American Agriculturist, November 29, 1924 
Making Money from Waste Products' 
I 
Our Readers Tell of Practices That Saved Dollars 
Editor’s Note: —In our November 15th issue 
we told you that we wanted you to give us more help to 
write the paper. American Agriculturist has 
always made this a policy, believing that those ivho 
can be of the most help to farmers are the farmers 
themselves. We asked that you write us on the 
subject “How I Save Money By Good Use of Crop 
Waste and By-products ,” and we have already re¬ 
ceived quite a few letters, some of the best of which we 
are publishing on this page this time. 
We will be glad to have more. It is the common, 
everyday problems of the farm that are the most 
perplexing and on which farmers are looking for help. 
Nearly everyone has something that they can do a 
little better than somebody else. Why not pass this 
experience on so that all of the thousands in our big 
family can have the benefit of it? We ivill pay a 
dollar for'every experience letter that we can use. 
Turn to page 3fl of the November 
15th issue for a list of subjects which 
may suggest something about which you 
can write. 
* * * 
Let The Straw Walk Off 
N every farm of any size there 
is sure to be a large quantity 
of straw after the threshing is 
over, and this is in many cases 
piled up in a stack in the barnyard or 
in some cases returned to the mow at 
the time of threshing. Some farmers 
practice feeding a quantity of straw 
during the winter in order to save hay 
for market. 
For my part I doubt if there is 
much economy in feeding much 
straw to cows that we expect to milk 
the next spring. In order to get the 
best out of an animal the next year, 
she must have the best all the time. 
No man can take more money out of 
a bank than he puts in and no dairy¬ 
man can take more out of his dairy 
than he puts in during the year. I feel 
that the best way to dispose of the 
surplus straw raised on the farm is to 
use it very freely during the winter as 
bedding for the animals and to freely use it to bed 
down the barnyard each week during the winter 
months. In this way the straw will be worked 
into manure and by spring there will be a Jot of 
humus ready to be hauled out upon the fields. 
By so doing we can increase .the fertility of the 
soil. 
I would never sell a pound of’straw or hay from 
the farm. Use it up on the farm and so make the 
old place worth more money as the years go by. 
If straw must be sold off of the farm, sell it in this 
way. Let it walk off in the shape of good beef or 
mutton by using plenty of straw for manure and 
so raise more corn and hay to feed more stock to 
produce more milk and meat on the old farm that 
Mother and Daddy once owned.—A. C. V. L., 
Steuben County, N. Y. 
* * * 
Saving The Leghorn’s Energy 
A FLOCK of poultry and a market garden 
make a combination that nearly eliminate 
waste. The by-products from the hens are applied 
to the garden and all unsalable material from the 
garden is used for the hens, a complete and 
beautiful circle. 
Our place is too small to give free range to the 
poultry, but the weeds, thinnings, and cull 
vegetables provide the necessary green feed. The 
cull cabbage, beets, carrots, etc., with a few 
mangels, make winter feed. Coarser material, pea 
and bean vines, etc., are dried and used for litter 
together with leaves. 
This litter, when scratched to pieces, is spread 
on the garden, with the droppings, and keeps up 
fertility very well. 
We think that very little goes to waste unless it 
be our Leghorn’s energy in flying over fences, but 
we’re raising Wyandottes now to save that.— 
A. C. H., Windsor County, Vt. 
* * * 
Not Bean Porridge But Bean Pods 
I N regard to the use of bean pods and vines, it 
seems to me that this by-product of the farm 
is a mighty easy one to dispose of in order to make 
it show a profit on the right side of the farm 
management. On most farms where beans are 
raised for market, after the crop has been threshed, 
it is the custom to store the pods and vines of the 
bean crop in a dry place for winter use. 
We all know that the bean pod contains a 
certain amount of oil, therefore the wise feeder 
will feed only a small amount of this fodder at a 
time to each anin&al. 
Bean pods are very fine for sheep or cows, if fed 
in connection with other roughage and even some 
horses like to nibble a little at the pods if a few are 
placed in the manger once in a while. It is easy 
if one keeps sheep or cows to work off quite a lot 
of bean pods during the winter months, just a 
small handful to start with and gradually increase 
the feeding. I find that sheep like this by-product 
of the farm and do well upon it.—A. C. V. L., 
Steuben County, N. Y. 
* * * 
Quilts From Strainers 
W E USE a sanitary strainer for the milk and 
as the squares of outing can be used only 
once, I wash them, scalding well and dry them. 
When I have saved enough for a quilt lining I dye 
them some pretty color, sometimes using two 
(harmonizing) colors. It makes a pretty cover or 
lining for a quilt or comfortable, and very warm; 
also, being new, will wear very well. 
I have told others about it and all whom I have 
told think it a true economy, so I thought others 
would be glad to know about it.— Mrs. G. R. F., 
Franklin County, N. Y. 
* * * 
What To Do With A Broken Head 
HE broken heads of cabbage may be disposed 
of in many different ways. If you have 
rabbits, give your broken heads of cabbage to 
them. They will show you, after you have given 
it to them once that they like it very much and 
have a great feast on it. 
Another way that you may dispose of this 
cabbage is to give it to your hens. Place a head 
of cabbage on a sharp stick and set it up in the hen 
house so the hens may work at it. See how 
quickly it will disappear. This furnishes green 
feed for your hens and they are very fond of it. 
It is also useful made into sourkraut for the 
family’s winter use. This is made by cutting fine 
and putting in layers with a little salt between each 
layer and pounding until juice covers it. Let 
work in a warm place for three or four days. 
Then when it is worked enough put away in 
cellar for the future use. 
Thus there are three ways in which you may 
dispose of your broken heads of cabbage.—H. L. 
H., Otsego County, N. Y. 
* * * 
Use the Nectar of the Flower 
H ONEY bees are a source of income, but they 
are overlooked by many who are thinking of 
a way to make a little extra money at home. It is 
pleasant work and can be successfully conducted 
by women. 
Any stand of bees that is healthy 
and strong ought to make from 100 
to 300 pounds of honey each season. 
The bees work for nothing and board 
themselves. There is no difficulty in 
finding a market for honey and prices 
are always good. A woman I know 
lives on a road where many automo¬ 
biles pass daily and she has a stand 
on this road, with attractive signs, 
prices on cards, etc., and the honey 
put up in attractive jars, and she has 
more demand for it than she can 
supply. > i 
Some sell their honey in the local 
stores, others ship it to the larger 
cities. 
It is important that you buy good 
healthy bees. They are subject to 
diseases same as anyone else, so in 
order not to buy diseased bees, buy 
from reliable people who will guaran¬ 
tee the health of the bees they sell 
you. Put your bees in modern, 
standard hives. 
Any woman can manage several 
stands of bees and make a nice little 
income from it, without giving it 
much of her time or attention. And 
there is always a demand on the market for honey, 
right at her own door or in the nearby towns. 
—A. M. H., New Jersey. 
* * * 
Flour Bags Are Valuable 
The things I do with flour bags are many. I can 
buy them from a baker, fifteen for a dollar. I 
wash them, soaking in kerosene first to get all the 
colored letters and pictures out, and bleach them 
well. I make pillow slips, underwear, such as 
children’s waists, summer union suits, petticoats, 
bloomers, and corset covers. I dye them for quilt 
linings, rompers, dresses and any that are torn or 
have holes in I dye and put in rugs that I am 
braiding. Unbleached and stamped for^embroid- 
ering, they sell at a good profit, as fudge aprons. 
—Mrs. G. R. F., Franklin County, New York. 
Kill a Kow 
I will be glad to cooperate, providing 
at least one thousand other dairymen 
will do the same, in selling or killing 
FOR BEEF PURPOSES at least one 
of the poorest producers in my herd 
between now and March 1, 1925. 
Name 
Address. 
Cut this out, sign it and send it to American 
Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. 
T_T OW a roadside stand and a cider press turned a lot of cull apples into real money 
-*■ is told of a Connecticut farm woman who reported $80 in receipts in a single day’s 
business. Of course, not all farmers are located so desirably that they can take advantage 
of the automobile traffic along State highways. It shows, however, what can be done in 
the way of making money from waste products. Cull apples are practically always a 
drug on the market and it is a heady farmer or farm woman who can turn them into 
money. Where a man is not located on a State highway, he can very often merchandise 
his product in the nearby village and the returns will usually pay him well for his efforts. 
It is something worth trying at any rate. 
