686 
‘Ihc RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
April 10, 191! 
Timely and frequent spraying is inexpensive insur¬ 
ance against crop losses. 
Leaf eating insects destroy or weaken the plants. 
They prepare the way for the ravaging effects of blight 
and other fungus diseases. 
Spray is the easiest and most effective way. Destroy 
insects and prevent fungus with one mixture. For 
best results, in the easiest way, use Hexpo. 
Hexpo is highly concentrated, fine, fluffy, dry 
powdered mixture of Arsenate of Lead and Bordeaux 
Mixture. It requires no preliminary stirring. Comes 
dry, with no freight expense on water. Does not de¬ 
teriorate or harden in open air, and stays good indefi¬ 
nitely. What is left in your package this year, is just 
as good next year. 
Hexpo goes three times as far. You can use it dry, or in a 
water solution. It mixes with water immediately and requires no 
constant stirring. It sprays evenly and sticks on effectively 
withstanding heavy showers. 
You’ll find Hexpo at your Hardware. Drug 
or Seed dealers in handy sift proof cartons, 
1-lb., 5-lb. and 10-lb.; also in 25. 50. 100 •' 
and 200-lb. drums. 
If not at your dealer’s, send for sample 1-lb. 
carton 60 ^ postpaid. 
H. J. Smith & Company 
Utica, N. Y. 
Manufacturers of: 
Smith’s Hexpo (.Dry Powdered Insecti■ 
cide and Fungicide) 
Smith’s Arsenate of Lead (Dry Powder 
Smith’s Arsenate of Calcium and Lead 
(Powder) 
Smith’s Parit Green 
U -A 
!M-.£ 
M sj? 
• V V . A M 
■ -J. ,» • '• 
I 
SMITH’S 
HEXPO 
DRY POWDERED 
■ ... 
. •>..•. 7 .-if • 
. >■;••• - . 
Insecticide&Fungicide 
Simple Science 
By Dr. F. D. Crane 
Scratched Mirror 
I spilled some paint remover ou a mir¬ 
ror. After treating with warm water ami 
soap, wiping gently, it left a blurred spot 
and some fine scratches. What can be 
done? MRS. n. l*. K. 
Three Bridges, X. J. 
The scratches might have been there 
before, unnoticed, or were from fine grit, 
in the soap, and may be helped, but are 
probably there to stay. The blur is from 
the action of the alkali of the remover on 
the glass, and if you can get some of the 
finest polishing powder used by the op- 
ticians, you can 1 re-polish the surface, us¬ 
ing a very soft cloth and working with a 
circular motion. If you can find an op¬ 
tician who actually grinds lenses to order 
(some buy them ready ground!, he can 
fix you out with the right stuff. But it 
will take time. 
Electric Refrigeration 
Oau you tell me anything about a small 
cooling system to be operated by the 
engine and dynamo of a light plant? The 
Winter has been so warm here so far 
that we have not been able to get any 
ice. I would like to put in a refrigerator 
in the house just for home use in a small 
family, to keep milk, butter, etc., during 
the hot weather. J. B. K. 
Chaptieo, Md. 
Electric refrigeration for household use 
is what the query refers to. This system 
is ' practical in connection with one of 
the home light plants, as the current con¬ 
sumed is small, the motor being a small 
one. I believe the equipment may he had 
in two forms, one for a built-in installa¬ 
tion and another for attachment to any 
refrigerator. It is said of this method 
that ii keeps the air in the storage cham¬ 
ber (older than ice can make it. and dry, 
as is good for eggs. meat, fruit and green 
things. Once installed the maintenance 
cost is little, as the current consumption 
is small. For the average home the outfit 
attached to the family refrigerator should 
prove sufficient in capacity. 
Restoring Varnish on Violin 
I have a violin about six years old. on 
which the varnish is turning white. What 
made it do this, and is there anything to 
do hut refinish it? c. B. 
Branchpoint. X. Y. 
Varnishes sometimes turn white from 
slow evaporation of the solvent. You 
might try rubbing with a cloth dampened 
in boiled linseed oil. Violin varnish has 
been made out a deep mystery, and there 
are numerous formulas; here is one which 
seems reasonable; Sundarnc, 111 parts; 
shellac, six parts; mastic, six —parts; 
elemi, three parts; !),*» per cent alcohol 
(denatured will do if strong enough). 150 
parts: warm together, and when all the 
gums are in .solution, add Venice turpen¬ 
tine. six parts. This is a good varnish, 
anyway; whether it will solve your 
trouble is another matter, hut it is hard 
to see how a thin coat of it could hurt 
tin* violin. 
A Kitchen Distillery 
What about tlie kitchen stove distillery? 
It seems to he easy to get something that 
will ferment, and an old tea kettle or 
something of that sort, and a coil, and 
there you have it. b. v. b. 
East I.ivermore, Me. 
Tt seems likely that installations of the 
sort you appear to have well planned out 
will flourish for a time and he raided 
once in a while. But it also seems un¬ 
likely that they will have a very long life, 
and will probably quietly vanish as the 
patrons die. all the more speedily if they 
use much of the product. For it will take 
a pretty well-developed thirst to endure 
the raw alcohol, full of aldehydes, ketones 
and acids, which will he produced, and 
there will be very few who will acquire a 
liking for it. Xo law will enforce itself, 
and at best there will he laxness here and 
there, but we firmly believe that our na¬ 
tive reverence for law as law. after it has 
been made law by the majority, will keep 
these secret poisoners within bounds and 
slowly drive them out completely. 
Scorched Tallow 
T have a large kettle of tallow which I 
scorched in trying out. Could I add some¬ 
thing to if. to make it into an ointment 
for cattle lice or an axle grease? j. k. c. 
Corydon, Pa. 
He do not find any one formula which 
would do for both, hut if you melt it. and 
add. stirring till dissolved, one-half ounce 
of naphthaline, either the flake or “moth 
halls” to the pound, it will he a first-rate 
vermin ointment. If you can get. some 
crude petroleum and add a couple of 
ounces of that to each pound, and a half 
ounce of oil of hay to each pound also, it 
will not only exterminate vermin, hut 
greatly help the healing of the skin if 
broken or scratched. 
Axle grease ought to have some very 
tine graphite (black lead, plumbago) ir. 
it. and a quarter of the weight can be 
used, but it: must be stirred in and stirred 
while cooling, or it. will settle out. 
Another formula calls for one gallon of 
heavy lubricating oil. one-half pound of 
tallow and six ounces of graphite. These 
are warmed together, and, stirring con¬ 
stantly, <me ounce of soda lye. caustic 
soda, in four ounces of water dripped in. 
Hie heat is increased, and the mixture 
stirred for a time, say 15 minutes, hot 
enough to boil off tin 1 water, then stirred 
till cool. 
If 10 parts, by weight, of rosin oil and 
eight parts of fresh slaked lime, sifted, 
are warmed and stirred together, you 
will have the rosin soap which is at the 
base of many axle greases. This may he 
niixed with an equal weight of tallow and 
one-third the combined weight of graphite 
added and stirred in as before. 
Soldering 
Could you give me some information 
on soldering? Should both metals, which 
are to be joined, he heated? I have trier! 
several times with no success. a. l. 
Xew Jersey. 
Soldering resembles violin plaving in 
Oiis respect: it cannot be taught by mail. 
Each metal and each pair of metals lias 
its own peculiarities, and there are many 
special solders. A “soldering iron.” which 
is a chunk of copper, is usually used to 
carry the heat and melted solder to the 
place to be joined, hut sometimes the 
solder is put on cold and the joint 
heated by a blowpipe flame. As you do 
not say what you want to solder we can¬ 
not help you much, and your best game 
is to go to some friendly tinsmith and 
ask him to show you how to go about 
the job. 
Broody Hen as Meat 
Do you consider a broody hen healthy 
and fit for the table? w. m. x. 
Personally I do not, in the first day 
<»r two. when the creature has a sort of 
uatural fever, intended to start the eggs 
off promptly. But after about four or 
five days she seems to return to normal. 
Aluminum for Kitchen Ware 
Which gives the most service for the 
money, tinware, galvanized ware or alu¬ 
minum ware? An 1 acid fruits injured on 
standing in aluminum? c. E. 
Coldwater, Mich. 
It depends on the kind of service. As¬ 
suming first-quality goods in each case, 
kitchen wan! is serviceable and long-lived 
when made from aluminum, and galvan¬ 
ized ware is not advised. On the other 
hand, in several cases, people who had 
started out with all aluminum kitchen 
ware 1 ave changed over to some enamel 
ware, which you did not mention, and 
some tin and plain iron, for special uses. 
However, a good galvanized pail will out¬ 
last all the others and give better service, 
since aluminum is not strong enough for 
pails of any .size. The weak point in 
aluminum is ils non-resistance to alkali; 
even washing soda, hurts it. (In the other 
hand, the fruit acids scarcely touch it. 
and if they do the products are harmless. 
But fruit which stands long in aluminum 
is apt to have its flavor affected, for rea¬ 
sons not fully understood. It seems to 
he some reaction with the flavoring matter 
in the fruit. 
Power from Helium 
What is the basis, if any. of the news¬ 
paper stories of a new gas for airships? 
New York. ii. w. c. 
There is such a gas, and it is new 
only in (lie sense that it has lately been 
discovered and put to use. For nearly a 
century it has been known that if an 
element, iron, for instance, was heated 
till it began to give out light, and then 
that light was stretched into a rainbow 
by a prism of glass or quartz, the hand 
would not he continuous, hut would he 
a number of bright streaks, and if the 
light was passed into the prism thi*ou w h 
a slit, these streaks would be sharp bauds 
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