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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1926-10-21, Page 7THEPOSSIBILITIES OF WOOD FLOUR Development of the wood flour in- dustry in Canada would .utiliz.,e mush of -the sawmill weals now. .being burn- ed and would help in -the, conservation of the forest resources, a,ecordiug to the Natural Resources Intelligence Service, Departmeut of the Interior, at Ottawa. This material, of the fineness of wheat flour, is ground from sawdust, shavings, chips and other waste from sawmills' and wood -working factories. Though there has been little develop- ment in Canada, it has been put to many uses in other countries: With a suitable binding material, it may be pressed into statues, mouldings, furni- ture panele, bread boards, rolling pinny bases and uprights for lamps, ten -pins, door knobs, 'etc. When phenol resin or hard rubber is used for the binder, it may be moulded into articles for the electrical trade, such as radio panels, sockets, knobs, handles, etc. Or again, wood flour and a suitable binder may be used for talking machine records. Wood flour is also used for heat insul- ating, sound deadening, polishing and drying of metals that have been treat- ed with acids, floor sweeping com- pounds, manufacture of artificial mosaic flooring, wood fibre plaster, porous brick and terracotta, linoleum, oatmeal wall paper, eto. It may be used as an absorbent in the chemical industries and has been used as a filler in the manufacture of explosives. The manufacture of wood flour is a simple process, though the product must conform to certain technical specifications as to fineness and. mois- ture content... The material used must be dry, otherwise the flour will coagu- late and collect in a mass. Grinding machines designed to produce wood Sour are on the market; in these an up raft of air past the grinding sur • faces carries oft the particles ground to the lieoesatary degree of fineness`a and by varying the rvtrongth of the alit current, the size of particie may ' be" readily controliod. Large serape of wood may be first redueedin a weed hog before going to the grinding ma- chine and moisture may be eliminated in a kiln. An butanes of the. saving effected by the use of wood flour is in the manufacture of chisel handles. In turning these handles from natural wood, about eighty, per cent. of the mar terial is wasted. The waste material could, he reduced to wood flour, and with a suitable binder could be press- ed into handles, so that all material, would be used. It le claimed that the handles so produced would be strong- er than those made from the natural wood, Just as a glue joint which.% properly made Is stronger than the original wood, so particles of wood flour pressed under enormous pros - sere and with a suitable glue, are bonded together into a material which is held to have tensile, torsion and compression strengths greater than the natural wood, and it cannot „split since it has no grain. " Just how the wood dour industry would fit in with existing plants in Canada is; problematical, In the manu- facture of chisel handles✓, it would evi- dently St in with a. wood -working es- tablishment. Or the wood flour may be sold, as a by-product from mills and wood -working plants to 'factories equipped to make specialties from the product which has such a wide variety of uses. The utilization of waste wood in industry wouldd appear to be a sub- jeot which deserves to receive the at- tention and study of Canadian manu- facturers and sawmill owners. LUCK SUPERSTITIONS HAVE BASIS IN FACT SKIPPER'S RF -ST BROKEN BY WHISTLING ABOARD SHIP. Raising Umbrella in House May Upset Ornaments and Bring Punishment. If you get up on the morning of irri,day, the thirteenth, broke the mir- ror while dressing, spilled the salt at breakfast, opened your umbrella in the house and Walked under the painte'r's ladder when goi'ug to work, would you have an unlucky day? Probably. And not because any of those things In themselves are. harmful. But any- one who performed that particular• combination, or any part of it, hardly would be in proper mental and physi- cal condition to have a very success- ful day. Breaking the mirror and spill- ing the salt are apt to he indications of bad nerves, which aren't conducive to a lucky day. Absentmindedly open- ing an urnbrella in the house where it may swipe the bric-a-brac off the tables and knock the pictures off the walls, or walking under the painter's ladder at the risk of being crowned by a carelessly dropped bucket, both indi- cate that you may, in equal absent- mindedness, walk in front of a street car or automobile or perform some such other unlucky stunt later in the day. So you sed there really;is something to your superstitions, after all. Many of the commonest supersti- tion a are well grounded in fact, even. though the fact is not apparent on the • surface. Children who disturb grouchy elders by singing early in the morning are told that one who sings before breakfast will cry before night. As there usually is a certain amount of singing and a certain amount of cry- ing in a child's day, it is pretty safe to say that if the day starts with olie, the• other will come along in due course. And if a particular grouchy person is awakened by early -morning song, the crying is apt to comeibefore breakfast too! The superstition often impressed en children that whistling or singing at the table is unlucky has the same well- founded basis in fact, as children of- ten learn when they persist in the practice, Gambler's Tabus. • Gamblers believe that the person who lends inonney, during play, to a fellow ;prayer, will be unlucky, and the borrower will be lucky. inasmuch as the lender has decreased his available capital, and therefore limited his chances, and the borrower is playing. on borrowed money,: with consequent increase of his chances, the belief seems quite well grounded. The reason for many commonly held ideas, however, is not so easily found. ,Some of tliem ge 'back 'thousands of years into prehistoric times, coming down..•to us, often in corrupted fomes, as the remnants of ancient and for -1 cotton religions, The black -cat super- Stitioii is a direct descendant of the days when the cat was worshiped iii I•'•"gypt. Some „ears ago the swastika swept } the emintry es a lucky emblem.. As 1 a basic form or, design, it was known in the Orient thousands of years ago, and recent etcavations have disclosed that it was similarly used as a r�eligl- ous ornament by the Mayas and the . 11144 of :;;intra] and South America hundreds of years before Columbus - discovered America. As a lucky em- blem, it was based on Oriental legends where it has played a part in religious worship far centuries. Good Luck Emblems, The swastika and the black -cat pin, and scares of other lucky emblems went their way in due course, aind along came the "Good Fairy." Rotary olubs and business organizations help- ed distribute the charming little statuette and advised their members to keep one on the desk to bring good luck. Quite probably many of them did, for just to look at the graceful child figure was enough to put ane in a good nrcod, which le tee first es- sential toward a good day. The superitti_tionsattached to num- bers' are not so easily explained. Seven - has been • a luckynumber from, re- motest times, just as thirteen has had a reputation for being unlucky. The favor shown seven. is easily traced to its Biblical connections, the world, ac- cording to Genesis, having been made in seven days, while the number reap- pears repeatedly in the visions John saw on the Isle of Patmos. The bad luck attached to thirteen may possibly date from the Last Supper, when Christ and the twelve disciples form ed thirteen at the table. Why Unlucky Friday. Why Friday should be an unlucky day on which to start a journey is hard to see in these days of modern transportation, but in olden days when stage coaches did .not run on Sunday it quite possibly meant that many Fri- day journeys were broken by the week -end halt away from home. A horseshoe nailed over the door certainly isn't unlucky, so long as it remains. In piece, and might bring de- t dried 111 luck if it fell while some one was passing beneath, but it is probable that that horseshoe myth has a very simple explanation. - An old shoe, studded with rusty nails, and left lying on the ground, might be very unlucky. for one step- ping on it, whereas if every one was convinced that to nail It up brought luck, the danger of lockjaw from a nail puncture would- be definitely removed, But can any one explain why the wishbone of a fowl should be a har- binger of luck, or why a wish made while breaking a wishbone would be granted the holder of the larger piece? The luck supposedly attached to four - loaf clovers is an equal mystery, prob- ably going back to a rAigious symbol- ism that •may be ae old as the swastika story or the cats cf the Nile. Oiie of the most modern luck sys- tems, whith sprang into prominence during the war, is the chain letter, sup- rosed to go three times around the world, in some versions, and in ethers to be dui.licated and sent to nine or ten friends, who in turn send copies I to es many more, until, if all carried out the behest, the postage bill would' ray off, all the world's debts. • The chain letter probably started as a diversion to interest- the soldiers tbousanda elf miles from home, but tho names. that have been attached to same of then In theft wanderings form a surprising commentary on the re:uotance of even the world's nott brilliant people to risk a possible erun of batt luck. Sailors probably hold more than their sharp of superstitions, some iuex- plicabo to a landsman, and others easlly traced to their source. One of the oldest and most general fs that it • is very, very unlucky to whistle an shipboard—in tact, In the navy, it is forbidden. Since no crusty old mgr client .captain or laity admiral of the line likes to have his nap spoiled by unseemly sounds front the crew, it is quite easy to See hew the myth or bad luck attacheild Itself to whistling, THE FIND IN THE PIM TREES The pride and glory of this Loudon web tined' woof stillshining with the garden are its trees. and the tree that holda troller. place is that :beloved of Londort, ,t.1*.' plane. In-between the lace-like crevices of its leaves the sky glows deeply blue, and a rough, eagerly exploring wind white road wapders from an old, mares tosses its upper leaves all golden itt ket town under laden apple trees. That the sun. Up and down, back and forth, road parses a house wreathed in. toss the happy leave's; throwing their vines, and agapanthus flowers masa throe -cornered shadows across' the the garden with their deep blue. But lawn. This afternoon they are em- blems .of joy and liberty. The easter- ly winds in their leaves sing of sunlit gardens ati over the world; rose gar- dens that lie, In Persia, round a mar- ble fountain where shadows are deep and green; gardens in Italy where the bla.ek ilex trees make sombre alleys for a sculptured faun; gardens of the calm French countryside dreaming round ancient chateaux. Constantly the wind chatters of lit - dew& of night,. have bee•ia woven ,front bough to bough. So deep is glee soli - tilde one thinks a. child' Might tear those tapestries should• he burst through them with his flower's, .6. now comes the child with bis flowers. Ho rune tltrou•gh the woodland tapes• tries. They swing softly behind him,' and, are not broken. From the street the loud rush of' a passing car! The wind tares note With boisterous joy it sweeps over' this London garden. High up in the tree tops it sings its triumphant song.! Of cities it sings as of the countryside,; Of the dome of St. Paul's lifted into unsullied blue air, with pigeons fly tie cottage gar'd•ens in England. Tele ing round its feet. Of the many, afternoon it sighs and whispers of bridged rivers. Of sunny open Kent where the flowers, grown luxuri- squares, and busy thoroughfares aptly wild, have thrown themselves where the traffic passes Iike a buoy - in festoons over the railings and split ant cavalcade. Of towers and tweets, their posies on the grassy footpaths. The wind tens of "verderous glooms" in Kentish woodland glades where brambles and forest trees recede into pillared facades, and vistas into dis- tance. Of the energy, dreams, and aspirations ot all town dwellers. Ex- ultantly the plane trees toss in the shadow. It seems as if tapestries, with sunlight of the London garden. The Unpunctual Moon. Our time -worn old globe "breathes," but so slowly as to take only four or five '`breaths" in a thousand yearn The Commanding Position of Our Agriculture. By C. W. Peterson. They vary in depth; some are to be. The average person readily gives an measured in, inches, others in feat; intellectual assent to the statement twenty-four feet is perhaps the great- that agriculture is our basic industry est expansion. , and the "backbone of the nation," but 81R GEORGE FOSTER This contraction and expansion of usually without any adequate concep- is the Canadian representative at Geneva. He it was who objected to the the earth alters the rate of our clocks . tion of the fundamental facts of the pand thus causes a variation in the case. It is a mere figure of speech.,' United States'fourth reservation. in ecce ting the world court. He submit- It is therefore wel•1 to canst.s:4r hri,aflv ted that American consent for amending the court statutes gave power with- out responsibility to the American government, more power than the mem- bers of the league themselves,. Values. Gypsies camped at the -turn of the road; Two buckskin ponies carried their load. They made their breakfast beside the brook, A storm -riven oak their inglenook. Their smoke curled up through the morning mist, Big drops on the copper kettle hissed; Their clothes of splashy and fadeless dye On sumacs spread by the fire to dry. A gypsy worean with eyes. star -bright Waved a brown hand in the gray -day light. Heating to board e, suburban :rxaln I cast a backward glance through the rain (Umbrella over my head spread wide, Stout rubbers -adding weight to my stride)— And I thought: How much beauty might never be If gypsies were practical folk like mel AgnesHelling. -- -- You Can Get Rid —Of much trouble if you cultivate a friendly voice. —Of some criticism if you get a re- putation for being uncritical yourself. —Of much worry if you will keep to- morrow in view to -day. —Of spare time in many ways bet- ter than killing it. --Of many disagreeable tasks by do- ing them when they are small. —Of any trouble by facing the .worst facts first. —Of a lot of money without buying anything. i The Chain That Binds. • Dumb Fros•h—"Hey, what's a chain store?" Wiske Guy—"A place where you buy a marriage license. Peace Music. One night toward the end of that fight at Geneva, growing weary of it all, I walked with two companions up into the silent crooked streets of an old quarter of the town. Unexpected- ly we carne upon a dark gigantic mass with two square towers at the front— the church where Knox, and Fosdick, preached, The tall stained windows at the sides showed here aria -there a glow of light. We found our way to a small side door, and entering that shadodwy place eve discovered it empty except for a few who bad come to listen like ourselves. For a chorus of two hundred was rehearsing Bach's great mass called "Peace." The chorus was not perfectly trained, but the music was grand to me that night In tumultuous rivers of sound, like irre- sistible torrents of life; all the yearn- ings and rejoicings of the earth rose and free, •yet all those many torrents to the skies. Always changing, wild of sound kept rolling and thunering into one. In my mood that evening, there was eom•ething tragic in its joy. For I could not help but wonder. when will the nations sing like that?—Ern- est Poole, in The Century Magazine. All Women "Mrs." in Denmark. Denmark will abolish the title "Miss." All women, married or single, are to be addressed as "Mrs." Miss is the abbreviation for Mistress. In England, until the seventeenth cen- tury, "Mistress" was the correct form for all worsen. The diminutive "Miss' dates from the time of Charles II. To length of the earth's• day, because a to what extent agriculture has been. clock, say in Ottawa, must be nearer , responsible for Canada's material pro" the centre of gravity at certain periods than It is at others, and consequently ' grass. Forty-one per cent of our net' production in the last census year was must gain or lose, as the case may be, ! agricultural, thirty-three per cent.' One effect of this discovery is that manufacturing, our forests, mines, tardy justice has been done to the fisheries, construction, etc., account much maligned moon. In this way: for the remaining twenty-six per cent. for many years the moon will revolve The 8 billions of total agricultural about the earth a little ahead of its , capital in Canada represents 36% of regular rate, and then for a century or ;her total available wealth. Urban so it will steadily drop back as though! real estate accounts for 26%, our rail - some outside infiuenee were at work in way plants 10%%, forests See %, min,es making it slow up. A total eclipse 2,7e–, and• manufacturing equipment that occurred during the Boer War, 2%s,% for instance, began seven. seconds ear- , It will thud be clear that Canada's fifer than the predicted time, with a agriculture looms up as the largest conseequent error of a mile or more single factor in her economic life and in the path of the moon's• shadow up- the farmers as the largest group of on the earth. Then, a, few years later, domestic consumers, consequently ex - the discrepancy had increased to ercising a commanding influence in twenty seconds. the general business conditions cf the Many of the finest mathematical country, One-third of alio revenue brains got to work on the .problem, freight carried by our railways trig and now it is found that it is not the hated en the farm and another third,; when it expands its "chest," afters moon which is to blame, but the earth at least, was represented in carrying itself—the breathing earth,"rv�hich, commodities of all kinds back to the the farm and the agricultural raw material rate of the clocks compared with their to and fro. The Canadian farm not rate when its "chest" is contracted. • alone feeds the nation, but exports on. Who knows but that this "breath- such a scale that credits are available Ing" may account for many changes to balance our international oblige - theoccur more or leas regularly on a favorable trade bal- the sun and stars? Some stars, like ante.tions and create some human beings, are quick "breath- Besides the millions of farm workers ars"; others Calfa but en "breath" in directly engaged in producing there thousands ot years,. Perhaps . this "breathing" is Nature's safety -valve to are other millions earning their liv- prevent a star or planet being blown ing by performing work connected to pieces by the enormous pressure with supplying the implements, tools, shoes, clothing, etc., for the farmer, within its interior, with the manufacture of raw material originating on the farm and the dee tribution and transportation of such commodities.. Who is bold enough to attempt correctly to estimate the economic importance of agriculture tit a country like Canada? It is perhaps well within the mark to assert that at least 8.0% of Canada's total popula- 1 tion, in every walk of lite, depend ab- , solutely on her agriculture, directly or Ifndirectly. These are imposing figures and should lead thinking men to speculate on the possible performance of Cana- dian agriculture were we in the happy Position where more than a mere fringe ot our agricultural area was on a producing basis. If, tor instance, we were producing on even one half cf our arable lands, instead of only one sixth, granting a fairly balanced popu- lation, all our present economic prob- lems would vanish over night. The time is ripe for bringing such a situa- tion about, We have the undeveloped natural resources. the markets are there, we only need the man -power to complete the circle. And that is pure- ly a matter of intelligent, business or- ganizetiou. -To Market. Apple carts go rumbling by, A honeyed fragrance bearing Of ruddy apples heaping high; Apple carts go rumbling by tail a person Miss those days was not Beneath September's timbered sky to flatter, as the title denoted the in- To 'city markets faring; ferior status of a person who lacked a Apple carts go rumbling by husband. "The Manchest•ed Guardian" A honeyed fragrance bearing. recalls that in the childhood of Lady Montague, dignified old ladies refused —Maude DeVerse Newton. to use the vulgar new term and ad- A nage neat of wasps will ar ;cunt dressed even little girls as Mistress. for 24,000 flies in a day. ADAMSQN'S ADVENTURES—By O. Yrcobs&ion. C6pyrigtii,IOW, by 11 '6 Synammt. tpg.) The End, Mebei was looking very seulfui. "Ali," she sighed, "no more shall 1 hear his footsteps en the garden path as the clock strikes seven'." "Coad heavens, Mahell" cried her friend "t'iolet. . "end the hall light will n Iver burn low again for hire," "lily dear, you don't nisan it!" "I do; and, moreover, he will no linger sit et the divan tteee nights a week and call the pet names as he has been doing for three pelts. And to- night i ant going to burn ell the old love letters in my trunk;:" "But, why?" a slted Violet, now eOri- ous:y alarmed. "Malt tell the you are breaking of your engagement?" "lirealcitig my engagement?" said Mabel, with e, Slow miller, "Oh, no, dear; we are getting reerr: ail next week."' Gates Glow in Making. The bronze plates of the baptistry of St, John the Baptist. Church, Yalorenee s took (Iltiborti, designer, mane ••ono' at a a l Young Cainion, I ,oars to leapt; --•1403 to 1424.