On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards)
Joyce Bupp
Modems, bits and bytes.
Chips. (Not potato). Pagers.
Cellular. Compact discs, digital,
laptops, desktops.
What strange new words—
and meanings to old words—we
blithely scatter among our con
versations. And in our rapidly
changing society and its gee
whiz technology, some of the
“old” words which once were
commonplace to everyone are as
meaningless to today’s lingo as
our electronic terms would have
been to our ancestors a century
ago.
A reader recently hammered
home that point with a selection
of page copies from an 1870 s
copyrighted arithmetic (math,
today) book. Yorker James
Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co) - Penn State’s College of
Agricultural Sciences has
announced the recent appoint
ment of Peter R. Tozer to the
position of assistant professor of
animal science in the
Department of Dairy and
Animal Science.
Tozer, a native of New South
Wales in Australia, comes to the
department with a doctorate in
agricultural economics from the
University of Washington. He
also earned a bachelor’s degree
m agricultural economics from
the University of New England
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Eberhart forwarded this fasci
nating material in response to a
column I wrote more than 10
years ago (his memory better
than mine!) He recalls my
lament about how difficult it
had been to track down the
meanings of old measure
ments—furlongs, pecks, etc.—
for our son who needed them for
a school project. The 120-plus
year-old arithmetic book over
flowed with reading problems
(remember how you hated
those?) many of them using
terms and measurements com
monplace to the late 19th centu
ry-
While the math, er, arith
metic, hasn’t changed, think
how some of the terms in those-
Appoints Faculty Member
in Australia in 1992. Before join
ing Penn State, he served as
unit coordinator for Farm and
Resource Management A cours
es in the Department of
Agricultural and Resource
Economics at the University of
New England.'
Tozer will teach classes relat
ing to all animal production sys
tems. His research focuses on
managing Pennsylvania dairy
and other animal production
systems to improve their prof
itability and sustainability.
He is a member of the
iroved Manure Storage
SCS A|
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atone Concrete Products
reading problems from the
Common School Arithmetic, by
John H. French, might confound
our students today:
• “A fruit dealer bought 56
barrels of russet apples, 76 bar
rels of pippins, 69 barrels of
spitzenbergs, and 83 barrels of
greenings, how many apples did
he buy?”
• “A grain buyer purchased a
lot of wheat for $1078.25, and
the following week sold it for
$1219.125 (yes, 125). How much
did he clear on the wheat?”
•“A Vermont farmer made
161,268 oz. of maple sugar. How
many tons did he make?”
• “A drover bought a flock of
125 sheep at @52.5625. What
was the cost of the flock?”
• “A tanner paid $156.82-1/2
for 25.5 cords of hemlock bark.
How much was that a cord?”
• “A man exchanged a horse
worth $187.50, and a watch
worth $64,875 (yes, 875) for a
span of horses worth $3lO, pay
ing the balance in money. How
much did he pay?”
• And one which totally baf
fles me: “A dealer in findings
sold 13 bu 3 pk 6 qt. of shoe-pegs
by the quart. How many quarts
did he sell?” What were “find
ings” (leftover merchandise?)
and “shoe-pegs?”
American Dairy Science Associa
tion, the American Agricultural
Economics Association, the
Australian Agricultural and
Resource Economics Society,
and the Canadian Agricultural
Economics and Farm Manage
ment Society. He recently co
authored “Strategic Alliances
and Marketing Cooperatives: A
Lamb Industry Case Study” in
the Review of Marketing and
Agricultural Economics, and “Is
Equity Finance in Agricultural
Worth the Money in The
Centre for Rural Development
Discussion” Paper.
This arithmetic volume was
chock-full of fascinating infor
mation on measurements,
terms, currency, etc., which not
only helped to teach students
how to figure, but taught them
science and business-related
information as well.
For instance, one table
explains how to estimate the
capacity of cisterns, reservoirs,
and related liquid storages. Did
you know that 31.5 gallons
make 1 bar., or bbl. (meaning
Or that 63 gallons make
1 hhd. (hogshead)?
A footnote adds that barrels
and hogsheads used for commer
cial purposes were not fixed
measures; a barrel could be from
30 to 45 gallons and a hogshead
from 60 to 125 gallons How
would you know how much you
were getting, anyway?
Another table explained the
dry measurements of quarts,
Carving
CARLISLE (Dauphin Co.) -
Finally a reason to play with
your food - the Pennsylvania
dairy industry unveils the
Creative Cheese Carving
Contest. Offering more than 600
dollars in prizes and a chance to
be a winner at the Pennsylvania
Farm Show, cheese lovers are
challenged to come up with cre
ative ways to express "Behold
the power Of Cheese."
Ten finalists with the most
creative carving ideas will par
ticipate in a Carve-Off at the
Pennsylvania Farm Show in
January. At this carve-off, the
finalists will be provided with
one five-pound block of cheddar
cheese, one pairing knife for
carving, a carving area, and
"coaching" from culinary arts
students or professionals.
A panel of local celebrity
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pecks, and bushels, with anoth
er interesting footnote; H ln mea
suring grain, seeds, peas, beans
and small, fruits, the tfieasure
ments must be even full. But in
measuring large fruits, r corn m
the ear, coarse vegetables and
other bulky items, the measure
must be heaping full 4 heaped
measures must equal 5 even
measures. See Manual.”
I hope the manual made more
sense than some of today’s com
puter ones.
When it comes to the new
math, I was lost already back
when our own kids studied it in
school But just in case “arith
metic” every comes back into
style, I’m hanging on to this
wealth of old-fashioned, book
learnin’.
You never know when you
might need the data that 24 gr
(grains) equals 1 pwt. (penny
weight).
Enter
Cheese
Contest
judges will select the top three
winners, who will be awarded
gourmet cheese baskets and
$l5O, $lOO, and $5O respective
ly. All finalists will also receive
prizes from the dairy industry.
To enter the Creative Cheese
Carving Contest, send your
name, address, phone number,
and age, along with a descrip
tion and photo of your creation,
to Creative Cheese Carving
Contest, do American Dairy
Association & Dairy Council
Mid East, R.D. 1, Box 166
Emlenton, PA 16373. For com
plete contest rules and regula
tions contact Cindy Weiner of
AD ADC Mid East at (814) 498-
2058 or Jayne Sebrigh of
ADA/DC Middle Atlantic at
(717) 486-8590. All entries must
be received by December 15,
1998.
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