1454 
7fn RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 11, 1&20 
Our 
PureWhiteLead 
PtireWhite Zinc 
Pure Linseed Oil 
PureTurpentineDryer 
/# on r/?e can. • 1 J 
AND NOTHING ELSE 
makes pure paint—all paint naint—paint to 
the last drop in the can. 
DEVOE 
The Guaranteed 
Lead and Zinc Paint 
is made with 50 per cent. Pure White Lead and 50 
per cent. Pure White Zinc. We have found that this 
combination of pigments covers better and wears 
longer. The pure linseed oil insures the life of the 
paint and the pure turpentine dryer opens the pores 
of the wood and regulates proper drying. 
Don’t take chances with cheap adulterated paint. 
DEVOE Paint:—wears longer—looks better. 
CHEAP Paint:—does neither—costs more. 
Twenty-five per cent, less than lead and oil. 
Titusville, Pa. 
My house was painted with Devoe Lead and Zinc Paint and I bought the 
quantity base on the usual estimate for lead and oil. The paint spread 
and covered beautifully, and you will appreciate my surprise when I found 
that I had almost 25 per cent, of the amount left over. 
Two neighbors painted with lead and oil at the same time and thought for 
some time that their work looked aB well as mine. I can see a great 
difference now, however, as my job looks much brighter. 
WILLIS GRAY. 
Devoe makes a complete line of paint products— 
Varnishes, Stains, Enamels and Brushes, all guaran¬ 
teed to give satisfaction. We have been manufactur¬ 
ing good paint materials for over 166 years. 
Let us send you our free booklet on painting and color card of Devoe Lead 
and Zinc Paint. Write today—we’ll direct you to the nearest Devoe Agent. 
Devoe & Raynolds Co., i nc . 
101 Fulton Street New York, N. Y. 
New York—Chicago— New Orleans— Houston —Buffalo— Boston 
PAINT DEVOE PAINT 
U PUNCTURES 
Dayton Airless Tires can not puncture nor blow out. 
Put four of them on your car and drive anywhere— 
over bad roads, nails or glass, winter or summer—with¬ 
out a minute’s delay. No pump is required; no spare 
tubes; no spare tires; no patches; no repair outfit. 
They give you perfect service from the time you put 
them on untill they are worn out. 
are easy riding and protect your car and yourself from the jar 
and jolt of rough roads. 
If you own a Ford, Maxwell, Chevrolet, Overland Four or any car using 
30x3, 30x3% or 31x4 inch tires, mail the coupon and find out about the 
low cost and unusual service of Dayton Airless 
BIG PROFITS 
We have a splendid proposition to offer to dealers in territory 
where we are not now represented. Wire or write for details. 
THE DAYTON AIRLESS TIRE CO. 
Dept. 230. Dayton, Ohio 
OF LIVE 
RUBBER 
TAKE THE 
PLACE OF 
A TUBE 
The Dayton Airless Tire Co., Dept. 230, Dayton, Ohio 
Please send me, without obligation, booklet, prices and 
more information on Dayton Airless Tires, as follows : 
.passenger cars 
.light delivery cars 
.dealer’s proposition 
Name. 
Address. 
Simple Science 
By Dr. F. D. Crane 
Manufacture of Starch 
How is starch made? mbs. g. m. b. 
Cornstarch, which is most common in 
this country, is made by soaking the corn, 
hulling, floating off the hulls, rough grind¬ 
ing, removing the germ, which gives corn 
oil, fine grinding, and floating off the 
starch in a stream of water. As the sus¬ 
pended starch grains pass through vari¬ 
ous settling tanks the coarser impurities 
go out first, then the better starch, and 
finally the smaller starch grains and) very 
fine dirt. The starch mud is then pressed 
and dried and is “‘cornstarch” for cooking 
or “laundry starch,” according to grade. 
This is the merest outline of the process; 
it is a matter of considerable machinery 
and extreme care, and would not pay any¬ 
one to try on a small scale. Other grains 
are treated for starch in much the same 
way. Rice is easy, as it is mostly starch ; 
wheat is hardest, on account of the glu¬ 
ten. Potato starch is little made in this 
country; abroad it is produced in quan¬ 
tity by practically the same method. The 
potatoes are ground and stirred in water, 
the starch floats out of the cellular struc¬ 
ture and is settled out, dried and ground. 
All starch-making processes are, in the¬ 
ory, wholly mechanical, but in practice 
are entirely under chemical control in 
order to save all the starch and make the 
best use of all the by-products. 
Fire Extinguishers 
Will you go into more detail in regard 
to homemade fire extinguishers? A pre¬ 
cise quantitative formula of the carbon 
tetrachloride and naphtha mixture would 
be appreciated, so that an estimate could 
be made of the quantity of the ingredients 
necessary to fill a special number of re¬ 
ceptacles. I note you say that ordinary 
bottles can be used. Would the half¬ 
gallon glass jugs used commercially as 
vinegar containers answer the purpose? 
Will ordinary corks, covered with a layer 
of paraffin, answer the purpose, or is the 
mixture corrosive and of a character to 
require a rubber stopper? I will greatly 
appreciate working directions from which 
I can proceed to equip my house and 
barns. Am I correct in the assumption 
that the mixture does not deteriorate? 
New York. J. T. P. 
As to the carbon tetrachloride fire ex¬ 
tinguishers, we can only add to our ar¬ 
ticle upon that subject that the addition 
of 10 per cent naphtha may as well be 
10 per cent by bulk; the exact figure does 
not matter. ' It has two purposes—to 
scatter the carbon terachloride vapor and 
to prevent the tetrachloride from freezing, 
which it will do at about —1 deg. P. In 
your case, probably near New York, that 
temperature is reached so infrequently 
and lasts so short a time, that you might 
as well use the straight stuff. _ but the 
previous inquirer lives in Maine, and 
wanted to .protect a hall hsed only at 
times. We do not think the jugs you 
mention would do; they are frequently 
made quite strong, and probably would 
not break when you wanted them to. 
Rather thin quart bottles would be better, 
the sort which could once be carried in 
the hip pocket. Do not use round bot¬ 
tles; they are far too strong. And do not 
use rubber corks; use the ordinary corks, 
and dip in wax or cover with sealing wax. 
The mixture is entirely stable, and does 
not change at all. In spite of the wax it 
will probably slowly evaporate, say about 
an ounce a year. 
Baking Powder and Boils 
I was very much pleased to notice in 
i recent issue on article on baking pow¬ 
ders. I have often wondered if baking 
>owder was a good thing to use freely, 
but did not know where to get any infor¬ 
mation on the subject. I enclose the 
clipping from your paper, also a piece I 
nit from the can of baking powder which 
l use. I gather from your article that 
aluminum sulphate is poisonous, and this 
recipe I enclose contains sodium alumi¬ 
num sulphate, which, I presume, is one 
and the same thing. Is that right? I 
should like very much to know if it is 
safe, because my husband doesn’t like 
griddle cakes made with yeast or soda, 
and so I use a great deal of baking pow¬ 
der. He has been troubled with boils 
bately, and I have been wondering if it 
night possibly come from the use of too 
much baking powder in his food. 
MRS. f. s. 
It is very unlikely the baking pow¬ 
der, whether alum or some other sort, 
has anything to do with your husband’s 
boils. Perhaps a physician would tell 
vou that the general bodily condition, 
oarticularly the digestion, has been upset 
by too rtiuch baking powder stuff. It is 
not the powder, but the resulting con¬ 
dition of the food, which has disturbed 
him. Tn yeast-raised food s there is not 
only the partial digestion due to the 
yeast, but also, without a doubt, the vita- 
mines of the yeast. We do not wish to 
seem to prescribe a treatment, but we 
would by all means suggest that you drop 
all baking powder and shift over to sour 
milk and soda, even if you have to sour 
the milk on purpose, and at the same 
time use all the lettuce, “greens,” fresh 
vegetables and buttermilk you can induce 
him to accept. Then, when you must 
use baking powder, make your own by 
mixing a pound of cream of tartar with 
a pound of cornstarch and eight ounces 
of baking soda with another pound of 
cornstarch, and after each has been well 
mixed by itself, mix the two lots and 
store in fruit jars till used. This is, of 
course, a straight tartar powder; the 
phosphate powders are perhaps slightly 
better, but you probably could not get 
the right things iu small lots. In any 
event, you know exactly what you are 
using, and you cannot blame the boils on 
the baking powder. 
Homemade Flower Pots 
I have a bed of potter’s clay on my 
place. How can I make flower pots from 
it? J. c.w. 
Hyattsville, Md. 
The fact that you are willing to begin 
with flower pots argues well for the suc¬ 
cess of your effort to turn your natural 
resources into cash, and we are always 
glad to do all we can to help along. 
Unfortunately even the simplest pottery 
requires some knack which cannot be 
taught from books, although as you stand 
and watch a potter with his wheel in 
front of him, all he does is pick up a 
chunk of clay, chuck it on the wheel, 
touch it with his thumb for a moment, 
shape it with a bit of stick, cut it off with 
a wire, set it aside and reach for more 
clay. It takes about as long to form a 
pot as it has taken you to read this, much 
less time than I have taken to write it. 
Then the pot is allowed to dry for a 
day or two, set in a kiln, with many 
others, of course, and mildly baked. The 
wheel is merely a horizontally revolving 
plate, the kiln is the simplest sort of 
oven, and the whole business looks to be, 
and really is, as simple as, say, swim¬ 
ming. And yet—you have to learn it. 
Some years ago there was a flower pot 
factory in Baltimore, and likely it is there 
yet; if so, and if the present owner is as 
kindly a chap as the man that was run¬ 
ning it when I was a student there, you 
could learn the main points in an hour 
or so with him. Failing that, there is a 
very good school of pottery-making at 
Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., 
and another at Alfred University, Alfred, 
N. Y. 
Lodestone 
I ordered a piece of lodestone, and they 
sent me filings. I thought of getting a 
piece about the size of a:> ordinary hen’s 
egg. „ 0> G * ,| 
Brodhead, N. Y. 
We have looked into your lodestone in¬ 
quiries with care, as you are evidently 
much interested in the matter, but, except 
in the “Dictionary of Superstitions,” 
which gives it two columns, we do not find 
very much about it. The Encyclopedia 
Britannica. in its last edition, does not 
even mention it. except as a mineral. 
The stuff itself, which might be in a pow¬ 
der. but is usually for a mineral "speci- 
men” in a lump the size of a hen’s egg 
or larger, is merely one of the oxides of 
iron, magnetite, or magnetic iron ore, 
containing three molecular parts by 
weight of iron to four molecular parts of 
oxygen, and since iron is relatively 56 
and oxygen 36. there arc 368 parts by 
weight ‘of iron to 65 of oxygen, which 
makes it one of the richest ores of iron. 
It is mined like any other ore, and it is 
not all magnetic by any means. Here 
and there a naturally magnetic portion 
is found, and these, among the ancients, 
and indeed, to rather recent times, were 
considered quite wonderful, but. for all 
practical purposes a small bar or “horse¬ 
shoe” magnet (which can be got for less 
than a good speciment of magnetite which 
is magnetic) will be much better, and just 
as magical. 
The name “lode” comes from the an¬ 
cient use as a compass, and is only indi¬ 
rectly connected with a “load.” which a 
good specimen will, with care, support. 
But the best of the lodestones are not 
nearly as efficient as a good, permanent 
magnet. You may better get a magnet 
for experiments, but if you really want to 
have the natural article, “just for the fun 
of it,” write again and tell us how much 
you Want to pay and we will see what 
some really reliable mineral dealer will do 
for the money. 
A Simple Copying Pad 
I wonder if a simpler answer to B. F. 
T„ Oakville. Canada, than the one given 
on page 852 would not be more satisfac¬ 
tory? As a teacher a number of years 
ago we used to use what we called a hec¬ 
tograph. At that time it required 30c 
worth of glue; more would be required 
now, perhaps, if glue has advanced iu 
price as other things have. This glue 
was placed in water and allowed to soak 
several hours overnight. Then one pint 
of glycerine was added and the whole 
was boiled for one hour in a double boiler. 
A small pail was used, set in a larger one 
containing water, as one would not care 
to use this container for any other pur* 
pose. It was then spread on a dxl- 
pan, about one inch high, taking care that 
no bubbles formed, whisking them out 
with a bit of stiff paper if they seemed 
likely to form. Use hectograph ink, and 
when it no longer works satisfactorily 
place iu oven to heat through and it is 
good as new. 
Iowa. MARGARET CAVANAUGH DALY- 
