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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Times, 1912-8-1, Page 6-i7,1 [illi THRUSH LAD W APTEB, I, Black i we i nthe a a li a n, w b t a so I as ern CountrY. My father eras a ohairemeeker, end I worked with hem from the earliest time I eau remember until the day of: his death. i1e was en ignorant man, violent in temper. and given to drink. Every Saturday he would come home half mad, and would thrash me without mercy. Sometimes he would thrash any sister else; but he never neglected me, and X was glad to get into a 040,1 -hole l or any other place of refuge, when heard his step, Many a time my sister °rept upstairs to the garret to console me after. he bad waled me all over with the buckle -end of his strap: She need to sit on my bed, and take me in her arms and ore over me; and if she eonle find a crust of bread or a oold potato she would bring it to poredrsnob.wing ords oto ft hopeaslher simple heart oould prompt. We had no mother, She died in child- bed, and I only know of her from my ®later'& telling, My fester deaorlbed her a i a little frail woman, silent, and sub missive to my father, thengh his evil ways and evil passions rendered her very unhappy. Only once did my mother re- sent has violence, and then not on her own acoonnt. It was on Sunday night while my sis- ter was still a child. lily mother, who was very religious, sat at the table teed - nit her Bible, when my father came ome, In one of his most fiendish humors, and cursing her for a canting hy000rite, threw the Bible into the fire and atruok her in the face with hie fist. My sister. seeing this, ran between them. eoreamipg with terror, and tried to Push my father away. Maddened with dlni r he seized the Child bythe hair, and lifted his heavy hand to strike her, when my mother sprang up; snatched a knife from the table, and laid his cheek open from eyebrow to lip. lie drew back then, and taking up the poker threatened to beat leer to a jelly; but my mother put little Allioe behind her, and swore that she would send the knife through his heart if he moved an inch forward; so, nursing her my father staggered out of the house, and did not oome back for a month. Ile never struck my mother again, but after her death he seemed to wreak his spite upon us. We led a miserable life. From six in the morning until nine at night my sister worked at the nail -making, and I helped my father in the smithy- Nearly all my father's wages went in drink or gamin- and amin 'and the few shillings Alice earned went the same way, so that we never had clothes to oover us, nor food enough to feed our growth. I have seen my sister take off her only under -petticoat and sell. it to bay a piece of bread far my supper. I have known her to walk a mile to the out side after ten at night and sell a basket of empty whisky bottles for a Piece of coal, when the front was keen and never a bit of fixe in the grate. And onoe when I had been down with a Iow fever, and was crying from weakness and want of food. she jumped up suddenly, kissed me, bade me be patient for a lit- tle while, and went out. She came back in an hour, and brought me some white bread and a small bunch of grapes. I can remember that occasion as if it were a thing of yesterday.: Alice, kneel - the on the hearth with her arm around me, and holding up the grapes between me and the fire, so that I might see the light shine through them; and I, with my head so heavy and numbed. hanging against her shoulder, and my eyes burn- ing and smarting with fever, and, in the. oorner of the room, my father's bull- terrier crouched, snoring, with his broad black muzzle on his paws. I tried to eat the grapes, but my throat was too sore to swallow them. My lax muscles ached and quivered, every bone of my body was sore, and I could feel -each separate rib as my rough shirt fret- ted' it. I was light-headed, too, and full of sick fancies, so that at one time I thought the dog was swelling to a mon- strous size, and then began to cry out that the dead mother was tapping at the window. Years, afterwards I saw a child upon a doorstep in New York, with the fever in his face and the ague in his limbs, and I nicked him un and took him to my lodgings, and nursed him for many weeks. I did that more for my sister's sake than for his or for my own. If there is a heaven, my sister Alice is there, and amongst the chosen few. She was a perfect woman, and the great God, who made the west wind and the brier rose, never made anything more worthy or more sweet than she. On the night I speak of she had gone down to the drink- ing den Where my Rather sat amongst his savage mates—drunkards, gamblers, child - beaters, and wife -beaters all—and had forced her way into the reeking tap -room to plead for me. My father had cursed her for an impu- dent shit, and had threatened to fill her clo- with red-hot cinders; but the land- lady, odious, lewd woman though she was, Doming in, cried shame upon the crowd of brutes and cowards, and offer- ing to break a quart jug over the skull of any man who would lay a hand on the wench, had given my sister the bread and the grapes and sent her home. Such was the life we led, until 1 was turned fourteen, when I was bound, or rather sold for 'a eallen of beer, to a chain -smith called Black Jack, as an ap- prentice. With the men at Telson's works one jug of ale meant many. On the night of me apurenticeship my father and his boon companions held a great carouse, which ended, as was frequently the case,. in a quarrel and a fight. That is another night X shall never for- get. Alice and I cowered together in the dark beside the empty Trate, and listen- ed fearfully for the sound of my father's heavy foot. We heard the church clock strike twelve, and one, and two, and yet he never oame, but about a quarter to three a woman opened the door and called out, "Is there onybody art wbooam?" And Alice said "Yes." And then the woman asked, 'Is yowre Wiil wakken?". And Alice again said "Yes," upon which the woman said, "Coom ant; I've soomutto tell thee, wench," and T listened at the window and heard her say, "Ahm reit sorry for thee, wench, but we gonna fend sieh things. Theer`s been a row at th' Black 'orse:tan, an' one o' th' feilies her stabbed thee feyther, and 'e's deead." B:e was dead. They brought him home after the ir:meet, and he was buried in the little smoke -grimed graveyard beside my mother. May he rest in peace! Sav- aae as he wag, and cruelly as he need us, he was my father; and he ktiew no better. CnAPTEB, II: I' walked bo a village a few miles away, whore I was unknown,, and took lessens in hex tg front m who had been a pugilist. livery evening after work I went down by the oeinal and wrestled with the colliers' lads and bargees. These exer- cises, added to the constant training af- forded by my use of the sledge hammer, calmed odmetodevelopr0,pi 1 i eta lithe o active, and clever athlete, with muscles of brass and sinews of steel. A dozen times a day I pinched my wiry arms and thighs, huthe reckoning .and• thought that Blaok Jaok would be called to on the day when I was. twenty-one. No one sue. peoted 'nay design. How often sower X was insulted, cuffed and kinked by Black Jack. or by other lads, I never retaliat- ed, for I would not show my strength, and the latter being used. to me, and growling with me, bardly noticed my growth, nor did Blank Jack seem to give the matter a thought. A boy I was when I was bound to bine and a boy 1 was until I was turned twenty, when a curi- ous thing occurred. It was one day in the heat of the sum- mer, when the labor in the chain works gets almost past endurance, and even the keenest and the strongest are compelled to rest at times, and I was strolling along near the railway lines during the dinner hour, when I met a gentleman and a lady. I think I noticed them first Of all because of their unnatural cleanness. The gentleman was tall and handsome, and walked with a proud. but easy bearing, as of one used to power, and confident in his own strength. The lady was as bright, as dainty, and as delicate as the lilies she ,carried in ,her hand. I stared at her as' a savage might have stared at her; but of Bourse I was a savage. When they game close t.. me the atren- gars: stopped. and the gentleman inquired the way to the railway station, I pointed out the way. It was very hot, as I have said. and the sweat was running over my blaokened skin. I never knew before how black it was, nor how low I was, nor how coarse and ignorant I was; but I knew then, and when the lady looked at me I felt ashamed to be seen. It was a peculiar look: She raised her eyelids slow- ly. and her large, dark eyes seemed to &bine- with increasing light, reminding me of the' sun when he gradually lifts his face above a cloud. For a second she looked at me in 'this way; then, as she passed on, I heard her say: "Poor fellow, how hot .and tired he seems!" 'Glue him. a shilling, Braida," said the gentleman_ The lady turned half round, and say- ing "No; perhaps that would offend' him," held out to me one of the lilies whioh she carried. I took it awkwardly enough from the little gloved hand, over which a bright gold bangle had slipped almost to the thumb, and I would have said 'Thank you, ' but my tongue seemed Blued to my teeth. And so they went out of my life, as they had come into it, and left me stand - Ina. shamefaced and silent, with the spot- less lily in my grimy fist. What was I to do with the thing? I could not take it into the smithy; the men would have laughed me to scorn. I did not Fite to throw it away. It was time for me to go back to my work. I turned the flower about and about, and the more I looked at it the more bit- terly. I felt the contrast between myself and the gentleman who had just passed me, and, who had called the lady Braida. Perhaps she was his sister, I thought; and then I remembered my own sister, and her homely face. and ugly frock, and big, misshapen hands. and with a sudden impulse I flung the lily over the railway fence, and went back to my work. But though I had thrown the flower away I could not forget it, nor the strange sweet gaze of the lady who had given it to me. As I swung the huge hammer my mind kept running on. I tfaught of the gardens where such flowers could grow; I thought of the houses where suth. ladies lived, I seemed to realize for the first time that there was a world outside our smithy yard, that there were green fields, and clean streets, and gentle and good people, somewhere. And then' I scowled round upon the drudging, swarthy counterparts of myself who toiled. and sweated there amongst the glare and reek, and I thought of my past life, and all its miseries, and of the future which had nothing to make it bearable but re- venge. "What are you waiting for?"":`I asked myself, until "What are you wait - in - for? What are yon waiting for? What are you waiting for?" became a kind of tune to hammer to. I did hammer to it. I hammered the idea into my mind, I hammered every other idea out of my mind, and as I o•radualiy settled to my resolution my strokes fell slower, slower, and at last Black Sack .broke out into a scream of curses, and ordered me strike faster er he'd fell me. But instead of striking faster I held the hammer poised for a moment above 107 head, and then, turningvery slowly Pitched it with a sudden jerk of the wrists into a heap of cinders several yards away - Black Jack straightened himself up, and let his hand -hammer lie upon the seething link, while he stared at me with. his great mouth gaping wide, and his bleary eyes starting out of his head. The fellows at the next two fires also stopped, and looked on in amused 'sur- prise. I folded my -arms and looked at Black Jack with, • a smile. "No," I said, anewer- ine his look, "not another stroke. I have finished. I will never lift a hammer again for you, You dog!" Black Jack threw down his hammer, and came round to my side -of the an- vil. "Tak' oop that theer tool," said he, "or 1'11 kick thee while thee teeth drops ant." I could laughed out loud with delight. At last I had him; he was fairly in my reach. "Jack," I said, and I noticed a sort of half shiver in my voice as I spoke ; "Jack, if you are man enough to hold Your•. hands up, hold them up now." That did it. Jack made 'a lunge at my face. I expected it. I had arranged years ago how I was to meet it. Stopping" it with the right, X feinted with the cleft, and edged in. . 0,e swung his left 'back to floor me, and then I gave him the right straight in his teeth, with all the force of six years' training, and all the rage of six years' persecution behind it; It was the only blow I had the chance to deal him. Ile dropped like a poleaxed bullock beside his own anvil, and the blood gushed from his mouth in a stream. The other men ran up to his , assiet• ince, and a- dozen of ; them surrounded - me with menacing looks, But this also I had promised myself. Now, men," X said with a. sneer. 'this is my holiday. Which Of you'Il step out into' the coal -yard for a round? Come, now, you know me. Take that black pie away to his stye, and then I'll fight any six of you, one down and the other come on. 1 believe they thought I was mad, and so I was, in some sense. But at any rate they did not molcst•.me and; so I threw my cap amongst them and, calling them 'dirty ours," walked , slowly across the yard and out at the gate into the road. When I got into the road, I looked once at the snot where the lady stood to give me the lily. and then turned my faoe to the south and, set off at a swinging pace, which I maintained for hours. Indeed, I s do not think r X stopped at all until R had gone raore than thirty Milese, It was then about ten o' look at night. I bought a loaf of bread, and went lube a roadsida ale -house, I where got lodgings for the night. Father being dead, we had to give up our cottage, and my sister, as brave as ever, went out to serving, and sent me 'Money out of her poor ' wages. I went into lodgings with Black Jaok, and soon found that I had lost a bad father and found a worse. The next air years of my life may be soon told. Hard work and iil.usage in the smithy by day and hard fare and ill -usage in the home by night. Amongst all my workmates X had not a single .friend- My, sister `tad. got from me a promise that 1 would neither drink not gamble, axed I kept my word, and was despised and hated for• bay after 'day, and year..: after year, abuse and `slows were showered on me, • so that X grew up silent, sullen, and bit- ter, X had never been to school, I could soarcely read or write, I liedno •ompan- ions and no pleasures. ,Indeed, the only Motives X had in life were tolease my sister and to become a man, ; Tina' I could please or repay my sister I had no idea, except by stolidly holding to my promise. 'What I tree to do when I was a man I bad no idea, exceist that I was determined to give Blaok eieet a thrashing. 'X'he ope of this 1'ighteous ant sustained ma tinder a thousand trials. I prepared for it with the secrecy and cunning which my friendless and solitary lifo: had made stir sees nd notttre., Drove Saturday nlglrt A SUMMER DRINK WHICH STRENGTHENS ,,t delioiaus enflames. drink is iced Bovril. Mix a spoonful in a cold split soda . water, This is both cooling and strengthening. Cold bouillon served 's an ai koI as 1 n o wi toast.or ac. roe x th exquisite afternoon refreshment Make • 1with water tit ofBovril boiling in then usuan an;ner and cool it in the ice box. Many hostesses are serving this 31b au 1on1v iah is always axoGllen . aril The best way to buy Bovril is in the 1 lb. bottles. Those are by far the most sa 0 lea 1 beingretailed usually at $1.75, and contai eight times as much as the bottle usually sold at 3$o. We will gladly send on applicateen a very useful leaflet on iuveli dan d general dietetics, whioh explains wily Bovril aids digestion and enables you toabsorb the full nourishment from your ordinary diet. Address: Bovril, Limited, 27 St. Peter St,, Montreal. BIack Country, and my road lay through green closes and wide fields of standing corn. The oottagos along the highway were clean . and bright, withflowers trained over their lattices and pigeons fluttering above their thatelied roofs, and in the trim gardens before them the broad -faced sunflowers and flaunting hol- lyhocks made a brave show. Better to die here of hu n er I thought, withwith the scented elder flyers above and the daisied grass below, than to live for a century of brutish slavery in the smoke and sulphur of the chain sheds. Meanwhile, as I was walking, it would be well to decide upon some course, and whither should I go but to London? So turning south-east from Towcester fields,. I took the road to Buckingham, About four in the afternoon I revelled Bletchley, where I sat down under a hay- rick near the road, and pieced together a letter to me sister, telling her briefly that I had left Bl0,k niter, and bidding her send me a few lines in care of the General Post Office, London. This done, I continued my journey. I should have been better pleased to see Alice and take„her advice; and as she was in service' at Bedford, not more than eight miles from Bletchley, I felt sorely tempted to visit her. But I was so shabby in my coarse working dress, and had so few pence in my pocket,. that I could not find in my heart to go and ask for her. I posted my letter, and walked on. About eight o'clock I passed through a small village a few miles south of Ohed- dington,"'hnd here I bought a pint of new milk and a roll for my supper, after which I turned from the road along a meadow footnath, and coining to a hazel grove, stretched myself upon the bracken by a bramble bush, and was soon asleep. I oculd not afford a lodging that night, as I had but :sixpence left, and a long day's march still lay between me and London. I was awakened early by the shrill pip- ing of a blackbird, and sat up,feeling cold and stiff, and `wondering where I was. The grass and ferns were wet with dew,' and the dewdrops sparkled on every leaf and twig; a cloud of gnats and hover - flies flew round me, making a drowsy hum; the air smelt of the grass and the leaves. and through the slim branches of Ol1APTBII /IX. The alehouse where I slept stood on the outskirts of aretty hamlet between Ban- bury and Pinkney. I lay late, and the July sun was well un in the sky before I had .finished me breakfast of brown bread and milk and taken the road again. I went slowly at first, being stiffand Won drowsy; but the sweet. air on rvived. me, and the thought .that I was quit of any old sad life nxade• fele feel quite (sheer, Sul I lied alroad' got elite Clear of the `gut attest tea thispparently uncouth laborer set to work with ohoary' kindaesp to docket my oripyyled feet. fie ran soaped worsted through theblisters, rubbed them with soap,ave ale a pair of well darned woollen. cooks to wear, and when, 0,1 nt •six in the evening, Iresumed my Jour- ney. stood at his door and barked out. after me, "Good epeed, soapy. Bow an' easy does it. A big 'ears beats a bigAnd eingi0,efesdded, and elgfriendless and snd ore hopeful than at any time eine I left Ealeaowen.. (To be continued:) KNIFING A SHARK. Brave Deed of a British Sailor at Santa Lucia. h t sharks really W e her at human a beings or not, no one likes to be chased or to see a friend Chased by one of them, And' so, whether Wilms liam Tozer actually saved his ship- mate'is life or not, he did a' very brae thing, in a very neat and workmanlike manner. When George Kirstell, teward of the British steamship Ramsay, fell overboard while the steamer was coaling at Santa Lucia, Captain Mallen and the officers and crew,. most of whom were on deck, laugh- ed heartily of the plight of the steward. Kiretell was in no paxtic- e'er danger, for he is a strong swim- mer, but he was not in a, pleasant humor, with the soaking his clothes. were getting and the merriment of the crew at his expense. A strong tide had swept him away from. the steamer, but he was rswimming back, , leisure`3�' when . those on deck saw the fin of a shark ooming through the water in his direction with alarming speed. They shouted awarning, and the steward .swam as he never had be. fore, while. Captain Mallen • set about getting a life -boat over the side. But the captain and crew, soon realized that before the boat. could reach Kirstell the shark would overtake him. They lowered away, but before the boat was in the water Kirstell's efforts had brought him almost be- neath the overhang of the •stern,. and the shark was less than a dozen feet behind. The men who had not manned the life -boat turned aside in dread of seeing Kirstell dragged beneath the water, when William Tozer, the third officer, a big Eng- lishman, sprang on to the rail and dived overboard. In one hand he PUW ur R €ate__-- ' • \4 � Ii. c��II r� 4S iry ,. .2=a7,-.350 ,.'New modern plant of -E. W. Gillett company Limited, Totontd, Ont., consisting of six buildings, with three Railway sidings and separate office building. e the trees I could see a blue-shirted, brown -armed mower whetting his scythe. I rose, and, lookingup at the glistening sky, thanked God. I was hungry and wearyand almost ,penniless; but I felt that this was good. For the .first ten miles I went on very well; but as the sun,gained power I be- gan to .feel weary and faint. My feet were blistered, and my old shoes, scorch- ed by the emithy : fires, gave way, so that I fell lame, and limped on at a sorry pace. And, now I was to meet my, first experi- ence of Christian charity. -I .was passing. a pretty little house' just beyond .Box Moor, and seeing a lady in a white mus- lin dress and a white sun bonnet trim- ming a rosebush in the garden, I made bold to ask her for a drink of water. She was a young girl, as fair and as pretty as the flowers ' she tended, but 1 suppose she had never known want or trouble, for she turned her light blue eves upon me very coldly and said, in a sharp tone, "Certainly not. The servants have to fetch every drop of our water from the well, and we have none to waste upon tramps.” I turned away from the garden gate and limped on without a word. I felt more sorry than hurt, I felt more ashamed for her than for myself, and I remem- bered the lady who gave me the lily, and the gentle look she gave me with it, and I began to. understand dimly why that look had moved me so strongly. It was the light of love that had shone in on mydark soul from thosereat sweet eyes. Te light ' of the loves that is of ne sex, no nation, and no creed; of the love that .18 Christ -like in its humanity and divinity; the love that hopes all, believes all; pardons all, and glorifies all. So, I blessed the lady of the lily, and fared on. But my progress was painfully slow; and. . it 0,e well on inthe measured fifteeafter/icon ere I had miles of the dusty road, and found 'myself passing a row of mean little cottages built ,at the edge of a brickfield. At the door of the first. house a stout, swarthy woman of middle age stood knitting, and I• asked her, although her face was by no means inviting, if. she would give me a can of water. She looked at me steadily for a .mo- ment from under her great blue cotton hood, then said, in a deep, rough voice, "Aye, 'marry, why not, boy? Ye looks th' ye'd 0nom fur, and it be hot, it be, an' these rooada vaary doosty." I thanked her, and said I had not pass- ed a stream for many miles, and was very thirsty. Why. sure-lv" said the woman; "and belike ,ve'11 room in fur a while, an' I'1], Pet ye a coop o' tea; wheerby,i 's ; joost now ready, in manner o: speakin., nix my 'oosband '11 be in fro' the briokfield' ony minute. Nor would she take. a refusal, so that I found myself directly :seated" in at cane chair at the rough deal table, with a cu gP of tea and a plate of bread 'and butter' before me, and the Peed woman stand- ing by my side knitting', and uttering words of wonder and sympathy as I told her of the distance X had tome, and must yet go before I reached tendon, ' "Aye," she said, "but be no good Place, : bop, an ye d' be better back at hoome, But ve must not g°a their whiles ve root yersel', and' ye're lama too, as. I' Seo, poor boy; awe, but it be a long rooad 70 'ave to travel And then thehusband came in and bade, mo welcome, end took his tea, and eon• versed with Ina. Wife in Bhor. t mumbles and gruff g owl, inte±eparsed with mptterdd yo, arena,' and "near eerie,' and 'Play) niverg," tis he .learned the history of MY pilgrimage, clutched his big sailor's knife, its blade ready opened. His body scarcely raised a ripple as it crit into the water, but an inn= stant later there. Was a tremandou,9 commotion where the shark had been coming on. Its tail lashed the water, and the big fin " thrashed up and down. Then it disappeared amidst the reddening water, and a moment later Tozer rose to the sur- 'N,1A''''cow ✓>s ,�1 C•t% Ct r cen-eed-n-ey 1. Something New -and Beflei \\\o Y CANADA SUGAR REFINING CO. UMITED:MONTRE AL ir1 This SPound Sealed Package Ask your Grocerabout it faee, to oatciz a long breath and strike out easily for the steamer.. When he and Kirstell' had been hauled aboard, the young third offi- cer explained that he had merely performed a trick common to many of the natives of the south seas, where he has cruised for many years. He had timed hisdive to come up .beneath the shark, and had ripped him 'open with the big knife. There was some danger if you missed the shark the first time, he confessed. INTELLECTUAL PILLS. To Increase • Man's Physical and • 1liental Vigor. It took a German scientist to in- vent the' intellectual pill. The basis of this isa drug called. antikenotoxin, which has the qual- ity of neutralizing the poisons which are: said to be the cause of mental fatigue. •Dr. Weichardt, professor- at the University .of Erlangen, Germany, recently demonstrated that the =soles of animals suffering from physical or mental weariness secrete a certain poison, to which he gave the name kenotoxin. Then it was shown that antikenotoxin in- jected into a man increased his physical and mental vigor. This led Prof. Lorentz to think of utilizing antikenotoxin' to stimulate brain work. He. considered, that errors of calculation, for example, should be sef`dowe to fatigue. He found that problems given to his class in mathematics at the be- ginning of the lesson were solved in Eire. . minutes by three students; in eight minutes by thirty-thre•e; in ten minutes by sixteen., Other similar problems, given at the close of the lesson were solved in five minutes by one student; ineight minutes by twenty-seven; . in.. ten minutes by twenty-three. Evi- dently, •said the professor, it is men- tal fatigue that causes the slower work. Ona subsequent day Prof. Lor- entz vaporized orentzvaporized antikenotiexin in the class -room first before the close of the period and then set his pupils problems as before. The result was that they were solved in three min- utes by three students; in four minutes by thirty-one, and ' in ten minutes by one. Aiid the solutions contained fewer errors than usual. This was the origin of Dr. Lor- entz's intellectual ._pills. European physicians are still a bit sceptical, saying the pills must be subjected to more thorough tests. PANSIES GGIVE A SURPRISE. Seed Must Have Lain Dormant More Than a Century. The Rev. Tertius Poole, Vicar of Culinstoek, in Devon, England, tells a curious story, of the results of ploughing in a grass lawn the year before last for the purpose of turning it into a rose garden. He says the lawn had not been disturb- ed for quite a hundred years. A parishioner who is 95 years of age says that his father used to mow it when he was a child. Since ithas been ploughed in it has been cover- ed with an amazing assortment of pansies of splendid quality. ' "No seed," says the vicar, "has been sown nor have there been any pansies nearby. The only solution I can give is that the seed must have lain dormant in the soil for more than a century." One of the pansies, it appears, is of an altogether unusual type, be- ing like a gold: and bronze butter- fiy, 1///U//////%%/O%%%/%/O//r�//'/'/!%%////////%%/%/%/%/// o►�I�hIV��► `iii /V A root cellar �'• like.. this. y •. `mon a prize lastY ear.. P-rHE drawing Was made from • a photograph of which the root -cellar with hl D. A. Purdy, of Lumsden, Sask., won / a cash prize in last year's contest. In that last contest there were 36 prizes. T'heree will be three times as manyin tie prizes ( 108 2 1912 FARMERS'PRIZE Z E CONTEST HUS you void have three times as many chances of whining a cash T , : t ��' �• rare. lieu• do not have to use any¢ertaan amount of Canada Cement p in a prize. There are absolutel . no "strin s" to this offer. to w p h y g -.. - There are twelve prizes for each Province (three•of $50 ; three of $25; . three of threeof andonly with other farmers in your own Prov ++—.. $15 and thr $10� you compete n y r• ;' � sacs and not with those all over Canada. It makes no difference whether ou have ever used cement. Many of last year's winners you had not used it until they entered the contest. When you write for full particulars, we will i tend you, free, a book, "What the Farmer Can Do With Concrete,' which tells everything you needtito know about tenerete. It is absolutely free, and you are Wider no obligation - " on to buy Canada,, Cement or to do anything else for us. RITEoar naso apo addroer'on the coupon, end mail It, er ria letter or post card, and o ' YY } t2 rro Hill Ord ye mete She book and rail prniaotarr of the 3413. 1'd■e osteo a Y Address Publicity tobutages ' o Coda Cornett Comps), Melted , .504454 Heald Begaang, Montreal , PORTLAXD eaNlMr , / i i / /r viii / / ri / rr/lir, r r riia /r ;iii r r /r iiiii i r rill r it iiiiii r iiiiii i i ,ri r i °ilii iii �iiii�i�,aiiiioiii �� iay���ir rig / ,rr i i��i�������/�i��i�y/i����� �����/�i�/���i�� r CONSERVING SAIL ••r The damage direetl; to represent drouth©re t annual a loss to farmers devote more attention o£ conserving soil nen the spring and early 'a les summer drouths would be far destructive to our growing crops, There are 'few sgasons -when there is not sufficient moisture to mature good crops if proper methods are • employed in handling our soils so that the moisture will not be loge ;through evaporation during the pri- mary growth of the crop, The growth of crops should no be retarded at a time when i't' within out power to providethem with moisture. The average farmer begips every spring with an average- supply of moisture in his soil to supply the but on most of our farms the lack crops through a rainless seo,so�'.t of. drainage and indifference to the conservation of moisture reduce the yield of crops. ' After the soil Ynolature has been allowed to.. evaporate we are power.. erless to provide a, new supply for the crops that have been robbed , Summer drouths can be avoided in no other way than by improving the, water -holding 'capacity of - the soils and shaping the . method& of tillage 'and cultivation so' th`we may prevent the loss of the mois- turewith which they are saturated at the beginning of the season. On many soils underdrainage is, necessary and will produce won- derful changes in the character of the soil, It improves its action to- ward heat, light penetration of roots, and the implements used in the preparation and cultivation and stimulates bacterial action, which we are just beginning to a,p preciate as an important factorin soil fertility. ' BENEFITS .OF SPRAYING, • For the purpose of showing the farmer and fruit grower how he might save that part of the apple crop which is usually sacrificed to insect and fungi, most excellent ex- periments were made during one entire season by the Kansas Col- lege of Agriculture, the college -men going into the field and personally carrying on the work of spraying. The results of the spraying we uniformly good, and the owners the sprayed orchards were well pleased - The following splendid results of this work are valuable to farmers and fruit -growers in Canada as well as -Kansas, £br they demon- strate• beyond a doubt the helpful-,; ness of spraying. Commercial results from seven widely separated orchards, includ- ing both commercial and home types and composed of the varieties of• apples recognized as standard in Kansas, carefully sprayed 'showed an average gain of four bushels in actual yield of merchantable fruit per tree,; or 37 per cent.,compared with untreated . parts of the same•' ,orchards. Not �rdy ,Irr„ tits actual and tela-_ Live amount of merchantable fruit materially increased, but the aver - 'age' peroentage of number ones and -number twos, which are the high- priced grades, was also increased by fifteen per oent. and 6.6 per cent. respectively. The average net . profit from spraying was shown to be $1.62 per tree, or $57.20 per acre when the fruit was sold as orchard run, and to be almost doubled when proper- ly graded and marketed. All seriously injurious insects and fungous diseases have been marked- ly reduced and most of them have - been made almost negligible. Prepared lime, sulphur pies arse- nateh beat h produced the - of lead 0,,s p o results on apples subjected to Bor- deaux injury and nearly free from apple blotch, while Bordeaux mix- ture plus arsenate of lead gave best results oh varieties attacked by are pie blotch. - DAIRY SUGGESTIONS. The universal interests in •the problem of increasing dairy profs i through the cow -testing association showtheoy that dairy, farmers are willing to learn better ways •. when they have convincing proof to sustain a r Some dairy farmers who' are pro- ducing veal and cream,.,, from the same cows: milk the cows partially, nish.. Prett and rich 'feed far the oaths for the fat content ofthe first milking is about two per cent, fait. A little dairy ye* would save$100 a a educationu y in many dairies in this one point alonie, It s imperative that we provide sortie means of tiding the dairy herd over the season of failing' pas tures instead tri •vain.ly regretting that ii; has occurred. The dairyman who depends upon the pasture duriX!" the summer and hay during the 'tl!inter th.. feed bis cows is treading an :treacherous' ground, .