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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1924-05-01, Page 7e. Address communications to Agronomist, 73 AdelaideSt. West, Termite ea JOURNEY TO THE IIOME OF INDOLENCE. Lemuel Sprowl still owned a small "I quit usin' silage two ,or . three years back," Mr. Sprawl advised with an air of wisdom. - "The fellow who 'interest' its a farm en the road that put tip that silo was ,a stock -feeder branched off the main pike in the end he put it pretty near in the nerd" direction of the poorhouse. For some dlo of the lot. Handlindairy cows I d been unable to pay in full had to lug the feed clear across to the milkin'• stable. I couldn t see any sense in Makin' a slave of myself for' be only a question of time when the sake of a parcel of cows, so�I quit Mr, Sprowl and'his: wife would be fillin' A. Yes, I've been noticinquite compelled to' reliquish the place, and a while that `she's gettin' a slant in become guests' of the county. her. It seems I could never get timeY p , Happening by on a hot summer da to tighten ; them hoops when they years he ha the interest on the mortgage. Neigh- bors'ventured the assertion that it we left the flivver to cool under a should have been looked . after.. wide -spreading oak'at the roadside Fannin' in summer don't have much and went in to havo a 'look at the property.' Mr. Sprowl was on the porch; taking his ease in a broken down; upholstered. chair that had seen better days and which,; its present oc- cupant found' occasion fto inform us, had been picked up at an auction some three or four years previous "for the price of a two-bit piece." . "Oh, that!" Mr. Sprawl's tone was "I set, this here chair on the porch one of mild surprise. Why, that's when I brought it home," h8 drawled, what these automobile fellows call a as he saw-us:taking note of it, "and chassis --only in this case it's part of somehow I haven't ever got around to a lumber wagon. It was so hard to let up to it, you know. I guess that's the reason I never tended to it," We continued on our way past the out- buildings, "Looks asthough it was about time you cut your, weeds," we observed, "What's that you're tryin' to hide in. that jingle of burdock?" it get it in and out of the shed T took carry it into the house, I dunno as to leavin' it out here. I dunno as it something ts much difference. e, Sortyof need improves it any,but when I've wanted something out here every summer. p What can I do' for you, stranger?„ it I could hitch on in just a jiffy— We made known our desire tolooksthndinwhere it does. My, but them over the farm burdocks do grow tarnation fast, don't � "Nothin' easier," he replied, "There they,„ isn't any place around here that offers Reaching the end of the row of greater opportunities. It's a little too buildings we faced the open field. A big for ane to keep everything just hundred yards away there stood a shipshape. But a younger man like three -section crib made of fence -rails you --i5 He eyed me critically, "Yes, and holding several hundred bushels you might get along on it pretty well.” of corn,. He led us out to the barn, where we "Some of my last year's corn," entered the milking stable over aSprowl explained with a bit of pride. broken walk that held abundant possi- So long as I've got that crib full of Wales for broken bones and twisted corn," he eiiplained, waxing facetious, ankles. "I feel like the tramp who always car- "I keep thinkin' I'll fix that place," ried a silver dollar which he'd never he said, "but somehow I don't get to spend. There .wasn't no judge, he said, It. I.dunno, though, as it's any killin' who'd send hini to jail for havin' no matter, so long as you know right where to step." Hearing voices beyond the stable, We inquired if he -kept a hired. man, "Not regularly," was the reply. «I around," he admitted, "but if they're dump the manure from the stable out out there we don't have em in the visible means of support." "But the rats and mice?" we sug- gested eyeing the makeshift crib. "I suppose there may be one or two in the, yard, and twice a year I get some one to haul it to the fields. Saves a lot of fussin' to do it that way. I'm late, though, with it this summer. That waste's been Iyin' there most of a year. It should have been seen to last spring." "You'll have to straighten that silo, won't you, before you can fill it again?" we questioned, as we noticed the Leaning Tower of Pisa which rear- ed itself in the barn lot next to a :feeding shed. barn. I can't see that it really makes much difference." Taking leave of Sprowl, who had led us back to the vicinity of the bat- tered chair on the porch, we thanked him for his courtesy. Again he sur- veyed us with close scrutiny. "Firmin! .is no work for a slug- gard," ho. advised soberly. -"If the bank takes a notion to let yotl lift this roof from over my head, I hope you'll remember what I've told you. It's the truth.I ought to know." POULTRY. One hundred baby chicks when hatched will usually weigh.between seven and eight pounds. When the chicks have reached an age of tw •l'c weeks they should 'weigh between one hundred and seventy-five and two hun- dred pounds. For sake of comparison we will take a calf at birth with a weight of eighty pounds. Should the calf snake the same rate of gain as the chick, it would at twelve weeks of age weigh a ton. This will help one to understand why broods of chicles vary so much, and will -also assist the feeder to appreciate the opportunity at hand to display his skill, so says Prof. W. R. Graham of the 0.1:.C, Poultry Dept. The use of the incubator and br,ond- er has forced the poultry keeper to study the methods of growing chicks. A mother hen and her brood, when al- lowed to range, can be fed many feeds, and the chicks do well simply because the hen and the chicks balance the ration by catching insects and select- ing tender green feed and, it may be, several other things that we have never observed. There is a great variation in differ- ent broods of chicks reared by the artificial method, ,and many broods have a high mortality and a very unthrifty appearance. The chicks can I be reared easily with reasonable care and attention. The use of 'a little common sense is essential. One should remember that, gie en' a brooder, a colony house, and,esy.three hundred baby chicks, it is hed'duty of the operator to keep the''chicks com-1 fortable, and that -every need of the body must hoeeaken •to those chicks.I ''fere Onto'. clucking hen' to pick ;up .i bits of gravel or to catch insects: The feed'ntust'be taken to the chick, l Atpnesenir the.. Dept. of Poultry IIn`sbandry ±±•tile O.A.C. is conducting series of expel'inients,,the object be- ing to find a simple, inexpensive meth, od of growing a normal chicken. It May take years to get the answer, but each season we add a little. to our knowledge, moisttire, are essential in order that growth may go on uninterruptedly. Hot dry soilscan be made cool and moist by water or by mulching. It is not a very great task to keep a small area in celery watered during the dry periods. When preparing your new vege- table garden set aside some good well rotted mahuro far a row bf celery, Dig or plow out a space about 18 inches wide and about six inches deep and into this scatter the manure about four inches deep. On this place your good garden soil, and mix thoroughly with the manure, and to this add acid phosphate at the rate of 500 pounds per acre. If the gar- den is one which has been well ma- nured for years scatter a coating of manure broadcast and work it into the soil adding acid phosphate as well, and on this good celerycan be grown. A well-balanced 4-8-5 com- mercial fertilizer, at the rate of 2,000 pounds per acre, scattered broadcast and well mixed with the soil to a depth of five or six inches, will grow good celery without manure if mote tura conditions are right •' Celery seed will germir .e in any good garden soil inrelent two weeks ! after planting; ,.:sling this time the soil should „y kept damp. The seed box maye'set any place in the kit- cheneemd When the seedings appear, in -a --bright 'window or hotbed. In ;twoweeks the p1ant .may be singled out and transplanted to one and one- half to two,. inches apart In 'another month,thcso 'Mlle have developed into good`' plants for. setting' to the open grounds. It will be seen that it takes about two months to develop good plants. Seed sown on the first of March should • develop plantsfor set- ting out May' 1st Fos' later plantings and fall crop, seed started the middle' of April or first of l lay will give good plants for setting in Julie. Celery Culture. . Any good rich garden soil will grow good celery. Itis a grope feeder and meet have an abundance of fertility to draw mien if tender, well-developed stalks are to be _obtained:. if the soil becomes • dried out, even with an abunidance of plant foeti iiresent, sue- culent stalks are not likely to develop, These two thing's, plant food: and ISSUE No,, 18—'24. Cylinder-I-Iead Bolts.• In refitting a stationary engine with a new cylinder- head itwas found that the bolts set into the jacket were a little too short when the thickened gasket was in place, To unscrew them ^a few turns so that they would serve, a nut of the right size was cut half its two with a hack saw, and this, when turned on the bolt, gripped with a pair of pliers. The open side "gave" enough to grip the threads tightly and to turn the bolts. This prevented dam- aging the threads as the only other means would have been to use a .pipe wrench. 9LL Pruning for Fine Roses. The rose grower has it in his power at this season of the year to prepare his plants for a heavy :• crop ;of, moder- ato quality or a smaller crop of super- ior blooms. It must be observed, however, that the amount of 'pruning that should be done to a rose bush• 'depends somewhatupon the variety of the rose. Roses of modern varieties bloom on weed of the current year's growth. That irate say, the buds that start from the old branches this spring will produce the flowers' this year. Rose growers will have ob- served that the strongest new wood and the finest bloom comes :from the' buds that are close to the ground. It therefore pays to shorten back the wood to within a foot or so of the root. This applies more especially to young plants. Older plaints' of the strong growing varieties such as J.I B. Clark and Frau Karl Druschki,i should not be pruned so severely. It! is, always desirable that the bush when it develops should have an open centre, so as, to let in the suns me. For this reason, when a branch is cutoff, the cut should be madea half inch or soabovethe bud on the out -I side. Pruning should not be done until the buds are commencing to swell. One may then be assured that he is leaving uninjured wood. It is not necessary to wait until the buds near the ground are bursting, because those higher up open first and,.. if a fairly long stem is left, the lower buds! do not break at all. By cutting off the stems fairly low, the lower buds are forced into growth. Experience will soonteach what is the best method of pruning for the particular conditions desired. In pruning, the strongest healthiest stems are left and the weak ones cut off close to the ground or bush or larger limb. As a safeguard against mildew and black spot it is well to burn all the pruned woodand to spray the bushes with a fairly strong solution of Bor- deaux mixture ' or other suitable fungicide. Instructions for making and and applying fungicides as well as insecticides for roseplants are given in Bulletin No. 85 of the Experiment- al Farms,' "Hardy Roses," available ,at the Publications Branch of the De- partment of Agriculture at Ottawa. This bulletin also names and describes the best varieties to grow. Control of Grasshoppers. Locusts or grasshoppers lay their eggs in the late summer and; autumn of, one year and the young appear about May in the following year. Every kind of field crop suffers from their presence. A leaflet issued by the Dominion Entomological Branch states that in Eastern Canada the following mixture broadcasted over infested fields has proved effective in control: Bran 20 pounds, paris green or white arsenic half a pound, molass- es 2 quarts, juice of oranges or lemons 3 fruits with peel choppedfine to 2% gallons of water. -The bran and paris green or white arsenic should be mix- ed while dry. Another bait that has answered well is: sawdust 20 pounds, paris green % pound, salt 1 pound, water 8 gallons. Twenty pounds of either of these 'bait± is sufficient to treat five acres of growing crops. The morning' is the best tine for broad- casting. In the Prairie Provinces what is known as the Griddle mixture has proved effective. . This is made" by adding 1 pound of paris green,.•e• white arsenic, and 1 pound of salt, to 15 gallons, by treasure, of fresh horse droppings, sufficient water only to make the mixture moist being 010 pastures should be plowed to a depth of at least six inches and im mediately followed by harrowing. Cultivation of Strawberries. Strawberries require a moist, rich rather light and loamy soil to produce the best results. The land should be in good condition and free from weeds. A heavy application of ma- nure should be worked into the soil at the time of planting, using well rotted manure, at the rate of thirty to forty tons per acre, according to the Dominion Horticulturist, who further advises, if impossible to ob- tain barnyard manure, the turning under of a crop of olever and the use of a fertilizer composed of 200 to. 300 pounds of muriate of potash (or 25 to 45 bushels of wood'ashes),•200 to 300 pounds of either ground bone or acid phosphate, and about 75 to 100 pounds of nitrate of soda, to be applied at trine of planting. Planting is done preferably bn a cloudy day, and the . -young plants should not be allowed to become dry at any time. After planting the plantation should be given a'thoro ugh cultivation with a fine-tooth cultivator and this cul- tivation should b at inter- vals of two weeks through the season, and after each heavy rain. The blos- soms should be- picked off the first season and the ground kept free from weeds, A few trips through the patch to place the runners properly should also be made. In selecting runners for propagation select good-sized healthy plants. fi Better Prices for Lambs. The sheep raiser has it in his own hands to decide whether he will take the top price for his male lambs next fall, or sell them at a discount of two dollars or more per head. The decree has gone forth that a cut of $2 per hundredweight will be made on all buck lambs purchased after the mid- dle of July. It may not be generally understood that wether lambs make thicker and better carcasses than do rams, and that the meat is of finer flavor. The operatioh of emascula tion is not only as - necessary with! lambs as with calves and pigs, but it is just as simple and subject to as little .loss. A pamphlet entitled "The Great Neglect in ; Sheep Husbandry," describes ` the operation and shows how to take off the tails as well. Un- less a flock owner can afford to take a low price for his lamb crop he had better' make sure of the highest re- turn by trimming his lambs this spring. Making Liars o f Our Children "I'll teach you to lie," said an angry father, who was thrashing his twelve -year-old boy with a big stick; "I'll teach you to lie l" How little did this man realize that he was, indeed, teaching his boy to lie, by making him afraid of him and thus afraid to tell the truth! Childhood is timid. Children have not yet developed their moral faculties to any great extent and they' will -usu- ally take the safest, easiest way. They, naturally, are always trying to 'pro- tect themselves. A well-known woman writer once undertook to classify lies. She listed lies of vanity; lies of flattery; lies of convenience; lies of interest; lies of foes; lies of malignity; lies of male- volence, and lies of.,iratitonness. Mark Twain in t&: account of stock countpelleight hundred and sixty-nine ,.raxieties of lies 1 There is no question that there are all sorts of lies, and that truthfulness as a principle and as a policy is un- known to multitudes of people. Often the reason for this is lack of proper training in childhood. A great many men and women have grown' up'to be- lieve in the lie as a policy. They be- lieve that it pays to deceive. Yet thethe father called the boy before him reputation' of always, everywhere,' to punish him for lying, and the lad under all circumstances telling .the said, "Father, how muoh did you ftell and other severe treatment will make your child truthful, In almost every case they have just the opposite effect. Timid children are proverbial liars, be- cause they are the little victims of fear, and when in terror of punish- ment they will do almost anything to avoid it. The lie doesn't seemso bad to a child' as it does to you, and yet my adult friend, are you sure you are always truthful? I know many a par- ent who punishes his child for lying who does the same in his business and social life, but in a snore polite way, perhaps. A man will lie in his ad- vertisements, in his misrepresenta- tions of themerchandise he is handl- ing, andling, in cheating customers, in different ways, by covering up defects, in sell - big "foreign" silks made at home, and all sorts of "Imported" articles made in this country. I know a boy whose father had been abroad and hadbrought hone with him precious works of art, and he was one day showing a friend about his house. The boy heard him say, "This picture is the work of Rem- brandt," (or some other great artist,) "I paid $10,000 for it." A little later truth—rho' 'exact truth—is worth a thousand times more to one than any temporary gain front deceit.' One of the most dangerous of all characters, in business or in social life, is the man or woman who is indiffer- ently honest, or who will tamper with the truth. f- • 'There are nnultitudes of people who began to lie in childhood from fear. of punishment and the desire to ward it off. It is not always filo much the actual suffering of .the whipping as the anticipation of it that is so dread- ful to the youthful mind. There is something inside the boy and girl that protests against such an , in'suit, as they regard any . attack upon their person. It is the worst policy in the world to make' children afraid of you by telling them to tell the truthor take the consequences of severe physical punishment, I know of no quicker way to make a real liar of a child than making him afraid of you by giving hini a beating every time you find him telling an untruth. Don't delude yourself that beatings Success, Mr. Blank the other day that you paid for that picture?" "Ten thousand dol- lars," Was the reply. "But you know, daddy, that You didn't pay but $4,000." "Yee, blit it was .worth. $10,000; I bought it cheap." Now what sort 'of . en example in truthfulness is that father setting his boy? i`Vcr•itas";(Tho Truth) is engraved upon the;buildings and gates, of one. of Ourgreat universities; and above a :principal entrance to the college yard we react this legend from a great Hebrew poet: "Open ye the gates that the right- eous nation which keepe% truth .may enter in" No self-respecting gate upon the globe will open willingly to those who do not .keep the truth "truth in the inward' parts," as Heb- rew sages Used to say,—truth in con- science and life, Train your ehiid in the way of truth, Teach him that the world listens when truth speaks, -0. S. M., inl • Folks who want the very best use REDT , ROSE ORANGE PEKOE -' Horne Education "The Child's Fust School is the Family"--Froebel." Suringtime Gardening—By Sophie Kitchener "See, what a wonderful garden is here, Planted and trimmed for my Little -Oh -Dear 1 Posies so gaudy and grass of such brown Search ye the country and hunt ye the town And never ye'll meet with a garden so queer As this one I've made for my Little-Oh-Dearl" Training that associates itself na- turally with the season of the year is particularly apt to make its ,im- pression on a child. The child is sen- sitive to the natural changes in the world about him and there is value in any "lesson" that can be correlated with the lively interest he takes in the weather, the sky, the trees, and the plants. In the spring, for instance, the child loves to play in the little rivu- lets that form from the melting snows and the rains. He bridges them; the dashing torrents he dams to turn his little waterwheels; on the quiet navi- gable ones he floats his paper boats. He is conscious of the special tang he feels in playing in this mud and water. He . is unable to know it is the "liveness" of waking nature ap- pealing to him, but he senses the mes- sage and responds. The mother,too, if she be a lover of nature, thrills to the same mes- sage brought by other couriers. How much more the child's half-conscious love will mean to him if ` she realizes that he shares her own appreciation and if she takes care to foster it until it becomes actual knowledge of na- ture. One mother of my acquaintance realized the value of such timely training. She purchased for her lit- tle daughter, a book that told the story of the bean. It told of its de- velopment from an insignificant pebble -like thing into a lovely tall vine with flowers which, in turn, pro- duce the bean that people use for food. The lima bean was pictured asa baby that grew and grew. The child was interested, so the mother got some lima beans, quite a while before it was time to .plant them outdoors, and put them between a roll of good blotting paper, inserted in a drinking glass, and the wall of the glass. A small amount of water was poured into the glass which was then put on the window sill in the sun. As the days went by the child could observe the tiny shoots coming from the seeds. First came the root, then the leaf shoot which unfolded and grew until little leaves began to show. These grew larger and larger and the shoot grew stronger and stronger until it overtopped the glass. It was then time to put it in the ground. Tho mother showed the little girl how to plant it and togetherthey planted other beans to grow as the first' had done. All the while these seeds were ,de- veloping underground the child knew what was . happening and eagerly waited for the first : tiny leaves to appear above the surface. She cared for the garden herself, watering it faithfully. Later in the summer' she was rewarded with a very small crop of beans, for this was but a small garden in a yard at the back of a. city house. But how much she had learned, and what a joy it had been! Feeding Poor Hay. While the general farmer finds economy in feeding his lower grades of roughage, so the fact should not be overlooked that such feeds do not have the full nutritive value that number one roughages have. Other- wise, there would be no difference in the market price of these different grades' of feeds. The value of the various farm feeds can be roughly gauged by the condition of the ani- mals to which they are fed. Watching closely his stock, the feeder can know quite accurately whether he is treat- ing the animals to the quantity of roughage they should have. Keep the Sheep Dry. A practical sheep man advises that farmers owning flocks pay especial at- tention to the ewes in the period pre- ceding the lambing season. Dry beds are important. Tho wind and rain should be kept out of the quarters in which the ewes are housed. Another essential is exercise. To provide for this, the eyes should be allowed ac- cess to the barnyard or field. Oats and bran, equal parts, make an ex- cellent feed for the ewes atthis sea- son, while legume hays, particularly alfalfa, make first grade- roughage feed. Cw Y, EVROLET -can be bought on easy terms ark HE low cost and easy terms of Chevrolet has brought the great utility, comfort fort and convenience of a fully -equipped auto- mobile within easy reach of a large number of Canadians. And, Chevrolet price—though it is the lowest of any quality car in the world—;s the full and complete cost of the car. There are no extras to buy. Everything necessary for easy, comfortable and safe motoring is standard equipment on Chevrolet. Chevrolet offers you everything in appear- ance, dependability and riding ease that discriminating motorists demand, and with all these combines the most economical car - performance known in the world. Easy payment terms also have been arranged. General Motors Acceptance Corporation, a subsidiary of General Motors, provides a deferred payment plan which makes the pur- chase of Chevrolet so easy that few, if any, can afford to be without this fine modern cr. 0.410 Ask About The G.M.A.C. Deferred Payment Rag Chevrolet Motor Company P Y of Canada, Limited .Oshawa, Ontarlo Dealers and Service Stations Everywhere. es Economical :11.ansportaticnn THE CHILDREN'S HOUR CLIl1iBEES. Are you doing yourbest to conquer The foeshat beset you to -day? Are you standing back, hesitating, Or pushing ahead, on the way? You can gather success or failure Pretty much, my lad, as you will; You can spend your time in the valley Or climb to the top of the hill. But : life's prizes are all for the climbers, Who, backed by a soul brave and strong, Forge steadily onward, nor falter., Though pathways seem drearily long. The. Star of Success beckons ever; There are guide -poets for all to see, Marked Honesty, .,Cheerfulness, Ses, Loving -kindness, Integrity. —L. D. Stearns, A FLASH OF CRIMSON. BY LEREINE BALLANTYNE.... Grandad loved to fish. Back of the maple bush at The Elms was a sparkling river with a nice deep pool where speckled trout gathered in its cool depths. Here many a morning came Grandad and Benny, the former to fish, and the latter to wander around, malting friends with every wild creature in the district. Suddenly in the grove near -by sounded a strangebird call. "Chip churl Chip: churl Chip churl" "What is it?" whispered Benny,' "I seeni, to know it well, but can't just place it," said Grandad. "Chip churl Chip churl" sounded again from different parts, as if half a dozen were, calling to each other. Then they suddenly heard it again, right above then in the big willow, and when Benny looked up, a flash of beautiful crimson darted through the branches, and there Benny saw a magnificent bird swaying above him, with wings and tail jet black and the rest of his body flaming scarlet or crimson. "What a beauty!" exclaimed "the boy. "Oh, hs is the prettiest one that has come this year!" "Yes," said Grandad. "He is a beauty." "Tell me about him," insisted Benny. "The Tanager, for that is his name, is the most striking example of the cleverness of mother nature. The. gay little daddy -bird is given that brilliant color that he may dart about like a ray of sunshine before his lit- tle mate, and draw attention only to himself. And, to protect her lest she be too conspicuous sitting on the nest. and thus court danger to herself and the dear little ones, her coat is a modest green, harmonizing perfectly with the green leaves which conceal herself and her nest" "Where do they build their nest?" asked Benny. "Usually in the outer branches of a tree where the limbs are so thin a squirrel would have difficulty in reaching the nest, which is made of leaves, strips of bark, and lined with down from dandelions or thistles." "What do they eat?" asked Benny, for he had already learned that is a very important factor, because if bird is destructive he isnot nearly so welcome at The Elms. "Oh, he is a very welcome fellow on that score," said Grandad. "His food is chiefly insects and wild fruit. I believe. They do say he eats a bit of tame fruit, but I have never seen him bother our orchard very much, and certainly I've noticed him picking up insects of which I was very glad to be relieved. Oh, yes, he is a beauty, has a nice cheery call, and as far as I can see, no bad habits." "Then no hopehe nests here," said Benny, "Of course he _will," promised Gran- dad, "for there are no red squirrels or chipmunks in my bush. I see to that, which is the reason why I have so many bird friends, and such fine fruit in my orchard." Benny was so enthusiastic over his new friend that he insisted on Gran- dad going to see if they could find the nest, so for that morning fishing was put off, and after quite a bit of scout- ing they discovered Mr. and . Mrs. Tanager flying with grasses to a young maple on the edge of the bush. It looked like an ideal nesting place and no doubt that is why the (lever little birds Chose it. Land Plaster and Lime. The practice` of sprinkling freshly cut seed potatoes with plaster or lime has been tested out by the Field Hus- bandry Dept. of the 0A C. with the following results: For twelve' years untreated seed gave an average of 181.1, lime coated seed 109,8, and plas- ter coated seed 200,8 bushels per acro per annum, Potatoes which were cut and planted to same day produced on an average over eight years 7.8 husk - els per acre more than where the seed was cut and planting delayed for four or five days. ii'or ,best results cut, dust and plant on the same day. Get acquainted with your banker; a cheque book will help you to cheek tip on your business activities. • Too early pasturing may mean, ehort pasturing. Give the grass a, chance to become firm.