American Agriculturist, August 9, 1924 
93 
How Beans Made My Fame and Fortune 
As Told by Mrs. Ollie O’Day to Harry H. Kr oil—Preparations for Baby’s Room 
N ECESSITY is the mother of inven¬ 
tion. 
That is what I reply to people who ask 
me how I got started to canning green 
beans on the scale that I have. I did 
not invent the canning of green beans any 
more than I am the author of the above 
epigram; but I am familiar with both. 
I suppose I have made a success of 
home-packed goods. A lot of people tell 
me that my beans are the best they ever 
ate, and for some years now,! have been 
unable to supply the demand. I got 
started canning because hard times got 
me. and I had to do something to make 
a living. The beginning was no more 
romantic than that. 
About five years ago I found myself a 
widow pn a small farm. I didn't like 
live stock very well, so I didn’t feel equal 
to trying to make that a part of my work. 
I can get along with cows fairly well, but 
deliver me from a mule. I could not 
consider general farming because of lack 
of man-power on the place. I bethought 
me of canning, and bought a canner. 
Then I planted beans in the corn. That 
svas the way I got started. 
Attractive Outside as Well as Inside 
I had not been canning more than one 
season before I realized two things: I 
must not only turn out a superior product, 
but I must have some apt trade-name for 
it, and I must have an attractive, dis¬ 
tinctive label for my cans. So for the 
following season I had my labels designed 
and printed expressly for my own 
use. I don’t like the usual stereotyped 
label with a bunch of beans on it, or a red 
tomato, and a blank place for your name. 
The same article would do for John Smifh 
or Bill Jones equally well — or equally 
badly, whichever way you look at it. 
So I had my labels designed especially 
for myself. 
I stumbled upon the trade-name of 
Peep o’ Day in a rather interesting way. 
One of my neighbors, who is my partner 
at times in the canning business, is an 
early riser, whereas I have never out¬ 
grown Harry Lauder’s conceit—it’s nice 
to get up in the morning, but it’s nicer to 
lie in bed. Well, we had a big canning 
for the next day. We are on a party 
telephone line. So I told her to ring me 
when she got up. “Ollie O’Dav, I’ll 
ring you at peep o’ day,” she replied. 
It was a sort of inspiration. Being a 
play upon my name, it was the best 
thing, probably, that could have occurred 
to me. All of my canned goods bear that 
name, “Peep O’Day.” 
From the very start I determined to 
pack a superior product. I was not 
playing in a just-as-good crowd, I was 
after the better-than-anybody-else class. 
So I selected my bean with the greatest 
care. I packed only the old-fashioned 
White Creaseback cornfield bean — it’s 
the best and tenderest and least stringy 
I know of. And I plant it the good old 
way—right out in the corn. And I never 
can a tough bean. I always take the 
greatest care when I string my beans to 
reject any which show the least tendency 
toward toughness. There is no need 
of packing such a bean and hoping by long 
processing to make it tender. A tough 
bean stays tough, and it means a lost 
customer. And another thing, I do all 
of my stringing myself. I could sell a lot 
more beans if I hired help in stringing— 
for that is the biggest and most tedious 
step in the entire process. But no one 
else would be as careful as I in selecting 
beans, or as critical of my pack as I am. 
Ordinary Process, Extraordinary Care 
All of the Government recipes that I 
know of call for blanching. But I have 
found that blanching green beans gives 
them a faint raw, acrid taste which never 
comes out of them. So I pack oold. 
After stringing the beans and breaking 
them into short pieces, I pack the can 
with all the weight I can with cold, raw 
beans. Then I fill the can with water. 
I do not put in any salt, for salt is an 
astringent, and makes vegetables tough. 
I have never salted any of my boiled food 
until it was cooked and ready to serve 
for that reason. Then I exhaust ten 
minutes, and afterwards process for two 
hours. 
I use an ordinary cheap canner—noth¬ 
ing expensive or elaborate. Each year 
now for some seasons I have packed 
around 1,800 cans of beans. In addition 
I can some corn, tomatoes, corn and 
tomatoes, peas, krout, and pumpkin. 
But my beans meet with the readiest 
sale. 
Built Up the Farm On the Profits 
I have never kept very accurate ac¬ 
counts, so I do not know just what my 
profits might be each year. I have kept 
my farm and home going, built a barn and 
tenant house, added improvements from 
year to year and kept out of debt. That 
isn’t getting rich, but for a widow fifty- 
four years of age it isn’t so bad. I do a 
lot of custom canning for my neighbors 
in addition to my own, and one of my 
neighbors and I have a partnership ar¬ 
rangement in canning beans. She sup¬ 
plies the beans and I do the canning, and 
we split 50-50 on the proceeds. So I 
make a living and even have the time and 
inspiration to write a poem occasionally. 
I love the farm and the cackle of hens, 
and my canner helps me to stay in the 
environment I like best. 
your goods. Quality is about the only 
formula I could name. Make a better 
mouse-trap than the other fellow and the 
rats and mice will make a beaten path to it 
and get caught. Can a better bean than 
the other fellow and your cans instead of 
your competitors’ will ornament folks’ 
back yards. Then have attractive labels, 
and you won’t have to worry much about 
whether your pack is going to sell or stay 
on your hands and you’ll have to get 
your profit by eating it yourself. 
THREE DIAGRAM DRESSES FOR EASY SEWING 
TT is quite natural to want both style 
and simplicity in the frocks you make 
yourself. By examining the diagram of 
No. 2072, you can see how cleverly one 
straight length is used to make the dress. 
The pattern comes in sizes lit, 16 years, 
36, 38, i0 and lf2 inches bust measure. 
Only 3pi yards of iO-inch material is 
required to make it in the medium size. 
Price 12c. 
r rIlE diagram tells everything. 
2 Just a straight length of mate¬ 
rial oddly slashed makes this de¬ 
lightful design. Pattern No. 
2026 can be had in sizes 16 years, 
36, 38, Ifi, i2 and U inches bust 
measure. In the medium size, 
3 yards Ifi-inch material with M 
yard 27-inch contrasting and 6 
yards of binding is required. 
Price, 12c. 
ZTERE’S a morning frock that 
BL can be “ run up” in an hour, for 
it cuts in one piece as the diagram 
shows. No. 2082 is cut in sizes 16 
years, 36, 38, If), It2 and U inches 
bust measure. Size 36 takes 3 yards 
of hO-inch gingham, percale or cham- 
bray. Price 12c in stamps or coin 
(stamps preferred). 
TO ORDER: Write name, address, pattern numbers and sizes clearly, enclose 
proper remittance and send to the Pattern Department, American Agriculturist, 
461 Fourth Ave., New York City. 
screen, and around it near the top at a 
convenient height for the mother, who 
may wish to sit or stand when dressing 
the baby, runs a strip of wood. This has 
hooks in to hold small garments. When 
the bath is over, this screen may be folded 
up and placed out of the way. The com¬ 
fort of all these things is that any man 
who is at all “handy” with hammer, 
nails, and saw can make them at very 
little cost of time or money. 
A cake of ivory soap is convenient for 
Furnishing the Nursery 
I T PAYS to plan ahead for the room 
where the wee newcomer will live. So 
many things there are which will make 
the mother’s tasks easier and the baby’s 
life happier. 
A good-sized clothes rack may be made 
for holding and drying the baby’s clothes. 
A shelf across the top of this will hold the 
baby’s toilet tray or basket, patches, 
shoes, empty bottles, folded diapers, etc. 
This combination is a very great conven¬ 
ience. 
A baby’s dressing table is of great im¬ 
portance. It may be about three feet 
square, and made a convenient working 
height for the mother. Two or three 
drawers may contain the toilet articles 
needed after the bath and various items 
of clothing. The baby can be taken 
directly from his tub, placed on a soft 
mat of towels on the table and all dressing 
operations performed here. A corner, so 
arranged as to hold his bathtub, the dress¬ 
ing table and the clothes rack, will greatly 
I have often been asked why I do not 
expand and get my canning upon a real 
commercial basis. My answer is that my 
product would inevitably suffer. As I 
said, I cannot get labor that would have 
'the same interest in the thing that I have. 
So, while I might make some more money, 
and business would be large and im¬ 
pressive, I still would probably lose the 
kind of expression which frequently 
comes to me — “Your beans are the best 
I ever ate.” That’s worth more to me 
than quantity production. 
I don’t think there is any secret in 
canning and building up a good trade for 
THE NEW BABY 
I HAD not thought I wanted you,— 
so much, 
For a little baby’s precious needs are 
such 
That I must give time that was 
others’ due, 
I must tax energies yet greater,—- 
and too few; , 
I must whip up the steeds of strength, 
so prone to slack, 
I must coax lagging little bits of 
youth-time back; 
Not self alone deny but others dear,— 
Sing through the aching, smiling 
through the tear.—• 
And so, you see, I did not choose 
you,— 
But, oh, the heart-break should I 
ever lose you! 
—AMY W. E-* jLESTON. > 
holding safety pins. It helps to keep 
them clean and prevents rust. 
A white enameled tray takes the place 
very nicely of the basket for holding 
baby’s toilet articles. This can be easily 
cleaned and will hold liquids without 
danger of spilling. The whole may be 
covered with a cloth to protect from 
dust. 
White enamel adds so much to baby 
things in cleanliness and attractiveness 
and it is so easy to apply, that old things 
may be renovated by a couple of coats 
and baby’s outfit greatly enhanced in 
beauty. And what is sweeter than a 
blue-eyed babe, all rosy and white, sur¬ 
rounded by everything clean and fresh!— 
Mrs. Terbusii. 
reduce the work and time required for 
keeping the small one clean and sweet. 
An old family cradle—not the low, 
old-fashioned kind with the hood on— 
may be transformed into a most attrac¬ 
tive crib. Remove the rockers and put 
on baby carriage wheels or wooden wheels. 
A canopy to protect small eyes against 
the light may be added. When this crib 
has been white enameled it is hard to find 
a daintier piece of baby furniture. 
A bath screen has two purposes. It 
may hold the baby’s garments and at the 
same time be a protection against draughts. 
It need not be as high as the ordinary 
Buttermilk Useful, Too 
T HICK sour milk and buttermilk 
make fine biscuits, crusts for dump¬ 
lings, puffs, chicken pie, beef pie, veal 
pie, or any of those things. The regula¬ 
tion proportion is to add to one cup of 
sour milk or buttermilk, one level tea¬ 
spoon of soda, dissolved in a spoonful of 
water. Add one tablespoon of drippings 
and flour enough to make a thick dough, 
but add to the flour one rounding tea¬ 
spoon of baking powder to each cup of the 
sour milk or buttermilk. t 
Sour milk or sour buttermilk is very 
efficacious in removing the tarnish from 
silverware. Simply warm the fluid and 
put the articles in it to soak an hour or 
two, according to depth of the tarnish. 
Then remove and wash in good warm 
soapsuds, rubbing briskly. If the tarnish 
is not all gone, put the articles back and 
let them soak a while longer. 
I never have cleaned my tableware so 
easily, especially after they have been 
subjected to coal gas, as I have by 
using the sour milk method.—C larice 
Raymond. 
Boiled Pot-Pie 
2 cups flour 
1 teaspoonful salt 
2 rounding teaspoonfuls baking-powder 
1 cup of water or milk 
Stir stiff enough to make into balls 
size of an egg, handle lightly and drop in 
gravy, boil 20 or 25 minutes.— Mrs. 
Ida A. Brown. 
