The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1499 
Waterproofing Duck 
What is the best method, of treating 
cotton duck to protect it ‘against the 
weather? H- t, c. 
Michigan. 
This has been looked into with great 
care by the Department of Agriculture, 
both for the farmers and for the War 
Department, which has many duck wagon 
covers. They have reached some 
very definite results which you will find 
set forth in Farmers’ Bulletin 1157, 
which you can. no doubt, get for the ask¬ 
ing. You will there find some good for¬ 
mulas; they‘are easy to mix and apply, 
but whether you can easily get the ingre¬ 
dients is another matter. The simplest 
calls for crude petrolatum. T 1 /* lbs.; yel¬ 
low beeswax, 1 lb; refined Bermudez 
Lake asphalt, iy 2 lbs., dissolved in two 
gallons of kerosene and three gallons of 
gasoline, with, of course, proper precau¬ 
tions in heating and mixing. It is put on 
with a brush. 
Manufacture of Corn Syrup 
Will you tell me how glucose or corp 
syrup is made? Please give details. 
‘ Maryland. G. B. p. 
This process, on paper, is very simple; 
in practice, it only pays on a very large 
scale with good chemical control and 
sale for all the by-products. The corn is 
washed, swelled, the hard skin removed, 
the germ removed (it is the source of corn 
oil), the search floated free from the fiber 
and split by heating under pressure with 
acid. The acid is neutralized and the 
resulting thin syrup boiled down under 
vacuum to the required density. You can 
take the main steps, with fair results, in 
your own kitchen (except the pressure 
cooking), but to get merchantable _ pro¬ 
ducts requires the investment of a million 
dollars or so. 
Refining Essentia! Oils 
I live in a section where there is a 
great deal of crude wintergreen, birch 
and sassafras oil distilled, and I see an 
opportunity in the plentiful local supply 
to market these three oils if I only knew 
the proper methods for refining them. 
Will you give me information as to meth¬ 
ods of refinement? There is in this 
neighborhood a woman who does such re¬ 
fining of these oils for the market, and 
has rather an extensive trade. She claims 
to have a secret process by which she pre¬ 
pares the oils. I really do not see why 
the preparation of essential oils should be 
shrouded in mystery. ir. H. c. 
Pennsylvania. 
If you are interested in marketing a 
genuine and pure oil. there is little to do; 
in fact, the less done the better, if you 
have a good crude to start with. The oils 
are usually allowed to stand for a time, 
and then the clear layer filtered, the lower 
layer, which is mostly water, being again 
“blown” with steam to get the remaining 
oil. Sometimes, if the color is “off.” the 
cautious use of the very best quality bone 
black improves the color and does not 
much injure the flavor. But the usual 
“refining” consists merely in adding all 
the synthetic methyl salicylate you dare 
to the first two oils and camphor oil to 
the last. The few dealers who stick to 
the genuine have a steady market at 
about $3 per lb. for birch. $5 for winter- 
green and $1.20 for sassafras. But with 
methyl salicylate at 35 cents and cam¬ 
phor oil at 00 cents, and both almost 
undetectable, it is no wonder that the less 
said of most methods of “refining” the 
better. Sometimes a little very pure talc 
is stirred into the genuine oils before they 
are filtered ; it is hard to lay down rules, 
as each lot has to be treated on its own 
merits, but. if properly distilled they are 
as good as they ever will be as they come 
from' the still. The cruder stills, however, 
sometimes burn the wood or leaves. The 
live steam stills only should be used, with¬ 
out fire under. The 'fellows who are 
smart enough to use this sort are usually 
also “wise” to the advantages resulting 
from dumping in a few pounds of synthet¬ 
ics before the steam is started, so the 
whole business comes over together. 
Used Water Glass 
When water glass has been used for 
preserving eggs, is it worth while to keep 
it for the same use next Spring? IIow 
can the incrustation from the water glass 
on the sides of the earthen crock be re¬ 
moved without also the glazed surface? 
Newark, N. J. R. b. 
No. don’t try to keep it; it is no good, 
and the next lot of eggs are likely to spoil. 
The reason is that there is more or less 
exchange between the lime of the shells 
and the soda of the water glass. The 
crusts on the sides of the jar are partly 
the mixed silicates and partly a reaction 
with the salt glaze. Dilute hydrochloric, 
muriatic, acid will take it off somevvhat, 
but the glaze is probably already de¬ 
stroyed Most people use the same jars 
from year to year, and merely wash well 
and scald out before putting aw ay till the 
new crop of eggs is in. 
Removing Soot from Pipe 
What will remove a thick soot forma¬ 
tion in a galvanized stove pipe which 
kerosene, gasoline and turpentine fail to 
move? H. R. 
Hempstead. N. Y. 
If those solvents have failed we can 
suggest nothing else in that line, and you 
will have to burn it out. which will be 
bad for the pipe, but happy joy for some 
small boy, who can make a little stone 
oven at one end of the pipe on the ground 
and keep up a straw fire through the pipe 
for an hour or so. 
Signs of Oil 
IIow can a geologist tell where oil is, 
and how can they tell when there is rock 
around? They say they tell by the rock. 
Then, when there is not even a pebble, 
they say the timber. Then, when there 
is no timber, how do they know? 
Kentucky. MRS. H. R. d. 
Geology is no more humbug than farm¬ 
ing. but there are fake geologists just as 
there are fake “agricultural experts.” 
How does a farmer know if it is a good 
farming country, or that certain lands 
are suited to certain crops? Simply be¬ 
cause that is his trade, and he combines 
observation with experience. In the same 
way a geologist sizes no a district, judg¬ 
ing by the soil, the rocks, the plants, the 
“lay of the land” and what is known of 
the underlying rocks as shown by quar¬ 
ries. railroad cuts, driven wells, etc. 
Sometimes the best of them miss it.. but, 
in general, a good geologist will give a 
reliable opinion. 
Ptomaine Poison; Bulk Cocoa 
What is “ptomaine poison”? Is it 
found in food preserved in glass? If it 
is unsafe to leave food in tins after open¬ 
ing. why is it safe to cook in tin? Is it 
safe to leave milk in tin? Why is it un¬ 
safe to leave gravy in a tin dish? Can 
some sorts of tin 'be used with more 
safety than others? Is it unsafe to use 
worn plated forks or spoons? What 
would you do about a new food chopper 
which oozes a black grease? Should the 
scum which rises on meat when boiling 
be removed? What is the scum which 
rises on fruit? Do you think cocoa in 
bulk can be fit to use? Ts it as good as 
that sold in tins? Is cocoa prepared with 
milk mo’-e digestible than that without? 
Bullville, N. Y. MRS. f. s. 
“Ptomaine poison” is the name which 
covers our ignorance of what it really is 
which is produced in animal or vegetable 
substance by the growth of “germs.” In 
some cases the result of germ growth is 
a pleasant and harmless taste, as in 
properly ripened cheese; in other cases it 
is a violent poison, but we do not know, 
in either case, just what the substance, 
or mixture of substances, is. It. may be 
found in food in tins or in glass; it is the 
germs, not the container, which cause the 
trouble. It is not so much unsafe as it 
is inadvisable to leave food in tin cans 
after opening them. The reason is that 
the air and the fluid together, act on the 
tin. and while the products may not be 
positively poisonous, they are not pleas¬ 
ant to the taste. This action does not 
occur to any noticeable extent when food 
is cooked in tin. It is safe enough to 
leave milk in tin. but, as you well know, 
it gets a “tinny” taste. The same applies 
to gravy. The heavier the coat of tin on 
the iron, the better; a little exposed iron, 
while quite harmless, will also affect the 
taste. So the heavier sorts of tin are 
better, and they will last enough longer 
to make them cheaper in the end. Worn 
forks or spoons would never put enough 
metal in an article of food to affect any¬ 
thing but the taste, but replating is so 
cheap, and new ones are so cheap, that 
there is little excuse for continuing them 
in service. 
The new food chopper is merely weav¬ 
ing down a bearing, and the black color 
is harmless, but disgusting. It is due to 
iron. Even the best of food choppers 
produce a little of this black, as it is out 
of the question to tin the bearings. Some 
day they will make them of rustless steel; 
meanwhile just, keep the black out of the 
food. 
You can suit your fancy or convenience 
about removing the scum which rises on 
cooking meats and fruits. Both scums 
are entirely harmless. That from meats 
is of the nature of egg albumen, egg 
white, coagulated by the heat. That from 
fruit is a similar substance found in the 
vegetable world ; very little is known of 
it. 
Cocoa in bulk is exactly the same as 
that in tins, provided the makers are 
honest; as to this, you will have to use 
your own judgment. Preparing cocoa 
with milk will probably make it more 
digestible, because it is more dilute. But 
we must decline to pass on the digesti¬ 
bility of any article of food; too much 
depends on the cook. 
“Have much rain in your section 
during the Summer?” “Not much. Just 
enough to spoil the picnics without doing 
the farmers any good.”—Ix>uismlle Cour¬ 
ier-Journal. 
Jacksonville Los Angeles 
St. Louis Savannah Etc. 
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