The  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
771 
The  matter  of  catering  for  Summer 
boarders  on  the  farm  interests  me  greatly. 
We  have  had  20  years  of  successful  ex¬ 
perience  in  this  business,  and  therefore 
might  be  able  to  offer  a  few  helpful  sug¬ 
gestions  to  the  Connecticut  inquirer.  In 
the  first  place,  unless  one's  farm  produces 
the  greater  part  of  the  provisions  neces¬ 
sary  to  furnish  the  table  adequately  with 
fresh  farm  produce,  there  is  a  possibility 
that  it  will  not  prove  a  remunerative 
venture.  It  will,  however,  pay  reason¬ 
able  returns  if  rightly  managed,  and  if 
backed  by  a  wealth  of  ever-ready  sup¬ 
plies  of  vegetables,  fruit,  eggs,  poultry 
and  milk. 
A  to  d  garden  is  a  great  necessity, 
and  certainly  may  be  termed  “chief  as¬ 
set.”  It  should  contain  the  choicest  va¬ 
rieties  of  vegetables,  planted  in  such  a 
way  as  to  insure  a  continuous  crop  of 
as  long  duration  as  the  variety  will  per¬ 
mit.  When  old  and  tough  vegetables  lose 
their  attractiveness,  and  ought  only  to  be 
served  when  young  and  tender.  In  such 
a  garden  one  would  reasonably  expect  to 
find  all  of  the  following  in  season  : 
Sweet  corn,  beets,  tomatoes,  lettuce, 
peas,  string  beans.  Lima  beans,  shell 
beans,  radishes,  onions,  parsley,  Swiss 
chard,  cauliflower.  Summer  cabbage,  Sum¬ 
mer  spinach,  crook-neck  squash,  endive, 
cucumbers,  eggplant,  carrots  and  musk- 
melons.  With  an  abundance  of  the  above- 
mentioned  vegetables  always  available, 
many  meal  problems  are  quickly  and 
cheaply  solved.  Of  almost  equal  impor¬ 
and  let  this  be  a  simple  but  satisfying 
meal.  One  substantial  dish  is  enough. 
There  is  a  great  variety  of  these,"  a  few 
of  which  follow  :  Hearty  salad,  creamed 
shaved  beef,  creamed  fish,  chicken  or 
lamb,  meat  or  fish  in  aspic,  meat  or  fish 
loaf,  boiled  ham,  fruit  shortcake  or  some 
choice  egg  dish.  Fruit,  fresh  or  stewed, 
ought  to  be  served,  except  where  it  forms 
a  basis  of  the  main  dish.  Always  give 
a  choice  of  at  least  two  kinds  of  cake. 
If  gingerbread  is  served,  let  it  be  warm. 
Sandwiches  or  hot  biscuits,  rolls  or  buns 
with  butter  meet  with  popular  favor,  but 
fresh  bread  is  less  difficult  to  prepare. 
If  h  t  tea  or  cocoa  is  called  for,  by  all 
means  serve  it,  but  usually  iced  tea  or 
iced  fruit  beverages  are  given  the  prefer¬ 
ence,  especially  on  sultry  evenings. 
Everyone  delights  in  a  cool,  airy  din¬ 
ing-room  in  hot  weather,  spotlessly"  clean 
and  free  from  flies.  It  matters  not  how 
plain  the  service  if  it  is  very  clean  and 
table  linen  of  snowy  whiteness,  it  is  bound 
to  be  attractive.  Mixing  napkins  must 
be  vigorously  guarded  against.  If  soiled, 
never  use  again,  and  furnish  a  fresh  sup¬ 
ply  daily.  If  these  are  made  from  squares 
of  crinkled  seersucker  crepe,  they  will 
require  no  ironing,  and  may  be  "folded 
when  removed  fromo  the  line. 
Bowls  of  newly  cut  flowers  add  very 
much  to  the  fresh  appearance  and  coun¬ 
try  atmosphere  of  the  dining-room. 
Each  place  at  the  table  ought  to  be  so 
set  that  it  will  reduce  “passing”  to  a 
minimum.  We  have  found  the  arrange- 
A — Forks 
E— Plate 
F- — Bread  and  Butter 
G — Salt  and  Pepper 
tance  is  the  every-ready  supply  of  fresh 
fruit,  milk,  cream  and  eggs.  These  with 
the  vegetables  comprise  the  five  items 
that  city  people  go  to  the  farms  to  get, 
and  as  a  rule  they  are  willing  to  pay  the 
price  if  they  actually  “get  the  goods.” 
The  early  breakfast  never  meets  with 
favor.  Eight  o’clock,  standard  time, 
seems  to  be  the  most  popular  hour.  At 
that  meal  we  always  served  fresh  fruit, 
one  kind  of  hot  cereal  (having  also  in 
stock,  if  preferred,  several  varieties  of 
prepared  cereals),  eggs  prepared  in  two 
or  more  ways,  but  only  served  as  called 
for,  potatoes,  fried,  creamed  or  escalloped, 
and  one  of  the  following :  Ham,  bacon, 
hash,  sausage  or  creamed  fish,  and  once 
a  week  wheat  or  rye  pancakes,  or  waf¬ 
fles  were  served  with  tV  meat  dish. 
Maple  or  sugar  syrup  should  always  ac¬ 
company  this  course.  Hot  coffee  is  al¬ 
ways  an  important  part  of  this  meal,  and 
it  may  be  accompanied  by  homemade 
bread,  hot  rolls,  muffins  or"  johnny-cake 
and  butter. 
If  there  are  children  it  is  good  policy 
to  make  it  possible  for  them  to  obtain 
milk  at  10 :30  a.m.  and  at  ,3  :,30  p.m. 
After  repeated  trials  with  three-course 
meals  at  midday  we  abandoned  the  plan 
in  favor  of  two  courses.  Serving  soup  in 
hot  weather  does  not  meet  with  popular 
favor,  unless  one  is  catering  to  the  really 
aristocratic.  These  suggestions  are  aimed 
to  aid  those  whose  boarders  come  from 
the  average  class  of  city  office  people  who 
usually  prefer  farm  accommodations. 
This  meal,  then,  consists  of  two  courses, 
main  and  dessert.  The  main  course  may 
be  arranged  as  follow  Meat,  two 
cooked  vegetables,  one  green  vegetable,  po¬ 
tatoes,  one  meat  relish,  hot  or  iced  tea, 
coffee  or  milk,  bread  and  butter.  The 
dessert  course  is  very  elastic,  and  the 
variety  is  almost  limitless.  It  is  well, 
however,  to  prepare  two  or  three  kinds 
that  are  equally  popular,  and  serve  one 
kind  to  a  patron,  allowing  him  to  make 
his  selection. 
It  is  always  possible  to  serve  more 
uniform  portions  of  meats  and  desserts 
if  the  serving  is  not  done  in  the  dining¬ 
room.  A  carver  will  often  be  asked  to 
provide  only  certain  cuts  to  certain  indi¬ 
viduals.  If  he  heeds,  others  will  expect 
the  same  privilege  and  the  supply  will 
not  meet  the  demand. 
Six  o’clock  is  the  popular  supper  hour, 
B — Knife 
C — Teaspoons 
D — Napkin 
H — Glass 
meut  shown  in  the  figure  to  be  the  most 
satisfactory. 
A  waitress,  scrupulously  neat  in  ap¬ 
pearance,  cheerful  and  accommodating, 
but  not  talkative,  may  do  the  passing  of 
vegetables,  salads,  etc.  Unless  there  are 
more  than  20  guests,  if  she  is  capable,  no 
other  helper  is  necessary  in  the  dining¬ 
room. 
Even  with  all  of  these  facts  clearly  in 
mind,  unless  the  cooking  is  especiallv  well 
done  and  the  food  attractively  served, 
everything  will  come  to  naught.  French 
names  or  elaborately  decorated  dishes  will 
not  make  up  for  poor  preparation.  After 
all,  the  appetites  of  these  people  are  much 
the  same  as  ours  would  be  if  we  returned 
to  the  farm  after  a  stop-over  in  a  city 
boarding-house. 
More  than  anything  else,  these  people 
seem  to  require  plenty  of  cream  and 
milk.  I  placed  the  cream  first  intention¬ 
ally,  as  it  is  the  one  thing  they  will  have 
—or  go  elsewhere  to  get  it.  It  is  quite 
important  to  serve  individual  pitchers  of 
genuine  cream  whenever  it  is  required 
during  the  meal.  If  large  group  pitchers 
are  used,  it  becomes  a  case  of  “first  come, 
first  served’  — and  the  person  who  arrives 
last  gets  no  cream.  It  patrons  desire 
milk  served  with  meals,  it  is  always  good 
policy  to  be  accommodating. 
There  is  one  more  important  sugges¬ 
tion.  Summer  boarders  on  the  farm  hate 
being  fussed  over  or  interfered  with. 
They  wish  to  enjoy  themselves  without 
the  intrusion  of  the  farm  family,  but  this 
rule  should  work  both  ways.  "The  farm 
housewife  who  permits  "  her  Summer 
boarders  to  invade  the  precincts  of  her 
kitchen  workshop  is  making  a  great  er¬ 
ror.  Doors  entering  these  rooms  ought 
all  to  be  marked  “No  admittance,”  and 
the  rule  enforced.  Nothing  should  inter¬ 
cept  or  confuse  the  regular  and  systematic 
conduct  of  these  business  offices  during 
rush  hours,  as  promptness  and  efficiency 
are  two  of  the  watchwords  of  the  country 
woman  who  succeeds  with  keeping  Sum¬ 
mer  boarders.  mbs.  iielen  n.  tjpson. 
A  NEGBO  went  fishing.  He  hooked  a 
big  catfish,  which  pulled  him  overboard 
As  he  crawled  back  into  the  boat,  he  said 
philosophically :  “What  I  wanna  know 
1S.  dls:  Is  dis  niggah  fishin’  or  is  dis  fish 
mggern?”— Atlanta  Constitution. 
Pull  directions  in  each 
can.  Be  sure  and  buy 
only  the  genuine  RED 
SEAL  Lye. 
P.  C.  Tomson  &  Co. 
Philadelphia.  Pa. 
the  Dairy¬ 
man  in  Many  Ways 
The  easiest  way  to  keep  the  dairy-house  and 
utensils  sweet  and  clean  is  to  use  plenty  of 
RED  SEAL  Lye  in  scrubbing  up.  Sour,  rancid 
milk  just  cannot  happen  when  you  use  RED 
SEAL.  Keep  it  on  hand;  you’ll 
find  a  hundred  uses  for  it  in 
the  home  and  about  the 
place.  Booklet  of  uses 
4 
THE  NEW 
ONE  PIECF 
with 
ROOF. 
GUARANTEE 
Consolidated  Asbestos  Coating:  is  a  tough, 
durable,  fire  resistant,  asbestos-asphalt  roof 
builder.  Easily  applied  over  wood,  paper,  tin, 
concrete  or  any  old  roof.  Always  stormproof, 
regardless  of  heat,  cold,  rain,  hail  or  snow. 
Seals  Every  Leak 
Special  Offer 
This  Month 
5  Gals.  $8.00,  C.  O.  D. 
A  Dollar  Brush  included  without  extra 
charge  for  cash  with  order. 
Contains  No  Coal  Tar 
Money  back  if  not  entirely  satisfied 
Avoid  Cheap  Substitutes 
Consolidated  Asbestos  Corp. ,  Dept.  D 
100  Fifth  Avenue.  New  York 
Kills 
30-40  bu.  of  Corn 
for  only  $1.00 
That  is  the  corn  you  lost  because  the 
crows  and  other  pests  pulled  up  the 
seed  corn,  while  the  “$1.00”  is  all  it  would 
have  cost  you  to  save  that  corn,  had  you 
coated  your  seed  corn,  just  before  you 
planted  it,  with 
Stanley's 
Crow  Repellent 
Hundreds  of  corn-growers  write  us  let¬ 
ters  like  these:  “Had  no  corn  pulled  that 
I  could  discover” — F.  G.  Vincent,  W.  Tis- 
bury.  Mass. 
“Crows  nor  nothing  seem  to  bother  it” — 
M.^  Crockwell,  Red  Hook,  N.  Y. 
“It  does  the  job” — L.  Varnum,  Alexan¬ 
der,  Me. 
Mr.  Varnum  is  right,— it  DOES  the  job. 
Large  can,  enough  for  2  bu.  of  seed 
corn  (8  to  10  acres),  $1.60.  Half  size  can, 
$1.00.  If  your  hardware,  drug  or  seed 
store  doesn’t  have  it  in  stock,  order  direct. 
Address.  Cedar  Hill  Formulae  Co.,  Box 
500H,  New  Britain,  Conn. 
aphis 
and  similar 
insects 
)  NICOTINE  SULPHATE 
C^HALL  Tobacco  Chemical  Co. 
1I4E.  16thSt.,New  York  City 
Over  a  Million 
S^L-tisf  iedL  Users 
An  Auto-Spray  is  as  necessary  for 
the  home  garden  as  a  rake  or  a 
hoe.  It  kills  the  bugs  and  heads 
off  blights.  Over  a  million  in  use. 
For  twenty-two  years  Auto-Sprays 
have  been  sold  on  a  money-back 
guarantee.  Write  today  for  Catalog 
describing  nearly  forty  styles  and 
Spray  Calendar  prepared  by  Cornell 
University  specialists.  Both  free. 
The  E.  C.  BROWN  CO..  892  Maple  St..  Rochester.  N.Y. 
The  Ireland  Geared  Hoists 
More  and  more  the  hoist  is  becoming  a  necessity 
to  the  worthwhile  farmer.  In  storing  hay,  grain. 
potatoes,  or  ice.  it 
does  away  with  the 
services  of  the 
extra  hired  man. 
Write  for  circular 
and  price  sheet  to¬ 
day.  .We  have  a 
hoist  especially 
adapted  for  hay¬ 
ing.  It  can  be 
operated  direct 
fom  the  load. 
Let  us  quote  you 
at  once. 
Ireland  Machinery  &  Foundry  Company 
11-13  State  Street,  Norwich,  New  York 
U.S.ARMrS" 
SEND  NO  MONEY 
Just  give  size  and  we  will  send 
you  the  biggest  work  shoe  bargain 
offered  in  years.  Inspected  and 
built  to  rigid  specifications. 
Made  on  the  Munson  last, of 
triple  tanned  chrome  lea¬ 
ther.  Solid  oak  leather 
soles.  Dirt,  water 
acid  proof.  PayA 
postman  $2.75 
plus  postage 
on  arrival. 
Money  back  if 
not  pleased.  vou  save  SZ 
L.  SIMON  COMPANY,  Dept.  AS 
829  First  Ave.  New  York  City.  N.Y. 
WITTE 
Throttling  Governor 
ENGINES 
Run  on  Kerosene  or  Distillate.  Less  Parts.  Less  Weight. 
More  Power.  2  to  25  H-P.  Easier  to  use.  Free  Catalog. 
,  „„„  ^  ,  WITTE  ENGINE  WORKS. 
\  222  Oakland  Avenue,  Kansas  City,  Miaaourl 
] !??  EmP,r#  Building,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania 
1890  Frsmont  8tro@t9  San  Pranciacov  California 
