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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1951-05-03, Page 7How ,To Improve Your Memory At a unique 'School of 1\•ientory and Concentration in New York, psychologists are teaching pupils to play tricks on their memories. Those W110 . can't remember the names of people they meet, birth- days, telephone numbers, mportant instructions, titles of hooks and films, are taking a ten -week course on what to do about it . One ex -pupil is now manager of a big New York hotel and can remember the names of all the guests staying there on any one day, together with their •room num- bers, Another is a 'detective who has committed to memory the names and appearances of all the living ex -convicts in New• York State. Several mem or'y systems are taught at the school, but one of the most successful is also the simplest —that of association. The human mind, when it wishes to retain something, finds it easier to retain something else and associate the first thing with the second. All our ideas have a way of ar- ranging themselves in sets, and to • recapture one idea in the associ- ated set will mean that we can often recapture the others. Take telephone numbers. These should be associated with' some- thing else -1815, Battle of Water- loo; 6225, the age of your father and Christmas Day, 1299, the num- ber of months in the year, and what the, doctor asks you to say - 99. It is a great help to split the x1umber. Instead of thinking of four -five -eight -six it is easier to re- member four -five; eight -six • Napoleon, who boasted, "Never once in my life have I forgotten a name," Used what is called pic- ture association. Introduced to someone with a confusing name he would. say. '`I apologize, but I am not good at names. Would you. please spell if out for me?" (People are not o£- fended by such a request. In fact, they are flattered by your interest.) At the first opportunity Napoleon would write down the name on a scrap of paper. He would look at it for a moment, "photographing" it in his mind and even noticing the shape and size of the letter, Then he would throw the paper away, but he would always remember the name, for he was always able to materialize a picture of it written in his own handwriting. Remeinbering the title of a book pr film, is often baffling, but not if vje associate the title with some- thing else. We ought to prod the memory with quick -fire questi9ns: Where did we see the film? Did anyone accompany us? If a book, was it from the library? What was the weather like? What were we wear- ing at the time? It is remarkable how suddenly the title pops up to' the surface under such treatment. One of the important things the memory men teach is that the mem- ory cannot be improved by learn• ing things by heart. Actors spend a large slice of their lives memorizing their lines, but tests have proved they are neither better nor worse than other people when it comes to remembering in other spheres. Thin Coats Best There are several ways of pre- paring oak floors for the application of wax. One way is to apply the wax to the bare floor after it is filled with wood filler, applying the wax in very thin coats. Several layers should he used, thoroughly polishing and drying after each layer before applying the next. • It has been discovered that sev- eral thin coats of wax are better than one or two heavy coats, The covering lasts longer and the floors are nor as slippery. tics Take BY EDNII. 1VEMES THE kitchen fable, the center of family living in grandmother's day, has been steadily regaining its popularity in modern house- holds since the introduction oi; plastic tops. Junior can .overturn his ink while doing his homework; Dad can spill ashes from his pipe; Mom can set down hot dishes without pads; Sister can smear fingernail polish around—all without dam- age. These advantages, which the American.public was quick to rec- ognize, are now being made available in front -of -the -house furni- ture. There are plastic -surfaced pieces for the dining room, the living room, the bedroom, the terrace—almost any spot you can name. Although this new furniture was inspired by mar - resistant kitchen equipment, there is nothing pa2ntryish-looking about these new melamine laminates. A number of new finishes have been achieved in designer -created pieces recently introduced. There are real woods coated with plastic for extra durability, or wooclgrains reproduced on photographic paper. The latter appear, to the casual eye, to be the real thing. There are table and dressing table tops of fabric to match your draperies. These have been impregnated with melamine to make them glossy and lasting. There are also treated papers in ebony -like black or pastels, and there are combinations of wood, fabric and paper in a novel, textural surface. This dressing table top of striped drapery fabric laminated with white paper and melamine matches window hangings; is impervious to damage from spilled cosmetics or the lipstickeii message milady is writing., Experiments in preparing land for grain. and corn, conducted at the `Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa, seem to pretty well bear out results which 1 have reported at. different times in this column from other sources. The Ottawa folks have found out that equally good results may be obtained froili, shal-4' low: plowing; which, course, means a real saving in power—either horse or mechanical. Both clay and loam soils were• used in the experiments extending from 10. to 14 years, and both the mouldboard and disc ploughs were compared at depths of four and seven inches. Clay, soil tests showed no advantage in ploughing sod for corn deeper than three to four inches: in general oats and barley yields were not influenced to any considerable extent by the depth of the ploughing. * k' In the Ottawa experiments on the loam soils, corn following barley and corn after sod produced slightly higher yields where ploughing was done at six to seven inches, than where the depth of ploughing was three to four inches. Somewhat. similar tests, held in co-operation' with the Ontario Ploughmen's As- cociation on farms in eastern On- tario, on both clay and loam soils, indicated no advantage from a yield standpoint in ploughing deeper than four inches. • * '1 A comparison of results from the use of the mouldboard and disc ploughs in the Ottawa tests indi- cated a trend towards higher yield of corn where the mouldboard plough was used, but there was no consistent difference 'between the two types of . equipment measured by the yields of the grain crops in the different experiments * * Also from Ottawa conies some valuable advice about the prepara- tion of seed flats. The commonest method of doing this is, of course, to fill a flat half --inch from the top with soil, then screen another gtiar•. ter inch of soil over this, and tirn1, The seeds are sown broadcast over this surra»'•" 'and covered with screened soil. Women In Canadian Cancer Research—Dr. Altene Scott. men, wring degree of radioactivity in thyroid.•gland of patient aft( a, tracer dose of radioactive iodine was administered. As long as this method works satisfactorily, there's :no reason to change it. But if difficulties are met with and poor results obtained. Dr. A. P. Chan of the Horticulture Division suggests trying one of the following methods. {t * One of the best is to fill sterilized flats' with sterilized soil Which con- tains a large percentage (') of sand within 1 -inch of the tops of the flats. Both soil and Rats can be sterilized by pouring hot water over the surface. This will kill most of the harmful organisms causing plaht diseases. When soil is treated in this way it must be Left to dry sufficiently to be manageable; small quantities ,of soil can be sterilized in an oven held at 180 degrees F. for 30 minutes Sterilized sand should. then be sifted over the soil' until the fiat is filled at the top. The sand should be levelled off but not Fashion ote arm firmed. In place of sand, fine vermi- culite may be used. Actually this material is preferred because it does not need to be sterilized. The seeds are sown broadcast and covered with just enough fine peat to hide the sand if small seeds are sown. With larger seeds, a little more peat may be used. Water the fiat with a fine hose. using enough water to turn the peat black. If there is the least drying -out, the peat will turn a light brown and water should again be applied * Another good method is to fill sterilized flats with wet sterilized peat to a level of one inch from the top. Place half an inch of sterilized sand on top, water thoroughly and leve the sand, Sow seeds in shallow trenches made with a wooden label. The depth of the trenches should be increased for larger seeds. Do not water but cover immediately* with a piece of glass. For seeds which germinate quickly there is no furth- er need for watering until the seed- lings are pricked off If drying does occur water by placing flat in a shallow pan of water. at * You allay have got by with using untreated seed in the past, and you may.continue to do so in the future. Still, sooner or later, when condi- tions are favourable for disease, you're almost bound to run up against real losses. And chemical seed treatment is an inexpensive foram of insurance against such losses. * '1 Many diseases affecting a wide variety- of crops are transmitted by means of seed. The organism re- sponsible for a given disease may be carried over from one crop to the next on the surface of the seed, in the seed, or with the seed as impurities. Those diseases which are transmitted on the surface of the seed, or produce only superficial infection are controllable by chem- ical seed treatment, but deep-seated diseases in the seed arc not and hot water treatment has proved effective in many cases for their control. eke Proper seed. cleaning may go a long way in eliminating diseases carried as impurities. In addition to controlling disease - producing or- ganisms on or tivith the seed the function of chemical seed treatment is to protect the germinating seed and seedlings against attack from soil -borne o;eanicmr present in most soile. Snell benefits front ;.ccd treatment a� increased quality and yield have been amply demonstrated, and re- pay the cost of treatment even though .the disease may not be ap- parent. While the use of better grades of seed is recommended, it does not always ensure the crop against attack from seed- and soil, borne diseases. Witco tine symptoms of disease are COn'ipiCUnliti, the gron et' sOUll recognizes them. In Many cases, however, where a poor stand is oh tamed. where yield and quality are low without visible evidence of dis- ease, the grower too often is prone to lay the blame on poor soil tie unfavourable .weather. 1'el luauy diseases express themselves in this way, and in some cases crop losses might be avoided by first treating the seed with one of the chemicals available on the market Married Folks Have Fewer Headaches Are you subject to headaches? If you are, so are millions .of others. You are not, repeat not, a rarity. Dr. Henry Ogden of Louisiana State University College of Medi- cine, has just concluded a survey covering 6,000' people. Here are some of the things he has discov- ered. If you are young you are more prone to headaches than your elders. His investigations showed that nearly 80 per cent of those in their twenties had headaches. The figure for the sixties and over was only 28 per cent. If you arc single, too, you seem more likely to be afflicted with that aching head. Dr. Ogden's research showed that nearly 71 per cent of the single people in the world had headaches.. The figure for married folk is ten per cent less. He found that medical students Suffer more than any other group, and farmers less. The percentage among the students was 80; among farmers 50. In between these two extremes carne the housewives with 69.8 per cent. Another of his discoveries was that women suffer more than their menfolk. Seven women, in fact, have headaches compared with five men. "Hair Of The Dog" When you wake up with a hang- over, does a . sympathetic friend prescribe a "hair of the dog that bit you"; in other words, another drink? There's a good reason for the saying. In the bad old days, when rabies, caused by the bite of 'a mad dog were common. patients were given a medicine containing hairs from the animal responsible. As recently as 1866, at an in- quest on a child who had died from a dog bite, it was said that the dog's body had been recovered from the river, its liver cooked and given to the child, iii a vain effort to save her life, GARDEN NOTES Making Every Foot Count Even a plot of 10 feet by 20 will give big returns in vegetables with a little planning and double cropping. In these small plots one is wise to forget those bulky or spreading sorts of things like pota- toes, corn, squash or peas. One should concentrate on beans, car- rots, beets, spinach, radish, lettuce, possibly a half-dozen staked toma- toes and perhaps a hill or two of cucumbers trained over the boun- dary fence. None of these vege- tables take up much room. Beans, beets and carrots can be grown in rows only a foot apart, though an inch or so wider will make cultiva- tion easier, and 10 feet of any of them will produce many Meals for the average family. With some of the very early things like lettuce, radish and spinach double cropping can be practised. Plant these in rows, say, 18. inches apart, with rows of the later things—beets, beans, car- rots, parsnips, etc., in between. By the time the latter require full room the other quick -maturing items will be out of the way. Itis also possible to have two crops in one season, where such quick - growers as radish are followed in the same ground by late beets, car- rots and beans. * e* Paths and Driveways Where the layout is of fair size and the traffic light most garden- ers find that good healthy grass will stand a fair amount of wear even from an occasional car. In many of the big parks and the grounds of the Experimental Farms the flower beds are separated by 6 to 12 feet of well -kept grass and there are few bare spots. But for connecting the front door with the street or the back door with the vegetable graden, traffic is too heavy and some other material will have to be provided. Depending upon availability one can use flag stones, bricks, gravel, crushed cin- ders or some of the patent materials which when rolled down are like the blaci op of the surfaced high- way, From the gardening gust - point the point to keep in mind is that these must be built so as to interfere as little as possible with grass cutting. Where properly lard and graded one should be able to run a mower right over thein, and save a lot of hand -cutting, * T * Keep Them Healthy The best protection against in- sects and disease is a healthy gar- den, grown from good disease -re- sistant seed, well cultivated and free from weeds. Bugs usually lurk in weed growth waiting until the graden stuff is big enough for a raid. For those bugs that eat holes in the foliage use poison. For those that suck out the juices and retake the plant wither use a spray that will burn. Dsease usually hits the plant cells and causes withering or rot in blackish spots. Chemicals liice sulphur are used in this case. Often one good treatment will be enough, but with things like leaf hoppers and potato bugs which lay eggs, two or three successive treatments to get the young ones will be need- ed. Most chemicals lose their po- tency in time so a fresh supply each season is advisable. GATE FASTENERS USE TWO PIECE$ OF AUTO TiRE AS SHOWN TO FASTEN FREE El't OFA WIRE GATE , SPIKE TO GATE POST. AS DRAWN. VII ' 11a1Y YOU RIP.$ tP AAY ethTfiVit MOV1p5...l'Vt IM101 THEY ARti PROFE551oNAt, N QUALITY 114AT 1,4A9 » PtCTUR1I. OP 1 1 1314411.4G CLAM%..Tl11S Ni'i1ST 1!1 A 4HoT or tete y Arthur 1) inter chic THE CORO PULLER OUT., SORRY., 1u. NAYE.To TURN ON uta Lt6NT FOP, A MINUTE