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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1956-09-12, Page 2• Pesky Ragweed And' Its Victims apt as surely as spring fol- lows winter, so does hayfever Season come with the last days of summer. if hayfever is one of yew pet problems you are probably armed with plenty of tissue in anticipation of the big sneeze. However, one bright light is shining forth in the hazy mist for hayfever euffeeers—the day when this discomfort is a thing of the past, The main cause of hayfever is the ragweed plant and in many areas, in Canada, an intensive program is now underway to ex- terminate this • weed. For instance, in Montreal a program was started in 1946 to, remove ragweed from the city. All areas where the weed grows are sprayed with the chemical 2,4-D every summer beginning about July 15 before hayfever season gets underway. Each year the pollen count has decreased and in due time it is expected that it will be re- moved completely. Outlying districts have also been encour- aged to follow this example for it has been noticed that even if one area is free of ragweed, the air may still be thick with pollen from adjoining munici- palities. Already there are pieces in Canada 'where you can go to find relief from this allergy. For example, Prince Edward' Wand and Nova Scotia elaim freedom fronr this weed and New Breese wick has had a proyinceewide campaign against ragweed for "the last few years. This program has resulted in a reduced 'pollen. - count to such an extent that its tourist bares is using "ragweed free" as its' chief enticement its promotidnal literature. Northern 'Ontario Wand north- ern Quebec seem tce be havens for hayfever sufferers and west-- ern Canada is considered ••- an intermediate area with ' only highly susceptible people both- ered with it. If you can hop in your car and make for one of these rag- weed, free areas during hayfever season so much the betier. But if this isn't possible you don't have to grin and bear it. There are steps that can be taken in your own home to make living more comfortable. Set ,aside one bedroom and remove, as much as possible, all dust -and feather pillows. Keep the 'room closed and quiet dur- ing the day so that any pollen present will settle to the floor. This provides reasonable relief. for the patient during the night. Don't neglect your general health and habits. Attend to all infection such as tooth decay, and eat well balanced meals. Exercise should be limited and plenty of sleep is advised. This builds up resistance so that you can enjoy summer's waning hours. Sailing Magic The dinghy had a shiny new gaff, and the mainsail was wet half-way up so that the sun be- hind it made a bright half-moon on the canvas. She rose to the first swell of the Atlantic, be- yond Sandy Point, with .a three- angled motion, neither roll nor pitch. Then we were leaping from wave ,to wave, squatting into rollers that had touched Greenland in their last landfall, and the thin planks sprang and trembled under my body, sitting down among the ballast-bage. Tens of thousands of dark-blue waves rushed toward me, rising and falling e like dolphins and spouting' thick triangles of foam. The land was so far off that the mountains and cliffs seemed like a thin lid sliding backward over the world to unclose its sun-gazing eye. Nobody could see us now, I felt; even the coast- guard's telescope couldn't pick us out, We woul d seem like a Mother Carey's chicken or a hen coop dropped off a surf boat... It was Freeman, a little man whom we called Pinto, who said to us, on that sail or another: "I suppose the fish take us for a bird," and at once one saw oneself with a fish's sideways glance, darting throtigh lhe pale • iridescent fitmerneht, like a transparent pearl, which is a fish's sky, just as a "swallow; with short Wings, appeared to us in a Sunset twilight, as it dived after a rnaybug. The boat was a bird and a boat at the same time;, we sailed and flew; We Were Hawkins, Drake, Hu& son and a sleepy whale, combing its belly on the ribs of some iron Weeds area prepating to blow us out of the water on lonntain of its spout:.Prem ?d A, Hotise of Children," by Joyce Tempe'ratu're arid m oisterb conditions in the fall are ideal for re-seeding and fertilizing your Because the grasS "hibernates" during the winter Menthe, it* is important to give it an extra supply of fertilieet. Care should be taken to 'spread the fertilizer evenly over the en- tire lawn. Zoo Keepers Have Lots Of Troubles LEATHERNECK ON LEATHER STOMACH — The. marines have landed"— right on the tummy of Elaine Malbin. At attention on her abdomen is 1/Sgt: James .R. Pippin, a' 200-pounder. •Elaine Was crowned Queent of the 2nd Marine Division' cit the unit's seventh annual reunion. Her strong'stomach was developed by singing exercises—Miss Mallain is also an opera star. or sweet rek Peppers (I medium) 11/2 cups sugar 2 tablespoon's salt 4 cups 'vinegar. Tie spices in a cheesecloth bag, Combine With rerhainida ingedients in eaucePan. Cook, uncovered, 21/2 to 3 hours or Until quite thick,.stirring free quently, Remove spice ,beg, pour into hot sterilzetl sealers or jars and seal, Yield: about 12 cups. e GREEN TOMATO PICKLES 30 medium green tomatoes 6 large onions 34 cup table (bag) salt or ye cup coarse salt 1 tablespoon mustard seed 1 tablespoon whole allspice I tablespoon celery seed 1 tablespoon whole cloves 1 tablespoon dry mustard 1 tablespoon peppercorns ea lemon 2 sweet red peppers 21/4 cups -brown sugar 3 cups vinegar Slice tomatoes and onions thinly and place in a crock or enamel vessel in alternate lay- ers with the salt. Let stand overnight. In the morning, drain thoroughly, rinse in cold water and drain well again. Tie all spices loosely in a cheesecloth bag; slice lemon'thinly; remove stem and seed cores from pep- pers and slice thinly. Add spice bag and sugar to vinegar, bring to boiling point; then add to- matoes, onions, ' len* and pep- pers. Cook for 1/2 hour, itirring gently to prevent sticking. Re- move spice bag ands, pick piekles in hot, sterilized jars and seal. Yield: about 12' cups. When Stars Fall ° prov en, hfe e '4 1 disregarded utftrhoeln as, LI 1vAset airgi eet n1 y" anone Jean - Baptiste,ia could notbe'exprot, one c in edawayj France's leading aStronemers, was sent to the, village to draw ue conscientious, sc i eto ar:pi reports lie Blot was suitably interviewed' Witnesses, collected all the facts he could, and — most important of all —, recovered some of the ,grthreellg beeasvtieenste ofthem s that had weighed falien 11/2 pounds . Further research into the, tt.t.- ture of ordinary meteors, or ehooting-stars, provided a clear ;answer, Meteors, ranging from smaller gigantic tn d masses t hna t s awnt dni -gyghri an ny s , a particle ns re- volve round the Sun just as the planets do, though in orbits that are generally more elliptical. So long as they keep, in, airless space, they are safe, as there is. nothing to impede their move- ment; but if they venture too' close to the Earth, and are drawn "downwards" by the powerful gravitational pull, friction is set up, and heat results . • . Over a hundred years after L'Aigle, an even greater monster landed in Northern' Siberia. It was fortunate that Siberia is not a densely populated place; . about mid-day on 30 June, 1Viee, a bluish disk about half the size of the Moon appeared in the sky, accompanied by' a terrific> noise like a cannonade. This was followed by an explosion audible, hundreds of miles away, and trees were blown flat for a dis- tance of fifty miles round the' spot where the impact occurred;. seared by heat and stripped of their bark and branches . . Ordinary shooting-stars have been knoWn from, ancient times. Now and then, magnificent •dis- plays are seen', and A.D. 902 was named the Year of the Stars, be- cause on one night "there were seen _lances, an infinite number• of stars, which scattered them-• selves like rain to the right and the left". The showers of 1202, 1366 and • 1833 were _no less re- markable, while another major display occurred in 1799. Sig-• nificantly, all these snowers oc- curred in the month of Novem- ben as did the lesser but still brilliant display of 1866. It be- came clear that this was no mere coincidence. Every November the earth approached a shoal o meteors; and once in'33-173 year: passed right through the thick est part of the celestial swarm.— From "The Story of Man and th( Stars," by Patrick Moore F.R.A.S. On 26 -April, 1803, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the in- `habitants of the little French village of L'Aigle were disturb- ed. by 'a strange sound. It was not' unlike a violent roll of thunder—yet the -skies were ,al- most—cloudless, and therewas no sign of - any storm in the vicinity. As the villagers rushed out of their hoeses in alarm, they caught sight of an immense ball - of fire darting across the sky, '‘and as it vanished from their view there cerise - a series of violent explosions audible for ,over fifty' miles around. A few minutes later, a great number of stones fell to the earth, land- ing at speeds great enough , to cause them to bury themselves deeply ,in the ground. Up to that time, the old stories If Year want a nice, quiet job, #ee from, worries, don't etin a sofa Keeping several thousand wild animals alive and well is I job with plenty of headaches. Some animals are. very difficult to keel), and dernand the tits wrest: care if they are to. survive. Take king penguins, those ceris cusly human, birds, that look so much like dignified old waiters, They come from, the Antartic, where they thrive in the great wastes of ice and snow, Bring them to ,another country and, during the summer, they, are a1 most eyerwaelmed by the' heat. After an acclimatizing period, though, they get used to it, so mine. =OS have managed to keep a =fall flock; sense have even succeeded' in rearing an occa- sional chick, a pretty good ach- aevement Until recently, however, the New York Zoo was out of luck with king penguins. The trouble lay in, the very high summer temperatures. All kinds of things were tried, even the frequent ad- dition of blocks of ice to their pool, but the results were always disappointing Within a week or two of the arrival of hot weather the bird's were dead. Much thought was given to the problem, because king pen- guins are a most popular ex- hibit. But it was, not until just after the war that someone had the'right idea. Why not build a large ,refrigerator, similar to those which butchers keep their meat, fresh, uand let Ahem hive in' that during the months Of hot weather? So an experimental refriger- ator was set' upain the spring of 3948`. It had observation win- dows, along the sides and a *Mall pond let into the floor. early in June three king pen-, quins that had arrived the pre- vious autumn were placed in it for a sore of summer holiday, and to everyone's delight remained At and thriving through the hot- test weather. Penguins are about the only animals that find the British cli- ;nate too warm for them. Polar toears seem quite satisfied with It, even on hot summer days. Fortunately the majority of ani- mals soon become accusjomed to a change 61 climate. Many trepical animals can be kept out of doors eight thrOugh the winter and seem to thrive on it. At Whipsnade you can watch lions playing in the snow like kittens, and the tigers some- times ebreak the ice on their bathing pOnd in order to have a mid-winter dip. Some animals from warm countries, though, are extremely sensitive to changes in climate. Some of the most difficult of these to keep are humming birds. Among the most beautiful of nature's creatures, they are well worth the trouble of keeping them alive in this country. They are very tiny — some no bigger than a large bee — and they can only maintain their high body temperatures if their MERRY MENAGERIE * * * surroundings are kept warm. The humthing bird house at the London Zoo is kept at 75 deg. F., and even at this, temperature the tiny birds have to spend Much of their time feeding to Maintain body heat, To give them Plenty of time to eat, the lights are left full On until 8.30 at night. After that blue lamps are switched on so that any bird, feeling hungry can always feed, Even at 75. 'deg., a fast of more than a few hours can result in death from star- vation. Climate, though, is only one of the zoo man's anxieties, Certain' animals are tricky to keep be- cause they are food faddists. Giant pandas must have plenty of fresh bamboo shoots, and Aus- tralia's delightful little Koala bears demand eucalyptus leaves. Bamboo shoots are scarce in this country, and eucalyptus leaves unobtainable in any quantity. So giant pandas are not easy to keep here, and koala bears im- possible. In the late summer of 1953 a kiwi was flown over from New Zealand as a Coronation gift to the London. Zoo from the •New Zealand Government., Its feeding at once became a problem, not. so much for the Zoo keepers as for the gardeners. Kiwis live almost entirely on earthworms, so the gardeners had to dig in every available spot to supply the new arrival with something like 300 Worms a day. Fortunate- ly, after' a few weeks they were able to have regular, supplies of worms sent from Scotland. A few years ago New York Zoo faced a similar worth prob- lem. In 1948 they received three duck-billed platypuses, the curi- ous Australian egg-laying ani- mals that are now extremely rare. To keep them going, the Zoo had' to find about 1,000 worms a day. To meet this colossal demand, a worm farm was set up' in a cellar- beneath the lion house. Here adult worms are kept in small breeding boxes filled with rich soil, the temperature and dampness of the boxes being carefully regulated. U n d e r these conditions the worm eggs take about three weeks to hatch, when the wormlets are then transferred to growing pits. All kinds of food for the worms are added to the soil of these pits. Fortunately, worms are not fussy. They will thrive on almost any kind of garbage. Every day keepers are faced with the tedious job of going through some of the soil in these pits and sifting it until they have picked out 21/2 lb. of worms —something like 1,000 average size worms. Sometimes animals develop in- explicable food fads that can be most irritating. ,Snakes are not the sort of animals you might expect to be temperamental, but some of the large pythons in the reptile house have occasionally developed a most unusual food preference. These larger snakes are gen- erally fed on freshly killed tame rats. Now some pythons devel- op a preference for rats of a certain colour, so that one will only eat white rats, while an- other will look at nothing but brown ones. Some really -diffi- cult individuals will not touch rats at all, but will only eat birds. Once it has made up its mind a snake seems to stick to its decision. These choosey 'in- dividuals will starve to • death tether than eat anything other than the food of their choice. CHILI SAUCE ' 1 tablespoon whole cloves '3 tablespoons whole allspice 1 gallon peeled, chopped ripe tomatoes (8 lb.) 21/2 cups, chopped, peeled . onions (6 Medium) 21/2 cups ehopped; seeded green THIRD-PARTY NOMINEES — The Republicans and. Democrats aro not 'alone their campaigning, At a convention in New York, the Hobo Party nominated Boxcar Betty, left, for vice presideN. and Bozo, right, for president. They have not, as yet, announced their platform. "He's getting rich! Oda paid by the quart for trampling grapes:" The largest meteorite on ex- hibition, which weighs 361/2 tons, is now in the American. Museum of Natural History. Pickling time already? Hardly seems possible, does it? How- :eves., no •use'werrying about the flight of time s— so. here are some recipes that have been , thoroughly tested' and which' I can highly recommend. * `GHERKINS 4 quarts cucumbers 2 40- 3 cinches .long 4 quarts (20 cups) boiling , water • 1 cup table (bag) salt or 1',4 cups coarse salt 8 cups blended vinegar ail cup salt ea cup sugai Spices (see Note below) 7 cups sugar Wash cucumbers, scrup well, rinse, drain well and place in a crock. Cover with hot brine made by combining , water and salt. Pour over cucumbers, cover and let stand overnight. Drain cucumbers thoroughly and place in clean, dry crock. Prepare pickle mixture by com- bining the . cold vinegar, salt, the 1/4 cup sugar and spices. Pour over cucumbers. Each morning for the next 14 days, add 1 cup sugar, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. When last of sugar is added, remove pickles from liquid and pack in- to sterilized jars. Strain pickle mixture to remove spices, pour over pickles and seal. Yield: Approx. 4 quarts. * * 4 NINE DAY PICKLES 4 quarts cucumbers 2 to '3 inches long 4 quarts (20 cups) boiling water 2 cups table (bag) salt or 3 cups coarse salt 1 teaspoon alum 4 quarts (20 cups) boiling water 8 cups blended vinegar 6 cups sugar epices (see NOTE below) Wash cticuMbers, scrub well, rinse, drain well and plade in a crock. Cover with hot brine made by combining 4 quarts boiling water with salt. Let' stand 3 days. Drain cucumbers from brine, bring to belling- point, pour over cucumbers and again let stand 3 days. Repeat this and again let stand 3 days, Drain cucumbers and place in a crock. Add alum to remaining 4 quarts boiling water and pour over cucumbers. Let steed 6 hours, then drain and rinse thoroughly: Pack pickles into sterilized jars, Prepare pickle Mixture by eoinbining the vines gar, sugar and spices. Boil Mix- ture for 5 minutes. Strain theough ccheesecloth, pair over pickles and seal. Yield: Approx. 4 quarts. NOtEt--Suggeeted COitibirie- tiOnS of spices: (I) l cup' mustard seed and 3/2. NIP mixed iffeldieg Spice (3) 1 ounce cinnamon stick and 2 tablesOcions ceirey geed (3) 1 tatileSitatitt celery seed and 3 tablespoons whole cloves (4) 1 enlace cinnamon stick and '2teaSPOOnS *bide cloves s•• DILL PICKLES Use freshly picked ettailitibeit g to t long: Wagiii soak TRUCKEN` ON DOWN tarlog isindono,, his wife and four dells dean, and a 36,yeaseeld White truck finally arrived in Cleve- lanai aahio, after .nearly Months of travel theinnie Steamin g. jungles, across plains and mountains from Bogota, Colombia. Beginning in May; 1954, When tendon° detided to head northi the saga has included an attack by a jaguar in the jungles '14 Cattei Maas trossing thrOUgh No .Man'S.Land ih she .**it between Costa Rica alitareigutie a violent storm :that` optet. their truck, and, two Children born along the way, The ktiCk.waS plastered WA advertisements en Saline to kelp' travel .eXperises. Having:.been "nomads for geo long, the landeriat are planning to. 'settle in Cleveland. ale presented -the trikk, to the White Make Co., with which he hoot to iget' lofi machinist.: WHOSE PICTURE ARE YOU' 1.1 hear-and-see telephones of he futu aren't f ar away any MOO. Floyd' k, Becker; Telephone LaboratOriee engineer, deanohttrates giteceggfur eadeldi of a picture-phone eYetenia AlWeeby three-inels screen Clad trarisniikee' left; are the epriataipal components of the system; uses only one eetra telephone . Oh customers nrehiltee, it Will ,he possible to dial a caller's :pietae like dh ordinary telephone COIL Bell lerigineerS •.havo' transmitted recognizable-pictures , Neev York and Los Angeleti. elaue Andkews. • overnight in • cold water. Drain thoroughly. Place, pieces of in *eae • bottom , of 'clean jars. Pack cucumbers into "jars and Pldce' more dill on ,tops Com- bine: enip table. (bag) salt or 3/4 cup coarse salt 2 cups white vinegar 6 ceps -water Bring to - boil, and pour hot liquid over cucumbers. Seal. Let stand in a cool place 'at least '6 weeks before using. Yield: sufficient liquid for 4 quarts pickles. If .desired, •a small piece of garlic may 'be added to each, quart of pickles. S * BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES 6 quarts small 'cucumbers 1 to 11/4 inches in diameter 1 quart small, white onions 4 green peppers 1 sweet red pepper 1 cup table (bag) salt or 11/2 cups coarse salt 9 cups water 8 cups vinegar 4 cups sugar 1 tablespoon tumeric 1 teaspoon mustard seed 1 teaspoon celery seed Wash all vegetables. Slice cumumbers and onions thinly. Remove seeds and dice peppers. Make a brine of the salt and water. Cool and , pour over vegetables. Let stand overnight. Drain thoroughly. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices. Bring to boil and add vegetables. When thoroughly heated, pack in hot, sterilized jars and seal, Yield: about 6 quarts, .$R -eseeetes.