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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1962-05-17, Page 3Easy TO Hear - But Difficult To See On the evening of the twenty- sixth (of Mauch) 1 hear a high, shrill sound, whirring and spin- ning, suggesting proud activity, presence set free, The spring peepers are making it known that a time has arrived, and T Lake joy in the news, having failed to snake any definite as- surance of it myself. Their sound embraces all this changing land, rising above the whispered roars of the sea, Now the perpetrator of this chorus is a tiny tan frog with a smudged cross or X on its back, named Hyla Crucifer. The male of the species has been speaking up on behalf of spring openings for millions of years, In that capacity it is authoritative enough. Its voice, almost incredibly loud and shrill for an animal that is not much over an inch long, is am- plified by means of a large bubblelike pouch which acts as a resonator. For all their vast population in the bogs, ponds, edges, swamps, and other wet areas of the Cape, individual sprang peepers are very hard to find. During a cool evening, as the stars begin to declare them- selves, I hear the peepers' oollec- tive voice rising up around me, passing into the sky ' On the banks of Berry's Hole, that deep, Swampy hollow nearby, there is a pulsing, piercing, deafening chorus. The wind suddenly blows over, in a loud torrent but the peepers keep 'on. I walk farther down and they 'stop; then they begin again, after I sit still for a minute or two. The banks are wet, after a light af- ternoon rain, and they must be` covered by frogs, judging by the sound; but I search every- bit" of ground with,a flashlight and am unable to find ,a single one A wild, moist ,"ring wind flings around the rim of the hollow, which is gray, dusted zith fog, and in the clear open- ing overhead the stars fling out and away. Wtear stands dark and still where the banks end. Grass hummocks and shrubs choke the wet areas' beyond I sit for many minutes concentrat- ing on one area with my flash- light. The peepers' cry is deafen- ing. Then at last, I see one. It jumps onto my shoes. Arid then another, an a low lying branch, moving along in the light - it displaces a third, which is top- pled down into the leaves. They seem limp in action. A peeper is minute, almost weightless in my hand, Nearby footsteps will silence them.- They react spontaneously like tadpoles and minnows that dart off into deep water from a pond's edge when you approach Yet they are not bothered by the beam of a flashlight. Such a tiny thing, this animal this cool, moist, anonymous am- phibian, for so proud a message! I can see that a peeper's whole body pumps as it calls. It is like a bellows, and the vocal sac blows out .like a blister, bluish - green ,in the light. 'Peep -peep - peep," and the whole night is filled with an insistent, stirring cry. No human statement can rival this simple, triumphant mode of revelation: The earth begins again, - From "Nature's Year: The• Seasons of Cape Cod,". by John Hay. SHORT STORY - The sign, plus pigeons, makes this photo of the Los Angeles City Hall lawn complete in itself. A Word About Crows From An Cold Friend The crows returned to Maine, this year, on the 14th and 15th of March, which may or may not be on schedule. The 14th was a lovely day overhead, but still snowbound b e 1 o w; and the. warmish southerly breeze broughtthe crows back in great swirling flocks. On the morning of the 15th • they had settled in, and I• was roused- in the first glimmer of morning by an old veteran whosesalute from a pine on the knoll gets just the right leverage to start the wall- paper in my bedroom. Winter's: back, they say, is' broken, and. from now out we're on the down - 11i11 side. The crow has always inter- ested me, forhe is a bird that; hardly fits the definitions of the Auduboners, yet he does just about anything that is done by the robin, bluebird and finch He comes and goes with the chang- ing season; he sings' to. me pleas- antly from yonder bush, he is friendly and industrious; and ;he is as good a harbinger as we need. That his voice is uncultivated,. even unharrowed, 'is perhaps not his fault, and that his plumage - is undecorative is unfortunate. If he isn't as cute and as perky as the warblers, at least there is more of him to love. In the spring,: upon his return, he. is al- ways fat, In the fall, when the, day has. arrived and a brisk northerly wind is forecasting the' time to come, the crows assemble for their flight south. It is as if they had a meeting place and an ad- vertised call from the secretary.. We see them winging in, pur- poseful and direct, ' to join' the flock that is making up, and then .they al] take ,off at once and go. They come back the same way. On the 14th the sky was filled with crows, c n the '15th they had fanned out into what the surveyists would call the population density. Until fall, again, the vicinity v.ill have just about so many to the acre, or square mile, and their congrega- tions will be local. It always amuses me to see the advertising in the catalogs for a "crow call," This item, listed postpaid at $1.95, is made from extra quality black cherry, and is said to be "an important step in duck conservation"- because crows • destroy a large amount of cluck and songbird eggs. Spe led out, this means that sportsmen, so-called, tootle on these gadg- ets to attract the crows and then shoot them, This conserves ducks It amuses me, because the crow isn't that sophisticated. As- suming that you want to attract crows, you can save $1.95 by standing under a clump of pines sad yelling caw -caw -caw. Crows, who are not wise old owls, will dome a great distance to find out what youare trying to do. CROSSWORD PUZZLE 6. Hoene of 19. Expand passage 9 Drawff 82. Hedge tplants 10. Grease 20. Smart slaps 11. Seaweed 88. Hel 17. Taro paste 20, Syllable of 19. Carried over hesitation DOWN 22. Yob 41 Delighted I. Incarnation a' 42, Feminine of Vishnuwomen name 22. ling, painter 44. nose 2. Death notice 24, Specialist in 44. Leonine 8. Reduction planning 45Tnesperl- 4, A household meals creed 6. Duty 26. Fancy 46, Choler T. Gibbon 27 Poodefisnest 4S. Trp e ACROSS 1. Prowl 5. Soapstone 9. Overmuch 12. Fr, cleric 8Irish exclamation 4. Tune 5. Master. India 8, Penn, Dutch dish 18. 19nooun ter 0, Not so 1. Self 2, Chlorophyll- boaring cella in lichens 27Habitat 20. Mellow 80 Small flab 81. Anthropoid 22. Danger 59. Ever (poet t 84 Acid of vision 85. Breathing sound 80. Restrain 87, Necnseltates 29, Spire ornament 40. Muir 4l Adorns 44 Keogh t7 45 hryle green color 50 Aorlelo 61 .fan, Rudd), t, monastery 112 Variety of cabbage 02. Reverence 54 Transmit 85. Crackle 111111WIlUilliar 11117 /0 " Bili? :" �iiAi it ti III II ` MIN /' 111eeeiiai■ �O� F�iI I )r" IM ® !M. ai 32 33 ILA 75■�i" �e ■$R 1ilil�4iilr °39 iiNE '�, a"e iigitig" 12 43 ice ■�.®iii ,Alli t s L�ill ..,4N s7 WI®iall NIIIiMill II Answer elsewhere on this page FEARLESS -= Ernst Ahrens takes a. close look at one of the. 20 poisonous tarantulas which he breeds in his home, in Duesseldorf, West Ger- many Ahrens isn't a bit afraid of the spiders, but his fellow tenants; ore scared to death of them. You can. also laugh like a hyena,. bay like a donkey, or sing an aria ;,: from La Traviata - it ' doesn't matter. If you'make some kind of a noise, .a crow will come, often 'in curious flocks, and ,he .will wheel about over the.. pine trying to figure out what kind of a crow you are and,if he knows you. It's. good the spring crow is fat, for he has a lean month after he gets here.,. They are scavengers, but there isn't much ,to scavenge on the snow. Ducks „and .song- birds aren't back yet and there won't. be any eggs for a while. Cornfields are' still unplowed But the crow makes out, some- how, and soon they'll have their nests refurbished •in the.sprures. Back when I was a barefooted boy I had' a tame crow. He was a lot of„ flan, and since we fed him in the winter he 'didn'tfly with•the crowd. It was my job to take 'the cows to pasture every morning, Eager for feed, the ladies would step from the tie- up and parade quietly up the lane, for cows 'are creatures of habit and they knew the way, The grass would be wet from' dew, and 'cool, and some morn- ings a summer fog or mist mull would hang over the countryside. The'sun-would burn it off later, but • in the early hours it gave the, pasture lane something of a magic roadway into. fairyland. The stick I carried, which stood by day at the pasture bars and by night in the tie-up, was to touch up laggards, but it also helped as a wand to conjure the numerous miracles that took place along .the way - and a morning lane .is practically beset with miracles. Well, about a hundred yards from the bars stood a sentinel pine where the ground' was cov- ered with needles. It was like a tunnel. Almost every morning we'd surprise an old crow who was guarding his hearthside up there. I guess he sat looking far off to discern marauding hordes at the horizon, and neglected his cellar window. All at once he'd realize the enemy had sapped him, so he'd squawk and fly away in a sky -rending caco- phony of raucous discord. One morning 1 heard small voices up there, so I climbed the pine and got me ane, With skinned knees and elbows, for it was a.lofty climb, 1 came dawn with the youngster inside my shirt, and we became fast friends. Of all the useless things in all the world, I suppose a pet - crow is the most useless, but he was sort of fun and he probably kept me from adopting worse hobbies. So, this may be' news for lovers of bluebirds and or- ioles, but I lean toward the black old crow as a harbinger and song- bird friend - by John Gould in 'tie Christian Science Monitor, ISSUE 18 - 1963 TIWFA2N FRONT Jokr4MseL1.. The sugar maple, famous for syrup, candy, and autumn beauty is undergoing dramatic changes little noticed by the public. The traditional spring "sugar - in' off" was not as abundant as it was 20 years ago in New England. The sugar maple industry as a whole has suffered a general de- cline since 1950, says Linwood Leshure, of Ashfield, Mass.. a recognized authority on the .sugar maple, Some of the reverses have been economic, some, natural, some man-made. r r The sugar maple itself has other' woes than just that of eco- nomic slowdown, Existence of the tree itself is threatened by indiscriminate cutting in some areas for use of . the lumber in bowling and house-buIlding in- dustries and by blight, Production of maple syrup, which is used as syrup on pan- cakes or as candy, has become. impractical for the small farmer. r r r The latter, once the basic pro- ducer for 'the industry, has found that he cannot make a profit when the market price for a gal- lon .of maple syrup is $6, and a laborer receives $12 or more a day. Through the 1920's, a gallon of. syrup Ind a day's wages would be 'about the same, and the farm- er could hire outside help for the maple tapping. Now, with the wage twice as great, the farmer must leave his sugaring for other, more economically sound fields. * * 4 Mr, Leshure points out that modern methods of organization and tapping, such as central boil- ing camps, direct connections between tree and evaporator, oil heating for the boiling -down Vats, new agents to heal tap holes, and modern transportation, have helped to reduce costs. But increased use of cane sugar as a sweetener and poor sap flows in recent years, have tend- ed to. depress the industry. e r r Sugar maple wood is hard and durable, able to withstand con- stant and heavy use. For this reason, .says Mr. Leshure, the bowling and house building in- dustries consume a great amount of wood for bowling pins, alleys, and flooring. The small farmer, unable to exist by the syrup market, is attracted by the $60 a cord paid by bowling and building inter- ests for maple. The farmer al- lows these concerns to cut his trees. The current popularity of bowling and the high turn -over in product (a bowling pin lasts only three months) have encour- aged thinning of the maple forests, r m r Other problems include the construction of roads through stands of maples, indiscriminate use of weed sprays, unusual variations in soil and air temper- atures, lowering water tables, and the spread of a blight. Organizations such as the Berkshire Pine and Maple Asso- ciation, the Departments of Pa- thology of Vermont, Cornell, and Pennsylvania Universities, and the United States Government, have been studying the situation, but nothing 'conclusive as to a definitive cause for the blight. r r r These ideas from C. B. Kelly, O.A.C, botanist, may help you do a better job spraying orchards this .summer, Have you had your orchard sprayer out yet to see if it needs some repairs or replacements? Better check the nozzles, screens, valves, pressure regulator, hose and connections, if you haven't done so already. Will the engine start easily? Will you have a breakdown in the middle of the spray season just because a pump or engine needed an over- haul? Remember to drain the water from the spray outfit after you try it out the first time and again every night if you are applying early dormant sprays on fruit trees. As long as we have freez- ing temperatures at night there is danger of the pump being cracked when the water freezes in it. * r * Does orchard spraying take too long? Before you buy a bigger outfit take a careful loop at your equipment for filling the .spray tank, Is the water supply close to the orchard or do you waste a lot of time driving back and forth from a distant supply? Perhaps you need more than one place to fill up? Or you might haul water by truck direct to the sprayer or to a supply tank. Have you thought of a large catch basir, on a main tile drain as a water supply, or a farm pond? Is there lots of water or do you run out before noon? Is the sup- ply tank Large enough and will the water pump keep up with the demand? r * e Does the job of filling take too long? Is there a large outlet valve an the supply tank so that you can fill quickly? Is the out - SC 00I LESSON 131' Rev. R. Barclay Warren, B.A., 13.1) Suffering for Christ's Sake 1 Peter 3:13-18; 4:t-5; 1-19. Memory Scripture: Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf, '1 Peter 4:16 The problem of suffering is al- ways with us. In our lesson Peter distinguishes between suf- fering for Christ's sake and suf- fering as an evil doer. He says, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." Christ is an example of suffering for right- eousness' sake, He "hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God," We should rejoice when we are partakers of Christ's sufferings. Some of our missionaries know what this means. Even in so-called Chris- tian lands, some suffer for tak- ing their stand for Jesus Christ, Peter reminds his readers how they used to walk in debauch- ery, drunkenness, tippling and reckless dissipation. Much of to- day's suffering results from wrong living, Youth, rebellious against the guidance of parents, sometimes get to such an emo- tional impasse that they need psychiatric care. One 18 year - old was treated in a clinic tor alcoholism. I was called to see a man in jail. He wanted me to visit his family and ask then to come and visit him and convey to them his message for sorrow for me misbehaviour. I found his wife had been too badly beaten to come. He had been so drunk that he hadn't realized what he was doing. A picture on the wall showed his wife in happier years. Now, in abject poverty, she has all but given up hope. He start- ed on the free drinks provided while he was serving in the army during the war. Finally he be- came an alcoholic, What the children have missed in ordi- nary necessities of life and the sense of security! This is suffer- ing. I know a teenager in tail for misdeeds following a drink- ing party. He had a comfort- able home, but, alas, has gone astray. Many are suffering as a result of their own sins. Jesus Christ can save us from our sins if we will repent of them and entrust our lives to Him. Then, if we suffer, we can endure in the spirit of our Saviour who suf- fered so much for us. let arranged so that you can drive under it easily and not have to do a lot of jockeying to get into the right position? Where do you keep your spray materials, measures, and scales? Right beside the water 'supply? Or do you like walking? Are there wet spots in the or- chard where you get stuck. The answer may be an underdrain, or do you need larger tires on the sprayer? Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking a a A 1 1 e 1 a N V d 0 1 v 1 a N9 V4 Fl V D l M n S 1 a v 1 N N a a FIRST IN 43 YEARS - Belle the elephant gave birth to a 34 -Inch baby at the Portland, Ore., zoo, It was the first elephant birth in this country in 43 years Jack Marks, right; the zoo's director, collapsed from physical'exhaustion after the birth.