1540 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
December  22,  1923 
Things  To  Think  About 
Health  Notes 
Women  and  General  Farm  Work 
In  regard  to  the  article  on  pa?ge  1451 
entitled  “Women  and  General  Farm 
Work,”  I  would  like  to  add  an  account  of 
my  own  personal  experience,  which  per¬ 
haps  may  be  of  interest  to  M.  M.  H,  Dur-' 
ing  the  war  I  joined  a  farmerette  unit  in 
New  York  State,  and  although  at  first 
there  was  a  general  hesitancy  on  the 
part  of  farmers  ^o  employ  women,  they 
accepted  their  services  on  account  of  the 
scarcity  of  available  men.  It  was  not 
long,  however,  before  they  found  the 
women  (though  in  this  case  they  were 
girls  under  20)  quite  as  valuable  sis  men, 
performing  some  of  the  most  difficult 
farm  work.  For  example,  besides  hoeing 
in  fields  overgrown  with  weeds,  we  cut 
and  shocked  field  corn,  helped  thrash  rye, 
oats  and  barley,  and  drove  teams  and 
trucks.  Incidentally  the  farmers  com¬ 
mented  on  the  conscientiousness  and  thor¬ 
oughness  of  the  women’s  work.  None  of 
us  had  had  any  previous  farm  training. 
Since  then  I  have  taken  courses  at  an 
agricultural  college  and  spent  about  a 
year  on  a  large  truck  farm  in  the  Middle 
West.  Acting  as  a  regular  farm  hand  I 
performed  the  various  phases  of  routine 
work,  no  discrimination  being  drawn  on 
account  of  my  sex,  and  my  work  was  pro¬ 
nounced  equivalent  to  that  of  a  man.  I 
therefore  feel  that  it  is  not  necessary  to 
limit  one's  ambitions,  as  F.  H.  L.  states, 
to  such  lines  of  work  as  picking  during 
strawberry  and  other  small  fruit  har¬ 
vests.  There  are  innumerable  types  of 
planting,  cultivating  and  harvesting  of 
larger  crops  which  women  have  done  and 
are  capable  of  doing.  At  farms  where 
men  and  women  are  employed  the  feeling 
of  restraint  soon  wears  off,  and  there  de¬ 
velops  a  spirit  of  understanding  and  co¬ 
operation  similar  to  that  of  any  other 
field  of  work  where  men  and  women  work 
together.  R.  R. 
Little  Farm  Notes 
Once  upon  a  time  we  bought  a  colt, 
and  he  cribbed.  We  figured  if  wTe  put 
something  he  didn’t  like  the  taste  of  on 
the  boards,  he  would  stop  the .  trick,  so 
husband  used  cayenne  pepper  tea.  lie 
just  tasted  a  bit  and  stopped,  never  to 
begin  again  in  the  four  years  we  kept 
him.  Later  someone  suggested  hot  tallow 
and  cayenne  would  be  better. 
A  schoolmate  used  to  be  quite  a  trap¬ 
per,  and  he  set  hawk  traps  on  a  high  hill, 
choosing  a  dry  branch  of  a  tree  to  place  a 
trap  on,  and  concealing  it  with  feathers, 
making  an  imitation  chicken.  He  caught 
over  20  hawks  in  one  tree  in  a  few  sea¬ 
sons. 
Mtany  remedies  are  given  for  scaly  legs 
in  poultry,  but  we  think  ours  is  simplest. 
Just  rub  the  legs  with  common  yellow 
“Vaseline”;  once  is  sufficient  for  most 
cases.  Melted  tallow  is  efficient  also. 
Farmers’  wives  have  many  calls  for  in¬ 
formation,  but  I  was  surprised  when  a 
young  man  came  hurriedly  and  said  :  “My 
horse  has  cut  herself  bad,  and  it  bleeds 
awful  and  I  don’t  know  a  thing  to  do. 
Do  you?”  Instantly  I  remembered  hear¬ 
ing  an  old  teamster  say  he  always  put  on 
kerosene,  as  it  stopped  blood,  was  an 
antiseptic,  and  he  never  knew  a  horse  to 
take  cold  in  a  cut  when  kerosene  was 
applied.  I  put  a  little  in  a  bottle  and 
the  man  put  it  on  and  soon  announced 
the  bleeding  had  stopped.  Afterward  he 
told  the  family  it  healed  very  quickly. 
To  the  man  from  New  Jersey  who 
wanted  small  horses  and  thought  of  try¬ 
ing  Shetland,  why  not  try  Morgans?  Get 
the  small  size  Vermont  Morgans,  weigh¬ 
ing  less  than  1.000  lbs.  We  had  such  a 
team  and  they  do  all  farm  work  and  are 
good  drivers. 
In  regard  to  weeds  in  silo,  one  good 
farmer  is  said,  to  have  remarked  he  would 
never  buy  a  silo  for  corn  alone ;  he  puts 
in  trimmings  from  roadside  and  fence- 
rows,  green  feed  of  all  sorts,  all  into  one 
big  succotash.  mother  bee. 
A  Western  Reader’s  Sleeping  Bag 
'Someone  asked  directions  for  a  sleep¬ 
ing  bag.  Here  in  the  West,  where  earn¬ 
ing  is  almost  a  universal  pastime,  bags 
of  many  kinds  may  be  seen.  Perhaps  the 
most  common  and  practical  is  just  a  piece 
of  canvas  some  eight  feet  square,  folded 
over  and  pinned  up  on  the  side  and  foot 
with  horse  blanket  pins.  It  is  a  little 
more  convenient  to  use  small,  nickel- 
plated  spring  snaps  and  rings  in  place  of 
the  pins.  These  may  be  sewed,  or  riv¬ 
eted  to  the  canvas,  the  lower  ones  four 
and  the  upper  ones  six  inches  back  from 
the  edge.  The  cloth  should  be  a  close- 
woven  duck,  not  less  than  12-oz.  weight. 
For  service  in  wet  weather  it  is  well  to 
give  the  outside  two  coats  of  boiled  oil 
and  lead  paint,  light  gray  or  brown 
color.  For  this  it  is  best  to  stretch  light¬ 
ly  between  two  posts,  or  across  the  cor¬ 
ner  of  a  room. 
Another  nice  feature  is  to  run  a  two- 
inch  hem  along  the  top  and  bottom  of 
the  under  half,  and  insert  an  old  broom 
stick  in  it,  then  fasten  a  piece  of  %-in. 
rope  around  it  at  each  end  of  the  stick. 
The  ropes  should  be  about  four  feet  long 
and  used  to  suspend  the  bag  like  a  ham¬ 
mock. 
Most  factory-made  bags  have  a  blanket 
or  sheepskin  lining  sewn  in  them,  and 
are  sewn  across  the  foot  and  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  way  up  the  side.  I  prefer 
the  unlined  bag,  though,  as  it  is  easier  to 
air  out,  and  can  be  used  as  a  tarpaulin 
over  the  camp  equipment  in  daytime. 
MAX*  GRIMM. 
A  Field  Glass 
I  wonder  how  many  farm  women  own 
a  field  glass?  In  these  times  when  so 
much  is  written  about  making  the  farm 
woman’s  life  easier  and  happier,  let  me 
add  this.  Situated  on  the  south  hillside 
of  a  wide  and  very  beautiful  valley,  wTe 
gain  from  almost  any  place  on  the  farm 
a  wonderful  view,  including  two  State 
roads,  three  railroads,  two  villages  and 
a  canal  system.  Besides  this,  the  oppo¬ 
site  hill  and  the  one  to  the  east,  with 
their  forests,  fields  under  production  and 
nestling  farm  homes,  are  spread  before 
us  down  to  the  place  where  the  hills 
seem  to  meet  and  the  canal  seems  to  flow 
westward.  All  this  may  be  seen  with  the 
naked  eye,  and  with  a  good  glass  so  many 
interesting  details  can  be  located.  Far 
across  is  the  pole  marking  the  highest 
point  in  the  county,  to  the  east  the  con¬ 
struction  of  a  reservoir,  away  up  reach¬ 
ing  the  skyline  a  Congressman’s  country 
home,  and  many  cozy  farmhouses  in  their 
convenient  assembly  of  buildings  and 
fields. 
About  sunset  the  light  strikes  across 
to  the  second  range  of  hills,  and  we  have 
seen  nestling  away  at  the  top  of  a  hill  in 
Worms  in  Children 
What  simple  home  remedy  can  be  given 
a  child  suspected  of  having  worms?  What 
did  our  grandmothers  do?  One  of  my 
friend’s  children  is  slow  moving.  When 
she  puts  him  on  a  fast  he  will  vomit 
green  water  after  missing  the  first  meal, 
gritting  his  teeth,  also  when  asleep. 
Three  physicians  have  said  he  did  not 
look  as  if  he  had  worms ;  would  give  a 
worm  medicine  if  she  could  produce 
proof,  but  would  not  give  it  on  her  sus¬ 
picion  of  symptoms,  and  laughed  at  the 
suspicions.  Recently  I  read  that  ground 
pumpkin  seeds  are  good  for  worms  in  pup¬ 
pies.  c.  M.  o.  s. 
Halethorps,  Md. 
There  is  no  one  remedy  “good  for 
worms,”  for  the  reason  that  the  worms 
that  sometimes  infest  children  or  adults 
are  of  several  different  varieties,  and  the 
remedies  that  are  effectual  with  one  va¬ 
riety  are  of  little  use  when  another  is 
present.  The  greater  part  of  the  symp¬ 
toms  attributed  to  worms  in  children  are 
due  to  other  causes,  the  restlessness,  grit¬ 
ting  of  the  teeth,  dark  rings  beneath  the 
eyes,  etc.,  being  manifestations  of  diges¬ 
tive  or  other  disturbances  which  need 
very  different  treatment  than  the  admin¬ 
istration  of  some  worm  remedy.  Worms 
A  Sale  for  Weeds. —  All  the  products 
of  the  soil  do  not  come  from  the  farms. 
Some  of  it  grows  along  the  roadside. 
This  fact  was  brought  to  my  notice  when 
I  discovered  an  automobile  being  loaded 
with  tansy,  which  was  being  cut  where- 
ever  it  was  found  growing  in  a  vacant 
lot  or  beside  the  road.  I  was  interested 
enough  to  ask  the  driver  what  he  was 
doing,  and  was  told  that  immense  quan¬ 
tities  of  tansy  are  obtained  in  this  way 
from  the  suburbs  of  Boston  and  carried 
to  factories,  w7here  medicine  is  made. 
This  would  seem  like  an  inexpensive  way 
of  getting  raw  material.  e.  I.  F. 
another  valley  a  little  village  miles  away. 
Homes  of  friends,  picnics  and  an  occa¬ 
sional  parked  party  may  be  peeped  upon. 
On  one  occasion  an  invalid  saw  the 
crowd,  tents  and  parked  automobiles  of 
a  picnic  which  part  of  her  family  attend¬ 
ed.  When  I  have  a  few  spare  minutes  I 
take  the  glass.  w.  j.  L. 
Curing  Turkey  Wings 
I  think  there  is  no  curing  of  turkey 
or  chicken  wings  (page  1422).  I  use 
them  myself  and  I  have  a  customer  who 
is  always  asking  me  to  save  her  some 
wings.  I  have  Several  now  ready  for 
her.  Just  cut  them  off  and  put  them 
where  they  will  dry.  There  is  no  odor 
or  anything  disagreeable  about  them. 
Concord,  Mass.  a.  d.  l. 
Inheritance  From  Wife 
My  father  and  mother  each  made  a 
will,  leaving  all  to  the  other  in  case  of 
death.  There  were  seven  children ;  one 
sister  died.  She  left  four  children.  All 
the  other  brothers  and  sisters  have  chil¬ 
dren  except  the  oldest  sister.  She  already 
has  inherited  half  of  an  uncle’s  estate,  the 
rest  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  inheriting 
the  other  half  between  them  equally.  My 
father  being  dead,  my  mother  would  like 
to  know  whether,  if  she  should  die.  and 
the  oldest  sister  should  also  die,  within 
the  six  months  of  the  settling  of  the  es¬ 
tate,  being  alive  at  the  time  of  her  moth¬ 
er’s  death,  would  her  husband  receive  her 
share  of  her  mother’s  estate?  If  so, 
could  it  be  devised  in  the  will  otherwise? 
Connecticut.  E.  M. 
The  husband  would  take  all  of  the  es¬ 
tate  to  the  extent  of  $2,000,  and  half  of 
the  remainder.  About  the  only  way  this 
could  be  avoided  in  the  will  under  the 
conditions  you  name  would  be  to  leave  the 
daughter  a  life  use  of  the  property,  and 
have  the  remainder  revert  to  the  residu¬ 
ary  estate.  n.  t. 
as  the  cause  of  nervous  manifestations  in 
children  have  been  very  much  -over¬ 
worked  ;  as  a  rule,  they  are  not  present. 
This  is  the  reason  that  your  physicians 
have  declined  to  give  some  worm  remedy 
without  any  real  evidence  of  the  presence 
of  worms.  They  probably  recognize  that 
there  are  other  conditions  in  need  of 
treatment. 
It  would  be  easy  to  tell  you  the  names 
of  the  most  efficient  drugs  used  in  the 
treatment  of  worms  In  children,  and  even 
to  give  you  the  dosage  and  method  of  ad¬ 
ministration,  but,  to  do  so,  would  be  to 
run  the  risk  of  injuring,  rather  than 
helping,  the  child  in  question,  and  we 
would  rather  not  take  the  responsibility. 
M.  B.  D. 
Preventing  Cancer  by  Blood  Treatment 
Do  you  think  a  person’s  blood  can  be 
cleansed  from  the  cause  of  cancers?  I 
have  taken  seven  cancers  of  the  skin  out 
of  my  fac.e  since  May  20,  1923,  and  by 
the  way,  my  face  feels  as  if  two  more  are 
coming.  In  1898  a  small  gray-colored 
scab  came  on  the  right  side  of  my  un¬ 
der  lip  and  it  proved  to  be  a  cancer  of  the 
skin  which  I  took  out  in  October,  1902. 
I  used  the  prescription  given  me  by  Dr. 
Walter  Robinson  of  the  New  York  Medi¬ 
cal  Society.  It  was  chloride  of  zinc  and 
galangal  root,  equal  parts.  It  is  a  burn¬ 
ing  plaster.  •  f.  s.  w. 
Tennessee. 
There  is  no  known  way  of  preventing 
cancer  by  treatment  of  the  blood.  Cancer 
is  not  a  “blood  disease,”  as  that  term  is 
generally  understood,  but  rather  a  local 
disease  of  the  tissues  in  which  it  appears, 
transferable  after  a  time  to  other  portions 
of  the  body  by  means  of  the  blood  stream. 
Superficial  skin  cancers  are  most  amen¬ 
able  to'  the  caustic  pastes,  used  as  plast¬ 
ers.  When  treated  in  time,  these  caustics 
may  destroy  the  diseased  tissue  and  per¬ 
mit  healing  of  the  skin.  They  do  not 
“take  out  cancers  by  the  roots,”  since 
cancers  do  not  have  roots,  but,  if  ef¬ 
fectual,  they  destroy  the  diseased  tissues 
and  leave  the  healthy  surrounding  parts 
capable  of  repairing  to  some  extent  the 
damage  donei.  Too  touch  dependence 
cannot  be  placed  upon  caustics  in  the 
treatment  of  even  superficial  cancers  of 
the  skin,  however,  and  thev  should  not 
be  given  too  long  a  trial.  Not  all  small 
tumors  appearing  upon  the  face  are  can¬ 
cerous  and  “cancer  pastes”  have  been 
credited  with  performing  many  cures  in 
cases  where  cancer  did  not  exist.  Any 
sore  of  the  face  or  lip  in  people  past 
middle  age  that  does  not  heal  should  be 
regarded  with  suspicion,  however,  and 
a  competent  and  reputable  physician  con¬ 
sulted  with  regard  to  it.  The  lip  is  par¬ 
ticularly  the  site  of  cancerous  growths  in 
smokers  or  people  who  have  jagged  and 
irritating  teeth.  m.  b.  d. 
Occupational  Eczema 
Could  you  give  me  a  little  information 
regarding  my  husband’s  health?  He 
worked  for  a  talking  machine  firm  about 
two  years  and  a  half.  When  engaged  he 
was  examined  by  their  house  doctor  and 
at  time  was  in  a  good  healthy  condition. 
When  there  a  short  time  there  appeared 
on  his  hands  and  arm  a  red  rash.  He 
applied  salve,  but  it  did  no  good,  so 
went  to  our  doctor,  who  gave  him  salve. 
The  rash  went  away,  then  shortly  after 
came  back.  During  this  time  other  men 
employed  around  him  had  the  same,  so  he 
went  to  a  skin  specialist  in  Philadelphia. 
He  went  to  him  about  10  weeks.  The 
specialist  called  the  disease  occupational 
eczema.  At  the  end  the  doctor  told  him 
to  get  out  of  this  kind  of  work,  so  he  did, 
leaving  the  firm  in  February  this  year. 
Now  the  rash  is  all  over  his  body.  It 
runs  constantly ;  he  cannot  sleep  or  use 
his  legs.  He  has  now  been  home  12 
weeks ;  cannot  work.  I  am  compelled  to 
go  to  work  to  keep  up  my  home  and  pay 
expenses;  then  he  goes  to  a  Philadelphia 
hospital  once  a  week  and  the  doctors 
there  told  him  his  trouble  comes  from, 
varnish  and  stain  used  while  at  work ; 
they  said  they  have  men  coming  in  every 
day  from  this  firm  for  treatment.  In  Au¬ 
gust  I  wrote  to  the  president  of  this  firm 
and  explained  all  circumstances  in  letter, 
but  so  far  it  has  not  been  acknowledged. 
MRS.  K.  K. 
If  your  husband  has  gone  to  one  of  the 
numerous  good  hospitals  in  Philadelphia 
he  is  probably  getting  as  good  medical 
treatment  as  he  could  get  anywrhere,  and 
it  will  be  wise  to  remain  under  the  hos¬ 
pital’s  care. 
Whether  or  not  the  firm  for  which  he 
worked  is  liable  for  damages  in  the  mat¬ 
ter  is.  a  question  for  a  competent  lawyer 
to  decide,  after  learning  all  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  the  case.  It  does  not  seem 
reasonable  that  they  should  allow  any 
process  of  manufacture  in  their  work 
that  could  be  directly  responsible  for  dis¬ 
ease  of  the  kind  that  you  describe  and, 
if  they  have  done  this  knowingly,  they 
may  be  liable  to  suit  for  damages.  This 
should  be  determined  by  a  good  and  re¬ 
sponsible  lawyer,  however,  and  I  should 
advise  consulting  one  before  going  to  any 
expense  in  the  matter.  m.  b.  d. 
Healing  Cracked  Hands 
What  can  I  do  to  prevent  cracking  of 
my  fingers?  ^  They  are  hard  to  heal,  and 
so  sore.  When  they  are  big  enough  I 
sew  them  up  with  needle  and  white 
thread,  and  the  relief  pays  for  the  hurt, 
but  I’d  like  to  prevent  it.  g.  d.  p. 
Pennsylvania. 
The  best  preventive  that  I  know  of  is 
to  get  a  white  collar  job  that  will  permit 
you  to  keep  your  hands  from  exposure  to 
cold,  moisture  and  rough  work.  If  this 
is  not  practicable,  and  you  are  probably 
fortunate  in  that  it  isn’t,  the  next  best 
thing  is  to  try  to  keep  the  skin  of  the 
ends  of  the  fingers  soft  and  pliable  by 
the  use  of  such  unguents  as  have  been 
from  time  immemorial  recommended  and 
applied  for  that  purpose.  Of  these,  I  do 
not  know  that  there  is  anything  better 
than  old-fashioned  mutton  tallow,  warmed 
and  applied  at  night  and  all  other  conve¬ 
nient  times.  Plain  “Vaseline”  acts  well 
also.  There  are  various  “cold  creams” 
that  are  useful,  a  formula  for  one  of  these 
being  printed  each  Winter  in  our  house¬ 
hold  column.  If  you  want  to  try  this,  get 
your  wife  or  sister  to  make  it ;  a  batch 
that  I  made  up  some  time  ago  is  still  a 
family  joke.  This  is  a  woman’s  job.  Old 
gloves  worn  at  night,  after  greasing  the 
fingers,  will  help  to  keep  the  skin  soft. 
Touching  the  raw  surfaces  of  the  cracks 
with  a  sharpened  pencil  of  lunar  caustic, 
pouring  hot  mutton  tallow  into  them, 
using  one  of  the  old  hard  stick  sealing 
waxes,  made  of  beeswax,  tallow,  etc.,  and, 
finally,  sewing  up  the  large,  deep  ones, 
seems  to  about  cover  the  remedial  meas¬ 
ures  generally  known.  Try  also  applying 
a  short  piece  snipped  from  a  roll  of  sur¬ 
geon’s  adhesive  plaster  as  a  protective, 
after  the  fingers  have  been  cleaned  and 
dried  thoroughly.  You  can  obtain  this  at 
any  drug  store.  M.  B.  D. 
