot rinsing 
water, and stacked them loosely in a 
large pan with a cloth laid folded in the 
bottom. They soon dry and one can 
put them away, or leave them in the pan 
until the next meal. This saves wiping 
towels, and the dishes will shine. Then 
she used to do up collars and cuffs so 
nicely. She would put a teaspoon of 
starch in a pint bowl, a half teaspoonful 
>>f powdereif borax, a drop of liquid blu¬ 
ing added to starch and fill up the bowl 
with cold water. The collars and cuffs 
were dipped in this and then rubbed be¬ 
tween the hands until the starch was 
well rubbed in. Then she took a clean 
sheet and moderately hot irons, and 
ironed the collars and cuffs first while 
they were still quite damp. They looked, 
when done, like the dull finished laundry 
work of today and beautifully white. Her 
recipe for apple pudding I’ve never seen 
given. She took one quart of flour, ta¬ 
blespoon shortening, one teaspoonful bak- 
iug powder, salt, and enough milk to 
make a soft dough. Into this she stirred 
slices of quick cooking apples, two large 
“ties at least. Put into well greased pan, 
and bake in quick oven one-half hour. To 
he eaten with cream and sugar or thin 
syrup. The apple flavors the whole pud¬ 
ding and tasted so “different.” R. M. R. 
Two Household Inventions. 
'piIE Colorado Agricultural College 
I News announces two inventions 
which, if proved practical, should help: 
Cleaning Clothes By Vacuum.— 
The vacuum clothes cleaner, a piece of 
apparatus consisting of a circular brush 
with an opening in the center, is placed in 
front of an electrically operated fan for 
suction, and a dust catcher. The whole 
is held in the hand and the brush passed 
over the clothes. As the dust is loosened 
by the brush the fan draws it in and de¬ 
posits it in the catcher. 
An Electrically Heated Glove.—A 
valuable addition for the auto driver’s 
Winter dress is an electrically heated 
glove. This is made flexible, and con¬ 
tains a number of resistance wires in the 
wrist and back of the glove so that the 
heat is applied to the back and fingers of 
the hand. The current furnishing the 
heat is turned on when the gloves grasp 
the metallic parts of the steering ap¬ 
paratus. which is in electrical connection 
with the battery furnishing current for 
the lights. 
A Dead Owl Scarecrow. 
l’ROI’OS of that picture of a cherry 
tree covered with mosquito netting, I 
found a scarecrow this year that worked 
well. I have a nice batch of White Leg¬ 
horn pullets hatched in March and April, 
and although they have good roosting 
quarters provided, and notwithstanding 
the fact that they are high-bred birds, 
having the blood of the Barron, Niagara, 
White and Bice, and other good strains, 
still they persist in heeding the call of 
the wild and roosting in the trees, there 
being several cbeerry, pear and apple 
trees near their quarters. As a result 
of this habit an owl became a visitor at 
their roosting place. I set a trap on a 
high post nearby, and in a few nights 
caught Mr. Owl, a big one with a wing 
spread of four feet and four inches. 
About this time the robins and wood¬ 
peckers became very numerous in my 
cherry trees, so I hung the owl (dead, of 
course), in the highest trees, so that he 
would swing back and forth in the breeze. 
The birds disappeared as if by magic. I 
cannot say that this plan would always 
work. If it would it might pay to get a 
stuffed owl and be ready for them, for 
one might not always be able to catch an 
owl at cherry time. This is not a tested 
remedy, but I offer it for what it is 
worth. CHESTER L. MILLS. 
New York. 
Rag Mittens. 
« M RS WHEELER, what is it you 
JLVJL are knitting those mittens out 
of?” said Mrs. Bloye. 
“I am knitting them out of carpet rags. 
I take black cotton cloth and plain white 
or red cotton cloth and tear it in strips 
about one-fourth of an inch wide and 
sew them together as you would carpet 
rags, then knit just as if you were knit¬ 
ting yarn mittens.” 
“They look like striped yarn mittens. I 
should not have known the difference at 
a little distance.” 
“That is what every one says. I made 
Mr. Wheeler a pair of them the first 
Winter we were married. I did not have 
any yarn, and we had no money to buy 
any with, or mittens either. So I took 
cotton rags and made him a pair like 
these. He wore them for driving all Win¬ 
ter. He said they were the warmest mit¬ 
tens he ever wore. They lasted him two 
years and they were all the mittens he 
had then.” 
“I should think they would be fine for 
boys, they wear out yarn mittens so 
fast.” 
“They are. I have knit a number of 
pairs for the neighbor’s boys, and knit 
some for men and sold them for 75 cents 
a pair.” 
“I would not be surprised if my son 
should want you to knit him a pair when 
he sees them,” said Mrs. Bloye. 
New York. mrs. u. a. b. 
A Backyard Fruit Garden. 
NE of our problems has been the sub¬ 
duing of weeds in the backyard. By 
actual count, there were 20 species in 
that 30x40 foot space, all doing their 
prettiest to get head and shoulders above 
their neighbors. As the starting of grass 
seemed a hopeless proposition, some ef¬ 
fort was made to establish strong-grow¬ 
ing, native plants, such as the wild sun¬ 
flower and red-flowered raspberry, but 
they were soon crowded out by the weeds. 
At last, a small quince tree was planted 
in the center of the plot. No special care 
was given it, except to pile the weeds 
as they were cut around it. Sometimes, 
in dry weather, the water from the week¬ 
ly wash was poured about its roots. It 
flourished mightily but, in its second 
year, met with a mishap which twisted its 
trunk sideways so that it almost reclines 
upon the ground. This would have 
caused some trees to give up the ghost. 
but not the sturdy quince. In its third 
year, it gave us the first fruit, several 
great, golden globes as fine as one could 
wish for. This set us thinking, why not 
more fruit? By degrees, we have added 
three more quince trees, an Early Rich¬ 
mond cherry, and a peach tree. As there 
are also two old rose bushes and a large 
lilac, our space is full, but we intend to 
squeeze in a Reine Claude plum next the 
peach tree to take the place of that short¬ 
lived individual when it dies. The trees 
are all too young to bear full crops, but 
last Fall, after making what jelly we 
wanted, we canned 30 quarts of quinces, 
using half sweet apples. There was still 
a basket of fine fruit for which the grocer 
paid us 75 cents. This pleased us for it 
looks as though we shall soon be receiving 
interest on our investment. As for the 
weeds, they are doomed, for, now that 
we are interested in our experiment, their 
eradication is no longer an irksome task. 
M. E. C. 
Sweetening a Cistern. —J. D. M., 
Albany, can make his cistern sweet in a 
few minutes by dropping in a stone tied 
to a rubber tub , which will go to the 
bottom, and pumping air through it with 
any kind of an air pump. This will also 
work in any well, where a dead mole or 
robin has made the water foul. It is so 
simple that people overlook it. A. c. w. 
Convenient Milk-Room. — I have seen 
a very good milk-room of brick, almost 
ssuare with cement floor. If I build one 
it will be of concrete (cement up to the 
windows, the remainder of lumber). 
There is an engine and a long shaft from 
another room, in fact it reaches across 
four or five rooms, and actuates separator 
and churn. It also passes through the 
wood house, cuts the wood; turns the 
grindstone and silage cutter. A rope that 
winds on a drum does a lot of lifting at 
the barn. Those four or five rooms are 
the long building between the house and 
barn, with shed roof on one side and ce¬ 
ment walk. That milk-room has a large 
box, a refrigerator on wheels. The 
churn and shelves too have castors. 
d. c. K. 
Blackening Top f Stove. —Tell Mrs. 
W. H. G. that as her stove has been 
washed so long, but little polish will stick 
on. I have had some experience with the 
same trouble, and find that if the stove 
is greased with some kind of grease mixed 
with half its size of lamp-black it stays 
black. This is the way I did it: One 
cup of melted grease, one-half cup lamp¬ 
black, stir thoroughly and apply with a 
brush. This will not shine very much, 
but will make it black. Build a good fire 
in stove after putting it on. One can 
also buy enamel at any drug store but 
this is costly. Here is a hint: Grease 
new tins or any iron you use around 
stove and bake them in a hot or warm 
oven for three hours or more according 
to heat in stove; they will not rust then. 
MBS. MARY SEALY. 
To Keep Comforter Clean. —I did 
housework for a lady once, who was very 
neat and had some good ways of saving 
herself extra work. She always put what 
she called a collar on her bed comforter. 
She took a piece of cloth like the com¬ 
forter. the full width of the calico and as 
long as the comforter was wide, and 
sewed it on the right side of the comfort¬ 
er at the top, then turned it over and 
sewed it down by hand on the wrong side. 
When it became soiled (for the top of a 
comforter always gets soiled first) she 
ripped it off and washed it. then sewed 
it back on again. By doing so she saved 
herself work in washing a heavy com¬ 
forter. and it kept it from wearing out 
so soon. MRS. II. A. R. 
Cattaraugus Co.. N. Y. 
Dandelion Coffee. —A good healthful 
substitute for coffee in the Spring, or even 
at other times, is dandelion coffee. It is 
made as follows: Dig the roots (or they 
can be bought ready dried at a drug 
store) wash them clean. (I use a vege¬ 
table brush to clean them) and cut up in 
thin slices about an eighth of an inch 
thick. Spread them out in a large tin 
and put in the oven to dry, let them 
brown well but do not burn them. When 
well dried put away in a sack to use 
when needed. Allow one tablespoonful 
of the dried roots to a person, putting 
them in a coffee pot with cold water on 
them, let it come to a boil and boil a lit¬ 
tle while. Drink with cream and sugar. 
Our family and others that I have known 
of drinking it think it delicious. 
New York. mrs. h. a. b. 
Cleaning Waste Pipe. —Henry Doer- 
ner of the Colorado Agriculture College 
gives the following directions: “One of 
the most trying annoyances of house¬ 
keeping is the obstructions to the free, 
quick outlet of waste water of the wash- 
stand. bathtub, or kitchen sink. This is 
caused by the gradual accumulation of 
small bits of refuse material which check 
and finally entirely stop the outflow of 
waste water. A simple, inexpensive meth¬ 
od of cleaning the pipe is as follows: 
Just before retiring at night, pour into 
the pipe enough liquid potash (not soda) 
lye of about 36 per cent, strength to fill 
the “trap.” as it is called, or bent por¬ 
tion of the pipe just below the outlet. 
The amount necessary will be from one 
to two pints. Be sure that no water runs 
into it until the next morning. During 
the night the lye will convert all of the 
fat or grease into soft soap and the first 
current of water in the morning will re¬ 
move it entirely and leave the pipe as 
clean as new.” 
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| “THE FAVORITE HEN” J 
L AST month we stated the situation regarding the hen contest. 
There were nearly 90 entries while we are limited to 33 hens— || 
- that is, three pens of 10 hens each and three substitutes.. We || 
= 1 asked the women who entered these hens to suggest a way of 
settling the matter. They have been very nice about it. Some §§ 
promptly withdrew their entries. They all agree that the fairest way will 
be for The Rural New-Yorker to select the hens, and they all state that 
they will be fully satisfied with our decision. 
Should Have Uniform Pens 
These hens are to be entered at the next egg-laying contest at Storrs, 
Conn. There will be 10 hens to the pen, and the managers desire, if 
possible, to have a uniform outfit. It will be much better, for example, to 
II have a straight pen of Leghorn or of “ Rocks” than to have pens made 
up of different breeds. We agree with that, though it will be necessary to 
have one mixed pen of these “ favorite hens ” if 
White Leghorn and Rhode Island Red 
We find that about one-third of these farm women entered R. I. Red hens 
and nearly another third White Leghorns. The balance includes hens of 
8 or 10 other breeds. There are more Barred Rocks than of any other 
of these breeds, but not enough of any one to make a full pen of 10. We 
have therefore decided to make up one pen of Leghorns, one of R. I. Reds 
and, if the managers of the contest agree, one of four Rocks, three 
Wyandottes, two Orpingtons and one Black Minorca. This will give all 
breeds a showing in proportion to their entries. In selecting the Leghorns 
and Reds we have obtained histories of the flocks and tried, whenever 
possible, to give the choice to typical farm women who are not professional 
breeders or advertisers, but who own what may be called a good farm flock. 
As soon as we have arranged with the contest managers names and 
addresses will be printed. || 
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