640 
tfi-iully to rodiice (lio tom porn tore tho fel¬ 
la r, so that even early in the season we have an 
effect that is coinpai-altle to chemical cold storaj^e. 
CAHM f)F FKUIT.—In actual use this cellar has 
Kiven remarkahle temperature results in spite of 
the fact that it Avas not completed until the early 
l)art of October, Avhen we were already packing 
fruit. Another year we shall he aide to start its op¬ 
eration at a lower tonperatnre than avc did in 
lOKi and Ave liojte with eA'en better results for the 
fruit. As soon as the fruit Avas j)ackpil it Avas 
taken directly to the cellar. At this time Ave were 
haviiift (piite Avarm weather, and the celliir tem¬ 
perature was noticeably cooler than the outside air. 
If the fruit was very Avarm at the time of pack¬ 
ing it Avas allowed to stand exi)Osed to the air in 
our ojjen ])acking shed all night. 'Phe next morn¬ 
ing it Avould he cool enough to load into the cellar. 
An effort Avas made to keep the fruit out of the 
cellar unless it had cooled c<msiderahly. I kmnv 
of one man Avho built a similar cellar to ours and 
ruined most of the fruit he put into it. lie did 
not i)ack the apples, hut carted them dii-ect from 
the tree and <lumped them into large bins. As a result 
they A\a«re hot when they Avere put in and being in 
large mas.ses they had a tendency to heat still 
more. Most of his fruit rotted. 
Indiana. nEN.TAxiix av. pougi-ass. 
Facts About the Vinegar Business 
Is there any money to he made in the vinegar busi¬ 
ness? (ian you give any or all of the ways of manu¬ 
facturing vinegar? About what are cider apples 
worth f.o.h. cars New York? What are the good feat¬ 
ures about the i)ickle husiness? Where are the best 
markets for vat runs and dills to get quick returns? 
About what do the farmers get for raising i)ickles? 
Ohio. 
S to the money that can he made from the vine¬ 
gar busine.ss, like every other commercml ven¬ 
ture, that de])ends as much, or more, on the man 
hack of the deal and his determination to make 
progre.ss as upon the prosjjects for the industry in 
general. One of the largest vinegar companies in 
this part of Oie country is located in Wayne 
County, New York, and it has increased its plant 
and equipment, even added branch plants from time 
to time, so it can he sjiid for this man that.he has 
made a decoded success of the husiness. Another 
man might maneuver the plant into banki-uptcy in 
five years, or possibly even enlarge on the present 
development. It all depends on tlie man. 
There are two Avays by which vinegar is com¬ 
mercially manufactured in this country, though 
vinegar can be produced in a number of ways. 
The first method is by the cider extraction pro¬ 
cess; that is by pressing the juice from macerated 
apples and allowing it to age. Ap])les for this 
liurjiose are the AA'indfalls and undesirable fruit, 
bringing the farmer anywhere from 1.5 to 25 cents 
per cwt., delivered to oar side. This fruit, repre¬ 
senting the culls and much other inferior stock, is 
ground up and then put under power presses. 
The finished product is entitled to the label “Pure 
Cider Vinegar.” 
The second method, ealled the ])rocess by gener¬ 
ation, utilizes the eAai]) 0 ]’ated skins and cores of 
a]tples, or AA’aste and chops as they are commonly 
called. Space does no.t permit of a description of 
the process here, but it may be had by apidication 
from the Michigan Dairy and Food Department 
Rulletins 252-2.55,. lion. .Tames W. Ilelme, State 
Dairy and Food Commissioner, Lansing, IMich. Mr. 
Todd here goes over the matter in his report, found 
on page nine. Vinegar made after this ])rocess is 
labeled, “Made from Evaporated Apple I’roducts.” 
.Aluch debate and feeling has i)eeu exerei.sed be¬ 
tween the adherents of the tAvo methods. Each 
has assailed the other as interested in an impure 
food product. It remains that perfectly good vine¬ 
gar can be made by both methods. Possibly more 
deception is jmssible Avbere the green fruit is 
ground up, as gathering cider apples is a job usu¬ 
ally attended to after more important Avork is out 
of tlie way, and Avholly improper fruit jnay find 
its Avay into the pulp. A thoroughly decayed ap- 
Iile Avill not peel, and such fruit never enters the 
evaporating process. Then too, the resident qual¬ 
ities of good vinegar are located just beneath the 
skin of apples and these are all found in the evap¬ 
orated skins, or waste. In the average year it co.sts 
the vinegar manufacturers from 10 to 50 per cent, 
more to make vinegar from Avaste than from fresh 
aiiples. During the last season with waste selling 
jit from 2%c to 3c per pound, it would cost the 
manufacturer apj)roxlmately l^^c more per gallon 
for his evaporated apple products vinegar than it 
Avould for cider vinegar made from fre.sh apples, 
and this year is no great exception as far as the 
price of apples and waste is concerned. Many 
■Uhc RURAL NEW-YORKER 
vinegar ('xperts claim that the evaporated apple 
product is of finer quality and flavor. 
Whether vinegar from skins and cores Avill ever 
fully take the itlace of cider vinegar the Avritev 
does not A^enture to predict. However, I AA'ould not 
mind witnessing a le.ssening of the old-fashioned 
cider mills, so common in the apple districts of 
New York. Too often have the lives of both far¬ 
mer and village man been blasted of all that is 
manly and good by too fre<juent reference to the 
family cider barrel. The habit, once formed, groAVs 
and groAV.s, tintil a ma.ster strength “thirst quench¬ 
er,” such as will eat the plate from tiiiAA’are, is 
criiv’od. Po.ssibly the- entrance of evapoi-ated fruit 
in the manufacturing proce.‘is Avill tend toAvards 
more sobriety in the land. 
Pickles are seldom gruAvn on a large .scale re¬ 
mote from locations near pickle factories or pickle 
tanks,—the receiving shitions for nojirby factorie.s. 
.\s a crop they are intensely dependent upon the 
Avater supply, a dry se.-ison giving but the scantiest 
return.s. The best markets for vat runs and dills 
are in Nexv York City. Last year the iirice paid 
to groAvers averaged in W.ayne County. .$20 i)er ton 
for sizes up to four inches. This year contracts 
have been placed Avith the groAvers at .$24 per ton 
for sizes up to four inches. The dill pickle husiness 
is combined Avith the manufacture of vinegar in 
many instances. a. ii. p. 
College Boys as Hired Men 
Y DTT a.sk for expression of opinion from farmers 
in regard to the city4u-ed agricultural stu¬ 
dent as a hired man on a farm. We h.ave had 
many city boys both from college and directly from 
the city. In general they haA'e not made satis¬ 
factory help, although tliere have been exceptions. 
The boy who has been rai.sed in the city and has 
not had the advantage of having animals for pets, 
never seems to be in sympathy with farm animals, 
even chickens. It is my theory that such boys Avould 
run a 'better chance of being succe.ssful at truck 
farming than on a dairy farm .such as ours, Avhere 
coAvs, horses and chickens are the principal 
factor. 
I al.so haA’e another theory obtained from my 
experience; that the city boy of AA-ealth, i.e., Avho 
has had boats and other .sports teaching him to u.se 
his hands, and to think quickly, makes a better 
farm hand than the poor boy. One serious ob¬ 
jection to the college man is his general attitude of 
mind. He usually goes out for the Summer for 
his farm experience, becau.se it is required for his 
degree, and it is like “doing time” to him before 
he even starts in. Also they u.sually start out as¬ 
suming their superior knoAvledge liecause of their 
college training, and are antagonistic and critical, 
rather than helpful. They seldom have been 
Avorth to us half Avhat Ave have paid themr al¬ 
though they feel that they are Avoi-king much too 
hard for their reward, and that makes for mutTial 
discontent and dissati.sfaction. 
Among the exc-eptions Ave have paid boys more 
at the end of the season than they Avere engaged 
for, and have some very loyal friends among the 
men, who have obtained part of their farm ex¬ 
perience with us. E. MAC nOXALll. 
Delaware Co., N. Y. 
Hill vs. Drill Corn 
I WOLLI) A'ery much like to say a feAv Avords in 
defen.se of the hill system of groAving corn, as 
I see all others speak for the drill. I Avant it un¬ 
derstood that I am speaking for the farmer Avho has 
to grasp the cultivator handles himself, not some 
of the gentlemen farmers Avho have recourse to 
plenty of hired help, and the best of land upon 
Avhich to groAV their coni. 
Our farm lands Avhich have been tilled for many 
decades, in a majority of ca.ses are full of foul 
weed seed, and then Avhen Ave have a very Avet plant¬ 
ing time (as last season) one AA’as fortunate indeed 
who could manage Avith all his skill or wits to get 
his corn ground fitted and ])lanted betAveen shoAV- 
ers. This is not the end here as Avith a grain crop, 
but nine times out of ten it is the after cultiva¬ 
tion which brings the bumper crop. 
The gentleman farmers Avill tell us to start the 
Aveeder or smoothing harroAV at once, but Avhen it 
is rain, rain, almost unceasingly AA’hat are Ave to 
do? Only “bide our time” so to speak, and before 
we are aAvare of it, tlie Aveeds are beyond the reach 
of the 'much advised Aveeder or smoothing harroAV, 
and nothing but the cultivator will uproot them. 
Here is where the check-row puts it all over the 
drill system. You soon have a cornfield away ahead 
of the weeds. Not so when one can only cultivate 
one way. as the Avriter has found out by sad ex¬ 
perience in past wet seasons. 
For several years past 1 have practised groAving 
a part of my silage corn in hills, and I do not re¬ 
member of one single instance where it aa'us check- 
rowed Avhen the yield Avas not equivalent, and many 
times in a wet season directly folloAving planting 
it was far ahead of the drliled corn, and of far 
better quality. 
The past season I had one field of tAA’o acres that 
was a sight to behold; I do not knoAV Iioav many 
said it AA'as the best piece of corn they ever saAv. 
and I am confident if it had been drilled I .should 
never haA’e heard those reni.arks. for it av.ms lo¬ 
cated just beloAV the barnyard, and AAaas badly in¬ 
fested Avith quack grass, to say nothing about the 
Aveeds. Those tAAm acres AA^ere given thorough cul- 
th’ation both ways as long as it Avas po.ssible to get 
through with a horse (muzzled) and cultiAmtor, 
and what was the harvest? Those tAVO acres of 
corn nearly, if not quite half filled a .silo ldx.30, and 
you fanners who have fille<l silos of th.at size knoAV 
something of Avhat the yield must haA’e been. No 
matter Iioav raaiiy laud the drill system, so long as 
I can and do grow more corn of far better quality. 
Avith less hand labor, I shall folloAV the roAvs in both 
directions. avm. ir. ckoxk. 
('henango Co., N. Y. 
Sugar-beet Growers and the Grange 
N page 51.3 in the article on the “Michigan 
Iteet OroAvers’ Association,” a very important 
omission was made of the part the ilichigan State 
Grange took in the solution of the controA’er.sy in 
regard to the price of sugar beets for 1917. 
The Michigan State Grange at its last annual 
meeting, December, 1910, ai)pointed a committee to 
confer with the sugar beet growers of the State. 
This committee called a meeting of the sugar beet 
growers. The Overseer of the Michigan State 
Grange “studied the question” and gave at this 
meeting the report you haA’e quoted from in the 
article Ave are considering. 
At this meeting a committee Avas appointed to 
confer with the beet sugar factory men, but the 
conference Avas Avithout favorable re.sults, and at a 
second conference no agreement was I’eached. At 
last and (piite recently Governor Sleeper called a 
conference of the two committees (the Grange 
sugar beet groAA’ers and the beet sugar manufac¬ 
turers) and urged them to get together, which they 
did, the groAvers securing their price and some other 
favorable concessions. 
At first the sugar factory men flatly refused to 
con.sider any proposition from the beet growei’s’ 
committee inci’ea.sing the price for 1917 beets, but 
the beet groAA’ers stood together and Avon out. We 
AA’ho Avere on the ground and Avatched the contest 
think the State Grange Avith its organization and 
means a most poAverful factor in securing the faA’- 
orable results obtained. The blaster of the State 
Grange Avas a member of both beet gnw(*rs' com- 
mittee.s. i.. n. taggakt. 
Seed Beans Should Be Tested 
M y experience has convinced me lhat our .seed 
beans are often defectiA-e in vitality, re.'^ult- 
ing in a total failure to gmaninate, or Aveak plants 
that cannot produce a normal groAvth. It is not 
too late yet to test the seed intended for planting. 
I find that two and eA’cn three-year-old seed Avill 
shoAV better germinating poAver than iieAA’ seed, pro¬ 
vided it has been properly stored. Seed from the 
1910 crop is a doubtful proposition. There is no 
.seed that is more easily affected by dampness than 
is the bean. Often the crop, even if gathered and 
stored in the barn Avhen fully cured, will SAV’eat 
and gather dampne.ss in the moAV, and often heat 
to a d('gree that Avill injure vitality. I am con¬ 
vinced that this often happens. The beans when 
thrashed may be dry enough for market, but if imt 
away in Fags or stored in a tight bin, may gather 
dampness, and if freezing occurs Avhen the beans 
are damp the vitality is surely injured if not en¬ 
tirely destroyed. Last season my tenant planted 
15 acres of yelloAV eyes; they came Aip so poorly 
that all the plants could have groAVU on tAVO acres. 
I thiidv the seed Avhich Ave bought of a dealer had 
been heated in the moAV, as the field Avas clover .sod 
and the .soil in good condition. Seed beans should be 
kept in some place Avhere dampness and freezing 
cannot occur, and the seed should be tested so that 
we may know Avhether to discard it altogether or 
plant more to the acre to alloAV for the defective 
seed. This year, in particular, the county needs as 
near maximum yield of all crops as it is possible to 
obtain. henry k. c'ox. 
New York. 
