The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1379 
A  Few  Hours  at  the  Dairy  Show 
A  day  was  scant  time  in  which  to  see 
and  hear  all  that  was  presented  at  the 
dairy  show  of  the  International  Dairy 
Congress  recently  held  in  Syracuse,  but 
it  was  all  that  the  majority  of  visiters 
had,  coming,  as  they  did,  from  sections 
near  enough  to  permit  driving  in  and  re¬ 
turning  on  the  same  day.  The  attend¬ 
ance  was  swelled  materially  by  visitors 
from  the  city,  where  the  local  papers  were 
urging  their  readers  to  help  make  good 
the  promised  total  of  100,000  paid  ad¬ 
missions.  It  will  have  to  be  admitted 
that  the  attendance  was  somewhat  disap¬ 
pointing,  reaching  only  about  7S,000  in¬ 
stead  of  beating  the  city  of  St.  Paul’s 
85,000  of  last  year  by  the  expected  boost 
of  15,000.  This,  I  think,  may  be  in  part 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  show 
followed  the  State  Fair  on  the  same 
grounds  by  only  a  few  weeks,  and  being 
very  much  of  the  same  character,  lost 
much  of  the  attraction  which  it  might 
have  had  at  another  time. 
To  one  accustomed  to  the  great  crowds 
that  throng  these  grounds  during  the 
week  of  the  State  Fair,  the  first  impres¬ 
sion  upon  entering  the  gates  was  apt  to 
be  that  of  lonesomeness,  and  the  buildings 
that  housed  the  great  exhibits  were  at 
no  time  crowded.  It  took  but  a  cursoiy 
glance,  however,  to  reveal  the  fact  that 
no  expense  had  been  spared  to  bring  to¬ 
gether  a  really  marvelous  display  of  dairy 
machinery  and  an  exhibit  of  dairy  cattle 
that  it  would  be  hard  to  rival.-  The  white 
enameled  and  nickel-plated  machines  that 
filled  the  wide  floors  of  the  exhibition 
building  were,  for  the  most  part,  those 
used  by  milk  product  manufacturers  and 
city  milk  distributors,  rather  than  by  in¬ 
dividual  dairymen,  but  they  gave  visiting 
dairymen  an  opportunity  to  see.  how  their 
product  was  handled  in  a  wholesale  A\ay, 
after  it  had  left  their  hands. 
A  striking  novelty  was  a  display  of 
huge  tanks,  very  like  in  size  and  shape 
those  used  by  distributors  of  gasoline  to 
local  filling  stations.  Some  of  these  were 
mounted  upon  motor  trucks,  some  were 
so  large  that  it  took  a  railroad  car  to 
carry  them.  They  were  lined  with  pure 
glass,  fused  with  the  metal,  and  were  in¬ 
sulated  upon  the  outside  by  a  thick  layer 
of  cork  beneath  their  wooden  jackets.  A 
manhole  at  the  top  provided  means  for 
entering,  when  that  became  necessary.  It 
is  probable  that  a  revolution  in  the  man¬ 
ner  of  transporting  milk  is  coming,  and 
that  we  shall  see  milk  carried  in  tanks 
holding  hundreds  or  thousands  of  gallons, 
where  now  carloads  of  40-q.uart  cans  pei- 
form  that  service.  Ice-cream  making 
machinery,  too,  showed  a  new  develop¬ 
ment  in  the  utilization  of  milk  on  a  great 
scale.  A  factory  ice-cream  machine  con¬ 
sists  of  a  beautifully  nickel-plated  cyl¬ 
inder,  into  the  top  of  which  is  pouied 
from  a  vat  already  mixed  milk,  cream  and 
flavor,  and  from  which  after  a  short  peri¬ 
od  of  turning,  the  completed  product  is 
poured  out  in  a  semi-liQuid  state.  I  he 
cans  of  this  frozen  liquid  are  then  set 
aside  in  a  refrigerating  room  to  ripen  and 
harden.  The  freezing  is  accomplished  by 
means  of  circulating  brine  of  exceedingly 
low  temperature  between  the  containing 
cylinder  and  its  jacket.  Where  glass  or 
enamel  is  not  used,  nickel  seems  to  he 
the  preferred  metal  where  this  must  come 
into  direct  contact  with  milk,  and  out¬ 
side  surfaces  are  polished  as  if  they  were 
intended  for  parlor  ornaments. 
The  display  of  dairy  products,  in  the 
way  of  butter,  cheese,  powdered  milk  and 
cream,  and  of  the  smaller  utensils  used 
about  the  dairy  farm,  was  little  different 
from  that  seen  at  any  State  Fair,  though 
the  special  character  of  this  exposition 
made  it  possible  to  get  together  a  more 
complete  exhibit  than  would  ordinarily 
be  found.  Governor  Smith,  done  in  but¬ 
ter  and  wearing  the  enigmatic  smile  that 
made  Mona  Lisa  famous,  showed  the  skill 
of  some  sculptor,  and  was  possibly  de¬ 
signed  to  indicate  that  there  are  states¬ 
men  in  whose  mouths  butter  will  not 
melt.  A  painting,  said  to  be  100  ft.  long, 
showed  a  dairy  farm  in  three  stages  of 
evolution,  from  being  the  home  of  a  pi¬ 
oneer  to  becoming  one  of  a  gentleman 
fslrmer.  Just  what  lesson  this  painting 
taught  was  not  clear,  but  what  human 
interest  it  held  was  contained  in  the  first 
section.  Considerable  space  was  given 
to  “educational”  exhibits,  and  the  value 
of  milk  in  the  diet,  particularly  in  that 
of  children,  the  feeding  of  the  dairy  herd, 
outstanding  facts  in  breeding,  and  other 
matters  that  did  not  lend  themselves  to 
mechanical  displays  were  illustrated  by 
means  of  charts,  diagrams  and  pictures. 
The  large  barns  on  the  grounds  were 
well  filled  with  dairy  cattle  of  the  five 
prominent  breeds,  coming,  for  the  most 
part,  from  other  cattle  shows  where  they 
had  won  honors.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
cattle  at  these  expositions  require  blan¬ 
keting  in  the  stables,  for  long  rows  of 
stable  blankets  soon  pall  the  enjoyment  of 
those  who  wish  to  see  the  animals  be¬ 
neath,  but  those  who  had  time  to  look  at 
these  cattle  as  they  were  brought  into 
the  coliseum  were  given  an  opportunity  to 
view  dairy  cattle  at  their  best.  The  op¬ 
portunities  given  to  see  a  stately  bull, 
dainty  heifer,  or  frisky  calf  being  led 
about  the  grounds  for  exercise  were  also 
improved  by  groups  of  visitors,  such  ani¬ 
mals  showing  off  to  better  advantage  than 
when  merged  with  their  herds.  Holsteins 
predominated,  as  would  be  expected  in  a 
milk-selling  State,  but  the  other  dairy 
breeds  were  represented  by  splendid  ani¬ 
mals.  Everybody  loves  a  Jersey,  and  the 
one  from  Oregon  which  holds  the  record 
for  her  breed,  as  well  as  one  or  two  for 
all  breeds,  was  paid  due  honor.  As  far 
as  external  appearances  go,  she  was  but 
an  ordinary  Jersey  of  good  type.  Un¬ 
less  displaying  her  udder  distended  to 
something  like  its  full  capacity,  it  is 
doubtful  if  ordinary  observers  would  give 
her  more  than  passing  notice.  The  fig¬ 
ures  upon  the  chart  above  her  told  the 
story  of  her  accomplishments,  however, 
and  the  fact  that  she  was  reared,  owned 
and  displayed  by  a  “dirt  farmer,”  not  by 
some  wealthy  cattle  breeder,  made  her 
doubly  interesting. 
No  exhibit  was  of  greater  interest  than 
that  of  various  boys’  calf  clubs.  This 
display  filled  one  barn,  seven  States  hav¬ 
ing  sent  boys  and  girls,  with  their  young 
stock  and  with  visions  of  blue  ribbons 
which  their  pets  should  wear  home.  Most 
of  the  older  cattle  had  made  their  rec¬ 
ords  and  had  had  their  day,  but  here  was 
youth  and  promise,  and  an  enthusiasm 
which  disappointment  had  not  chilled. 
Such  calves  as  had  attained  to  the  dig¬ 
nity  of  horns  had  these  polished  until 
they  shone  like  the  swords  of  ancient 
knights,  and  no  knightly  armor  was  worn 
with  more  pride  than  the  white  suits  and 
caps  of  the  boys  who  led  their  charges 
before  the  judges  in  the  show  ring.  There 
is  no  appeal  like  the  appeal  of  youth,  and 
the  judges  who  could  attach  a  blue  rib¬ 
bon  to  only  one  out  of  the  many  calves 
led  before  them  must  have  hardened  their 
hearts  after  the  formula  of  Pharaoh,  him¬ 
self. 
Possibly  included  in  the  term  cattle, 
but  certainly  not  among  dairy  breeds, 
were  the  Ijorseg  shown  jn  the  evening 
shows  beneath  the  roof  of  the  new  half- 
million-dollar  coliseum.  This  attraction 
seemed  to  be  designed  particularly  for 
the  benefit  of  city  visitors,  but  it  is 
probable  that  many  a  rural  heart  beat  a 
little  faster  as  a  clatter  of  swift  hoofs 
reminded  it  of  old  loves,  before  the  sput¬ 
ter  of  gasoline  had  driven  the  family 
roadster  from  the  highways.  Few  now 
have  time  to  drive  a  horse,  even  if  it  were 
safe  to  take  one  out  upon  the  road,  but 
the  machine  has  yet  to  be  built  that  can 
show  the  grace  and  beauty  of  man’s  first 
aid  to  swift  locomotion,  and  the  mem¬ 
ories  of  faithful  servants  between  now 
disused  shafts  will  be  long  in  dying.  ■ 
M.  B.  D. 
The  Giant  Milk  Bottle — Sanitary  Milk 
Truck 
The  glass-lined  truck  tank  for  the  con¬ 
veyance  of  milk  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  dairy  industry  in  all  of 
its  ramifications.  Several  such  trucks 
were  included  in  the  equipment  exhibit 
of  the  recent  Dairy  Congress  in  Syracuse. 
The  glass-lined  truck  is  used  only  for 
the  pick-up  of  a  unit  quantity  of  milk  at 
a  receiving  station.  It  cannot  be  used 
successfully  for  collecting  small  quantities 
of  milk  along  the  road  to  make  the  com¬ 
plete  load,  except  in  the  form  of  extra 
cans  to  be  placed  along  the  can  rail.  The 
reason  for  this  is  the  fact  that  the  pooling 
of  different  supplies  of  milk  in  the  one 
tank  eliminates  the  possibility  of  proper 
sampling  and  the  checking  of  sour  milk, 
should  there  be  any. 
The  trucks  displayed  at  the  dairy  show, 
put  out  by  different  concerns,  were  of  750 
and  1,000  gallons  capacity.  The  tanks 
are  insulated  on  sides  and  ends  with  a 
2-in.  protection  against  temperature  fluc¬ 
tuation,  and  milk  pre-eooled  to  40  de¬ 
grees  will  not  rise  above  42  degrees  on  a 
haul  of  100  miles  when  the  outside  tem¬ 
perature  stands  at  88  degrees.  It  is 
known  that  in  cans  the  temperature  rise 
has  ranged  from  seven  to  30  degrees  on 
the  same  length  trip,  thus  materially  in¬ 
creasing  the  bacterial  count.  In  like 
manner  the  tank  truck  is  an  equal  pro¬ 
tection  against  freezing  temperatures. 
The  equipment  is  easily  cleaned  by  the 
use  of  hot  water  or  steam  hose  with  a 
cleaning  compound.  The  elimination  of 
can  cleaning  means  much  to  many  dairies. 
Kept  at  a  uniform  low  temperature,  the 
loaded  truck  affords  the  most  sanitary 
and  efficient  method  yet  found  for  the 
conveyance  of  milk  in  quantity  ;  no  churn¬ 
ing,  spillage  or  shrinkage  being  factors 
for  the  operator  to  cayry  in  mind. 
ALVAH  II.  PULVER. 
Notes  From  the  Ox-team  Express 
Now  we  are  passing  through  the  west¬ 
ern  part  of  Wyoming.  Here  the  pessi¬ 
mists  who  tried  to  frighten  us  about  the 
Red  Desert  wind.  They  sometimes,  like 
the  weather  prophets  in  the  almanacs,  do 
hit  the  mark.  Here  in  this  God-forsaken 
desert,  or  what  the  natives  call  it,  “the 
Bad  Man’s  Land.”  water  is  scarce;  not 
a  house  or  building  or  anything  that 
seems  to  have  a  touch  of  human  hands 
for  miles  and  miles,  except  telephone 
lines,  and  at  long  intervals  a  section- 
house  on  the  railroad.  On  long  sections 
even  these  are  obscured  from  view.  If 
the  government  should  offer  me  a  section 
of  th is  land  gratis  I  would  pick  a  quarrel 
with  someone  and  fight  for  being  insulted. 
I  imagine  the  old-timers,  when  traveling 
through  here,  were  glad  when  they  met 
Indians  and  had  a  skirmish;  it  made 
some  diversion.  This  drab  sagebrush 
and  mountains  that  look  like  burned  ash 
heaps  are  monotonous,  and  yet  I  see  so 
many  places  along  the  route  that  could 
be  made  serviceable  to  the  traveler  as 
well  as  beautiful,  just  by  a  little  expen¬ 
diture  of  some  of  the  State  funds.  I  am 
informed  the  State  derives  considerable 
money  from  royalties  on  the  oil  taken 
out,  so  that  they  cannot  find  ways  and 
means  to  deplete  the  treasury.  By  the 
expenditure  of  a  few  hundred  dollars  for 
cement  and  labor,  with  stone,  gravel  and 
sand  right  at  hand,  a  dike  could  be  built 
across  from  one  bank  to  the  other  (in 
many  places  the  hills  slope  at  three  angles 
to  a  gully),  to  hold  back  enough  snow 
water  t*o  last  all  Summer.  To  beautify 
these  dams,  trees  could  be  planted 
around  the  water  line  or  side  hills.  This 
would  prevent  evaporation  and  at  the 
same  time  break  up  the  monotony  of  the 
sagebrush.  There  is  but  one  species  of 
sage,  one  drab  color ;  it  is  everywhere 
and  all  over.  Day  after  day,  as  we 
travel  we  see  nothing  else,  not  even  a 
tree  of  any  description. 
Now  we  arrive  at  a  small  town  called 
Granger.  Here  is  the  parting  of  the 
ways.  Here  the  Lincoln  Highway  turns 
southwest,  and  the  old  Oregon  Trail 
points  northwest.  By  the  advice  of  the 
natives  we  turned  in  on  this  trail.  They 
made  us  believe  we  would  cut  off  110 
miles,  and  as  this  is  written,  five  days 
after  leaving  Granger,  we  have  progressed 
but  25  miles  although  we  traveled  75 
miles  by  being  compelled  to  cover  the 
distance  three  times,  besides  having  to 
take  the  cattle  three  and  five  miles  to  the 
river  for  water  and  feed.  We  passed 
but  one  water  hole  along  the  highway, 
and  this  looked  too  suspiciously  alkaline, 
so  we  refused  to  unhitch  and  let  them 
drink. 
This  trail,  a  good  part  of  the  way,  is 
nothing  more  than  two  ruts  across  the 
prairies,  and  in  some  places  so  deep 
from  wear  that  the  axles  almost  scraped 
the  center  of  the  so-called  road.  I’ll 
venture  a  big  wager  at  liberal  odds  no 
road-working  tool  was  ever  used  on  this 
piece  of  road.  When  a  car  came  along 
in  either  direction  they  were  obliged  to 
go  aTound  us  through  the  sagebrush  ;  we 
could  not  get  out.  We  unhooked  the 
trailer,  let  it  stand,  took  the  big  wagon 
up  a  mile  or  two,  then  return  the  oxen 
for  the  trailer.  There  were  only  a  few 
miles  out  of  the  28  miles  between  the  two 
towns  where  the  motors  could  pull  both 
wagon  and  trailer  at  the  same  time,  and 
that  was  going  down  a  canyon. 
On  Sept,  16  we  encountered  our  first 
snow.  It  rained  early  in  the  afternoon, 
and  at  sundown  turned  into  snow.  Now 
the  roads  are  mud.  What  was  yesterday 
a  foot  deep  of  alkaline  dust  is  now 
squashy  mud.  We  are  obliged  to  use  the 
old  detour  through  the  sage,  which  was 
used  while  building  this  piece  of  road 
two  years  ago.  We  were  all  day  going 
about  three  miles,  when  we  found  a  place 
to  camp  near  a  ranch,  where  we 
bought  feed.  We  did  stop  our  train  long 
enough  to  pull  a  car  out  of  the  slush  to 
where  they  could  go.  The  next  town  is 
Opal.  Here  we  camped  two  nights  to 
make  repairs  and  give  the  road  a  chance 
to  dry.  Out  here  in  the  extreme  western 
part  of  Wyoming  the  grazing  is  better. 
Now  we  see  large  flocks  of  sheep  on  the 
hills,  rather  a  beautiful  sight.  Here  the 
“gay  birds”  from  16  years  up,  like  the 
sheep  herders,  ride  horseback,  wear  a 
three-gallon  hat  with  a  great  big  brim  all 
wound  around  with  a  woolen  string,  a  3- 
in.  wide  leather  belt  ornamented  with 
brass  buttons  and  eyelets,  with  a  home¬ 
made  stiletto  in  a  holster,  leather  cuffs 
with  brass  trimmings,  high-top  boots,  tops 
ornamented  with  filigree  stitching,  high 
Cuban  heels,  and  sheepskin  chaps.  They 
look  ferocious  all  right,  but  still  they 
are  tame ;  tame  enough  almost  to  eat 
out  of  one’s  hand. 
At  last  we  have  crossed  the  State  line 
into  Utah.  We  cut  across  what  they 
call  here  a  lane  about  six  miles.  There 
are  no  markers  to  designate  the  line,  but 
we  could  tell  as  we  passed  we  were  out 
of  the  State  of  Wyoming;  there  seemed 
to  be  a  difference.  Just  why  I  am  un¬ 
able  to  figure  out.  The  grass  seemed 
different,  more  of  it,  and  grows  larger ; 
not  so  much  sage,  yet  the  mountains 
look  about  the  same,  and  climate  should 
not  be  much  different  from  a  few  miles 
back.  The  Bear  River  runs  through 
here.  This  may  make  some  difference  to 
vegetation.  Now  we  encounter  snow¬ 
storm  No.  3.  The  ground  is  not  yet 
frozen,  so  we  may  be  able  to  push  along 
a  few  towns  more.  They  tell  us  here  if 
we  can  get  to  Pocatello  before  being 
snowed  in  we  can  work  all  Winter.  Let 
us  hope  it’s  so.  J.  c.  berrang. 
In  one  of  the  Egyptian  rooms  in  the 
museum  they  stood  in  awe  before  a  mum¬ 
my,  over  which  hung  a  card  inscribed : 
“B.  C.  1006.”  “Woteher  s’pose  that 
means,  Bill?”  asked  one,  much  mystified. 
The  other  was  reluctant  to  confess  ignor¬ 
ance.  “Oh.  that,”  he  replied  airily.  “That’s 
the  number  of  the  auto  that  killed  him.” 
- — Credit  Lost. 
Milk  Tank  Auto  Truck 
% 
