To Strengthen Cow Covers

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 46, 10 May 1940, Page 45

To Strengthen Cow Covers

Dear Aunt Daisy, I heard you asking for a method for making cow covers last longer. I asked my good man if he knew — he is a saddler and harness-maker, and so I knew he would tell me the correct thing. + Take one gallon of raw linseed oil, bring-it to the boil, and scrape in 1¥20z. of, beeswax. Stir until the wax is dissolved, then take it off the fire. Use it cold. This quantity will do twelve covers. Use it sparingly, Very lightly oil the seams and hips — this is the important part. If it is fine weather and the covers are not needed, it is a good plan to dampen the cover all over with water, and give a full dressing while still damp. This method will give a quicker job. The oil must be used sparingly, for too much will make the cover hard. With this treatment the cheapest grade of jute cover will last two or three years. I must tell you, Aunt Daisy, how I endorse all you say about apples. I wonder if many know they are the finest food that can be eaten in a pre-natal diet. I have two little girls, Helen and Colleen, and before Helen was born I had a perfect craze for apples. When she was born her skin was pink and white, and had not the "boiled" look we sometimes see. The first thing the doctor said was: "Well, that’s an apple baby!" I did the same thing before Colleen was born, and she was the same. They both have splendid teeth, too, and although Helen is losing her baby teeth now, they are as sound as the day she cut them. When the school doctor was at the school recently, he complimented me on her teeth, and said: "Here’s a

girl who loves her apples, and her mother did, too." It sounds boastful, per-, haps, but 1 had to pass on this hint, as I have a lot of time for the good oldfashioned apple.-‘‘Agnes." Thank you very much for both hints. The cow cover idea will be a help to many farmers; while we cannot stress too strongly the value of apples, which should be eaten skin and all, if possible. If you are going to make apple pie, try grating the apple-skin off on the nutmeg grater just as if it were a lemon. Then the skin can be eaten in the pie without anyone knowing it is there! Here is another letter on the cowcover subject: Dear Aunt Daisy, Referring to your question as to how to make cow-covers last longer. Well, we keep cows, so my Better Half said to me, ‘When you go to town again, get a gallon of raw linseed oil, and we will give the cow-covers a coating." This I did, and we have had them now for two years, and find them still good. — "Mrs, S." (Feilding). That is even simpler than the other. Perhaps you would like to try adding the beeswax next time, and see which way you prefer,