HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Times, 1912-6-13, Page 6t;:
QRIGIN OF "OCEAN LANES"
S"l'1:.11I.SRIP COURSES ARE
WELL DEFINED.
Liners follow a Path Ahlit)st a
Regular as Though They
Were Traipse
When the survivors of the Titanic
were piked up by aCuearder
which had been summoned to their
assistance by wireless. less than six
hours before, people woudered and
said: "But how fortunate that
there was, t ship noir to pick them
up. Suppose there hadn't been?"
As a matter of fact, nobody but a
landlubber would have made such a
remark, says the New York F,ost,
The Titanic's misfortune happen-
ed to her on one of the most fre-
quently ,travelled :thoroughfares : of
the many that sere the ,seven seas
all aver the globe. Outside of a few
thickly frequented marine high-
ways, like the .British Channel; or
certain stretches of the Meditrerrazz-
jean_ or Long Nand Sound, :the, Ti -
tame could not have picked out a
better place to sink in, with reason-
able hope of rosette in a short time,
Had it not been for a,slip-up or mis-
understanding which has yet to, be
explained, the nearest ship to the
wrecked liner would have been
alongside in ample time to take off
all her passengers and erew.
SHIPS DON'T STRAY.
Nowadays, as, for that matter,
from time out of mind, ships donot
stray aft certain well defined lanes
unless driven to do•so by unprece-
dentedly severe weather,.: But
nowadays this holds true even more
than formerly. In former times,
the prevailing winds at different
seasons, the set of various ocean
currents, wont peculiar natural phe-
nomena; played considerable parts,
in the determination of the great
trade routes, just as the location of
wells and oases determixi•es caravan
routes ,across the African deserts.
Ships naturally steered on courses
on Whieh they wore most helped by
the winds blowing at the different
seasons of the yea; as well as by
-currents like the Gulf Stream.
GOVERNED BY ICE DRIFT:
The lanes used by the great
transatlantic liners, however, are,
governed entirely by the ieedrift
from the north. This ice -drift is a
regular phenomenon, and clogs the
seas as far south as the latitude of
Cape Hatteras to a point about 40
degrees west longitude, not very far
from the Azores. That is to say,
about half the seas between the
American and European continents
are subject to the peril of the ice-
berg. Years ago skippers discov-
ered this, and when transatlantic
travel began to assume the propor-
tions of an industry, the custom
gradually grew up of setting regu-
lar routes of travel across the At-
lantic, depending upon the presence
of ice.
NORTH AND SOUTH LANES.
The northern or short lane is fol-
lowed late in the year, after all the
Greenland does and bergs have
drifted down and disintegrated in
the warmer southern waters; the
southern or long course is that fol-
lowed the greater portion of the
year, when the presence of ice is a
constant menace to navigation.
There is not a great deal of latitu-
dinal difference between the two,
and there is no- attempt to get The. ,seas
wholly below the limit of the ice season.for sin October
thewith
drift. fors that would involve an ire-. in Italy joins hands in Qctober with
possible and really futile detour; the vintage: but it really begins in
but the southern course was always August, cluing to a curious system
regarded as absolutely safe until of culture.
the disaster to the Titanic. it will Early in August the fig gatherers
bh-
be interesting to see if this mishap es from suirm t tree -top tohrough thetvtree-istietope and
causes the .steamship companies to rr
agree on a more soittherlay route oil the fruit." These fig people
Stet: are nomadic; they appear and dis
facts tiotharves-
ns of theee most is
interestingheir terapsear of France. '.�Latlike e in rinJulyy the.
sem :i --official• character to -day: Al stateu are rented to them,a
though they were never, in the first stiltedri d bum being paid to the pro-
though
adopted by formal law or prietg gatherers the a paymene' that givesto
ngrcenient, they .aro now in a seise the fig right to all the
subject to the regulation of the! fruit,. beginning with tho figs and
' and slaps ending with the last cluster of
companies that use theta,
pers roceivr regular orders from grrapes.
their owners as to which they shall
foIIow.
If he is bound for Lisbon ,he, dors
not dip quite. so fax* south on the
first leg of his voyage.' Similarly, a
;neater bound for the Cape would
be, one of the few whose keel would
eut into the untrarntnelled waters
of the zziicl-Atlantic. Iris only pos-'
sible detour would be about the
Sargasso Sea. A shill bound for
Glasgow would steer far to the
north in the season during which
the Atlantic is fres of ice, :hut
otherwise she would follow the re-
cognized southern, lane to. the Irish
Boast, before bearing to the north-
ward,
DATE FAR BACK.
To find the beginnings of "sea*.
lanes of travel, you ,oust go far
back to the beginnings of things, to
the days • when men first ventured on
the sea and pushed timorously from
eape to cape, anchoring by night
and rarely sailing out of eight of
land. The Phoenician mariners,
who sent their . galleys through the
Pillars of -:Hercules andup to Ire-
land for cargoes of tin, were among
the first to map out recognized
routes for sea ea/unsex—es, and one
cannot resist a, deep . respect for
their daring iu thus exploring a
way that their ancestors must have
looked upon withwholly supersti-
tious dread.
UNSA1rr D SEAS.
And it is strangely true that now-
adays, when the ocean lanes are so
much greater in number, so incom-
parably more far-flung in character,
the same general conditions hold
good on the grander scale that has
been assumed. The waters of the
world—or that portion of it which is
to, any extent inhabited -are criss-
crossed in every direction by in-
numerable paths followecl by ves-
eels, both sail and steam; but it is
possible to find wide areas in which
a sail or •steamship's smoke are not
sighted for months on end. What
vessel blown into the naiddle of the
vast tract .in the South Atlantic,
roughly; delimited by the routes
,followed by vessels from North
American ports to Gibraltar, and
by the course of ships from the
South American ports bound for
Europe, would have any logical.
hope of assistance?
T.eilt OCEAN GRAVEYARD.
True, stray ships from Vera Cruz,
Mazatlancd, and the Gulf ports of
Mexico and Central America, occa-
sionally cross this desert waste' of
waters on voyages to Cadiz, Barpe-
Jona, or other Iberian parts; but
they are few and far between, and
unless compelled to• do so by na-
ture, they seldoni or never deviate
from a hairline course from coast
to coast. One might be dismasted
or disabled in this desert of waters,
without any help within hundreds
of miles of one for more than a year
perhaps. In the middle of it lies
the Sargasso Sea, that vague, mys-
terious, wilderness of clinging sea-
weed, a haven of sinister romance,
the graveyard of a myriad of good-
ly ships.
All mariners in distress dread this
,vide patch of lonely sea. They
know the fate that would inevitably
overcome the disabled "craft, limited
in supplies, itsboats smashed, or
washed away, that drifted in the
trough of the waves, which active
keels clo• not furrow. They know
that they would stand no , more
chance of rescue than if they were
caught in the Antarctic ice.
FIG G<ITRERUG I\ ITALY.
The Methods Employed. Are Very
Strange.
OTHER''. THOILOUGHFA.RES,
Other ocean lanes are not so com-
plicated as the transatlantic pathnarrow j Three sticksbeis icitfiiraraggeil tent.
to northern Europe. They depend!1 osswise and a
simply upon getting from one point! kettle' in the crotch constitute the
kitchen.
Shortly after their arrival the
work of forcing the fruit is begun.
The methods employed are curious.
In one a wad of cotton is dipped in
olive oil and gently rubbed on the
flower end of the fir. Fig by: fig is
thus treated, and in eight days the
fruit is ready for the market.'.
Another method eensi'ts in gath-
" e.ring in the spring the'half formed
fruit, which is strung on ropes:
Rude huts thatched: with straw
are built by the .proprietor in all his
orchards, and in these the gypsylike
harvesters• live with their families,:
Sometimes they supplement their
to another an as near a straight line
as possible',. with the ordinary pre-
cautions against reefs and shoals
or intervening land masees. A mas-
ter NY 116 sets out from New York for
the Mediterranean knows' that he
roust bear southwards to about 36.
degrees north lat•titudc, 'and then
bear up for the Straits of Gibraltar.
Because they act se gently (no
purging or griping) yet so
thoroughly
e hest for tbe+iitildrerr as well as
the grown-ups, • 25e. a be At
your druggist's,
Kbi ns(Druia'ttdehetti tttt ateaarta',L(mtted
162
limaimousamma
These ropes or garlands are thrown
over this .branches; of the tree and
are .allowed to decay under the
burning sun. There is barn of this
decay an ihsoet that purees- the
growing Fre; and induces . rapid ma-
t nr ity.
The fig, when perfectly ripe, ex-
t cies a drop of honey -sweet juice at
the nether' end; which never falls
but hangs there a standing te.rnp
s tion to children mad to bees. "What sva:s your greatest` tidal,
rrt fresh picked at this state the :Judge?" asked e. young IoW er.
flee has a ricrh flavor entirely lost in "Getting my seven darzghters•Mar"
the dried fruit, • tied off," replied the weary jurist,
promotes appetite,
asssts digestion
and builds up sound
health.
For ,26 years e have
recommended Bovril
for those reasons and
they have now been
established by strict
Physiological tests.
made by W. H. Thomp-
son, M. D., D. Sc., of
Trinity College, Dublin.
WIIITE ANTS AND "DRIVERS.''
Experience of a Traveller in
Africa.
The great enemy of the. builder in
West Africa is the white ant. This
tiny creature has a most voracious
appetite for wood, although certain
kinds, writes Captain Haywood in
"Through Timtuctu and. Across, the
Great Sahara," --among others the
doom -halm and the cocoanutpalm,
—are impervious to his, attacks.
White ants always work in large
numbers. They can he seen travel-
ing along in armies of several thou-
sand, marching in single file or two
deep, and following a little, groove
or channel that they have excavat-
ed for themselves. You first detect
their presence in wood, if you are
lucky, by observing a narrow
streak' of earth along the tunnel,
which covers them and affords them
shelter while they work at the wood
West'
1
On the Farm
MORE AND BETTER POTA.TOES.
It is cozunxon belief : that if we
purchase a variety of potatoes from
a seedsmari that we have secured
just "one variety. This is true in a
measure. If the seedsnian is sell-
able, he will send potatoes that aro
uniform in color, depth of eyes)
earliness of maturing, and other
qualities. But unless these parti-
ouier potatoes have been pedigreed,
then we have not received ono
thing, bub many, writes Professor
L. R. Waldron,
The farmer can demonstrate this
fact to his own satisfaction; At dig-
ging time let him lay offa portioxt
of a row containing 100 hills, In
order to show this each, hill must
have come from only one piece ofseed,
The 100 hills are dug and the
tubers of eachhill are kept by
themselves on top of the hill, The
products of the 100 hills are now
ready to be studied,
At first glance the hills may ap-
pear to run very uniformly. A lit-
tle closer viety will reveal the feet
that about the only thing that is
uniform is that they are all pota-
toes. The first hill has one' large
one, two medium-sized ones and
half -a -dozen small ones: The next
hill has one medium-sized one and
several small ones, Perhaps the
next hill has three or four good-
sized. ones. Another hill has a soli-
tary tuber, but of good size. Pere
haps another hill has nothing but
little runts. Thus it goes through
the 100 hills: The ordinary farmer
will pick up the tubers from all of
the hills and put them all together.
He does this complacently and with
satisfaction. His fathers did it be -
underneath: They are most per_
sistent little creatures, and seldom die him and all of his neighbors
abandon the object they are devour- o t' Why should not het
Late in winter, when he begins
Each and Every 5-
Package
of
Pond
Extra Granulated
Sugar contains 5
pounds fullweight
of Canada's e
sugar, at its best.
Ask your grocer
for the ege42,225ra
5—Pound
Fac
m:rsao ,x exp.,
CANADA SUGAR
REFINING CO.,
Limited, Montreal.
e1.•a"A:Z i�,rt Tr : non. x., , � „a t
has the runt character as a, habit. It
is going to persist for years, and
every time we plant seed of that
strain we will know to a certainty
that we will harvest little potatoes.
The hill that produced one or two
large and several small ones, is a
common feature of potato, fields.
The hill .that bore three or four
good-sized tubers•is the one to fast-
en our eyes on. That is the hill that
has ability and the one that we
should get next to.
We will assume that we have
three tubers to every hill,and that
the total weight of the three tubers
is 1% pounds. There is nothing
will be sufficient to plana quite to h
afarmer
as
fs the p ground, perhaps as muche armer desires.
If the farmer wants to follow a
method even better and more ac-
eurate than this, he should plant
each of the ten bills in a little plot
by itself.
• This requires that each hill will
be sacked separately at planting
time. If the ten plats show up
of about equal value and all good,
it is notnecessary to keep them
longer separate, but the product of
the ten plats may bo sacked to-
gether and saved' to plant the main
patch the year fallowing.
`� � ry absurd in this, for often an ind It two or three of the ten plats
victual tuber will weigh more.
We will further assume that our and the good plats saved.
rows are 3% feet apart and that our If an occasional farmer rfollosys
hills are two feet apart in the row„ the method here . laid out, he will:
This is ` open planting, • probably soon find that his' neighbors will
more open:. than is commonl y rao be after him for 'seed and they will
used. p be willing to pay him a bonus for
. At this rate of planting there will them.
be 6,200 hills per acre, assuming
eearly a, perfect stand. With 1% OFF THE SA1IE PIG:
pounds ISIer hill, we would have a A young wife recently went into
yield of 155 bushels per acre, a a provision shop and addaessed the
yield worth striving for by the ma- shopman thus
jority of farmers. "I bought three or four hams
Now it may be that the hill with here a month or so ago, and they
the three or four good tubers will:. were fine. Haye you any more of
not breed true, but the chances are them I" •
that it will. The offspring of the "Yes, ma'am," replied the man.
hill is almost certain to produce a "There are ten of those hams hang -
certain percentage of small tubers, " ing up there now." '
but we may- count upon it that it "Well, if you're sure they're off
will'produce a lesser percentage of the same pig, I'll take three of
small tubers than the average hill. them," replied the young wife,,
What a farmer should do at po meekly.
tato-digging time is to dig a fair-'
sized patch, leaving each hill by it- SHE 'ADORED THE RING.
self. After the patch is dug he Maud—When you broke the en -
should carefully goover the patch gagement, of course you returned
to• read the seed catalogues, he end select out those hills that have the diamond ring he gave you,
wonders why -on earth, or under. it, few tubers of good size' Ethel—=Certainly. not! I don't
he cannot raise such splendid crops The tubers from those hills care for Jack anymore but
of potatoes as he sees pictured, should be sacked by themselves and feelings have not hap eds to my
Now, that.is the point I am ettin laid away for seed for the year fol- g wards
at; our variety inot a unit. glowing. If he. is particular he. may the ring.
In our 100 hills that we have dug, not be able to '-find more than ten Weary William—"You Condemn
close study; might reveal the pies- hills to, his liking, us tramps, but there's one thing
epee of at least ten strains or varie- In the springtime these should be we mustget esecli "
ties, instead of the one that webyplanted t for. Mrs.
treated themselves sand Stingey—"What's that? Weary
'thought we had, in a, separate patch. The second William—"You don't hear
The hill that bore the Iittle runts Year's- . product from the ten hills us in-
dulgin' in labor disputes."
ONTARIO'S PRIZE FAT BABY.
This: youngster.. is only two months past two •years ord. Ho weigh
pounds. His name is John Bras, and he lives 1$ miles from Ottawa; s 127
ing until they have eaten right
through it.
If you are not fortunate enough
to discover their presence through
the appearance of the - earthen 'tun-
nel, your first intimation of their
presence will probably be received
from the sudden collapse •of the par-
ticular article upon which they have
concentrated thesr efforts. If this
happens to be one of the uprights
that support the roof of your house,
even if you have the good luck to
escape ,without personal injury, you
will find it trying to have your
building drop : to pieces about your
ears.
The driver -ant is found only in
bush country, and is more annoying
than the white ant. His particular
hobby is biting. He is certainly ane
adept in the art of biting, as hie un-
lucky victim soon • discovers, Once
he and his fellows have settled on a
victim, they swarm mercilessly over
him in thousands, and if left to
work their :ev=il way, unmolested,'
they will not leave the object of
their attacks until they have de-
voured it.
One night I had gone to bed
tired, after a long day's march,
when I suddenly woke, with unplea-
sant stinging pains in my leg's.' I
quickly realized that I had been at-
tacked by "drivers." Leaping out
of bed and striking a .light, I dis
towered that my blankets were cov-
ered with a black swarm of these
horrible creatures, several of which
had .settled )themselves, on my limbs
with some tenacity,
On summoning my sel ant, we.
tracked the long line for about a
hundred yards. The only,ehance,of
turning 'them aside and getting a
Little sleep that night was to light
a fire across their tracks. To, add to
the generaldiscomfort, it was pour-
ing with rain, and a fire was not an
easy thing to kindle. However, at
the cost of most al the kerosene of
which I was possessed, we managed..'
tolight a fire and head them `off. .
Reeder ---"Is it trite that if takes
genius to Lille with a genius?"
,De "Ruyter.--' `I'll ask my wife about
it .when I. go horns"
are off, these shouldbe discarded
Ze1t Fi estdenI Taft
" iii -T» Shoo Polish'
is the ver r best thing
for their boots as all
pod Canadians and
Americans realize.
andCol. 'Rodsevtlt'arr through
h
they y must clean u
•
IN
AT ALL DEALERS, ibe.
with their mud stinging,
est by test. Will not
soil the daintiest gar.
nients. Quick brilliant,
lasting. 1 •o other ever,
11r1f as goo'' # 30:
0111EJACffETS' GRiE
DISCONTENT GROWS IN ,BU
• TISII NAVY.
VY.
Needs of the Sailors Overloeked
in 'the Craze for Big
Warships.
The spirit of tunrest and dissolve-
f motion with the -things that are has
now spread to the army and navy,'
rites a London correspondent
Tommy Atkins for the momen
holds his peace, but his brother
arm, the jack tar, is fully alive
the fact that now is the time to
his grievances and' to pressforth
removal: Such a thing as a bL.:
jackets trade union of ecu rse'does
not exist. The regulations e••xpress
ly forbid •any''.such combination.
But things have come to such
pass that the 100,000 sailors of the
Royal navy contemplate' setting the
King's regulations and Admiralty
instructions at defiance by forming
themselves into a trade union.
Tie those who .have ,studied the
question closely this determination
will not come as a surprise. It has
long been a matterof common
knowledge' that in the navy diecon-
tent amounting almost to a muti-
nous,•spirit has been growing. It'
is no exaggeration to say tha
continuance of the present st
alf,iiis constitutes a gra-is na.
sett-zdal.;
In the first place the regulati.
have ooanps11ed the men to : suffer
their injustices • in : silence, They
are not allowedeven to petition the
Admiralty through their command-
ing
officers.. Secondly, people have
been taught to regard the seaman,
and •particularly the British man -o'-
warsmnn, as a barn gambler, asa
man who would cavil at Paradise
and whose complaints therefore' are
not to be .taken seriously. Thirdly.,,:`
the, Dreadnought craze has taken
fast hold of the nation and little at-
tention is given to the needs of the
men.
TIME TO WAKE UP.
It is high time that these ideas'•
should go by the board. It is time
for the nation and the naval author-
ities to realize that petty officers
and men with a full sense of their
risk and responsibility °are advocat-
ing publicly the amalgamation ofsall
the lower deck ,societies into one
formidable association that will be
strong enough to demand the re-
dress of their grievances by /meth,
ods with which the industrial his-
tory of the last year or two has -
made us"painfully familiar.
The sailor has 'beeen patted on
the back long enough. The'pro-
oes6 is not unpleasing, but at best
it means nothing, it leads to no
substantial recognition of the blies=
jackets' admitted grievances.- What
Tack wants now is to be treated
fairly as a citizen; and it he must
be patted that the other hand shall
not be employed in ,the extraction
of cent, from les, pocket.
The faot is the men' of the nave -
are now . being paid less than they
were. A comparison betwvee,n the
estimates of 1909-10 and those for
the current year shows that in four
years the pay of petty 'officers and
men of the. seaman branch has drop-
ped• on the average. $5.80 .a .year,
The average: weekly wage, inclusive
ofthese allowances -for various
qualifications of which so 'sauch is
made, is slightly. under $3.50.
Some years ago the Admiralty in-
creased the period required to serve
for pensions from 20 to .22 years;
but although until then the basis
of the pension had been a emit a
day far each year's service, no ad
dibion to the basis was made for the
extra period required. A man gets.
no more for serving 22 years than'
he did for serving 20; and while
the whole pension seheme`'is based
on the deferred pay system the de-
pendents of a man wtho dies tri the
21st year of his sea rice ;t et n+~thing
at alI.
GRATUITY. REDUCED.
Another instance of this sort of
thing is the gratuity to chief petty
officers on retirement, which, once
&.ed at $06, •Itas been reduced by
the Admiralty to $i2.
Much is' being made of the com-
mittee. under Remy -Admiral , Brook
now enquiring into the systsystem of
summary punishments in the fleet
The haphazard rraanner tri whi
these punishments has been irn4
flictc d has foeyears bei a crying
scandal.
A petty otucer who is di;:aatecl and
reduced to A.B. has tbsolutel
appeal. --hiss case is settled out of
hand by •the ship's i tptain, wlto. i
it fr.equentl,y happane,.,�is at the
same time pioe cit tor and judge.
M;r. Yeeley points eta rrr thr.; t til
rent issue of the n'teest that it is a
fairly easy matter for a gran to
suffer a financial loss of nearly
$.1,448 in pay ,and pension "as the
result of a summary punieijrnsnt in-
dieted by one captaiim for a 'crime'
thatanot)ier would eat .deign 't;o no-
tice." Irr ,such CireunlstaiteeS a
Manis surely entitled' to the jus-
tree'of a court-martial,
A. Scottish student, supposed to
be deficient in judgment, Was aslcnrd
by a professor in the course of his
exaniinablest how he would discover
a fool,` "BBy the ,gitoi'tions he would
self," was the prompt and Highly- ;,
suggestive