Agriphemera

Mental Nuts
Can You Crack 'em?
(1897)

Here's something really neat from the world of agriphemera!

This PDF reprint of a unique 1897 booklet describes itself as "A book of Old Time Catch or Trick PROBLEMS. Regular old Puzzlers that kept your granddad up at night." 100 of these old-time tricks and puzzlers are in the 32-page booklet.

Here are three of the Mental Nuts you'll find in the book...

This would make for a great homeschooling resource. It would also be a lot of fun at a party (for some people). Or print it off and give it as a gift to someone you know who likes puzzling word tricks and mental challenges.

Answers to all the tricks and puzzlers are in the back of the book.

The booklet was written by S.E. Clark and was distributed by the American Waltham Watch Co. of Waltham Mass.

Price: $2.25

Talking Turkey
(circa 1930)

This rare 32-page booklet (with 6 photos and 6 illustrations) was produced by the Beacon Milling Company of Cayuga, NY. Beacon was a large operation, with their own experimental farms. The company was purchased by Cargill and shut down in 1968.

"Talking Turkey" begins with these words:

Turkey raising need no longer be a gamble. It is a highly profitable undertaking when the heavy losses due to disease are eliminated.

The plan outlined in this booklet, if followed to the letter, will enable farmers to raise turkeys profitably. It has been tested by poultry experts and on hundreds of farms where conditions are average. It is a workable plan, requires no costly equipment, involves no elaborate preparations and can be carried out on any farm.

The information in this booklet is geared for small farms in northern climates, raising turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The primary concern with turkeys when this booklet was written was blackhead, a disease that devastated whole flocks of the birds. Blackhead is discussed early in the book.

"Talking Turkey" says that blackhead was caused by a "germ" in the soil, but these days we know that blackhead is actually caused by a protozoa that lives in soil and can survive for long periods. It’s still around (you can read an interesting modern-day discussion about it At This Link).

Bronze, Hollands and Bourbon Reds were the most common turkey breeds when this booklet was published. It was assumed that the farmer would have hens and toms, and raise their own poults. Proper feeding of the breeders is discussed, as is artificial incubating and natural hatching. Movable brooder coops are also discussed.

Rearing of poults on open lots of pasture land is recommended as being more desirable than "rearing platforms" of wire or concrete. "Battery rearing" is discouraged. But platform and battery recommendations are provided.

A "Feeding Schedule" is provided. Various Beacon feed rations are, of course, recommended, but there is a lot of information about what is in the different feeds and why. One of the more interesting feed recommendations, in addition to a box of oyster shell grit, is charcoal: "A box of charcoal should be kept before the birds. This will help in preventing..."

Various "Ailments of Turkeys" are discussed in the last pages of the booklet. A homemade "worm oil" mixture consisting of mineral oil and rectified turpentine is discussed and recommended as a regular treatment.

If you have any interest in raising turkeys on your homestead, I think you will appreciate the information presented in this booklet. The historical perspective can serve as a valuable adjunct to present-day information about raising turkeys.

Price: $3.50

Making Vinegar
In The Home
And On The Farm
(1924)

If you are interested in the subject of making your own vinegar, and you want to learn more about vinegar-making than you will get from the average online tutorial, you will appreciate this 28-page PDF download (with 10 illustrations). It will give you some historical perspective along with the practical information. Here is how the bulletin describes itself...

"Vinegar can be made from any fruit, or, in fact, from any material which contains enough sugar and is in no way objectionable.

Whether it is done on a small scale in the home, or on a larger scale on the farm, or in a still larger scale in the factory, the production of vinegar is the result of two distinct fermentation processes—an alcoholic fermentation followed by an acetic fermentation.

By using the materials and following the methods discussed in this bulletin, vinegar of good quality may readily be made from apples, peaches, grapes, and other fruits, large quantities of which are wasted each year in the United States."

The making of vinegar using apples, grapes, oranges, peaches, persimmons, pears, berries, honey, maple syrup, watermelons, grains, and molasses is discussed. Fermenting, filtering, clarifying, aging, pasteurizing, and packing are also covered. In addition to simple home vinegar production, a larger-scale, continuous-barrel process is explained. For commercial vinegar production, the bulletin describes how to make and use a "quick vinegar generator."

There is also a discussion of "Causes of Failure" and "Animal Parasites" (vinegar eels and vinegar mites).

Testing for acid strength of the vinegar is covered near the end of the bulletin. However, the testing process in 1924 seems better suited to someone with a scientific or laboratory background. The bulletin ends with "Federal Regulations Governing The Manufacture And Sale Of Vinegar."

Price: $2.75

P.S. For an online tutorial on the subject of making your own apple cider vinegar, check out this link: How I Make Apple Cider Vinegar

Homemade vinegar!

Capons And Caponizing
(1932)

Back in the days before the now-popular Cornish "Frankenchicken" was available, people caponized their roosters to get meaty birds. Here is an excerpt from this Farmer's Bulletin:

"A capon is an altered or castrated male chicken. As with other male animals so altered, the disposition of the capon differs materially from that of the cockerel. He no longer shows any disposition to fight, is much more quiet and sluggish, and is more docile and easy to keep within bounds. The true capon seldom crows. Along with this change in disposition there is a change in appearance. The comb and wattles cease growing. This change causes the head to appear abnormally small. The hackle, tail, and saddle feathers grow very long, giving the bird an appearance of being profusely feathered."

Caponized roosters grew quite large and sold for a premium. They needed a longer length of time (than a Cornish Frankenchicken) to attain the desired large size, but they were excellent foragers.

This 11-page bulletin has 9 photos and 1 drawing. It contains subject headings as follows:

Characteristics of the capon
Selection of breeds
When to caponize
Caponizing instruments
The operation of caponizing
Losses due to caponizing
Slips
Care of the fowls after the operation
Feeding and growing capons
Preparing capons for market
Cost of production and returns

Price: $1.99

More Caponizing Information...

If you are interested in learning the art of caponizing, it is recommended that you purchase all four of our Agriphemera downloads on this subject. Each download has information and insights not found in the other downloads. All together, these inexpensive downloads provide you with an excellent educational resource about this almost-lost skill.

Producing Capons
In Pennsylvania
(1948)

This 13-page bulletin has 6 photos and 1 illustration. Contents are as follows...

Breeds commonly used for capons
Size of cockerels for caponizing
Care of birds before caponizing
Caponizing boards and tables
Instruments needed to caponize
Performing the operation
Precautions when caponizing
Rations suitable for capons
Wind puffs, crooked keels, breast blisters
Shelters and range
How capons develop
Gains, costs, and returns
Growing capons as a business

This bulletin is notable for encouraging the pasturage of capons and using them to glean wheat, oat, barley, buckwheat and corn fields. It also has a instructions for making a caponizing table with a unique bird holder that utilizes the spring tension of a hacksaw blade.

Price: $1.99

More Caponizing Information...

Beuoy Bow
Capon Book
1917

George Beuoy is "The man that made capons famous," and I think he probably made a small fortune doing it. Beuoy sold caponizing information and caponizing tools. Judging from this booklet, he did a great job of encouraging and inspiring rural folks to tap into the profitable capon market that once existed in this country.

This is not only an interesting and informative book, it's a lot of fun to read. You'll get Mr. Beuoy's autobiography telling how he started Dingley Dell Farm with pretty much nothing, and made a success of it (with the help of Mrs. Beuoy).

The popularity of caponizing (in 1917), and the success of George Beuoy is evidenced in this excerpt...

"Just a few years ago it was thought that only an expert could make capons and often he was not sure of the results. No wonder, with the instruments and methods in use in those days—it was all guess and no sure results. With the George Beuoy patent Tools and the 1917 method as invented by him, anyone can do it. In the seasons just past more than THIRTY-THOUSAND people have bought instruments direct from Mr. Buoy and have followed his plain instructions to complete success in the making and marketing of capons. These pupils of Mr. Beuoy's live in every state in the Union and most of the provinces of Canada. It is always possible now for Mr. Buoy to cite you to some one in your immediate neighborhood that is quite expert at making capons. No matter where you live he will gladly do this for you and the neighbor will no doubt be glad to show you exactly how it is done, and without cost to you in any way."

This booklet makes it clear that even children can caponize chickens, and it provides pictures of George Beuoy's kids doing just that...

You'll get caponizing how-to, caponizing testimonials, and a look at all the Buoy caponizing tools in this nifty 56-page booklet. There are numerous photos and illustrations.

Price: $2.99

More Caponizing Information...

Caponizing
By
George P. Pilling
(1914)

This rare booklet is one of the most interesting examples of agriphemera that I own. G.P. Pilling & Son Co. was a Philadelphia manufacturer of surgical, dental, and veterinary instruments. They also made many different kinds of caponizing tools, all of which are featured in this 43-page pdf download.

Like, for example, you'll find 11 different testicle removers...

Pictured in this book...

The Philadelphia Caponizing Set
The Pilling-Farmer Caponizing Set
The Pilling Special Caponizing Set
The Pilling-Twinning Caponizing Set
The Pilling-Miles Capon Set
Lansdowne Capon Sete (#1 and #2)
The Cornell Caponizing Set

Also pictured are Pilling spreaders, tweezers, forceps, three killing knifes, a gape worm extractor, the Pilling fume disinfector (for the chicken house—"death to germ life"), and if that's not enough, there three pages of cattle instruments.

The back cover of the book shows five different Pilling Poultry Markers. I have never heard of poultry markers. Here is a description...

"These little instruments, used to punch web between toes, are invaluable to the poultry raiser in marking young and old chickens, capons and all kinds of fowl. The marker enables every farmer and breeder to recognize their own fowl at a glance. The marking can be made in over 200 different ways, and this number can be still more added to by marking the skin of the wings."

This booklet is all about capons and caponizing, but it doesn't go into any detail about exactly how to caponize. Nevertheless, this is a must-have caponizing resource, in my opinion.

Price: $2.99

More Caponizing Information...

Rabbit Raising
(1920)

U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmer’s Bulletin No. 1090

From inside the front cover...

“The saving and earning possibilities of rabbit raising are illustrated by the following concrete examples of what has actually been done:

One resident of Kansas City, Kansas, has raised 300 to 400 pounds of rabbit meat a year for his own table at a cost of only 8 to 10 cents a pound. A large religious institution in Nebraska that has raised rabbits instead of poultry reports the meat more satisfactory than chicken and the experiment profitable. According to a former county commissioner of the State of Washington, rabbits were grown on the county farm to provide a substitute for chicken for the county hospitals; the initial stock, numbering 119 rabbits, increased to 1,200 in 10 months, besides those used in the hospitals. A high-school boy in Iowa, who breeds registered stock on a space of 33 feet square in his back yard, raised and sold enough rabbits in 1918 to clear more than $1,200. An Ohio farmer sends 400 pounds of rabbit meat a week to city restaurants, yet is unable to meet the demand.

These are not isolated cases; they are simply examples of what has been done in rabbit raising, and are an indication of what this industry is likely to become when it is generally understood.”

Subjects covered in this bulletin include:

Utility rabbits

Breeds

Costs

Selecting stock

Hutches and yards

Feeding

Breeding

Selling

Dressing

Cooking

Rabbit skins

Diseases

32 pages

11 b&w photos

7 illustrations

Price: $1.99

Herrick's Almanac
of 1889

This is an almanac that was distributed by Dr. Herrick’s Family Medicines. On the one hand it is a typical almanac, with daily sunrise and sunset times, weather forecasts, and astronomical calculations. On the other hand, it is a packed with advertising for the various medicines that the company sold. The advertising is in the form of short articles, poems, and anecdotes, all of which are entertaining and even informative. The almanac also has some food recipes and other bits of useful or entertaining non-advertising information.

Dr. Herrick’s line of “reliable remedies” included...

Herrick’s perforated Plasters for Rheumatism

Herrick’s Red Pepper Plasters for Stiff Neck, Croup, Diptheria

Herrick’s Belladonna Plasters for Sudden & Acute Pains

Herrick’s Kid Plasters for Weak Backs

Herrick’s German Liniment for Man and Beast

Herrick’s Vegetable Liver Pills to Regulate the Liver and Stomach

Renne’s Pain Killing Magic Oil for All Inward and Outward Ailments

Perrins Fumigator Cigarettes, The Perfect Cure for Catarrh

Harvell’s Horse Powders for Horses, Cattle and Poultry

My understanding is that the Dr. Herrick’s company published their almanac for many years. This would seem to indicate that their products worked. While many patent medicines sold in this country before the modern era of FDA regulation contained dangerous or addictive substances (e.g., cocaine or turpentine), some of the medicines were herbal preparations that legitimately helped people feel better.

One of the products touted in the almanac is Renne's Magic Oil. This was a popular cureall of the day. I tried to find out the ingredients but the closest I came was: "a certain combination of oils with the juices of garden plants." I am thinking the oils may have been essential oils, which can be powerful curatives, and many people use essential oils too maintain health in this day and age.

In reading this little almanac I was most intrigued by “Herrick’s perforated capsicum, or red pepper plasters,” a product that is touted as a gentle, efficient “counter-irritant.” There are times in my life when a perforated capsicum plaster might have been just the thing for me. I want to try one!

This almanac will appeal to your historical curiosity. And anyone who has an interest in the traditional healing arts should find it fascinating.

Pages: 50

Illustrations: Numerous

Price: $1.99

Homemade
Fruit Butters
(1917)

This bulletin does NOT tell how to make fruit butters over an open fire with iron or copper kettles, as is illustrated on the cover. Rather, it presents a faster approach to achieving the same objective with “the usual utensils in almost daily use in every kitchen."

Fruit butters are presented as a way to save perishable fruit (other than canning and drying) so as to “add variety to the menu and volume to the larder.” Here is what this bulletin says of itself…

“The object of this bulletin is not to cover the entire range of products which may be made from fruits, nor to publish a long list of recipes, but rather to revive an interest in a few of the more common home fruit products easily made and relished by most people.

The various butters considered in the following pages have all been made and tested in one of the laboratories of the United States Department of Agriculture and can be recommended as good, wholesome, home-prepared fruit products.”

Although Homemade Fruit Butters is only six pages long, it is full of information and fruit butter combinations. The value of this pdf file is found in the 100-year-old historical perspective of preserving food without refrigeration, and in the inspiration that comes in reading about this old technique (which is still a viable food preserving option). Here are the topics discussed:

Necessary equipment

Apple butter with cider

Apple butter without cider

Apple butter with grape juice

Apple butter with lemons

Apple butter with plums

Apple butter with rhubarb

Pear Butter

Peach butter

Plum Butter

Garfield Butter

Sterilization of containers for fruit butters

The following containers are discussed for long-term storage of the fruit butters: glass or stone jars, hermetically sealed stoneware containers, or any glass or stoneware containers with or without airtight covers.

Price: $1.99