The Seaforth News, 1949-01-06, Page 15TIEFARM FRONT
Jokuutssai
Looks like another mess of hash
this week, and the first ingredient
is something. about, fires, An insur-
ance man
nsurance-man says that only Il, per cent
of farm fires are the result .of care
lessness,' which looks somewhaton
the small side to us, but who are
weto' doubt the say-so of an expert?
Poor construction of buildings, he
claims, caused the balance.
•
By that he 'means- bad 'roofs,
chimneys that aren't' kept in good
repair, stoves or furnaces that over-
heat, and buildings without light-
ning rods. Anyway, it ,mightn't be
a bad idea to take a look around the
place and see' if anything,needs fix-
ing. And this might be a good time
for ane to remind you once again
that 'the amount of fire insurance
you carry SH tULD NOT be based
on what a building cost you years
ago, but on WHAT :IT WOULD
, COST TO REPLACE at today's
prices. There's a mighty big differ-
ence between the two. •
* * 9
Of course you know that water
pipes that aren't below the frost
level in the ground need extra pro- '
tection its winter; but it's also a
good idea to check any vertical
piping, that has been packed with
sawdust or earth, t,---ualce sure that
the peeking" hasn't fettled, thus ex-
posing some part of the pipes. And
_even indoor pipes, which pass
through_ unheated portions of the
house or other buildings, may need'.
insulation.
* * *
This latter is particularly neces-
sary with hot water lines, as the
insulation not only prevents exces-
sive .loss of heat, but will prevent.
freezing at times when such piping
may be idle.
* * . 5,
Dr. J. W. Bailey,a• well known
;veterinarian, has some interesting
things to say to all who keep dairy
cows. We have long been told, he
writes, that a lack of water. means
ess milk from the cows -and with
ilk being so largely composed of
water, it is easy to see why this
I*,e,,'ahogld be true.
* * *
However, a deficiency of water
causes an even more serious loss
than that of decreased milk produc-
tion, The biggest loss of all is
sickness caused by indigestion—in
fact itis this sickness which brings
about the decrease in the milk flow.
* . * - *
It is only natural that cows•should
suffer most from lack of water in
the whiter months. At other sea-
sons they are likely to have greener
feeds and to be outdoors where
water is more convenient. '
* s n
Dr. Bailey tells about a sick cow
which he attended in an ultra-
modern barn. She was the only
ailing, animal in a large herd and
was really sick. It took the better
:...z, part of an hour to figure, out what
was the matter with her; and the
answer—when found—was so simple
that it made him, feel foolish.
* 4, *
What had happened was that this
sow's drinking cup wasn't working
and Bailey estimated that the poor
beast had been without a drink fors
at least three days. Replacement
of a wornout valve in the drinking
cup soon fixed things' up.
* * *
Sometimes whole herds will sick-
en with indigestion during the winter
when water pipes freeze, or "auto-
matic" water systems go haywire,.
or drinking oups get plugged with
feed. When cattle are watered out-
side indigestion on a herduize basis
is likely to go along with a particu-
larly cold spelt. ,Shivering cows
won't drink es much as waren ones,
even though the water may be
steaming and have a smoking
heated stand*ing in* *tank,
tank,
The situation, naturally, is int 'i
'worse if the watering place is VI
unheated freezing tank, or a hole
chopped in the ice of a creek or.
New Airport Feature—Road Underpasses 'Runway
An Air France Constellation taxis over the world's first roadway underpass built to permit the si-
multaneous movement of aircraft and surface vehicles at New York's International Airport. The
' underpass,. considered a major engineering i' eat, drops to below sea level at tlye point pictured above,
The roadway, retaining walls and overpass comprise a 92,000 -ton "concrete boat" built to with-
stand pressures from below sea level.
pond, And indigestion on a large
scale may even appear in fairly mild
weather. That's because cows aren't
built like cancels, so trouble is com-
mon in herds that are only turned
out to water dice a day.
* • * 11,
So, Bailey says, why not take
time off some evening acid see if you
can figure out some ways of getting
more water into your cows this
winter? Plenty of good drinking
water means better herd health, and
that means less expense and more
hulk.
* * *
All of which I pass along to you,
together with The Compliments of
the Season.
Searching for Orchids
Ever since Jocelyn Brooke was a
child he has had a passion for or-
chids, those strange and subtly
beautiful plants. He says that of
the sixty species that grow wild in
Great Britain, many are ,very rare
indeed and growing rarer owing to
the increase of building, and the
depredations' of holiday makers,
hikers- and zealous botanists. He
pleads that these lovely rarities
should be allowed to flourish where
they, grew and said: "If one must
gather them, it is heifer to cut the
stalk, as this is less likely to dis-
turb the root."
Brooke has been an orchid hunter
since he was eight; entranced by
the spell of these flowers he has
sought and found some of the rarest
bf thein. Orchids have a strangely
imitative quality; there is the Bee
Orchid, which looks like a cluster of
living bees clinging to the stens
and. the Spider and Fly Orchids
have this 'same quality of mimicry.,
There is a Man Orchid, Frog, liz-
ard and Butterfly Orchids and, rar-
est of all in Britain, the Military
Orchid. He has searched all his
life for this, but has not yet found
it. Ile has even written a book
called "The Military Orchid,"
combination of personal anecdote
and botanical record which he terms
an, "au tobon tan ography."
He called orchids the Royal Fain-
ily of the British Flora and said,
"like other kinds of royalty, they
are on'the decrease; perhaps the
plant world in this country is be-
coming republican." He mentioned
that orchids are thought of by the
lira„ in the street as symbols of
Edwardian opulence or decadence;
to hint they have a fascination and
a quality bf uniqueness. "Orchids
are not quite like anything else;
there is something rare and singular
about thein, something a little dif-
ferent, something a little queer,
something rather self-consciously
and defiantly elegant"
Jocelyn, Brooke, product of Bed -
ales and Oxford, has been wine and
STOCKING TIME
By.GLUYAS WILLIAMS
HANGS UP STOCKING
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GOES UP TO BED GOMES DOWN ALA
WONDERING WHAT UNDRESSED TO MAKE
TIME SANTA CLAUS SURE THAT STOCKING
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GOES UP AGAIN W014-
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41 t n s l7- '* (ogyvislt, rasa, 011f Don 1,1011 k"' LOCKED 1ilE DDDR
book seller, author and medical
orderly in the Army. He joined as
a .private during the, war, remained
in the ranks for five years, and has
recently re-enlisted for a further
terns. He concluded his talk on
British orchids by saying: "When
to many of our public or private
symbols are losing their power to
sustain us I find it consoling to
think that certainly, but I can still
return every year to look at the
Early Spider on the Dover cliffs, or
the Lady Orchid in the woods of
the ElhanValley, and feel1 pretty
sure that they will still be there, and
-that they will still give Inc the same
satisfaction that they did when 1
was a child in that remote, unbeliev-
able age of thirty years ago."
Glass -Blowers Art
A Delicate One
The glassblower's delicate art is
thousands of years old, and is gen-
erally thought to have been dis-
covered about the beginning of the
Christian era in the Phoenician city
of Sidon. Since that time there has
been little change in glassblowing
methods, although modern tools
help simplify the procedure.
In the great days of Venice., glass
tlowers achieved a high artistic
status with their exquisite creations,
but today the blowing of glass for
most uses has been modified by
mechanical means, although the art •
survives to contribute an ssential
skill to the field of chemical re-
search. The scientist, and especially
the chemist, has become dependent
upon glass as one of the chief
materials for fabrication of con-
tainers in which his studies are
made
From the beginning of science to
the end of the last century only the
simplest glass apparatus . was
known; flasks, retorts and tubes
were used and their style changed
little down the Centuries. In the
last quarter century, however, more
elaborate ,apparatus and custom-
made glassware have been intro-
duced, a development necessitated
by the complicated work of today's
' scientific workers.
In the type of work done tor the
laboratory, a raw stock of tubular
glass, previously blown to this
shape as part of the manufacturing
process, is "held• in the flame of a
burner, fueled with gas and com-
pressed air or oxygen until the glass
reaches the right state of flux, a
point between rigidity and lique-
faction. From long practice the
operator konws by the colour of the
glowing piece when it has reached a
the proper state of plasticity. The
glass can then be drawn out many
tines its own length or blown into
any shape 'desired,
The flame from the torch can be
adjusted from a mere pinpoint. to
a fanlike blaze. Glass first becomes
red and than white-hot and in this
latter stage is almost impossible to
mould;; therefore, most of the work
is done while glass is red-hot.
As glass is a poor conductor of
heat the piece being worked can be
handled within an inch or two of the
molten portion.: Without this happy
faculty, the glassblower's efforts to
mould the piece would be difficult
indeed, as he must turn the entire
affair by hand, slowly and continu-
ously to achieve even heating while
applying the flame.
Poor Hubby
In recent months a perfume mak-
er ass been carrying on an unusual-
ly ambitious advertising campaign
in newspapers of the Mid -\est and
Far West The ads smell like the
perfume, which is mixed with the
ink used for the particular page on
*hick the ad appears. •
All went well until one news-
paper, by error, got the perfume
mixed into all its iitk for one issue.
The•h le paper reeked. Heavily
er o P P
scented husbands hesitated to go
home from the office lest their odor
be misinterpreted.
Among the complaints was one
from a reader who suggested that
the scent of hamburgher would be
more wholesome and appetizing.
The newspaper said no, all the dogs
would follow the carrier boys,
"I'm leery of blind dates—de-
scribe her to me!"
Millions of Tons
Of Iron 11►`re Riches
In bleak Ungava; the stunted
tamarack :had turned burnt umber
and each moining light snow frost-
ed the tough caribou moss. For the
engineers probing the biggest iron
ore deposit since Minnesota's Mes-
abi, it was time to call it a sum-
mer. Day after day a little Norse-
man seaplane dipped down on to
Quebec and Labrador lakes, picked
up men and supplies, moved them
back to the main base at Burnt
Creek (pop, 190). Now the twelve
drills were operating close by Burnt
Creek, Soon they would be silent,
and the year's' work would end.
Geologists have long known of
the vast iron ore riches in the
trough straddling the border of
Quebec and Labrador. When Do-
minion Geologist A. P. Low talked
about the deposits 50 years ago,
Mesabi was just conning into its
own, and nobody was interested in
the sub -Arctic wilderness. In 1937,
when Quebec Geologist Joe Retty
carte out of Ungava with a more
detailed report of high-grade iron
ore, Mesabiwas still Icing, But as
war demand cut deep into Mesabi,
Betty's reports became more inter
eating. By 1942 Hollinger Presi-
dent Jules Timmins was ready to
gamble $5,000,000 on Ungava. Since
then exploration drills have been
biting into the northern earth.
So rich was the lode that drill-
ing was done only where ore could
be -reached readily. One of the
best deposits was found by acci-
dent when a new -type drill was
tested at the Burnt Creek camp site.
The drill bit down into the earth„
struck rich ore 'at two feet, was
still in it when drilling was stop
ped at 367 feet.
For exploration work in the wild-
erness everything had to be flows
in, from beef to bulldozers, At first,
air freight cost Hollinger' 73 cents
a pound. By last April Jules Tina
mitis had his own airlift operating
from 'Seven Islands' to the airstrip
at Knoll' Lake. This season it car-
ried 750 tons, at an average' cost.
So far Hollinger had had no
trouble 'recruiting workers, most-
ly Newfoundlanders and French
Canadians: They eat well, pay $1.25
a day for food that costs the com-
pany $4.50, They work twelve-hour
shifts, around the clock, six days a
week, make from 70 cents to $1:30
(top driller pay) an hour For those
who stay for six months—most of
them do -there' is a I0 -cent -an-
hour bonus. 'Because they are in
to make a stake, they get along
without liquor or movies, take their
fun in recreation hut sessions with
harmonicas, jew's harps and fiddles
Before Ilollinger can move a ton
of ore, it must build a railroad to
the St. Lawrence at Seven islands,
where it is ice -free about ten
months out of the year. The survey
for the 360 -utile rail litre ($10f. mil-
lion to build and equip) will be fin-
ished next year. The line will take
three years to complete. Hollinger
already has an eye on Eaton Can-
yon's 350 -ft. waterfall, with its 500,-
000 h.p. potential, for a power
source. Production 111 Ungava is
probably five years away, and some
$20f, million will l.e poured into it
before a ton of ore is set down et
dockside.
"Monty Shows Them How" -The motorcycle was a present
to Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery ata London show.
and although he looks quite at home in the saddle, he'll prob-
ably transfer the gift to his son David, an undergraduate
at Oxford.
Labor Trouble Leaves Berlin Railway Station Eh• pty---\\ hen i:: is •l'i:;t;nttuuis; esu e, - in
Berlin's western zone walked off the job --to give transport employees a chance to Note its the
city elections—the S-Bahn station at Tcsupelhaf. was left empty In retaliation, the Rti,:ians
threatened to cut off power service to rail lines in westrelc, sectors,
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