The Huron Expositor, 1979-12-27, Page 17., Christmas to you and yours
Merry
It may sound like the pompous: Mediocrity of
middle -age but a few things about Christmas, these days
don't turn me on the Way r sontte of the R d fashioned
e 1.
Christmases dd.
In the newspapers recentln was a : item about real tree*
no tenger being allowed ipublic buildings, including
udtng
churches, In other words, only the sterile, artificial trees
are allowed, d
When you're well past the sunny side ;of fifty, , a lot of
memories flood the mind at Christmas. It's, more than forty
Years since 1 have been present when a Christmas tree in
the wild was cut. It was a gay but almost sacred occa sion.
when. our church young peoples group went tree -cutting.
We always took one of the older men of the church with
us because. he had the best axe. In old. Victoria County, the
church tree was always a huge work of . art. Those old;
churches had ceilings so high even the bats used lifelines,
A tree to fill the space had to be a dandy.
Some words' have disapppear•edfrom the English;
langua ,ge over the years and one that was familiar to the
lumberman of those days was helve. An axeman thought if
is helve-axeh>rndle-almost as a work of art.1 can remember
my grandpa -Grumpy, we called him -snorting at the: store
bought axehandles. He would pick `two or three helves
from the bush every year and store them for future use.
When they had, dried suffienctly, he would shape them
with hand tools. He was left-handed, as.I: am, and he
always contended that a goodhelve for a southpaw. should:
.bow left. He "'sanded" it with glass andgave that
throat and waste as delicate a shine as any finegrained.
paper.
He loved working with, an axe and; when he went with
the young people for the church Christmas tree, he would
regale the group with stories about the lumber camps in
the early days of Canada..
And he made that tree -cutting ceremony into something
almost awe-inspiring. The sound of an axeblade biting into.
Ontario
Ministry of
r ult
AA iC r UA
h tri •
o enews�
Viand Food
uron farm
and
Christmas is the season
of good will among people
that finds expression in the
traditional exchanges of
greetings '"and tangible
tokens of love and respect.
There is an underlying.
spiritual note that sounds the
real significance of
Christmas. Courage and
confidence, : optimism and
good will are just as surely
symbols of Christmas as are
the yule log and mistletoe.
As we approach , the
holiday season and the Close
of another year, we would
like to express our sincere
thanks to the many friends
with whom we have been
associated during 1979. Your
friendship and co-operation
arevery ry much• appreciated.
The Staff of the
Agricultural Office,' Clinton,.
the bole of a beautiful, straight spruce :is both sad and
glad; sad because a living thing is being removed, glad
because it would, grace God's ,house for the joyous
Christmas concert*: and the Christmas services.
In two or three deft strokes,'hurtPY. _ Could cut through a
•six-inch trunk in a few seconds. He knew exactly where a
";tree; would fall, too, and he made sure theleast Passible
p ss le
damage was done to any saplings surrounding , the felled,
tree;.
What a tree. It was always chosen from a neighbourhood
farm long before the festive season. Theyoungpeople
would start looking in. early September and woulhave a
dozen or more from which to choose.Thee final decisionwas,
made by the church board and the minister because
nothing was cut without permission.
In the early years, the tree was hauled to the church by
dozens ofwillin hands and it was.
g a happy crew .of young.
people who set the monster up in front of the old pump.
organ. In later years, a tractor was used to haul it to the
church and: hired hands made sure it was -secure in a hu$e
tub withguywires across the choirloft, This came about
because one year, the whole thing toppled', across the front
pews during the. Christmas .concert and almost pinned
Santa Claus to a lectern.
Ah, shucks, 1 guess the trees are prettier today. They
have flickering lights andfancy decorations, not just
strings of coloured' crepe paper; popcorn 'balls, last year's
Christmas cardsand candy canes.
But it sure was more fun getting the, tree.in those days,
listening to the older folks talk of pioneer days.
As mentioned earlier, ',I have alot of memories of past
Christmases and most of themare sweet.
Grow upas soon as you can, said Harvey Allen in
Anthony Adverse: It pays. Theonly time you really live. ,
fully is from thirty to sixty..The young, are slaves to
dreams; the old servants of regret. Only the middle-aged.
have all their five senses inthe-keeping of their wits,
A Merry Christmas to you and yours, my friends.:
Perth -farm nowS
The
BY ALM .scort*
F.L.,. RO'HMFlf
We've recently,,receiveda,
pamphletputlifng, the
Marketing. Proposal! for
Ontario: Oraini :Corn, The
pamphlet has been prepared,
for information purposes
only, by the Provincial Corn;
MarketingCommittee. It's ;a
committe;appointed by the
Grains CoMMittee of :the
Ontario Federation, of Agri-
culture, The objective of the
pamphlet is to inform Ont-
ario corn 'producers of the
marketing proposal which
they will be requested to
consider and either accept or
reject by democratic vote.
The committee is pro-
posing a negotiating board.
They see three ways in which
such a board could speakfor
the industry.
'It would; provide govern-
ment, the mass Media, torn:
processors and other agri-
cultural groups, information
regarding the problems,
interests and opinions of the
corn producer.
*It would consult with
governments regarding eco-
nomic, trade, taxation and
agricultural policies affecting
the corn :producer and the
corn trade,,•
'Thirdly, . it would lobby
fort
needs such asterminal
storage space, transportation
subsidies, tariff and trade
equity and research,
A board would have other
advantages:
•A producer board is nec-
essary before advance pay-
cor
nrents can be made t4
growers.
*It coda pat .forward pro-
ducer ideas for stalBl-#zatier(
Plans.
r1t could. monitor drying
and handling charges and
terms of sale•, andrespond to,
producer tequests.
*A, board could encouragg
producers to supply the
premiunt quality corn that
sortie markets require and
fight, for a fair return for
quality corn,,
«A. board would provide a
toll free up -to -the Minute
informationservice, based
on world and local con
dtions.
•A board could work with,
government and; grain mer-
chants to provide good stor-
age and time sales to bring
the best returns. ' a
'A board could push for
research in genetics, pro-
duction and processing,.
which could result in a higher
valves product.
Thii board would' be,
negotiating only, It could not
become an agency tobuy and
sell corn without a 66 Y,1%
favourable vote by eligible.
producers. A producer would
be able to increase his
acreage, and sell corn with-
out interference. In fact, the
board would help open up
new markets to accom-
modate the increase,
The proposed board would
collect levy fees of 20c per
tonne, Farmer .to farmer
sales would be exempt:, of
marketing fees.
R
marl
eting p
pamphlets pn this prgposaf
have been sent to County:
,agricultural offices. `Further
apformation is available from
OM Provincial Corn ,Market-
1pg Committee,, P.Q. Box
214, Station A, .Mississauga,;
'Ontario, ISA 2Z7.
THE CAlNV1 o
ENVIRONiNEIMT
Ten days to two weeks
before .a: cow is due to calve,
she should be separated from
the other animals in the
;herd. In late fall or winter, a
clean, ,roomy, well bedded
maternity pen should be
used. This should provide
about 150 to 200 square feet
of space for the cows of the
large breeds,. A square pen
also allows the cow much
more freedom of movement.
Cows should not be allowed
to calve in free stalls, stanch-
lens, tie stalls or loose
housing areas, if it can be
avoided. A cow, about to
calve, needs not, only . plenty
of room but also good
footings. This can be pro-
vided by straw. The use of
sawdust for bedding in mat-
ernity areas isnot recom-
mended.
In a Michigan study:;: the
mortality rate of calves born,
on sawdust was greater than,
those born on straw. Sawdust
has a tendency to adhere to
the mouth- of the calf and
when it is swallowed, could
be an excellent source of
scour organisms. The area
should be kept - as dry, as
possible. Ther greater the
dampness of the bedding,
•
joins with .mt in extending
best wishes for ' a Merry
Christfnas- and may the New
Year bring an abundance of
health, happiness . ,and
prosperity to you. and yours!.
Don Pullen;
Agricultural Representative
TOP CORN HYBRIDS
FOR 1979
This year the Perth and
Huron, Soil and Crop
Improvement ' directors
picked the best corn hybrids.
They summarized 62 on-farm
trials. Farmers harvested 103
hybrids from 519 plots. All
plots weremachine planted
and machine harvested. The.
Soil and Crop directors
selected the best .hybrids.
from
these trials. The
directors point out that there
are probably other hybrids
Seaso , •s .. reetin s fCrom
just as good as the ones
selected. They' chose the.
hybrids based , on yield,
moisture and stalk strength,
as . well as maturity -all
selections were under 2800
heat units, as the committee
felt that there were many
excellent later varieties.
The best were rate as 3
star, 2 star or 1 star. Three
, star hybrids,' were ,chosen
because of excellent stalk -
strength and: excellent yield
potential in their heat unit
rating. Two starhybrids had
excellent yield potential but
only good stalk strength. The
one star hybrids had good
stalk strength and good yield
potential. One other reason
for rating a hybrid with 1 star
was if it was only tested a
small number of times or
only groWn in trials with its
own company's hybrids.
For Huron Count; the 3
star hybrids are PAG SX111, • .
Pioneer 3978, Pioneer
3975A; 2 star hybrids are
Co -Op 259, Cargill 810,
Pioneer 3950; 1 star hybrids
are Funk's 4065, Co -Op 259.
Summaries of these trials,
and copies of each individual
trail may be picked up at the
O.14.A:F. office.,
M'kM'll'
WILL A MACHINE SHED..
PAY?
Do you realize the many
advantages of owning; a . a
properly sized machinery.
shed?' Following are just a
few:"
1 You . . will spend
LO% less over the life of a
machine for repairs.
2 You will tend to repair
machinery over the winter
1, months instead of leaving
the maintenance until the
spring rush.
3 There will be far less down.
time repairing or replacing
rusted bearings and.
shafts: •
4 Machines which have been
stored, command a higher
trade-in: value.
5 A machine shed
"beautifies" a farmstead
in two `, ways: a the'
i e -i er
Associate Agricultural.
Representative
t
benhances .a
u 1'din
h
i g Itself
farmstead, b.'Machines
are all stored in one place -
out of view. Following ars
e folks at OMAF
decrease the door height.
by 10in-12in-:andincrease:
costs:'
b` End .door's eliminate the
.% /•
0.
ice.
f i'✓. ' ..
building ideas:
1 The shed should be
minimum of 40 ft wide and
, : probably 12 ft l4ft high
(floor to • eaves). This
enables one to place the
main(widest)t
doors in he
end walls for the following
reasons, a enddoors can
be .hung on the truss
eliminating the need for
heavy, built-up beams
over the doors which
problem of snow sliding off
the roof and piling in front
of the door.
c Doors in the end allow one
to park machinery along each
side wall, leaving the
centre section io
n dearf or
large tractors, combines,
forage wagons, 'etc. Using
this method, one can move
the large machinery
quickly in order to reach
the remainder of the
MORE MILES- PER GALLON
COME TO SEAFORTH MOTORS SEE AND TEST
DRIVE THE FORD LINE OF GAS SAVERS!'
LUXURIOUS
FORD THUNDERBIRD
with 302 VI engine
'*'
as high as 4 • 'm.p.g:.
(SS 'Itmfgallan
FORD FAIRMONT
os high as 34f. rn.p.g.
OSS k;m/gellon)
We have a good selection of all
the above 1980 models in stock
FRONT WHEEL DRIVE'
FORD.
FIESTA
as high as 47 rn.p.g.
(76 kmfgaflon)
FORD
PINTO
as high as 45*.
m.p.g.
(72 km/gallon)'
FORD MUSTANG •
ashigh as MP u nip
169 km/gallenj'
* Official 1980
Transport Canada
Ratings • highway
mileage.
�tlY OR LEASE AT.
ORD
S
MOTORS
SALES SERVICE • LEASING
220 Main Stree, South, stAF ititlt 32r«td'i0
equipment easily.
2 With doors in the side of a
shed only, machinery
tends to be parked in front
of one: another, increasing
the difficulty of removal in
. the spring. If you plan
doors in the side wall only,
the shed should not be
greater than 32 ft. wide.
Machine shed plans are
readily available from , the
Ministry of Agriculture and
Food in Clinton. •
Sam Bradshaw'
Engineering Assistant
the higher Om mortality tate
among: calves.
sulkrimary„ ter protection.
Pi;' both cow .attd calf, Make
:sure the calving en!virottment
is -clean, dry 444.9f adequate
size:
BOWING sw
Perth farmers, are con-
cerned about erosion: This
fall we've had at least four
enquiries from farmers logk,
ing for ways to, stop the spit
1055 Pn their fields, In most
cases,, the problem came
from water flowing across
fields during the spring and;
fail seasons.
We're getting more
information on how to cope,.
with this problem, Recently'
two of our Crop Specialists
and an Ag, Engineer visited
the U.S', to collect inform-
"ation on corrective measures
being used across the bor-
der. Thisinformation is
availbale for Perth county
farmers.
Tom qtr is
'Wong ivr t the. U
Thames Conservatbn *ut *
prig. Tom Can advise oa,
erosion' Patrol measures,
Earlier this Hill I- spent eat
informative half 4ay col h
Toni on a Blanshard toWII"
ship form,
We're interested in hear-
ing
farmers, who are
from
concerned about field sad
ditch bank erosion. New
*philology .is being devel-
oped and ideas, from the past
are being revived. Hopefully,
a demonstration project will
serve to illustrate how these
ideas will work in a practical
situation,
P
otToR
'VITA
Prone 527-0240
Wishling our friendsand patrons
bubblygood times and
hi' -h
9
spirits frits all through the' ear!
P 9Y
DAVID LONGSTAFF
�L TAFF
5
Optician
Seaforth, Ont.,
(519) , . 527-1303
HOLIDAY
EADLINES
for
trthe
1ittron
itz
Qxpositrn
CLASSIFIED
ADS'
' Because our office will
s ` be closed. Tuesday,
I Dec. 25
Wednesday, Dec. 26.
and Tuesday, January 1
. CLASSIFIED
r� r
DEADUNES
it
wiII be moved
ahead to
4 p.m. Thursday
December 20
and to
4 p.m. Friday.
December 28
Y, ,