HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1928-12-13, Page 7fish rVW'44vekxt.01s been into, where they will have lien
chaneee for every one in England,
OddPicture of , It is. certainly the land of happy
+ homes, There is a simple piety, tee.
Prairie Life that perhaps aceoilnts for it, It is
many a long day since I have heard
grace satd, before a meal, but in each
of the prairie homes I visited the head
of the house bowed his head and asked
for a blessing.
A farmer's wife said to me: "We
have been here twenty-five years; in
that time we have been blown out,
hailed out, snowed out, and burnt out.
That was in the days when: the
prairie fires wore uncontrollable, We
lost 14,000 bushels of grain the day
after ft bad been threshed. Yet never
once has the farm failed to provide
' us with a living."
"And would you go back top Eng-
land?"
"Nol" was the emphatic reply, "not
to live there. I love Canada and the
life," And that" is, what they nearly
all say. It's the freedom, the kindli-
;uess and the, appeal to the eternal
spirit of the pioneer, when every ratan
and woman counts as a builder and
maker.
Each one takes a definite part in the
life of the community, and in a vast
land with a total populatiou only
equitl to that of Greater London each
individual: counts. And therein is the
secret—to be essential is : the vory
essence of contentment—at least, as
far as the women are concerned.
(Marjorie .Harrison in London Daily
Express,)
There are two great openings for
women in the Prairie Provinces of
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The first is domestic work and the
- second marriage—which is also dem"
estie work but less well paid!.
I was told, and "I believe it is per-
fectly true, that five thousand British
•wives are wanted on the prairies of
Canada,, There is, however, an al -
'most insurmquntable obstacle in the
e -course of true love, and that is the
extraordinary inhibition about shay-
ing that possesses so many of the five
thousand eligible young men. If- they
would grow good honest beards and
have done with it, it would be less
hopeless, but though romhnce may be
born, on Sunday, so delicate a thing
could never survive .Wednesday's
--stubble.
Too often the British settler be-
comes extraordinarily careless about
his personal appearance and lacks
pride in his hone. Probably the rea-
son is that at first he is so occupied
inkeeping abreast with the payments
for his ,'land and so tremendously
hardworking that he simply has not
the time. A farrier said to me: "We
have an eight-hour day all 'right, 'only
we have three clays in each twenty-
four hours! During the hectice seed
time and harvest everyone works
from morning to night. I have seen
a men so' tired that he has fallen
asleep over his dinner -if he cannot
find time to eat it, it is no wonder that
he grudges the time to shave.
It is amazing how -many of the
prairie houses are unpainted. Their
,surroundings are untidy, machinery
is left Lying about, and often little
attempt is made to cultivate, a garden,
In many prairie homes tinned vege-
tables are used. Yet provided a hedge
is planted to act as a wind -screen,
good gardens ..can be made.
The love of flowers dies hard in
British hearts, and in the farmhouse
W
Swampy -Lands
Can Profitably
Raise Muskrats
Waste in U,S. and Canada
Made to Yield Profit as
New Industry
Develops
Cost of Operation Small
Animals Also Used for Food
in Some Parts of Country
The fur industry, on which was
based the' original settling of great
territories in our own country and
living -room there are usually a vtum- in the Canadian Northwest, is as im-
ber of plants. They are put in jam portant to -day as it ever was. Wo
jars, salt tins, treacle tins, anything have progressed beyond the stage of
of,the kind. But the labels are left bartering furs to fill our daily tobacco
on the jam jars and no effort is made pouch, but the -turnover in fur trading
to disguise the tins by a coat of paint places it among the fifteen or twenty
so that the 'whole, effect is one of greatest industries in the land. More
gypsy -like sordidness and untidiness. fur coats are worn now than ever be
In many parts of the prairie, espe-.fore. The better heating of our build -
many, Saskatchewan, wire fences in -
'close each square mile. A man often
starts with a quarter section of land
—160 acres and a two -roomed wooden.
shack. When a bumper crop is reap-
ed the profit per acre convinces him This new demand, coming at a time
that he'must have more land on the when our wild animals have been
chance of a run of good seasons, for driven back to their last stand by ad-
Canadais essentially the land of vanciug settlement, necessitates bring -
Ings has made heavy clothing,indoors
less essential, and a -warmer wrap is
necessary when putside. That which
was a luxury a few years ago is now
a necessity.
hope—the hope of a good harvest. The
gambling spirit has caught him, and
in course of time he becomes what is
known as "land poor." He is the
owner of many acres and very littlle
else. It is partly thislust for land
that accounts for the careless stand-
ard sof living that is to be found on
so many prairie farms. At leasthalf
the success of .Canadian farming de.
pendson women. A man's wife is his
helpmate indeed, and upon her falls
the greatest shock, of the transplant-
ing to a new country. While her man.
is• out of doors and has a certain am-
ount of change and variety, her day
is spent inside, struggling with a
stove she has never seen before, veer -
Tied by hard coal that she must not
poke, or wood fuel that produces a
furnace-like heat or none at all.
She is faced with the lost arts of
]baking and the making of lard, butter
and soap, as well as the bottling of
fruit and vegetables, for the thrifty
wife must still have knowledge of
these things.
The majority of farmers kill their
own meat, for butchers' shops are not
usually found in prairie villages. In
'.winter it is a simple business to pre-
serve, for it freezes, and when it is
required for cooking it is simply
brought intothe warm kitchen and
thawed. In the same` way, too, bread
will keep indefinitely. In summer,
however, when an anineal is killed the
meat roust be cookedimmediately and
bottled, or else salted. down.
The twentieth century woman mow.,
ed from conditions of modern life and lands which areatotally unsuited for
planted down in an isolated district any agricultural purpose. By a great
has as much need as ever of the ster-. deal of effort a small quantity of
ling qualities of pluck and endurance marsh hay might be raised on such
that animated the pioneering women, . marshes, but it is coarse and of little
The old glamorous days are over, value. Consequently our marshes are
and the Wild West is fast .becoming rapidly becoming muskrat farms, and
the Tame West. The open rangeland because the muskrat thrives in such
And the great cattle ranches are giv- otherwise waste places, and he is not
ing way to small mixed farms. Never- subject to disease,- muskrat fur is de-
theless the pioneering days are not stirred to supply this country with its
entirely passed, and Canada still has future furs.' There is also the fact
need of adventurous souls.: of rapid propagation in favor of the
It is true that you do not have to muskrat, a Me al's producingfrom
shoot Itidians out of the kitchen win- twenty-five to fifty young in a single
dow, and that you will arrive at your Year.
destination by mean of a train and a Canada Leases 'Land
1i'ord car instead of a covered wagon; In Canada, realizing the possibilities
still,. these. were spectacular adven-' in muskrat farming, the government
tures that; .granted the right spirit, has, decided to lease out farming privi-
probably compensated for much of loges of waste land. The tracts are
the hardship, not to exceed 640 acres ordinarily and
Canada is certainly not an easy are to be leased at 25 cents an acre
country, as the emigration posters for the first three years and $1 an
would have you believe, and it does acre thereafter. Hundreds of appli
not promise easy things. The pot of cants in Manitoba, ,Saskatchewan and;
gold that lies at the foot- of every Alberta are aWaiting the distribution
prairie rainbow is hidden deep in the of the lands, One farm in British
earth, and I have forgotten the num- ,Columbia consists of more than 8,000
ber of inches of frost that covers it acres. The government of Manitoba
in winter time. Is cowing rice by airplane in Its
But it is a magnificent country,full northern areas tie increase the natural
gracent
of immense possibilities for young
people; a country for children to be
Ing the fur -bearing animals under cul-
tivation. The fox, farms that are now
common throughout the country are
evidence of what has already been
done. The individual pelts of these
animals are sufficiently valuable to
make such farming profitable. Other
animals farmed in this way include
the raccoon, mink, beaver and lynx.
Muskrat Future Source
But nowadays most of our furs do
not come from these expensive fur-
bearing animals. ,The lowly muskrat,
once despised, is destined to supply
our future furs. While plenty of pelts
from large animals were available the
trapper had no time to give to the
small muskrat skins, which he could
sell for perhaps 15 or 20 cents. This
field of endeavor -was left for the
farm boy after school hours,who
might fill_ his pockets with candy on
Saturday by his sales to the town
merchant. But as the price rose,
reaching the neighborhood of $10 .a
pelt in 1919-'20, later to, becoine fainly
stabilized at about $2, these pelts were
worth while. The furriers found them,
more desirable than they had sup•
posed, as they were easily dyed and
made to imitate very closely the more
expensive furs. Such furs are sold
under a great variety of trade names
ending with "seal" or "mink.",
But evenat$2 a pelt, it is not profit-
able to raise and feed muskrats in
houses. The solution of the problem,
however, is not difficult. The musk-
rat is an aquatic anineel, and its
natural habitai"''ifi the waste swamp
supply of muskrats.
In the United States there are large,
FOR AFTERNOON WEAR
Three-piece black transparent velvet, embroidered Jeweled front of
dress and cuffs, white ermine collar. Black felt hat, with inserts of Velvet.
farms in various states, the largest
perhaps being one to Louisiana, con-
sisting of 110,000 acres of trapping
lands. The muskrat is native from
northern Canada to the Mexican bor-
der,
The ease with which muskrats can
be farmed is appeasing both to the
professional trapper, who can settle'
down and trap from his own lands,
and to the amateur as well. The only
problem is to keep enemies out, for
the farmed muskrat lives under natur-
al conditions, eating the natural food
which grows: in the marshes, and so
has no tendency to 'escape. Once a
good wire fence buried a foot or so
below the ground and a few feet high
is provided all expense ends other
than that of actually catching the
animals and preparing the furs. In
this way farmers with swamp lands
on their farms find a profitable occu-
pation for the winter months.
Make Own Winter Home
The muskrats- take care of their
own winter food supplies. Their,
dome-shaped houses, which stand two
or three feet above the surface of the
water of a pond or marsh, are built
up from the bottom of the marsh by
heaping up, with no apparent order,
I supplies of grass, roots and reeds. By
burrowing into the top, of this, 'which
l forms the dome, they make their win-
ter home. From this, by running bur-
rows which open below the ice level,
they emerge insearch offoodon the
marsh bottom 'during the winter
months, and if this fails they use part
of the house itself, most of which con;
sists of grasses, on which they com-
monly feed. If In farming muskrats
the winter proves exceptionally long
and the natural food supplies run low
the cost of feeding is insignificant, as
a bushel of turnips, carrots, etc.,
will feed a muskrat for about three
months.
Sold as "Marsh Rabbits"
"The muskrat industry," says a bbl•
letin of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, "has reached its.
highest present development on the
eastern shore of Maryland. Theex-
tensive marshes of Dorchester Coun-
ty center of muskrat fur y a p
tion. Formerly the land was consid-
ered almost useless, as it is subject
to tidal overflow. Now, owing to
the increased value of fur, many of
the 'marshes, measured by actual is
come, are worth more than the cult! Camphor Collectors England's New ort'
Many specific cases contd. be given Dodge Head 1~ >�nter In 7 el iter�ranemn
vated laude in the same vicinity;"
Mt i a w
to substantiate this statement,
i e the m
antals are farmed pri•
nuttily for their WO, there is the ad.Wild Men in �---_
__ c____._ Malta Now Rivals Gibraltar
vantage over most fur -farming pro i in Strength; Rocky island
Has Air Field and
Seek Skulls of Workers
for Display on Homes
and Temples
Pots that they are used for feed in
various parts of the country: ,They
are, as a rule, • sold under the name
of "marsh rabbits," but no 'attempt
Dry Dock
is trade to deceive, as it Is well Toa bong years ago, ,hon one want) Malta.—Recent improvements • by
ed camphor to check a 0014,to fres., the British Army and Navy author!,
known . by mast state that marsh ties have made Malta one of the
rabbits" and muskrats are the same. trate 0 moth or to banish a fever greatest naval and coaling stations in
A single animal ready for market blister, there was only one place to ,the world,
get it—Japan, But $ome years ago
weighs about one and a half pounds, p The 0141 fortifications were useless
There are certain favorable points 'chemists learned to melee .camphor
about the animal as a food; they are synthetically, After the war Ger,,?rgalnst attack by modern aircraft,
free from disease and their diet is man laboratories began producing it, and the, British bave Completely s,1-
•
not undesirable, 'alley feed on roots, and ate into Japan's market with the tome 'the naval batteries and land
Japanese introduced nem economies, defenses of the islands. Today they
leaves, stoma and fruit of aquaticare among the most formidable iu the
plants almost entirely, although they enabling 'them to cut prices. Recently world,
will eat such slow-moving fish as carp' news came from France •of still
and also such water animals as mos- another new synthetic process which A large military and civil airdrome
sole. I may disturb. the camphor balance of has been constructed at Tial Far, mak-
So importnt has muskrat farming' trade. Of rife 5,000,000 pounds of pun= ing another link in Britain's world-
wide system of air
now. become that there• are organize» gent camphor imported by the United Communication, A
teens of muskrat breeders, One of. States last year, a third was brought floating dry clock capable of ttccammo•
front,Chomists' retorts and two-thirds dating" the largest vessels in the
Allege, , the National Muskrat Breed- world, 05 well as new refiitting yards.
err' Association, tells us that here from crude•stille in the depths of For-, large magazines' and many other im-
was last muskrat pelts abmarket for 20,000,000 moue forests.
year" ' provements have' been completed.
gond the supply, a Camphor collecting in Formosa is Malta is the headquarters of the
shortage which is equal to the total a hazardous trade;" says a bulletin of British Mediterranean fleet( probably
the National Geographical Society, the most powerful flotilla of warshi s
"It's all outdoor work; including chop s
ping down trees, chipping and tending.' afloat, and is also 000 of the most
camphor stills, and 11 seems as healthy, important. ports of call in the 'world.
4s lumber-jjacking, It would be,. 11 P gee n idwaY between Gibraltar aad
of all other furs sold in the United
States during the year.
Fur farming marks one more step
of civilization. Our forefathers de-
pended for their meat on their skill or aid. The last census showed
as hunters; they depended foe food the Chinese camphor Collectors did less than 225,000 inhabitants,
on the natural vegetation of their not lose their hoods. Literally they Like its slater fortress, Gibraltar,
neighborhood,. Until recently we :lose their heads, because the camphor M
looked: to the forests for wood and'
'furs. 'Vie cultivation of forests, the
gaming of animals, for furs mark the
final stages in the development of
agriculture.
Canadian• rats ars always better
furred and bring higher prices than
U.S. rats.
"The girl who makes a bluff at act-
ing generally gets by with 'it'"
"What is Schmidt 'doing now?" "He
opened a shop recently." "Success-
fully?" "No, he,was caught."
--„y
History, like Geology, demands the
use of the imagination, and in propor-
tion as the exercise of historic imagi-
nation is rigorously performed in
thinking of the past, will be the
breadth of our. conception of the.
changes which the future has in
store for ue, as well as the length of
time and the magnitude of effort re•
quired for their perfect achievement.
-Viscount Morley.
Famous Atlantic Liner to Make Her Pacific Debut
01103411,14,
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Dereeli/R
WHO .SERVED ON
"EMNRF5S OP
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le EMPRESS OFFRANCE 4 i
10
In thie modern age, speed is of the speed record between Vancouver
Paramount importance, whether it be and the Orient.
over fandeton the Sea, or in the air. During the World Warr the"Empress
Busy executives and, perishable cony of France" was chosen because of her
modities must arrive at their destine- speed to be flagship of the 10th Aux-
tione in as thort a ,time as possible, iliary Cruiser Squadron of the British
and all modern science and human Navy. Tinder the command of Ad
ingenuity have been devoted to this miral Sir Dudley de Chair she inter -
end. In this connection it is interest cepted nearly 10,000 vessels plying
fug to learn that the Canadian Pacific between Canada and Europe and pre -
liner "Empress of Prance," the fastest vented tons of contraband materials
passenger vessel in regular service from failing into the hands of the
between Canada,and Dime, has been enemy. Early this 'year the "Em -
transferred to the pacific, where she press" made a cruliie trom New York
Will vie with the White Empresses for to South America and Africa, touching
' Lfrrt4' PAr0EA 'HO, 6 KONG--
at the lonely isle of Tristan da Cunha
en route, but another vessel of her
fleet, the "Duchess of Atholl," of 20,-
000 gross tons, will make this "cruise
of contrasts" in 1929, The "IOmpress
of France is of 18,350 gross registered
tons and was twice Chosen by the
Prince. of Wales to carry him to Can.
oda: •
trees grow in the wild Formosa high- alta has bad a stormy history, be -
lands; where live the most dangerous ing held successively by the Phoeni-
of souvenir Itiountors. Not autographs, clans, Greeks, Carthagenians, Roman,
mous house, not Arabs, Spanish, Italians end French.
not naffs from a fa
bits of sloth from a fallen airplane, Since the Napoleonic wars it has been
in the possession of GreatBritain
but human heads, these savages col- ,
col-
lect. Row on row of whitened door- which administers it as a Crown
rears. Sometimes souvenir skulls Cray. Throughout all the centuries, it
forma frieze under the eves of, the .has been coby all the maritime
veted .
pagan temples. It is this skull cult nations of the world. During the
which has led Japan to assign armed world war it proved of enormous
'value to
military guards over the advanced the British as a naval and
camphor camps to protect the. Chinese
laborers.
"The camphor tree is an evergreen,
but similar in appearance to the lin-
den.. Collectors' seek only the biggest
—trees which are more than flfty
years old, with fat trunks as thick
through as a man is tall. Once the crusader is said to have .converted
camphor giant is down, the cutters all the Maltest to Christianity, The
attack it. Like beavers they gouge at spot where he is said to have larded
it, using a crook -handled chisel with is now called St Paul's Bay. .
a curved edge. The cutters burrow When the British Mediterransaa
into the trunk, chipping and chipping
the heart wood until only the bark
shell remains.
"Meanwhile the chips are placed in
a crude retort over boiling water,
The camphor vaporizes and passes
through a bamboo pipe to a vat cool -
coaling station.
According to local tradition, the
great. Hannibal was born in Malta.
But the island has greater; claim to
fame, as, according to the Bible, St.
Paul and his disciples were ship-
wrecked here' in A. D. 58. During his
stay on the island, the great Christian
fleet returns from its cruises, Malta
Is always the scene of great animation.
The large British colony resident here
then have a continuous round of
parties, entertainments, balls' and pic-
nics. There is always a large excess
ed by water from a mountain spring. of men at every social event when the
White camphor blocks from which fleet is in the harbor, and if : a girl
camphor o11 drains are produced. The has the good fortune to be even mod.
yield is very heavy. One tree of aver- erately pretty she is lionized by the
age size will give 6,600 pounds of otIicers.
camphor, worth about ;5,00Q.
"Camphor collecting has been de-
clared a Government monopoly in
Formosa since 1900. Not only does
Japan control the methods of exploi-
tation and the regions to be cut over, Fresh evidence now comes to hand
but also has arranged for the mar• that thedays of adventure are not
seting of the annual harvest. ended—even adventure of sheer fair
to the inhas stry an attempt to Cam -pro- tale texture. There remains the pos-
mote the industry in Florida. sibility that buried treasure,
phot there is not the Rip Van Winkle every
cropit would seem to be, since the bit as splendidly golden as any intbe
leaves and twigs of the growing tree imagination of Long John Silver,
have been found to yield the essential may yet see the light. That moderns
gum, actually embark upon undertakings
"Six million • pounds of camphor essentially whimsical, preposterous
aro enough to dose a lot of sick and delectable, there is ample proof in
people—more than enough for me- the pages of Irish novels by George A.
dicinal demands, in fact, so the Birmingham. But beyond that, -here
rest' is used very largely inthe
manufacture of celluloid: When next
you see your favorite movie star; re-
member that camphor helped put him
or her on the screen. The United
States' camphor bill for the year end-
ing June, 1928, was $2,684,000."
Storing Apples
. for Christmas
Another Treasure
Hunt
is colder proof:
It is announced that two .English
women plan to search, if not more
fortunately to raise to the surface of
the water, one of those top-heavy
galleons of the Spanish Armada,
which has lain since the memorable
year, 1588, at the bottom of Tober-
mory Bay, Scotland. The Almirante
de Florencia was traditionally the pay
ship of the expedition, and it seems.
little short of astounding that one
Good eating apples are always par- ofthese-twentieth century women has
ticularly welcome at Christmas time, herself stood upon its sunken deck;
and the possessor of even one or two that she might have recovered some of
trees of late -keeping varieties would its fabulous wealth had not her div -
be wise to store the fruit until Decem- er's suit proved untrustworthy. Now,.
ber or January, when prices are well reinforced by ,a diver who has helped
On the upgrade. tc salvage the German deet at Scapa
A cellar, when available, may be Flow, the two women are repairing
utilized most successfully as a fruit once again to this scene of the Arms-
room, the temperature being Iow, and da's disastrous retreat. 13y the aid
the atmosphere not too dry. The of devices and appliances the most.
apples may be stored two or three modern, it is at least conceivable that
layers deep on straw on the floor,
except the choice varieties, which
should be arranged in single rows.
They should be looked over occasion-
ally, and particularly is this neces-
sary for the first few weeks so that
the bruised and bad fruit may be
thrown out. in frosty weather a cov-
ering of straw is advisable.
It is not always realized that apples
may be successfully "clamped" like
potatoes, in the open ground, which
often proves a solution of the storage
problem.
The apples should be bedded upon
straw, well covered with it, and left
there 'for about three weeks until
that may achieve a measure of suc-
cess.
If they,do, their triumph will crown
a long procession of similar attempts,.
perhaps justifying also a multitude
of legends and traditions which clus-
ter about the sunicen vessels of the
Armada strewn along the coasts of
England, Scotland and Ireland. The
credulous of both humble and lofty
estate have coveted their legendary
store of jewels and ducats, gold and
silver plate, Spanish daggers set in
emeralds. In 1661 searchers of this
very ship in Tobermory Bay were
interrupted and dispersed by suspi-
cious tribesmen. Who knows but
"sweating" is over. All bruised and ironclad divers of 1928 may succeed.
bad speoimene can then be removed, where they failed? Then perhaps men
and the sound ones recovered in may be emboldened to profess openly
straw, six inches of soil being added, their belief in the existence of hidden
and a few whisps of straw left at treasure, which of course they have
Intervals along the top of the mound always harbored in their hearts,—
Christian Science Monitor Editorial:.
for ventilation,
Apples will remain in , good con-
dition for months when stored in this
manner.
When only a sma11untit of
q a y
choice keeping varieties of apples is
grown, each one may be wrappedin
paper and stored in a cool plkce.
Only perfectly sound, unbruised and
Rawlings:. "So you've totn down
the old sheep shed?" Howley: "Yes,
I didn't have any ewes for itl"
Wire of. Burglar (to daughter):
"LoOk 'ere, base gal, you'll 'ave to stop
that policeman friend e' yours canine
unpacked specimens, however, should 'ere, It givtn' yer poor fabler 'Coit,
bo ,chosen for this method of ;Wing.. laliure:'