The  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
1225 
Simple  Science 
By  Dr.  F.  D.  Crane 
Clogged  Sink  Drain 
'What  is  the  best  thing  to  keep  the 
drain-pipe  from  the  kitchen  sink  from 
clogging  with  grease?  Is  there  anything 
we  can  flush  the  pipe  with  to  clean  it? 
I  had  used  hot  lye  water,  but  was  told 
later  that  the  lye  would  form  a  sort  of 
soap  from  the  grease  collected  in  the  pipe, 
and  would  choke  it  up  worse  than  ever. 
North  Wales,  Pa.  w.  B.  H. 
The  grease  is  best  cut  with  lye,  and 
you  want  it  to  form  a  soap,  but,  unless 
the  water  you  use  is  very  soft,  that  is 
free  from  lime  salts,  it  is  likely  that  the 
grease  has  already  formed  more  or  less 
insoluble  lime  soaps.  However,  lye  will 
probably  help  a  little,  and  in  future, 
flush  out  every  day  with  lots  of  boiling 
water. 
Nitrate  of  Soda  and  Spontaneous 
Combustion 
If  nitrate  of  soda  is  a  fire  hazard  the 
users  ought  to  know  it.  To  illustrate,  I 
will  relate  an  incident.  I  owned  a 
wharf  and  small  warehouse  directly  over 
the  water.  It  is  a  small  building  about 
12x20,  one  story.  At  one  end  a  space  is 
partitioned  off  for  gasoline  and  lubricat¬ 
ing  oil.  A  sack  of  nitrate  of  soda  stood 
for  about  a  year  against  the  partition 
separating  the  oil  from  warehouse.  The 
warehouse  is  a  tight  building  and  in  Sum¬ 
mer  gets  quite  warm.  A  lire  destroyed 
the  warehouse  and  contents.  We  are 
at  a  loss  to  locate  the  source  of  the  fire, 
as  the  building  was  empty  except  for  the 
oil  and  gas.  After  the  fire  was  exting¬ 
uished  we  noted  that  the  floor  of  the 
warehouse,  exactly  where  the  nitrate  cf 
soda  stood,  is  burned  about  three-  times 
as  deep  as  at  any  other  place,  a  deep 
burned  hole  directly,  under  where  the 
sack  stood.  I  had  noticed  that  the  sack 
of  nitrate  seemed  to  absorb  moisture  and 
stained  the  floor.  Is  it  possible  that  this 
material  started  the  fire  by  spontaneous 
combustion?  E.  M. 
Rosario,  Wash. 
We  cannot  tell  any  better  than  you 
how  the  fire  started.  Nitrate  of  soda, 
pure,  is  not  spontaneously  combustible, 
but  in  the  presence  of  any  organic  or 
carbonaceous  matter,  especially  when  the 
latter  is  soaked  with  a  solution  of  it  and 
then  dried,  a  very  inflammable  mixture 
results,  as  you  have  already  noticed  in 
the  case  of  your  floor.  The  commercial 
nitrate  of  soda  might  easily  have  impuri¬ 
ties  which  would  greatly  help  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  such  inflammable  stuff  with  any 
trash  which  might  be  present,  and  any 
slight  rise  in  temperature,  as  the  heat  of 
the  sun  concentrated  by  a  bubble  in  the 
window  glass,  would  start  the  reaction. 
All  in  all,  we  consider  commercial  nitrate 
of  soda,  in  bags,  something  of  a  risk,  but 
scarcely  a  “hazard”  in  the  insurance 
sense. 
Temperature  for  White  Frost 
Is  it  necessary  for  the  temperature  to 
be  down  to  32  degrees  before  there  can 
be  a  white  frost?  'If  not,  what  is  the 
frosting  temperature?  w.  E.  H. 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
It  is,  and  it  must  tend  to  drop  a  little 
lower,  or  there  will  be  no  frost.  That  is, 
a  mere  lowering  to  32  degrees  will  give 
you  water  at  32  degrees,  and  to  change 
this  to  ice  there  must  be  a  further  with¬ 
drawal  of  energy,  heat,  so  that  the  parti¬ 
cles  of  water  will  slow  down  and  ar¬ 
range  themselves  into  the  solid  form  we 
call  ice,  or  snow,  or  frost,  according  to 
its  location.  Once  formed,  ice  will  not 
melt  at  32  degrees ;  it  takes  additional 
heat  to  get  the  water  particles  into  the 
liquid  state. 
Quality  of  Lubricating  Oil;  Suction  Fan 
1.  Is  there  any  method  whereby  va¬ 
rious  brands  of  lubricating  oil  can  be 
tested  as  to  their  lubricating  ability?  2. 
What  are  the  most  efficient  suction  fans, 
those  with  six  or  eight  plates,  or  those 
with  only  three  or  four?  'What  method 
can  be  used  to  determine  the  amount  of 
air  the  various  types  of  fan  will  exhaust? 
New  Paris,  Ohio  w.  k.  m. 
1.  The  above  are  good  types  of  the 
questions  which  come  in  to  us  which  we 
cannot  properly  answer,  although  in  the 
present  case,  quite  a  little  time  has  been 
spent  to  make  sure  that  an  answer  was 
not  possible.  In  the  first  place,  what  do 
you  want  to  lubricate?  There  are 
methods  for  testing  the  lubricating  power 
of  oils,  and  they  are  mostly  out  of  the 
question  for  you,  since  the  machine  used 
must  run,  for  a  given  set  of  oils,  under 
,  the  same  conditions  of  temperature, 
pressure,  speed  and  applied  force,  not 
about  the  same  conditions,  but  exactly 
the  same  conditions.  If  you  have  in  mind 
oils  for  internal  combustion,  or  gas  en¬ 
gines,  the  element  of  stability  under  heat 
and  great  pressure  comes  into  play,  and 
This  is  almost  impossible  to  measure,  al¬ 
though  some  light  is  thrown  on  it  by 
chemical  tests,  particularly  by  the  re¬ 
action  with  sulphur  chloride.  There  is 
no  one  oil  which  is  best  for  all  uses,  and 
it  does  not  seem  at  all  likely  that  there 
ever  will  be. 
2.  In  the  same  way,  what  do  you  want 
to  exhaust?  And  do  you  work  against 
a  back  pressure,  and  if  so,  how  much  and 
is  it  constant?  'What  is  the  cost  of  your 
power,  is  it  large,  or  negligible,  is  there 
a  steady  demand  on  it  or  does  the  de¬ 
mand  come  in  waves?  All  these  things 
determine  the  size,  shape  and  speed  of 
the  fan  and,  while  every  fan-maker  tries 
to  sell  you  his  machine,  it  seems  to  boil 
down  to  this,  that  a  moderate  sized,  mod¬ 
erate  speed,  six-blade  fan  is  best  for  gen¬ 
eral  work,  and  that  for  special  work  the 
fan-maker  has  to  know  just  what  you 
require. 
Drain-pipe  Solvent  and  Septic  Tank 
I  have  a  concrete  septic  tank,  capacity 
10  people,  which  is  used  for  inside  toilet, 
bath  and  kitchen  sink,  which  is  piped 
with  1%-in.  pipe  to  the  4-in.  iron  pipe 
main,  and  all  discharges  into  the  septic 
tank.  I  have  had  trouble  with  the  pipe 
from  the  kitchen  sink  clogging  up.  I 
have  been  advised  to  use  drain  pipe  sol¬ 
vent,  dissolved  in  boiling  hot  water.  Will 
this  solvent  dissolved,  hinder  or  stop  the 
decomposition  in  the  septic  tank?  What 
else  might  be  used  which  is  not  injur¬ 
ious  to  the  working  of  the  septic  tank? 
Dexter,  N.  Y.  g.  w.  n. 
No  one  can  tell,  for  there  is  no  way 
of  knowing,  first,  how  much  lye,  which 
is  caustic  soda,  sodium  hydroxide,  you 
will  use,  or,  second,  how  acid  your  tank 
is.  The  chances  are  it  will  do  little  harm, 
used  moderately,  and,  at  worst,  will  only 
slow  down  the  action  of  the  tank  for  a 
few  days. 
European  Dill  Pickles 
Americans  do  not  know  how  to  pickle 
cucumbers ;  they  are  using  too  much  salt. 
Pickles  sold  in  grocery  and  delicatessen 
stores  are  not  fit  for  human  use.  Great 
quantities  of  dill  pickles  are  eaten  in 
Central  Europe.  They  are  the  first  fruit 
of  the  Summer  season.  They  sell  them 
in  Summer  amusement  places  as  a  re¬ 
freshment.  They  make  dill  pickles  only 
for  immediate  use,  not  for  keeping.  Fol¬ 
lowing  is  the  recipe : 
Dill  is  placed  in  layers,  the  same  as 
here.  A  small  cut  is  made  on  the  cucum¬ 
bers  lengthwise,  reaching  to  the  seeds,  to 
make  them  ripen  evenly.  Little  salt  is 
used,  and  no  spices.  On  top  they  put  a 
piece  of  stale  rye  bread,  which  is  thrown 
away  after  two  or  three  days.  Fill  to 
the  top  with  cold  water,  first  dissolving 
the  salt  in  it,  cover  with  weight.  Salt 
may  be  added  after  two  or  three  days  if 
not  salty  enough.  Of  course,  some  ex¬ 
perimenting  is  necessary.  Maybe  these 
pickles  will  keep  longer,  too,  in  a  cold 
cellar,  or  if  put  in  airtight  jars  after 
ripening.  J.  s. 
New  York. 
CONTENTS 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER,  SEPT.  29,  1923 
FARM  TOPICS 
Southern  Crops  Which  Ought  to  Come 
North  . 1221,  1222 
The  New  Hampshire  Trespass  Law  .  1222 
When  You  Burn  Straw  .  1222 
A  New  England  Haystack  .  1223 
Hope  Farm  Notes  . _ .  1228 
Farmer’s  Talk  on  School  Consolidation  . .  1229 
The  Wheat  Situation  .  1231 
Plowing  Old  Sod  .  1238 
LIVE  STOCK  AND  DAIRY 
i 
Last  Call  for  Dairy  Show  .  1231 
Planning  the  Nutritive  Ratio  . . .  1231 
Egg-laying  Contest  .  1239 
Leg  Weakness  . 1239 
Ailing  Fowls  .  1239 
Lame  Chickens;  Feeding  Goats  .  1239 
Feeding  for  Eggs  . 1239 
Possible  Chickenpox  . 1239 
Hens  With  Depraved  Appetite  .  1242 
HORTICULTURE 
The  Horticultural  Exhibit  at  the  New 
York  State  Fair  . 1222 
Cultivated  Blueberries  .  1223 
The  Cost  of  a  Strawberry  Crop  .  1223 
Another  Successful  Sod  Orchard  .  1224 
Across  the  Country  With  an  Apple  Car  . .  1227 
Fall  Work  Around  the  Garden  .  1229 
An  Old  Trick  With  Apples  .  1231 
A  Pre-cooling  Room  for  Small  Fruit  ......  1242 
WOMAN  AND  HOME 
The  Fireless  Cooker  and  Its  Work  .  1226 
Homemade  Yeast  .  1226 
Prune  Jelly  .  1226 
Boys  and  Girls  . . 1232,  1233 
The  Pastoral  Parson  .  1234 
The  Home  Dressmaker  . 1235 
The  Pleiades  .  1235 
MISCELLANEOUS 
Vinegar  Making  by  the  “Quick  Process”..,  1222 
The  Line  Fence  Once  More  .  1223 
Outlook  for  Black  Walnut  Timber  .  1223 
Clogged  Sink  Drain  .  1225 
Nitrate,  of  Soda  and  Spontaneous  Combus¬ 
tion  .  1225 
Temperature  for  White  Frost  .  1225 
Quality  of  Lubricating  Oil;  Suction  Fan..  1225 
Drain-pipe  Solvent  and  Septic  Tank  .  1225 
European  Dill  Pickles  .  1225 
Notes  From  School  Superintendentts  .  1231 
Hog  and  Middleman  . 1231 
News  From  the  Ox-team  Express  .  1242 
Publisher’s  Desk  . .  1242 
GOOD  REASONS 
for  FALL  PAINTING 
(Things  the  property  owner  should  know  about — ) 
1.  Unless  the  surface  is  thoroughly  dry  it  cannot  be  success¬ 
fully  painted.  In  the  Fall  surfaces  are  dry  and  in  good 
condition  to  receive  paint. 
2.  Dry  wood  absorbs  more  paint  than  damp  wood.  The 
paint  penetrates  deeper,  gets  a  firmer  hold,  adheres  better 
and  lasts  longer. 
3.  Weather  in  the  Fall  is  more  uniform,  being  sunny  and 
dry,  it  is  the  ideal  time  to  apply  paint,  because  it  will  dry 
and  harden  more  quickly. 
For  best  results,  however,  “  AMERICAN  SEAL  ”  Ready 
Mixed  Paints  must  be  used.  They  spell  QUALITY,  DURA¬ 
BILITY,  ECONOMY  and  SATISFACTION  for  the  property 
owner.  Regular  painting  with  “AMERICAN  SEAL”  Paints 
will  keep  your  property  up  to  its  full  market  value  at  a  very 
insignificant  cost. 
Write  us  for  color  cards  and  expert  advice 
regarding  your  painting  problems 
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California  Top 
All  F.  O.  B.  Caro 
Tax  extra 
THEY  FIT  ANY  MODEL  FORD 
The  Miller  Top  for  touring  car  or  roadster  is  more  practical  for  rough  going 
than  either  the  standard  sedan  or  coupe.  A  Miller  Sedan  Top  on  your  touring  car 
gives  the  same  comfort  and  convenience  as  the  regular  Ford 
sedan,  and  you  save  $265.00  or  more.  Dome  light  and  sun 
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CATALOG 
C.  S.  KEMPTON  &  CO., 
“  Longmeadow  ”  Springfield,  Mass. 
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Young  Fruit  Trees  Need 
Winter  Protection 
Every  unprotected  tree  is  sub¬ 
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gophers  and  other  rodents.  Below 
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This  attractive  234-page 
book  has  some  of  the 
best  of  the  Hope  Farm 
Man’s  popular  sketches — 
philosophy,  humor,  and 
sympathetic  human  touch. 
Price  $1.50.  For  sale  by 
Rural  New-Yorker,  335 
W.  30th  St..  New  York. 
THE 
HOPE 
FARM 
BOOK 
