B>Ve RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1265 
Making Sorghum Syrup in Tennessee 
’Lasses-making time in Dixie! Cool, 
frosty mornings, gloi’ious sunny noons, 
and fires in the open fireplaces at the 
twilight hours, ’round which we all gather, 
remind us that wintry days are coming. 
Husband arose at three o’clock this morn¬ 
ing and went to the barn to grind cane; 
at four I arose, built a fire in the stove 
and got breakfast. When it was nearly 
ready I called the big boy, who went to 
grind while his papa ate. The sorghtim 
made yesterday tastes delicious with the 
hot biscuit; and we can almost taste the 
buckwheat cakes covered with it, which 
we plan to have when the weather grows 
cooler, for we raise buckw'heat at home. 
As soon as husband has finished he 
hurries away. I awake the other chil¬ 
dren, except the baby and little boy. The 
big boy comes in and they all sit down. 
Heaving them fo wait on themselves, I 
go to milk, coming back by the furnace, 
where husband has a fire and four tub¬ 
fuls of juice in the large tin pan holding 
about 00 gallons. lie had tw’O tubs 
ground yesterday evening, and, as we only 
put in five usually, he has only half a 
tubful to grind before we can begin boil¬ 
ing. 
The stars have faded by the time I 
reach the house, and the eastern sky is a 
faint pink. The girl is washing the 
dishes. I strain milk and make beds, ex¬ 
cept the one in which baby boy sleeps ; 
then telling girlie to prepare school lunch, 
I hasten back to the furnace. The green 
juice is almost ready to boil; husband 
has fed the mare he has had in the mill, 
and put in«oue of the mules in her place. 
A horses, can only "work about two or 
three hours, until they show signs of 
fatigue. 
The mule munches continually at the 
pile of cane stalks, while we skim off the 
great buckets of green, foam ; every few 
moments the mass rises to the top of pan 
and threatens to boil, when we have to 
dip lively until it cools off. When we 
have most of the foam skimmed off, I 
leave it to husband and the boys, and go 
to dress the baby and little boy; give 
them their breakfast, do a few essential 
things; then, with the girl’s help. I 
bundle up the whole outfit, including 
wraps, a quilt, and a pot of beans all 
ready for cooking, and return to furnace. 
The children, with a few toys, are placed 
on the quilt out of all danger, but where 
they can see us. I draw out a bed of 
coals near the furnace and put beans to 
cook. The boys come by going to school—■ 
the bell has already rung. They plead 
to be allowed to stay at home, but we tell 
them no, and they go sadly away to school 
duties. 
I take my seat by the furnace. It is 
my duty to keep up fire, and keep the 
juice from boiling over, attend to the 
babies, and so on, while husband grinds, 
coming over occasionally to lend a hand 
with the dipping. IIow lovely the moun¬ 
tain is—crimson, gold, green, and brown 
are the trees. The goldenrod is every¬ 
where ; the birds are singing as gaily as 
if it were May instead of October. Surely 
the sun never shone as bright any other 
Fall as it has this. The brook sings a 
merry tune as it rushes by; the hens sing 
and cackle, the ducks splash gaily in the 
pool the boys built for them; the pigs 
grunt contentedly; the cows stand lazily 
in the shade of the sycamore; how full of 
joy and happiness life seems! It’s a joy 
just to be alive on such a day as this. 
Presently husband brings a pan of ap¬ 
ples and I set a ring of them in front of 
the furnace, where they set up a lively 
sputtering. At half-past nine the golden 
ma.ss begins to look like ’la.s.ses. Hus¬ 
band takes my place; I go to house and 
prepare a baking of cornbread and a pot 
of coffee, which T bake (and boil) before 
the furnace. Husband contributes a half 
dozen roasting ears and the same amount 
of sweet potatoes. The potatoes are 
roasted in the ashes, the corn cooked in 
the boiler, and you don’t know how good 
corn is till you taste it cooked this way. 
The beans are done by now and we begin 
to make preparations to empty the ’lasses. 
A big bra.ss kettle is used to empty it in. 
Two kindly neighbors help us off with 
the pan, and when emptied and strained 
W’e have 10 gallons. The boiler is put 
back on the fire and the barrel of juice 
poured in. I go to the springy house for 
butter, and we eat dinner picnic fashion. 
The horses are turned out for the after¬ 
noon when they have eaten, and we finish 
up the boiler of ’lasses by four o’clock. 
■\Ve have had a holiday time of it this 
afternoon—chatting and laughing, playing 
pranks on each other, playing with the 
babies, cracking hickorynuts and walnuts, 
and peeling apples—it has been a joyful 
day. 
IVhen the next 10 g.allons are emptied, 
the children and their teacher and a half 
dozen of their schoolmates are coming 
through the gates. They each seize a 
cane stalk and break off a short length 
for a “sopper,” and the whole crew fall 
to “sopping the pan.” After they have 
smeared faces, hands, and clothing with 
the sticky ma.ss, they begin to complain 
that the molasses is getting “strong,” and 
they go their separate ways, after making 
faithhil promises to be at school tomor¬ 
row, while I go to do up the work and 
girlie goes to prepare supper. Life 
wouldn’t be quite so “sweet” if thei’e W'ere 
no “ ’lasses-making times.” 
We’ll have molasses candy at Christ¬ 
mas if Uncle Sam needs the sugar some¬ 
where else. To all the readers of The 
R. N.-Y., and also to its editor I send 
best wishes. MRS. ir. 
Tennessee. 
How the packers have helped 
to develop good stockyards 
—and how this has benefited you as a producer 
W HOSE job is it to provide 
and maintain stockyards, or 
markets, for the open buying and 
selling of cattle? 
Who shall see that these mar¬ 
kets have good pens where your 
stock can be properly watered, fed 
and taken care of until sold? 
Stockyards, in early days, were 
not efficiently managed, and were 
not financially attractive to inves¬ 
tors, except in the largest markets. 
As the packers built their big- 
capacity plants at the various live¬ 
stock centers, they naturally 
became interested in helping to 
develop adequate stockyards facil¬ 
ities, where stock raisers could 
ship their animals. 
The present high efficiency of 
most of the principal stockyards is 
due largely, to the time, the effort, 
and the money the packers have 
put into them. 
All stockyards, including those in 
which packers are interested, are 
conducted as public market places 
for the benefit of all. 
They are open to all — to pro¬ 
ducer, commission man, dealer, 
speculator, the packer’s buyer — 
and with exactly the same rights 
to each. 
Packer-ownership gives no spe¬ 
cial advantages to the packer and 
no control over live-stock prices. 
These spot-cash markets have 
been a factor of very great impor¬ 
tance in promoting the growth of 
the live-stock industry. 
If stockyards efficiency can be 
increased by Government owner¬ 
ship and operation, all well and 
good. Swift 85 Company is con¬ 
tent to stand on its record of hav¬ 
ing helped the live-stock industry 
by the part it has played in devel¬ 
oping these market places. 
Swift & Company, U. S. A. 
A nation-wide organization owned by more than 22,000 stockholders 
RATS Cant steal 
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A- ^ 
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Special homeseekers’ fare certificates. Write 
for free booklets. Allan Cameron, General 
Superintendent Laud Branch, Canadian Pa¬ 
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Alberta, 
Capacity^ 
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^Per Hr. 
y Ship- 
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Pay Nothing 
Until 60 Days 
Send no money—iust mail coupon-and we will send 
you this strong, durable Majestic Hand Feed Grinder 
for Table Meal and Poultry Feed, for 30 days' free 
use. If you decide to keep it, make first small pay¬ 
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satisfactory, return it in 80 days at our expense and 
we wiU pay freight charges both ways. 
HAND FEED Gnnclcr 
For Table Meal (All Grains) and Poultry Feed 
Has special universal grinding plates which ara 
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special white metal 
rigidly tested and / 
inspected. Grinds / 
fine table meal ' 
from oats, barley, / 
corn.wheat.ryo or / 
any other grain; 
for copy. 
■ —- only coupon—no money—we will 
ship the grinder on the 80 days* free trial—and give you a year 
to pay if you keep it. No fairer offer ever made. Send now. 
If you don’t order grinder send post card for bigiFree Catalog. / 
The Hartman Co., 
THE HARTMAN CO. 
4019 LaSalle Straat 
Dept. 1280 Chicago, lit. 
Send Feed Grinder Nt. ISITMUC. 
If satisfactory, I will pay 11.10 in 
samegrainscoarsa / JOdays, balance in 6 payments.^ 
and also dry bone. / ewh every W days until pri^ 
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poultry. See cou- / Isfactory, wiU return m 30 days and 
pon for price and * 
our liberal year-to-pay terms. / 
SEND^ / 
you wiU pay freight both ways. 
Name, 
Address. 
