C"Ae RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1203 
Simple Science 
By Dr, F. D. Crane 
Egg Substitutes 
Dyeing Fur 
1 have nn ollVr as ‘‘genoral agout” 
from a concern making an egg substi¬ 
tute. They claim on the box they use 
“casein, cornstarch, fresh hen egg albu¬ 
men, carbonate of so<la and vegetable 
color,” and that it conforms to State and 
national laws. Is it safe to .sell it? 
Westfield, N. J. ' G. N. A. 
Entirely so, granted that the label 
tells the truth and the whole truth, etc. 
Whether it is safe to use it is another 
matter, which may or may not bother 
you. All the ingredients are harmless 
if pure, but the weak spots are the case¬ 
in and the «‘gg albumen. It is probably 
a fair article of casein, but there are 
all .sorts of egg albumen, and, while all 
sorts are made of fairly fresh eggs, since 
Reproduced from New York Evening Telegram 
I have some tanned fur that has 
white spots in it. Can I dja? them 
black? o. G. 
Cuyler, N. Y. 
Furs are mostly dyed in the piece by 
developing a rather complex aniline d.v'e 
in the fiber, which could hardly be 
used on spots, but here is a method 
which has worked on a tost bit of white 
rabbit fur and may wmrk on your.s. 
Get the hair perfectly free from fat 
and grease by washing in soapsuds, 
drying, wmshing in ga.soline and drying 
well. Soak the spot to be dyed in a 
one to sixteen solution of silver nitrate 
in water, giving it plenty of chance to 
get well into the hair, rinse lightly, just 
enough to get the excess off the outside 
of the hair, f^oak in a one to .sixte(>n 
.solution of pyrogallic acid in w.iter, 
which, just as used, has had a drop or 
two of a one to eight water .solution of 
washing soda added. The black will form 
in the hair, but whether it will mateh 
the rest of the hair is more thsin we 
can tell, better try on some small spot 
first. Ttinse out the excess chemicals and 
dry with care. f. D. C. 
Celery Salt 
We ha\ e (|uite a bit of celery and are 
far from a market. Could we make it 
into celery .salt? .s. n. c. 
Oaks. Okla. 
Celery salt is made by mixing ground 
celery seed with a good tjuality of t.ahle 
salt, .so you will have to let your c(dery 
go to .seed and use that. Tlie oil from 
the s(“ed and tin* oil from thi* 
herb are both used, but the yield from 
the green plant is so small that we 
cannot advise the amateur to try to 
make it. k. n. c. 
they have to be to dry down well, some, 
grades get pretty rank. There are al¬ 
ready a lot of these egg substitutes out. 
and there will be a lot more, us the ludce 
of eggs goes up, for, after all, the func¬ 
tion of the egg in many dishes is merely 
to give a slimy or glutinous effect 
which will last long enough to hold the 
gas in, and will then cook to a stiff¬ 
ener. This result can be gained by 
various mixtures, one rather better than 
the above uses arrowroot starch, pow- 
d<>red milk, some sugar and a little salt 
.and some powdered whole eggs, which 
are perhaps a little bett(‘r than the egg 
albumen alone. The proportions are 
determined by the price, the more .starch 
the cheaper the mixture. A little bak¬ 
ing soda may also be added as the milk 
and eggs are both apt to be a little 
acid. The color is annatto, which is 
harmless and “vegetable.” “General 
agent” sounds well, but is iioually suck¬ 
er bait; better let our “Publisherks 
D(“.sk” look, the firm up and look over 
the contract they offer before you close 
with them. F. n. o. 
4 -Smudge to Prevent Frost Damage 
What material is used in the smudge 
fii-es to protect orchards from frost? 
Xa. the^ saine as..psed_ui tUc- smoko 
screens To protect .ships? Could it be 
•—\ised-to-protect-young crops from enrj.v 
fro.st? ITow fast does it burn? r. ,s. 
Town lane, N. Y. 
'^Par oil is used in the frost burners, 
according to the published accounts, hut 
they are not telling what they are using 
to protect the .ships. It would protect 
young crops if yon could get the smudge 
to hang over them, perhaps some sub¬ 
scribers have bad experience along this 
line and will tell us. The speed of burn¬ 
ing depends mostly on the construction 
of the “smudge pots” and the draft al¬ 
lowed. F. D. c. 
Making Hard Cider Into Vinegar 
T have three Vairrels of what I oxpectid 
to be cider vinegar, but it is still bard 
eider. What can T do? w. s. Af. 
Otego, N. Y. 
You are .short of iMycodernia acoti 
(that name means “mould-skin of vine¬ 
gar”), the plant better known as mother 
of vinegar, which lives hapi)ily on hard 
cider and turns it into vinegar. Get 
some good cider vinegar from the barrel 
it has been made in, not the sterilized 
stufiP from a bottle, fill a clean keg with 
beech or maple s-haviugs, mix isome of 
your hard cider with the other fellow’s 
vinegar and let the inixture stand on the 
shavings a day or so. aiul 'then trickle 
the hard 'cidCr' through tire k(‘g of shav¬ 
ings into another barrel. f. d. c. 
Rendering Cheese Digestible 
Se\eriil years .ago T rt'ad in smiic |iji- 
per thiit a simple cliemic.al, t.-iken jit .a 
meal at wliieh ehet'se was e.at<ai, would 
I>revent iiidige.stion from Ihe olieese. Is 
this true? ii. g. i:. 
Reading, I’a. 
_ Such items float about, from time to 
time, but we have no trace of the one 
you mention. The only safe and proper 
thing to say, of course, is that one 
shotTld not tnk<‘ unknown chemicals into 
one’s stomach if one’s digestion is not 
nil one could wish without the full ap¬ 
proval of one’s physician. 8o speaks 
the Osteooephallic Con.servative, and so 
he always will .sptaak, but even he doesn’t 
know it quite all, and it is a fact that 
with .some people a half teaspoonful of 
common table salt makes nut meals 
digest, aud, if you want to take nn awful 
chance with sodium chloride (which is 
the salt’s other name), you might try it 
on cheese! Rut chewing it very fine and 
then some more is the best way to help 
choe.se or anything else digest. 1% D. C. 
Grindstone or Emery Wheel for Tool 
Sharpening 
.\ idaiins that in shiiri)eirnig farm 
tools :in emery wheel, fairly coarse, at 
high speed is best, siiu-e that is used in 
Reproduced bom New York Evening Telegram 
machine shops. B claims that a grimi- 
stone is the oiily tool, since too high 
.spefKl of coarse emery wheel takes the 
temper from the cutting edge. Which i" 
right? Also, would running water on 
an emery wheel keep it from drawing 
the temper? H. o. w. 
Brattleboro, Yt. 
“Sharpening” is merely scratching olV 
some of the metal to make the edg«‘ 
thinner. “Taking out the temper” is 
heating the metal, by any means, to a 
(Contiiined on p;igc''WO.~. i 
gVP.N in the toughest wood Keen Kutter Planes 
won’t chatter, because of a distinctive K een Kutter 
feature—a specially designed extra-rigid frog seat. 
This novel construction gives greater solidity right 
where it us needed to prevent chattering, and per- 
mitsthe iiseof a thin bit which is easily sharpened 
when necessary. Handle grips give plenty of 
finger room—prevent tiring of hand or wrist 
-and make your d.ay*8 work a real pleasure. 
Corrugated or smooth bottom as desired. Have your 
dealer show you the Knr.N Kuttzr Line. 
Simmons 
Hardware Co, 
Manufacturtr* 
and 
XH^tributsrt 
St. Loulft 
N«w York 
Philadelphia 
Toledo 
Mlnnouy^lld 
Hioux city 
Wichita 
Trad Mark Kcglstered 
—E, C. Simmons 
RED 
_ TIP 
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Nevertlip Calks and Shaes always have Red Tips 
Get them from your horseshoer now. 
Booklet F will b« sent free on request. 
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