1066 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 2S, 1013. 
Business 
The Farmer’s Store. 
Those who have read the Hope Farm 
man’s book, “The Child,” will remem¬ 
ber the little produce company which 
was organized -to sell farm products 
grown in a country neighborhood. The 
plan was to open a store in the city, 
and in this story that was done by com¬ 
bining with the grocer who had already 
started a business of his own. At the 
time the story appeared, some farmers 
thought that this plan could not be 
made to work out. During the last year 
we 'have received information concern¬ 
ing at least a dozen such stores organ¬ 
ized by communities of farmers and con¬ 
ducted by some naturally sharp business 
man. So far as we know they have 
all developed and made good. The latest 
we hear is from a farmer in South Jer¬ 
sey. who was not satisfied with the re¬ 
turns he was getting from the commis¬ 
sion men. He found a couple of bright 
young men, and they opened a little 
store at one of the large seaside resorts 
on the Jersey coast. This little note is 
taken from a recent letter: 
I am making a great hit with my 
peaches. I selected a basket of show 
peaches and put it in an upset position 
in one of the windows, and we had call¬ 
ers from all parts of the country want¬ 
ing to know where they were grown 
and so forth. We are presenting our¬ 
selves strictly as farmers, and have a 
sign in the window to that effect, and 
while we only opened up yesterday and 
sold nothing but peaches, we are send¬ 
ing down today other produce which we 
can sell in conjunction with them. As 
long as peaches last, however, we shall 
make a specialty of them, and if there 
is any period of time between the ripen¬ 
ing of our own peaches, we shall prob¬ 
ably take some of our neighbors' to fill 
in. We are not asking an exorbitant 
price, but a price which is fair and with¬ 
in reason, and we believe we can make 
a go of it. 
There can be no question but that such 
opportunities are to be found in many 
parts of the 'country. It requires a 
peculiar combination of people and cir¬ 
cumstances to make such a business pay. 
There must a steady and solid trade in 
a town where people will appreciate good 
service and square dealing. There must 
be some businesslike man at the head 
of the enterprise, with authority to go 
ahead and work out his plans, and he 
must have a fair amount of capital. Then 
there must be a combination of a dozen 
or more farmers who can come together 
and stay together, without quarreling, 
jealousy, or prejudice. They must be 
prepared to stick together through thick 
and thin, and if need be stand loss for 
a time in order to make a larger gain. 
Where this kind of a combination can 
be made, the plan of opening local stores 
for doing business can often bo worked 
out to fine advantage. 
Engineering to Help Farming. 
Each month we print some new idea 
or suggestion about farming, labor or 
going back to the land. This month it 
it is the following. I)o you think such 
a business would pay? 
I would like your advice or opinion in 
the following matter: I am 30 years old, 
married and have for the past four years 
been engaged in land surveying in South 
America, but have returned to the 
United States to stay. We are both 
farm-raised and want to raise our fam¬ 
ily and spend the rest of our lives on 
the farm, but haven’t sufficient capital 
in order to start in with any hopes of 
success. We have no exaggerated ideas 
of the profits to be derived from farm¬ 
ing on a small scale with insufficient 
capital. Our plan is either to buy or 
rent with the option of buying, a small 
place of not over 20 or 30 acres with 
the intention of raising fruit, berries and 
chickens. In the meantime while we are 
getting the place started 1 will endeavor 
by means of advertisement in local and 
farm papers to get farm surveying, drain¬ 
age. leveling and similar work to do. It 
is more particularly on this latter part 
of the plan that I would like your opin¬ 
ion. 
Aside from the ordinary work of land 
surveys and subdivisions, I believe that 
a paying specialty could be made of mak¬ 
ing detailed farm maps showing thereon 
in their proper location all houses, barns 
and other outbuildings as well as fences 
and other improvements, also streams, 
ponds and natural features, area of each 
field and any other similar information 
which might be desired. These maps 
should prove of value in various ways. 
Made on tracing cloth, blue prints could 
be made from them for a few cents. By 
using a different blue-print each year the 
farmer could mark on his various fields 
the crop raised that year, amount of 
yield, value, etc., and by preserving the 
old blue-prints could have before him at 
any time a graphic story of his farming 
operations in the past. 
In case a farm was placed on the mar¬ 
ket copies of a map of this character 
would describe it to prospective buyers 
in a way that no written description could 
ever do. Of course, they could be made 
in sizes convenient for framing and hang¬ 
ing if desired. There is no reason why 
honest and accurate maps of this class 
cannot be made at a reasonable price 
within a radius that will not will make 
the railway fare of the surveyor a pro¬ 
hibitive item. K. T. 
Canning Meat. 
Having canned both beef and venison 
successfully I am sending The R. N.-Y. 
readers my recipe. Cut meat in chunks 
about two by three inches, and pack in 
well-sterilized glass quart cans, putting 
in two layers by standing the pieces on 
end and putting salt enough to season in 
the bottom, between the layers and on 
top. Do not pack too full or the juice 
will boil over and be wasted. About an 
inch below the shoulder of can is right. 
Put on rubber and screw on cover loose¬ 
ly, wrap cloth around can and cook three 
hours in a boiler of water, letting water 
come almost up to lid, adding more boil¬ 
ing water as fast as it boils away. Put 
some shingle or thin board in bottom of 
boiler to keep cans from breaking. When 
done, remove from water and seal while 
piping hot. If a rubber wrinkles up and 
breaks, don’t take off the cover, but 
loosen, tear out the old rubber and work 
a warm new rubber down over the cover, 
into place and seal as usual. Y’ou cannot 
tell meat canned in this way from fresh 
meat if it is roasted in butter a few min¬ 
utes or served in other ways. I cook 
mine in a fireless cooker and find it a 
great saving. I have seen pork canned 
successfully by just cooking in kettle till 
tender and canning the same as fruit is 
usually canned. Also have seen some 
that was anything but a success by the 
same method. Pigs’ feet are fine this 
way, minus the bones. 
Michigan. mrs. m. Kennedy. 
Hints to Housekeepers. 
The secrets of good housekeeping are 
many, and varied, a very important one 
being: “Have a place for everything, and 
everything in its place.” While every¬ 
one is ready to agree to the importance 
of this, few conscientiously put it to prac¬ 
tice. But be sure that everything is 
worthy of a place. Valuable space is 
often given to worthless articles. The 
tendency with many of us is, to “stuff” 
things away, with the thought that “may¬ 
be they will come in some time.” Nine 
times out of ten they don’t and the tenth 
time doesn’t pay for the other nine. If 
•you feel that you must keep some things 
of uncertain value, at least put them all 
in one place; do not have a cracked cup 
on the kitchen mantel, a coffee pot, long 
since minus a handle, and leaky into the 
bargain, back of the pantry door and a 
butter worker that doesn’t work on the 
back porch. Better give up a whole gar- 
ret room, a whole cellar room, or an 
old out-house, to the collection of such 
articles, but don’t look through trash for 
the things you use every day. You will 
not only save your time, but the looks 
of your house. 
Many persons, who enjoy order in the 
homes of others, do not realize how easily 
it is accomplished. It is much easier to 
keep order than to make it. Get your 
house in order, and see that it is kept 
orderly; so many of us “let things go,” 
and then have a “good straightening up.” 
If you have a closet in your kitchen, 
but no dresser, drive nails on the inside 
of the door, and hang spoons, dippers, 
meat forks, etc., on them. .When you 
open the door, you have “light on the 
subject,” and your utensils are protected 
from the flies—the fewer utensils on your 
kitchen walls, the neater your kitchen 
will look and the cleaner your food will 
be. HOUSEWIFE. 
Sweet Pickled Gherkins. 
Can you tell how to put up little sweet 
pickles like those you buy? I would like 
to know how to fix them; they are soft 
as if they have been cooked, and nr* 
in little tubs, so I guess they do n t 
have to be airtight. 
New York. n;;s. a. c. r. 
I am not quite sure what you mean, 
but probably the little sweet gherkins 
that may be bought in bulk in many 
stores, as well as the sweet mixed pickles. 
The little gherkins are only small cucum¬ 
bers, and the following rule should en¬ 
able you to make little sweet pickles very 
much like them: Take one peck very 
small cucumbers of uniform size, wash 
and sprinkle with salt, cover with boil¬ 
ing water and let stand over night. Drain 
and add two quarts of water and one 
quart vinegar, boil 15 minutes, drain 
again, add two quarts water, one pint 
vinegar, two pounds sugar; put whole 
spices in a bag and boil all half an hour. 
E. s. K. 
Cleaning Panama Hat. 
I have a panama hat that has become 
soiled, and I tried cleaning it with corn 
starch as recommended by one person, 
but it did no good. Some of your read¬ 
ers must have had such trouble with 
their panamas and found something that 
will clean them successfully. 
California. a. e. a. 
If your panama hat is much soiled, 
none of the so-called methods of dry 
cleaning will do much good. I should 
first use any good white soap, and warm 
water. Put a bath towel on the kitchen 
table and lay your hat on that. Have 
a small soft brush and an abundance of 
bits of soft cloth. Wash a small place 
on the hat with the brush, do not got 
the hat any wetter than you can help, 
and remove the dirty water by sopping 
it up with a bit of cloth. Change the 
water in the basin as fast as it gets 
soiled. Continue in this way until the 
whole of the hat is cleaned. Dry it in 
the sun, first on the outside, then on 
the inside. If you have the misfortune 
to get the hat so damp as to have it 
partly lose its shape, stuff the crown 
with dry rags while drying. If your 
hat when dried is clean but shows traces 
of sunburn, you will need to bleach it 
with a very weak solution of oxalic acid. 
You can do this by the same method 
you used to clean the hat. The druggist 
who sells you the oxalic acid will tell 
you the proper strength to use. This 
will take quite a while to do a good job. 
but once in a season will answer for 
panama hats in New England. 
e.. s. Iv. 
Two Pickle Recipes. 
Sliced Cucumber Pickles (fine). •—■ 
Three quarts sliced cucumbers and four 
onions soaked over night in a weak brine. 
In the morning drain dry, then make 
the following dressing: One quart vine¬ 
gar, 20 whole cloves, one teaspoon whole 
mustard seed, one-half cup horseradish, 
one and one-half cup sugar, one-half tea¬ 
spoon turmeric (for coloring). Float this 
up and drop cucumbers into it just long 
enough to heat through, and then put 
them in cans and cover with the vinegar, 
and seal. 
Sweet Green Tomato Pickles.—Slice 
one peck green tomatoes quite thick, 
place in layers in a large enameled ket¬ 
tle, with salt sprinkled between the lay¬ 
ers, and let stand 24 hours. Drain well 
and scald in a weak vinegar until ten¬ 
der, drain again and put in jars; then 
heat three pints vinegar, one teaspoonful 
each of cinnamon, cloves and allspi \ 
one pound brown sugar. Boil these in¬ 
gredients together, and then pour over 
the pickles. dora niciioi.s. 
New York. 
I very much enjoy Tiie R. N.-Y. and 
am getting 100 cents of the consumers’ 
$1. I am churning the entire milk, re¬ 
tailing the buttermilk at five cents per 
quart, and selling the butter at 35 cents 
per pound. I peddle twice a week; last 
week selling 15 40-quart cans, and not 
having enough then to supply the de¬ 
mand. HARRY C. EATON. 
Pennsylvania. 
Cream Sponge Cake. —Four eggs, 
two cups sugar beaten until thoroughly 
blended, add flavoring and two cups of 
flour into which one teaspoon of baking 
powder has been sifted; add one cup boil¬ 
ing milk last. k. c. w. 
