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American Agriculturist, July 28,1923 
Making the Desolate Pine Barrens Bloom 
Mrs . Edith Loving Fullerton's Share in the Medford, L. L Agricultural Development 
Y OU remember the kitchen most 
clearly. 
That is, if you are a woman. I don’t 
mean that the rest of the house fails 
to please you, or that you can help 
being impressed by the blooming con¬ 
dition; of the fields and gardens around 
Mrs. Hal. B. Fullerton’s home at' the 
Long Island Demonstration Station at 
Medford. But any woman would covet 
that kitchen, with its windows on three 
sides, its “washing alcove”, its stow¬ 
away places for shining pots and pans 
;which are still within, immediate reach, 
and its delightful air of comfort, cool¬ 
ness and homey-ness. 
Outdoors the sun was beating down 
with an earnest determination to make 
up for lost time earlier in the season, 
but still the kitchen was cool and rest¬ 
ful. And Mrs. Fullerton, proud as she 
is of the station and all it has accom¬ 
plished, confessed to just a little extra 
glow of pride in having achieved that 
kitchen. 
“When plans were drawn for the 
house”, she said, “everything was per¬ 
fect, except for the typical man’s idea 
of a kitchen. I objected. They re¬ 
proached me with the cost of the room 
I wanted. But I pointed out that the 
whole idea of the station and our home 
was to demonstrate what could be done 
with natural resources to give Long 
Island farmers and their wives con¬ 
venient, modern, and profitable farms 
and homes. And, I said, to a woman 
her kitchen was the thing on which her 
comfort largely depended. I wanted 
mine ‘model’ as much as Mr. Fullerton 
wanted his equipment to be the last 
word in efficiency. 
“Oh yes, they changed the plans, as 
you see.” 
More Visitors than Days in the Year 
It’s just as well they did, for Mrs. 
Fullerton not only uses the kitchen to 
•minister to the needs of her family but 
from it she must serve the scores of 
visitors, invited and unexpected, who 
yearly invade the Demonstration Sta¬ 
tion and who usually must be fed. In 
the last dozen years, Mrs. Fullerton 
will tell you with perfect cheerfulness, 
she has given meals to more than 300 
visitors annually. 
“Sometimes they give us notice and 
sometimes they just drop in,” she said. 
“Sometimes a whole trainload comes at 
once and smaller parties are constantly 
showing up by trains or automobiles. 
In the old days, when the station was 
literally out in the wilderness,, with no 
decent roads approaching it and no 
‘flivvers’ to traverse the apologies we 
called roads then, the trains stopped 
obligingly right at our front door. Our 
guests could then walk up the path to 
the house. 
‘‘But now an excellent cinder road 
connects us with the rest of the world 
and with Medford, the nearest railroad 
station.” 
Only a few steps away from the 
attractive modern home over which 
Mrs. Fullerton now presides, is the little 
portable frame house in winch she first 
started housekeeping' in 1906 when the 
Demonstration Station “opened shon.” 
Now it is used by one of the farm help¬ 
ers, but its former mistress cannot pass 
it by without a word of affectionate 
praise. And hard by, too, is a quaint 
little shingle building not unl'ke an 
overgrown doll’s house, in which the 
now married daughters once indus¬ 
triously studied their daily lessons. 
Living Problems in the Pine Barrens 
“We found it had good effect on them 
to have them ‘go to school’ even though 
the school was only a few steps away,” 
said Mrs Fullerton. “When we first 
came here there was no possible school 
for our children so we had to get 
around that difficulty as well as other 
living problems. Later, after the girls 
grew up, we used the little building for 
all sorts of overflow purposes, and dur¬ 
ing the war it was canning headquar¬ 
ters for all of Suffolk County.” 
The presence of numerous food ad¬ 
ministration posters gave the tiny 
rooms a warlike atmosnhere, while the 
signed photogranh of Theodore Roose¬ 
velt, prominentlv displayed over the 
great stone fireplace, made known the 
approval of at least one great Ameri¬ 
can friend of the station and its ruling 
family. The ex-President and fellow 
Long Islander was an enthusiastic 
champion of their effort to demonstrate 
the agricultural possibilities of “the 
Blessed Isle,” according to Mr. Fuller¬ 
ton. 
Not only are all the States repre¬ 
sented by the visitors’ book at the 
station, but the whole enterprise is an 
adventure in internationalism. Visitors 
come from all over the world to see the 
thriving fields and orchards, and in 
these very fields and orchards, plants 
from every country grow amicably to¬ 
gether. As Mrs. Fullerton names them 
rapidly over—Japanese plums and wal¬ 
nuts, bamboo, tea, almonds, Mexican 
Teosinte, melons from France, Chinese 
cabbage, Belgian salads, rubbing 
shoulders with Long Island vegetables 
of innumerable variety—she seems to 
have ample backing for her statement 
that there is no place like Long Island 
for natural growth. “Only the South of 
Japan can equal it,” she says, and one 
cannot blame her for her pride in the 
Mrs. Edith Loring' Fullerton 
conquest of the “scrub oak barrens”— 
her own part in the conquest, of which 
she says little, having been that of a 
valiant warrior against such inanimate 
enemies as stumps and maggots and 
such discouraging foes as local apathy, 
doubt and open distrust. 
Everything at Her Finger Tips 
So much is the station a part of Mrs. 
Fullerton’s life and so greatly does it 
depend for its success upon her energy, 
good humor and shrewd business sense, 
it is almost impossible to think of one 
without the other. She knows every 
detail of the varied work of the place— 
the blasting, planting, spraying, har¬ 
vesting, packing; the farm animals; the 
little dairy building; the farmers’ 
homes and their families; the reports 
and the heavy correspondence. 
At one moment she is finding the 
year’s financial statement to show a 
visiting European scientist, studying 
facts and figures spread out on the liv¬ 
ing room table; at another she is in¬ 
specting a fascinating new engine ready 
for installation. She points out the 
flowers of her trim little garden, tells 
of the Sweepstakes prize with which 
beet culture is being encouraged on. the 
Island, and gives the figures on spring- 
wheat acreage with equal enthusiasm. 
You are not surprised when she admits 
that during a three months’ leave of 
absence for Mr. Fullerton, spent help¬ 
ing devastated France, she ran the 
station as the acting director, taking it 
through the planting season so sucess- 
fully that in spite of a curtailed force 
of workers there was no falling be¬ 
hind in the crops when harvest time 
came. 
Outside her own busy life at the sta¬ 
tion, Mrs. Fullerton finds time to keep 
up her work as secretary of the Suffolk 
County Home Bureau, of which she was 
the first chairman. 
“It is reaching the heart of the home 
better than anything else I know,” she 
declared emphatically. “Nor does any¬ 
thing develop leadership more naturally 
and effectively. I think that perhaps 
the Farm and Home Bureaus are too 
closely related; that for its own good, 
the Home Bureau should stand firmly 
on its own feet. 
“Farming is an ideal profession for 
woman—so are some of the allied pro¬ 
fessions which grow out of it—floristry, 
for instance. Why don’t more girls 
study to be florists? Women are natu¬ 
rally fitted for this trade and I know of 
several who are making a go of it. My 
own daughter studied this subject at 
the Ambler School of Horticulture, but 
matrimony interrupted her professional 
career!” 
It seems incredible, looking at Mrs. 
Fullerton, to think of her not only with 
married daughters but as a grand¬ 
mother! One can be sure, however, that 
any babies so lucky as to choose her a 
grandparent will approve of their 
selection more and more as they grow 
older. For few babies can be blessed 
with a more humorously wise, a more 
youthful or a more companionable 
grandmother to teach tljem the magic 
of growing things and the happiness of 
the woman whose lot is cast in with 
the farm.— Gabrielle Elliot. 
DELICIOUS HOME-MADE ICE 
CREAM 
MRS. R. C. KRAMER 
I CE cream for dinner! These hot 
days whac could be a more delight¬ 
ful treat to the whole family? More¬ 
over, physicians and dietitians agree 
that it is one of the most healthful 
and nourishing of foods. So we, who 
are fortunate enough to live on a farm 
where cream and milk are generally 
plentiful, should have this pleasing 
dessert as often as possible. In our 
home, we make ice cream very often 
in winter as well as summer, and the 
following original recipes are economi¬ 
cal and delicious. 
Vanilla (1 gallon) 
Three cups sugar; 5 heaping table¬ 
spoons flour; 1 quart boiling watet; 
1 quart cream; 114 tablespoons va¬ 
nilla; \ l / 2 quarts milk (about). 
Thoroughly mix flour and sugar. 
Add boiling water, stirring constantly. 
Place on stove and boil about 15 min¬ 
utes, or until mixture looks clear and 
thick. Be sure to stir constantly to 
avoid lumping or scorching. Remove 
from fire, stir, cream into this mix¬ 
ture. Pour into ice cream can, adding 
milk until within 1 inch of top. Stir 
well, flavor with vanilla extract. Set 
aside to cool. Then place in freezer 
bucket, adjust turner, pack in layers 
of finely cracked ice and salt alter¬ 
nately, over which, when full, pour one 
cup of cold water. Freeze as hard as 
possible. Repack, set aside to ripen two 
hours before serving. Good cream can 
be made by substituting whole milk for 
the cream and milk in this recipe. 
Eggs do not improve these recipes. 
Chocolate 
Same as vanilla, only stir four heap¬ 
ing tablespoons of cocoa into flour and 
sugar. Mix thoroughly, add boiling 
water and proceed as with vanilla ice 
cream. 
Peach, Strawberry or Banana 
Same as for vanilla, only omit va¬ 
nilla and one quart of milk, adding in¬ 
stead any crushed sweetened fruit, 
sweetening fruit in the proper propor¬ 
tion of Vi cup of sugar to 1 cup fruit. 
Cherry or Pineapple 
Same as vanilla except for three cups 
of milk substituting that amount of 
preserved fruit. 
Ice Cream Sundaes 
We like plain vanilla ice cream 
served with syrup, as sundaes are 
served at soda fountains. 
Chocolate Syrup 
One cup sugar; 2 tablespoons cocoa; 
J4 teaspoon flour; % cup boiling 
water; 1 teaspoon vanilla. 
Thoroughly mix flour, sugar and 
cocoa. Add boiling water, stirring con¬ 
stantly. Boil until a medium thick 
syrup is formed, which will be in abowt 
five minutes. Set aside to cool and 
add vanilla. Serve over vanilla ice 
cream. If desired, sprinkle chopped 
nuts over top. 
Peaches, strawberries, raspberries, 
blackberries, or bananas may be 
crushed, sweetened in the proportion of 
'one cup of fruit to one-half cup of 
sugar, set aside for an hour or so 
and served over vanilla ice cream. 
Shredded pineapple, raspberries, black¬ 
berries, or cherries (1 cup of fruit to 
% cup of sugar) are also delicious 
with ice cream. 
HOW TO KEEP BUTTER SWEET 
In keeping butter put up in brine I 
always had difficulty to keep it from 
getting that old, stale, strong odor and 
flavor until a year or two ago, when 
I tried an experiment. 
Simply get a thin piece of cloth and 
cut in square shaped sizes large enough 
to hold a pound of butter, then tie up 
closely and drop into the brine jar. 
First be sure to work out all water or 
milk, then let it firm and make into 
as round cakes as possible. Two-pound 
sugar bags are ideal to put it in. I put 
up last fall, just before my cow went 
dry, about 12 or 15 pounds and it kept 
nearly as sweet as when first made, 
and we didn’t use the last until June 
1. When it is packed down solid in a 
stone jar or crock, then covered with 
brine, the brine does not get free ac¬ 
cess to it, which causes it to get that 
old, strong taste; but when put up in 
cloth or small bags the brine gets all 
in between each package, causing it to 
keep sweet. When the jar is full, 
weight with a heavy plate so every 
cake will be well covered with brine. 
Be sure to have the brine strong 
enough to float an egg. — Mrs. W. H. H. 
DO YOU KNOW THAT— 
A simple and handy method of filling 
the salt and the pepper shakers is to 
clip the corner of an ordinary envelope, 
insert the cut corner in the neck of 
shaker and use as a funnel. This beats 
using a spoon. A large corner cut 
from a very heavy catalog envelope will 
make a satisfactory funnel for pouring 
liquids into bottles. 
* * * 
Put some vinegar in a tin can that 
does not leak, put in paint brushes, and 
boil for twenty minutes. No matter 
how old or stiff they may be this will 
make thorn soft and pliable. 
* * * 
If butter sticks to the molds, rub 
a little salt on the inside of the molds, 
after they have been moistened, then 
rinse with cold water. 
❖ * * 
When saving silver that is not in 
use, polish thoroughly, cover thickly 
with vaseline, wrap in tissue paper. 
When wanted, boiling in suds will have 
it ready for use in a few minutes. 
* * * 
When putting in hat lining or up¬ 
holstering furniture, a surgeon’s needle 
is better than an ordinary one. The 
curved end facilitates the work, par¬ 
ticularly on the rounded surfaces. 
* ❖ % 
The old lament of aching feet is 
here! Buy two cheap sponges and in¬ 
sert one in the stockings under the arch 
of the fooL You will be delighted with 
the relief it gives. They can be easily 
washed. 
* * * 
When the meat grinder, egg beater 
or other cooking utensils need oiling, 
I always use glycerine around the bear¬ 
ings and the crevices. It is a harm¬ 
less lubricant and does not later effect 
the food. 
* * * 
The burnt taste can be removed from 
slightly scorched milk by putting the 
pan into cold water.and adding a pincji 
of salt to the milk.—Mrs. M. M. Mit- 
chem. 
❖ * * 
When canning in glass jars, put a 
silver knife or spoon in the jar; the 
metal attracts the heat and thege is 
no danger of breaking. 
I 
