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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1925-08-20, Page 7THE QUESTION OF FLOORS Apple Storage Troubles. As we store most of our commercial`. apple• crop in our own underground BY JULIA W, WOLF E. cellars ,and sell them to grocers in The time is almost here when a carpet securely fastened around the ed'ges of a room will be a rarity. If l you have floors which are stained and soiled with paint the first thing to be, done is to apply caustic potash to they paint stains,, and leave it on until they are dissolved. It may take a couple of days to do this if the paint is hard, and after- wards the floor should be well scour- ed and dried. If the boards do not At perfectly, have the spaces filled with putty or With a mixture which has often been recommended, old newspapers soaked in a paste made of water and flour, The proportions of this are one pound of flour, three quarts of water, and one tablespoonful of powdered alum. The newspapers must be torn to bits, and the whole thoroughly boiled, and nixed until of the consistency of put- ty. It may be colored with a little of the staining mixture, and should be forced .into the cracks with a knife, when it will soon become hard and dry like papier mache. The labor of staining a floor is not very great, and, as no particular skill is required, the boys of the family might be allowed to use their super- fluous energy in this way. By sitting on a low stool and painting one board. at a time, lengthwise on the board, and using a large brush, a good-sized room may soon be covered. Allow it to dry well before putting on the sec- ond Coat, and this in turn before she'rlaoing, and let twentty-four hours elapse before using the room after the final coat, Perhaps it would be best for the novice to buy the stain already mixed, but a little experimenting will give excellent results, and the expense will, of course, be less. If a soft yellow the color of pine is desired, use raw sienna, diluted very thin with turpen- tine. This does not show dust or foot- marks like the darker stains, and is very desirable in rooms which are much used. Raw umber greatly diluted is a good color fora living -room, and thin Van- dyke brown on Georgia pine is very pleasing. For a fancy border you may use a contrasting shade. A good. way i§ to experiment with the different stains on bits of wood of thesame quality as the floor until the desired tint is obtained. The chief objection to a stained floor proceeds, undoubtedly from the fact that the dust remains on the surface, instead of being absorbed as it is in a carpeted room. To get rid of this it is only necessary to tie a piece of soft flannel around a broom and go over the boards every day or two. This is really but the work of a few minutes, and the frequent polishing gives a fine gloss not to be gained in any other way. Water should never be used on a stained or parquet floor, as it has the effect of making it dull at once, be- sides being quite unnecelsary where the flannel cloth is used as suggested. ALL FROM ONE t'ATTERN. The, little one has a mode all her own, which is almost as varying as her little whims and fancies are changeable. Simplicity in design and cut, however., should always be the keynote of the mode of the juvenile. The illustration shows how three very attractive -:poking frocks can be made from a single pattern, by using ma- terial of a different design. The first Iittle frock, of all white, has tiny tucks et the neck, on both the back and the front, and is trimmed with Inaiirow 'lace and ribbon - bows. A plainer version, in printed material, .has the tucks, but the neck and arm- holes are plainly bound. The wee one at the top wears dotted swiss and orchid cplor ribbon outlining the neck and armholes. Sizes 1, 2, 4 and 6 years, Size 2 years requires 1% yds. of 27 -inch or 32 -inch material. Price 20 cents. Our Fashion Book, illustrating the newest and most practical styles, will be of interest to every home dress- maker. Price of the book .10 cents the copy. Each copy includes one coupon good for five cents in the purchase of any pattern. HOW TO ORDER PATTERNS. Write your name and address plain- , Iy, giving number and size of such patterns as -you want. Enclose 20c in 'stamps or coin (coin preferred; wrap ofjt carefully) for each number, and address your order to Pattern Dept,. Wilson Publishing Co,, 73 West Ade- laide St., Toronto. Patterns sent by return mail. Some Summer Helps. Plantain leaves washed clean, then bruised by clapping them between the hands and applied to an insect sting, will immediately allay the burning. and throbbing, and if repeated several; times the inflammation wiII soon sub -d side. Mosquitoes seem to be fastidious about smells. They don't like the 1 odor of hickory leaves and will keep 1 away if you fasten some about you;•I this is worth knowing when you are I picking berries or working le the gar- den, An entomologist recommends the following to keep mosquitoes from one while. asleep: Oil of citronella, ono ounts., spirits of camphor, one ounce, oil of cedar, one-half ounce.. f • the bed. A still better proceeding i to keep the house and sleeping room thoroughly screened and not allo mosquitoes in the house at all. Bu some good screen—galvanized, coppe or brass—with fine mesh, say 16 o even 18 to the inch; or linen mosquito netting, which is strong and service- able and "not affected by dampness can be used. During the hot weather the farms should eat his meals and drink hi milk very slowly, for the hasty masti- cation of food is a potent cause of in- digestion. His wife must not enter- tain beyond her strength,, which i lessened by the stress of summe work. She will never find time t rest if her roomy house is filled with guests. ' Let her bathe daily, save h steps, keep her temper even by th arrangement of plain meals and com fortable clothes. Many persons are afflicted with perspiration of a most unpleasan oder, which affects mostly the fee and arm -pits. Bathing daily or often- er with good soap, or else a little bora in the water, is necessary, after which the. feet and. arm -pits should be rub- bed with a powder composed of five , grams of salicylic acid and 100 grams each of pulverized alum and lyco- podium. The stockings' must be chang- ed every day and the shoes should be thoroughly ventilated every night. A second pair of shoes should be kept to change with frequent'y, if one would not be unpleasant to one's associates. g, s w y r r r s s r 0 i er e t t x Villian Kitchen Vassalage. "Generous" thinking is indeed worth while, but illiberal consideration often confines us within four walls and con- structs about us our -on prison. During these times of high-priced food, when "every home cook is plan- ning her meals on the closest margin possible for the greatest health of the family she serves, and continually searching in a cook's bag of tricks to make left -overs more appetizing, she may be ked .to give illiberal considera- tion to the working equipment in her kitchen. With the thought constantly in mind of cutting the food bill, she'. neglects to add to her kitchen equip- ment as it becomes worn out, or new deyicee• are placed on the market, Of course, one can overstock their kitchen with labor-saving devices, and it re- quires the wisdom of an experienced cook to select those which will aid her in doing her work most efficiently. Seldom is it a saving for the house- wife to do ,with poor equipment in her workshop. More than half of her time is spent in the ldtchen, but those hours are lengthened if she attempts to. do efficient work with inefficient equipment. Immediately she places herself into bondage of viilian kitchen vassalage. The more time she spends in the kitchen, the more time she will need to spend, and to no satisfying result, Then, too, the home cook, on her daily beef of peeling potatoes, wash= ing dishes, baking bread, and so on, is likely to live so much within her own kitchen that she cannot see opportun- ities to alter the arrangement of her own kitchen to save many weary steps. To -morrow morning just try this little trick. When you step into your workshop to start the pot of breakfast coffee, survey it critically, just as • though you were in your neighbor's kitchen. Try to see just how many flaws you can detect in the arrange - merit of its furnishing and wornout equipment. Then get busy and change them in order to free yourself from Anion kitchen vassalage. Marksmanship Supreme. The new night watchman at the ob. ; servatory was watching someone using the big telescope. Just then a star ell. Mix and e;.l,ly a few drops on the "Gosh!" soliloquized the watchman, • pina`or on a towel near the head -Of "but that fellow's a crack shot," competition with coldestora> 'e ppies, we have had more or less difficulty in putting a juicy, sn"appY apple on the market -in its proper season, Various causes contribute to this difficulty, one being insufficient mois- t tare in our cellars; especially during • the first thirty to fifty days of star- !age, We have helped' this somewhat by ventilating during spells of wee- thez; when the air wag very humid, and also by Bp/inkling the alleyways and even the containers. Picking before complete ripeness also contributes to keeping quality. In our efforts to delay evaporation of the fruits, as it amounts to just that, we have used tight standard barrel, paper -lined crates and boxes and various other containers with varying results. Those containers which were: near- est air -tight gave us poorest results, for " in these invariably developed scald with accompanying poor keeping qualities. We have learned by government ex- periments as weii as our own that in ordinary dry storage, as we usually term it, apples must go through a sweat period for four to six weeks after picking and must have oppor- tunity to evaporate .spine of the mois- ture which appears poison to their long -keeping ability, after which they may be kept in more or less air -tight containers. Practically all apples, except russet - skinned ones, contain a moisture- proofing all their own on the outside of their skin. At certain periods" on certain varieties this gets very oily. Scraping the peeling of an apple with a knife blade will show this paraffin - appearing substance that retards evaporation and hold's in the flavor. But for all this and all these pre- cautions, we still have a certain per cent. of tough, rubbery applets. So we set about to determine the cause of the evaporation, for such it is. ' We have found that any disease which interferes with this coating process gives us more or 'less tough wrinkly apples, though •good specimens other- wise. We have found that apple scab gives wrinkled apples in proportion to the scab -infected area. We have found blotch causes tough apples in propor- tion to the number of blotch cracks on the skin of those apples. We have found another injury not so nearly under our control which' also:. causes tough wrinkled apples, and this is spring -frost injury during blossoming time or soon afterward. This causes russeting of the apple in about the proportion to the frost- ing; it- also makes misshapen apples, and we find that evaporation is un- usually, rapid through these ,russeted 4:reas, 'We have a suspicion,, in faet we are quite sure, that this .evaporation also takes Palace on •apples that are russet - ed byincorrect spraying, Therefore, to avoid these wrinkly apples, which mean loss, we have to use good care from, the start of the crop until its normal keeping season is past—a much greater period than we ever thought was necessary heretofore. ese A Party for August. The hot, listless days of August, sometimes spoken of as "dog days," made us wish for something interest- ing but not strenuous to do, . So we were glad when one hostess chose this time for a most delightful nonsense party. It was a "dog party," and never did we 'laugh so hard In all our lives. The name of the dog or the breed we were supposed to represent was written across our invitation's; In the left hand corner was a picture of a dog's head cut from a magazine, and underneath this verse: Every dog has his day, Whether we stay or run away. Come to my kennel on Saturday at eight, A thrilling dog story,here to relate. The story -tellers were introduced as Mr. Newfoundland, Miss Spitz or Mies Chow, each impersonating by some characteristic antic the dog given him or her and telling the story in the first person. Prizes had been an- nounced for the most thrilling story, the funniest, and the longest. The prizes were dog collars. - Those for the boys were made of crepe paper with a large bow and the girls' were clover chains with other blossoms woven in. The prize for the longest story went to the boa who would not finish but kept repeating, "And I went. to the next house in search of a bone, then on to the next house in search of a bone." Next came the "Laplander's" con- test. Ice cream cones were passed and collars promised those who first reduced the cream to the level of the cone's rim, lapping it with the tongue and not using the teeth. A collar was also given to the one who made the most noise in this contest—won, need- less to say, by a young man. • Those who had not yet won collars were paired against one another in deep growling, loud barking and grace- ful dog -trotting contests. For refreshments we had "Dog bis- cuits, Scraps and Mud -puddle liquid." Under these names masqueraded beaten biscuit, fruit salad and coffee. Talk Is Too Cheap. Members of the Swedish Authors' Union are asking for compensation from the radio 'service tor the broad- costing of their works. TEACHING BY THE"...ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS BY GEORGE F. LIMB. At the time when myson was about three years old, I happened to read a book on Psychology which gave me a new interest in my boy's development. In the evening I would take him on my knee and tell him a- story pur- posely designed to impart to his child another. I told him about the oceans, mind some` facts that would interest about . the millions of yellow people and at the same time instruct him. who live in China, about Wellington, For example I would start off like Queen Elizabeth and Franklin and it this: was a delight and satisfaction to see "Once upon a time there was a kind the hungry little mind drink in the farmer. He had two little boys, Jackie facts of life and of nature. Uncoil - and Tommie. One day the farmer odiously he learned Arithmetic, His - took his little boys out to the apple tory and Geography. tree that grew near the barn and he He is fourteen now, a senior in High said, 'Now you have both been good School, has just been elected Class boys and I am going to give you the Historian and for two years past has apples that are on this tree.' There not brought home a mark below 80. I were five apples on the tree and the I wish I could tell every young par - farmer picked them all. He gave three ent of the joy and satisfaction that apples to Jackie and he gave --let me come : from this practice of which I see, three and two are five—he gave have spoken. The daily confidential the other two apples to Tommie". intercourse establishes a bond between After a few weeks of telling often parent and child which is invaluable, ! and the mind of the child is greatly; enriched, making the school lessons easier to grasp because of the breadth of vision acquired. One of my son's teachers told me stalls did he need to have for three mules and four horses?" and in a moment alittle voice piped up, "Seven, Daddy." He had applied his knowl- edge! So I proceeded from one story to the same story, I would be more de- liberate in making my calculation, and the response would come from any little boy. I remember the thrill I felt one evening when I was telling him about the -other day that she had never seen. a farmer who had three mules and four horses—we had used the same combination in a squirrel story. This fernier wanted to build a new stable. I said,. "Now let me see, how many tree ablate. a ptipil who could absorb knowledge so easily. I feel quite sure his pro -1 gross has been due to our stories ands tanks rather than to any special na- I EVOLUTION OF AFLAG BY M, 0, WALDRON, "A leoggie would a -wooing go, Whether his mother would let him or no; So off he at, in his opera hat; On the road he met with a rat!" Gaily sang Daisy, sitting on a rug on the porch, arranging the drapery of her doll's overskirt. •' A voice coming through the cur- tains of the long window at her back interrupted her, "What do you know about frogs, Daisy?" "What do I know about frogs, Nell? Oh, ever so many things! I know a frog begins with a pollywog and grows into a tadpole, ,and by and by his tail drops off, and he's a frog. And sometimes 'frogs and toads get into the middle of great rocks and trees and live hundreds of years with- out anything to eat or drink." And Daisy returned to her doll - dressing with an air of wisdom. "Come with me, Daisy, and P11 show you something." Daisy laid her doll carefully upon a cushion, and followed her sister. I Presently Nell stopped beside a bench in the back yard, and said: I "What do you see, Daisy?" "I see an old pail with some water,' and grass and weeds in it." "Do you see nothing else?" "Nothing except some scum.,floating around on the top of the water." j "Well, look closely at the scum, as you call it. That is a gluey substance, and the black specks you see in it are frogs' eggs. I was out with Jack this morning, looking for beetles, and we ; brought this home. If you will watch those eggs every day, you will learn how frogs grow. Each female deposits about 1,200 eggs in the water; then the sun shines on them and keeps them warm." "Don't the mother frog have any more bother about them, Nell?" "No, You will see that each one of these eggs will turn into a tiny lump of jelly, and it will cling to the grass by means of a small sucker; then it will develop a tail, and it will breathe by means of a wonderful apparatus called gills, so that really a baby frog is a fish." "Oh, I know what a fish's gills are! They are made to draw oxygen from the water, so the fish can breathe, Dad said; but I don't know what oxygen is," interrupted Daisy. Nell continued her lesson, well pleased that Drisy was interested. "After awhile you will discover a pair of hind legs forming, then a pair of front ones. The creature will soon t cease to be a tadpole. You won't see t the long tail drop off, but :will observe t it grow less and less as it is absorbed into the animal's system. The mouth will grow wider, until it reaches the size you see in a fully 'developed frog. "But, as you know, gills are anap- paratus for obtaining oxygen from water, and as our frog intends to spend the greater part of his time upon land, he will need a pair of lungs, Accordingly!, lungs are g'radu- ally formed, and then our froggie can `a -wooing go,' irTie chooses." `Wow queer ` I didn't know there were so many funny things about a frog," observed Daisy. "Yes, a frog is a wonderful little fellow, and I. like to study him, Come, and".I will show you a splendid green croaker' we captured this morning,, I put him in this glass jar and supplied him with food, so I could watch him, I willlet him out by and by." "Oh, Nell, he is choking l Seehow he opens his mouth and gasps!" "He is only swallowing air. See how firmly he shuts his mouth now. That is to keep the air from escaping and force it into his lungs. He has no ribs, as we have, to keep his lungs distended, and so has to work very hard in keeping them filled with air Should anything hold his mouth open very long, he would suffocate. "A frog absorbs some air through his skin, however, and he had the faculty of imbibing a quantity of water through his skin, equal in am- ount to his whole weight. Sometimes, if suddenly frightened, he will eject a large quantity of water from his body. It is clear and pure, though people used to think it poisonous." "I saw him catch an ant then, Nell: He darted out his tongue quick as a flash!" "Yes; his tongue is a wonderful in- strument. He sits perfectly quiet, and the poor ants never suspect anything until they are struggling on the tip of his tongue. When he is through his meal, his tongue is doubled over so the tip is at the back. "You would never guess, Daisy, that a frog has teeth, but he has eighty of them; but no one knows what they are for, as the frog does not chew his food, and the teeth are in an unde- veloped state. "You are mistaken Daisy, in think- ing that frogs and toads can live for a Iong period without food or air. It has been proven by very thorough ex- periments, that when all supplies were cut off they would die. "Toads and frogs also, have bean found in very curious places, but there must have been some small way for air and moisture, and tiny insects to reach them, or they could not pos- silly have existed for the length of time they are said to have dome,. "Un der favorable circumstances, frogs have been known to reach the c•omrSortable age of 50 years. which I hink is quite long enough for :u frog o live. I must tell you what a funny hing used to be done in some parts of Great Britain. "The people in those places had great faith in the healing properties of the frog, and when a baby had a sore mouth, its mother would procure a live frog, and holding it by its hind legs, thrust it, struggling and squirm- ing, into the baby's mouth." `-The Picnic Bag. I know a party of young people who have a picnic supper every Saturday night throughout the summer. "What a lot of trouble that must be!" you think. Not at all, for these young folks have discovered the ad - I vantages the. picnic bag has over the old pie, cake and salad affairs and even over the expensive hampers with their limited capacity and the work of' cleaning them afterward. This picnic group is composed of four girls, four boys, a young matron and her husband. Two cars carry then to the lake for a row or a swim, to the park or deep into the woods. Each girl provides a picnic bag containing the food for herself and partner, after the fashion of the box suppers of olden times. The heaviest paper bags are used, the tops are turned in a couple of inches and small rope handles are put through this fold. Sometimes the bags are decor- ated with pictures cut from maga- zines. But usually these young folks make the workof preparation just as easy as they can. Therefore only the plain-" est of paper bags are usually selected. In the bottom of each bag is usually placed fruit for two, then hard-boiled eggs, since the men seam to prefer these to ,deviled eggs and they are 1)o you envy them? Tho open-air swintrning 'irool'at Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta, looks' inviting on a warns day. easier to prepare.,. Then come the cup cakes, each wrapped in oil paper, and above these the sandwiches two meat or nut sandwiches, two with salad lr lettuce filling and two sweet sands wiches. These are also wrapped sep- arately. Sometimes olives or pickles are added. And, of course, the round metal or paper drinking cups and paper napkins finish off the top. Boiling a couple of eggs at break- fast -time and saving a bit of meat and salad from the Saturday dinner has become a habit, the girls declare. Things are taken from the bag as used. Nothing is spread out to attract flies and the bags as well as the refuse are burned. Very often they take balls, horse- shoes and other means - of staging games and contests. Supper partners are chosen by lot. Once the matron secretly numbered the girls, including herse.rf 'among them, and tossed a ball into the air. The man who caught the ball the first time had supper with the girl who was number one, and so on. At another tune partners were chosen by matching strings of differ- ent lengtirs. Some were short, some long, and the rest in between, but two lengths in each case matched. Try the picnic bag for small or large groups, for the club picnic or the Sunday school class party.—M. J. T. - • -fir•------- Protect Your Screen. Generally during the fruit preserv- ing sand canning season we are troubled most with flies and at this time our screen door at the rear ofr' 'the house (usually called the kitchen door) receives its hardest knocks. The busy housewife must r,ass in and out quite frequently and is nearly always carrying something through this door. At least it is that way at our home, so we have installed in the screen door a screen protector which also aids in opening the door when one is carrying e pa.. or pail or some other article. This little device is simply a piece of three-eighths inch, board about three inches wick and fits upon this doer frame at just the proper height where the arm naturally strikes the screen when pushing the door ..open, Of teems you understand that this device win rot aid you whin coaling into the house. It only helps os you aro passing out.—S. H. The Grand waterfal'ni ti t, tilsraclo; • is 200 feet high.