577 
57* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Things To Think About 
The object of this department is to give readers a chance to express themselves on farm 
matters. Not long articles can be used—just short, pointed opinions or suggestions. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER does not always endorse what is printed here. You might 
call this a mental safety valve. 
A New Vegetable “Milk” 
I send a few clippings from today’s 
Union. This seems to be the latest brand 
of “cowlees milk.” Seems to me there 
would be more food value in a dish of oat¬ 
meal and a peanut butter sandwich. And 
note the statement that the addition of 
malted milk would “detract from its nu¬ 
tritive value.” (?) “What fools these 
mortals be”—some of them ! L. n. s. 
The papers have been well filled with 
statements about this “cowless” milk. It 
is made by grinding peanuts and oatmeal 
together and leaching water through the 
mass. This washes out a white, pasty 
fluid which is called “milk.” There is 
nothing new about this. This plan, or 
one like it, has been operated for some 
time. As a matter of fact, plain dish¬ 
water will in some cases give an analysis 
not far from that of milk. We have known 
people to raise calves on dishwater. This 
“peanut milk” would be cleaner, but not 
much more useful as a food. The so-called 
inventor of this “milk” says : 
The only problem now confronting us is 
that of flavor. The chief objection to our 
milk is that it does not possess a pleasing 
flavor to make it an enjoyable drink. Now 
we have to put in cinnamon, malted milk, 
salt or some other foreign substance that 
detracts from its nutritive value. We are 
now trying to obtain an animal flavoring 
extract that will remove this objection, 
and I believe we will succeed in the not 
far distant future. 
It is, of course, his privilege to keep on 
trying. It may also be the privilege of the 
great army of “suckers” to keep on be¬ 
lieving that any food can be compounded 
that will take the place of cows’ milk. 
That will never come to pass. Nature 
made one food to stand in a class by itself, 
unapproached and unequalled—animal 
milk. 
Where Keep the “Old Junk?” 
An inquiry in Tiie R. N.-Y. has raised 
one in my mind that I would like to have 
some of your readers answer. IIow can 
a farmer keep his farm buildings and 
yard always neat and tidy? There is 
such an accumulation of matter that is 
useful in its time and place, but which 
must be stored somewhere the greater 
part of the year. For instance, there are 
the old boards that I use for blanching 
celery. During most of the year they are 
unsightly, and must he stored somewhere, 
and yet they serve their purpose just as 
well as brand-new ones. Then there is 
the old wire and junk iron used for re¬ 
inforcing concrete. Some day I may 
want it, but until then it is just an eye¬ 
sore. no matter where I put it. Besides 
these and similar things, there are odds 
and ends of all sorts that may help out in 
an emergency as a makeshift, or for re¬ 
pairs. IIow can a farmer so place all 
such things as to have his premises al¬ 
ways present an attractive, tidy appear¬ 
ance. and yet have them always avail¬ 
able? DUDLEY F. CLAPP. 
Connecticut. 
R. N.-Y'.—It is a large problem, and 
we shall be glad to have our readers tell 
how they do it. We think a dry, shallow, 
concrete cellar in some out-of-the-way 
place is better than a shed. The top 
should be raised but a little above the 
ground, and have sliding doors through 
which heavy trash can be put down into 
bins. In such a cellar ordinary refuse 
or discarded stuff vvill be out of sight and 
yet always ready for use. Better than 
a shed. 
Henry Ford’s Opinion 
I am wondering what your opinion is 
of the latest ideas of Henry Ford, as ex¬ 
pressed in a recent interview with a rep¬ 
resentative of the New York Tribune. I 
can heartily agree with Mr. Ford in his 
statement that manufacturing should be 
broken up into smaller units, and carried 
on. in the country towns instead of in 
great cities, as at present. Much of the 
former prosperity of the smaller towns 
was due to the fact that 50 or more years 
ago small manufacturing establishments 
were scattered throughout the rural 
towns, thus tending to prevent the flow 
of wealth and population to the large in¬ 
dustrial centers. 
It is evident, however, that Mr. Ford 
understands the real conditions of farm 
life as little as doce the average “captain 
of industry.” lie advocates that the 
farmers work in automobile and other 
factories during the Winter, when, as he 
says, they have nothing to do but care 
for a few cows. Now, the average farmer 
hereabouts is a pretty busy person in 
Winter, with firewood to cut and haul, 
ice to cut, etc. Like many city residents, 
Mr. Ford appears to think that farmers 
spend most of their time in Winter sitting 
by the fire cracking nuts and dozing. 
He also exhibits his ignorance when he 
says that the cow is doomed and that 
milk can be manufactured from cereals, 
etc., which contain all the nutritive ele¬ 
ments of cows’ milk. At the present 
time the world is just beginning to real- 
ibe through the labors of such men as 
Dr. McCollum and Dr. Osborne the 
great value of milk and ite products. Dr 
McCollum has shown that those nations 
where dairy products have formed a large 
part of the people’s diet have been the 
nations which have achieved supremacy, 
while those which have subsisted prin¬ 
cipally upon cereals have been backward 
and stagnant, like the Chinese and Hin¬ 
dus. It looks a« though Mr. Ford had 
fallen for some of the “dope” put out by 
the oleo interests. A. b. Roberts. 
Connecticut. 
R. N.-Y.—We have for years advocated 
the plan of breaking up the great indus¬ 
trial centers and putting manufacturing 
back near the water powers and smaller 
towns and cities. This will have to come 
in the future, and the change will benefit 
the entire country. Wealthy men like 
Mr. Ford can help in this, not so much 
by talking as by actually starting the 
smaller enterprises in the old home town. 
As for farmers working in factories dur¬ 
ing the Winter, of course dairymen could 
not do that. On fruit or vegetable farms 
some members of the family might do it. 
1 ears ago in New England most of the 
little shops were worked by farmers’ sons 
and daughters, who spent'Winter in the 
shop and Summer on the farm. By 
proper management of small factories the 
labor supply could be managed so as to 
provide work in the shop and on the 
farm.. Mr. Ford is badly off on the cow 
question.. It.is safe to say that there is 
nothing in sight to justify any thought 
ot a complete milk substitute. 
An Optimist on Farming 
I have read the letter by Mrs. L. R„ 
page 122, and have been thinking about it, 
and feel that it would be a discredit to 
our calling to let it go unanswered. 
Would it not be better if Mrs. L. R. 
let her two sons decide for themselves 
what work they are best suited for? How 
does she know that they would be suc¬ 
cessful in the city, and, if so, is her kind 
of a city success the chief end in life? 
Since when are four servants, etc., neces¬ 
sary, to happiness? And let her stop to 
consider at what a terrible cost many of 
the wealthy city men have obtained their 
money—a cost both to themselves and to 
others. Mrs. L. R, says that Mr. Waite 
and Mr. Reynolds are philosophers. If 
so, might we not well have many more 
like them both in the country and in the 
city? 
I am a young man ; am married, and we 
have one little girl worth at least a half 
million dollars. I have not had the ad¬ 
vantage of the college training enjoyed by 
Y■ A. and Mrs. L. R.’s sons. I am work¬ 
ing as a farm hand, and we are saving so 
that some day we will have a place of our 
own. In spite of these disadvantages, I 
can see a future in farming—dairying, 
gardening, fruit growing or any tilling of 
the soil—that is, a future for some peo¬ 
ple. I believe from their letters that 
Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Waite love their 
work. Tf V. A. or Mrs. L. R.’s sons are 
going into farming only for the money 
they will get out of it then let them “be¬ 
ware of agriculture” ; let them stay out. 
TTnlees one really loves the cows, the 
horses, the days of toil in the hot sun, the 
long Winter evenings and everything else 
that goes to make up the life and work of 
the farm, he would better leave farming 
alone. 
I believe that if one is willing to give 
the same amount of hard work and 
thought that he would give to make a suc¬ 
cess in the city there is a great future 
for one in the country. lie may not have 
so large a part of this world’s goods, but 
he should be comfortably well off, and 
will be able to look all men in the eye, 
knowing that he has not taken that 
which rightly belongs to another, and will 
certainly be rich in contentment, which 
money cannot buy. Believe me, for I 
have been in the city, have had a good po¬ 
sition (in the eyes of the world), have 
been far enough up the ladder of success 
so that by leaning far back I could 
see the top, and I know. 
Put me down as one who is “glad of 
life because it gives us a chance to love, 
and to work, and to look up at the stars,” 
one who loves the tap-tap of the wood¬ 
pecker on a crisp Winter morning, the 
song of the bluebird and the smell of the 
fresh-turned earth, the sight of the ripen¬ 
ing harvests and gardens well filled with 
flowers and vegetables, and who, when 
darkness comes, thoroughly tired, is glad 
to sit down at his own fireside, with his 
own wife, a dish of apples and a good 
book, with the knowledge that the day’s 
work is well done. 
RODMAN S. VALENTINE. 
Westchester Co., N. Y. 
Guest : “Look here ! flow long must 
I wait for the half portion of duck I 
ordered ?” Waiter: “Till somebody 
orders the other half. We can’t go out 
and kill half a duck.”—-Success Magazine. 
No other milker has a 
positive squeeze. No other 
milker even squeezes the 
teats out of round. No 
other milker uses com¬ 
pressed air. Sharpies 
patents protect this ab¬ 
solutely. 
Most coves give dovjtt 
more milk to the gentle 
comfortable Sharpies suck¬ 
ling action than they do 
to hand milking. They 
like it and it increases 
the milk yield. 
Cut the Cost of Milking 
And preserve your profits 
i ET one man do the milking that three men did 
-* before and you’ll make more money even in 
times when the other fellow is finding it hard to 
“break-even.” 
Hand milking always has been wasteful—always 
has been slavish drudgery—never has been natural. 
Nature intended milk to be suckled out like a calf 
does it and that’s the way a Sharpies works. 
The Sharpies is made in two types. Our Pipe 
Line Milker (for large or small dairies) is now in 
satisfactory use on over one million cows and is to 
be found in nearly every country in the world. Our 
new Moto Milker is an electric, portable milker 
made especially for six to twenty cow dairies that 
have electricity. No installation is necessary—sim¬ 
ply wheel it in the barn and milk. It will run from 
a farm lighting plant. Both machines have the same 
gentle suckling action on the teats and the inter¬ 
mittent squeezing by Compressed Air (patented). 
A Sharpies will cut your milking costs and in¬ 
crease your profits from the start. Let us send you 
our descriptive booklet. Sent free. 
THE SHARPLES MILKER COMPANY 
WEST CHESTER. PA. 
Chicago San Francisco Toronto 
SHARPLES MILKERS 
Use Dandelion 
Butter Color Now 
Add a 
fill tO I 
winter < 
KL/* of your 
hut tor c 
Add a half-teaspoon- 
each gallon of 
cream and out 
churn comes 
butter of golden June 
shade to bring you 
top prices. 
All stores sell 35- 
cent bottles of Dan¬ 
delion. Butter Color, 
each sufficient to keep 
that rich “Golden 
Shade” in your butter 
all the year round. 
Standard Butter Color 
for fifty years. Purely 
vegetable. Meets all 
food laws. State and 
National. Used by all large creameries. 
Will not color the buttermilk. Tasteless. 
Wells & Richardson Co., Burlington, Vt. 
DETROIT SANITARY 
Indoor Closet 
Greute*t farm and town-home 
convenience ever deviled, Insures 
complete privacy, t'omfort win¬ 
ter and Rummer. A positive ne¬ 
cessity for old folks and invalids. 
Guaranteed odorless and grerm 
proof. Write for NEW low price 
offer at once. Also folding: bath 
tubs, no plumbing: necessary. 
Detroit Incubator Co., 0 <i^ mL 
30 
DAYS* 
FREE 
TRIAL 
Boys’ Dress Suit 
100 % 
All-Wool 
Navy Blue 
Serge 
$*.85 
6 
Just think of buyino 
a fine All-wool Seme 
Suit for only $6 85. 
Same quality is sell-/ 
ins over the counter/ 
for $10.00 and up. 
A well tailored suit 
of a tine quality 
100% all-wool, 
fast color Navy 
Blue Serge. Pleat¬ 
ed back model fas 
illustrated. Perfec 4 
fitting. Full lined 
knickerbockers. For 
all ages from 0 to 17 
years. Send money 
with order and we will pay 
postage, or pay for suit and 
postage on arrival. Your 
money back if not pleased 
perfectly. Just the riirht 
suit for dress wear and all 
special occasions. State age. 
MAIL BAG STORES 
32 Union Square 
Dept. 1 07 
New York City 
Z2 
DRIED BEET PULP 
Prevents Udder Troubles- - Increases Milk Flow 
ATTRACTIVE PRICE 
NOW IN EFFECT 
Ask Your Feed Dealer 
The Larrowe Milling Co. 
Detroit, Mich. 
