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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1951-01-25, Page 3"We are prcntd of our dairy cattle here in Canada," the speaker said, and those attending the meet- ing of the Eastern Branch of the Agricul,oral Institute of Canada probably thought they evcre in for one of those back-slapping, "eviry- thing-is-rosy" sort of speeches. They were soon disillusioned. ,e "But," the, gentleman went un, "the average production in Ontario is disgracefully low. 11ollaud carries more dairy cattle with an average production of 8,000 pounds of milk and 340 pounds of butter -fat per cow .per year. New Zealand milks more cows with an average annual production of 6,000 pounds of milk and 330 pounds of butter -fat. On- tario has an average production of 4,500 pounds of milk and only 150 pounds of butter -fat per eow per annum." * That speaker is a man who should know what he is talking about. He is Dr. E. S. Archibald; and be made those statements on the oc- casion of =Itis retirement as direc.or of the Experimental Farm Services at Ottawa. k :k While Dr. Archibald's remarks were pointed at one Province they could well refer to the rest of the Canadian provinces which, in fact, have lower milk and butter -fat pro- duction averages than Ontario. • * 0 The agricultural scientist's state- ment surely indicates that Canadian dairymen should put more effort into increasing the production of their herds. How it could be done is told by Dr. Archibald himself: "With increased dairying, the trend is and should be an intensive grass- land agriculture. This means greater soil conservation, more intensive use of our soils, better crop selec- tion, contour culture where neces- sary and greater use of fertilizers. A properly planned agriculture in- volving these factors calls for great- er co-operative activities amongst those engaged in farming, educa- tion, production, storage and 'mar- keting . . ." * >k 0 While our herds may never reach the average level of production of those in Holland, it would indeed be a triumph on the part of Cana- dian dairymen if they came any- where near it. ,k ,k If they can only devise some sort of machine that will lay the eggs, practically the entire operation of raising chickens will be done me- chanically, . and a really modern poultry plant will have as many gadgets, push buttons as the instru- ment panel of a -big super -bomber. :k * * Latest development along this line is using infra -red lamps -the sante kind they have to bake the enamel on newly -painted automobiles -to keep the chicks warns and cosy. In tests conducted down in Delaware baby chicks were placed in a re- frigerated room 12 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, With infra -red lamps as the only souce of heat, it was found that the chicks thrived under the heat lamps even at this low temperature. ,k ,k ,k As a result of these tests, a large poultry farni installed an infra -red heating system in its new 20,000 chicken broiler house using 228 lamps placed 19 inches above the floor. As the chicks grew and re- quired less heat the lamps were raised. The beat output is regulated by a thermostat. The um method eliminates tiring and stoking of stoves, excludes the danger of tire and provides a con- stant heat. The chicks also do not crowd and injure each other since they do not Iutve to huddle for • tvartitth, * 4 0 And if you are one of those )vlto think we should have more Govern- ment controls than already' exist, it might be worth your while to read what an English egg producer Peter Lyne by name ---has to say• about it. Isere it is, as reported in The Christian Science Monitor, :u e * The sad ti ings that are happen- ing to the Englishman's breakfast egg are only a part �f the. perplex- ing. situation facing the British farming industry of the beginning of this new year 1951. ..To take the egg problem first - the fact is, that roughly speaking, there are only enough eggs in shops these days for about one egg per week per person. And those 50,000,- 000 eggs a week are none too fresh. Some housewives refuse to serve a boiled egg unless they can obtain them off' the ration from a country friend. But the trouble is that coun- try friends are increasingly tight- fisted with their eggs. e 0 0 It has happened this way. Under . the "fair shares for all system," the government has worked out aq ingenious and complicated plan to siphon eggs from the producers to the official government buying agencies with as little leakage as possible. An elaborate and inevitably costly piece of bureaucratic machinery has been built up which provides smoot:t going for the producer, but has almost eliminated really fresh eggs. To show how it works I will give my own experience as a small- scale egg producer. Last year we sold 12,700 eggs to the government packing station and had no parti- cular wish from a business point of view to sell them to anyone else_ . The government sends round its own collection truck every Tuesday. It provides the boxes.et® pack the;,.. eggs in. All we have to do: , is to fill up the boxes and receive the check for the collection of the week before. * h: What is more, the goverinment buyer has been paying us five s' lings a dozen and selling them in shops at four shillings a "dozen. The difference is paid for out of food subsidies. But the government's hand goes deeper still into our egg produc- tion. Our chicken -feed rations, which are strictly controlled, are calculated from the egg production figures which the government keeps as a result of the eggs we selrto it. It is all so easy. • The govern- ment is, in fact, doing a good deal of our account keeping for us. We are anxious to send as many eggs •as possible to the state, packing station. k * ,k If someone asks can we let them have some eggs, we are apt to stand on one leg and say hesitat- ingly, "Well, yes, but we ave to charge you a shilling more than you would pay in the shops. We can't do it very often, because if we do it will upset our business with the packing station and we shan't get so much teed." :k 0 0 Then just to show how hard it all is we remind our visitors' that CROSS'," O PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Sacred images 6. Morning' moisture 9. Knack 12. Feminine name 19. Be indebted 14. By 15. Mischievous trick 10. Brier period of rest 18. Youthful years 20. String oe ears 21. Platform 28. Organ of hearing 25, Diusced 26. Self 27. Disease 29. Marvel 31. Treats with gas 35, Force 27. Beverage 38, Informal talk 41. Perish 42. City in Indiana 43. Natural food of boo 45, More peculiar 47. Take too much food 49. Fisher for certain fish 52. Large body of water 13. Atuerlcan hnmartst 64. Apart 56. Matte a nee - take 56. Staff 57. Honored DOWN 1. Denson 6. Behalf therebaickitg to 7. Female sheep 8, Direction 9, Pertaining to bees 10. !{not again 11. English rivet 17. Beseeches 19. Approached 21. Condensed 2. Elevator atmospheric moisturee carriage 22. Mono by 3. Elaborate 24. 'Pattered discourse 27. Grown boys 4. Baseball teams 28, Period of light 3 .4 6 7 30. ifeep back 32. Lighted by stars 33. Always (poet,) 34. Speak 36. Disturbed the peace 98. Selected 39. Flutter over 40. Close (poet.) 42. Web-footed birds 44. Pernod of time 46. Bard of hear- ing 48. Commotion 50. City in 'Tolland 51. Color 9 10 it 4• 16 1 1 z 29 lad+•z;•+;.;: i,L•;rt; 4 4:444A 11124:-,: mt.44!ko. 49 ;r Answer y • • eaesea lsewhere On This Pagan Snow Lift -Little Linda Jane Keene; age 3%, has her hands fall 'frying to help shovel off some of the six-inch staow. The snow's not so tough, it's the shovel `that's too heavy. Comes Prepared - Four-year- old Dennis Lenagen of Aus- tralia apaprently wasn't sold on the efficiency of American transportation, for when he arrived he insisted on keeping his bike at his side. He made the long 'trip here himself- not by bike but, by plane -and will join his father in Trinidad. we ourselves mostly eat only crack- ed eggs or ones that might be re- jected by the packing station. We let very special friends have eggs and make exceptions where we are appealed to in cases of emergency. But every now and then we feel very indignant over tf is egg busi- ness. Without this super planning for fair shares it is true that some- body , might be having two fresh eggs and somebody else no eggs at all. But would there not always be that glorious opportunity for the' no -egg man, to- get.,into ihe,,,,two-+ egg class? Is it really a satisfac- tory answer for everyone to have one stale egg? We, as producers, sell to the packing stations. Bu we are not really happy about our perishable commodity losing its freshness in a three-week or month-long trek through tr:e long channels of the bureaucratic machine. We would like more people in 1951 to have not merely more eggs but snore fresh eggs. WHAT TO .DO WITH OLD RAZOR BLADES What to do with old razor blades should be no problem to gardeners. They ought to try burying thein among the roots of their hydrangea plants. The flowers of the hydrangea are naturally white and pink,. but by treatment with oxide of iron (rust) blue flowers are produced. The razor blades provide the osx ide of iron by rusting in the ground, and it is said that hydrangeas ab- sorb it and turn blue. Swedish architects consider the razor blade problem so important that in their latest blocks of flats bath -rooms have a "disposal slot" in the wall. Used razor blades are pushed through and drop into the wall cavity where they eventually rust away. How Cats Get Their Vitaan-iiin D Cats don't lick their fur merely to keep clean, according to latest research. They do it to get their daily supply of Vitamin D, without which no animal can have perfect health. There are glands in the cat's skin nt=hich exude oil into the fur. When exposed to the ultra -violet rays of the sun -present even on a .dull day -the oil produces a sub- stance 'containing the vital Vitamin D which the cat absorbs with its tongue. An unfounded belief is that a stolen cat 'makes a first-class mouser, but animal psychologists say that any cat is capable of killing rats and mice. The hunting instinct is natural, but soft living and the comforts of civilization is ruining it. Instead of scouting round in darkened corners in search of 'ro- dents they prefer curling up in front of the fire and letting the manufac- turers of rat poison take over their chores. Naturalists who have examined the stomach acid contents of dead cats have repeatedly found feathers and parts of birds. Hardly ever is there a sign' of a . cat having eaten a mouse.. Y1t579t,of the cat's bird -hunting is duncat night and in the early morn- ing, when he can catch both the mother bird and the young ones at the sante time, Snapshot Saved Him From. The Gallows Answering a knocking on the door of his flat in Rio, Ralph Brew- ster was confronted by a police inspector. "I am afraid, Senor," said the inspector, "that I must arrest you for the murder of Senor Francisco Belgardo." Brewster appeared stunned. "But I was a friend and business partner of Delgado. Why should I have wanted to murder him?" he protested. "True. you were partners," ack- nowledged the other. "But isn't it also 'true that you quarrelled with Delgado the day before he died - and threatened hint with violence?" "We did quarrel," Brewster ad- mitted, "hut we became friends again. Otherwise would I have gone sailing with him?" "But I put it to you," persisted the detective, "that you went sail- ing for the very purpose of striking hint with an oar when his back was turned -which would account for the fact that he was found with his head crushed in." Brewster 'paled. "Let me explain," he said. "Although it sounds fan- tastic, Delgado asked me to hold the tiller while he climbed to the masthead to loosen a. rope that had jammed. While he was up there he lost his hold and fell to the deck head first." "A likely tale," sneered the de- tective. "And perhaps you can also account for the missing oar ?" Delgado was a Brazilian and popular in Rio. So the case made newspaper headlines and the whole thing seemed crystal clear. The Englishman had quarrelled with Delgado and had taken his revenge. Hot-blooded Latins understand how feelings boil up, and then -in a flash -murder is done. Brewster's case looked hopeless. But, as a last resort, his defending counsel got into touch with the British Consulate General and ad- vised him to advertise in all the local papers for anyone who could produce evidence of Brewster's innocence. It also happened that on the af- ternoon when Delgado met his death a young tourist on board an American liner entering Rio had stood at the rail taking snap- shot's. He was a keen student of photography and took great trouble to get some interesting life studies of the entrance to the har- bour, with its curving beach backed by picturesque mountains. When, three days later, lie called for his pictures at the chemist who was .printing then, he found that one of a yacht had a slight 'blemish on it, a black smudge spoiling the white spread of sail. It annoyed hint. And he pointed it out to the chemist, who produced a power- ful magnifying glass to examine the imperfection. "You say you took these pic- tures iatures three afternoons ago, from the American liner as it was entering Rio harbour?" The young man nodded in agree- ment. "I think the police might be in- terested in this print. Take a look through the glass and you'll see what 1 mean," the chemist contin- ued. Even the chemist's powerful glass could make out little more than a blurred shape against the sail. But that was enough to send the tourist hurrying along to police headquarters with his precious print. With the aid of special magni- fiers an enlargement many tines the size of the picture was made: and this revealed, without any shadow of doubt, a man's falling body. The enlargement enabled thein to identify Delgado's ship, and as there was no sign of Brew- ster, it was obvious that he was, in fact, manning the tiller. This piece of evidence is regard- ed as the most remarkable coinci- dence in the history of crime. For had the tourist clicked his shutter either half a second earlier -or later -Brewster would have certain- ly been executed for the murder of his friend! Will Inflation Wreck Us? Further serious inflation will un- dermine Canada's morale • and its entire defence program, Bruce Hut- chison write in a recent issue of Maclean's in an article, "Are We Heading for a 20 -Cent Dollar?" The sharp drop in' buying power of the Canadian dollar in the past three years is revealed in an ac- companying article by Sidney Mar- golius: when controls were lifted in 1947 the dollar was worth 79 cents compared with its 1939 value; at the end of 1950 it had slumped to 58 cents. By inflation, Canada and other free countries can wreck them- selves, destroy their present econ- omic systems and lose the fight against Communism, says Hutchi- son. "It can become our Achilles' heel and Stalin's secret weapon. He knows that but so far we don't." "We have denounced the Social- ists of Britain whenever they pro- posed a capital levy -but (with inflation) we have enforced a fer- ocious levy of our own. We have selected as our victim the man who has saved his money, botight Vic- tory Bonds, prepared to keep him- self in old age instead of living on the public. "We have exempted from the capital levy the speculator who was smart enough to buy goods like real estate or the claim of goods in the form of common stocks. The value of these things in money has risen as the value of money has fallen. "We have robbed the saver, the pensioner and the widow while the investor, the speculator and the or- ganized wage earner (who in the main has kept wages abreast of Hying costs) have gone scot free," The Cattadiait government thus has committed an act for which an individual could be put in jail, says Hutchison, "and has committed it at our command." The Canadian goveriltttcut is de- termined to avoid total or partial priee controls to curb inflation "but the U.S. is slithering into them day by day -and U.S. controls are po- litically irresistible here. "Unless this slide is soon arrested the American economy will be un- der wartime government controls within a year. Thus the greatest danger of all is that we shall repeal the free society of America for a temporary emergency when we face in fact perhaps decades of cold war; that, having established a totali- tarian economy in the name of dem- ocracy, we shall be unable to liquidate it in 10 or 2C years when everyone is geared to it." To escape this prospect and to check inflation now, Hutchison sug- gests the Canadian public support measures to: hold purchasing pow- er to the level of production; cut government spending on non -de- fence items; drastically increase taxes; raise interest rates on loans to curb private spending; reduce consumer credit. As for whets happened to the dollar itself„ Margolus points out that the average Canadian family is living better than it lived in 1939 but not as well as it lived in 1945 at the peak of the wartime boom. "If you parcelled the total income in 1939 among every Canadian, each had $386, Ip 1945 the per capita income had zoomed to $804 and in 1949 to $948. But the 1945 average income would buy $671 vt orth of goods at 1939 prices and in 1949 it could still buy $589 worth. That means the average Canadian has about 50% more buying power than before the war and 12010 less than in 1945." The average Canadian indus- trial worker earned $20.11 a week in •1939, $31.23 in 1945 and by mid - 1950 he was getting $43.50. Ac- cording to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, he's about 25% better off in real earnings than in 1939. But his present wages will buy him no more than $31.07 did in 1945. Canadians can expect to pay higher prices in 1951 for goods containing steel, wool, tin, rubber and most rnetals, says Margolius. And by spring suits, coats, shoes and some cotton items will cost more. A cold is like democracy -some- times the eyes have it and some- times the nose. Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking R D Q D W 0 CSE RESP ENS 7R EAR rYA IAEA ER '=r GASSES /ifE•RGY TeA c M 0 (P f� E i$ R / 7- A/ NE A RO 5 AR At S f l� FETE' Lorelei In Lace On a seaside rock with ocean breezes ruffling her long tresses, Janet Winters poses as a wintertime Lorelei i11 a brief, lacy -swimsuit. She also gives a preview of the sort of - thing that more northerly residents will see on their beaches next summer. JITTER By Arthur Pohl er GSE OFF THAT AWING, I WANT TO 1.)5E tri