Belletonte, Pa., March 30, 1917.
rrr
THE BRAVEST BATTLE.
BY JOAQUIN MILLER.
The bravest battle that ever was fought,
Shall I tell you where and when?
On the map of the world you will find it
not;
; , ‘Twas fought by the mothers of men,
Nay, not with a cannon or battle shot,
With sword or nobler pen;
Nay, not witn eloquent words or thoughts
From mouths of wonderful men.
But deep in a walled-up woman's heart—
Of woman that would not yield,
But bravely, silently bore her part
Lo! There was the battlefield.
No marshaling troops, no bivouac song,
No banner to gleam and wave;
But, oh, these battles, they last so long,
From babyhood to the grave.
Yet faithful still, as a bridge of stars,
She fights in her walled-up town—
Fights on and on in the endless wars,
Then silent—unseen—goes down.
Oh, ye with banners and battle shot,
And soldiers to shout and praise,
1 tell you the kingliest victories fought
Were fought in these silent ways.
Oh, spotless woman in a world of shame!
With a splendid and silent scorn,
Go back to God, as white as you came,
The kingliest warrior born!
——————————————
A BERKSHIRE STORY.
It was away up in the Western
Massachusetts, just where the famous
old post road through the Berkshire
hills winds inself into New Ashford.
The black vanguard of an approach-
ing summer storm crept along the val-
ley behind us, and a few stray rain-
drops already warned that it was time
to seek for shelter. We turned in at
the open gate of the first farmyard,
and riding up to the vine covered
porch of the quaint old house lifted
our wheels to protected spots at either
side of the paneled door. It may have
been presuming upon hospitality as
yet unextended, but then no one stops
at such conventionality in the Berk-
shires, and were we not in the Berk-
shires? The storm burst, and we sat
on the porch besides our faithful steel
steeds, watching the clouds hurry by,
_ the tall trees bend in the eddying wind
and the cooling water fall to the thirs-
ty earth. Somehow the smoke of our
cigarettes seemed strangely out of
place in that old-fashioned spot, and
Harvey observed that he would feel
more comfortable with an old brier
pipe znd a package of plug cut.
quiet half hour slipped away, while
the storm increased rather than
diminished, and realizing that we
were to. be weather bound for a few
hours at least the necessity for a
luncheon became apparent, and Har-
vey arose to the attack. Harvey is an
actor in season, and what he has
learned in the matter of picking up
meals on the western circuit helps
him immeasurably in summer vaca-
tions. Repeated beating upon the door
failed, however, to elicit the slightest
response from the inmates, and my
anticipatory dreams of a soft eyed,
rustic Ganymede went gloomily to
pieces. ;
“There must be a corpse in the
house,” remarked Harvey reassuring-
ly, leaning upon his bicycle and turn-
ing on me a look of hungry resigna-
tion. I was framing in my mind a
neat reply more sarcastic than apro-
pos when the oaken door suddenly
opened inward, and an extremely pret-
ty girl with long curly golden hair
and big blue eyes confronted us. Sur-
prise was mutual, but she seemed the
most confused.
“Why, why,” she faltered, “I—I
thought to find one of the neighbors,
but—but”’—
“There is no cause for alarm, in-
terrupted Harvey in the voice of his
most approved stage father. “We are
perfect gentlemen, although our ap-
pearance is admittedly against us.We
took the liberty to use your porch asa
shield from the weather and trust that
we are not intruding.”
“Qh, no—no,” she answered confus-
edly. “You will excuse me. Dave is
hurt. I must go for the doctor,” and
she ran by us and down the steps into
the rain, lifting her calico skirt just
high enough for us to see that her
pretty feet were but thinly covered
with light slippers. Harvey was at
her side in an instant.
“Pardon me,” said he.
the doctor live?”
“Only a mile,
”
“Where does
or so,” she replied,
without stopping, “up the road.” (She
prounced it “rud,” but I am writing
this in English.) Harvey caught her
arm and pulled her back to the shel-
tering porch.
“But you must not run a mile or
so,” he cautioned, “in such a storm as
this, without hat, shawl or shoes. It
would kill you. I will go for the doc-
tor. My wheel moves faster than
- your little feet.” The girl hesitated a
moment and then, as Harvey stood
ready to start away, thanked him
shortly and gave directions for finding
the doctor’s house.
“All right. Goodby,” he shouted,
leaping into the saddle. “You take
care of Dave.”
“Qh, dear, I hope he’ll hurry!” said
the girl turning to me as Harvey shot
out on the road and sped away
through the mud and rain faster than
he ever run from the villain in the
play. I thought a reply unnecessary.
«Perhaps I might assist you,” I ven-
tured. “I am a bit of an amateur phy-
sician. May I see Dave?”
She led the way into the narrow
hallway, up the creaking staircase,
wall papered at the sides in imitation
of white marble, and into a stuffy lit-
tle chamber just under the dripping
eaves. A great, deep-chested sun-
burned young fellow lay upon a tiny
iron bedstead, while one muscular le
hung over the edge, shattered an
bleeding. An old woman with soft
gray hair and the eyes of the girl bent
above him and called his name again
and again in tones of the most piteous
tenderness. As we entered she turned
to my pretty guide, and regardless of
a st.ange presence, cried:
“He is dead, Clemmie, dead! My
Dave is dead!” and fell at the side of
»
A | Prouty I want to
the little bed,
The girl quickly glided by me, and
placing her hand upon the man’s chest
said quietly;
“He is not dead—only unconscious.”
I drew near and saw at once that she
was right. The limb had been injured
in some farming accident and aun
artery broken. I set about to stay the
flow of blood. The girl brought me a
bit of tape, and jopether we bound it
tightly about the leeding limb, but
it was not strong enough, and the flow
was only decreased. I tore a slip from
the counterpane and wound it over the
tape, and this was a decided improve-
ment. Meanwhile the poor mother
had fainted of nervous exhaustion,
and the girl busied herself adminis-
tering restoratives. I was just begin-
ning to wish myself back on Park
row when Harvey's familiar veice re-
sounded through the house, and in
another minute he and the doctor,
covered head to foot with mud. were
with me.
“Brought the doc along on my
coasters,” explained Harvey. “His
horse was too slow for the case.”
The. doctor ordered the girl to re-
move her mother, and then with our
assistance set the broken bones, bound
up the leg and gave the patient a
slight injection of morphine, By this
time the old lady had recovered and
was back again. The doctor reassur-
ed her in a few words and cautioned
against disturbing the sleeper.
“Let him sleep as long as he will,”
he said, “and I'll have him about in a
fortnight.”
«A fortnight!” exclaimed the moth-
er. “Why, what will become of the
farm? He was getting in the hay
when the horse shied, and he went
under the rake and was hurt. We
cannot do that work. Clemmie can
only look after the cows and chickens
and the garden, and I'm too frail to
help her. Oh, Dave, if we should lose
you”—turning to the bed—*“it would
be all over with us.” :
The alacrity with which Harvey and
I offered to remain on the scene and
play farmhands until Dave was well
was, I thought, only equaled by Clem-
mie’s seconding of the proposition and
we stayed.
Those three weeks—it was three be-
fore Dave could walk— were a beau-
tiful Arcadian dream—a breath of life
we had never known before. It was
all a novelty, all interest to us, and
Clemmie was most excellent instruct-
ress in the gentle art of farming.
Every night when we had done milk-
ing the cows, feeding and watering
the stock and all the hundred and
other things that rustics have to do,
Harvey would say:
«There is no getting around it,
you've got to write a pastoral play for
me when we get where there are pen
and ink. If after this I can’t out
Whitcomb Whitcomb and out Prouty
know why.” And it
seemed like dropping the curtain on
the prettiest sort of a play when one
sunny August morning we rolled our
wheels out and pointed them for Pitts-
field. The trio of the old house stood
upon the quaint little porch and
watched us oil up and make ready.
Dave was just able to be about and
help himself. There were tears in the
old mother’s eyes when she held our
hands and said:
“Goodby, my sons, and God be with
you. You have helped me save my
Dave, and he will bless you for it.
‘ve always heard that actors and
newspaper men were very bad indeed,
but I'll never believe it again. Good-
by.” And then Dave, on Clemmie’s
arm, hobbled down to the old vine-
wound gate, and there we left them
standing in the shadow of the great
elm and waving a parting that we had
promised should not be for long.
Neither of us had much to say as
we glided along at the foot of the
emerald hills, and for my part, tears
would have come easier than words.
“That was an odd remark of Clem-
mie’s this morning,” said Harvey at
length, “about losing a ring and mak-
ing us all swear to return it when
found.” :
“J thought so at the time,” 1 an-
swered.
Just then he dived into his coat
pocket, and, producing his cigarette
case, opened it with an exclamation
of surprise.
«What's wrong?” 1 queried, riding
alongside. In reply he held out the
case, and there on the cigarettes lay
Clemmie’s little turquoise ring.
“Shall you keep your promise?” I
asked.
“Of course,” said he, fastening the
jewel securely to his watch chain. “Of
course 1 will—but, say, you might
postpone writing that pastoral play
for me until I return the ring. There
may be a new suggestion for you.”—
George Tuggard in The Journalist.
A Good Memory.
One of the most valuable qualifica-
tions that human beings can possess
is a good memory. Occasionally a
person is found who is naturally so
gifted, but more often it comes as the
result of special training. Public men
usually possess the faculty to a high
degree because they are continually
using their minds to retain impres-
sions, It is said that Cortez could tell
every soldier under him by name. The
Same is said of Hannibal and Alexan-
er.
A New York man recently gave a
demonstration in Washington of what
a trained memory is capable of. Thir-
ty persons, all strangers to him,
shouted their names to him in quick
succession. Without any hesitancy
he repeated the names correctly,
pointing to the owner of each name
as he spoke.
Another accomplishment almost
equally as great, one which is essen-
tial in order to remember well, is the
ability to forget or ignore all that is
not worth while. By doing this the
mind is free to work on important
things which should be remembered.
am m——
The First Spat.
«Shucks,” said Adam. “You're noth-
ing but a spare rib.”
“What if I am? retorted Eve “You
came right from the sod.”—Baltimore
American.
. ——The total number of trees in
the streets of Paris is 86,000, and of
‘these 26,000 are plane-trees, 16,000
chestnuts and 14,000 elms. =
bbing and crying, | Bagdad the Garden Spot of the!
Desert.
The fall of Bagdad, besides impair- |
ing German hopes - of near eastern
dominion, based on a Berlin-Bagdad |
railway, will reverberate throughout
the Mohammedan empires and, it is |
believed, will help to rehabilitate !
British prestige in the far east, dam-
aged by the Dardanelles campaign |
and the loss of Kut-el-Amara. !
Bagdad, the capital of the Caliphs, !
is a city around which gather more of |
history and tradition than any other |
spot vet involved in the war. With a |
known record reaching back 4,000
years, the city has been trod by most
of the great conquerors whose names
flash across the stories of the orient
and has twice fallen from dazzling
splendor to almost complete decay.
The waxing and waning of the city’s
prosperity has depended on the trade
flowing between India and Persia and
the coast of Asia Minor. Standing in
what was almost the only cultivated
part of the great valley of the Tigris
and Euphrates, the dusty camel cara-
vans from Teheran and Samarcand,
Ispahan, Kabul and Kandahar drew
into it to rest and prepare for the final
efforts across the desert to Tyre and
Sidon, Lybia and Acre.
When the oriental traffic died down
after the conquests of Alexander the
city died. When the power of Islam
rose and safety was re-established it
was refounded and flourished again.
Finally, when the route to the north
along the Caspian was opened Con-
stantinople took its place as the great
mart of the east, and the city re-
lapsed to its present forlorn state—
rich only in memories and the venera-
tion which is paid its shrines by the
Moslem.
TOMBS OF PROPHETS.
The first of the great historic names
connected with the city is that of
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He
was not the founder of the city, for
records have been found dating back
to 2000 B. C.—several hundred years
before his time—in which the city is
mentioned. But the enslaver of the
Jews built a quay at the city, which
still stands and, though sunken sever-
al feet during the 3,500 years since
he poured the libations for its corner-
stone, can be seen when the water in
the Tigris is low.
There are many reminders of the
captivity of Judah in and around the
city. Within a few miles stand the
tombs of Joshua, Ezra and Ezekiel,
prophets of the exile. Outside the city
is the famous well of Daniel, into
which the prophet is supposed to have
been thrown during one of his con-
troversies with the Medean king.
From this time to the Christian era
the city almost vanishes from the rec-
ord. It is mentioned occasionally for
a few hundred years and then forgot-
ten.
The resurrection of the city came in
762 A. D., and it is then that the his-
tory which made the name known the
world over began to form. Mansur,
the founder of the great line of Ab-
basid caliphs and the descendant of
the prophet, fought his way up from
the Arabian desert and chose it as the
site for a capital. The city was laid
out on a magnificent plan. It was
five miles across the city from the
north gate to the south. The canals
from the river ran everywhere, and
mosques and gardens rose together
till the palace of the great caliph was
embowered in fragrance that was all
the more wonderful because of the
parching desert just beyond the walls.
For a thousand years after Mansur
pitched his tent beside the river and
traced the lines for the great walls
Bagdad remained the wonder city of
the east. Its glories spread through-
out Islam and were embalmed in the
literature of Persia and Arabia.
Haroun was the last of the great
caliphs. The race degenerated, and
the wild Turkish adventurers in the
north who had been gathered into the
caliph’s bodyguard took the rule of
the palace and finally the realm. Their
natures, like those of their descend-
ants today, cared nothing for art and
beauty, and the science and literature
which had been patronized by the
sons of Mansur languished and died.
The caliph remained the spirtual head
of Islam, but first the Turk adven-
turers and then the Buyids and later
the Seljuks—the present rulers of
Turkey— held the temporal power.
Sheep-Killing Dogs Cost $40,000 a
> Year.
Harrisburg.—Steps to frame a dog
license law for the State which will
afford a greater measure of protec-
tion for farmers engaged in the
sheep-raising industry are being tak-
en by the State Department of Agri-
culture, the State Game Commission
and representatives of State wool in-
terests.
Havoc among flocks of sheep is re-
ported increasing, and damages which
counties must pay have been running
between $35,000 and $40,000 per year.
Objections have been made to the
present dog license law by a number
of counties, whose officials contend
that the requirement that the county
have unlicensed animals killed is un-
constitutional.
One of the suggestions made is that
the State adopt in a modified form
an English system of requiring dogs
to be penned up within yards after
sundown. The various ideas are being
studied with the object of framing a
law satisfactory to all interests.
aici ——
Teeth Filed by Filipinos for Beauty’s
Sake.
Among the curious customs of the
Philippine Islands one of the most pe-
culiar is that of “beautifying” the
teeth by filing and blackening them,
which prevails among the Bagobos of
Mindanao. Both boys and girls of
this tribe undergo the filing process
before marriage, and this usually oc-
curs while they are still very young.
The youth who is to be thus decorat-
ed sits on the ground beside the na-
tive dentist, gripping between his
teeth a stick of wood to keep his mouth
open. The dentist then files each
tooth down to a stump or else he cuts
or breaks each to a point, as prefer-
red by the beauty-seeking patient.
All that is left of the teeth is black-
ened by a powder secured from a cer-
tian native tree.
Here's a Way to Save Doctor Bills.
| Physicians Give Free Advice by Which
Parents May Profit.
It was an association of gentlemen,
professionally physicions and chem-
ists, all of
drug trade,
| been connec
ho first gave
whom were born in the
so to speak, and who have
ted with it all their lives,
to the world Castoria,
which as every one knows is a pleas-
ant and effective remedy for the ail-
ments
torious preparation, and
of infants and children. It has
always been recognized
as a meri-
its reward
has been the greatest popularity ever
enjoyed
| by any remedy ever put upon
the market;
ant advertising or
rance or vulgar pre)
herent merit.
attained, not by flamboy-
appeals to igno-
judice, but by in-
All physicians recom-
mend it, and many, very many, pre-
scribe it.
Many parents
physician.
advantage of
them when
call in the family
Many other parents take
what the physician told
he was first called in con-
sultation. All good family physicians
say: Give
the children Castoria.”
Healthy parents know this remedy of
old, for they took it themselves as
children.
It was more than thirty
years ago that
for itself in the
Castoria made a place
household. It bore the
signature of Charles H. Fletcher then,
as it does today. The signature is its
guarantee,
which is accepted in thous-
ands of homes where there are chil-
dren.
Much is printed nowadays about big
families.
Dr. William J. McCrann, of
Omaha, Neb., is the father of one of
these much-read-about families. Here
is what he says:
«Ag a father of thirteen children I
certainly know something about your
great medicine, and aside from my
own family
years of
experience I have, in my
practice, found Castoria a
popular and efficient remedy in almost
every home.”
Charles H. Fletcher has received
hundreds of letters
from prominent
physicians who have the same esteem
for
Castoria that Dr. McCrann has.
Not only do these physicians say they
use Castoria in
their own families,
but they prescribe it for their pa-
tients.
preparation
First of all it is a vegetable
which assimilates the
food and regulates the stomach and
bowels.
After eating comes sleeping
and Castoria looks out
It allays feverishness and
for that too.
prevents
loss of sleep, and this absolutely with-
out the use of opium, morphine or
other baneful narcotic.
Medical Journals are reluctant to
discuss proprietary medicines.
Journal of Health, however,
duty is to expose
Hall’s
says “Our
danger and record
the means for advancing health. The
day for poisoning innocent children
through greed or
ignorance ought to
end. To our knowledge Castoria is a
remedy
which produces composure
and health by regulating the system,
not by stupefying it, and our readers
are entitled
to the information.”
———————————————
Russia Haven of Homeless Hordes.
The passage across the Russian
frontier of
thousands of Rumanians,
who have abandoned their houses and
property in
mans and
shadow of a new
the Russian Empire.
have been pouring
face of the invading Ger-
Bulgarians, has cast the
refugee problem on
These refugees
into Odessa, Kiev
and other Southern Russian cities in a
destitute and helpless condition and
present a problem more
difficult than
any confronting 2 belligerent Power
since the invasion of Belgium.
Russia only partially has succeeded
in colonizing and assimilating the mil-
lions of homeless Poles,
members of other races.
worst time
Jews and
This is the
of the year in which to
care for refugees and the economic
readjustment
the present political
crisis has emphasized and adds to the
difficulty of citizens supporting a
new nation.
The magnitude of Rus-
sia’s economic burden is appreciable
when it is considered that the country
has received already since the begin-
ning of the
war a refugee population
far exceeding the combined citizen-
ship
while
been taxed
of the
the resource of the country has
Scandinavian countries,
to the utmost to provide
for the wandering people whose
homes have
fallen within enemy lines
| and whose means of livelihood either
are temporarily or permanently for-
feited.
The condition of the refugees has
been improved through
committees,
which are succeeding in distributing
the migratory population throughout
the interior,
encouraging their colon-
ization in fertile agricultural districts
and
giving them work
in making
boots, all sorts of clothing and other
immediately marketable articles.
The American
Relief Committee,
headed by Thomas Whittemore, work-
ing in conjunction with the Tatiana
committee, organized by the Empress
now is devoting its energies
ing the Rumanian problem.
to meet-
Tempor-
ary barracks and food kitchens have
been established at
centers and
Rumanians
ior. Thus
task has defeated
all distributing
from these places the
will be sent to the inter-
far the enormity of the
all efforts to ade-
quately handle the gigantic migration
of people brought about by the war.
The refugee ranks have been inevit-
ably thinned by disease and many
have fallen
proper food
vietims to cold, lack of
and clothing and the un-
sanitary conditions which are bound
to accompany the sudden unloading
of a vast additional population on a
country at
ord.
war.—Reformatory Rec-
eo ———
Linseed-0il
Treatment for . Dying
Trees.
A curious method of reviving lan-
guishing or
recently to
Agriculture
.dying trees was reported
the French Academy of
after being tested suc-
cessfully in experimental gardens at
Autun. The earth was first removed
so as to lay bare
branches, in which
were then
wedges.
the larger root
Aongitudinal slits
cut and kept open by
These cuts were well rub
with linseed oil and after awhile nu-
merous small roots appeared, form-
ing a sort of fur,
and the trees so
treated rapidly gained new life and
vigor.
ed for trial
fruit trees.
The method
was recommend-
in the case of languishing
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
DAILY THOUGHT
To be 70 years young is sometimes far
more cheerful and hopeful than to be 40
years old.— O. W. Holmes.
In touring one often wants to take
along a good hat for wear when not
in the car. A bag that will hold two
or three hats may be made by taking
two long, straight pieces of heavy
linen, to match the car lining, binding
them together with tape at the edges,
leaving the top open lengthwise and
dividing them into three pockets. Then
sew on straps at intervals. Fasten
these straps on to buttons either in
the top of the hood or on the frame-
work between the front and back
seats, and the hats will be covered
and out of the way.
A sports dress in gray silk jersey,
showing a peplum blouse, in what
looked" at first to be a slip. over the
head model, but which really was
buttoned down the back, had turned
back cuffs as a finish at the bottom of
the blouse, sleeves and skirt. Edging
the turn was a cartridge pleated frill
in orange color.
We often hear, early in the season,
the announcement that tailored suits
will not be greatly used, or later we
are told that tailored suits have not
been worn as much as dresses and
coats; but never was there a time
when tailored suits did not play a
most important part in the wardrobe
of the fashionable American woman.
It would be a strong-minded designer
indeed who could refuse the American
woman anything so dear to her heart
as the tailored suti.—Vanity Fair.
One girl who desired to enter the
physiology class was asked to define
the functions of the stomach. She re-
plied “The functions of the stomach
is to hold up the petticoat.” This girl
was raised in the country, where pet-
ticoats are still worn.— Lansing
(Kan) News.
Add lemon juice to the water in
which doilies and centerpieces are
washed and you will find this will
bleach them without rotting the ma-
terial. :
An easy way to put on and remove
buttons that are not to be laundered
on a washable waist: Sew the thread
into the button loosely; use small-siz-
ed safety pins to pin them on from
the under side; have a couple o
stitches where the buttons are to be
placed and you will not have to locate
them every time.
If you have no pastry flour equal
results may be obtained by using one
quart of corn-starch and seven parts
ordinary flour.
In millinery the newest develop-
ment is the tenaency away from hats
that are really only appropriate for
sport wear and toward the more prac-
tical tailored effects that can be worn
with formal or informal street wear.
In straws lisere is the foremost of
the many kinds employed. Shapes are
chiefly small and medium, with height
still a factor. Beaded ornaments of
jet and steel combined or of coral
alone are in great demand.—Dry
Goods Economist. :
If an artery is cut the blood is a
bright red color and. comes in spurts;
this is very dangerous; act quickly.
Send for a doctor at once, treat as in
vein cut, crowding gauze into wound,
and hold tight with bandages. Com-
press artery by tight bandages near
wound, but betyveen heart and wound.
Oak and mahogany should never be
closely associated unless the latter is
darkened to a very deep brown by age.
These two woods have a strong antip-
athy for each other. The mahogany
appears very red and glossy and the
oak coarse fibered and heavy. Either
oak or mahogany may be combined
with willow or reed with chintz or oth-
er figured drapery or with painted
enameled or lacquered articles. For
instance, a mahogany table, willow
chairs, a painted chest of drawers and
a chintz divan will assume charming
relationship, while an oak table, ta-
pestry upholstery, reed chairs and a
lacquered chest in black are quite as
interesting and restful.
Pastel colorings are conspicuous,
notably in trimmings for lingerie
gowns. These consist of insertions o
organdy, in white or in a light color,
beaded with small porcelain beads in
rococo rose design or of organdy or
net bands bordered in heavy embroi-
dery in colored cotton, with center
stripe in beads of wood or’ porclain,
in geometrical or floral design.
There are so many lovely things
that a girl can make from handker-
chiefs that she should not despise
these offerings when they come as
gifts, even if they are the plain, hem-
stitched variety.
For instance,
example of one
she might follow the
clever girl who ha
four hemstitched and embroidered | P
handkerchiefs given to her, too pretty
for the use for which they were in-
tended. She laid them out before her
on her bed, making a large square of
them, and suddenly the idea occu
to her to join them together with
strips of lace and edge the whole
thing with val edging.
This she did, leaving an opening in
the square where the sides of two
handkerchiefs met and sewing lace on
each side instead of joining them to-
gether with one piece. Then she
threw the pretty thing about her
shoulders, never even cutting a neck
line, and the cunningest short negli-
gee was the result. A few ribbons at
the neck and under the arms to hold
the jacket on made it prettier still.
But the funny part about it was
that while she was making this neg-
ligee several other ideas for using
handkerchiefs came to her. That af-
ternoon at a mussed handkerchief sale
three plain linen hand-
kerchiefs with narrow pink borders—
her room was “done” in pink—and at
the next table a piece of fine torchon
lace which looked almost like cluny.
A dressing table scarf was the result.
she picked up
average two
hem. Many
others have
Skirt widths for spring
and one-half yards at the
skirts are high waisted,
fancy belt arrangements.
———
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f | tention,
FARM NOTES.
— Properly pasteurized milk .is as
digestible and nutritious as raw milk.
— Buckwheat is well suited to light,
well-drained soils, such as sandy and
silt loams. It needs but little lime,
where alfalfa and red clover could
not succeed. The plant seems unusu-
ally active in taking plant food from
poor and rocky soils. It needs a larg-
er proportion of phosphoric acid and
potash than of nitrogen, since large
growth of straw is not desired. .
— Turkey ranching is a new indus-
try born of the decreasing production
of turkeys on farms, according to an
article in the recently published 1916
Yearbook of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture.
Exclusive turkey ranching is now
found practically only in the unset-
tled foothill regions of California
and in certain sections of Arizona and
other Western States. In these regions
a few persons are engaged in raising
a thousand or more turkeys a season.
The establishments are located where
the range is unlimited and the natural
food of the turkey, such as grasshop-
pers and other insects, green vegeta-
tion, and the seeds of various weeds
and grasses, is abundant. Advantage
also is taken on these ranches of the
turkey’s relish for acorns, and where
these are plentiful but little grain
need be used for fattening in the fall.
The large flocks of turkeys are man-
aged much like herds of sheep, being
taken out to the range early in the
morning and brought home to roost
at night. They are herded during the
day by men either on foot or on horse~
back, and by dogs especially trained
for the work.
—Contrary to general belief and
practice, chicks do not grow or thrive
as well during the warm months or
hot summer days as they do early ir
the spring. Experienced poultrymen
realize this fact. The average farmer,
however, does not make an effort to
hatch early so that the chicks will
have the advantage of a longer and
more favorable growing season. Early
hatching not only insures more rapid
gains in the growth of chicks but has
a favorable influence on the size of
the individuals of the flock. Late-
hatched chicks rarely, if ever, attain
the size of those hatched early. Early
hatching likewise influences early
maturity and consequently early egg
preduction.
Given the same food, care, and at-
chicks hatched the 1st of
March will weigh more when they are
four months old than those hatched
a month later, say the poultry spe-
cialists of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture. This likewise
holds true with chicks hatched the
1st of April as compared with those
hatched May 1. This is due to the
fact that the rate of growth of a chick
is greater during the first four weeks
of its life than at any other time.
Consequently, the early-hatched chick,
having the advantage of a more fa-
vorable growing season, makes great-
er gains during the first four weeks
of its life than the late-hatched chick.
During the early spring months when
the temperature is not so varied the
growth of chicks is more uniform and
constant than it is during the sum-
mer.
Millions of chicks die every year as
a result of being infested with lice
which, under average farm conditions,
are ofttimes difficult to control. Hen-
hatched chicks are not as subject to
lice in the early spring as they are
during the warmer months when lice
are more prevalent. If for no other
reason, chicks should be hatched early
so their growth will not be interrupt-
ed by the presence of lice.
Many farmers realize considerable
money each spring from the sale of
broilers, the price of which is usu-
ally governed by their size when sold
and the time marketed. Thus it would
seem that in order to increase the
amount of money from the sale of
broilers and fryers early hatching
would be employed so as to have a
marketable-sized fowl early in the
spring when prices are highest.
As the time approaches for the hen
to become broody or sit, if care is
taken to look into the nest, it will be
seen that there are a few soft, downy
feathers being left there by the hen;
also the hen stays longer on the nest
when laying at this time, and on be-
ing approached will quite likely re-
f | main on the nest, making a clucking
noise, ruffling her feathers, and peck-
ing at the intruder. When it is noted
that a hen sits on the nest from two
to three nights in succession, and that
most of the feathers are gone from
her breast, which should feel hot to
the hand, she is ready to be transfer-
red to a nest which has been prepar
for her beforehand, according to the
poultry specialists of the United
States Department of Agriculture.
The normal temperature of a hen is
from 106 degrees to 107 degrees PF.
Rhich varies slightly during incuba-
ion.
Dust the hen thoroughly with insect
owder, and in applying the powder
hold the hen by the feet, the head
down, working the powder well into
the feathers, given special attention
to regions around the vent and under
the wings. The powder should also
be sprinkled in the nest.
The nest should be in
out-of-the-way place, where the sit-
ting hen will not be disturbed. Move
her from the regular laying nest at
night and handle her carefully in do-
ing so. Put a china egg or two in
the nest where she is to sit, and place
a board over the opening so that she
can not get off. Toward the evening
of the second day quietly go in where
she is sitting, leave some feed and
water, remove the board from the
front or top of the nest, and let the
hen come off when she is ready.
Should she return to the nest after
feeding, remove the china egg or eggs
and put under those that are to be
incubated. If the nests are slightly
darkened the hens are less likely to
become restless. At hatching time
they should be confined and not be
disturbed until the hatch is com-
pleted, unless they become restless,
when it may be best to remove the
chicks that are hatched first. In cool
weather it is best not to put more
than 10 eggs under a hen, while later
in the spring one can put 12 or 15,
according, to the size of the hen.
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