He Had a Whisky Diet

New York, 1895

HOW A SICK MAN LIVED DURING SIX HEALTHY DAYS.

He Consumed Ten Quarts of Whisky and Sixteen Quarts of Milk, Took Seventy-five Cents' Worth of Medicine, and Ate Ten Dollars' Worth of Victuals.

Otto Buhler, who keeps a saloon somewhere in Morris Park, has sent a peculiar bill to the Board of Health. Buhler had a man working for him named Soney. Soney fell sick. Buhler did not report the case to the Overseer of the Poor, but proceeded to take care of the sick man himself, and the way he did it is illustrated by the items in his bill, as follows:

[see above graphic]

The patient appears to have had a robust appetite in spite of his illness. What he was ill of doesn't appear. In six days he required but 75 cents worth of medicine, and in the same time he consumed $10 worth of victuals. But the most extraordinary thing about the bill is the quantities of whisky and milk that he consumed.

On the first day he consumed three pints of whisky and three quarts of milk. He must have been a great deal sicker on the second day, for he added a pint of whisky and cut off a quart of milk. Three pints of whisky and three quarts of milk served to keep him alive on the third day. On the fourth day he had need of more whisky than milk and took them in the proportion of three and two. On the fifth day he consumed the life saver in equal proportions, three and three, and then he must have had a serious relapse, for the sixth and last day of his illness it was necessary to supply him with four pints of whisky and three quarts of milk. He consumed altogether ten quarts of whisky and 16 quarts of milk, an average consumption of four and a half quarts a day.

He got no medicine at all until the last day, according to the bill.

How a sick man could get away with four and a half quarts of liquor and milk each day, and $1.67 worth of food each day, perhaps Mr. Buhler can explain. The quality of the whisky must have varied, for the cost of it differs on different days.

In his well days Soney ought to be able to eat a load of hay, or drink a brewery dry.

No charge is made for nursing the sick man. Mr. Buhler must have forgotten this service.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 22, 1895, p. 1.

New Hampshire Farmers May Retail Milk in Boston

1916

Manchester, N. H., Sept. 23. — Officers of the New England Milk Producers' association went into conference here tonight with regard to price and the distribution of milk in Boston, and it is apparent that the deliberations will continue past midnight.

The present situation was brought about by the association recommending to the farmers of New England that they insist upon 50 cents a can of 8 1-2 quarts, this price giving the producer one-half a cent per quart more than the price he is now receiving.

Thus far only one large firm distributing milk at retail has consented to pay the price asked, although another big company, which handles milk by wholesale only, has been paying the price now asked for several weeks. A spirit of extreme optimism prevails the gathering here tonight and no doubt was expressed but that all of the distributors will accede to the demand which is being insisted upon by the farmers.

"Our object in meeting tonight is to encourage the farmers to stick for the price which has been demanded, but in the event of all of the distributors refusing to comply with the advance in price, to arrange ways and means for distributing the milk in Boston," said Pres. Richard H. Pattee. "We don't want to pour milk on the ground," he continued, "and we want Boston people to have it, and believe that ways will be found for getting it to the consumers. The farmers are holding together almost as a unit in asking for the new price, and we can find only an isolated instance here and there where a farmer has signed to deliver milk to a contractor at the old price."

Grain for Cows in Fall

1916

Many dairymen have learned that it pays to keep their cows milking during the last part of the fall and winter. Last November the owner of herd G in our testing association was feeding very little grain, just a few pounds a day to each cow, whether milking or not. He told me that he didn't think it would pay to feed any more grain to his cows until they began to freshen. After talking the thing over he decided to begin feeding grain in proportion to the amount of milk produced, following the rule of about one pound grain to 3½ pounds milk.

The next month I came around I noticed quite a change; most of his cows had increased in milk, and cows that had been kept at a loss in November were making a little profit above feed cost in December. His herd summary showed a loss of $13.73 for November. In December he jumped from a loss of $13.73 to a profit of $28. His cows had increased in production enough to pay for extra grain feed and their hay and still have a very good profit left. Had he not begun feeding more grain his cows undoubtedly would have shrunk in milk flow in December, and consequently his loss for that month would have been even greater than it was in November.

In another herd the owner was planning to cut out the grain ration for most of his cows. He told me that he never fed grain in the winter because he didn't think that it paid. He said: "Grain is high and it will not pay." I began explaining to him where he would lose if he left out the grain. He is an old man and has been connected with the dairy business a number of years. After talking a while about it he said: "I'm in this association to learn what I can, and I'll try your plan of feeding for a while, if it don't put me into the hole too bad."

Having the weight of milk from each cow he figured out approximately the amount of grain each cow should have giving about one pound grain to 3½ pounds milk. He has fed according to this rule ever since. As a result his herd made a profit of better than $45 for November, December and January. His cows freshened in the early spring so one would not expect a very large profit from a herd of cows due to freshen in two to four months.

On my January visit to his place he told me his cows had always been dry at that time of year and it was quite unusual for him to take milk to the creamery during at least a couple of months in the year. He said: "I am convinced that it has paid to feed some grain and thereby get enough more milk to pay for hay and grain and have a little profit left over rather than not to feed grain and let the cows dry off as they usually did and consequently not pay for the hay they eat."

The other advantages of feeding grain which are not shown by figures are as follows: First, manure is worth more, ton for ton, than if no grain is fed; secondly, cattle are undoubtedly in a better condition; third, a cow that is fed some grain will not eat as much hay as when no grain used. — Archie Holden, New Hampshire in New England Homestead.

Rules For Right Living

1902

For the man or woman, whether young or old, who wishes health, which means happiness, the following simple rules were gathered:

Pin them up where you will see them. But do not let that be all you do. Read them again and again, and, best of all, act upon them.

Eight hours' sleep.
Sleep on your right side.
Keep your bedroom window open all night.
Have a mat to your bedroom door.
Do not have your bedstead against the wall.
No cold water in the morning, but a bath at the temperature of the body.
Exercise before breakfast.
Eat little meat, and see that it is well cooked.
For adults, drink no milk.
Eat plenty of fat to feed the cells which destroy disease germs.
Avoid intoxicants, which destroy those cells.
Daily exercise in the open air.
Allow no pet animals in your living rooms; they are likely to carry about disease germs.
Live in the country if you can.
Watch the three D's — drinking water, damp, drains.
Take frequent and short holidays.
Limit your ambition.
Keep your temper. — New York American.

Note: This article and its advice is from 1902. Please check with your physician or neighborhood scientist before screwing up your life too much.

Advances In Science of Farming

1899

The wonderful advance made in the science of farming during the last few years is one of the best examples of American progressiveness. A little incident recounted by the Ashtabula (Ohio) Sentinel is characteristic.

One evening, a short time ago, a society in Jefferson needed a gallon of cream. The committee called up by telephone the proprietors of a milk farm two miles north of the town, and asked if they could furnish it. The reply was that they could as soon as milking was done. In thirty minutes from the time the call was made the cream was delivered.

The milk had been drawn from the cow, put into a separator, the cream extracted and sent to town by a man on a bicycle.

A few years ago the committee would have had to send a boy in the afternoon, "yesterday's milk" would have had to be skimmed, and if the boy had not treed too many chipmunks on the way, he might have got back in time for the festival.


When It Paid

It was at the village sewing circle, and the unprofitable question of the failure or success of marriage was under discussion. Beulah Blank, a war widow, thrifty to the last degree of New England thriftiness, kept silent until some one said:
"What do you think about it, Beulah?"
"Well, I must say that it depends," said Beulah. "Now when a woman gits married, an' her husband gits drafted into the army, and he gits killed, and she gits a pension of twelve dollars a month as long as she lives, it pays to git married. That's what I think."


Safe Stock

When news came to Boxby that the squire's son "down below" had made a large sum of money in stocks, some of the wiseacres shook their heads.
Not so old lady Sprowlet with whom the young man had always been a prime favorite.
"I don't see what the minister meant, saying he didn't favor Bob's having dealings in the stock market," she said, indignantly, to one of her neighbors. "I can't see why money made in trading cattle, if it's done fair and square, isn't just as good as money made any other way!"

Has Cow with Wooden Leg

1914

New York, Jan. 2. — James M. I. Galloway, veterinary surgeon of Kirkintilloch, Scotland, arrived yesterday from Glasgow with photographs of a cow with a wooden leg, which the veterinary says is almost as good to the cow as an ordinary leg of beef and much more effective in knocking out folks who try to milk her on the wrong side.

Other veterinaries laughed at Galloway, who is young and of an experimental temperament, when he decided to save the life of a cow after the leg had been cut off by a locomotive.

The only time the wooden leg gets the cow into trouble is when she stands too long in a damp field and the leg sinks in a foot or so. Mr. Galloway is going to visit his brother, a veterinarian of Washington.

Was Entombed Fifteen Days

1906

Bakersfield, Cal., Dec. 24. — Lindsay B. Hicks, released from an entombment of 15 days in a caved-in tunnel, appeared well and happy after his gruesome experience, spending much time in receiving congratulations of friends and neighbors, to whom he related as best he could the feelings he underwent within the dark, close quarters of his tomb-like prison near the dead bodies of five less fortunate companions, while scores of men worked like beavers day and night for more than two weeks to save him from death by digging through many feet of earth and rock.

Hicks' bravery under the trying conditions won for him the admiration of hundreds of persons who watched the progress of his exhumation. So strong was Hicks at the finish that he helped to scrape away the last barrier of earth, and crawled, with slight assistance from death to life.

Hicks was not emaciated. He was so strong that the stimulants that had been prepared for him were not needed.

No sooner was the last segment of debris removed and the way left open, than Hicks began to scrape away the rocks and earth and crawl toward the opening. With arms in front of his head, he went into the miniature tunnel and began to work his way slowly through to the other side of a dump car, near which he has remained during the excavating. His arms were seized by Dr. Stinchfield and a miner. The two, exerting all their strength, pulled the miner into the main tunnel, where he was placed in a sitting position. The blindfold that Hicks had been ordered to put on was removed, as the tunnel was only dimly lighted by candle.

And there, 100 feet from the face of the mountain and within a few steps of the place where the miner had lain entombed for nearly 16 days, there occurred a pathetically joyful scene. Dr. Stinchfield, with tears in his eyes, and his hands laid affectionately on Hicks' shoulders, said: "Well, how are you, old boy?"

And there were tears in the eyes of Hicks as well, the only tears that he had shed in all the days and nights since he was entombed, as he replied: "I am feeling fine. I can never thank you, doctor, for what you have done."

While working on a tunnel that was building by the Edison Power company near Bakersfield on December 7, the vertical walls of a deep cut fell in on Hicks and five fellow workmen. It was at first thought that all had perished under the hundreds of tons of rock and earth.

Three days later a tapping on the rail of the little tramway running through the drift gave the first intimation that a man still alive was buried beneath the debris. A 70-foot pipe, two inches in diameter, was immediately forced through the debris. It reached the spot where Hicks was entombed. A heavy dirt car had become wedged in the debris in such a way as to keep the immense weight from crushing him.

When Hicks pulled the wooden plug from the iron pipe and called to the men above him his voice sounded like one from the grave. Through the pipe the men working on top learned from Hicks that for several hours after the cave-in he had talked with his companions, but that they had become silent and he believed they were dead.

By means of the pipe Hicks kept in communication with a big force of rescuers which was at once organized; milk was poured down the pipe. This was the only sustenance it was possible to give the man for nearly two weeks. During the first two days Hicks said he had existed on a plug of tobacco he had with him at the time of the cave-in.

He had just exhausted this when the pipe was forced into the crevice in which he was pinned. Every day gallons of milk were poured down the pipe to keep him alive.

In a narrow space under the car there was just room for Hicks to lie down. His prison did not allow of the slightest freedom of movement, and for days the man lay on his back, not daring to move lest he might disturb the car overhead and bring down upon himself an avalanche of dirt that would mean his death.

Through the pipe he directed the work of rescue, guiding the course of the tunnel the miners started toward his prison, so that it would not by some chance disturb the equilibrium of the car, which was all that lay between him and death.

—New Oxford Item, New Oxford, PA, Dec. 27, 1906, p. 1.

"Plain Mary" is Now World's Best Cow

1920

Wins Title by Giving 15,525 Pounds of Milk in Year

NEW YORK, N.Y. — "Plain Mary," despite her humble name, has officially humbled "Vice la France," capturing from that champion Jersey cow the world title as a milk and butter producer, it is announced here.

"Plain Mary," who chews her cud in the meadows of Bangor, Maine, when they are not covered with snow, is owned by F.W. Ayers.

She won the championship by producing in one year 15,255 pounds of milk and 1,040 pounds of butter fat.


State Bans Bottled Olives

1920

Their Sale in Glass Containers is Forbidden in Montana

HELENA, Mont., March 18. — Sale of ripe olives and olive preparations in glass containers is prohibited in Montana by a decision of the State Board of Health. This action was taken as a result of the deaths of five persons at Java, Montana, from bacilli botulinum several months ago.

Advertisement (1895) — Two Frogs in The Milk Can Fable

Middletown, New York, 1895

TWO FROGS.

Once upon a time, two frogs without being consulted in the matter, found themselves shut up in a milk can and on their way to market. They soon found they could not live below the surface, and they had to kick vigorously in order to keep your heads above the milk. One of them, after working hard for a time, became discouraged and said, "There's no use kicking longer; let's give up and go the bottom." The other frog said, "Oh, no, let's keep on kicking as long as we can, and see what the outcome will be; we may get out alive yet." The other frog said, "It's no use," and went to the bottom. The other frog did not give up but kept on kicking, and when the can was opened he had kicked out a lump of butter on which he was floating with ease. The moral is plain — during such times as these, do not get discouraged and go down, but keep right on kicking, and perhaps a few more kicks will bring the butter.

We take this opportunity to remind you that we are still kicking way at 30 North street, and will appreciate very much any orders or business that you can give us or turn our way.

Our special kick, to-day, is Japanese Tooth Brushes. The Japs beat the world on good Tooth Brushes at low prices. We've captured a window full of 'em. Try one with our Ivory Tooth Wash.

McMonagle & Rogers, Druggists.

—Middletown Daily Argus, Middletown, New York, March 18, 1895, p. 5.

Milk Without Cows Obtained In Orient

1920

Chemist Has Scheme to Eliminate Old Bossy.

How good milk can be obtained without dependence on cows is an interesting suggestion. It is claimed that the demand for good milk and cream may be met without the presence of cows, providing transportation, water and power are available. A prominent American chemist offers the following recital:

"First of all, let us recall that copra is an article of commerce and consists of the dried meats of cocoanuts. It contains from 50 per cent to 63 per cent of oil. There is hardly any limit to the amount that may be produced.

"In India, Cochin China, the South Sea islands and elsewhere the oil has been used as food since the dawn of history, for the fats contained in it are singularly like the milk fats of mammals in most respects. It is already in wide use in this country as 'nut margarine,' which is cocoanut oil into which some butter has been melted and the whole churned with skim milk and worked as ordinary butter."

Coffee With Milk or Drink It Black

1916

Coffee With Milk

For many years after coffee was first drunk in Europe, says the Manchester Guardian, no one thought of mixing it with milk any more than the Turks and Arabs do now.

The use of coffee au lait seems to date from 1687. Mme. de Sevigne, writing to her daughter in that year, said that a doctor much in vogue "has taught us to mix sugar and milk with our coffee. They make a most delightful compound, which will help to support me through the rigors of Lent."

In a letter written seven years earlier she had mentioned as an eccentric proceeding on the part of Mme. de la Sabliere that "she drinks milk to her tea." Readers of "Unbeaten Tracks In Japan" may remember that one of the Ainus thought it disgusting that Mrs. Bishop should drink milk and pollute her tea with a fluid having so strong a smell and taste.

Butler Woman Jailed On Witchcraft Charge

She is Alleged to Have "Hoodooed" a Cow

BUTLER, Pa., May 8—Alleged by her accuser to be a witch, Mrs. Laupaule Orber was tried Friday on a technical charge of disorderly conduct, was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $5 and serve ten days in jail.

The charge was preferred by Mrs. Julia Kroner, who alleged that Mrs. Orber went into Mrs. Kroner's barn and by the use of witchcraft cast a spell over a cow which had prevented it from giving milk.

--Warren Evening Mirror, Warren, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1909, page 1.