RURAL NEW-YORKER 
895 
Simple Science 
By Dr. F. D. Crane 
•Chemical to Sweeten Pork 
Is there any chemical which will 
sweeten pork which is strong from being 
too long in the brine? E. il. c. 
Pennsylvania. 
If the meat is merely too salty, our 
old chemical friend 1120, commonly 
known as water, will take out the ex¬ 
cess salt, and will help with other flavors, 
and some vinegar added to the water will 
make it more effective with the ta.ste. 
P.ut if there has been anything like de- 
compo.sition, there is a good chance that 
actual poisons have developed, which may 
act seriously. Do not take any chances; 
even at present prices for pork it mil be 
cheaper to throw it away than to pay for 
doctors and f» nerals. F. D. C. 
Gasoline in Well 
A few weeks ago a five-gallon can of 
gasoline which was in our well house be¬ 
came leaky and entire contents soaked 
through the well, polluting the water. 
We h.ave been waiting for .some time for 
the odor and taste of gasoline to disap¬ 
pear from the water, but it still remains. 
Can you suggest a remedy for the in¬ 
convenience? V. L. 
New .lersey. 
We know of no cure except to pump 
the well dry, drawing off the upper part 
first, as far as po.ssible. I’rohably this 
will have to be repeated two or three 
times, and, if the gasoline soaked into 
the earth, it may have to be given some 
time between pumpings, but even then it 
will prob.ably last, as a flavor, for quite 
a while. Fortunately as a flavor it is 
harinle.ss in the dilution you will get. 
F. D. C. 
“Metheglin” 
How can I make honey beer? 
Pennsylvania. L. M. w. 
It is no wonder tliat this question is 
asked from time to time, for this drink is 
the olde.st known to that “Indo-Euro¬ 
pean” group of peoples among whom the 
arts and crafts as we know them seem to 
have begun. Honey was the only sweet¬ 
ener till well past the Middle Ages, and 
was more a medicine than a food, while 
it was also the chief source of the fer¬ 
mented drinks among the more northerly 
tribes. Even the most primitive of the 
ancient Hritish i.slanders knew that the 
bees which gathered the heather honey 
could be robbed and their store diluted 
and fermented, doubtless by the “wild 
yeasts” pre.sent on the herbs used, into 
their sacred “mead.” Mead and metheg¬ 
lin are the same, and the name seems to 
go straight back to the Sanskrit word for 
“sweetness,” while perhaps for some of 
us who would not go so very far back on 
the family tree before coming to a Saxon 
or Danish pirjite, there are subcon.scious 
ancestral memories of turf fires, horn 
drinking cups and shouts to Odin and 
Thor. ReJigion and feasting went hand 
in hand, but the sacred reputation of the 
drink rested no doubt on its rather 
marked powers of intoxication, for it is 
generally considered to make its partak¬ 
ers rather drunker the second day. The 
reason is that the mixed sugars of honey 
ferment not only to “pain” or ethyl ai- 
cohol, but also to Miss Ethyl’s rather 
t)lumper and more robust sisters. Propyl, 
Butyl and Amyl (the last being fat-like 
enough to be called “fusel oil”), and these 
])ass from the body the more slowly as 
they are the more complex. Then, too, 
the herbs and aromatics which have been 
addiHl from the earliest times have con¬ 
stituents which may act as drugs as well 
as flavors. 
There were many ways of making the 
drink, and some of the receipts are still 
usable. From th modern rei)rlnt of a 
manuscript book which was evidently the 
“Still Room Book” of n English coun¬ 
try house in the .seventeenth century we 
take one of the eight methods given, all 
being much alike. Here it is, spelled ac¬ 
cording to the fancy of the Lady of the 
M.anor, and with the occasional commas 
which were her only mark of punctua¬ 
tion : 
“To 12 gallons of v/ater you must take 
rosemary half a handful broad time, 
sweet marjerom, e *remon 3 ’, harts tongue, 
burrage buglace of each one handfull of 
violet flowers 2 handfulls of jillie flowers 
one handfull any.seeds correander carra- 
way parsley .seeds of each one ounce well 
bruised which with the seeds boyle the 
herbs in the water til it comes to *10 gal¬ 
lons. then strain it out and let cool a 
little, put in your honey good hive honey, 
and stir it together ading so much to tlie 
litpior as will make it bear an egg to the 
breadth of six pence, then take the liquor 
ami put it over ye fire and boyle it a 
little but scumme it very well, then make 
it cold and put a little fresh ale barme 
into it then put .n a barrel & when it 
hath done working put in a little bag of 
such spices as you please, with a small 
quantity of musk.” 
“The Lady Downs adds—of spices gin¬ 
ger nutmegs, cloves and mace the spices 
mid seiHls to the quantitv of eight gal¬ 
lons half an ounce or better of each.” 
If the.se herbs and simples are not in 
your garden it shows that by seventeenth 
century standards jmu are a very poor 
housekeeper, for every cottage had most 
of them about it in those da.vs, although 
the grocer, who did not then exist, or the 
“chymist” who is now the druggist, can 
give you the seeds and .spices, even “any- 
seed,” which is anise, of course. Some of 
the other directions specify that the bag 
of spices should “have in a bullet or 
small stone and tyde by a string which is 
nayled to the barrel that it hang in the 
midst.” 
Of course, all this detail is not really 
needed; any one to three mixture of 
honey and water will ferment with yeast, 
and it may be flavored to suit if you 
want to take a chance of drinking the 
product. For no doubt there was mead 
in the flagon of which the poet “Anon.”, 
(later than the sixteenth century), has 
written : 
“When that Seynt George Imdde sleyn 
the Dragon 
lie satte hym down forniust a flagon 
And, wit ye welle. 
Within a spelle. 
He hadde a verrie merrie jag on I” 
So “watch your step!” F. D. c. 
Tests for Diamonds 
What test do experts u.se to tell a 
genuine diamond? How many facets on 
a perfect diamond? j. ,t. p. 
I)etroit, Mich. 
The effect on light (refractive power), 
the weight compared with an eciual bulk 
of water, (specific gravity), the hard- 
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nes.s, are all considered. Diamonds are 
cut to get the most out of the .stone, con¬ 
sidering its .shape, so the number of 
facets may vary. f. I). c. 
Advertising Accounts Due 
I have a farm and al.so a general store. 
Have I a right to advertise for sale, 
either publicly or privately, some bills 
or accounts that I have against my past 
customers who now do not trade with 
me or do not give me an opportunity to 
meet them face to face? B. A. s. 
New .Ier.sey. 
It would probably be unwise for you 
to advertise these accounts. It might be 
necessary for you to defend a libel suit 
if jmu did advertise them and some of 
the former customers .saw them and 
wanted to make trouble, even though 
they had no chance of succes.s. Some peo¬ 
ple would rather pay fifty dollars to a 
lawyer in trying to escai)e ijayment than 
to pay an honest debt of half that sum. 
AVh.v not place the .accounts in the hands 
of an energetic .voung lawyer, giving as 
his fee a percentage of what he collects? 
Otherwise, if they are small bills you will 
undoubtedly have to charge them up to 
profit and lo.ss. It is quite dangerous to 
attempt to advertise these frauds, strange 
as it may seem. There r ay be one or 
two honest ones among them who have a 
reason for not paying who may consider 
their reputation damaged. 
Jelly Running Over 
In regard to juices of jellies running 
over the i^araffin and down the outside of 
the glass, I have concluded that this hap¬ 
pens when too much sugar is used in 
making the jelly, or when the fruit is too 
ripe to jell.v firmly. I noticed this in 
making currant jelly last year; the jelly 
made early when the fruit was barely 
ripe, did not melt or run over the paraffin • 
but that made later, when the fruit was 
dead ripe and probably more sugar used 
than should be, crept up the glass and 
down the outside very badly. This year 
I intend to use less sugar as the fruit 
gets riper, .and note results. My cur¬ 
rants are the I'erfection, which are not 
.so acid as some others, and probabl.v re¬ 
quire less sugar. I have been using equal 
quantities of sugar and currants, but this 
year .shall trj’ not over three-fourths as 
much sugar. w. j. u. 
New Hampshire. 
Bare Spots Are Costly 
Make All Your Land Produce ■= 
Increase your profit by using an accurate grain drill. It 
has been done by others, and can be done by you. Farmers 
in California increased their yield three to six bushels; Illi¬ 
nois, five bushels; Kansas, three and one-half bushels, and 
Iowa, over nine bushels per acre by eliminating bare spots in 
the fields. They did it by using a grain drill that planted all 
the ground without skipping, a drill that put the seed in 
even, continuous rows of equal depth across the entire field 
and without wasting high-price seed. 
You gain both in the yield and cost of the seed saved by 
using a 
John Deere-Van Brunt Fertilizer 
Grain Drill 
Plants All the Ground —No Costly Bare Spots 
The Van Brunt Fertilizer Drill is equipped 
with the famous Van Brunt Adjustable 
Gate Force Feed that compels the seed to 
leave the seed box in even, continuous 
streams. There is no bunching up or chok¬ 
ing in the hopper. 
Merely shift feed 
gauge levers to 
regulate amount of 
seed sown per acre. 
Any standard ferti¬ 
lizer is handled just 
as positively. 
Steel ribbon tubes 
conduct the seed 
and fertilizer to the 
furrow openers. 
These tubes are 
more durable than any other style. 
The grain sown with a Van Brunt Drill is 
ready for harvest at one time. All the seed is 
planted at uniform depth. This is assured 
by pressure springs which can be adjusted 
individually to make the discs cut furrows 
equally deep. The seed is protected until 
it reaches bottom of the furrow. 
There is no clogging in gumbo, muddy, 
sticky or trashy soils. The Van Brunt 
Single Disc was the first ever designed that 
could do the work right under such condi¬ 
tions. Notice the adjustable spring steel 
scrapers. 
Grass seed attach¬ 
ment which will sow 
broadcast or drill 
can be furnished 
for any Van Brunt 
Grain Drill. 
Van Brunt Grain 
Drills are light draft 
because of their 
light weight and 
substantial c o n - 
struction. There is 
no sagging. The direct, double drive assures 
positive seeding and smooth, well-balanced 
running. 
The discs are high-grade steel, with 
smooth finish, and are equipped with the 
Van Brunt chilled disc bearings guaranteed 
to last lifetime of drill. 
Write for free booklet. 
Handle Your Grain 
the Easy Way 
Unload your grain with an elevator. Eliminate handling grain 
with a scoop. Save from twenty to thirty minutes to every load. 
Make it easier to get hired help. Let your horses or engine do this 
work for you. Use a 
John Deere Bridge-Trussed Portable Elevator 
Handles Small Grain and Ear Corn 
Bridge-trussed. It cannot sag. Channel 
steel braces run from the center of each sec¬ 
tion at the bottom to the top at both ends. 
This insures rigidity and strength. 
Built of steel. Will last for years. Roller 
bearings lessen fi iction, draft and wear. 
Runs quiet. 
Bearings are 
s e 1 f - a 1 i g ned 
— they cannot 
get out of line, 
cause undue 
wear and heavy 
draft. 
Big Book Free 
A.U O , 
HowTo‘\Us£ 
Better Farm 
Implements and 
How to Use Them 
America must pro¬ 
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This book tells all 
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Walking and Riding Plows, Tractor Plows, Disc 
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Drills, Listers, Alfalfa and Beet Tools, Grain Drills 
and Seeders, Riding and Walking Cultivators, 
Lister Cultivators, Mowers, Side Rakes, Loaders, 
Sweep Rakes and Stackers, Hay Presses, Grain and 
Corn Binders, Corn Cutters, Stalk Cutters, KaflJr 
Headers, Manure Spreaders, Portable and Inside 
Cup Elevators, Corn Sheller8,Wagon8, Farm 
Trucks and Buggies. This big book will be sent 
FREE if you state the implements in which you are 
interested and ask for Package X-330. 
Wagon dump equipped with automatic 
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Big elevator book 
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Uniformity in 
Implement 
Manufacture 
means much to you. 
You want to feel safe 
that every implement 
you buy is up to stand¬ 
ard. Getting implements 
whose quality and work¬ 
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serious consideration. 
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When you write advertisers 
quick reply and a “square 
- ■ =1 
mention The R. N.-Y. and you'll get a 
deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
