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AFAYETtLIND: Garden VOL. LVL INDIANAPOLIS, IND., NOVEMBER 30, 1901. NO. 48 Men 'Who Have Helped the Farmer, ■ditora Indiana Farmer: S. M. Babcock. (Born October 22, 1843.) The yearly cost of supporting the experiment stations of tbe United States is about $1,160,000. This is a large sum of money for the National and State governments to put into experimental work for agriculture. Does it pay? Doubtless many an intelligent farmer has been ready to question the wisdom of putting so much money in the hands of the "theorists" who control the experiment stations. Doubtless many an intelligent merchant has characterized the appropriations made in support of these stations as "a sop to the farmers," a waste of public funds. Are the experiment stations a profitable investment? The question is pertinent. Perhaps every experiment station is not profitable as a purely financial venture, that is, it is not probable that every one of them can justify its existence by referring to specific savings or gains which it has brought about. But the stations as a whole are one of the most profitable of our public investments. They have more than paid interest on the money spent. Indeed, they may be said to pay the principal back every year at the cost of the interest. But the truth of this statement is not so easily proved. It has been estimated—no doubt with substantial accuracy—that the Babcock milk test effects a saving of five per cent of the butter fat of all the milk and cream handled by all the creameries. On the creamery output of "Wisconsin alone this rate of saving would amount to more than half a million dollars a year. And the president of the Elgin Creamery Company, in* a statement made before a committee of the Wisconsin- Legislature, estimated that the Babcock test "saves to the creameries of Wisconsin $1,200,000 annually"— a sum greater than the cost of maintaining all the experiment stations in the United States. The Wisconsin station is the birthplace of the Babcock test. What is this Babcock test? Merely a very simple, inexpensive, and almost absolutely accurate method of determining the percentage of butter fat in milk or cream. In effect, it is a chemical analysis which any intelligent boy of 12 years can learn to make in three days, and he can make the test in ten minutes, at a cost of about two cents. Using the old methods of analysis, a chemist would have to spend two days to reach the same result. The test involves the use of a tester, which is very easily operated and understood. A sample (about two-thirds of an ounce) of the milk to be tested is poured into a test bottle large enough to hold two ounces of milk. The neck of the bottle is graduated to a fraction of one per cent. Into this bottle is next poured concentrated sulphuric acid about equal in* amount to the milk. The two liquids are thoroughly mixed, and the bottle is placed in the tester—a centrifugal machine arranged to hold from two to thirty-two bottles. This machine is rapidly revolved for four minutes, after which, boiling water is poured into the bottles, which are again whirled for about a minute. When the machine stops the butter fat is found in* the neck of the bottle, nnd the exact percentage of Cat can be read from the scale. The test and the tester were devised by Dr. S. M. Babcock, chemist of the Wisconsin Experiment Station. The method and tho machine were paten-table, and the inventor might have become immensely rich by securing patents and retaining control of the process. He choose to give it to the world without condition. The action was characteristic of the man. He was an investigator, a chemist employed by the State to give his time and skill to the study of the problems of agriculutre. His tine sense of honor saved him from becoming wealthy at the cost of the high professional standard he had set for himself. Shall the servant of the public traffic in the discoveries which the State has enabled him to make? Dr. Babcock's action says no. It says in effect that the man whose services are paid for by the State has no private right in the discoveries which he makes while in such service. Should he happen to work for years without positive results, will the station worker refund the salary he has drawn? He will not; for the condition of his employment is that he shall devote his time and ability to the service of the public, whether it is immediately profitable or not. The wonder is that so few persons have seen the true meaning of Dr. Babcock's action. He did not merely throw away the opportunity to acquire a princely fortune.. He saved his high character as an unselfish servant of his State and earned tiie profound respect of every man and women who can appreciate so noble a spurning of so subtle a temptation. Stephen Moulton Babcock, professor of agricultural chemistry in the Agricultural College and chief chemist of the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin, is a native of Bridgewater, New York. He received a liberal education, and afterwards was a student of chemistry for three or four years in Cornell University; then taught chemistry a year or two; and, finally, he finished his preliminary training by continuing his chemical studies at Goettingen, Germany, taking his Th. D. degree in 1879. Again he became instructor in Cornell, but in 1882 was made chemist of the New York State Experiment Station at Geneva, where he remained until 1888, when he received a similar appointment in Wisconsin. His severe training was not wasted. As a teacher and an investigator he had paid his way before he devised the famous Babcock tester. One of Professor Babcock's early inventions was a viscometer. In 1883 he devised a gravimetric method of analyzing milk; in 1885 a method of determining the number ami size of the fat globules in milk. Each of these methods is standard. As early as 1875 he began investigations on the ripening of cheese. The Babcock milk test was perfected in 1890. In 1897 he announced the discovery by Dr. H. I. Russell and himself of galactase, a digestive ferment contained in milk, which "breaks down" and makes digestible the casein of cheese. It is hardly possible to forsee the results of this discovery. It means, no doubt, the adoption of new methods in the curing and ripening of cheese, resulting in a more wholesome, more digestible, and more attractive product. Fortunately, Dr. Babcock's work is appreciated by the people of his State. The Wisconsin Legislature in 1899 made an appropriation to provide a suitable medal in honor of his work. On* March 27, 1901, this magnificent bronze medal was presented to Professor Babcock at a joint session of the Senate an*d Assembly presided over by Governor La Pollette. The medal is inscribed to Professor Stephen Jloulton Babcock in recognition of the value of his discoveries and inventions and his "unselfish dedication" of tt'ieni to the public service. Who shall say that that bronze medal and the appreciation of his services by the people of Wisconsin are not worth more to the high-souled chemist than all the millions he might have received for his inventions? Denver, Colo. D. W. Working. Making Cement Walks. Editors Indiana Farmer: Let me give your many readers a dis- cription of a cement walk froni house to barn that will be durable and cheap, without a failure. I am aware from my travels through Central Indiana and Illinois that the soil is clay and heaves up by the freezing, also that sand and gravel is scarce in some parts and hard to get. From this stand point I give my views and knowledge, knowing there is much need of some kind of a cheap walk from house to the barn, that a person can travel it with comparatively clean shoes. My plan will take but little material, which I think is the greatest hindrance to the making of cement walks. My plan is, in the first place to have all the ground made as level as a board, or as a straight edge will make it, that it may be made of even thickness, and be as level at the bottom as the top of walk. Then make the walk two feet wide and cut in blocks, making the blocks square. Get some 2x4 scantling and lay flat wise on this leveled up ground, preparatory to placing on the cement made thin. Stake the scantling well on*the out side; then fill up between with cement and sand. The composition should be one of cement to three of sand. Use no gravel; instead use good, clean, sharp plastering sand screened through a plastering screen, taking out all coarse gravel. After the cement has been put together mix while dry with a hoe or shovel until thoroughly mixed, then add water enough to make it like thick mortar; then fill up between strips; using a packer, to the top of strips, and as fast as you fill follow up with a straightedge, and finish by lightly floating it smooth. If too hard to float use a brush and a little water. I am in favor of leaving the walk as it is after the float. It is as strong and not so slippery to walk on in muddy and wet weather, and has more the resemblance of cut stone, than if it is made smoother. The object of making this kind of a walk is that it requires but a small amount of material to make it, and it can be relaid at any time if found desirable. It will last for several years without repairs. If it should at any time become uneven by freezing in winter it can be relaid, with no damage to the walk, and be as fine as when flrst put down. Spring time is preferable for making walks, as the farmer can during the winter haul his sand and have it ready for use in the spring. Pot wide walks you should excavate uot less than* 8 inches and fill with coarse gravel to where your cement starts from. Coal cinders are good for bottom filling, but in any case the foundation should be made level and smooth, that the walk may be of even thickness, and made from bottom to top with material of the same strength, and be finished all at the same time, that you may have it one solid stone clean through. No seamy stone is as strong as one with no seams. If you prefer using a plastering trowel do so, but a walk made of fine sand floated downun- til perfectly even is fine enough for me. I have had many years experience in using cement, and all who will follow these directions will never have defective sidewalks. Use a small painting trowel for cutting through the cement, making it into blocks. A four foot walk can be made on the same plan that a two foot walk is, only it should be one inch thicker. There will be no danger of breaking the blocks by freezing. The walk may be raised by the frost, but it will settle back in the spring and will continue smooth for several years; but if gravel is near it should be used as above stated to make a permanent walk without relaying. I made a two foot walk 22 years ago and it is as good as when first put down. It was made on top of ground with only the soil removed. Every walk should have a shoe scraper fastened into the cement, so that a person can clean the dirt from his shoes before entering the house. A barn walk should have one at each end. For a barn walk scraper, get one made at the blacksmith shop; have it made of good width, with legs seven inches long, set >•» the edge of the walk. Make thi •£ 'wo inches wider where you have *[ mi- fastened. J. \ ft Elkhart Co. ^ —After seeing some good soR _. t walks made with a mixture of s * part Portland cement to ten of ^."^ can see no reason for using the pi \ £, Mr. Beers gives, one to three. WORKED LIKE A CHARM. "Simplest thing in the world," declared the man who has married his third wife and lives in the second block from Woodward on a fine cross street. "It's this way. Give a woman the last word, keep still, look disappointed without looking defiant and she'll be merciful to you nine times out of ten. Now you want me for a little stag poker party?" "Yes. You'll just fill out the number."' "Well, sir, just drop in this evening and see how I get my wife's permission. Works like a charm, I tell you. There'll be more or less of a squall, but don't you care. Just keep a close eye on me at the finish." The caller "dropped in" at 8. There were 10 minutes devoted to the weather and other current topics, when the caller asked his host to attend the party mentioned. "Let me see," rubbing his chin, "I guess I can come all right enough. We have no engagement that night, have we, my dear?" "We have," and the brows of "my dear" were knotted. "Why, I didn't recall it. Where were we going?" "We were going to remain at home; right here where you belong at night. I'm opposed to gambling and I'm opposed to night-hawking. You have a very binding engagement and I won't thank anyone for urging you to break it either," and th«* caller felt like throwing his hands into the air. "Now, now, dear," from the husband, ut soft bass tones, and after a long pause, "never mind. You'll excuse me this time. Jones. I couldn't think of leaving my wife when she wants me here. Fin* I some one else, old man." "Well, of course," she laughed cheerfully, "I wouldn't like to spoil the party and I do like to have John enjoy himself. He works so hard, you know, Mr. Jones. But you mustn't meet too often or play too high. I insist on your going, John. I was too selfish." Then John insisted just as hard tbat he wouldn't think of going against her will, she ordered him to go, he walked down to the corner with Jones, and when the policeman passed them he judged from their hilarity that they were not getting home a minute too soon.—Detroit Free Press.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1901, v. 56, no. 48 (Nov. 30) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA5648 |
Date of Original | 1901 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-03-21 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | AFAYETtLIND: Garden VOL. LVL INDIANAPOLIS, IND., NOVEMBER 30, 1901. NO. 48 Men 'Who Have Helped the Farmer, ■ditora Indiana Farmer: S. M. Babcock. (Born October 22, 1843.) The yearly cost of supporting the experiment stations of tbe United States is about $1,160,000. This is a large sum of money for the National and State governments to put into experimental work for agriculture. Does it pay? Doubtless many an intelligent farmer has been ready to question the wisdom of putting so much money in the hands of the "theorists" who control the experiment stations. Doubtless many an intelligent merchant has characterized the appropriations made in support of these stations as "a sop to the farmers," a waste of public funds. Are the experiment stations a profitable investment? The question is pertinent. Perhaps every experiment station is not profitable as a purely financial venture, that is, it is not probable that every one of them can justify its existence by referring to specific savings or gains which it has brought about. But the stations as a whole are one of the most profitable of our public investments. They have more than paid interest on the money spent. Indeed, they may be said to pay the principal back every year at the cost of the interest. But the truth of this statement is not so easily proved. It has been estimated—no doubt with substantial accuracy—that the Babcock milk test effects a saving of five per cent of the butter fat of all the milk and cream handled by all the creameries. On the creamery output of "Wisconsin alone this rate of saving would amount to more than half a million dollars a year. And the president of the Elgin Creamery Company, in* a statement made before a committee of the Wisconsin- Legislature, estimated that the Babcock test "saves to the creameries of Wisconsin $1,200,000 annually"— a sum greater than the cost of maintaining all the experiment stations in the United States. The Wisconsin station is the birthplace of the Babcock test. What is this Babcock test? Merely a very simple, inexpensive, and almost absolutely accurate method of determining the percentage of butter fat in milk or cream. In effect, it is a chemical analysis which any intelligent boy of 12 years can learn to make in three days, and he can make the test in ten minutes, at a cost of about two cents. Using the old methods of analysis, a chemist would have to spend two days to reach the same result. The test involves the use of a tester, which is very easily operated and understood. A sample (about two-thirds of an ounce) of the milk to be tested is poured into a test bottle large enough to hold two ounces of milk. The neck of the bottle is graduated to a fraction of one per cent. Into this bottle is next poured concentrated sulphuric acid about equal in* amount to the milk. The two liquids are thoroughly mixed, and the bottle is placed in the tester—a centrifugal machine arranged to hold from two to thirty-two bottles. This machine is rapidly revolved for four minutes, after which, boiling water is poured into the bottles, which are again whirled for about a minute. When the machine stops the butter fat is found in* the neck of the bottle, nnd the exact percentage of Cat can be read from the scale. The test and the tester were devised by Dr. S. M. Babcock, chemist of the Wisconsin Experiment Station. The method and tho machine were paten-table, and the inventor might have become immensely rich by securing patents and retaining control of the process. He choose to give it to the world without condition. The action was characteristic of the man. He was an investigator, a chemist employed by the State to give his time and skill to the study of the problems of agriculutre. His tine sense of honor saved him from becoming wealthy at the cost of the high professional standard he had set for himself. Shall the servant of the public traffic in the discoveries which the State has enabled him to make? Dr. Babcock's action says no. It says in effect that the man whose services are paid for by the State has no private right in the discoveries which he makes while in such service. Should he happen to work for years without positive results, will the station worker refund the salary he has drawn? He will not; for the condition of his employment is that he shall devote his time and ability to the service of the public, whether it is immediately profitable or not. The wonder is that so few persons have seen the true meaning of Dr. Babcock's action. He did not merely throw away the opportunity to acquire a princely fortune.. He saved his high character as an unselfish servant of his State and earned tiie profound respect of every man and women who can appreciate so noble a spurning of so subtle a temptation. Stephen Moulton Babcock, professor of agricultural chemistry in the Agricultural College and chief chemist of the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin, is a native of Bridgewater, New York. He received a liberal education, and afterwards was a student of chemistry for three or four years in Cornell University; then taught chemistry a year or two; and, finally, he finished his preliminary training by continuing his chemical studies at Goettingen, Germany, taking his Th. D. degree in 1879. Again he became instructor in Cornell, but in 1882 was made chemist of the New York State Experiment Station at Geneva, where he remained until 1888, when he received a similar appointment in Wisconsin. His severe training was not wasted. As a teacher and an investigator he had paid his way before he devised the famous Babcock tester. One of Professor Babcock's early inventions was a viscometer. In 1883 he devised a gravimetric method of analyzing milk; in 1885 a method of determining the number ami size of the fat globules in milk. Each of these methods is standard. As early as 1875 he began investigations on the ripening of cheese. The Babcock milk test was perfected in 1890. In 1897 he announced the discovery by Dr. H. I. Russell and himself of galactase, a digestive ferment contained in milk, which "breaks down" and makes digestible the casein of cheese. It is hardly possible to forsee the results of this discovery. It means, no doubt, the adoption of new methods in the curing and ripening of cheese, resulting in a more wholesome, more digestible, and more attractive product. Fortunately, Dr. Babcock's work is appreciated by the people of his State. The Wisconsin Legislature in 1899 made an appropriation to provide a suitable medal in honor of his work. On* March 27, 1901, this magnificent bronze medal was presented to Professor Babcock at a joint session of the Senate an*d Assembly presided over by Governor La Pollette. The medal is inscribed to Professor Stephen Jloulton Babcock in recognition of the value of his discoveries and inventions and his "unselfish dedication" of tt'ieni to the public service. Who shall say that that bronze medal and the appreciation of his services by the people of Wisconsin are not worth more to the high-souled chemist than all the millions he might have received for his inventions? Denver, Colo. D. W. Working. Making Cement Walks. Editors Indiana Farmer: Let me give your many readers a dis- cription of a cement walk froni house to barn that will be durable and cheap, without a failure. I am aware from my travels through Central Indiana and Illinois that the soil is clay and heaves up by the freezing, also that sand and gravel is scarce in some parts and hard to get. From this stand point I give my views and knowledge, knowing there is much need of some kind of a cheap walk from house to the barn, that a person can travel it with comparatively clean shoes. My plan will take but little material, which I think is the greatest hindrance to the making of cement walks. My plan is, in the first place to have all the ground made as level as a board, or as a straight edge will make it, that it may be made of even thickness, and be as level at the bottom as the top of walk. Then make the walk two feet wide and cut in blocks, making the blocks square. Get some 2x4 scantling and lay flat wise on this leveled up ground, preparatory to placing on the cement made thin. Stake the scantling well on*the out side; then fill up between with cement and sand. The composition should be one of cement to three of sand. Use no gravel; instead use good, clean, sharp plastering sand screened through a plastering screen, taking out all coarse gravel. After the cement has been put together mix while dry with a hoe or shovel until thoroughly mixed, then add water enough to make it like thick mortar; then fill up between strips; using a packer, to the top of strips, and as fast as you fill follow up with a straightedge, and finish by lightly floating it smooth. If too hard to float use a brush and a little water. I am in favor of leaving the walk as it is after the float. It is as strong and not so slippery to walk on in muddy and wet weather, and has more the resemblance of cut stone, than if it is made smoother. The object of making this kind of a walk is that it requires but a small amount of material to make it, and it can be relaid at any time if found desirable. It will last for several years without repairs. If it should at any time become uneven by freezing in winter it can be relaid, with no damage to the walk, and be as fine as when flrst put down. Spring time is preferable for making walks, as the farmer can during the winter haul his sand and have it ready for use in the spring. Pot wide walks you should excavate uot less than* 8 inches and fill with coarse gravel to where your cement starts from. Coal cinders are good for bottom filling, but in any case the foundation should be made level and smooth, that the walk may be of even thickness, and made from bottom to top with material of the same strength, and be finished all at the same time, that you may have it one solid stone clean through. No seamy stone is as strong as one with no seams. If you prefer using a plastering trowel do so, but a walk made of fine sand floated downun- til perfectly even is fine enough for me. I have had many years experience in using cement, and all who will follow these directions will never have defective sidewalks. Use a small painting trowel for cutting through the cement, making it into blocks. A four foot walk can be made on the same plan that a two foot walk is, only it should be one inch thicker. There will be no danger of breaking the blocks by freezing. The walk may be raised by the frost, but it will settle back in the spring and will continue smooth for several years; but if gravel is near it should be used as above stated to make a permanent walk without relaying. I made a two foot walk 22 years ago and it is as good as when first put down. It was made on top of ground with only the soil removed. Every walk should have a shoe scraper fastened into the cement, so that a person can clean the dirt from his shoes before entering the house. A barn walk should have one at each end. For a barn walk scraper, get one made at the blacksmith shop; have it made of good width, with legs seven inches long, set >•» the edge of the walk. Make thi •£ 'wo inches wider where you have *[ mi- fastened. J. \ ft Elkhart Co. ^ —After seeing some good soR _. t walks made with a mixture of s * part Portland cement to ten of ^."^ can see no reason for using the pi \ £, Mr. Beers gives, one to three. WORKED LIKE A CHARM. "Simplest thing in the world," declared the man who has married his third wife and lives in the second block from Woodward on a fine cross street. "It's this way. Give a woman the last word, keep still, look disappointed without looking defiant and she'll be merciful to you nine times out of ten. Now you want me for a little stag poker party?" "Yes. You'll just fill out the number."' "Well, sir, just drop in this evening and see how I get my wife's permission. Works like a charm, I tell you. There'll be more or less of a squall, but don't you care. Just keep a close eye on me at the finish." The caller "dropped in" at 8. There were 10 minutes devoted to the weather and other current topics, when the caller asked his host to attend the party mentioned. "Let me see," rubbing his chin, "I guess I can come all right enough. We have no engagement that night, have we, my dear?" "We have," and the brows of "my dear" were knotted. "Why, I didn't recall it. Where were we going?" "We were going to remain at home; right here where you belong at night. I'm opposed to gambling and I'm opposed to night-hawking. You have a very binding engagement and I won't thank anyone for urging you to break it either," and th«* caller felt like throwing his hands into the air. "Now, now, dear," from the husband, ut soft bass tones, and after a long pause, "never mind. You'll excuse me this time. Jones. I couldn't think of leaving my wife when she wants me here. Fin* I some one else, old man." "Well, of course," she laughed cheerfully, "I wouldn't like to spoil the party and I do like to have John enjoy himself. He works so hard, you know, Mr. Jones. But you mustn't meet too often or play too high. I insist on your going, John. I was too selfish." Then John insisted just as hard tbat he wouldn't think of going against her will, she ordered him to go, he walked down to the corner with Jones, and when the policeman passed them he judged from their hilarity that they were not getting home a minute too soon.—Detroit Free Press. |
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