724 
IShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 2o, 1918 
The Vitamines 
The discorery of the so-called vitamines 
in noth animal and human food offers a 
new problem both to the cattlefeeder and 
to the housewife. In making up a ration 
it is now considered of absolute importance 
that a full supply of these vitamines. or 
“accessory factors,” are present, (fther- 
wise the young animals hand-fed, as 
calves, and young children, become 
.stunted in growth and refuse to thrive, 
adult animalfl. ‘and probably adult humans, 
too, become barren, for those vitamines 
nouri.sh the reproductive organs in the 
adult. Sterilization destroys those vita¬ 
mines. What. then, about feeding young 
children on .sterilized, or even pasteurized 
milk—for pasteurization partially desti-oys 
the vitamines? What about feeding 
largely on canned foods and the cereal 
foods of the grocery .store? These are 
all sterilized, and the vitamines .so neces¬ 
sary to life are destroyed. What about 
feeding largely on commercial mill feeds, 
for these contain little of the “accessory 
factors”? The ground grains all contain va¬ 
rious amounts of vitamine.s, but cotton¬ 
seed meal, shorts, and dozens of other 
mill by-products are almost barren of these 
neces.sary factors. J. A. m’donald. 
Canada. 
There is a well-worn tale of the rather 
ordinary chap, who, having attained some 
degree of wealth and leisure after strenu¬ 
ous years, began to study literature. After 
a few days he went about telling his 
friends that he had discovered that he had 
been talking prose all his life. He was 
glad to learn it, and most of us are glad 
to find that we have been eating food all 
our lives, and hope to keep on doing so 
for some time to come. To begin to call 
a part of the food “vitamine” may swell 
us a bit with pride, and, in addition, di¬ 
gestion goe.s better when we are pleased 
with ourselves. But as yet very little is 
known about the.se substances; we do not 
even know what they really are. So far 
there are three clas.ses of them known ; 
that which prevents a peculiar failure of 
nutrition which was long thought to be a 
disease and called “beri-beri”; that which 
prevents sore eyes and failure to grow, 
and that which prevents another sort of 
nutritional failure long known as “scur¬ 
vy.” These definitions are of the order 
of that of “salt is what makes potatoes 
taste bad when it isn’t on,” but they are 
the best we can do at present. The work 
of te.sting for the pre.sence and effect of 
these things is very slow, since working 
by exclusion naturally requires infinite 
care, and one of the known peculiarities 
of this class of bodies is that very small 
portions produce marked effects. The 
water-soluble vitamine is present in most 
foods, but since it is apt to be in the 
outer coats of seeds, it is the more scanty 
in flours the more thoroughly they are 
milled and whitened. It will .stand much 
cooking, but not a higher temperature 
for very long. Egg yolk and yeast each 
carry a lot of it, so that yeast-raised 
bread and an omelet now and then will 
you cannot get too much, for an excess 
from these sources is harmless. 
.So little is known as yet that this mat¬ 
ter of the vitamines, w'hatever they are, 
and wherever they are, for there are no 
doubt many more than these now known, 
will be the happy hunting ground of all 
.sorts of food cranks and “specialists” for 
years to come, but the average reader of 
The R. X.-Y. can safely go ahead talking 
prose and eating the ordinary mixed diet 
with plenty of whole-whe.at bread, fresh 
vegetables and fruit. If there seems to be 
nutritional disturbance, go to a good phys¬ 
ician, but by all means steer clear of any¬ 
one who wants to sell you “vitamines” or 
anything like them in. a bottle, either for 
you, your children or your stock. 
F. D. O. 
Left-hand Plows and Single Lines 
The writer was somewhat amused at 
the articles concerning left-hand plows 
and single lines recently. I w’as born 
and lived several years of my life in 
Southern Ohio, W’here left-hand plows 
were all the fashion, and hor.ses to the 
plows or one-horse cultivators were driven 
with a single line. Our farmers were as 
good to their horses as any farmers, and 
their hoi’ses were as likable and gentle as 
any horses. I distinctly remember plow¬ 
ing, we called it (you Yankees wo\ild call 
it “cultivating” corn—and I contend the 
term “plowing corn” is more .specific than 
cultivating corn) with a double shovel 
plow with my brother’s old dun mare, old 
Trim, without any line. I first drove 
her by the word. .She knew as much 
about i)lowing corn as I did—was just 
a boy. Our hor.ses were broken to single 
line; a few short pulls on the line and 
the word “Gee” was all that was needed 
to have them turn to the right, A steady 
pull and “Haw” would make them turn 
to the left. I have contended since com¬ 
ing to Michigan that I can take a good 
left-hand plow and single line, jockey 
(with a jockey stick) the off horse off 
proper distance, and tie him back so he 
cannot go ahead, put the line horse in the 
furrow and do a better job of plowing 
than many will do with a righ-hand plow 
and check lines. The team will walk 
steadier and plow run truer. Horses only 
broken to check lines are only half 
broken. It is a clumsy, unseemly way of 
driving a team to a plow or one-horse 
cultivator. I have tried both w’ays, and 
know whereof I speak. Here everybody 
has right-hand plows and drives with 
check lines. In Southern Ohio nearly 
everyone had left-hand plows, and drove 
with single lines, and the Ohio farmer did 
his work as well and ea.sier than the 
Michigan farmer. t. e. MOON. 
Michigan. 
sponsibility between the team and the 
driver. Appreciating the intelligence of 
the hor.se,_ or showing his own horse 
sense, as it were, the cheek lines were 
discarded and one horse trained as a 
leader. This hor.se walked ahead of the 
others if the team consisted of an odd 
number, or if the animals were worked 
in pairs the leader’s place was in front 
on the left .side with his mate tied to the 
right by a strap and “jockey fftick.” 
The leader followed the road. The 
others, the leader. If a word from the 
driver was not sufficient to guide the 
team. ,a .signal was transmitted by 
means of a single line, the driver's end 
hanging on the hames of the .saddle horse 
and the line being supported by rings on 
the hames of the intervening horses. 
Following the introduction, or inven¬ 
tion, of the “.single-line leader,” the 
driver became a gentleman of compara¬ 
tive leisure between .ytops. The team 
followed the road and he lolled in the 
.saddle or rode on the wagon as he felt 
inclined, getting off to lock on the hills 
and grades, as occasion demanded. This, 
however, -was an important matter, and 
a powerful brake (the forerunner of the 
modern railway brake) was applied to 
the rear wheels of the wagon by com¬ 
pound levers fastened to the rear axle 
and drawn by a horizontal lever towmrd | 
the left side. Between trips, or when ' 
the team was needed on the farm, the I 
driver naturally wanted to plow’ in the i 
w’ay most convenient for himself and 
team, so he put the lead horse in the 
furrow and turned the furrow from right j 
to left, the way he swung hi.‘^ .scythe, his 
cradle, or his axe. 
When the country was new and the 
land was rough with stones and roots, 
no one had time to tangle himself up 
with check lines, or train a lead horse to 
a system that would be all wrong when 
on a public road. 
After the introduction of Latin in the 
public schools a.s a necessary part of the 
education of country youth, of course, 
they learned, but not knowing better 
they did their w’ork in the easiest man¬ 
ner and plow’ed whole fields without the 
use of any line whatever, and their de¬ 
scendants scattered over Eastern Penn¬ 
sylvania, Kentucky, Tennes.see and 
parts of the Middle W’est, continue to 
do so. 
The declaration of the National Im¬ 
plement As.soeiation to make no more 
left-hand plows should alarm no one. 
Left-hand plow’s were made before the 
implement association was ever heard of, 
and they w’ill continue to be made as 
long as there is a demand, which will 
be as long as horses are used on the 
farm. The implement association may 
get some cheap applau.se out of thei^ 
declaration, but it is pure bunk, and on 
par w’ith. the patriotism iexpresed by 
Mark Twain when he declared his wil¬ 
lingness to sacrifice all his w’ife’s rela¬ 
tions for his country. 
The fact is that there have been no 
real improvements made in w’alking 
plows for 40 years. There have been 
changes and so-called improvements, but 
so far no one has been able to design a 
plow that will run ea.sier or do better 
work than some of the old patterns, and 
while manufacturers continue to produce 
new models in great profu-sion, the most 
succes.sful are those following lines al¬ 
ready established. 
Theoretically, there is no difference 
whether the furrow turns to the right or 
left, but in practical work, because of 
natural inclinations on the part of the 
team and plowman, the left-hand ploAv 
is far superior. ii. B. B. 
THE MAILBAG 
take care of the most of us as far as beri¬ 
beri may threaten 
The fat-soluble vitamine seems to be 
twins, for that in animal fats does not 
have the same characteristics as that in 
vegetables, but both are very re.sistant to 
cooking. Eggs and •butter abound in it, 
and all the other animal fats investigated 
carry a good proportion except lard, which 
has none. It is also absent from the mar¬ 
garines made from vegetable oils, though 
often present in the whole seed.s. While 
adults seem to need a little, its lack is 
especially felt by the young, and it is for 
this reason that fresh and- genuine butter 
should always form a part of the diet of 
children. 
The third vitamine is still rather uncer¬ 
tain, but is probably the stuff which has 
given lime-juice its marine reputation. It 
abounds in green vegetables, and slowly 
goes as they are dried. But it is again 
formed in dried peas and ‘beaus if they 
are sprouted a couple of days before 
cooking. Like the others, a very Iktle 
goes a long way, and several glasses of 
lemonade and a few dishes of ice cream 
(made of real cream) will certainly pre¬ 
vent scurvy and sore eyes and stunted 
growth .so far as lack of “vitamines” 
would induce them. But in case of doubt 
we can use cabbage, for that, as well as 
all other green vegetables, contain all 
three substances in large amounts, and 
Story of the Left-hand Plow 
Hid you ever see a right-hand scythe? 
Yet every little while some one rises to 
ask, “Why is the left-hand .plow?” Years 
ago, when the forest trails -began to turn 
to roads and .people wanted to travel from 
place to place, the early settler presiding 
over his oxteam in following the custom 
of turning to the right when passing an¬ 
other team, found many advantages 
when doing .so to drive from the left or 
near side, 
A few hundred years later automobile 
manufacturers endorsed his w’i.sdom. 
Later, when trails had turned to roads, 
and roads to thoroughfares, and the ox 
had been replaced by a swifter and more 
intelligent animal, the hor.se, the founda¬ 
tion of our transportation System, was 
laid by the introduction of the Conestoga 
wagon. Among other problems arising in 
changing from two wheels to four, w-as 
the quc.stion of how to handle a team of 
horses with the least effort on the i)art 
of the driver. An exalted position on a 
high .seat with his hands full of check 
lines hauling pa,ssengers w’as one thing. 
Hauling freight Ifrom Philadelphia to 
I’ittsburgh and beyond, in a heavy wagon 
with wheels six feet high, with tires six 
inches wide and an inch and a quarter 
thick, was something else. 
Modern efficiency, or the eight-hour 
system, or the- full-crew law, had not 
been discovered, and so some unknown 
genius figured that if one man could 
handle the whole outfit there would be 
more profit in the tran.saction. The 
problem was solved by dividing the re¬ 
Cleaning a Water Pipe 
Referring to “How to Clean a Water 
Pipe,” on page 592, tell^ your inquirer to 
take a power sprayer and attach to the 
end of the pipe, and pump the pressure 
as high as he can, then open the other 
end of pipe. If there is a reserve tank 
(air) which he can fill, it will do a more 
complete job. geo. e, pierce. 
Penn.sylvania. 
Woodchucks and Dynamite 
In reply to your question, page 678, in ^ 
regard to the use of dynamite in w’ood- 
chuck holes, would say that we tried 
dynamite in varying quantities from % to 
2 lbs. per hole and usually had a live 
ground hog left in the hole, as the pick 
and shovel proved. A little carbon bi¬ 
sulphide in an old compresed air hand- 
sprayer and pumped into the burrow never 
failed to get the woodchuck. The cost 
was about 3e per hole; no digging, no 
danger and no fuss. We killed the hogs 
in over a hundred live holes in one sea¬ 
son. w. G. 
North Carolina. 
Three years ago Francis F. Lincoln 
called the attention of the readers of The 
R. N.-Y. to the superioi-ity of the Savoy 
cabbage as a green food for poultry. I 
have grown this cabbage the past three 
seasons and wish to thank IMr. Lincoln for 
his kindness and to urge all poultry keep -1 
ers not to miss tryi " e’-e Savoy this sea¬ 
son. It is a splendid keeper and I find ! 
that poultry greatly prefer it to anything ' 
else in the cabbage line. When you have 
tasted one yourself you will understand 
why. for the Savoy has a flavor all its , 
own. WALTER A. ROBERTS. 1 
VarDemands 
Saving of Su^ar, 
Saving of Fuel, 
Use of other 
Grains withMeat 
-No Waste. 
Grape-Nuts 
answers every 
demand. Ife an 
economical, noun 
ishinjS and deli¬ 
cious food, a build¬ 
er and maintainer 
of Vigor and He^th. 
Try it. 
'there's a I{eason** 
Blighty is the shirt with the Mili¬ 
tary touch — for outdoor wear. 
Stripe patterns oa Khaki ground. 
"hallmark 
SHIRT 
with patented Hyngo (Juffs — with Both 
Sides, Ri^ht Sides. The Quality is Kept Up 
in all Hallmark Shirts.—Ask your dealer, 
HAUL. HARTWELL & CO., Makers 
TROY, N. Y. 
DITCHING AND SOIL WASHING 
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