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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1921-10-27, Page 7Address communications to Agronomist. 73 Aoeiaide St West Toront* motor truck increases the value of,Our Truck Beats Horses. “What is the most profitable piece of equipment on your farm?’’ is a question frequently asked by county representatives and others interested in modem farming. After rived at but one applied truck. careful thought I have ar- the conclusion that there is answer to the question as to our farm—the motor x For thousands of years the problem of successfully ma^eting farm pro­ ducts remained unsolved. The farm­ er produced with hope, but marketed in despair. As a rule/ he was greatly hampered by the many miles which separated him from an active market; the result was that he sold his stuff Preparing for the Perennial Quarantine for the European Flower Border. Corn Borer. No flower garden .Is complete with- , The scouting work to determine the out perennials. Even though the plot spread of the European Oom Borer in of ground be small, some of the spatce southern Ontario is still being con- shou-ld be devoted' to this useful and tinned by the Dominion Department varied class of plants. Few flowers of Agriculture in co-operation with require as Tittle care as hardy her- the Provincial Government. Up to baceous perenn'ails if given the pro- September 24th one hundred and per conditions to start with. The soil : should be a good loam which will not Wanted—A Dish of Ice Cream A Hallowe’en Story—By Myrtle Jamison Trachsel. had pulled off his sheet and1 pillows case and was asking the others to unmask. But the twins couldnft! They 'had come to the party unasked and if they refused to unmask, the boys would in­ sist upon knowing who they were. “Come,” said Meli, and the twins slipped out of the front door un­ noticed “All of that and no ice cream,” wailed Mill. “Hush!” cautioned Mell. “Let’s slip around to the back. They usually have brick ice cream and we mighf I be able to sneak out half a brick.” Quietly they crept around the house, i A big freezer was being opened on the porch, the maid took out two bricks and carried them into house. “Now,” whispered Mill, and threw his leg over the railing, before he could get his band into the freezer the maid returned.. “You young rascals, get out of here!” she screamed, and the twins lost no time doing so. They ran over into the next yard -and were greeted wth a hail from an- upstairs Window. “What do, you want around here?” demanded the voice. “I’ve had enough gates walk away on Hallowe’en and if you don’t move on I’ll sic the dog on you.” The twins paused behind a tree, frantically trying to remove their sheet a»d pillow-case outfits. “That’s old- Mr. James. Telil him who we -are and say we are not both­ ering anything.” “Yes, I will,” said Mell, “then he’ll tell the Bowmans we came from—” Mel Vs speech was cut short by the sound of the old man calling to his dbg. “Take them out, Trilby,” he called, and the dog answered with a short bark. The twins jumped the back fence and ran down the alley, the dog close behind). The boys had no more than passed the Bcwan house when he was at their heel’s—they had) just time to clamber to the top of a low shed. Not in the least put out by the turn of ' affairs, the dog sat down in the alley and waited. “Gee, do you suppose that dog is going to sit there all asked. “It looks like answer. Seconds lengthened and the minutes became a half-hour and still the dog kept guard. Two weary boys watched' from above. “If this roof didn’t slant so I would chance a nap. I suppose he’ll get tired soon,” said Meli. They stretched- out as best they Could, intending to make the best of it. But the night was chilly and in a short time Mill sat up. The lights were being put out in the Bowan 'house. Already the lower floor was dark. “The party is over, we can go home now. Wasn’t the ice cream good?” joked Mill. His eyes were upon the attic window; he wondered’ why they had not put the lights out there. As he looked- the blaze flared up, and he remembered a Jack-o'-lantern- liad stood by that window. “Look!” he cried, “look at the attic window.” A larger blaze showed; perhaps the window shade had caught. Mell looked over the shed roof, the dog was not in sight. “Come,” he said, “we mu-st spread the alarm.” They managed to do this without themselves being 'known-, and -watched from across the 'street while the fire was being put out. .It was a very lit­ tle fire, 'but the boys had the satisfac­ tion of know'ing that they were the ones who kept it from being a big one. And’ this thought comforted them as ' they climbed up the ro-se trellis and got into bed-. They were -late -getting up the next morning). Jim was just finishing an : -account of the party when they reach­ ed the breakfast table. “They had lovely refreshments, , more ice cream than we could eat.” » “Yes;, I know,” assented Mrs. Terry, “They sent over two big bowls of i cream for the twins, -but they were sc ) - .sound asleep I couldn’t rouse them* . Papa and I ate it all. Boys-, what . made you lock your door -last night?” ’ But the boys did not answer. They • were looking at each- other and- think- t ing of all the things they had endured ’ trying to get the cream they could ; have had by staying at home. And yet, if it had not been for their chilly sojourn on the shed in the alley, what might have happened to the Bowan ? So after all, the dish of ice “I dare you—double dare you! Are you afraid?” Melvin Terry and hi® twin- brother Milton, “Mell and Mill” • they were called-, stood on the front porch watch­ ing an -older brother walk proudly i i aero sts the street to Ted Bowman’s: ' Hallowe’en party, to which the twins ' had not been invited because they; happened to be three years younger i than Ted), brother Jim, and the other boys of that little bunch. “Are you afraid?” repeated Mell, and this time he met a flat denial. “I am not. And besides they will- • never know we are there. We 'are al-1 most as tall as Jim. and with gho-st! I costumes on they will think we be- , long there. I like ice cream myself, and Mrs. Bowan always gives you lots of it.” “Then let’s be moving. We’ll pre­ tend we are going to -bed, then when we get fixed up we -can climb down the rose trellis.” Mrs. Terry was surprised to find the twins going to bed1 so early on Hallowe’en, 'but she was only too glad to have them safely out of mischief. The boys took sheets and pillow-cases from the drawer of old linens, and be­ hind their locked door they fixed themselves up -as they had seen their mother dress Jim. Very quietly they slipped -out of their window Onto the roof of the porch. They had been up and down the rose trellis many times by daylight, but getting down at night, wrapped’ in trailing robes with two small holes to -see through, was an entirely different matter. Mell tried it first, but the thorns of the roses would not even let him get started. “I’ll never get down with this blind­ er on,” he whispered, and he pulled the pillow-case from his head and , dropped it to the ground. He wrap- , ped the sheet tight against his shouL ders, but even then it was hard- . enough. The thorns scratched his , legs and managed to -be always in the . way when he p-ut his hand on the - trellis-. Only the thought of the ice cream gave the boys courage enough . to get down that prickly ladder by night. The door of Ted Bowan’s home , stood open, but there was no one - about. The twins dis-gused by their ghostly attire, boldly entered' the house to which they had’ not -been in­ vited. A Jack-o’-l'antem stood on the hall tableU Above it was a black hand pointing towards the stairs; it bore the words, “This way to the Goblinfs Den.” They could hear laughter some- ! where above., and they hurried up the stairs only to come to another hand, , pointing toward the attic. At the top of the second flight -of stairs they ■ were met by a figure dressed like themselves. “Shake, my friend,” said the figure. ! Mell, who was leading, grasped1 the cold, clammy hand held out to him, then to his surprise it seemed ! come off at the elbow. He stared it a moment and then dropped it th-e floor, much to the enjoyment the other ghosts -gathered around). ! “It’s only a long kid glove filled . with wet sand,” whispered Mill. “Re­ member the ice -cream.” There were other surprises in -store for the boys. They were asked' to reach into the “Witches’ caldron” and take out a fortune. But when they ' put their hands into the jars they t touched the soft, squirming bodies of live frogs. They were told to walk down a narrow runway, and in- doing so they stu-mpled onto a boil bedspring. The attic was lighted' only by a few Jack-o’-lanterns and the iboys could not see what it was they (had come upon, nor how to get over it. So they had to flounder along the best they could. “They’re be'ing extra nice to us,” said Mell sarcastically. “Let’s get out of here.” “Oh, they all had to do these things-; we just happened to be the last. Look, they are going downstairs now and we will have ice -cream.” They were going downstairs, sure enough, but not for refreshments. The ghostly figures) seated themselves on the floor around an open fireplace, and began to tell ghost stories1—of spirits haunting lonely places; of peo­ ple being followed -at night, and so on The twins listened in silence. They were not frightened, but they felt pretty jumpy and they had' to think hard of the ice cream they had come for. At last the mother of the host. ____ w came in and asked the boys to come ( house ? So after all, the dish of ice to the dining-room; the twins jumped cream they didn’t get was well' worth up—but what was this? Ted Bowan the trouble. seventy townships were examined of which sixty-five were found infested by the pest. Thirty-seven townships, were found infested last year, so that, the total number -of townships infested j now amounts to -one hundred and two. On October 3rd -a Ministerial Order was passed quarantining the -town­ ships most recently infested1, and pro­ hibiting the removal of 'all portions of the corn plant, except clean shelled com. Th-e areas now quarantined for the Europe-an Corn Borer includes the following counties and township®: Oakland, Brantford, Burford and Onondaga in the county of Brant; all either i-n spring o-r autumn, -and the of Elgin county; Gosfield south, Mer- month of October is a very suitable sea -and Pelee in the county of Essex; time to -plant most kinds of peten- all of Haldimand -county; Stephen, niails. Hay, Tuckersmith and Goderich in the In making and planting a border county of Huron; Zone, Orford, How- it is mo®t important to plant those ard, Harwich, Raleigh, Romney, Til- kinds which will give a continuity of bury east and Go-re of Gam-den in bloom from early in the spring untlif Kent county; Euphemia, Brooke and late in the autumn, and to arrange Warwick in the county of Lambton; them so that they will be most effee- Louth, Grantham, Niagara and Clin- tive. The dates of blooming, height® ' ton in the -county of Lincoln; all of of the plants and colors of the flow- Middlesex county; all of Norfolk ers of the best known -hardy peren- ’ county; Pickering in the -county -of niialis are given in Bulletin No. 5, S.S.,1 Experimental Farms, Ottawa. In large borders the best effects are ob-j tained by massing several plants of one color or several varieties of one- species-, arid) also arranging for a' continuity of bloom, but in smaller ■ borders and where the number of ( plants is limited it is often not thought possible to get this, and some­ times one part of the border will be without bloom. Many good perennials can be grown readily from seed. T-heise include Ice­ land -and) Oriental poppies; Columbine, Coreopsis, Gaffiardia, Campanula, Platycodon, Delphinium. In- this way, at a comparatively small -outlay, and in two -seasons, many hundred plants may be grown which will furnish bloom from early in the spring until late in- the autumn. The planting of small clumps of bulbs between the later 'blooming perennials will furnish bloom in the spring when flowers a/e most desired. Seed should' be sown in rows about six inches apart. Autumn is the best time to sow the seed, as it will be softened- by the moisture then in the soil and cracked by frost before spring, -and will then germinate readily, whereais if it were town in the spring it may lie a whole year without germinating. The depth of sowing will depend on the seed. Very small seed merely needs enough soil to prevent its blowing away, white the larger seed may be -sown half an indh deep. If sown much deeper most seed will not germinate. The young plants at the end or in- the middle of the first season’s growth may be either transplanted direct from the seed bed to the border or be pricked out about six inches apart into an­ other bed and- left growing for the re­ mainder of th-e season by which time they will be fine strong pliant® ready for*permanent planting. . , - • . , „ -,i created i should be a good loam which wiiU notlani for the nAest | bake, and- drain®!, for ttenogh | drainage is very essential. When I planted, most p-erenniiials should be I left undiistarbed for -a long time, hence ' soil should be well pre­ dated in tihe beginning by trenching and digging in a liberal supply of well rotted stable manure. Most per­ ennial's thrive best in full sunlight, Having had considerable experience where possible, they should be with various sizes and makes of farm ( p.]iainted where they will get the most favored conditions.. A southern aspect is the most suitable, and where there' is protection from the cold winds the plant do best. Planting miay be done i-s absolutely without value if its pro­ duct cannot be marketed at a profit. By having a reliable truck on our farm we -can take advantage of a sharp demand for our products that may exist a hundred miles away.. We try to find markets where competition for the products we sell exists. trucks, the following things I have learned may be of some assistance to you: In trucks', as in everything else, the cheapest in first cost is seldom the cheapest in the end). . When buying a truck for farm use the he But to the nearest dealer, and often was it is wise to select one built especially neatly trimmed in the transaction. To a great extent the motor truck on the farm has remedied that evil. To-day the motorized farm can be likened to a farm upon which there is a railroad station. The possession of a truck gives the owner a choice of markets; he can de­ liver his product to the market ing him the most profit. A two-ton truck travels four ■as fast as the average team, man with a two-ton truck can haul as much in the same length of time as can four men, four wagons, and eight horses. Our specialty is alfalfa hlay and seed, and -our shipping point is three and a half miles away—a math short­ er haul than the average. By the tdam method of delivery it costs $1.30 a ton for each ton placed in a car at shipping point. By motor-truck delivery, and with every item of up­ keep figured, it costs us- 73 cents for each ton handled. Around a thriving city, twenty-five miles. -away, there are a number of dairy farms which are always in the market for choice alfalfa hay. It is simply impossible to deliver hay to these farms by team and realize a profit, 'but with a truck it is different; twenty-five miles -by truck is practi­ cally the same as six miles by team. By opening up better markets for practically all farm products, the offer­ times One There is no .better time than now to give the houses and premises a thor­ ough cleaning.- The yards should be raked up and then spaded or plowed'.| The houses should be given -a thorough cleaning and disinfection. To com­ plete the work and add brightness, Whitewash the interior of the coops. November, too, is a good time of the year to paint; if -the outsides of the houses are painted, the woodwork will be preserved and the buildings will have a more attractive appear­ ance. The floor of each house must be at least several inches higher than the level of the outside ground; otherwise melting snows may cause considerable dampness. Ventilation must also be looked -after. Unless there is good ventilation in the housed, frost is likely to gather on the ceiling -and walls, -causing sickness. Broken window-panes should be at­ tended to. If the door is not in proper order, attend- to it now and make it swing clear -and easy and shut tight and neat. If the roof is not tight and sound, make it so before the fall rains set in. If a board is off, or shrinkage has made cracks to let the wind whilstle through, fix them up right away by nailing on the board or bat­ tening the cracks.. These things can all be attended to comfortably this month. It is dis­ agreeable Work to be tinkering at them in bad weather. Besides, if they are left till later, they are not likely to -be done, and the fowls will suffer. Prepare for winter now. I for country roads and country loads. By building your own truck body you can save from $50 to $100, and carry out your own idea of what a truck body should be. If you build for permanence, do not use a nail in the whole job; nails soon work loose or break and give a world of bother. Use quarter-inch bolts in place of nails. * Pneumatic tires give much better satisfaction. The stitch-in-time policy is an ex­ cellent one to apply to motor trucks-. Ten minutes devoted- to an inspection twice each day the truck is in use will practically insure you against serious trouble. Ninety per cent, of all truck trouble can be directly traced to care­ lessness. If a truck meets with an accident, it can always be made new, but you can’t repair a dead horse with a screw driver and a monkey wrench. And please remember this: Just be­ cause your truck is a willing worker, do not overload it. Overloading takes a heavy toll in tire costs, and is never profitable. Use nothing but the best oil in crank case, and change often; oil soon loses its lubricating qualities when used in a heavy-duty motor pulling its regular load. The farther you live from market the greater your need for a good farm truck. Over-Seas Cattle Trade. Apart from the details of cost in transportation andi handling, which are given with exactitude, the report made by the representative of the Live Stock Branch at Ottawa on' his return from a visit of inquiry into the possibilities of the cattle trade in! Britain, contains much information of | value to breeders and shippers.. For the English market, he says the most saleable animals are those that weigh between twelve and thirteen hundred pounds, well leaned) and under three years of age. Im Scotland heavier beasts find) favor and those running between thirteen and fourteen hun­ dred pounds sell well', but there also fat 'is depreciative. At present, Can­ adian stock is criticized in- England as heavy In the bone, rather too old, too weighty and rough, and where flat, too much on the outside. Cattle, it Is said, -should come “Kosher,” that is, there should be no adherence of the Jungs to the carcass. In this respect Canadian- cattle are reported to be extremely satisfactory, as they are judged free from tuberculosis. There is a large Jewish population in the British Isles, by whom chilled or frozen meat is unacceptable. As a matter of fojet the heavy fat steer has no permanent outlet %-ither at home or abroad'. The standard requrement is the young handy-weight animal die­ void of an excess of fat. From the middle of March to the middle of August this year 40,000 head of cattle were shipped from Canada to Britain, the majority averaging above 1,300 lbs., and many of the butcher bulls 'scaling over 1,600 lbs. Although the lighter animals generally sold better, yet the 'heavy stock also sold well, especially at Glasgow. Canada’s chief competitor in the export cattle trade is Ireland, from whence about three- quarters of a million cattle are re­ ceived in Britain annually. On a quality basis this country has the best of the situation, but the short haul from the Emerald Isle, and the non-application of the embargo, re­ quiring cattle to -be slaughtered within ten days of arrival, make all the dif­ ference. The entrance of Canadian cattle into Britain is confined to Birkenhead- and Glasgow. Before the war Deptford and Avonmouth were available as ports of entry, feut theyj at present are closed. Their nearness j to London make them desirable for shipments from this country. -------------------— The Growing of Flax. Mr. R. J. Hutchinson, Chief of the Economic Division of the Dominion Experimental Farms, surely hits the nail on the head when he says in his recently issued bulletin, “Flax Cul­ ture,” “diligent and systematic de­ struction- of weeds always repays the cost of the work in the extra yield of the cultivated crop.” The weeds most injurious to the -growth and subsequent preparation of flax and the purity of any seed derived there­ from are Charlock, Redshank, Com Marigold, Thistle, Field Bindweed, Flax Dodder and Dock. should True Service. “He has not served who gathers gold, Nor has he served whose life is told In selfish battles he has won, Or deeds of -skill that he has done. But he has served who now -and then Has helped along his fellow men.” The greatest truths are the simp­ lest, and so are the greatest men. ' Ontario; all of Oxford county; East­ hope north, Easthope south, D'ownae, Blanshard, Hibbert, Ful-lerton., Ellice, Mornington, Logan in the county of ' Perth; Wilmot, Waterloo and Wool- ' wich in the county of Waterloo ; all of ■yVeliand county; Guelph in the county t of Wellington; and Ancast-er in the ■county of Wentworth. --------©-------- Breed for Bacon Production. Prof. G. E. Day, B.S.A., in his work, “Productive Swine Husbandry,” states the excellent qualities of the Large Yorkshire hog, a breed wide­ spread throughout Canada, for bacon production in a way which must carry conviction to anyone who grips the fact that this trade has been and must continue to be the mainstay of the Dominion hog-breeding industry: “The Large Yorkshire is highly valued for bacon production, where a long side abounding in lean meat and a light shoulder and neck are especially desirable. For quality of baeon it is rivalled only by the Tam- worth. The large proportion of lean to fat, the thick, fleshy belly, and great length of side render the breed peculiarly desirable from the bacon- curer’s and the consumer’s stand­ point. At the Ontario Provincial Winter Fair, held annually at Guelph, Ontario, Large Yorkshires and their grades always take a prominent place in the bacon carcass competition and carry off a large share of the prizes. “The Large Yorkshire is spoken of quite commonly as being slower in maturing than- the fat types of hogs, but this is not a fair way of stating the case. From a bacon-carer’s stand­ point, Large Yorkshires will reach desirable market weight -and condi­ tion at as early an age as any exist­ ing breed, and there are few breeds which equal them in this respect. Therefore, so far as the farmer who is feeding hogs for the export trade is concerned, no breed excels the Large Yorkshire in point of early maturity. For the production of a very fat car­ cass at an -early age, the Large York­ shire is not so well adapted as the fat or lard types. It is a special purpose breed, -and for the special purpose will mature just as early as, or earlier, than almost any other breed.” night?” Mell it,” was the info minutes Dipping the Flock to at to of All weeds be persistently destroyed throughout the rotation series. It has been claimed that flax impover­ ished the soil. This is hot so if the field is kept clean, a fact that has been abundantly proved by experi­ ments on several1 experimental farms. Mr. Hutchinson, in giving a list of manures and fertilzers that can be beneficially used-, disproves another erroneous idea, namely, that flax is a non-manurial crop. For getting the best yield, rotations should extend over five, six or seven years, flax will do best after meadow or pasture. Ro­ tations, however, are not rigid and must vary according to conditions. In preparing the soil, plowing and cross- plowing, or alternate grubbing, fol­ lowed by harrowing and rolling are necessary. The soil must also be firm and sufficiently porous. The seed must be of good: quality, heavy in weight, uniform in pickle, plump in body, smooth and slippery to handle, glossy -and brown in appearance. Above all, it must be well cleaned-. The bulletin referred: to deals with .harvesting, deseeding, retting, scutch­ ing, and grading, upon all of which the flaxjgrower_ needs to be well informed. ' ♦*« Seed corn is 'best chosen in the field rather than from' the -bin, but must come from stalks which mature na­ turally and not prematurely as a re­ sult of root While the regular dipping of sheep for the control of parasites of the skin has long been recommended, it is surprising to find that even yet a large number of sheep owners do not dip their flocks. It is especially im­ portant that this be done before the winter season sets in, because no ani­ mal that is pestered by crawling, ir­ ritating, blood-sucking insects can make the best use of its food. The sheep tick is not the only enemy that can be controlled by dipping. Many sheep carry smaller insects of the louse tribe. The dipping 'should not be delayed until cold weather, for there is danger of the sheep taking cold and receiving perhaps greater in-1 jury than if the dipping had not been ■ done. At this time of the year the, lambs wll carry perhaps more ticks | than the older sheep, and this is suf­ ficient reason for giving the whole flock attention. Classes of Dips. Dips can be classified according to the nature of the poison they contain, as carbolic, arsenic -and tobacco. Most standard proprietary dips will pro­ duce effective results, providing the directions of the manufacturers are carefully followed. No material, how­ ever, should be purchased without a thorough investigation of its merits. Farmers may often “club” purchases and reduce the cost by buying in large quantities. — For a small flock of sheep it is not necessary to construct an elaborate dipping apparatus; a tub or trough, large enough to hold a sheep, will answer. Connected with the dipping trough there should be a small pen with a floor sipping toward the latter, wherein the sheep may be permitted to drain. The wool, especially if long, will soap up a large quantity of dip, a part of which can be saved by keep­ ing the sheep in this draining pen for several minutes. The Dipping Tank. Modem steel tanks may be pur­ based on the market'at a reasonable cost. One can readily be made by a tinsmith from galvanized iron, or a wooden frame can be constructed and lined with this material. Concrete vats are also coming into common use. For the average sheep raiser, quite satisfactory results can -be obtained froan a tank made entirely from inch and a 'half pine plank, smoothly plan­ ed and firmly bolted together. The joints should be well covered with pitch to prevent leaking. A tank conforming with the follow­ ing measurements, will prove suitable for a flock of 50 to 500 head: 10 feet long at the top, 3% feet at the bottom, 2 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The sides and one end are perpen­ dicular, the other end having a slope in the neighborhood of 35 degrees. On the entire inner surface of the sloping end are fastened cleats 8 inches apart. These form a stairway by means of which the sheep, with little or no aid, can climb from the vat. The tank is placed in the -ground so that the upper edge rests only a foot or so above the surface. Dipping should' be performed, if possible, on a bright sunny day, so thlait the sheep may have an oppor­ tunity to dry off perfectly. They should remain in the dip at least two minutes. Several minutes must be allowed for draining, The fluid should be heated- fo about 110 de^T F. Guard, however, against having it so warm as to give the animal® a sudden chill when they return fo the cold air. I Seed Grain Distribution. The annual free distribution of samples of seed grain will' be con­ ducted as usual at the Central Ex­ perimental Farm, Ottawa, by the Do­ minion Cerealist. The following kinds of seed will be sent out this season: Spring wheat (in1 about samples); White oats (about 4-lb.); barley (about 5-ffib.); field peas (about 5-lb.),; field beans (about 2-lb.); flax (about 2-lb.). Only one sample can 'be sent to eiach applicant. Applications must be on .printed forms which may be obtained' by writ­ ing to the Dominion Cerealist, Ex­ perimental Farm, Ottawa. As the stock of seed is limited, farmers are advised to apply early to grain ■avoid disappointment. Those who ap­ plied too late last season are par­ ticularly requested to send in their names at once so that application forms may be forwarded to them. No application forms will be furnished after Feb. 1st, 1922. C. E. Saunders, Dominion Cerealist.—------------—- ■— Save your own flower seed's this fall.----*---- The purebred sire is here to stay^ and Mr. Scrub has had his day. ----------.>——— Gioves and mittens—have you « good supply for husking corn? And hand ‘lotion? Be prepared. Do your doors stick vhen you shut them? Paint or varnish the ©dga^ This may remedy matters.