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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1960-10-27, Page 3°frog Caxmping. kl-Time $tyle Once again the wild rat has returned a bountiful harvest and the September sun hath cast his )reams upon a favored land, Alter Labor Day, Maine belongs pretty much to us'ns, and the vacatlonists have gone home to their dreary affairs thinking they had a good time --not know- ing that the joys o£ July and the orgies of August are as nothing compared to the salubritics of September. Onr Izathie came home rich from a summer job as a resort waitress, and then was said, sung, and spoken: "Let's go camping before school opens!" We don't camp as the campers do, We see campers all summer, duffel atop their automobiles, boats bouncing on tiny trailers, and a slip stream of pienlo pa- pers and abandon. They are largely gone now, and camp sites are more available. I got down tho wangans, sharpened the hatchet, nested the skillets, and we took off. We went to a place called Canada Falls. This is on the South Branch of the Penobscot River, close to Maine's western boundary, deep in the wilds. It is pretty far up, If you look at the map of Maine, you'll see that the Penobscot Bay makes a deep gash in the coast. Above tide- water, the river divides into the Bast and West Branches, The West Branch, later, divides again -into the North and South. And this is historically important, for those rivers were the transpor- tation of the olden days, and they had timetables and routes just like any railroad. Not too far from Canada Falls, just over a narrow 'height of land,` you can hit Moosehead Lake waters, which flow into the Kennebec River. These portages, or "carries," are like a bus ter- minal, where you change coaches. The intricate systems of Maine lakes, connected by streams, lay the whole state open to the wa- ter traveler. In Indian times, these were the routes they trav- eled, So you could come up one system, portage briefly overland, and hit another system. Maine was excellent food reentry for the savages, and they throve, Students of the subject say the populations here a thousand years ago were in big figures. The shell -heaps weren't made by a few random Indians; they were made by great tribes of them all eating at once. And when the seasons changed, they took off up the rivers in their bark and skin canoes, fanning out over the end- less water systems to hunt. Then when the land was open- ed by the old lumber barons, the rivers and ponds became liquid railroads, down which the tim- ber could move to the mills. Incidentally, in Maine we call our lakes ponds, and smile ind- ulgently at Minnesota, where ponds are called lakes, Moose- head Lake is about 50 miles long, but you'll hear them say, "Pond's rough today!" A11 through this wilderness region, long before settlements were made dams were put in at stretegic points - one of thein at Canada Falls. This was a "conservation" meas- ure, but I'm afraid it was before that word had its modern mean- ing. They made the dams to hold back water so it could be re- leased when needed, and by flushing through enough at a time they could send the logs down. Hydropower. interests readily teamed up with the lum- ber people, and step by step the flowage in all these intricate systems was brought under con - tree A good mill man at Mil- linocket today can look at his chart and tell you to the pailful how much water he has in every pond up and down on the West ranch. So at Canada Falls, where the MAKING TRACKS - Railroad worker Birger Sandman rides to the job on a special tricycle in Kiruna, Sweden. The town, 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle, depends completely on ahs railroad to bring in supplies. Indians had a lovely natural falls over some ledges, leading down into wonderful pools be- low, there is now a concrete dam of some size, a baby Hoover Dam that was built by private industry, but which has the iden- tical same purpose in the broad- er sense. Above the dam lie long stretches of "deadwater," an artificial pond noted for the excellent trout fishing. In the old days, before the dam, trout used to come up from Seboonook Lake, fighting through the white water of the rips, and pass up into t h o smaller woodland streams to spawn, But the "conservationists" ran into a conflict of definition,, Tliey insisted that a fishway be built around the dam, a ladder of successive pools which trout could use to ascend. This was built, and for many years it car- ried the desired Eastern brook trout over the dam, which he could not otherwise surmount. However, word went around that yellow perch were also using this ladder, and were like- ly to establish themselves in the deadwater. The assumption is that perch were not able to as- cend the natural barrier of the original falls, and in Indian times never got up. And the yellow perch is not considered, in Maine anyway, a wanted creature. We can them, along with suckers, dace, and such, a "trash" fish. So the fish -ladder closed off, and now neither trout nor perch, nor even good red herring; go up over Canada Falls to the wondrous climes above, The pool below the dans is the end of the line. So, you see, there are things to look at and think about, and with your tent pitched at Canada Falls you can drop back into the lore of the forgotten past, imagine the great tumbles of logs that went down through, and even wonder what a fish does about it, anyway. I found that the trout follow ancient urges, and still try to get up. This tends to congregate them in the eddy where Canada Falls churns its interminable flow, and upon suitable solicita- tion they may be prevailed upon to join you for breakfast, I had foreseen this likelihood, and had inserted a box of yellow corn meal in the wangan-for in an emergency it can also be used for johnnycake. We like johnny- cake fairly well anyway.I didn't see any yellow perches. -by John Gould in the Christian Science Monitor. PUZZLE AertOS0 1. Bale) meat 4. Thorax 11, Christ Lan Seance Practitioner 17. Flutter i2. Innpnssea 14. Diminish 13. I1ntire amnm,t 10; Thlghbona 1.8, 80. true 19, L'lesh of calves 21. And not 22. Itepetr 31 Interior 211, Ceremony 27. Incaution satin 7'1, motive runnier,. 23. Feral' 35. West Pointer 28. Corn spikes 34. Point of 9i. Perrforitl salon 42. so. Amerloan river 93, Ex Ptrienced 45, Lnod Pur Curia ahnrer 45. Corrupt 48, Snholnrly so. hlnrn ed 31. Dignified 39. Milkweed fluid 63. 11r, pillar DOWN np attain i..,,r 1,1,,pdMat a. Arabia letter 4. Number 5. Quivering motion 4. Scorch 7. Target in quoits 8. Shirk 9. Surgical 30d. Deers ndant of lt 10. Inclination 21, Narrate ( 1, Capital of 22. small rook j • 13. President of 89, 0Coercionrrlloii 1 the Confect- 88. Find fault crazy needlessly i 17. IIlgh priest's 87, Music drama , a�lpotatnlente 38. Itamanlan i 20,triteetdek, g lances region 22. Tablelands 40. 1 neap Z 24, Turin elle 43. Bend 24, Twtlehine 44, Fep 1 23, remit) Ina 47. Corroded name 49. Split pulse Sr✓„ .'. ^ I I 3 4 3 0,:i 4, 7 8 9 /0 S /! /R /a • ,/ /3 /r" .rroil Rs : ;' a i0 ;z 51 -: ZZ t 28 "29 3i' 3a 31 35 57 O,':.1 • 14 37 .,?a j9 91 47 '' 96 i s 'b'• is Answer elsewhree on Oita page TIE FARM FRONT Jokutia.lueti. This editorial from the Prairie Farmer (Chicago) refers specifi- cally to conditions south of the Border, But I think there is enough of interest to Canadian farmers to reproduce it here, * a 4, During the political campaign we will hear a great deal about the family farm. Unfortunately, this has become a kind of flag which we wave to stir up senti- ments and prejudices, whereas we are actually talking about a locally -owned, independent eco- nomic unit. I believe the preservation of farming as an independently owned, medium-sized economic and social unit is important to the future welfare of America. At the same time, I think it is important to know what we are talking about. Back in the homestead days, 80 or 160 acres was considered a family farm. With present-day machinery and modern methods this homestead will not keep a family fruitfully employed nor will it support the amount of machinery and labor - saving equipment which the modern farmer insists on using. Much more realistic as an eco- nomic unit is what I would can the two-family farm, which has many advantages. In the first 'place, there is much greater op- portunity to use machinery on a larger farm. Also, providing more room for manpower gives a married son a better chance to stay on a farm in a house sepa- rate from the older folks. If a son or son-in-law is not available to carry on, the two- family farm leaves room for a married hired man who has little hope of owning his own farm and yet has a real contribution to make as the second man in a modern farm setup. It also pro- vides an entering wedge for an ambitious young man who wants to farm but who has no land in the family. This two-family farm also opens the way for a higher standard of living for both fam- ilies. A single family operating a farm must keep its nose to the grindstone as in few other occu- pations, If there is livestock on the place, the farm work may be so confining that travel and vacations are virtually impos- sible, and young people must be restricted in their education. What chance does this larger, two-family farm have of success under modern conditions? I be- lieve the chances are quite good. Two families, working in har- mony, can maintain a keen in- terest in the work, and with this interest goes willingness to put in extra time and pains to make the enterprise successful. There are tnany indications that This medium-sized farm can be as efficient or more efficient than larger farms, The very large farm runs into all kinds of difficulty. Employees an such a farm are inclined to assume the same attitude as em- ployees in a factory. There can be very little doubt that if farms get so big as to require multiple employees, labor will be union- ized and labor and management troubles will be saddled on this type of farm. Hours of work will be severely restricted, and the specter of strikes may easily enter the farm field. Yes, I believe the medium- sized unit, owned by s family, or small -type corporation, can pre- vail in this country, But it must ISSUE 43 - 1960 be larger than the family farm of grandfather's day if the people and 111e machinery on it are to be fruitfully employed. So waren we talk about a fam- ily farm, let it be a farm to suit modern conditions and not a farm to suit sentimental ideas inherited from the past. e e e Farmers in another part of the world, ]tamely Russia, appear to be having their troubles too as Ms article by Paul Wahl in the Christian Science Monitor would seem to indicate Mister ]K, talks mighty big, but even he can't control the wind and the rain-- at least not yet! W 0 0 Premier Nikita S. Khrush- chev's hurry to get disarmament talks started at the United Na- tions Assembly may well be con- nected with the news of unpleas- ant economic facts reaching him from home, Most important among these facts is the failure of this year's agricultural plan. This failure could have been avoided or cushioned if Soviet industry would devote a larger share of its capacity to peaceful purposes, notably to manufac- ture of agricultural machines and fertilizer. At present, West- ern observers believe, more than 40 per cent of the national prod- uct is spent on armaments and nuclear developments. The So- viets are paying a high price for maintaining a lopsided economy. For the second year in a row the grain harvest is disappointing. The economic development plan for this year which the Su- preme Soviet or legislature rati- fied in October, has called for a 22 per cent increase over the poor grain harvest of 1959 and for an 8 per cent increase aver the bumper crop of 1958. Neither target will be met. It rather looks as if the grain harvest once again would be very much below that of 1958. Industry's responsibility for part of the setback in grain pro- duction can be seen from the fact that agriculture which was to receive this year 135,000 trac- tor ploughs, 108,000 tractor sow- ing machines, and 54,000 grain combines actually seems to have received little more than half the promised equipment. Poor weather was another factor. After an unusually late spring, followed by sandstorms which necessitated the resowing of more than 20,000,000 acres, July once again saw a spell of unfavorable weather. Judging by the reports which are now in, Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking the (,rain !harvest in the Ukram and in the Lower Volga region will he worse than last year. The Soviets, since raid -July, pinned their hopes mainly on the grain from Kazakhstan and Siberia. Kazakhstan alone, wrote Pravda on July 11, was expected to produce one-third of the country's grain for urban con- sumption, for the grain deficit areas, for the emergency re- serve, and for export. But Kazakhstan and Siberia apparently are not coming through, The Central Statistical Administration reported that on Sept. 20 in the whole U.S.S.R. 96,000,000 hectars of grain land had been mowed. This year's total grain acreage was about 125,000,000 hectars, meaning that on 23 per cent of the acreage the grain had not even been cut. Since the harvest in the Eu- ropean grain lands is virtually over, the Asian territories must be far behind. Roughly one-third of the Soviet grain acreage is in Kazakhstan and in western Siberia. There, Soviet harvest- ing teams are racing against the snow. Last year millions of tons of graie were lost to snow in this same area. In some places the grain was not cut in time, in i others the threshing was not complete, he others storage fa- cilities were ipadequate. Only a fraction of tate silos and under- ground grain bins planned for this year have been built. Under these circumstances it is quite unlikely that the grain crop from the Asian new lands is better this year than it was in 1939. Despite carefully selective op- timistic harvest propaganda, the newspaper Sovietskaya Rossyia now is beginning to call the harvest situation in some of Si- beria's richest grain lands "alarming." Over-all harvest re- ports have become restrained. If this year's grain harvest will just equal last year's, as Western observers in Moscow believe, the first two years of the Seven - Year Plan will have marked no progress at all. On the contrary, the grain harvest would remain substantially below that of 1958, which was counted as 100 in the projected increase percentages. Hens Autograph Their Own Eggs The old question -which came first, the chicken or the egg? -- is not what worries the modern poultry -farmer. He wants to know which chicken laid which egg, and for aver fifty years, R. Broughton -Cook of Heathfield, Cape Province, has tried to find the answer. He worked on an invention that would mark the egg as It was laid, but has now abandon- ed this idea in favour of a wire headpiece, carrying a coloured crayon. Ile noted that all hens ex- amine a newly -laid egg with their beaks. His novel contriv- ance, fitted to the hen, causes the bird to "autograph" her own work immediately the egg has been laid. ".Y SC11001 LESSOJESSON By Rev, it. tl, Warren, B.A.., 13,1), OUR NEED OF GO1) Psalm 42: Jesus said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:0. It is the one who is hungry that really enjoys his dinner. So in the spiritual life; only those whib hunger and thirst after righteous- ness receive the comfort that brings happiness, The Psalmist has been under pressure. He has wept as hie enemies have taunted 11 i m. "Where is they God?" Doubts; have assailed him, His soul i$ cast down and disquieted, Like one of my friends, he may have wondered at the providence of God in taking one of his children. Or, like another friend, a uni- versity student, he may have been tempted to ask, "Is there really a God?" Whatever then doubts and fears, David never gives up faith. He exclaims, "The Lord will command his loving - kindness in the daytime, and Ira the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life." The song concludes with the memory selection, verse 1I, "Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why are thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of Illy countenance, and my God." We can't go through life with- out experiencing disappoint- ments and frustrations. This is an imperfect world. We need God to hold us steady all along the way of life. We realize that need more in the tests of life. A Christian friend in his forties, after nearly a year of suffering from an incurable disease, re- cently went to be with his Lard. In a sealed envelope he had left instructions for his wife and children with regard to his funeral, Here is the last verse and refrain of a hymn he had chosen to be sung at the service. "Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with tela thousand beside) 'Great is thy faithfulness! Great Is thy faithfulness!' Morning by morning new mercies 1 see; AIt 1 have needed thy hand hath provided 'Great is thy faithfulness,' Lord, unto me!" In a world of uncertainty we can depend on God. Mr. Morrison, just back free% Paris - I wish I'd made the trip 20 years ago. Friend - Yon mean when Paris was Paris? Morrison - No, when Morrison was Morrison. DO YOU POUND DESKS, TOO? Massie, a polar bear in a London zoo, isn't mimicking a certuie Russian leader addressing the U,N, She's grimacing in irritation at a horse* fly obove liar rigid eye. a 4 4 At 4