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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1956-12-20, Page 7Farm Evenings Not • o Qu e4, • As the brief, :itumn-discipinecd sunset adorne4 the western sky, 1 sat on a sharp rock and con- templated. Doc. Rockwell, the old Keith Circuit quack, says if you sit on a rock long enough it Is bound to make an impression on you, but Doc is a come -lately in the philosophy of down -East rocks. Grandfather, who preced- ed Doc by an entire history book, said nobody should ever sit .on a smooth rock because he would sit too long. For short rests, consistent with a farmer's time schedule, one should select a sharp rock, in- suring that dilatory periods will be held to a minimum and that sedentary inactivity will shortly seem more arduous than labor. This is a calculated compromise with relaxation, and doubtless shows the difference between true rural philosophy and the slapstick, or professional, kind- the latter merely noting that rocks are uncomfortable at best, and neglecting to compose a use- ful conclusion. I had therefore selected an angular projectipn from the or- chard wall and had lightly de- posited myself thereon, intending to edify myself briefly after fini- shing up the carrot yanking and then be on my way home for supper. The sunset was pretty, in the fallish mariner. Purples con- veying a touch of cold and pos- sibly snow, predominated, with the richer and warmer colors muted. Purple is supposed to: be a rich color, but in an autumn sunset it is not. And the change from afternoon to dark was not prolonged. This is the time of year when the crepuscular ipterlude, a term I have never been able to work into an essay, is scarcely a fleet- ing instant. You can stoop down to pick up the side of your wheel- barrow and miss it completely. I had hardly adjusted myself to my hard and probing rock when it was dark, and there; ,I sat all by myself in the orchard and nothing to see. This undoubtedly includes the ingredients for an idyllic foray into bucolic observations - the DONKEY LIFT -A Paris, France, shoe store, trying to get a don- key into the shop for publicity purposes, ran into difficulties. The janitor of the establishment wouldn't let "Cora/' the burro, walk up the two flights of shiny stairs to the presentation room, so it was decided to hoist Cora up from the outside. With tied legs and blindfold, the dang- ling donkey afforded spectators much amusement, but didn't get very far -the rope broke. Luckily, the animal survived the nine -foot fall, and eventually reached her destination. man, the place, the time, and his thoughts. And it was rather a shock to learn that this situation in which I found myself was not at all as quiet, withdrawn, and secluded as I, and perhaps a reader or two, would .expect. You have no idea how noisy it was. Some of this was the still air of the evening, hanging with the, preparations for frost, The light breeze of the afternoon had sub- sided with the sun, and there was no rustling of the beech and oak leaves. All sounds from all directions came with equal in- tensity, and they came from afar. I could perceive the composite vibrations of the entire periphery with unimpeded clarity, to coin a phrase. Eight separate and distinct dogs were barking, five of them to the shouts of children winding up their outdoor play. The other dogs, neither separate nor dis- tinct, were hounds over in the Farrar swamp bugling a rabbit. They would fade and re-emerge, fade and come back, sometimes together and sometimes not, their contributions ranging from the whines .of high grief to the low rumbles of mutual despair. Then two airplanes, went over, flying low, and next some jets went over, flying high. The lights of the two first blinked pleasant- ly, but the jets snarled their hateful, ominous, blood -chilling overnoise, which ought to be out- lawed. This world was never meant to be an echoboard for jets. - Then came automobile horns, the squeal of brakes, the grind- ing of diesels on the long hill, and the rattle of truckbodies- highway noises from two miles away. Next, the digesters were blown off at the mill -a rushing, steam -escaping noise we hear only when the air is right. A train, away off on the main line. whistled and then rumbled over -the 'big bridge. And Mrs. Blais stepped to her door, a mile away, and lustily summoned her copious brood, lingering lastly on lung -sapping exhortations which can be euph- oniously represented by: "Tippy- yire! Tippy - yire! V'en - see! 'Pesh-twee!" This can be trans- lated, more or less, by, "Little Peter, come here, hurry!" But none of the inflection of the original was lost in the mileage, and my translation perforce dis- includes the implied alternative that if petit Pierre didn't 'pesh himself with all celerity he would everlastingly regret it. Then the Blais door slammed, indicating Peter had entered, and quiet pre- vailed from that quarter. The fish horn the Garlands use to advertise their meals now split the evening and resounded. Father Garland, answering promptly, paused only to close the rolling door on the barn, raked and rasped and whined on its unoiled track. I hadn't been siting long, and I was ready to unsit. I applauded the new moon andthe early -out stars, and when I stood up I could see the house lights over the knoll -supper would be about ready now. I smiled at the popu- lar notion that the countryside is traditionally calm and quiet and peaceful. Give a Hollywood director a cricket he can snap and a frog to croak, and he thinks he can make a rural scene. The rustling leaves, the pit r ling stream, the twittering grosbeaks. Just then a steel -rimmed trac- tor went down the road by the house, drawing what sounded like a Nova Scotia hayrack with loose slats, loaded with empty oil drums, milk cans, and storm win- dows, perhaps -a last touch be- fore I went inside and closed the door on the traquility of a lovely country evening on the old farm. - by John Gould in "The Christian Science Monitor" CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS DOWN 1. Ctveninm 1, vapor 4. Co secretly 2. Aspire 0; Dried grass 3. Inquired the 1 cost 4. ,Location 5. Strain 6. For example (ab,) 12. :Manner 13. Tidal flood 14. Danish money 1 15. Climbing eine 17. Plural ending '13. Not cooked 110 Feline 120. Bury 22. Point 24. Wee (Scot.) 1 25. gtandard 23. Spoiled 29. Fauc. t 80. )tomno ent.r,•wes 81. )ne 82, Reduce the amount ,84. Near 185, -- celled Peter '87. Malt liquor 58. Individual 39. Medieval ),'r. shields 1 10. Some 11. Schemes K2. Put into place again 44. Scraps 45. Blass. cape 47. Comparative 1 ending 48. Musical instrument 61. Land measure 48. Long pencil strokes 54. Gentile $5. BY $6. Philippine island 10. Purpose 7. Boxing ring 8. For fear that 9. Terror 10. Macaw 11. Steer wild 16. Loose 20. Inculcate 21. Grafted (her.) 23. Blind fear 24. Weaken 26. Laughing 27. Companions 29. Decimal number 30. Corroded 32. Amount of teed rine is. City 1n Minn. 36. Slay 38. Citrus fruit 40, Eagle's nest 41. Cuckoo 41 Vend 44. Church recess 46. Small explosive 16. Unrefined metal 48. Collection 49. Eternity 3:1, Urchin 33. Empire State (ab.) -_ w/ 2 3 , ; eC�,. n• 4 13_ 5'ti.+rj 6 -- 7 8 ; 9 l4 /0 /1 12 l5 /6 '; 17 : ti•r /8 \a 0„•;.•::::;i:::9•.?:.; _ 0, , 19 ; .: 26'' 21 • 22 23`.24 • 25 26 27 29• "* +y . 29 _ 30 31 _.. W64. ' 32 33- :.4,:::, '-'� 35 36 a, 2 37 : 39 4i tv.; 4Z 43 '.`:',X::'•44 \\.. ti . ; :;X` 48 40 j ti ,$ ,�'\' '• 413 ... 49 50, 51 ;; ..., f 52 53 54 5 5 v h I:*:,I:*:,(0g? 56x...57 Answer elsewhere en this page. HE'S THE CHAMP OF CHAMPS -A 985 -pound roan Shorthorn stoat- was judged the Grand Champion steer at the Interna- tional Livestock Exhibition. TIIfSMM FONT Jowls.Tell Of all the plant species growing in Canada, one in five rates as a weed. The annual weed cost runs into many millions of dol- lars, enough to warrant close attention to their control. According to Dr. C. Frankton of the Canada Department of Agriculture, many a bad weed has gained a foothold simply be- cause it was not recognized for what it was. Success in weed control depends largely on a proper understanding of these plants. It is often difficult to trace them down because most of the weeds growing in Canada have been introduced from some other country. Frequently care- ful search in foreign literature, particularly European and Asia- tic, is required before a strange plant can be identified. Weed workers may consider correct identification of weeds a trivial matter but there is a defi- nite practical application. Cer- tainly some of the confusion as • to what weeds are controllable, and to what extent control meas- ures can be applied can be at- tributed in part to misidentifica- tion. An early report from the United States claimed that field bindweed could be controlled readily by 2, 4-D; subsequently it was found that the bindweed controlled was one of the annual species. An introduced plant, halogeton, poisonous to livestock, now occupies some four million ares in the western States and this abundance may well be due to the fact it was at first confused with Russian Thistle and had be- come well established before be- ing recognized as a serious men- ace. An exact knowledge of the life history, the series of changes through which a plant passes in the course of its development, is essential to successful control. the life histories of most of the important weeds in Canada are under investigation and a good deal of information is now avail- able on germination behavior. An important part of weed in- vestigation is to ascertain where different species occur in Canada. From reconnaissance surveys em- bracing all weeds encountered, a remarkable amount of informa- tion on distribution has been compiled. More intensive surveys are carried out to answer specific problems such as the milkweed survey during World War II, as a source of floss and rubber, rag- weed surveys to establish where hay fever sufferers might expect relief, surveys for 'barberry and buckthorn, intermediate hosts for cereal rusts. Such studies and other related basic ,studies' will in time serve to improve the efficiency of control methods. However, due to the recent origin of these in- vestigations' it will be some years before weed workers will have compiled as valuable a mass of information as that available in the fields of plant pathology or entomloogy. • Why the difference in temper- ature registered by outside household thermometers? Next- door 'neighbors often find their thermometers differ by five de- grees or more. Are the thermo- meters at fault or does the cause lie elsewhere? Trials at the Beaverlodge Ex- perimental Farm, Alberta, during winter nights have shown several degrees difference between the readings of accurate therrno- Meters set only a few paces apart, Dr, A. C. Carder reports that one thermometer was placed in a louvered box, technically known as a Stevenson screen; another on a north wall of an insulated building. Both were four feet above ground level. Although these thermometers were known to vary less than a degree under identical conditions they came within this accuracy only 35 per cent of the nights when exposed as described. On 45 per cent of the nights they showed a difference of .two de- grees or more; on 21 per cent a difference of three degrees or more and on 3 per cent a differ- ence of over five degrees. The greatest difference was 7 degrees F. and occurred on a calm, clear night. The explanation for these dif- ferences is to be found in the,, phenomenon of radiation. The loss of heat by the mercury or spirit in the bulb of a thermo- meter to colder objects within line of sight may, under certain conditions, be considerable. The reverse is also true, and the recording liquid will take on heat radiated from warmer 'objects. These objects need not be close at hand. Also, on clear nights a thermometer openly exposed to the sky will lose heat by radiation and so register much colder than a thermometer in a shelter. Readings from such an openly exposed thermometer may be representative of the tempera- ture of short vegetation on the ground but will not correctly indicate the temperature of the higher air surrounding animals. A -householder cannot be ex- pected to keep his thermometer in a louvered box. However, ex- posed thermometers will give reasonably accurate performance if certain precautions are taken. Never face a thermometer direct- ly towards the window of a warm room nor towards an expanse of sky. The former location will cause it to register high, the latter low. The instrument is best suspended an inch or two from the north wall which itself faces a background of trees or other buildings. ON THE TARGET The bandaged and haggard - looking husband was asking the Court for a separation order. "My wife's been throwing things at me ever since we married," he said. 'I don't feel safe." "Yet only now, after twenty years, you seek the Court's pro- tection," said the magistrate, sceptically. "Well, sir, her aim's getting better!" the man explained. Pigs' Snuffles Hying Hone Truffles Gourmets in France have been complaining that it's been a poor season for truffles, those delicacies which grow under the soil and are located by their strong smell by dogs or pigs. These curious fungi -some no larger than walnuts, others four or five times as big -taste some- thing like mushrooms, but are much dearer to buy. Though some may be found only just under the surface of the ground, most grow four or more inches down. Big truffles are sometimes found as deep as two feet. The world's finest truffles come from Perigord, near Bor- deaux, and their distinctive flavour is greatly appreciated by gourmets. Pigs there are spe- cially trained to hunt for the truffles, digging them up with their snouts. Lulu, a French pig which worked every day for some years in the forests of Gascony hunting truffles, was so good at the job that her owner in- sured her for $10,000. Her amazing snout "divined" the delicacies at great speed and she used, he said, "to bark like a dog when she found them." Truffles were once valued so highly in Italy that the areas where they grew were guarded day and night against poachers. These men would sometimes send their retriever dogs through the guards to dig up the covered fungi, the dogs being trained to bring only large truffles with the best market value. It is under beech trees that truffles are mostly likely to grow. Epping Forest was once famous for its truffles, but now has none. Most of Britain's truf- fles are now found in certain districts of Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire on chalky soils, but those available in restaur- ants are usually imported from France. Sixty years ago the cellar of one famous London restaurant regularly housed some and imported truffles valued at $150,000. SAFETY FIRST A medical officer was testing the camp water .supply. "What precautions do you take against infection?" he asked the sergeant in charge. "We boil itfirst, sir;" replied the sergeant. "Good." "Then we filter it." "Excellent." "And then," said the sergeant, "just for safety's sake we drink beer." SUCCESS! "My son went away ten years ago to make his fortune." "And what is he worth now?" "I don't know for sure. But the New York police are offering twenty thousand dollars for him." BY REV R. .BARCI.AY WARREN B.A. B.D. The Word Became Flesh John 1:148 Memory Selection: The Wort became flesh, and dwelt anion! us, (and webeheld his glory, ti►4 glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1;14. The wonder of Christmas lief in the fact that the God loved u1 enough, that Christ, the Eternal Son, came tows in the likeness of human flesh. The Babe of Beth- lehem `was God Incarnate. When he was about to enter upon his ministry at the age of thirty years, John went forth to pre- pare the way. John did his work humbly and well. He said, "He, that cometh after me is prefer- red before me: for he was before me." Actually John was a few - months older than. Jesus. Why then did he say, "He was before me?" John knew that even be- fore the world was created, Christ, the Word, had been with God and was God. Indeed, "Al] things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." - Jesus Christ is "the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." His own nation officially rejected him and asked their Roman overlords to crucify him. On the third day in spite of a Roman guard he arose from the dead and emerged tri- umphantly from the tomb, Indi- viduals from nearly every nation on earth are still receiving him. To these he gives power to be-. come the sons of God. A miracle takes place in the heart. Not only are the sins of the past forgiven but the person now hates the sins which once he loved. Now he loves God with all his heart and his neighbour as himself. With all the tinselry and trap- pings that have accumulated in the observance of Christmas let us be sure to centralize our thoughts upon the main truth. Then we will wonder, worship and obey. May this Christmas season be one of great blessing to you! Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking t.i 3C 2 1:ai. 3 7 `; 1~13 D Y`.S3NI V O 13 •Sf. 31N N IdS V N V bV l, O 3-1 iV M N 1V a O O N :'i V �I31N 21? S 3 38 a 3 d DV via 1 3 -1V31S VD "HEY, WATCH IT,•BUDDY"-A steer in a Canadian feeding yard gives forth a rumbling bellow, unwilling to accept his fate with resignation. These fine, beefy specimens of livestock, dehorned to prevent injuries, await delivery to farmers and breeders who fatten them for ma:.ket. v: v.. r y\ -k K WV.... 4:8i:itW r, t...: .:: Yw ts:;.., ... u..Nv\.r,..s. .in n,...w. 'A.a�.x\i•::w 'Vi ::> BRiTISH VIEW OF ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS -This cartoon which appeared in the Lon- don Daily Express on Nov, 28 expresses one English view of current U.S.-British relations. The drawing depicts Soviet Communist Party leader Nikita Khrushchev saying to President Eisenhower, "You• sees Now you can understand what 't means to have satellite trouble.