HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1924-01-31, Page 2PRAIRIES 1...AND TUE WORST IS "*T TO COME
TREE PLANTING ON THE
wv
important Part Played by Sh elter-belts in Developing the
Resources of th e IVliddle West.
the prairies are treeless is a • Heretofore, moat tithoebgece ofspro-
.may � out have been wit 1
moot question, but the labors and exting and sheltering the' farm build-
perlmeets of over twenty Years have ,inks: There is, however, a wider
shown that trees can be made to grow i scope for tree planting and this is be..
in the prairie region of Canada if a coning more apparent every year, In
o ti4ns are taken. The certain parts of the West so eht
Value of trees upon.
au simple e
vupon.. prairie farms is serious conditions havedeveloped
soil, axed
threefold. They add to the produe- through the drifting of top-
tivity of the farm, they provide wood the Forestry
trg Bratcis now
ants among'
material for many uses, end above all i g
with they add to the comfort and content of communities in these
es,fitodassist
life. The usefulness of tree -belts was in establishing permanent
recognized by the early settlers, but tka bar io sweepthe winds to rol`n heCunt
coming as they did from wooded pro= broken
e
winces; they did not understand the years rease he n requests e has enron noticeable
for
in-
growing of trees under. prairie condi- information and tssf from
e farmers this
tions and most efforts at tree growing
resulted in failure. In 1901, the Tree- . spect.
Planting Division of --the Forestry The Dep acareful Department
of the I teof orsultsrior last
. Branch of the Department of the In yearmade
terior was established to develop this so far attained. As a result of a very
resource. , Starting with a distribution conservative
estimate
i8Y0e based
l s dho a this;
of a few thousand trees the work has survey,
steadily grown until now about five now at least 40,000 vigorously -growing
million trees are sent out each spring shelter -belts in the Prairie Provinces..
from the Dominion forest nursery sta- Most of the owners estimate the value
tions at Indian Head and Sutherland, of each of these belts at $1,000 or
Saskatchewan. All told about seventy more, but placing a value of $300 on
million trees have been distributed these 40,000 plantations, it means that
and it is estimated that at least eighty the resources of the West have been
per cent. of those planted since 1901 increased to the extent of $12,000,000.
are now growing. This tree -planting The chief value of a plantation on the
work is carried on- co-operatively. The prairies, however, is not its actual
Government supplies the seedling worth in cash. Each' successful tree -
trees and sends out inspectors who belt is a practicai demonstration of the
give expert advice in laying out the i kinds and varieties of trees, which can
ground and in regard to ,cultivation.! be depended upon in a particular lo -
The settler furnishes the labor and cality. It encourages those who have
agrees to maintain the. -land in treas.' been too skeptical to do any planting
The system has worked well and s
lar action has been taken by several
of the provinces and by some United
States departments.
As compared with the knowledge
available in the early stages of co-
operative administration, valuable
rlalta now exist on the best method of
establishing a wind -break and main-
/-'nin•gits usefulness. Tree planting
i •'therefore on a permanent basis, and
western farm home to -day need be
without the trees which are so neces-
-y to make the surroundings more Irapid in the future than it has been in
e
-ienial. the past. •
themselves, it relieves the genera
monotony of the landscape, and lends
a greater impression of permanency to
farm life. While from the above it is
apparent that much has been done in
the planting of shelter -belts, neverthe-
less in proportion to the extent of ter-
ritory involved no more than a start
has been made. It is anticipated that
now the principles underlying success
in treepianting are beginning to be un-
derstood, the advance of the tree -
planting movement wil be much more
Indian Laborers Perform
Half World's Work.
The trouble between coolies and
whites in British East Africa recently
brings to mind the fact that India now
supplies labor to half the world.
Take the case of Fiji. The islands
but
is
have only 1,000 white
inhabitants,
no fewer than 15,000 coolies have been
imported from British India. They do
almost all the outdoor work, especially
on the sugar plantations.
British Guiana is another colony
which lives on imported labor, the na-
tive and negro population_ being utter-
ly undependable. As a matter of fact,
nine -tenths of all the labor, not only in
British Guiana but also in Trinidad
and Jamaica, is now derived from In-
dia.
The coolies are generally bound un-
der a ten years' indenture, and assign-
edto one master for the first five
years. Compulsory education is pro-
vided for the children, and there is a
hospital on each estate.
Natal, finding herself unable to ob-
tain sufficient Kafir labor for her coast
sugar and coffee plantations, also im-
ported immense numbers of coolies.
So fond do these men become of the
country, that most of them forfeit
their return passages. Their children,
educated at the expense of the State,
have gon.i into business, and are oust-
ing white men in shops and offices.
Both at • Durban and Maritsburg
there are now several Indian cricket
and football clubs. A peculiar conse-
quence of the Indian importation into
Natal has been that Arabs and Malays
have followed the coolies in large num-
bers. Natal has at present the most
mixed population of any part of the
British Empire.
Tea in Ceylon is largely cultivated
by gangs of coolies brought over un-
der contract from India. A'ssam's, tea
plantationsare also worked by labor-
ers imported from a distance.
As for Mauritius, it is now practi-
cally an Indian island. The Indian
coolies, imported originally to till the
ground, have invested no less than
seven million rupees in land on the is-
land during the past atm years, and
are slowly but surely squeezing out
the original middle-class proprietor of
moderate means.
Last Resort. •
The young man had proposed, and
had been refused. As he sat despon-
dently at the girl's side, she took pity`
on him and murmured: "Now don't
take it to heart. There are other nicer
and younger girls, around, like Annie
and Susie and Margy, who might make
You a better wife than I would."
"I know it," admitted the rejected
one, sadly, "but, you see, I asked therm
all before I came to you."
Snow in the Meadow.
On sunny days -
The meadow lies
So dazzling white
I shut my eyes.
The sun makes prisms
Where the mass
O small, hard edges
.Are like grass,
The curved drifts stand
Like billows caught
In some still charm
By magic wrought.
This crystal sea
- By the sun lit,
Shines so I cannot
Look at it.
On cloudy days
The meadow seems,
In Winter, like
A. sea of dreams.
A blue mist drifts
Like sails that go
To countries that
We do not know.
The black crows in
The pointed firs
Cry out to shadow
Mariners.
I -wonder if
The fieldmouse stirs
In'that low covered
House of hers.
She dreams of clover
Fields again,
And green that rests
The eyes of men.
—Louise Driscoll.
1111
111111M0111111 l
11
.1 Ill
II
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111
1
Il
II I�I[�
BEET SUGAR INDUS-
TRY
D JS -
TRY OE DOMINION
POSSIBILITIES IN WEST
PROMISING.
Immigrants from Bohemia and
Czecho-Slovakia Adepts in
Sugar Refining.'
The first record of the growing° of
sugar beets for factory purposes` was
in the Province of Quebec in 1881. Dur-
ing the next decade three sugar fac-
'
tortes were erectd m that province, a have very promising possibilities—the
These closed
Berthfer and. two enham, climate—bright .sunny days and cool
These wased down after seasons, nights—and soil have been shown by
and it was nothuntil 1901 that the se quite extensive operations to be .suit
ovation of the beet was revived suf able and there can be no doubt that
aien;ii►g of '
open -
ten
B. mon Pack of 1923
Preliminary reports of the salmon The pack in 1923, with 1922 MANIAC*
pack of British Columbia are to the
effect that' 1923 was ,the best exPeri-
enced . for some time, and, while re-
turns are not yet complete, it is con-
servatively estimates that the pack
will run approximately a million and
a quarter cases. In .comparison with
•
last year, when the pack totalled
700,000 eases, this year shows an In-
crease of between 400,000 and 500,000
cases, There has been a "light" run
for some years past, but the pack for
1923 would justify the belief that the
salmon run is once more coming back Siberian eaners have been throwing
into its former position of 'importance. on the London.market large supplies
_on
:five figures in brackets, was made up
of the following grades and quanti
ties: sockeye, 319,688 cases (248,54I);
springs (red and white) '22,703 (33,-
365); blue backs, 277 (3,629); steel
heads 7„079 (651)' cohoes, 94,817 (20-
820);
20'880); pinks, 418,316 (359,459) ; chums,
180,000 (23,346).
the' 1923"
i
• stn
formarketing Prospects
pack' are satisfaetory. Of• late years„
British Columbia canners have expert-
enced stiff 'competition in their prince
pal market, London. Japanese and
the three Ontario counties of Kent, Es-
sex and Elgin. They maintain and
operate upwards of 150 weighing and
shipping stations. In addition to the
help employed at these stations dur-
ing the campaign proper, this Com-
pany maintains a corps of twenty field
representatives looking after distri-
bution of labor, etc., and each year
some 1,000 skilled field laborers are
imported to care for the growing crop.
Delivery is made to the various re-
fineries by wagon, truck, scows (oper-
ating on various rivers throughout the
district) and by rail. The Company
finds that it cannot raise sufficient
beet sugar seed for its own require•
meets, and imports considerable quan•
titles each year from Europe.
In Western Canada the cultivation
of the'sugar beet has been proven to
With .the exception •of the Naas
district, all sections report a splendid
run of salmon this year, and in some
individual oases record catches have
been made. The pack, according to
districts, was as follows: District One,
114,692 cases; Naas River, 89,912;
Skenna River, 303,293; River's and.
Smith Inlets, 303,293; other points in
District Two, 284,218; District Three,
116,077.
There was a satisfactory increase in
the catch of better grade salmon, es-
pecially sockeye, which showed au in-
crease of approximately 72,000 eases.
inferior salmon at a price ;which
made it prohibitive for' British Colum.•
bia canners to compete. However, an
extensive publicity campaign in Eng.
land has offset this competition to a
great extent, and British Columbia
salmon, being of a superior grade, is
finding a ready market in the British
Isles.
In addition, it is understood, this
years' pack of Siberian salmon is con-
siderably below the average, and it fs
reasonable to assume that British Co-
lumbia canners will have no difficulty
in marketing their output for 1923.
ought not to have admitted of a fac- Half, Alive.
tory failure. It will not do to be afraid' of, life
Extracaion at Raymond Good. and to run away from it. "Heaven,"
The extraction at Raymond was fair- said an insolent, dreamful soul, "is a
valley of no decision." He plaintively
sought a career or a place on earth.
where he.would `not be called on to
make up his mind about anything
cause for closing the factory. The and he never quite found it, Such
average annual acreage was less than places seem to the readers of South.
2,000 acres and the average tonnage Sea Island books to exist, but the
was a little above 11,000 tons per an- industrious rank and file cannot knock
num. The highest average was in off from labor to go thither. en r-
1906, when they had 2,902 acres with ally we must resolutely grapple .
a total tonnage of 13,293 tons or 6.3 a task assigned, whether we chose
tons per acro. In the opinion of sue- it or not.
cessful sugar beet operators the mini We are not set in our places on
mum unit which can be run success- earth merely to have fun. The su-
fully would be 800 tons, requiring preme human felicities°"come to us
about 80,000 tons of b ets, or 8,000 to gloriously now and then—the more
9,000 acres planted. The cost of such welcome and the snore beautiful be -
a •refinery would be about one and a cause of the sober or even sombre•,
quarter million dollars, and for a plant cast of the'remainder of our days.
of this size at least an additional one Those who refrain from taking
million should be provided for working hold of life in the fullness of rich
capital for the first year's operations. experience make little difference to
It is also felt that the location of the • any one but the census -taker and the
factory was wrong and should have undertaker. Yet, on the excuse that
been in the centre of a beet -raising they are seeing life or living life, we
territory, instead of which sentimental find men and women who give free
reasons were given weight,. and it was rein to unregulated impulse and con -
located at Raymond on account of be- sider that to live completely means to
Ing the centre of the Mormon. colony. live viciously,'wantonly, selfishly. They
Experiments in sugar- beet cultiva-are unmoved by the panorama of hu -
tion in Western Canada have shown man need and woe. They lavish money
satisfactory results. Tests made at.. on themselves. They run the gamut
the Lethbridge Dominion.Government of decadent sensation. The wharf
Experimental Farms, for five different would be far better"off if they
'ow a pea acre yield never been. They aro _a heavy Habil-
ofof slow •.171/3 tons, 161, tons, 15% tons, 9y'a ity to normal human society, which
tons with a sugar con-' is legally restrained from ridding the
tont arespe t , • g earth` of them.
tent respectively of 17.68, .. .54,But from those of honest purpose,
19.42, 17.85 and 16.25 per cent, and a B
co -efficient of purity of 90.6, 83.3; clean mind and firm intent, the 'World
90.0, 84.9 and 86.5. wants an earnest, vigorous, whole
At Gleichen and other points equal- time performance. It depends on as
ly good results have been obtained, sertive, courageous leadership. It
and these results exceed both in ton-never.commits important business and
nage and sugar content those obtained it never intrusts a high command to
in beet production in the Western those who "go through the motions"
United States. The average sugar in a lackadaisical, perfunctory fa-
in European Countries. beet content in Ontario is 12%, shion, half`a'wake and half asleep. It
has no nee for those who are not
wholly alive to all that this our age
requires of them. -
ly good, about 240 lbs. of sugar in the
bag to every ton of beets harvested.
Another cause of this failure was try-
ing to operate on too small an acre-
age. This was evidently the immedi-
ate
ficiently to warrant. the
plants. In that year four pia'
ed.—at Wallaceburg, Deesd
Kitchener. The planta n •
and Ki t
t
in
ant.
art
Onc
eased
0
r
y-
and' at Wi
the irrigated blocks in Alberta will
some day become the beet sugar grow-
ing con -
c
ing
districts on the Amer
uiekiy, and the one at Kitche1 er p beet sugar factory was erected by
4
eventually came into the hands of the
the Knight Sugar Co. at Raymond, Al
Dominion Sugar Company,' Limited, berta, and operated from 1903 to 1912.
now the largest, if not the only beet This operation was a • failure, the
sugar operators in Canada.
This company to -day operates plants
at Wallaceburg, Kitchener and Chat
closed -down factory building and some
machinery being still on the ground
and for sale. The failure of this ven-
ham of the following capacities: Chat- tura has been widely advertised and
ham, 1,500 tons beets daily; Wallace_ has undoubtedly done muck harm to
burg, 1,000tons beets daily; Kitchener the prospects of development of the
800 tons beets daily* beet sugar industry in Western Can -
The average time of running is `ada. Yet an analysis of the causes of
. failure has clearly proved that it was
about 90 days for each plant'per year.
The contributory average to these
plants is approximately: Chatham,15,:
000 acres; Wailaceburg, 10,000 acres;.
Kitchener, 10,000 acres.
All beets are grown by farmers un-
der contract whereby the growers are
guaranteed a fiat rate plus a bonus.
based on the .price of refined sugar.
The gain or loss resulting from a rise
or fall, respectively, in the' price of
sugar, is thus shared alike by the
growers and the Company. In pre-war
days growers got $5.00 a ton for beets
—In 1920 the price was about $20.00.
Operations in Ontario and Alberta.
The Dominion Sugar Company's
operations are distributed throughout
AH Serene.
The Florida beach and blue sea look-
ed inviting to the tourist from the
North, but before venturing out to
swim he thought to make sure.
"You're certain there are no alligat-
ors here?" be inquired of the guide.
"Nossuh," replied that functionary,
grinning broadly. "Ain' no 'gators
hyah."
Reassured, the tourist started out.
As the Water lapped about his chest
he tailed back: "What makes you so
sure -there aren't any alligators?"
"Day's got too much sense," bellow-
ed the guide. "De sharks clone sheered
dem all away."
An Ancient Though Not Honorable
Pr6fession.
The diner, sus s
Punch,having finish-
ed his :meal aid called for the bill,
studied it with care and apparent dis-
approval, "Do you make any reduc-
tion to those in the same line of busi-
ness?" be asked the waiter.
"Certainly," was the reply. "Are
you a restaurant proprietor?"
"No," said the diner sourly, "I'm a
robber."
An insurance company has reduced
its burglary rates on residences where
there, is a watch dog. The company
She'Wasted the Dough, finds that a dog is the most trust -
"They say he makes his bread at worthy burglar alarm.. Perhaps the
cards." man who went into the store to buy a
"Lucky for him! His wife wastes burglar alarm "that would alarm the
a lot of dciugh that way, I understand." 1 urglar" may rind a hint here.
in no wise due to climatic, soil or any In European countries such as Bo -
other nonpreventable conditions. An hemta,' Czecho Slovakia, etc., where
expert, who investigated these condi- the making of beet sugar is a staple
industry, the sugar refineries are prac-
tically all co-operative, shares being
owned by the farmers who grow the
beets, and it is from these countries
possibly that the future beet sugar
growers of Canada will be largely re-
cruited.
tions in 1916, stated in his report: "I
have reached the conclusion that slov-
enly
lowenly farming and agricultural misman-
agement was vastly more to blame for
crop failure than either soil or cli-
matic conditions. It seems to me that,
in >a country like this, with apparently
excellent beet lands, with a demon-
stration of possible tonnage such as I
saw on the so-called seed farm (at
Raymond), with a proved fair sugar
`content and with a growing season
that enables harvest to be engaged in
from. October lst to November 15th, it her 27,000,000.
If the population Africa
goes on increasing in the present
ratio, within the next fifty years the
white population will have grown to
4,000,000, while the blacks will num-
lase
..,.�—�"'�— •,, rs•,,. Vic; ^•
tete
WINTER SPORTS AT VANCOUVER
It appears that after all, Canadians need not seek the
Southern climes in order to enjoy surf bathing in the
winter time. Look at the pictures above. The photo-
graphs from which they were reproduced were taken
at Vancouver on Christmas day, About twenty mem-,
hers of the 'Vancouver Amateur Swimming Club took
the lihinge with the water at 53 degrees and they
found it • more Invigorating than 'cold,
•
First Snow.
First snow is fine snow
Slanting down the wind;
Not a twig will hold it,
Not a shelter mold it,
You'd think to see the way they act,
That purity had sinneda
First snow. is thin snow, '
The meadow's barely salted;
The brook is so pre -occupied'
With brittle frost lace at its side
It has no thought beyond itself
And cannot feel exalted.
First snow is lost snow!
Each flake a pioneer
That dances down to certain death,`
His span of life a frozen . breath.
That spins its seconds merrily
Between the infinite .. and Here.
• 2 -
Music in Factories.
The question of the effect of music
upon the output of workers came into
one of. the discussions of the British.
Association at Liverpool recently. A,
paper was read giving the results of
investigations scientifically made as
to variations in the average daily out -
lint of a factory, and in the course of
subsequent remarks, one of th,: speak-
ers mentioned the widely held opinion
that music is a stimulus to workers
which has pronounced effect upon
their working capacity. lie supported
the theory, making the • point that if
the sound of a trumpet inspires the
soldiers _going into battle, there .a no
reason why a worker in a factory
should not perform a particular task
tetter by reason of the presonce of
music,
Might Well Be Either.
Wifie--•"A Congrrssina.n ' 1s "beth m
sued for breach of proiriise."
Hubby—ley woman et his 000.4!stituents?"