Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1 133 
Simple Science 
By Dr. F. D. Crane 
Finishing Pine Floors 
We have yellow pine floors which have 
never had any finish on them and have 
heen in use for two years. What, i.s a 
crack filler, and how can we finish 
the surface? a. r. 
Much depends on how badly the present 
surface is worn. The hardware stores 
sell floor scrapers with which you can re¬ 
surface them, if you are willing to use the 
required strength, but it is not a lady’s 
occupation. The best crack fillers are 
made of paper pulp. Newspaper works 
well, but may be too dark for your floors, 
in which case use brown wrapping paper, 
pulped, mixed with plaster of paris and 
wet with weak glue. In your case the 
addition of a little ochre, to be had at 
any paint store, will help. It is probably 
better to buy a varnish, if you must use 
one., but the best liuish will be obtained 
from beeswax dissolved iu about twice its 
weight of turpentine, which can lie rubbed 
to a good .surface with a coarse cloth. 
Ginger Ale 
How is giuger ale made? w. h. 
The name “ginger ale” is applied both 
to the fermented and to the carbonated 
beverage flavored with ginger. The for¬ 
mer can be made so as to contain more 
than one-half of one per cent alcohol, and 
so. under the Volstead Act. directions for 
its manufacture cannot be published. The 
much more widely used article is the 
carbonated variety. To prepare this you 
must be. provided with a mixing tank and 
filling machine, and ta bottle capper, a 
supply of compressed carbonic acid and 
a supply of bottles. The water to he 
used should be of the purest; the best 
sorts are made of distilled water. To the 
water a given amount of sugar and gin¬ 
ger ale essence is added, and it is 
“charged” in the mixing tank with car¬ 
bonic acid, filled into bottles which are 
capped and labeled. It is then ready for 
the trade. There are plenty of concerns 
ready to sell you the outfit, which can be 
had in small sizes, and these same con¬ 
cerns will usually sell you all the other 
things needed, including the flavor. But 
you will have to buy your carbonic acid, 
which is the stuff which makes the “fizz.” 
and is sold in steel bottles. It is possible 
for a person to begin simply, at com¬ 
paratively small expense, to make these 
‘.‘soft drinks.” but unless you are thinking 
of it as a business it does not pay to try 
to make domestic quantities. 
Sterilizing Horsehair 
How can horse hair be sterilized for 
use in making harness? B. R. A. 
The commercial formaldehyde solution, 
which should be 40 per cent formalde¬ 
hyde. is diluted to about five per cent and 
Wie hair soaked in it and promptly dried. 
This will kill any germ, and as it does 
not affect human hair, will probably not 
hurt that from the horse. At any rate, 
n trial is quick and cheap. 
What Is “Metheglin” 
What is metheglin”? F. J. M. 
Metheglin, or mead, is honey, diluted 
with water and fermented with yeast. It 
is the oldest known intoxicant, no doubt 
made long before grapes were under cul¬ 
tivation. The brew is usually flavored 
with various herbs, and every kindred, 
every tribe on this celestial ball has had 
its own private formula, often, iu the old 
days, a secret of the clan. The “heather 
wine” of the Piets was some sort of mead, 
and the old Bohemians had their own mix¬ 
ture. Some two or three years ago we 
went into this in full, and gave some for¬ 
mulas from a seventeenth century “Still 
Boom Book” that were more curious than 
useful. As it might be made up to con¬ 
tain more than the permitted half of out' 
per cent ethyl alcohol, the Volstead Act 
forbids the publication of a formula, but 
you are not missing much. At the time 
previously mentioned I tried one of the 
old formulas, and it worked, but the game 
was not worth the candle. If you should 
be moved to experiment, bear in mind 
that honey sugar is apt to ferment to 
some of the higher and less easily elimin¬ 
ated alcohols, and the intoxication they 
produce 'has rather lasting qualities. 
Removing Scratches from Leather 
A leather - covered d a v e n p o r t wr 
scratched iu moving. What will take oi 
the marks? mbs. w. j. w. 
4 his is a very difficult matter to deeid 
a* so much depends on the kind of leatlu 
and the way it was originally finishei 
iMosf fancy leathers are surfaced by uii 
chinery, and. of course, the scratches g 
more or less below the surface. Polishin 
'' dn a suitable abrasive, to renew the sui 
■lei' m general, and finishing with bees 
'•u\ m turpentine seems to offer the be; 
cnauces of success, but you may have t 
10 the whole surface in order to g( 
a uniform finish. If any reader has 
s ieeitic remedy, we would be glad t 
aave it. 
Can T 
and hav 
sugar? 
Using Glucose for Sugar 
preserve peaches with com syrup 
them quite as good as with 
E. L. L. 
You can use glucose or corn syrup, but 
they will not be as good as with sugar, 
and they will not be sweet. The cane 
sugar usually used in canning and pre¬ 
serving does at least four things: In 
the first place, it sweetens to the taste: 
that is, it gives the effect we call “sweet” 
as the food passes the tongue. This is 
purely a sense effect, but mighty important 
to the average consumer. Secondly, by 
filtering into the tissues it changes their 
character, more or less, according to the 
amount of sugar. The extreme cases of 
this is “candied” fruit, but the effect is 
there in “preserves” and ordinary canned 
fruit. Thirdly, with the substance called 
“pectin.” which varies in the several 
fruits, it gives more or less body to the 
-syrup, the extreme case of this being 
“jelly.” Fourth, and most important, 
from the dinner's point of view, it very 
greatly assists in the heat-death of germs 
both in their active and resting (spore) 
state; just why ii does this i.s not fully 
understood, but is probably connected 
with the sterilizing effect of excess sugar, 
as in jam. 
In addition to these effects, and most 
important from the economic standpoint, 
sugar adds practically all the food value 
to the product, for, aside from the sugar 
naturally present, most fruits have little 
starch and no oil except the uneaten seeds. 
(Of course, I am speaking only of our 
temperate fruits; many of the tropicals, 
olives and avocados, for instance, carry 
quite a little oil.) 
Now glucose, which comes by the barrel 
under that name, and is quite cheap, is 
the same thing as “corn syrup,” which is 
the fancy name they managed to “put 
over” on Dr. II. W. Wiley some time 
ago in order to sell it in -small packages 
to. the public, which had a poor, though 
mistaken opinion of glucose as such. It 
is made from cornstarch, by heat and a 
• little acid, which is removed before it 
reaches the public. It has practically the 
food value of starch, or cane sugar, at 
the same dilution, and thei*e is no reason 
why it may not be used in any food prod¬ 
ucts where there is room for it. It will 
help sterilize, will give body to the 
syrup, and will favorably affect the fruit 
tissues. But it will not give a “sweet 
taste.” and for that reason the public does 
not give repeat orders to fruit preserved 
with a glucose only, though more or less 
has been used to give a “rich” effect to 
syrup for some time. As this simulates 
the presence of cane sugar, the fact of its 
use alw'.ys should be and usually is stated 
ou the label. Glucose with just the proper 
amount of saccharine to give the sweet 
effect, will do exactly as well as cane 
sugar, since the same food value is pres¬ 
ent. but there is such an unreasonable 
feeling against saccharine that it is not 
advisable to use it for public sale, even 
when the use is stated ou the label, as 
should, of course, always be done. In 
fact, its use i.s illegal iu some States, for 
reasons which need not now be taken up. j 
Tt remains true, however, that any injury I 
from its proper use has yet to he proved. 
So your best course is probably to use 
as much glucose as you can, and just 
as little cane sugar as you can aud still 
get a sweetening effect, aud put glucose 
on the label.. A few early Southern 
peaches will give you experimental ma¬ 
terial to get your proportions ready for 
your own crop. 
Baking Powders 
Dr. Crane, on page 852. in giving a 
formula for phosphate baking powder, 
includes alum. He evidently quotes an 
old formula, and no wonder he does not 
think much of it. Good phosphate baking 
powders without/ alum are on the market 
at 20c per 11>.. or less, and are as efficient 
and healthful as the cream of tartar 
nowders. In the use of baking powder 
the acid combines with the alkali and 
liberates carbonic acid gas, but a residue 
is left in the bread. In the ease of a 
pure phosphate powder the residue is onl- 
sium and sodium tartrate called Rochelle 
Kirtar powder leaves' a residue of potas¬ 
sium and sodium tartrade called Rochelle 
salts. Alum powders leave residue of 
aluminum sulphate, potassium sulphate, 
and sodium sulphate, and is bitter and 
unpleasant. Not considering the cost, 
phosphate powder compares very favor¬ 
ably with the tartar powders, as the resi¬ 
dues are tasteless almost, and unobjec¬ 
tionable. The residue from the alum 
powder is of such a nature that these 
powders should not lie used when avoid¬ 
able. They impart a bitter taste to the 
bread or cakes, and besides some salts 
of aluminum are really poisonous, though 
the suplhate is not in small quantities. 
By all means leave out the alum. 
Ghio. w. E. D. 
“All of which 1 do most heartily be¬ 
lieve. but—” don’t you remember that 
when Tom Sawyer gave pain-killer to the 
cat be said : “Well, kitty, you asked for 
it!”? That party wanted a recipe for ; 
alum baking powder, so, of course, be has 
to have it. Personally. I have more faith 
in the phosphate powders than iu any 
other, though I doubt if the amount of 
alum would ever hurt the normal person. 
After all, the old-fashioned yeast is the 
stuff to use wherever it can be employed: 
sour milk and soda come next, and theu 
baking powder, if you have to use it. 
Farmers Have Tested Paroid for 20 Years and More 
Proof of wear-—that’s what most farmers 
insist on knowing before they buy roofing. 
Neponset Paroid, familiarly called “Good Old Paroid," 
lias a wonderful record of protecting cattle, stock, tools, crops, 
garages, and homes from the attacks of rain and sleet, sun and 
snow—at lowest service cost per square foot per year. 
It is beautiful enough for your house and low enough in 
price to use on less expensive buildings. Protects your prop¬ 
erty from fire. Easily laid right over old wooden shingles 
or on new roof boards. Makes an ideal siding. 
THREE COLORS 
Impregnated with asphalt and 
surfaced with 6late or talc, Neponset 
Paroid i.s water-proof, tough, strong 
and flexible. Easily laid by anyone. 
Nails and cement come with each roll. 
Paroid slate-surfaced comes in two 
beautiful colors — natural slate-red 
and slate-green. Paroid gray is an 
unusually thick, heavy roofing. lit 
surface is almost white. 
There’s a Neponset Paroid roofing 
for every need and every purpose. The 
Neponset dealer in your town can 
supply your needs. 
Write us for full information. 
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If Rood* when received are not satisfactory 
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—the historic scene of early settlement in what are now the 
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Island—may today be the land of opportunity for which you have 
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Offer Special Advantages to the Farmer 
fruit raiser, dairyman and market gardener. Land of great natural fertility, 
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301 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, tt. Y. 
Canadian Government Agent. 
