Belletonte, Pa., December 14, 1917.
WAR SONGS.
Rocking and and
tune,
A grandmother sits today,
While her mind traverses the many years
That have swiftly flown away.
knitting humming a
Her thoughts go back to sixty-three
And the boys who fought that year,
And the song she is humming is “Tenting
tonight,
Give us a song of cheer.”
Rocking and knitting and
tune,
A mother sits today,
While her thoughts go far across the sea
To her boy so far away.
humming a
A tear of sadness mixed with pride,
Falls oun the sock in her hand,
And a prayer
knits
For her son in a foreign land.
And the song she sings as she knits away,
Is old with a meaning new:
“Just before the battle, mother,
I am thinking, dear, of you.”
Knitting and thinking
all,
A young wife sits today.
For the man she loves is fighting, perhaps,
In the trenches so dark and gray.
and praying with
And the song she sings is the prayer she
prays—
We echo again and again—
We sing with all our hearts and souls,
“God save our splendid men.”
We're working and praying the whole day |
long
For our men so brave and true,
And we join together to sing the song
That will help the day's work through.
And the song we sing with a prayer in our
hearts
To God, our men to save,
Is “The Star-Spangled Banner,”
try's flag,
For ever and ever to wave.
—Daisy Baher Hay.
our coun-
AMERICA MAKES WAR WITH
BUSINESS-LIKE EFFICIENCY.
; BY HAMILTON FYFE.
Mr. Fyfe is a British war correspondent,
now in America.
of him that he has seen more
war than any other living soul.
I have seen Britain begin war,
France begin war; Rumania begin
war. I saw Russia in the early stages
of the world upheaval; I saw Italy
after the Italians had made up their
minds they were in for a long strug-
gle, not for the short campaign which
was in the thoughts of most of them
when they began. Now I have added
to my memories that of the United
States beginning war, and I am sure
of the
that, when in some future day 1 iook
back upon these memories and see all
that has happened in its true per-
spective, I am not sure that I shall
' not then set down my American ex-
Dovisnees as the most interesting of
all.
Britain went to war in a hurry;
France with a sigh of apprehension.
Russia sang marching songs with a
fierce lilt in them and wondered what
it was all about. Rumania light-
heartedly fancied that occupying
Transylvania would be no harder than
the taking of Jericho after its walls
had been trumpeted down.
I found Americans neither up in the
air nor down in the depths. They
neither sighed nor sang. They had
no illusions about the war being
quickly finished off, nor were they in
doubt as to the reasons for their entry
into it. They were not hurrying.
They were treating war as a matter
of business and applying the ordinary
rules of business to it.
The other allied nations made war
like amateurs. The Americans make
war like business men.
The allied nations which have beer
in the war from the beginning—I can
say this because I belong to one of
them and because I have had unusual
opportunities to judge of their spirit
and ideas—plunged into war as into an
adventure. They ran to stop the ruf-
fian who had determined to disturb
the world’s peace and the other ruf-
fians who were persuaded to join in
the ringleader’s attempt to gain
world-dominating power. They ran
because they saw their homes and
lives were im danger. They ran be-
cause they had no time to lose. France
hoped to save herself from invasion.
Britain hoped to save Belgium. Rus-
sia hoped to save Serbia. In spite of
their running they were too late.
Of the allied nations which joined
both Italy and Rumania
in later,
found, also too late for the avoidance
of bitter disappointment and heavy
defeats, that they had not prepared
as they ought to have prepared for !
meeting so dangerous and so desperate
a foe as Germany. They had done
more wisely to wait still longer until
they could strike a heavier blow.
The United States did not run to
war. This country has never cared
for European entanglements, and
would have left the European nations
to settle among themselves whatever
Strength should rule and not Justice.
For a long time it bore patiently with
the insults and injuries of the Hun.
Only when these became unbearable
did the American people rise, and,
with the gesture of a man who only
fights upon strong provocation, draw
its sword and set to work to grind it,
throwing the scabbard away. It
would not begin before its weapon
was edged and formidable.
War to this American people was
no high adventure, no crusade, no res-
cue expedition. It was a business
porposition. Just as much of a ne-
cessity, an unpleasant necessity, as
clearing a farm of rattlesnakes or
ranch country of horse thieves. The
American people wanted to live after
its own fashion, not interfering, not
being interferred with. Germany
would not leave them alone. “This is
our world,” she said in effect. “You
must do as we tell you or we shall
hurt you.” Then the patience of the
United States was exhausted. “Very
well, if you will have it so, we will
fight you,” said the United States.
And without hurry, at a steady
marching pace, making preparation
goes into each stitch she |
Lord Northeliffe said ;
ahead, the United States came into
the war.
i The other allied nations began like
| adventurers. The Americans began
{ like business men.
Nothing business-like about the
i uniforms of the French soldiers at
ithe beginning. Recollect the red
‘trousers which made the wearer a
: suspicious target at long range. Ly-
!ing out on a Somme battlefield and
| watching them I argued with a
French friend on this topic in the first
{ weeks of the war. “We shall never
| give them up,” he cried. “They are
i our tradition, our inspiration, our
i panache.” Of course they gave them
i up.
: Amateurish the refusal of the Brit-
| ish War Office to speed up the provis-
{ion of machine guns, when it was
| clear to every one who saw anything
i of the fighting that this was going to
be a machine-gun war. Worse and
{ worse became the unbusiness-like con-
! duet of Britain’s war when the men
i sitting at desks in London missed the
most important aspect of the change
(from open field fighting, and persist-
red in believing that earthworks could
{be destroyed by shrapnel, when from
| the Front came the demand week
after week in urgent terms for high
| explosive.
{ All unpreparedness, all lack of
i foresight, all scratching to other of
inadequate resources in the moment
i of peril, these by the marks of the
amateur. These defects I was oblig-
led to admit in England. I saw them
| paralyzing the efforts of France and
| Russia. The French army mobilized
{in the wrong place, and the German
{army entered France through Bel-
{ gium, as all sound military opinion
i has held that it would. ;
! The Russians divided the responsi-
| bility by keeping their troops sup-
plied with arms and munitions into
| compartments so completely separate
i from each other that headquarters
i did not know what the War Office was
i doing, and the War Office did not
{know what was the capacity of the
| munitions factories, and the. War
{| Minister kow-towed to a Grand Duke
{who was in charge of the Artillery
| Department, and the Grand Duke did
‘nothing to spare that unhappy coun-
try the opening series of disasters
i which led directly to its present
wretched state. All that was ama-
teurish. So far as I can judge, there
“will be none of this nerveless fumb-
ling in the United States.
i In four months this country has
‘raised a very large army, sent abroad
‘many regiments which were partly
trained already, begun to train the
. men who have never done any soldier-
‘ing. For this purpose vast camps
have been set up. The railways have
‘had to study how to move nearly
‘three quarters of a million men. Most
| striking of all to me, when I recollect
i that not even Lloyd George dared to
{lay hands upon the liquor trade in
{ England, is the forbidding of drink-
{ing in public by men or officers in uni-
form. At the camps all sellers of
liquor within five miles are ordered to
clear off. There are differences of
opinion as to whether this is not too
severe. But the point I want to make
is this: whatever the Government
believes tg be necessary, they enforce.
Other alficd Governments are afraid
| for a vast effort and for a long time
of this party, or of that interest. The |
United States
does not seem to be afraid of anything |
It is not thinking about
It is thinking about winning |
Government of the
or anybody.
politics.
the war.
The first act of the President after |
this conutry had declared war was to |
call for the assistance of its best-
known and most capable men of busi- |
Numbers of them are giving
ness.
their services, have been giving them
for some time past.
take us in England to see that it
was essential to mobilize talent? Mr.
Asquith did not want to introduce
outsiders among the old gang of poli-
ticians. Lord Kitchener tried to do
everything himself, would hardly let |
officers of ability and experience do
anything to straighten out the muddle
at the War Office, let alone business:
men, whom he distrusted and disliked.
More than two years passed before
this attitude was changed.
I have learned many grumbles
about the slowness of Washington to
seek out and set in order the meas-
ures needful for the success of the
American arms and the security of
the people who stay at home. Slow-
ness!
ed, so easy to enforce?
ficult to put up a tall building. Arch-
itect and engineers can ‘calculate ac- |
curately the strains and stresses, the
quantity of material required, the rate ,
' at which work can be pushed on. You | imental flags; contributed to the ideal |
can speed up the manufacture of mo-
tor cars. You can, if need be, lay a
railway in a hurry. In all these ac-
tivities there is exact knowledge to
go by. But who has calculated the
strains of war, who can point to the
bases of any science of warfare?
ment can do is to guess at what will
. be needed, at the time the war will
last, at the methods which will best
| aid in winning it. These matters can- |
; not be known. The Germans thought
the war would be settled under water
: by the U-boats. Seme of us in the al-
‘lied camp think it may be settled in
| the air. But nobody knows. Under
{ these conditions it seems to me that
. this country has acted both with wis-
as it has dore within the short space
of four months. It is spending $16,
000,000 a day and besides that lend-
ing every twenty-four hours $6,000,-
000 to the allies to keep them going.
It has allotted $640,000,000 for the
building of airplanes. It is going to
‘build destroyers for the destruction
of submarines at a cost of $300,000,-
000. It will spend during the next
twelve months upon new ships for
commerce and for carrying te France
all that the American troops will need
there. One day I learn from the
newspapers that a hundred thousand
cylinders are being cast for aircraft
at the rate of one thousand a day, and
that this rate can be increased at will
to five or even ten thousand. Anoth-
er day I notice that six million flan-
nel shirts have been ordered for de-
livery during the early part of the
winter.
Yes, the other allied nations made
war like amateurs. The Americans
How long did it
1 should smile. Do these grum- |
blers think that the measures in ques- |
tion are so simple, so clearly indicat- !
I{els nok dif period of the war; have given ambu- |
lances and field kitchens; have pro-
All that the United States Govern- |
dom and with speed in doing so much |
v
‘are making war like business men.—
| The Philadelphia Press Sunday Mag-
| azine.
.Contonment Mispronounced by Many
: People.
“Cantonment” is a word that fig-
ures largely in the conversation of
the day as nearly half a million of
the young men of the country are be-
‘ing trained in sixteen cantonments in:
i various parts of the country. It is
an interesting fact that the word is
| mispronounced by about 50 per cent.
‘of army officials and government of-
| ficials, while the percentage is much
higher among the people throughout
| the land. President Wilson and Sec-
retary of War Baker are among the
| very few who pronounce the word cor-
| rectly.
! Since the word recently came into
{ common use one has been accustom-
ied to hearing from officers and pri-
| vates in the army and from persons
‘of education in other walks of life the
| pronunciation ‘“can-tone-ment,” with
| the accent on the second syllable and
i the “0” as in the word go.
| Although it may surprise a number
| of government officials, a noted edu-
i cator here is authority for the state-
iment that the word can-ton-ment is
‘incorrect. He claims it is not support-
led by a single authority in the Eng-
{lish language and is not recorded by
{a single lexicographer.
| Inquiry at the War Department de-
| velops that the erroneous form of pro-
i nunciation received such a good start
| in its beginning that it will be a man’s
size job to check it. Adjutant General
{ McCain himself says he uses the “can-
| tonement” pronunciation and that it
' seems to be in current use in the War
Department, although he has not con-
i sulted authorities on the subject.
{At the White House it is said the
{ erroneous form is sometimes heard
from visiting government men, but
that the pronunciation recorded as'
i “preferred” by the latest New Stand-
jard Dictionary—‘“can-toon-ment”’—ac-
| cent on the second syllable, is more
| frequently heard.
| President Wilson and Secretary
Baker pronounce the word alike, and
| their pronunciation of it is recorded
| as “preferred” by the Century, Web-
{
ard dictionary, and as “alternative”
by the New Standard. They place!
I the accent on the first syllable and
| slight the “0” in the second and the
in the last syllable, thus: “can-
{ $49?
Ie
't’n-m’nt.”
( It is an odd fact that while Presi-
dent Wilson, who was once president
‘of Princeton University, has express-
{ed his preference for ‘“can-t’n-m’nt,’
| Dr. Theodore W. Hunt, Princeton’s
i professor of English language and
i literature approves the form “can-
| tone-ment,” the accent on the second
| syllable and the “0” as in the word
i bond.—Victor Elliott, International
! News Service Staff correspondent of
| Pittsburgh Gazette-Times.
National Society Daughters of the
| American Revolution.
! Summary of war work from June
' 21, 1917, to October 1, 1917:
Knitted garments, 37300 or 9325 sets
| $4.00-—$37300.00,
Comfort kit bags, 9721—20977.75.
Sewing kits, 1973—1479.75.
Barrack bags—112.00.
Jelly, 1306+ glasses at 15¢—1959.60.
i Mess fund—1574.00.
| Belgian relief-—5346,30.
Miscellaneous—21241 27,
{ National surgical dressings
| Cross—99866.26.
Training school scholarships—75.00.
French orphans—17366.59.
Total gifts—$207298.52.
First Liberty Loan—$2,476,828.00.
Total war expenditures reported from
thirty-three States for three and one-half
months—$2,684,126.52.
Furthermore, the Daughters of the
American Revolution in thirteen
| States have pledged themselves to
i provide needed knitted garments for
the period of the war to the crews of
thirty-four United States ships, com-
! prising battleships, destroyers, torpe-
do boats, cruisers, submarines,
at
and Red
ments to fifty-four vessels, making a
total of eighty-eight boats on which
the men are today wearing garments
knitted by the Daughters of the!
American Revolution.
The Daughters have also
plied with knitted garments for the
vided hot meals and box lunches for
departing troops; have presented reg-
conditions surrounding some of our
| camps; have extended cheer and com-
fort to the lonely camp guards who
are watching our railroad bridges,
‘tunnels and other public property;
have been leaders in establishing Red
Cross Chapters.
Compiled by Mrs. William Henry
yt, Publicity Director, N. S. D. A.
! : HELEN E. C. OVERTON,
| Publicity Committee
! Bellefonte D. A. R.
Farmer Gives Good Excuse.
{Trading at home is a common topic
with newspapers all over the country.
| The Natchez (Miss.) News-Democrat
i tells an amusing story on this topic
in the following:
| “Recently a merchant of Natchez
{happened to see a farmer receive a
| box at the depot and noticed that it
| was from a mail-order house. He also
i noticed that the goods were right in
this line and the same as he carried
I for years. He immediately approach-
ed the farmer and said: .
“‘I could have sold you the goods
you have here for less money than the
Chicago house and saved you the
freight.’
“ ‘Then why don’t you do so,” said
the farmer. ‘I have taken the local
paper for a year and have not seen a
line about you selling these or any
other goods. This mail order house
send advertising matter to me asking
for my trade, and they get it. If you
have any bargains, why don’t you put
them in the paper so we can see what
they are?”
—=Put your ad. 1n the “Watch-
man. AY
| ster, Worcester and Fernald’s 1917
revision of the Comprehensive Stand- |
and
submarine chasers, and twenty-two
States have contributed knitted gar-
2 7 “adopt- .
ed” companies of soldiers to keep sup- |
THE ANSWER.
Jefore a little wayside shrine,
Half-ruined by a shell,
A Belgian soldier knelt to pray
When shades of evening fell.
Behinl him in the fading light
A tottering chimney rose,
The remnant of his happy home
Destroyed by ruthless foes,
“0 Lord of Hests,” he humbly prayed,
“A miracle I crave:
Send us a savior, strong and true,
Our stricken land to save.”
And lo! upen the road appeared
With guns and armored cars,
A soldier of the U. S_ A.
Who bore the stripes and st
ars.
Germans Cruel to Their Own.
A neutral recently returned from
Southwest Germany gives me an in-
dependent =zccount of conditions pre-
vailing there, writes a correspondent
of the Detroit Free Press.
The first thing that struck
after crossing the German frontier
was the large number of soldiers
wearing boots soled with wood. Of
every 100 soldiers 30 or 40 were shod
in this way. He also spoke of the in-
ferior quality of the food, declaring
that it is impossible to drink the beer
now provided in Germany-—if you en-
ter a beerhouse in the ordinary way.
If, however, you approach it through
the back door, you can get for a mark
a glass of beer that is tolerable. The
supply of food officially sanctioned is
wholly insufficient.
The number of wounded men my in-
formant saw in Germany was very
striking, and not less striking the dif-
ference in the reception accorded the
wounded on their return to England
and Germany respectively. He had
seen the
wounded on their arrival at Charing
Cross, and was much touched by the
i conveyed to their destinations.
He contrasted with this the scence
at Dusseldorf after the battle of
. Langemarck a few weeks ago. Large
numbers of severely wounded Ger-
mans, mostly of 17 or 18 years of age,
rival proved that all the military hos-
pitals in Belgium were overcrowded,
for severely wounded men are not
sent to Germany if it is at all possi-
{ble to treat them in Belgium. These
soldiers, many of them wounded in the
legs, were conveyed from the station
in tramcars. These cars had been
specially prepared for the purpose by
| the removal of the seats and the sub-
stitution of arrangements for the re-
ception of wounded. Three cars were
{linked together, thus making little
i trains, of which there were seven or
| eight. The men did not present at all
‘a cheerful appearance, while their re-
| ception was marked by a sort of cal-
i lous indifference, nobody taking the
| slightest notice of the men or seaming
to care whether they lived or died.
| The general tone among German
women of all classes has deteriorated,
probably owing to the long absence of
the men at the front, many wives not
seeing their husbands more than once
a year.
» In other respects the German char-
i acter has not improved, its reputation
for cruelty to prisoners being fully
maintained.
The Military Salutes.
A writer in London Answers com-
plains of the growing habit of civil-
ians of using the military salute or
, something that looks like it to greet
their acquaintances. Ladies salute
each other in military fashion instead
of bestowing the sisterly kiss, and
'men and boys are saluting instead of
tipping their hats. The indications are
that the habit is growing and that it
is not likely to be abandoned for a
long time.
The sight of large numbers of men
in khaki is too new in this country to
encourage the civilian to imitate the
military salute. Of course, the civil-
‘ian sometimes is puzzled as to the
proper procedure when he meets a
friend who has been newly commis-
sioned an officer. He doesn’t know
whether to salute or to shake hands,
and generally ends by doing both. If
the prevalence of the saluting habit
in England is an indication of the
trend of fashion in this country, the
polite man of the future may aban-
don hat-tipping entirely.
Bel gium ‘Robbed of : Brass.
Nearly every conceivable brass,
copper and bronze object which enters
into the construction or furnishing of
a house and building has been requi-
sitioned by the German authorities in
i occupied Belgium. A copy of a de-
{ cree published at Brussels September
- 30 announces the proposed seizure and
compulsory delivery of all such ob-
| jects.
A list of 28 classes of objects which
private individuals are compelled to
i deliver to the German invaders in-
i cludes everything from fireplace and
| bathroom fixtures to curtain rings and
‘brass cloakroom checks. Nothing
| seems to have been too small or insig-
fifieant to escape being placed on the
list.
| The decree states that a search will
| be made of all dwellings and that all
i classified objects which have not been
delivered to the German authorities
{ will be taken by force.
Germans May be Boring Tunnel Un-
der Channel.
More or less circumstantial rumors
afloat during recent weeks have car-
ried the story that the Germans were
boring a tunnel under the channel to
attack England, and had been at the
work ever since they reached the Bel-
gian seacoast. Other rumors of the
projected invasion of England by Ger-
man troops were revived recently in
British front stories revealing that the
German general staff had issued Eng-
lish-German conversation books to
many of its soldiers.
Caution of Dad.
Edith—Dickey, dear, your office is
in State street, isn’t it?
Dickey—Yes. Why?
Edith—That’s what I told papa.
He made such a funny mistake about
you yesterday. He said he had been
looking you up in Bradstreet.
him
welcome given to British |
sympathy shown for these brave men,
and struck by the admirably fitted-up |
ambulance cars in which they were!
were brought into the town. Their ar- |
Ls wa
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
DAILY THOUGHT
For the reward is not repose, but fresh
work, a larger sphere of usefulness
inflirtence. The command over ten cities is
given to the man whose pound had grown
to ten pounds: the command of five cities
to the man whose pound had grown to five
pounds, The faculty of doing good, by an
eternal law, is multiplied and magnified
according to the use which is made of it,
—IFrederick Denison Maurice,
WAYS OF
FLOORS.
DIFFERENT TREATING
London, England.—Little by little, :
new ideas and fresh methods are
gaining ground in the matter of
house decoration, and people are los-
ing their fear of departing from the
old familiar ways of doing things, are |
daring to give free play to their indi-
. vidual ideas and preferences. Thisis
. especially the case
walls and floors, but, above all, to
floors. Walls have been emancipated,
so to speak, for some little time.
There are many different ways
of really well-laid boards, or parquet,
which has been well polished; but itis
not given to all to possess floors of
this kind, and there are many differ-
ent methods in which the floors of
quite unpretentious dwellings may be
treated, other than the familiar all-
.over carpet covering or. stained
‘boards. To begin with, the floor may
be painted white, and, in the country,
this is not nearly as unpractical as it
sounds, and the effect is excellent.
Painting in other colors is equally
, feasible, and unusual and charming
; effects may be obtained in this way, if
ithe color is chosen with due regard
to that in the rest of the room. Some
i people like a stippled effect in their
| paint; others prefer it plain.
quite a good plan to cover the whole
of the floor with a pale, straw-color-
ed, Chinese matting, cut to fit the
room, and there is no need to take
such a floor covering up often, for the
' matting adapts itself quite kindly to |
{a weekly scrubbing with soap and
! water, which may be carried out with-
rout moving it. Somber-hued floors
may have a good effect, too, and, if
(it is not possible to have an inlaid
{floor of dark wood, there is much to
{ be said for painted black boards, by
| preference with a dull surface; but
i here, again, the scheme of the deco-
ration and the coloring of the room
{must be considered, and the whole
[thing carried out in harmony. With
ta dull black floor of this kind, some
of the rest of the woodwork in the
room may, with advantage, be painted
a bright color. If a new home is
being built, it is a good plan to abol-
ish the usual skirting board, about
eight or ten inches in depth, and to
substitute for it a narrow strip of
wood, slightly concave in shape, from
{two to four inches wide, which serves
| to unite the floor and the wall and
which does away completely with the
dust-collecting properties of the an-
gle formed by the junction of the
floor and the usual kind of skirting
board. This strip of wood might be
painted a vivid color; when combined
with a dull black floor, emerald green,
bright violet, deep bright blue, or
some of the other gay colors, which
the futurist painters have done some-
thing towards training the public to
appreciate, would look well. A pos-
sible scheme for such a room would
be dull black floors and doors, gray
walls, covered preferably with a pa-
per with a slightly rough surface, and
the skirting rim, door, and the
frames, painted in some brilliant
shade. It goes without saying that
such a room would need careful ar-
rangement; but, given the right fur-
niture, and the hangings, if possible,
of some of the gorgeous modern
| hand-woven fabrics, a good result
i would follow. Nothing has, as yet,
been said as to the rugs or carpets
which should lie on the floors describ-
ed, but it follows, naturally, that these
must be in keeping. For instance,
I bright-colored, heavy straw mats
| would look well on the black floors,
| while, on the parquet, the reproduc-
tions, failing the originals, of Per-
sian or of old French carpets, would
be pleasing. But, as in all matters of
decoration, individual taste must be
brought into play, if success is to be
attained. It is easy for anyone in
the least instructed in such matters
to distinguish, at the first glance, be-
tween an “owner’s” garden and a gar-
den which is left to the disposal of the
gardener; and it is equally easy to
discriminate between a house where
the individual taste of the owner has
been exercised and one which has
been left to the discretion of the dec-
orator.
“It is a sash that I am making this
afternoon, or, rather, two of them,
one for my mother and the other for
myself,” replied the Girl Who Sews,
to the question which invariably
greeted her when she appeared on the
hotel veranda with her sewing bag.
“They are black sashes, too; did you
know that black moire ribbon sashes
are to be much worn again this
year?” she continued.
“I saw some in a shop the other
day, and they were so good looking
and yet so simple that I decided to
make some myself. Those that I
noticed were made of moire ribbon,
about six inches wide. They were
long enough to go around the waist
twice, knotted loosely with long ends
at the side or front or back, accord-
ing to one’s choice. They were fin-
ished off with black silk tassels, and
some had quite elaborate embroidery
of heavy silk ornaments, all black, of
course, above the tassels. 5
“This one of mine is to have some
of those simple tassels, long, slender
ones, but mother’s is to be much more
ornate. I discovered in a big box of
beads, a pair of long tassels of beau-
tiful jet beads. I am going to make
some sort of a little ornament of
some larger beads that she has to go
above them, and I think her sash will
be a handsome one. All the work in
these, as you can readily see, lies in
gathering each end of the ribbon
evenly, and tying them about se-
curely. Then, of course, you must
arrange some little heading, some-
thing pretty and decorative, to cover
up the spot where you sew the tassel
on. But that does not take long and
it is interesting to make up some
original design.—Monitor.
and |
with regard to!
in:
which floers may be treated. Nothing, !
of course, can ever surpass the effect!
It is |
EERIE
isi re ————— tree freer
FARM NOTES.
—When kitchen and table waste is
(to be fed to poultry it should be se-
lected and prepared with a view to
getting its full food value and at the
same time making it entirely accept-
‘able to the birds.
Not all of the refuse and scraps
from the kitchen are suitable for poul-
try food. Some things, as vegetable
i peelings, may be used when they con-
: stitute only a small part of the scraps,
but when they are in excessive quan-
tities it is better to dispose of them
separately. The same is true of cof-
fee grounds and tea leaves.
.—Fat meat in large pieces should
not be put with scraps for poultry
because a hen can swallow a much
larger piece of fat than is good for
her. By cutting waste fat meat in
pieces no larger than one would cut
i for himself at the table, and by mak-
ing sure that the fat does not exceed
10 per cent. of the scraps fed at 3ne
i time, the dangers in feeding fat are
avoided.
The best way to save kitchen waste
for poultry is to keep a 1-gallon jar,
of glazed or galvanized ware, with a
cover in a convenient place, putting
into this scraps of bread, cake, and
imeat from the table, remnants of
| serving of vegetables, cereals, pies,
| puddings, ete., and whatever waste
{ from the preparation of meals is suit-
‘able to combine with these things in
i a mash.
Once a day the contents of the jar
i should be turned into a pail of appro-
| priate size and as much ground feed-
i stuff mixed with them as can be stir-
‘red in with a strong iron spoon or a
| wooden stirring stick. The amount
and kinds of ground feeds to be used
{ will depend upon the quantity of wa-
| ter with the scraps and whether any
| particular article predominates.
i —Creosote for Fence Posts.—Wood
i decays because of the growth in it of
{a plant called fungus, which lives on
| the wood tissue and causes rot. Wood
! will never decay if the fungus plant
i can be kept out of it.
i Covering wood with paint will pre-
{ vent the fungus from entering. The
! plant spreads by seedlike spores which
fall on moist wood, develop, and grow
into the wood. As the fungus needs
moisture, wood that is dry will never
decay. If the wood is poisoned the
fungus plant cannot develop for it is
deprived of its food.
According to Prof. J. A. Ferguson,
of the forestry department of The
Pennsylvania State College, painting
| wood with several coats of hot creo-
| sote will poison the outer layers of
the wood and prevent the growth of
fungus plant. The wood must be
well seasoned and dry so that the cre-
osote will soak into it.
The creosote can be made to sink
deep into the wood if the wood is first
boiled in the creosote and the mixture
left to cool, as it is thus driven into
the wood by atmospheric pressure.
Fence posts of quickly rotting wood
treated in this way can be made to
last from fifteen to twenty years.
This treatment will cost from
six to eight cents a post.
—One of the greatest problems be-
fore the American farmer today is
not only to supply the animal prod-
ucts needed by the United States but
also to supply the ever increasing de-
mand for these products by our allies,
asserted Dr. I. D. Wilson, veterinar-
ian at The Pennsylvania State Col-
lege. Conservative estimates taken
in England and France alone show a
decrease of 8,000,000 head of cattle,
7,000,000 hogs and 17,500,000 sheep in
these countries since the beginning of
the war. The American farmer must
not only compensate for this great
loss but must also ward off possible
animal bankruptcy after the war is
over.
It is estimated that the annual loss
in the United States due to animal
diseases is $212,000,000. This amount
of money is approximately sufficient
to furnish the meat ration for 2,000,-
000 soldiers for 8 months. Most of
this loss results from infectious dis-
eases which can be controlled in a
large measure by proper manage-
ment.
During the past fifteen years .the
population of the United States has
been inereased by 15,000,000 people.
During this same time there has been
a decrease of 6,000,000 head of beef
animals and 11,000,000 sheep. The
number of hogs has increased only
11,000,000. It is thus very evident
that the livestock industry cannot
continue to decrease in the future as
it has in the past.
—Difficult Churning.—Farmers oft-
en experience difficulty in churning
butter, especially during the fall and
winter. The cream foams, or froths,
or after being partly churned fails to
gather.
According to E. L. Anthony, of the
dairy department of The Pennsylva-
nia State College, difficulty in churn-
ing is due to one or more of the fol-
lowing causes: (1) cream too cold;
(2) cream from cows almost dry; (3)
cream too thin—less than twenty per
cent. fat; (4) cream too thick—more
than forty per cent. fat; (5) sweet
cream; (6) cream from cows fed on
dry feed; (7) improper agitation of
cream in churn; (8) too much cream
in churn. :
When cows are few in number, far
advanced in lactation and fed on dry
feed, the fat has a higher melting
point and will not unite or gather at
normal churning temperatures. When
cream refuses to churn, it should be
taken out of the churn and put into a
pail and heated slowly from two de-
grees to ten degrees by placing the
pail in a vessel containing water heat-
ed to ninety to one hundred degrees.
The cream should be stirred as it
warms. Do not pour hot water direct-
ly into the cream. Make constant use
of a thermometer to find the most de-
sirable churning temperature.
Difficult churning is often caused
by not having the cream at the prop-
er temperature. Other rules to be ob-
served for churning butter are:
Separate richer cream; ripen cream
to a higher degree of acidity by a
higher ripening temperature or a
longer ripening period; dry off cows
which have been in milk an abnormal
length of time; use such feeds as bran
and oil meal and such succulent feeds
as roots and silage; have the churn
not less than one-fifth nor more than
one-third full; do not churn too fast
or too slow.
-i