The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1956-06-14, Page 9Century-Old Staffa Mill
Destroyed Second Time I
Fire, fed by lumber, sawdust
and oil, ripped through the Staf
fa sawmill with lightning speed
Monday night," destroying it for
the second time in 40 years.
The blaze, believed to have
started near a diesel engine
which operated the mill, melted
fuel tanks spreading oil over
the already raging flames.
, Principal industry of the Hib
bert township hamlet, the saw
mill was levelled tq its concrete
foundation in less than an hour.
Considerable lumber, piled near
the mill, was badly damaged.
Loss was estimated at $40,000,
partly covered by insurance.
Another mill on the same site
was destroyed by firq .-40 years
ago. Staffa had had a sawmill
for over a century.
The tall column J of' smoke,
rising straight. up in the calm
air, could be seen for miles and
attracted .hundreds Of spectators 1
to the scene.'
Si* Smoke For Miles
Tom Young, owner of the saw
mill for the past five years’, said
there had been no sign of fire
When work stopped at the mill,
at the end of the afternoon. In
the early evening, residents of
Staffa, living east of the saw
mill, saw fire breaking out in the
east end of the mill. A telephone
call from a Staffa neighbor was
the first warning received by
Mr. Young, who was at his home,
150 feet west from where the
fire was first seen.
Mitchell and Seaforth fire bri
gades answered calls to the fire.
Firemen put jumper intake's in
to a small tributary stream of
the Ausable River, 200 feet east
of the sawmill, and laid streams
of water on the fire.
Before the fire trucks arrived,
Mr. Young himself had attempt
ed to fight the fire with> spirit
hose ,but was driven from. the
mill by hdat as the1 ’became
more intense. , c-’
Lumber Catch**Fir*
Stacked lumber in, piles 10 Jtq
15 feet, high >caught fire from the
burning building, anqL blazed
fiercely after the mill itself del-
lapsed. A wjnch truck'owned by
J.“Parsons of Staffa was used,,to
pull .-oyer fWning; lumber ,pifes/
I and scatter th.e: blaming teawfci
that hose-water could be pt$
Warm Weather
Boosts Growth
Spectacular growth, spark
ed by a wave of hot Weather,
is helping farmers recoup
some of the losses suffered
by the late spring this year.-
Grains are pushing up
quickly and vegetable crops ,
are progressing well.
During the past week, tem
peratures have i been rising
steadily. The mercury hit a
peak of 97 Tuesday,
Crop, Soil Group
To Tour County
Directors of Huron. County
Crop and Soil Hmprovement As
sociation and th^ir guests will
make their annual bus tour of
outstanding Huron County farms
on Monday, June 18.
In the south'end of the county,
(the men will visit Hirtzel Bros,
farm, Crediton, which recently,
acquired a prize Hereford bull
from the west and which features
a partial loose housing program,
and the farm of Harold and Al
lan Walper, Grand Bendf
At Bayfield, directors will view1
the operation of. Alvin Bettles
and then proceed 'to Goderich to
see Bissett Bros, dairy farm.
They will ajso inspect the
farms of Elmer Robertson,' Car-
low and Auburn, and Heber Eedy
and Sons, Dungannon. The tour
will end with a visit to CKNX’
|fV station when'■ the executive
of the Association will be inter
viewed by Bob Carbert on his
“Focus . Farm Show.”
«G. W. Montgomery, secretary
treasurer of the Association, is
in charge of the tour.
District Juniors
Top Marksmen
South Huron Junior Farmers-
won the rifle shooting compe
tition at the Perth-Huron Field
Day held in Seaforth Saturday.
Marksmen on’ the team in
cluded Doris and D'oreen- Brock,
William and Andrew Dougall,
Don Pullen/ Gerald Wallis, Al
lan Rundle and Maurice Love.
Other district juniors who com
peted during the day were
Marion Creery, - Pat Marshall,
Alma Hern, Marlene Towle,
Douglas Stephen, T/im. Triebner
and Ray Cann.
Perth athletes compiled, the
most points of the day, defeat:
ing Huron 51 to 41,
Clinton Juniors won the Huron
championship and will represent
the county at the provincial field
day at Guelph this Saturday.
ListoWel juniors won the Perth
title. ■ .
A Listojvel group fWon the
square dancing competition, with
Clinton second and. Stratford
third. ’ •
. Perth won. the boys’ softball
tournament and Huron won the
girls’ ball competition.
.Huron winners of track and
field event were Joyce. Miller,
Ione Watson, Verda' McMichael,
Doris Dinsmore, Doqg Keys, Bob
McDonald and Ron McMichael.
■ Perth prizewinners ■ included
Margaret Horn, Fern Sawyer,
Anna May Thompson, Bill
Nethercott, George Hyde.
............. ..............
on them. Firemen succeeded in
checking the spread of the fire
through piles of valuable hard
wood logs that were piled to the
northwest and north of the mill
building.
Water was played by the fire
men on the north edge of a large
sawdust pile south of the mill, to
check, the spread of the fire to
ward the pile,
A call to the fire was answered
by an emergency crew from the
■Mitchell Rural Hydro Area.
When fire began tq burn its ,way
(up a hydro’pole beside the saw
pill, the hydro men temporarily
,cut off the power at a pole to
the east of the mill, as a proT
tettion to firemen.
----/-------- -------- • .
'New Beet Seed ;
Is Being Tested
! The "South Huron 4-H Sugar
Beet Club met Thursday night
at the farm of My. Lloyd Lov
ell, two miles north of Hensail
on-Highway 4.
MrJohn Cass'of Wallaceburg
who is associated with the Can
ada and Dominion Sugar Beet
Company and who is director
of the 4-H sugar beet clubs -in
South Western Ontario, showed
members the various methods of
cultivation of sugar beets. He
also displayed two different
kinds of - sugar beet seed--the
cracked seed, and the monogerm,
a new seed which recently came
from the States and which, has
been planted in 40 fields in small
test plots in Ontario.'
President Keith Lovell chaired
the meeting. Members viewed
crops prior to the meeting. '
Huron County
Crop Report .
By G. W. MONTGOMERY
Despite intermittent showers
during the week, farmers made
considerable progress with the
seeding of corn and white beans.
Some of the early seeded
spring grains were sprayed for
chemical weed control during the
week. Warm weather during this
pas.t week, also resulted in much
improved hay, pasture, fall
wheat and spring grain growth.
Forty Holstein, breeders from
the county took part in the an
nual bus tour, this year to Kent
County on June 6.
Your Farm
Calendar
Thursday, Jun* 14 -
TWILIGHT MEETING-Huron
Holstein breeders annual twi
light meeting at farm of Thos.
Hayden and Sons, Gorrie.
✓FARM AND HOME WEEK--
. Monday to Friday, O.A.C.
Guelph.
Saturday, Jun* U -
FIELD . DAY-Regional junior
farmer field day, O.A.C., Giielph.
Tuesday, Jun* 19 —
FRUIT GROWERS . TOUR-To
Leamington and experimental
station at Harrow.
Monday, Jun* 18 -■
SOIL AND CROP TOUR-Dir-
ectors and guests will toun Huron
County starting at 8 a.m.
F*®# NiMTHE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1956
First Irrigation In Huron County
Starts On Clinton District Farm
Second Section
■Lt
< .On Tuesday, one of the hottest
days of the spring, a Clinton
tdistriqt farmer put into opera-
’tjpn what is believed to be the
'first irrigation system in Huron
dwpiuity.&ugh A. Ball, R,R. 4, Clinton,
altered two acres of newly-sown
sweetcorn with his portable pipe-
1W. System. He pumped the wa-
■tei.' .from the spring-fed pond W farm, near No. 8 highway
between Clinton and Seaforth.
Ball’s equipment includes 96
pipes, each 20 feet long.Besides corn, the Ciinton dis
trict farmer will irrigate several
acres of turnips. Ball plans to score another first for Huron
County when he puts into opera
tion his new turnip seeding ma-
chine, purchased from the Unit
ed States. It is believed to be the
first of its kind in the county.
The two-row turnip planter, a
precision. .machine, sows ferti
lizer on each side of ther rows.
He hopes the irrigation will
enable him to harvest Iris turnips
at least two weeks ahead of nor
mal schedule and allow him to
cash in on the high turnip price
at the beginning of the season.
A second irrigation system will
be installed this week, too. An
drew Moore, of R.R, 3, Seaforth
has purchased watering equip
ment to boost production of rasp
berries and strawberries.
G, W. Montgomery, Huron ag
ricultural representative, who re
vealed the start in irrigation,
said he doubted, if the practico
would become popular in Huron
County.
“It’s a question of water su.p«
ply” he said. “Few farmers in
Huron have sufficient water to
make an irrigation system /pay*
Most of our streams dry up in
summer time. Unless you have
a spring-fed pond or some other
reliable source of water* it would
n’t be practical to install an ir
rigation system.”
No sale of irrigation equipment
has been reported in this district
although one local dealer reports
interest in the Ailsa Craig area.
HOPELESS FIGHT AT. STAFFA—Firemen and neighbours who rushed to Staffa saw
mill when it caught fire Monday night worked in vain to stop, the raging-blaze which
was fed by lumber, sawdust and oil. The mill was leveled to-the. ground and con
siderable lumber stacked, nearby was damaged. Loss is expected to exceed $40,000..
It.was the second time, the Staffa mill has been destroyed in 40 years, —B-H Photo
..- . \ -. '.
By D. I. HOOPER
Flea Beetle Ruins Turnip Crop
Urge Farmers To Wqf eh Fields
A tiny/rily, fcMied 'the-flea- recently. It doesn’t take lt&i^-for*'"yellow stripe Adown each
/
Grass Silage
Quality of the silage depends
upon your ensiling process, ac
cording to experts. There’s still
time to give some thought to\
making grass silage. More than
likely'you can put a better grass
''crop into the silo if you do a
little planning.
Silage is either “a bonanza or
a bust,” ■ depending on how it’s
made. Good grass silage can
tbring your cattle through the
winter without too much money
spent for expensive proteins, but
grass silage that is low in qual
ity can mean a pretty costly in
vestment in supplemental feeds.
The quality of the grass silage
depends upon the ensiling pro
cess. Experts claim that preser
vation is based on the. fermenta
tion of the forage carbohydrate
material to lactic acid in the ab
sence of air. The fermentation
which occurs is an inter-action
between bacteria and the forage
material itself.;
TWINE
Baler Twine
UC0 Harvest Braftd—Baler 231 Feet,
Canadian Made,- 40 Lbs. Bale
Co-op Brand (Outstanding Super Quality)
Co-op Baler—231 Feet, 40 Lbs. Bale -*
Binder Twine
Canadian Made—Binder 600 Feet
6x6 Pack, 50 Lbs* Gross
'' Co-op—Binder 600 Feet, 6x8 Pack, 50 Lbs. Gross
Competitive Prices
Discount For Cash
■r
Certified Top Quality — Guaranteed Satisfaction
Proven Greatest Yardage—Continues As Best Value
Exeter District Uw-wr
Phone 287 Beside CNR Station
. The worst enemy of silage fer
mentation is air, or more specif-
ically! oxygem If air is present,
it will lead to excessive heating,
giving you low quality silage.
Molds, too, may grqw.
Another factor which may lead
to low quality silage is the lack
of carbohydrate material to pro
vide lactic acid in sufficient
quantities to properly ensile the
crop.
N**d. Grass-Legume Mixture
What forage material is put
into the silo determines ' to a
great extent how much carbo
hydrate material there will be.
The ideal combination to put in
the silo for grass silage is a
grass-legume mixture. If you
have an all legume crop, it is
necessary to use®* an additive 'at
"all times.
' Either wilting or direct chop
ping will give you about the
same results. Tests have shown
good consumption of direct chop
ped materials, provided that an
additive was put in at the time
the Silage was ensiled.
They say there are two keys
to good silage making. You should
first plan to harvest the prop
when it is at its highest nutritive
stage. It probably won’t yield
the greatest tonnage at this time,
but the increase in quality will
more than offset the drop in
tctai yield. When the crop- is
chopped at its highest nutritive
stage; it is probably the hardest
to ensile properly. This means
that you have to depend on con
ditioners to help you get high
quality silage.
Cut In Prt-Bloom Slat*
Concerning the time to cut for
age for silage, alfalfa, for ex
ample, should be cut in the pre
bloom state, and never ‘ later
.than one* tenth bloom for the
best silage. Bromegrass has the
highest sugar content and will
recover quickly when it is cut
in the- boot stage.
The second key which will
make good grass silage is con
trolling the environment. Points
which list undqr this key, are
fine chopping, rapid filling of
the Silo, and use of additives.
You probably can't get grass
silage chopped too fine for a!
trench silo. You should shoot for
a 14 inch, chop as being about
ideal, i For Upright silos, maybe
you c^h push the length of chop
up a little.
An important point is to get
the silo filled aS rapidly as pos
sible Once you start it. They
say that a let of poor, quality
silage comes out of trench silos
simply because they weren’t fil
led rapidly enough.
Also some think that many
trenches are too large for the
highest quality silage. It is Said
that overt working the chopper
to capacity Will not give enough
forage material to keep the qual
ity of the Ohsilago high.
DID YO KNOW?
Wean pigs by weight and con-
dition rather than >ge.
beetle, is.playing-havoc with- dis
trict turnip'Lcrops. * >5
The small’, insect is stripping
seedlings/,'a^^soon*’as they#come
out: of. the "ground. Farmers^ re-j
port; losses Abf. ‘/entire ieldfea*.>
number' .Mav^ Rlpwed^th^ji'
"down. •,
■■ --The ’beetle, accordin
Agriculture Representative Gere'
ry Montgomery, thrives in this
dry&t.Matter? A ?
The ag rep' urged fanners- to
take a look at their turnip fields
if they haven’t inspected them
Experts Discuss
Use Of Fertil izer
X
William Brown of The North
American Cynamid Co. and El
mer Robertson of Goderich were
guest speakers at the Exeter
4-H ’Corn Club meeting held in
SHDHS on June 7.
Mr. Brown spoke on commer
cial fertilizer and the methods
of applying it. He also distri
buted pamphlets among the
members giving helpful suggest
ions in the management of a
corn crop. ■ »
■ Mr.- Robertson, a successful
grower of field corn, spoke on
his methods and experience in
growing field corn.
Leaders Carfrey Cann, Andrew
Dixon, Ken Hern were present.
the insect; to strip a crop he
said. ’ ,
i. Mr. Montgomery cited- ,
ample of one farmer ’’wh'b&told-'.,-
.Him- his crop had ..not -bee® af;,
uected. They next day, ;haw|yer,
fius^tur-nip^howed. .pvidencM? of
f \ H --i*
' ,Gont^K.jMgthe bemIe-,-?iS
Chart, issued by the Ontario De-
ture office. Mr. Montgomery said
a number of copies of this pam
phlet were distributed at a re
cent turnip meeting in Exeter.
The pamphlet recommends the
following for control: “Duse with
three percent DDT at 40 pounds
per- acre or five percent DDT
at 25 pounds per acre. If aldrin
of heptachlor have been sprayed
on the plants for maggot, no
further treatment should be nec
essary.” •
Adults of this insect are small
black beetles, one-twelfth inch
long with a wavy inconspicuous
"yellow stripe \down each wing
coyer.,. They, hop like, flees when
disturbed. They attack the seed-
tlihg“. plants and eat holes in the
■leaves and stems.
.a
John Cabot made his voyage of
discovery to what is now Canada
only five years after Christopher
Columbus had landed in the West
Indies.
Of the 31 million books borrow
ed from Canada’s 765 public
libraries in 1953, juvenile books
lead in circulation with a total
of 13,256,000 borrowings.
Suggest Herbicide Use
In Controlling Weeds
“Wishing will make it so” does
not apply to the destruction of
weeds. The Field Crops Branch
of the Ontario Department of
Agriculture advises that both
Work and information on weed
control are required- ii fields
and roadsides are to be kept in
good condition.
The war on weeds is an un
ceasing one in which the newest
weapon, is„ the uge of herbicides
for spraying. 2,4-D' is still the
chemica| most widely used as
it is selective in action, econom
ical aha * easily’ applied.-; Other
members -of the same family of
chemicals, such aS M.C.P. and.
2;4,5-T are also. in common use
for weed control. *
These chemicals are used in
the. form of tsodium or amine
salts, of'as 'high'or* low volatile
esters. The salts are slower act
ing-, and do*npt form.a gas‘V^-
por which may drift away frdm
the .area, sprayed; ■ Esters . are
quick acting and more effective
on some weeds, Low’Volatile/est
ers are used more' and more be
cause they. also do not form a
gas vapor 'which may be car
ried by- the wind.to. do damage
to susceptible crops. ;
There- are about '20' chemicals
used for weed coptrol-in .crops
and it is necessary for farm
Sprayers, to .keep, up-to-date in
their use. Every farmer should
have the Handbook on Chemical
Weed Control (Circular 75) and
the Guides to Chemical Weed
Control (Circulars 75A, B & C).
These may be had for the asking
from the agricultural representa
tive or the Ontario Department
of Agriculture, Parliament Build
ings^ Toronto.
The guides contain detailed in
formation o n herbicides and
spraying recommendations for
specific weeds and crops. They
also classify the common weeds
according to tliolr susceptibility
lA 24.fi...................................
The BSrley Improvement In
stitute is offering $1,000 in prizes
for competition in the production
of high yields of barley of desir
able malting quality.
There are two regional con
tests with ten prizes, starting at
100 for a first in each region.
Region 1 is composed of all coun
ties west and south of Simcoe
and York. Region 2 includes all
Northern Ontario Districts and
all counties east of and including
Simcoe and York.
There is also a championship
contest, with the first three from
each region competing. Three *
prizes are given here. $250.,
$150.,. $100. • .
Awards are based on yield,
field score, and seed score. Seed
score is judged on the yield
sample and on a bushel * pre
pared for exhibition.
Varieties eligible are Mont
calm and O.A.C. 21. Minimum
acreage required for the contest
is five. Entries close on July 1,
1956. ’ ‘ .
Regulations and entry forms
are available from the office of
Agricultural Representatives, or
the Field Crops Branch, Ontario
Department of Agriculture Par
liament Buildings, Toronto.
Daniel E. Hicks
Dies In London
Fnueral service was held on
Tuesday from the Hopper-
Hockey funeral, home for Daniel,
E. Hicks, 83, of Zion, who died: >'
on Saturday in St. Joseph’s Hos- ;
pital, London. •
He was born onrihe Thames
Road and farmed mostly in Us-
borne Township.
He was a member of Zion
United Church.
Surviving is a sister, Mrs.
Ellen. Cox of Clinton.
Rev. J. H. Slade was the of
ficiating minister ’ and burial.
took place in Exeter cemetery.
Sunny Sunday
Brings Crashes
Damages totalled nearly $3,000
in district accidents this week.
Four, crashes occured on Sunday
when traffic was heavy.
A 17-year-old Seaforth girl,
Mavis Mennewies, escaped in
jury when her car rolled over
in the ditch of a Hay township
road Sunday evening. Damages
amounted .to $1,100 according to
OPP Constable John Forde, who
investigated.
Francis' R. Pitre, Sarnia,
crashed’ into’ the ditch when he
bailed to make a turn at the. in
tersection of Highway 83 and 21
early- Sunday morning. His car
suffered $500 damages OPP Con-
stablesACecil Gibbons investi
gated
cat driven by James M.
iR'obi^san, London, t went out -of
control after striking a pothole
of the Bluewater highway north
of Grand Bend. The vehicle flip
ped into the ditch and suffered
$300 damage.
A truck driven by Harold Kerr,
Wingham, careened .off the high
way near the town line and re
ceived $700 damage.
On Friday night, cars driven
by airmen from Clinton and Cen
tralia collided at the corner
north of RCAF Station Centralia.
Drivers were Louis Pineau, Cen
tralia, and John Paquette, Clin
ton. Damage was $135.
.It s N pt. P rofitable
, “Will there be any saving of
jleed.-by,,. Raising the market hogs
on pasture?” This is a Common
question of swine producers who
already know that it is econo
mical to pasture the brood sows
and that less labor would be in
volved in pasture feeding of their,
market hogs.
A study was made at the Cen
tral Experimental Farm, Canada
Department of Agriculture, Ot
tawa, in which groups of pigs
self fed a balanced ration in
doors were compared with pigs
self fed the same ration on past
ure.
There was no apparent dif
ference in the amount of grain
mixture required in the two
methods. Further, while the pigs
on pasture required an extra
week to reach a market weight,
there was no noticeable differ
ence in type, condition, or car
cass quality between the pigs
indoors and on pasture.
From these results it might not
pay to use pasture for market
hogs where land is valued and
can be .used advantageously for
the growing of other crops. On
the other hand, where pasture
is plentiful and barn space is
limited, pasture raising of hogs
may be the answer. Less labor
will be required in pasture feed
ing, particularly the labor of
cleaning out the barns.
However, careful attention to
the pigs is just as important on
pasture as with feeding indoors
and a full meal ration is essen
tial for rapid development of the
pigs-
Federal and provincial spend
ing on social security, health and
welfare currently totals about
$2,468,000,000 annually.
Passenger car sales in Canada
in 1955 totalled 386,937. Sales and
excise taxes remited to the feder
al government by the automobile
industry totalled $172,189,762 in
that year, an average of about.
$445 per car.
Order Your Seed
S
NOW!
Farm sprayers should remem
ber that herbicides are a useful
weapon in the war on weeds.
Like any weapon tliey should be
used intelligently and according
to directions.
• WHITE BEANS—ALL VARIETIES
Registered and Commercial
Custom Treating with Delsam for Insecticide
J Fungicide Control
seed soy beans
Limited Supply of Early Varieties On Hand
e SEED OATS & CULL BEANS ON HANb
X
X
X
Phone 32Hensail
Ji
• FUNKS | AND PFISTER SEED CORN
Early Varieties Are Getting Scarce
j
•’SEED BUCKWHEAT e
Limited Supply — Order Now
• IMPORTED BALER TWINE
Big Savings On Early Orders
=
This New Holland Super 66 Baler has increased rated
capacity up to nine tons per hour! It features a new two-
tone streamlined design and a new metermatie bale ad
justment which lets Operator set machine for “tailored
bales” . . . any size and density from 12 to 52 inches*
Let us show it to you!
Exeter
rorm tquipmenT
PHONE SOB R* Jtrmyh WILLIAM ST*